“What do you want to eat guys?” Irene eonni asked while opening the fridge.

“Hmm . . . chicken?” Yeri answered. She has finally been released from the hospital but the doctor said she needs to rest for a few more days before she can resume her activities.

“I want grilled chicken, eonni,” Joy added and Irene eonni frowned because they were teasing her again. She really hates chicken but when we want some, she doesn’t hesitate to cook for us.

Wendy and I were just watching the two maknaes. Wendy was monitoring Yeri since she was trying to study English to cover some songs, while Joy was watching our performance videos as usual.

“Whoa!” Joy exclaimed and the four of us looked at her.

“Why? Why?” we asked in unison and she pointed at her laptop.

“Daebak! Our performance in Melon Music Awards got the highest rating, even higher than the whole show,” she said with her widened eyes.

“Really? As in for real? Whoa!” Wendy jumped out of excitement and ran to Joy’s place, while Yeri carefully walked to them. Irene eonni and I joined them and saw the article about us.

As a fairly new group in the industry, we were really surprised and grateful at the same time, for this achievement. Senior groups and more famous groups also attended the event so for us, it’s quite unbelievable.

“Should we celebrate this with some pizzas?” Irene eonni said with a smile and all of us nodded.

“Ahh, this eonni just avoided cooking chicken,” Joy commented and Irene eonni’s sly smile confirmed her real motive.

“Okay, I’ll order the pizza. Wendy-ya, Seulgi-ya,” she said while looking at us. “Buy some drinks. “You two.” She pointed at Joy and Yeri. “Clean the living room so we can eat comfortably.”

The five of us started to do our tasks. Wendy and I wore our jacket and cap and Irene eonnie gave us the money.

“We’ll be back!” Wendy shouted as we headed towards the door.

“What should we buy?” I asked when we finally left the dorm.

“Canned fruit drinks?” I suggested and she agreed.

“Okay.”

We trudged along the quiet road and went to the nearest convenience store but we were dumbfounded when we saw that it was closed. We immediately contacted Irene eonni but her line was busy.

“What should we do?” I asked, still flustered.

“Shall we go to the mall?” Wendy proposed while pointing at the direction of the nearest mall.

“O-okay,” I said hesitantly since we don’t usually go to malls especially when we aren’t with our manager eonni or oppa. In addition, along with Irene eonni, we’re both homebody so we’re not really familiar with the places here even though we’ve been living here for a few years.

In the end, we decided to go since we don’t want to bring nothing. We took the bus and I silently prayed that nothing bad will happen.

When we finally reached our destination, we quickly got out and brought down our caps to avoid being discovered. Good thing was we were wearing jackets so people won’t notice our figures but my hair was the problem. It was too noticeable so I quickly hid it inside my cap.

When we got inside the supermarket, we walked straight to the beverage section and picked up five flavored drinks, along with some snacks, though we initially planned to only buy drinks since we’ll be moving to our new dorm in a week and we don’t want to have food stocked inside the fridge.

We paid for the food and were about to go home when a familiar song suddenly played inside the store. BTS’ new hit song, Blood, Sweat, Tears started playing and several people stopped moving for a moment and began to sing or dance along. Wendy and I also jammed along since the song is really good.

We were about to leave the mall but Wendy froze upon seeing the instrument store.

“Whoa,” she mouthed, and she looked like hypnotized by all the instruments available. She looked at me with her pleading eyes and I just laughed because she’s too cute.

“Okay, okay. How about you go inside and I’ll go to the bookstore?” I suggested and she furrowed her brows.

“Why? What will you buy there?”

“I need a new set of pencils.”

“Ah. For your artworks.”

I really love sketching and drawing and these days, I’m falling in love with different styles like pointillism and charcoal painting.

“Okay. Let’s do this for just twenty minutes or else, Irene eonni will kill us,” she said and I nodded.

She went inside the store while I marched towards the bookstore. When I arrived, I went straight to the artwork section and bought some art supplies, then I suddenly remembered my oppa. His birthday is near and I still don’t know what to give. Well, he likes comics and manga so those should suffice.

I went to the book section and it was almost empty, though, that’s reasonable since it’s Monday and the students must be in their respective schools. Strolling around, I found the comic books section and ran towards it but I halted when I saw someone looking through the books. He’s wearing a black cap, which was hiding a blonde hair, a jacket and scarf, almost similar to mine, so I was taken aback. When he turned at my direction, I froze and I don’t know what to do.

