It was the same. The type of music he played was the same as before. And for some reason that made me smile a bit to myself. If there’s something that he is, at least it’s true to himself. I spent the night weaving between the fans, snapping shots of the full arena and of the entire band beneath the streaming lights, some of Taehyung intensely singing into the mic and not going to lie – a few of Jimin as his fingers glided along the keyboard.

As the last audience members filed out into the parking lot, I leaned against the back wall scrolling through the pics I took.

Taehyung bounded up the stairs, his hair a little slick from sweat. He leans over my shoulder, a little too closely, to be honest. “You do know you shouldn’t take a picture of only one member.” I scoff and scroll past the picture of Jimin. “I took some of all of you. See this one came out really well.” He leaned forward to get a better look and I felt his hair graze my neck, which made me a bit uneasy. I clear my throat and pull away.

“Not gonna lie, you guys did pretty good so just for dinner tonight I was thinking I’d-“

“Taehyung!” The same drummer that I saw with him earlier climbs up the steps toward us. Her glossy black hair tied back with a blue bandanna. “We’re all gonna grab some dinner. Coming?”

“Of course.” He smiled, the kind of smile where his nose scrunches up.

The girl glances between me and Taehyung sweetly as if waiting for an introduction. “Oh this is…” He paused and I was pretty darn curious what he was gonna say. His ex-girlfriend? His current roommate?

“Our photographer.”

My jaw almost drops in shock.

“Her name’s, Leah. She’s an old friend.” 

I extend an arm toward the girl and shake her hand. “Nice to meet you.” I murmured back.

He turns to follow his bandmate backstage before swiftly turning back around to me. “Oh yeah, weren’t you saying something earlier, Leah?”

Both of them look my way with such expectant, sparkling eyes that it caught me off guard. What I was going to say, was nothing….just that in honor of his event, I’d make a meal for us. Not worth mentioning really. So instead I shook my head and waved them off. “No, it’s nothing. I’ll head home then.” They both send me a good-bye and head away from me.

Well, whatever. I’ll let him have his fun. As for me, I was just looking forward to a nice warm bath in my apartment before getting some sleep. Thinking back, I didn’t get much sleep during my business trip mostly because of my darn curiosity. But now that I have no more questions, there shouldn’t be anything on my mind.

But even so, for some reason, I don’t move to leave. Instead, watching the backs of those two until they disappear behind the curtain.

THE NEXT MORNING

I step out of the fog from my morning shower and wrap the towel around my body. With one hand, I smudge a spot in the mirror for my reflection. As I reach for my hair products and begin to rake them through my black locks, I started humming, my thoughts traveling back to last night. The concert, the lights illuminating the whole arena, the cheers from the crowd and Taehyung on the stage. For some reason, the thought brought a slight smile to my face. It was a fun night, wasn’t it? How did that last song go? The one that was my favorite.

I pulled the hairbrush to my lips and mouthed the lyrics that Taehyung had belted out. My fun quickly turned into a full-on dancing session as I moved back and forth in front of the mirror.

Then the door flew open.

The sight of a messy brown head of hair, made me throw my brush into the air. Taehyung’s face fell into shock as I clutched my towel and screamed. “Get out. Get out. Now!”

“Sorry, Leah. I didn’t know you were in here. I didn’t know you were…dancing. Sorry”

He closed the door quickly, but the embarrassment was still burning hot on my cheeks. Taehyung! I hide my face between my hands and silently decide to never come out of the bathroom again.

*

“Listen, I thought I clearly said that I have my shower time in the morning and yours is at night.”

“Yeah, but I really needed to go to the restroom…” He backed down when he saw the scowl on my face. And I, now fully clothed, was standing with my hands on my hip, shaking my head.

“That reminds me, how long do you plan on staying here? Last you said it would only be a month but you’re pushing three weeks already and I don’t see any sign of you moving out.”

“My house situation is still up in the air, but it’s not like you have a new roommate either, right?”

I winced, he got me there. I put up notices at the university, at Jin’s café and even posted about it on social media but there’s been no bites. “That’s my situation. I’ll figure it out.”

“I promise I won’t make anymore mistakes, but please let me stay here a little longer? At least until you find a new roommate.” I didn’t need to look at him to know he had put on that innocent angel face.

“If anything happens like that again, that’s it. Understand.”

“Completely. But.” I saw a devilish smile creep up his face. “Did you really like that song?”

My cheeks suddenly went an embarrassing shade of pink, as I cleared my throat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I did my best to shuffle toward my room but he jumped off the couch and followed me. “I saw you…” He mimicked me singing into the hairbrush and I rolled my eyes with a sigh. He laughed and I elbowed him out of my way. But then the vibration of my cellphone, made me pause as I bring the phone to my ear. Taehyung leaned over to get a look, but I quickly shoed him off my shoulder.

“Karen, you called!”

“How’s the ex-boyfriend scenario going?”

“It’s… going.” I turned to face Taehyung before closing the door behind me and taking a seat on my bed.

“Oh~” I could see her eyebrow raise even over the phone and it buried a frown into my face.

