China Pt. 1

How to Lose Your Friends in Twelve Months (or the Trip heard ‘round the World)

Hour five

"Minseok hyuung" Jimin whined as the car pulled to a stop at yet another toll booth. "How much longer until we get to the airport?" When Minseok didn't answer he moved to jiggle the back of Taehyung's seat. "Taehyung, how much longer? I really need to go to the bathroom."

Taehyung squinted at Jimins declaration while Hakyeon snorted from his place in the back.

"Uh, it says here we only have one hour left." Jimin opened his mouth to make more noise when he caught a glare from Minseok, whom was cranky from lack sleep, before abruptly snapping his mouth shut.

The remaining hour of the drive was silent, and once the boys arrived at the airport they were rushing to catch their flight to Shanghai. Despite still having to use the restroom, Jimin kept quiet and stuck near Taehyung as they sped through customs.

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"Jimin wait!" Hakyeon yelled after the fast retreating back of said boy. Jimin had rushed off the plane and had dropped his things onto the floor as soon as they got to the terminal. With the rush to make the flight, paired with little sleep the previous night, Jimin had fallen asleep before the plane even taxied and remained asleep for the two hour duration of the flight. Meaning he had never made it to a bathroom. "Taehyung, follow him and make sure he doesn't get lost."

Taehyung looked at Hakyeon incredulously "why me?"

"Because" He responded "You were the one that found him. And you're the youngest, but you know." Taehyung pouted before turning to follow the path of distraught airport goers Jimin left in his wake.

Taehyung was looking down at his phone where he was currently texting a very lost Jimin, trying to pinpoint where his hyung was, when he hit a wall and crashed to the ground.

"How embarrassing" was Taehyung's first thought, until he saw he had not run into a wall, but an extremely tall man. "Again!? Why do I keep falling on attractive men at airports!?"

He attempted to stand, only to slip and be caught around the arm by the supermodel in front of him.

"Thank you." Taehyung managed to spit out without stuttering in embarrassment, "I'm Kim Taehyung, sorry for you know, that." He laughed awkwardly as the man before him said nothing, staring at Taehyung's eyes with a blank face.

After what felt like hours the other man spoke, "The names Kris. And you're fine, no need to apologize." With that he let go and walked away, Taehyung watching before he remembered Jimin.

20 minutes and two phone calls from a peeved Minseok later, because they have a schedule to keep come on, Taehyung arrived back at the terminal with a sheepish Jimin in toe. Before Jimin could apologize for taking off, Minseok grabbed him and started walking towards the exit. Hakyeon laughed and followed close behind, leaving Taehyung to shoulder his bags and run after them.

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Two days after the airport and more than halfway up the coast to Beijing, in the city of Jinan, Taehyung spotted Kris again. Without much thought he broke from his joking group to cross the street and say hello to Kris.

"Kris!" Taehyung said waving. "It's Taehyung, from the airport." Taehyung clarified at the other mans confused look.

"Oh, yeah, I remember you. What are you doing out here?" Kris seemed to be genuinely interested as to how and why he was seeing Taehyung again.

"Oh! Well my friends and I," He pointed to the group of boys stood on the opposite side of the street, whom were currently staring at Kris. "Are on a sponsored trip to find our Soul Mates. This is our third country, and we've already lost two people. " Taehyung informed the other. Something seemed to click in Kris' mind at those words, he nodded before speaking.

"Would you happen to have any space on your trip? You see, this is my second time around the country. I came here from Canada hoping my home country would bring me luck, but I haven't found anything. And I may be running out of money. It's fine if you don't, we don't really know each other after all." Taehyung's eyes widened as Kris' story progressed and he was quickly nodding his head.

"That's fine! I'm sorry you've had such poor luck." Taehyung turned and gestured for Kris to follow him, talking all the way. "You see the short one with the circle glasses? That's Jimin, we picked him up at the airport in Korea. So he's just like you!" As they arrived in front of the group he began introductions.

"This is Cha Hakyeon, he's very good at comebacks so I'd be careful" Taehyung laughed at his hyung's offended squawk before moving on. "This is Kim Minseok, he's the oldest and likes to give orders. I already told you about Jimin hyung, but his full name is Park Jimin." After the group introduced themselves Kris shook their hands one by one before introducing himself.

"Hello, I'm Wu Yifan, but I prefer Kris. I hope I'm not intruding on your trip." Smiles and assurances that he was doing no such thing were thrown around before the group started to walk again, getting to know their newest member along the way.

