Chapter 20

She tossed and turned that night. Not too long ago, she had just returned from her little stroll with Peniel. He finally gained an understanding from her feelings. Her unwanted emotions had built up and she felt the need to let it all out. He comforted her and soon, he had decided to follow his instincts which led them to a tense walk back to the dorm. She wasn’t ready not because she was still hurting over Jeremy but because she was scared. He was an idol and she heard stories about getting involved with one. Scary fans and hectic schedules would make the relationship more complicated. It would be like going through what she did with Jeremy but worst.  I’m sorry, Peniel. A tear rolled down her cheek.

Sitting up, she couldn’t bring herself to go back to bed so she her laptop and decided to surf the web hoping she would drift off to sleep then. She found herself logging onto Facebook as per her usual routine whenever she was online. The news feed had a bunch of random updates from her Facebook friends (whom she barely talks to) but one particular picture caught her attention. He had posted a picture of himself at the ER.

Samantha found herself chuckling then rolling her eyes and shaking her head. “Oh Jeremy, what have you gotten yourself into?” she mused.

It was as if her heart had told her to talk to him again. It wouldn’t hurt just to text him. Just speak to him casually, her subconscious was telling her. Glancing at her phone, she decided to follow her subconscious. “What’s one little text gonna do?” she asked herself. Hey fool, I heard what happened… Bummer! >.< she decided to text to him.

Five minutes later… Her phone vibrated: Fool I am. J  then right after he had replied, Doctor told me I shouldn’t be fighting when I have a cold.

Samantha giggled as she replied to him. What happened exactly?

I dislocated my rib sparring today, he replied.

Go figure, Samantha replied rolling her eyes. What did I tell you about fighting? You could get hurt!

J: It would be nice to have a girlfriend to come and take care of me ;)

S: No offense, I’m cracking up right now.

J: It’s okay, go ahead and laugh while I’m in agony.

S: I wish I could’ve been there to see, that way I can point and laugh and say: “Bummer!”

J: Don’t lie. You just want to be there so you can see me with my shirt off. :-P

S: Ew!!!! What the hell makes you think that?! You’re too scrawny for me!

Soon, they spent the rest of the night talking. Samantha did not want the conversation so she sacrificed her sleep for him but he was completely oblivious to it. She found herself giggling the whole time. And that was why she liked him. Whenever they talked, the conversations consist of witty banter and there was never a dull moment.

The sun shone into her window and she realized she had to get up soon and wake the boys. Realizing she would be leaving them soon, she wanted to spend more time with them. As a way to thank them for having her, she decided to cook them breakfast. This was going to be a good day and nothing could stop it, she told herself.

Even though she hated to admit it, BTOB had some really good songs and she found herself obsessing over their song “My Girl” for quite some time. To match her good mood that morning, she decided to blast it throughout the dorm.

Eunkwang was asleep but could hear the song faintly and he found himself singing it. The others heard it too and started to singing along as well, “You’re my girl. Cause you’re my heart. You’re my soul. Cause you’re my lady…” (The lyrics may be wrong >.<) Then soon, the guys started to wake up.

“Do you hear that?” Sungjae muttered as he got up. “Is it just me or do you hear our song playing?”

“Yeah I hear it too,” Hyunsik said sitting up. “Where is it coming from?”

“It sounds like its coming from outside,” Minhyuk chimed in.

“Let’s go see what the commotion is all about,” Eunkwang stood up.

The rest of the members followed suit and exited the bedroom. Before long, they found Samantha in the kitchen humming to their song and smiling. Turning around she gave them a welcoming grin, “Hey! You guys are up!” she gleamed. “Breakfast is almost ready so go wash up while it’s still cooking.”

The guys gave her a puzzled look. “She’s oddly happy today,” Minhyuk muttered then proceeded to follow the others into the room.

“What’s up with her?” Changseob couldn’t help but ask.

“You have to admit, she’s actually adorable when she’s happy,” Hyunsik grinned.

“Yeah, she is,” Eunkwang smiled. “Come on, let’s get dressed.”

Peniel glanced back towards the door. Samantha was acting oddly strange given her behavior from last night. The images of the crying and broken girl flashed before him and now she was suddenly so cheerful and happy. It doesn’t make sense. He thought then followed the others into their wardrobe to get changed.

Before long, they entered the living area to already find Jihoon helping himself to a plate of eggs, bacon, and hash browns along with toast. The soloist gave Samantha a puzzled look as she was gathering plates for everyone else. “What’s the occasion?” Jihoon asked curiously.

“Oh nothing,” she replied. “I just thought I’d cook breakfast for everyone. Consider this my way of saying thank you for having me stay with you guys.”

“You don’t have to thank us,” Eunkwang said.

Samantha turned around and grinned at BTOB’s leader. “Hey you guys are here!” she exclaimed then handed him a plate. “Here you go! Help yourselves!”

As soon as everyone settled, Sungjae spoke up. “Thanks for breakfast, Sam!”

“You’re very welcome, Sungjae!” she replied.

“We should totally do this again!” Changseob suggested.

Samantha froze and then found herself looking around at the others. It slowly started to kick in, her happy façade soon turned into a feeling of melancholy. Peniel took notice but decided to keep quiet. “Please, excuse me,” she said standing up then running into her room.

Everyone turned their attention to her as she left them. Samantha locked herself in her room and broke down as she sunk to the ground. There won’t be a next time, she thought as she cried. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to develop a bond with them. They’re making this more and more difficult for me.

“Sam? Are you okay?” Minhyuk’s voice rang from outside her door.

Samantha immediately wiped away her tears. “Yes, I’m fine! I’ll be out in a bit!” she said checking her reflection in the mirror and straightening herself up before leaving. She was all smiles once again when she was out of the room.

The guys looked at her whispering to one another. “No, you ask her!” Changseob and Hyunsik glared at each other. “Sam?” Hyunsik spoke first. “What’s up with all this? Is something up?"

She looked at him and then glanced at everyone else. “I should just tell you guys,” she started to say. “I’m leaving soon.”

“What?!” Sungjae exclaimed.

I knew it, thought Peniel as he clenched his fist.

“Why are you leaving us?!” Changseob exclaimed.

“It’s okay, I’ll still be around for a while,” she assured them. “I just think it’s time I start looking into other things. I can’t be your around forever, you know.”

“When are you leaving?” Hyunsik asked.

“When you guys head to Thailand,” she answered.

“That is soon,” Eunkwang pointed out. “What will you do?”

She turned to him. “Well the plan is I’ll go with you guys but won’t be coming back,” she answered with a pained expression.

“I don’t want you to leave,” Sungjae pleaded.

Oh no, she thought. This was proving to be more difficult than she thought. Looking around, she saw everyone with their morose expressions. “I’m sorry,” she said looking away from them. “Just so you guys know, this was my initial plan. This is a lot more difficult than I thought and you should know that.” Blinking back tears she turned to them. “I won’t forget all the fun I had here. You guys are so sweet and funny not to mention talented. I have such high hopes for you and I wish you the best of luck.”

“So that’s it,” Peniel finally said. Everyone shifted their attention to him. “You’re just gonna leave like that?”

Samantha could not bring herself to look him in the eyes. “I’m really sorry…” was all she could say.

A/N: Hey guys!!! I'm sorry for not updating these past few days. I've been in a bubble lately. So these past few days have been stressing me out because something eventful happened to me on Monday. I got into a car accident. I'm fine and the other party is fine it's just I'm stressing over the damages and stuff. They're pretty minor but I've been looking for a 2nd job these past few days. I really need a new job. :( Anyways, enjoy!