Chapter 7 - Blabbermouth

“I’M STARVING!!!” announced J-Hope as he walked into the apartment, disrupting the two guys who were still working on their lyrics.

“Well hello to you too,” said Suga, in a flat voice, looking up from his paper.

J-Hope grinned.

“You know,” said Rap Monster, tossing his pen and paper on the coffee table in front of him, “he’s got a point. Maybe we should call it a day, eh?”

“Sure,” shrugged the red-headed boy, “I could eat.”

So they trouped out of the studio and walked a few blocks down to an area that had a lot of restaurants and decided on a samgyeopsal place. Because of the time, and since it was on a weeknight, the place was half-packed with already drunken salarymen talking loudly, but they still managed to find a table to sit them all at the back of the restaurant. The noisy atmosphere was a nice change from the quiet concentration they’d all been stuck into for the last few hours, and soon they were chatting just as noisily as everybody else.

After they’d chosen their meat, and placed their order with a hipster-looking waitress who wore big thick black glasses, Rapmon asked J-Hope how the dance practice had gone.

“Good!” exclaimed the forever-happy boy, “the kid’s got talent! He picked up everything super quick!”

“Will it be ready on time for Saturday?” asked Suga.

“Definitely,” replied J-Hope.

“Good, good” said Rapmon, nodding.

“And how’s it going on your end?” Suga turned to look at Rap Monster.

“Me?”

“Yeah, with your girl. Gotten into her pants yet?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, just as the waitress returned with their meat.

“Not yet, but it’s pretty much in the bag” said Rapmon, waving him off, as the waitress the burner and checked it.

“Oh? Last time you said it wasn’t going so well. I thought I was gonna be getting easy money from you!” added J-Hope, laughing loudly.

“Nah. You’ll be the ones paying up,” said Rapmon, shaking his head and leaning back in his seat, “I kissed her for like 5 seconds and she melted like putty in my hand,” chuckled the blonde-haired boy. “She pretty much thinks we’re dating now.”

“You’re cruel, man…” said Suga, shaking his head but he was smiling a little.

“Pfft… you’re the one who brought this on.” said his friend, and Suga just gave a little tilt of his shoulder, like he didn’t care.

“Will that be all??” asked the waitress suddenly, and rather curtly, snapping them out of it.

“Uhh, yeah, thanks” said Suga, looking up at her with a rather puzzled expression, and she walked off, looking pissed.

“What’s up with her?” wondered J-hope.

*

Nara slammed the door open as she walked back into the restaurant kitchen, making it swing back and forth violently for several seconds.

“Hey there, what the heck’s wrong with you?” Soonja asked her coworker, looking up from the plate of side-dishes she was preparing.

“High school kids are gross,” replied the bespectacled girl, walking over to the back counter to check her next orders.

“Did one of them hit on you again?” laughed the younger girl.

“No” replied her elder, “I just overheard them talking about some nasty .”

“Oh?”

“They have a bet going or something… he’s trying to get this girl to sleep with him, and if he wins they’ll pay him.”

“Eww, that’s so wrong.” Soonja made a disgusted face.

“My point exactly.” Said the other girl, matter-of-factly, “but the sad part is, the girl is apparently smitten with him and in total denial. I guess she’s kinda unpopular? Apparently he roped her into tutoring him for science or something, and then he kissed her while they were studying… can you believe that??”

Soonja looked up suddenly, her face falling. That story sounded oddly familiar. “These boys, you didn’t catch their names did ya?”

“No… but they were calling each other weird English names, I think… maybe they’re in a gang or something? They look like they could be… one of them’s got bleached blonde hair too.”

Soonja’s heart sank even further. What were the odds that this was NOT Sookie’s Rap Monster?

A bell pinged behind them, meaning a customer had called on them for service and they both looked up at the screen, which flashed the number 13.

“Speak of the devil, that’s them” said Nara, groaning.

“Hey, would you let me go instead? I want to see their stupid faces.”

“Sure. Knock yourself out” replied the other girl, dusting her hands off.

Soonja walked into the restaurant area and headed to table 13, where the 3 boys were sitting. “Yes?” she asked, stopping next to them.

“Hellll-lo!” said the blonde boy, noticing her and giving her a very obvious one-over. He then whistled, and she rolled her eyes, disgusted.

“You guys pushed the button, you want something or not?”

“Your number?” asked Rapmon and the other two started laughing.

“That’s not for sale”

“How about you just give it to me?” pleaded the boy, giving her a puppy face.

She looked at the other two instead, and the dark-haired one said “we’ll just have some more water, please”, trying to stifle his laughter.

She nodded and turned around right away, while Rapmon called “hey, don’t leave!!” behind her, to more chuckles from his friends.

Soonja slammed the door open just as violently as her friend had done just a few minutes ago.

“Charming, eh?” asked Nara.

“Yeah, you can have them back” said Soonja, pretending to gag, “They want some water.”

“Aaahh… thanks.” said her elder with a flat look, grabbing the pitcher before she left.

Soonja sunk down on a chair against the wall. ‘Poor Sookie…’ she thought, ‘how am I gonna tell her??’

***

“What’s up?” said Insook, “you said it was important?”

I was nearly 12pm and the two girls were sitting on Soonja’s bed, as usual. The prettier of the two kept fussing with the watch on her wrist, not knowing how to broach the subject, while her friend looked at her intently.

“Your Rap Monster… he has blonde hair?”

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“And these other kids in his group... One of them has bright red hair and a really serious face, and the other a long face and smiles too much?”

Insook nodded more carefully, “have I told you that before…?”

“Sookie, they came to the shop tonight.”

“They did?!” exclaimed the black-haired girl, surprised.

“Yeah and…” the brunette paused, looking away; not knowing how to tell her friend the truth.

 “Well, go on, what is it?” asked Insook, getting annoyed, and worried.

“They were talking about how they have this bet going on…” started Soonja, risking a glance at her friend before continuing, “…that Rapmon is trying to get this girl to sleep with him… oh Sookie, they were talking about you!”

It took a moment for Insook to process the news. And then instead of getting angry or shocked, as her friend expected, she just looked down at her hands, silently.

“Babe…” Soonja reached a reassuring hand towards Insook.

“It’s fine” replied Insook, shrugging her friend’s hand off of hers.

Her best friend gave her a look that was full of sadness, feeling awful at having been the one to make her feel that way.

“I should’ve known…” added the short girl, getting up.

“Where are you going?” asks Soonja.

“It’s late, I should go back.”

Insook’s face was completely devoid of emotion.

“Sookie…” pleaded Soonja, putting her hand on her shoulder, Insook just shook it off a second time.

“Don’t.” she shook her head, looking down, “just don’t.”

And then she walked out.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I knooooooow!!! I've made Rapmon into a horrible jerk! please don't hate me!!
I know he's not really like that... I actually love him so much! This is just for the sake of the story!! XP
But Insook finally found out! What will she do next??
Please stay tuned!