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The once again five member group made their way to Beijing without incident, spirits a bit dampened by the lack of results yielded in China.

"Cheer up guys!" Minseok tried to brighten the mood from his place in the passenger seat. "It looks like we are going to Moscow, Russia next. Granted we are only staying for two days, but then we start the European leg of the trip in Lisbon, Portugal! Fun right? I've always wanted to go to Europe."

But before anybody could answer Hakyeon's phone rang loudly.

"The Boys? Really hyung." Taehyung giggled from the front seat.

"Hey, it's a classic!" Hakyeon defended his ringtone before picking up "Hello? Jaehwan?! How are you?! Is that Guy nice? Are you back in Korea now? Wait hold on, I'll put you on speaker!"

Loud variations of "hello" were shouted before Jaehwan's static voice replied with equal enthusiasm.

"To answer your questions hyung, I'm fantastic! Taekwoonie is perfect and we got back a few days ago." Hakyeon seemed pacified by the response and went to continue his interrogation before Minseok spoke up.

"Have you heard from Yoongi?"

"Oh! Yeah he messaged me a few times after I told him about Japan and we saw each other on my way back to the city. His Soul Mate is very nice by the way-."

"This kid! After all we've been through and he never calls me? His favorite hyung!" Hakyeon whined in indignation before Minseok continued his rant. "I even called, and left messages! Why didn't he call back? What is he doing? I'm going to call him right now and if he doesn't answer you better go to wherever he is and make him call me!" Minseok whipped out his phone, pushing the screen harder than needed.

"Sorry? He said he didn't want to bother you guys, but now that I think about it that doesn't seem like something he'd do."

"I bet he just wanted some alone time with his Soul Mate." Jimin voiced from the back, wiggling his eyebrows at a frowning Minseok.

"Great, still nothing. I'm going to send him a text." Minseok started clicking rapidly and was surprised when he got a reply shortly after.

During the whole exchange, Kris had sat in baffled silence, looking around the car as Hakyeon rambled to Jaehwan and Minseok relayed information about how Yoongi was doing. Nobody was paying Kris any mind, with the exception of Jimin who just shrugged at him before continuing to talk with Jaehwan and Hakyeon. Kris eventually tried to catch Taehyung's eyes in the rear-view mirror, hoping for some sort of explanation only to be met with a laugh and a mouthed "welcome to the family."

 

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peggyw #1
Chapter 17: Lovely story; I especially love how you used characters from multiple groups!
Daffodill #2
Oh i already love it
Brehia101 #3
Chapter 17: And yay! Finally Tae found his soulmate. It was a longgg time coming, I was like when is Jungkook ever gonna get here? Especially since they are my favorite ship, so I was finally happy
Brehia101 #4
Chapter 16: Omg this whole time I had though Jimin's soulmate was probably J-hope and I was like "well that's a bit weird" but I was just gonna roll with it even though I was disappointed that it wasn't Suga and then turned out it WAS Suga this whole time. Gosh I was so happy! aha
Thelollipoptaesucks #5
Chapter 16: THIS HOLY I'M OUT THAT'S IT YOONMIN JUST HAPPENED I KNEW IT I KNEW IT HOLY MOLY I NEED A BREAK SINCE I STOOD UP 8 HOURS AGO I DIDN'T EVEN STAND UP SO THAT I CAN GET MY FOOD THESE BTS FF'S ARE RUINING MY LIFE I KNEW IT WAS A BAD IDEA TO READ FANFICTIONS AND I WAS RIGHT OH MY YOONMIN T^T
Thelollipoptaesucks #6
Chapter 13: I swear I'm litrally crying, I don't even know how to write properly... They were five boys at the beginning, who were friends for god knows how long, and now the only one who's left is Jimin and the only one they are really in touch Minseok and that's just sad af, because I'm actually wondering what the other BTS members are doing and I actually thought Jimin would end up with Yoongi and I'm just happy he didn't do Tae doesn't have to be alone...
Thelollipoptaesucks #7
Chapter 8: Oh my gosh, Minseok is 100% like Jin.
Pame10 #8
Chapter 1: first chapter is so good
Pame10 #9
whoa this sounds really good I'm really looking forward to start reading this I'm glad I stumble into this story it sounds amazing
dnotelover
#10
Chapter 17: Omg! I think I cried! This was beautiful!