Milk in My Tea

15. Evaporated

Quinn’s POV

Since Namjoon and I decided to stay in bed longer than we were supposed to, we both were in a rush to get to the concert venue so the guys could start practicing for their performance that night. When we finally showed up, there was a chorus of giggles and snickers from our friends. Niah gave me a knowing look and Karissa just couldn’t seem to keep the Cheshire grin off her face.

“We were wondering when you were going to show your face,” Karissa said with a laugh, walking over to give me a hug. Niah came up to my other side and nudged my shoulder with her elbow.

“Hey, we got here, didn’t we?” I questioned with a smirk, which made the other two burst into another round of giggles.

“Barely,” Niah replied, shaking her head.

Things moved quickly from there. The guys had two rehearsals on stage, followed by a final run through of the show from start to finish, before we were all sent to the dressing room to start getting ready. I was given an outfit to wear since I would have to go on stage to translate. Niah and Karissa just stayed behind the scenes and helped everyone out as much as possible.

The girls and I were escorted to a dressing room by a member of event staff and I was surprised to find a Black makeup artist waiting there for us. To say the woman was beautiful was an understatement. She looked like a beautiful sepia hued doll, though nothing about her was artificial. She had a small face and an adorable nose, with lips about as full, but not as large as mine. She was wearing an off the shoulder midi length black dress and a pair of chic ankle boots. The makeup artist had her hair slicked down and parted into two chic little buns, and her skin was practically glowing. The three of us instantly greeted her, already impressed by her appearance.

“Hey y’all, I’m Tiana; it’s nice to meet you,” she said with a warm tone, reaching her hand out to shake each of ours.

“Damn! Nice to meet you! Girl, you’re entire face is flawless! Can you do my makeup too?” Niah asked excitedly, making Tiana laugh.

“If I have time, I can do everyone’s makeup, but Quinn goes first since she’ll actually be on stage,” Tiana replied, with a bemused smile. I sat down in the chair and let her get to work. The four of us chatted animatedly and we found out that Tiana was actually a substitute for the original makeup artist that had been called in.

“I’m just doing a favor for my mentor,” She told us, applying my lipstick. Not only was she great at doing makeup, she was fast. Niah took my place in the chair, and I my cell phone to snap a selfie.

“So tell me about these guys. I hear they’re all hot and y’all are their girlfriends. Can you speak Korean too?” Tiana questioned, starting on Niah’s eyebrows. I nodded but Karissa adamantly shook her head.

“I’m not dating any of them!” Kari stated resiliently, and Niah and I laughed.

“She says that now, but we both said the same thing and that failed horribly.” I replied, giving Karissa a teasing smile.

“Yep,” Niah added, from the makeup chair.

“Oh, so they like chocolate girls? I can dig it,” Tiana told us, with a giggle and we were laughing all over again.

“That just sort of… happened.” Niah said, a thoughtful expression crossing her face.

“Well now I *have* to meet them. I was too busy setting up in here to come out of the room, but once everyone’s makeup is done, I’ll need an intro to the guys as payment.” Tiana grinned, and we all agreed, excited to make a new friend in all this.

After Karissa was sufficiently dolled up, the four of us emerged from the dressing room with an hour left until showtime. We ventured down to the waiting room where we could hear laughing voices and chatter in rapid fire Korean.

“Ooh damn. Will I be ok? I don’t speak Korean,” Tiana admitted, and I patted her shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it, girl. You’ve got a professional translator and two amateurs. Also, the guys know some English; I’ve been teaching them.”

With a gentle nod, Karissa pushed the door open and the four of us stepped through. Jin and Jimin were the first to notice us, and the eldest of the two whistled lowly.

“Wow! I’ve got so much competition tonight!” Jin commented, walking over to us. He pulled me into a hug, “With you on my arm we could be the Worldwide Handsome couple, Quinn-ah.”

“Tiana, this is the oldest member of BTS, Jin-ssi,” I pointed out and Tiana gave him a polite hello.

“Coffee-noona, you look so pretty!” Jimin cried, giving Niah a thumbs up. Niah winked at him and went over to Yoongi, who was still getting his hair done.

“This is our chipmunk baby, Jimin-ah,” I announced with a grin, and Tiana laughed, shaking his hand too.

“Nice to meet you both, I’m Tiana.” She told them in English, to which both greeted her in the same language. I turned to scope out the room, looking around for Namjoon, intent on introducing Tiana to the rest of the guys.

“That guy over there in the corner with Niah is her boyfriend, Suga,” Karissa added, pointing in their direction. Yoongi waved from his makeup chair and I finally found Namjoon standing near the opposite door, talking to the most annoying person on the planet, Han Aera.

“What the hell is she doing here?” Karissa whispered fiercely, her eyes landing on the two of them as well.

Tiana lifted an eyebrow curiously, “Who’s she? Someone y’all don’t like?”

“She’s irrelevant is what she is,” I murmured, crossing my arms over my chest and heading over to the two of them. Namjoon had his back to me as I walked towards them, but Aera could see me coming towards them. I stopped just a few steps behind them, giving Aera a sacchari