Chapter 28 – Do I Like You?           

Insook and V could hear the music pumping through the walls as they walked down the club steps side by side. V turned to give her a little side smile and pushed the large steel door open to let them in, letting the music swallow them as they entered. She followed behind him looking at the back of his neck. She had to admit he looked really good today. He’d shown up to her house in wide “beggar” trousers and a loose long-sleeved black shirt, with a ripped up collar that showed way too much of his skinny collarbones, adorned with random slits that she suspected he had cut up in there by himself… still, the effect, paired with his silky ashen mushroom hair was rather striking. He looked nothing like the happy-go-lucky schoolboy that she knew. Somehow, he looked like an older, ier version of himself. His behaviour however remained unchanged, so it hadn’t taken long for Insook to get back into the easy habit of listening to him chattering away over the subway ride to the club. So far, he hadn’t given her any indication that he even thought this was a date, and she was glad of it.

“Do you see anyone?” she called loudly, over the music, trying to scan the club for a familiar face. She looked at V, who was doing the same, but then he turned back to her and shook his head.

“Come on!” he called, grabbing her wrist suddenly, and pulling her through the crowd towards the bar. It was only about 8:30 but already the club was packed, and judging by how good the act that was performing on stage was, that was probably why.

“Wait here,” he ordered, suddenly stopping a few steps away from the bar, before heading over there himself. She watched him barter with the bartender, laughing at something he said, before returning with two plastic glasses full of a dark brown liquid and handing her one. “Here.”

She eyed the cup in her hand suspiciously and looked up to see him grin at her like a little kid about to pull a trick. Then he leaned in and whispered close to her ear “its cola.”

Insook’s eyes widened in surprise and he burst out laughing.

“Come!” he called out again, holding on to her arm and dragging her to the back of the crowd that had massed up around the stage to watch the current performance.

Though Insook didn’t catch their names, they were actually not bad at all, and she quite enjoyed the show; although not as much as V, who spent the remainder of their set bouncing around and dancing crazily; shaking his glossy head around and occasionally turning to flash her one of those blinding eye-smiles. A few people around them kept giving him strange looks, but Insook found that, instead of being embarrassed, she just found him funny. And kinda cute.

He looked up at her just as that thought crossed her mind and smiled. She smiled back.

Soon enough, the first group’s stage was over, and they left, followed by loud cheers from the crowd. But people cheered even louder when the MC came on to announce that BTS were next. Insook added her voice to the mix and started to clap when V suddenly grabbed her hand again and proceeded to push his way as close to the stage as he could manage without starting a fight.

There was no special stage tonight; just rap. But it didn’t matter because, to Insook’s eyes, it was the coolest thing that she’d ever witnessed. Every single member had amazing stage presence, but she couldn’t take her eyes away from Rap Monster. If she’d thought he was attractive before, it was nothing compared to the aura that was emanating from him now. V was enjoying himself too, of course, screaming loudly and shouting along to parts that got repeated a few times, and every time Suga’s part would come on, he would start jumping up and down and start cheering like a hyper fanboy. But every so often, he would turn to look at Insook and frown.

The boys performed 3 songs and took a bow, exiting to cheers even louder than the group before them. Insook and V headed towards the stage exit, hoping to catch them to congratulate them, but when they finally did come out, they got so swarmed by so many people wanting to do exactly the same thing that they couldn’t even get within 5 feet of them.

“Wow…” exhaled Insook, sadly, “doesn’t it feel like they’re famous already?”

V turned to look at her, gave her hand a little squeeze and smiled. “Let’s just wait a bit.”

So they waited.

But nearly 30 minutes passed and the crowd around the boys was not thinning, and Insook was starting to get sleepy, on top of being annoyed.

“Are you alright?” V asked, with concern in his voice, after she’d just stifled a pretty big yawn, “shall I take you home?”

The teenage girl looked into the distance at her blonde crush who was laughing at something someone had said, before downing a shot to the cheers of several of his followers, and sighed. “Yeah…….. I guess we can just tell them when we see them at school…”

She nodded her assent, and was just about to turn back she saw Suga whisper something into Rapmon’s ear as he pointed in her direction. The blonde boy’s head perked up, looked straight at her – or at least, she thought he did – and then he smiled.

V had already turned around to head back towards the exit, but Insook held on to his arm and called out “wait!” He was puzzled for an instant, but then looked in the direction she was staring at and saw Rapmon waving at him as he tried to close the gap between them. V pressed his lips together sullenly, repressing a sigh, and then put on a smile just as the blonde boy reached them.

