Chapter 34: Hope ever urges on, and tells him tomorrow will be a better day.

“Seul! Don’t forget the rice, you don’t want those starving boys to eat side dishes only” she heard her mom hollered from the kitchen while Seul fixed her hair hurriedly. “Yes mom! Coming” with one final glance, she exited her room and lifted the heavy bags on the ground to be brought to studio where Bangtan had their filming.

Mrs Hwang looked unamused watching her daughter’s struggle “Are you sure, you don’t want Hoon to help you with those?” Hoon’s ears perked up in interest when he heard his name being called.

“Nuna won’t let me, she is possessive over her Bangtan oppas” Seul sneered, throwing daggers at Hoon’s away. Their mother nodded with an unknowing smile that annoyed her even more. The longer she stayed it would only give them the upper hand to make fun of her.

Sulkily, Seul pushed her body to the front door, slipping on her favourite sneaker “Tell your oppas that I say hi” she teased.

“Mom! Don’t gang up on me with Hoon. I am leaving” she pursed her lips into a pout, as she exited the apartment. Seul made her way to the studio with happy thoughts, and since she hadn’t seen the boys for weeks, it doubled her excitement.

Earlier that day she received a call from Manager Sejin who seek assistance from Seul since there was no available staff to handle Bangtan’s lunch. Considering that they had to reschedule the filming of their new music video earlier than they had planned, the team managed to get almost everyone on the set except one or two runners who supposed to look after the boys’ welfare during the filming.

That was how Seul came in, indeed she’s quite helpful at some point. Seul might be an amateur about how the industry work, but this young lady could adapt with her surrounding super-fast, which made her the perfect runner whenever Bighit in need of extra hands.

Arriving at the scene one hour before their lunch break, cheerfully, she skidded inside greeting the staffs along her way. Some staffs that she used to work together in Las Vegas before looked excited and happy to see her again. As soon as her eyes landed on Semmy, the head stylist, her smile turned into a wide goofy grin “Unnie!” she walked over to the older woman.

“Seul, oh god! Good to see you again. I heard from Sejin that you are coming, are those the boys’ food I see inside the bags?” she showed off her cute dimple smile.

“Glad to see you again unnie! Yes, it is theirs. Where can I place this?” Seul beamed while her eyes scanned the huge indoor studios until it stopped on the set not far from her. The set looked pretty colourful with a touch of galaxy and universe element around them, she assumed the concept was different from their previous comeback. Scuff marks on the floor was evident which simply means they had went through the dance non-stop since god knew when.

Those hardworking babytans would not let take anything for granted.

“Their waiting room, the boys are having their shoot next door. There is another set which is like this. Let me help you” Semmy offered to carry one of the bags and led the way to the waiting room. Seul could hear loud music beyond the wooden wall and to know that the boys were there put her heart at ease at least.

Placing the bag down, Seul carefully took out the lunchboxes one by one setting it on the empty table with a soft smile. Obviously, it was past their lunch time, she wondered how they got their energy to dance hard without having proper food.

“You can wait here, they will finish in an hour maximum, so let me know if you need anything. I need to check on them” Semmy packed necessary items inside her small pouch hanging loosely around her waist. Glancing at the clueless girl, she finally cracked another sweet smile as if she could read Seul’s mind.

Semmy let out a soft chuckle “It would be great if you are willing to help me, assisting the boys. Are you up for it?” upon hearing the offer, it only took her five seconds to respond with so much enthusiasm.

“Yes! Can I help? I don’t think it will be fun to sit here alone” the latter then smiled shyly.

“Of course, Seul. I would love to have you back in my team even it is for this period only, lets go. Bring extra facial tissues and compact powder, you may need to dry off their sweat” Seul obeyed the charismatic head stylist and quickly picked up necessary items before setting off with her to the other side of the world.

The world with sweet manly scent.

There was no doubt this thick smell in the air was made for manly men like Bangtan, fresh and musky.

Semmy and Seul were greeted by friendly smiles from the staffs who seemed busy cleaning the black scratches on the floor, and few men were fixing the lights at the corner which was used for the filming. Her eyes once again wandered around to find the exact faces that she had been dying to see since weeks ago. Stood behind the director were Namjoon, Hoseok and Yoongi looking serious in their discussion.

On the other hand, Taehyung and Jimin were sitting side by side getting pampered by their stylist noona. Those two were sweating so much that they had to dry off the jackets that they wore so it could be worn again for the next take. Meanwhile, Jin and Jungkook were nowhere to be seen near them. They were off to washroom or something, she thought.

Sunshine Hoseok was the first one who noticed her presence there and threw the warmest smile ever. It did not stop right there, like a flash, she saw him already making his way toward her, pulling the small girl into his embrace “I missed you” he whispered earnestly.

“I thought it was a one-sided thing. I missed you too Hobi. So much!” she returned the hug as passionate as his. “Seul, you look thinner. Did you overwork yourself?” Seul pulled away from the hug and stared at the leader with a scoff.

“Speak for yourself Namjoon-ssi. Look at you guys! It is not even a month, and you guys looks skinnier than the last time I saw you. How is this possible?” she exclaimed in disbelief. For an odd reason, Yoongi stood stiffly there behind the director without moving an inch. Neither did he greet Seul nor he smiled like he usually did. Seul couldn’t help but to notice Yoongi’s odd behaviour, it seemed a little off to her.