“No. not like that. I mean we’re getting along. Don’t even start with me.”

“Come on, Leah. How long has it been since you’ve even been on a proper date and now there’s a young handsome available guy in your apartment?” She drew voice out in a teasing manner.

“HAHA.” I couldn’t have made that laugh anymore sarcastic. “I already told you. Not this guy. He’s my natural enemy. It’s definitely not like that.”

I heard a pause on her end and could only assume her mind was winding with some kind of plan. Any silence from Karen is not a good thing. “Well, then who do I invite for your plus one to my beach party?” She finally said.

“Beach party?”

“Yeah, that’s why I called. For my first party in my new place, it’s gonna be a beach party. You’re obviously my first invite. And who knows maybe I’ll introduce you to some guys around my place. They seemed like a good match for you.”

I rolled my eyes.” Why are you acting like I’m so lonely?”

Her side went silent.

“Ok I’m a little lonely but not desperate.”

“Then bring someone with you. And it can’t be Jin, that’s cheating.”

Ugh where am I gonna find someone, I rolled over to my side on the bed, listening to her ramble about the party details. And then, for some reason, my mind flashed back to last night and the boy in the grey sweater. No, I shook that thought away. I don’t even know that guy and that would be weird considering it's Taehyung’s bandmate…

Why would it be weird though…?

“So you’re coming, right? I mean you’re always free so?”

“Yeah, I’ll come.”

“And you’ll bring a plus one, or else I’ll pair you up there. Okay?”

“Fine, I’ll bring a date.” I murmured.

“Perfect, talk to you later, Leah!” And with that, she hung up and I buried my face into my pillow. Why do I feel like I was just handed an impossible task? Find someone to bring? Like it was that easy. I spent a good four years without any kind of relationship so why did I think I could just pick someone up in a day. I’m probably as rusty as a junkyard car when it comes to talking to people. In fact, I was not that good in the first place. If Taehyung didn’t approach me first would I even have had a boyfriend before?

A knock on my door, made me jump out of my bed. Taehyung stood right outside my door, with a package of ramen in his hands. “Want some? To make up for my…mistake?” His lips spread into that characteristic boxy grin.

“Sure. But don’t use any of my ingredients this time.”

I just finished slurping up the last of my ramen, wiping the soup off my face with a napkin. Taehyung sat opposite me at the table, scrolling through his phone while throwing some quick glances my way. In fact, he had been doing that the entire time I’ve been sitting here. Not that I’m used to his weird behavior but what was it now?

Finally, he looked up from his phone and gestured me toward the chair beside him.

“Leah, come here. I have something to show you”

Does he truly think I will heed his every command like a little puppy? Any self-respecting woman would never run over to her ex just because he starts pouting like he’s doing right now. And would never inch beside him because his eyes started glimmering. And no way would someone with any once of pride finally give in when he puts his hands up to beg. There would be absolutely no way.

But there I was at his side, obviously a woman with no self-respect nor pride.

“I met a few friends last week. Do you know any of them maybe?” He started swiping through pictures on his phone, images of men in suits, with hair slicked back, then one in flannel and jeans, another with light hair and ears pierced, looking like they ranged from 20 to 30 yrs old. And his finger kept flicking to the right through what seemed an endless cycle of men.

I’ve been told I don’t get around much so maybe that’s why not one of those guys seemed like a familiar face. But seriously how many friends did he make so quickly?

“I don’t recognize any of these guys.”

He grunted with a tinge of annoyance. “But do you see anyone who, you know, catches your attention of something. Look at this guy. He looks like a strong, handsome guy, right? Don’t you think?”

“Well,” I analyzed the man on the screen “I guess he is kinda good looking but –“

And that’s when I saw the ghost of a smile flicker across his face. It vanished in a second, but I had caught it. There was no mistaking it.

Wait. Taehyung you can’t possibly be… There’s no way you could be…

“You’re trying to set me up!?”

He didn’t say anything just shrugged one shoulder. Of all the things he’s done, I never think he can get worse but here it is. I bolt to my feet holding a hand to my forehead as if it would help to calm myself down. “And what…” I try to say as non-threatening as I wanted to be. “What makes you think that I’d want that? Especially from you.”

“Sorry. I accidentally overheard your phone-call earlier and it sounded like you needed some help. It’s to make up for me overstaying my welcome.”

Breathe, Leah. My hands twitched at my side. Breathe. “You do realize how sad that looks for me? That my ex-b… that you have to help me get a date. Do I look that desperate to everyone? Even Karen, I swear.”

What was everyone’s deal? I’m single not broken or something.

“Sorry, Leah. I’ll let it go. ” He held his hands up in surrender. “I swear.”

Seriously though. I watched as a soft smile spread across his cheeks. Isn’t an ex-boyfriend, no matter how non-serious the relationship was, not supposed to smile so sweetly when trying to set you up with someone else. I mean… I bite my lip a bit. I don’t know what’s more frustrating. The fact that he did something like that or the fact that he’s so calm about it. I

Nevermind. Just forget about it, Leah.