“Yo, V!” he called out in a loud, happy voice, still hyped up from his stage, as he extended his arm to give the boy of those bro-type handshake-hug-highfive crossover. “You guys came! What did you think?”

Just as V started answering, Rapmon turned to look at Insook and totally stopped paying attention to the other boy’s answer as he gave her a very obvious once-over. His eyes widened in surprise, and then a little smirk appeared on his face. But instead of telling her she looked nice, he just turned back to V and asked them to join him for a drink.

“Ah, but Insookie is really tired now, so I was just taking her home…”

“I’m okay!” piped up the short girl, so suddenly that they both turned to look at her, making her blush. “well, I mean, I think I can handle one drink.” she added with an embarrassed smile.

V frowned, and Rapmon exclaimed, “That’s my girl!” before putting his arm around her neck and ushering her away back to his little group.

V had no choice but to follow.

They had the one promised drink, which Insook sipped rather slowly considering she was still pretty bad at handling alcohol, and chatted with Rapmon and Suga, congratulating them on their performance. It was nearly midnight when Rapmon, noticing Insook was yawning again, stopped mid-sentence to ask her if she was ok.

“Yeah, just you know, I’m kinda tired…” she answered sheepishly, stifling another yawn.

“I should take you home” interjected V, putting a hand on Insook’s shoulder, which made Rapmon raise an eyebrow.

“Alright then, well let me at least see you off out of here” he smiled brightly, letting his dimple show.

Insook nodded and, after he’d told his little posse he’d be right back, followed him as he cut a path through the crowd towards the door. They climbed the stairs that led out of the club, and once they were outside, he paused and looked down at her, smiling again.

“Well, thank you guys for coming,” he said, exchanging a handshake with V, “I’m really glad you came,” he added, turning to Insook and smiling. Then, he very suddenly leaned in to give her a hug, which left her a bit stunned, and flashed a little wink as he called out “See ya!” before making his way back down the stairs.

Once she’d regained her composure, she turned to look at V, who was still staring at the club entrance with a huffy, irritated expression and she smacked him on the shoulder.

“Cool your jets, will ya?” she said, and he turned to give her a hurt puppy expression.

“He’s just a friend…” she said, starting to walk in the direction of the station, so he had no choice but to follow, “… and so are you.” she added, pointedly.

*

A bit later, back in the club, Hoseok, who’d been nursing an empty drink at a table with friends, not really listening to what they were saying, suddenly announced that he was going to get a refill, and got up, heading for the bar. His eyes wandered around the room as he waited for his turn, and then suddenly widened in surprise as they fell onto a familiar sight, only a few steps away from him. He took off nearly at a run, thinking he was hallucinating, but once he got closer, he realized that he hadn’t been mistaken. Jimin was indeed standing there, slouching against the wall, staring at the dancing crowd with a glazed expression.

“Jimin!” he exclaimed, unable to keep the shock from his voice, “When did you get here?”

Jimin looked up, recognition showing in his eyes as he looked at Hoseok, and then he looked beyond him again, answering, “I saw you perform.”

“… that was hours ago…” mumbled J-Hope, looking at him with sudden longing, “Why didn’t you come say hi?”

Jimin swirled his drink in his hand, making Hoseok look down at it and realize that he was probably drunk again.

“I’ve been thinking…” started Jimin, “I’ve been trying to think… trying to come up with ways to make this make sense…” he blabbered.

“Jimin it’s fine, it was just one kiss… I just want to be friends again.” pleaded Hoseok, walking a little closer to him so that he wouldn’t have to shout.

“It wasn’t just one kiss.” retorted Jimin, finally looking him in the eye, “It was many. Many, many, many, maaaany kisses…” he slurred, gesturing widely for emphasis, “one time, maybe, but not one kiss,”

“Alright fine… that’s not really the point here…” grunted the dark-haired boy, rolling his eyes.

“No, that’s not the point…” repeated Jimin drunkenly, his eyes unfocused as he looked into the distance, and Hoseok waited for him to carry on, “the point is.”

And then he paused and his face went through a series of changes, from frustrated, to desperate, to resolved. “I liked those kisses” he finally said, quietly.

Hoseok looked up.

“I liked kissing you. I liked it. Why?” he looked up at his friend, pleadingly.

