I sat silently by the barbeque as Bambam cheerfully grilled meat beside me.

I looked at my hands in disbelief as Sana sat a fireplace away, silently chugging soda.

Mina sat somewhere between us looking awkwardly from left to right like she was watching a retro video game of ping-pong.

However, besides Bambam and Natty, nobody seemed to be acting normal. Jackson and Jimin appeared strangely quiet and sat far apart, with Jackson grabbing more lettuce for the samgyeopsal while Jimin seemed glued to her phone seats away. Jihyo was beside Momo, looking at the tired looking girl attentively and offering her food like a mother-figure. Which would have been typical if Momo was somewhat more cheerful looking about being offered food.

Then there was this trio.

Jungyeon, Nayeon and Tzuyu were unnaturally chatty with one another as the two parents helped the younger girl clean and bandage some cuts she got while talking about adopting pets in South Korea. Weird.

Why did our fireplace have such a strange vibe when all the other ones seemed hype?
I mean, I know what I did but what about the others?

Jihyo seemed to notice the strange mood in our cluster too and stood up, hitting a spoon on a glass of water to get people’s attention. 

“Hey, why don’t we play a game?”

Bambam showed photos of the two “Descendants of the Sun” male leads on his Samsung tablet.

The girls started raising the utensils to signify the male lead of their choice.

Heads turn to Jihyo who raised chopsticks.

“Seriously, not Yoo Shi Jin? Not the perfect Song Jong Ki?!” Jimin noted, surprised.

“It’s not about the actor but the character. Shi Jin is fun and all but he plays too many pranks. I don’t think I can handle that all day. I prefer someone I can rely on.”

Jackson nodded approvingly and smirked at Jimin, “Now that’s a mature lady here. Not about that flower boy life.”

“NEXT DRAMA!” I quickly chimed in before another fight began, “tvN’s Signal! Park Hae Young or Lee Jae Han?”

Mina looked at me blankly as I remembered she was still new to the Korean scene. “Hae Young is the quiet methodological type who quietly supports the female lead in the background while Jae Han is the passionate, follow his gut helpful police department sunbae.”

“Wow, hyung you watched this drama,” Bambam chuckled with amazement, “I didn’t think you were the type to follow these things.”

“Hey, I don’t watch every day but I do watch good shows. This is probably the best Korean sci-fi thriller-“

“-of the year,” Jihyo said, giving me a thumbs up.

“Exactly. Now, choose your male lead. Spoons or chopsticks…?”

Once again the cutlery was raised and eyes were on Jihyo’s raised chopstick.

“Seriously, you again?!”  Jimin said, flabbergasted.

“Hey, he’s the best sunbae you can have. Plus, I’m not alone this time.” She said pointing at a few of the other girls who have agreed with her for once.

“Okay, time for a slightly older drama. School 2015!” Jackson grabbed Bambam’s tablet, “So Han Yi An vs. Kong Tae Gwang!”

“The difference?” grunted Jungyeon who obviously did not watch the drama.

She did not seem to be into the school-slice of life-romance type things.

“Yi An is the childhood best friend and Tae Gwang is the guy who keeps teasing the girl but is really a knight in shining armor,” Nayeon quickly explained, almost like she memorized character bios.

“How many dramas did you watch again?!”

Jackson coughed to get their attention, “So choose your man. Spoons or chopsticks…”

He threw a slight glance at Jimin’s cutlery choice…

“Wait, what?”

As most girls raised their chopsticks this time, they turned to Jungyeon who had a spoon in the air.

“Why?” Nayeon asked.

“I don’t know…Childhood friend…seems like the better option,” Jungyeon said all nonchalant, although somewhat taken aback by the attention, “Wouldn’t it be more comfortable being with that sort of person than the troublemaking guy?”

“My turn…” Bambam smiled, reaching for his tablet before it was once again snatched from him.

“Aren’t girls going to get a turn too?” Natty said, glaring at the older Thai boy, “It’s my turn. This spot is mine.”

“Welcome to Big Hit Source Music Academy!”

A boy called Namjoon rocking interesting Ray-Bans and slicked back hair waved to the students in Jin Young High School at the lounge of the boarding school.

“It must have been a long day but it’s only the beginning of your Jeju adventures,” he said, showing a toothy warm grin, “Anyways, we have sorted you guys to different residential halls already. Your host students would lead you there.”

Minutes later, the host students of Dorm A showed us the mattresses they placed in their rooms. There was a living room like space with two beds belonging to the boys Taehyung and Jin. There were connecting double rooms housing girls Yuju and Eunha in one and SinB and Umji in another.

“Feel free to sleep wherever you want!” Jin said while ordering late night snacks on his phone, “We are sorry the sleeping arrangements aren’t better. If you need anything else, let us know!”

“Is that the only bathroom in this dorm?” I asked, pointing at the small bathroom next to Taehyung’s bed.

“Yah,” Taehyung replied while reading from his bed, “Each dorm has their own but there are no public bathrooms.”

“Oh, I will sleep in here then,” I said, bringing my suitcase beside Taehyung’s bed, “I tend to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and I don’t want to wake up the girls.”

Suddenly a soft voice added, “Actually can I sleep here too?”

I turned to see Mina raising her hand while holding her duffel bag. “…I also go to the bathroom often. And if the guys don’t mind.”

Jin and Taehyung looked at each other. “We are totally cool if you are. We are suite mates with girls after all.”

“I’m sleeping here too.”

Mina and I turned to see Sana with her hands on her hips and suitcase on the side.

“I don’t trust having Mina alone in a room with boys,” she grunted, “especially with you.”