Chapter 6 - Goodbye

My alarm painfully pulled me out of sleep by ringing loudly at 7:30 am. I needed to get up and get ready because I had a flight back to Canada to catch in the early afternoon, and my mom had always taught me that I needed to check-in at least two hours in advance.

As I got up to head for the shower, I heard a buzzing sound and grabbed my phone, but it wasn’t where the noise was coming from. I looked around and saw the bulky shape of Kim Taehyung hidden under the blanket in my bed and cursed. In the daze of such a rude awakening, I’d forgotten all about him. I located his phone on the floor next to the bed and grabbed it, but then debated whether I should answer it or not. But it kept ringing, so finally, I pushed the button and put the phone to my ear.

A slew of Korean hit my barely conscious eardrum and I just didn’t know how to react. After a while the person on the other hand paused and asked me something that ended in “sseyo?” and I just went “huuuuh…. Taehyung is sleeping…”

There was a long pause and the person on the other end asked “Emma noona?”

“Yes, yes it’s me. Who is this?” I asked, enunciating very carefully.

“Jungkook.”

I breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t his manager, or someone who would get him in trouble, but it didn’t really help because Jungkook barely spoke any English and we couldn’t understand each other at all. I think I managed to communicate that V was sleeping, but then all he said was “OK.” and “goodbye” before hanging up. I felt a bit awkward, but shrugged it off as I headed into the shower; I had no time for this bull.

When I came out 30 minutes later, he was still sleeping soundly. I tried shoving him a bit but he remained completely unconscious, so I just left him there and went to get ready.

An hour later, with my makeup done and my suitcase packed, I came back to the bed and shook him gently again.

“V… V…” I called, but he wouldn’t move. “Taehyungie… wake up.”

He groaned a little but that was the best I got out of him.

“I’m leaving, don’t you wanna say goodbye?” I asked, sulkily, but I got no reaction.

I looked up at the clock and sighed. It was nearly 10am so it was time to go. I got up and walked to the door, grabbing my suitcase by the handle before heading out. The light from the hallway flooded inside the still semi-dark room and I turned to give the sleeping boy one last glance and say “Bye-bye V,” a sad smile on my face, before I closed the door behind me.

I walked the few steps down the hallway towards the elevator and pushed the button to go down. I was staring at the lights going up on the board when I heard a commotion behind me and turned around to see what was going on. A few steps back, a disheveled, barefoot, sleepy-looking Taehyung stood in the doorway of what had been my room, squinting at me.

“Noona!” he wailed, rubbing his eyes like a sleepy kitten as he made his way towards me.

I couldn’t help a chuckle. The elevator pinged behind me, and I turned to look at its doors open, but let them close without walking in. I turned back to look at him, who had closed the gap between us and was now standing right in front of me; towering over me, and staring me down with the most serious expression I’d ever seen on his angelic face.

“You leave no saying goodbye” he said, sulking.

“I did say goodbye. And I tried to wake you up. 3 times. You weren’t budging” I told him.

He scrunched up his face as if he didn’t like that he knew I was right, and then softened.

“I don’t see you a long time…..” he said, looking down sadly.

“You’ll see me in August when I come back. You got lives in Japan, right?” I said in a reassuring voice.

He looked away and sorta half-nodded, and I laughed. Then he turned back and looked at me, and his big brown eyes were so intense that my breath caught in my throat for a little bit.

“Noona….” he said, his voice deep, and eyes full of intensity, like he wanted to say something else. I waited, but he didn’t.

“Well…” I said, trying to break the awkward tension, “I should get going… my plane….” I trailed off.

He just kinda nodded a few times like he was agreeing with himself, which was really cute, and then seemed to think about something and asked, “Aahh… you go before… can I hug?”

I laughed because he looked like an innocent boy again, and, feeling the nervousness drain away, I nodded.

He placed his long arms around me and pulled me close to him. There, he held me tightly against his chest. It was warm, and hard, and I could feel his heart beating through the fabric of his shirt. This wasn’t like the other hugs he’d given me before. This wasn’t the hyperactive puppy that jumps out at its master in happiness when they see them. I don’t know what this was, but it was the first moment, that I had an inkling that things were going in a very, very bad direction. And the worst part was, I liked it. I liked it a lot.

I left for my flight in a sort of daze, and I tried to tell myself that I had just imagined the whole thing. And when I got home, to be honest, after not having seen my family for 2 years, everything related to Taehyung and BTS just kinda flew out of my head. V was also very busy with his American tour, so I didn’t hear from him as much as I normally did. Or at least that’s what I thought. I didn’t learn until much later that he had been sulking the whole time.