“I’ve been trying to figure out why… I mean I know I like girls…”

“There doesn’t have to be a reason…” Hoseok trailed off, looking at the floor because he didn’t want to let himself be hopeful.

Nobody talked. He looked at Jimin, and Jimin looked back. People came and went around them but it felt to Hoseok as if time stood still for the two of them. Those few instants felt like they lasted hours.

“Maybe…” he said, “maybe you’re just someone who loves everyone…” he tried to make it come off as a joke, but it didn’t really work.

“Or maybe I just like you.”

Hoseok’s breath caught but it was too loud in the club for anyone to notice. Jimin’s eyes were glued onto his and he felt like if he didn’t look away now, he might do something very very stupid, so, suddenly, he grabbed his friend’s wrist and started dragging him outside. Jimin, who was too drunk to argue, just followed him blindly, and Hoseok didn’t stop until they were outside in the warm summer night air. When he stopped, he started scanning the street, full of passerbys and cars, as if he was looking for something.

“Hyung, where are we going?”

“I’m not going anywhere, but you’re going home” said Hoseok, as he finally spotted a taxi and waved it over.

“Why? I thought you liked me?” exclaimed Jimin, a hurt expression coming over his adorable face.

“I do.” replied the older boy, turning to look at him, “but I want you to tell me these things when you’re not drunk.” he added, seriously.

“Will you at least kiss me before I go?” pouted the drunk boy, like a little child.

Hoseok tried not to smile. He bit his lip, forcing himself to not give into temptation.

“No.” he finally replied, firmly, as he opened the taxi door to shove Jimin inside.

“Go home, Jiminie. I’ll see you soon.”

*

As they walked the last few steps towards her house, Insook had to admit that she’d had a pretty great evening. She turned to look at V, standing one step above him, making them nearly equal in height and smiled.

“Thanks for walking me home.”

“It was my pleasure, madam” said the boy, putting an arm in front of him and bowing at a 90-degree angle, like a butler.

Insook giggled.

“How will you get home though? I’m pretty sure we took the last train!”

“I’ll walk,” he shrugged, “or take a taxi. Don’t worry about it” he waved her off, “I had a really good time tonight.”

“Me too” she replied, returning his smile.

They stood staring at each other for a while, both not really knowing what to say now that the night had come to an end. Insook was surprised to find herself wishing it could last a little longer.

“Well,” she said finally, breaking eye contact, “bye then.”

“Bye.”

She climbed the last step and took out her keys to unlock the door, looked back at him and waved. He waved back, grinning, and bounced a step down backwards, still looking at her, and then another, and another, which made her chuckle.

She waved at him again and unlocked the door. As she turned back to look at him, she saw he was still walking backwards, doing grand waving gestures at her and shouting “byyyee!!”

She mimed for him to tone it down since he was being really loud in the middle of a residential area at night, but couldn’t help laughing at his silliness.

“Ok.” he shout-whispered, “bye!”

“Bye!”

And then he turned and finally started walking the normal way, but he turned after only a few steps to see if she was still looking at him, and flashed her a big smile and another wave when he saw that she was. She waved back and made shooing motions at him as she laughed. So he turned back, but again, he turned to look at her and repeated the gesture, making her laugh again.

“Taehyung, go home!” she shouted, as quietly as she could, amidst her giggles.

Then he pretended to let his shoulders slump in defeat and started taking dragging steps away from her house. He e last time, to give her a little wink, and finally started walking away normally.

Insook shook her head and was about to take a step into her house when she suddenly noticed him stop dead, turn around and run back towards her. It took only a few seconds for him to close the distance between them, taking the steps two at a time, and once he was in front of her, he just grabbed her head between his hands, suddenly, but surprisingly softly, and planted a big kiss on . As he pulled back, he looked at her super intensely, hands still on either side of her head, before flashing her a huge rectangular eye smile, and then taking off at a run, giggling like a little child who had just pulled off a prank and grinning like an idiot.

Insook was too stunned to give any kind of reaction, but when he yelled at the top of his lungs, “Insookiiiiiie!!! Goodnight!!!” from a block away, she couldn’t help but smile.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi guys!

Sorry this was such a long time coming, but I'm back in Japan now so hopefully the updates will come a little quicker!

Actually, I really like this chapter. I think the Ji-Hope scene is probably one of my favorite things that I've ever written! And I actually wrote it quite a long time ago, So I was eager to share it with you guys!
I hope you like it!

AoH