My mind went blank for a moment and I just decided to shrug it off. I pulled one comic book and inspected it, hoping that he didn’t caught me looking. But that style was familiar, though I can’t remember anyone who fits. Judging by the way he tried to hide his blonde hair and his face, I’m pretty sure that he’s a celebrity. Due to my curiosity, I quickly glanced at his direction but I was surprised when he was also looking at me. We looked away, almost at the same time, and I finally realized who he was.

He’s Jimin-ssi of BTS.

My heart was racing and what happened during the MMA appeared in my mind. God, I didn’t expect him to be here!

I nervously traced the spines of the comics to shift my focus but I saw him doing the same thing as he gets closer to the shelves where I am. I was about to pull a comic book but I didn’t notice the two kids running behind me. They bumped into me and quickly said their sorry but my cap flew from my head and suddenly, I felt exposed. My orange-to-almost-brown hair color was uncovered and I heard some students coming at our direction. My cap flew to the other side of the shelf and I wanted to run there but my body didn’t listen. I stood frozen and panic started to overwhelm me.

“Ya! I told you not to run inside the bookstore!”

“Leave them alone. We should enjoy this heaven.”

“Well, you’re kind of right but I want to read in peace.”

“Oh. There’s a new volume of—oh. Wait. She looks familiar.”

Panic started to overwhelm me after hearing that and when I saw them, in my peripheral vision, getting near me, I almost stopped breathing.

“Who?”

“That girl . . .”

“I think I’ve seen her before.”

“Really? Maybe she’s a celebrity? An idol?”

I was ready to run away but an arm was suddenly wrapped around my shoulder and a cap covered my hair and head. Even though I didn’t see his face, I knew that it’s Jimin-ssi. I looked up and saw him upclose. Now that his cap was on me, only the hood of his jacket covered it while the scarf concealed half of his face. My heart was beating crazily and I don’t know if it was because of the students . . . or him.

“Jagiya,” he said while smiling at me. “Are you still deciding what to buy?”

Hearing him say ‘jagiya’ made me blush and for a second, all I can hear was the thumping sound of my heart.

“Eeyy, she’s just a normal girl,” one of the students said.

“Right. No idol would walk casually inside a bookstore with a guy.”

“But . . .”

“Knock it off. How can you know she’s an idol if you don’t listen to mainstream music?”

“My sister listens to them! I just thought that she looks like an idol.”

Listening to them made me uncomfortable that I held onto his jacket and I think he was surprised since he flinched.

“O-o-ppa,” I called, looking at him, and it was embarrassing since I am older than him. “I-I want this,” I stuttered while pulling one of the comic books in front of us.

“O-okay. Let’s go and buy that,” he said and we started to walk away, his arm still around my shoulder.

My nervousness didn’t subside and the tension between us kept on rising until we arrived at an empty corner of the bookstore. He let go of my shoulder but I can’t look straight at him.

“You can use that for the mean time,” he said while avoiding my eyes.

“B-but how about . . .” I trailed off while looking at his eye-catching hair.

“Ah, this? Hmm . . .” All of a sudden, he pulled my cap out of his jacket and I was surprised to see that. Did he get that after it fell off my head?

I was about to suggest to use our own caps but my phone suddenly rang and saw Wendy’s name on the screen. That was when I realized that it has been thirty minutes since we got separated.

“Omo.” I looked at him and our eyes met. “I . . . I need to go,” I said but I remembered his cap.

“Go,” he replied and this time, he didn’t avert his gaze. “I’ll get my cap back someday,” then he smiled.

Since I didn’t have a choice and he already turned around, I decided to leave. I held onto his cap and while walking towards Wendy, what happened earlier replayed in my mind.

“Seems like something good has happened,” Wendy remarked with a teasing smile.

“Hmm?”

“Why are you smiling like that? And . . . wait! Is this your cap?”

“N-no.” I avoided her eyes and tried hard to suppress my smile.

“Omo, omo, omo. This girl. Something is fishy. Tell me what happened!” she insisted but I started walking.

“Let’s go. Irene eonni must be looking for us.”

“Ya! Tell me!”

I usually tell Wendy a lot of things but this time, I want to keep it to myself. Aside from the fact that they’ll tease me, I want to treasure that moment because it showed his true personality. For the first time, I want to know more about someone.

Jimin-ssi is a kind and interesting person, after all.

-------