Did she do something to upset him?

Or was it the stress from this filming messing his mind?

“It is promotional period missy; therefore, it is normal for us to appear healthy and good in front of Armys” an arm slung around her shoulder from her right-side startling her, then she realized it was Kim Seokjin.

“Jinnie!” her eyes twinkled in happiness to finally see that handsome man again this close to her. It was obvious among the boys, only Jin didn’t go through such a drastic change. Deep down inside she’s glad to see everyone looking healthy and energetic just that she wouldn’t never understand why it mattered to lose a little weight during their promotional period.

Absurd.

The boys looked damn fine, they didn’t need to lose weight just because of this.

Namjoon lost not a little but quite a lot of his signature baby fats around his cheeks. It was one of her favourite area that she adored the most because whenever the older guy smiled, his cute dimple matched that chubby cheeks of his. Like it was meant to be that way. His face glowed up ten times more with the presence of those cheeks.

Jin squished her shoulder, smiling from ear to ear “I missed you Seul. Are you doing fine without us?” if anyone could see the obvious jealousy in Yoongi’s eyes, they would probably think the man might be able to crush Jin’s bones using that fiery eyes of his.

To her distaste, she could feel Yoongi hard gaze on her and before she could turn to find him, he was already gone. Her lips slightly parted, sighing inwardly. Seul returned her attention to Jin and chatted with him to erase the uneasiness in her for the time being. Her body was used to the job as Semmy’s temporary assistant. Moving fluidly around assisting Semmy with the boys’ hair and outfits, Seul still got the momentum.

Seul returned to the set with a new jacket that was meant for Jungkook. They had finished their group shots and were left with individual shot before having a short break. Walking up to Taehyung, Seul inquired him the maknae whereabouts “Jungkook is sitting there, waiting for his turn” he blinked and pointed out at the direction near to Jimin’s individual shot.

“I got this, thanks Tae!” she grinned.

Stealthily, she approached the figure sitting cross legged on the floor with his back facing her “Jungkook-ah” she called out softly. When she earned zero response from him, she furrowed her brows and crouched down in front of him.

Seul was surprised to see Jungkook dozed off in that position. He looked dead- exhausted and fragile in this state, poor guy. She rested her chin on top of her knees, as she scrutinized the man in front of her, admiring his perfect facial feature. If and only they were in a room alone, she would love to feel his soft skin at the tip of her fingers.

She expelled of a soft sigh, mentally scolding herself for being inconsistent with her feelings. Seul realized, this thing must be stopped. Leading them on would only cause pain in the future, with that she had to make up her mind soon.

There was a small movement coming from him as his nose scrunched up cutely and his head was tilted to the side slightly. With Seul quick reflex, she placed her palm under Jungkook’s chin to keep his head still, so he won’t hurt his neck when he woke up. She stayed like that ignoring her already sore arms.

Seul was lost in her own little world for her to notice every pair of eyes in the room were on both of them. Some of the staffs were already whispering at the corner, questioning their closeness. Even the busy bee Jimin stole few seconds of his time to witness the scene not far from him with a deep frown.

Semmy flicked Jimin’s forehead earning a soft whine from the cute guy “You are so obvious. Stop frowning” she teased.

“I didn’t do anything” he protested.

“Yes, you did. I smelled something burnt”

“What?” bewildered, Jimin eyes the older woman suspiciously.

A playful smirk spread across her face “Your heart it is burning” she poked fun while her fingers did her job, fixing her blond lock back to its original state. Jimin pressed his plump lips together into a thin line, ignoring Semmy’s tease to appear professional.

Five minutes later, Jungkook was awoken by the loud noise came from Namjoon and Jin. Those two brats were basically fooling around on the dance floor, having their so called mini dance battle. Unamused by the interruption, his eyes fluttered opened only to be welcomed by Seul’s face. Jungkook blinked his eyes making sure he wasn’t dreaming. Her pale, skinnier face was serene.

“Yah..” that was the first thing came out from his beautiful lips.

Cringing, Seul raised one of her brows, tossing Jungkook a questionable expression. “Yah? That is not how you greet your nuna!” she removed her hand hastily from his chin.

“Nuna? Since when you are my nuna?” he rolled his eyes.

“Jeon Jungkook. You are becoming rude. Why are you sleeping like this? Get proper seat and take a short nap” she gave him a light pat on his back.

“It is okay nuna, since you are doing me a favour like this. I don’t mind sleeping all day” he clucked his tongue inside his mouth. Seul ruffled his hair and arose from her feet “Enough fooling around Jungkook, it is your turn soon. Take off your jacket” he looked at her with admiration.

Jungkook rubbed the back of his neck, while keeping that arrogant smirk of his “Nuna, you are so sly and straightforward. Can it wait till we are alone?” her eyes widened in pure horror.

“No, you idiot. Take off your jacket so you can wear the new one for your individual shot. God, you are impossible Jeon Jungkook. Who corrupts your innocent brain?” she flicked his forehead, scolding the younger guy.

He puckered his lower li