[Suga's POV]

                  Tae Bi and I walked to the bedroom after having dinner. I bring out my laptop and wait for Jin hyung to answer my video call. Tae Bi is still busy fixing herself at the bathroom even though there’s no need for her to do that because she’s always beautiful. In just a minute, the black screen shows Jin and the other members. When we realize that we’re connected to each other, we all wave our hands.

                “Hey man!”

                “We’re connected!”

                “Hyung!”

                “Where’s Stef?”

                All their greetings are thrown at me at once, that’s why I don’t know who to greet first so I just say, “How’s everyone doing?”

                Jimin’s trying hard to fit his face on the screen but V keeps on pushing him. J-Hope suddenly blocks the camera with his cheek and someone pushes him away. Jin hyung, who’s in the middle, looks a bit agitated so he tells everyone to calm down. I don’t see Jungkook.

                “So hi, how are you there?” hyung asks me. “Have you guys eaten?” Everyone has settled down but it’s obvious that they’re looking for Tae Bi. 

                “Yes. We just had chicken soup and omurice,” I answer. Tae Bi comes out from the bathroom and we exchange looks about the start of the video call she’s waiting for. She changed to her pink PJs which matches mine. I’m sure the members would notice this couple item we got.

                “You cooked it?” Jimin asks me. “Or did Stef?”

                “She cooked it, of course. I don’t have Jin’s hands,” I jokingly say. Tae Bi finally sits beside me and the boys shout their ‘hi’s to the lady.  That’s when Jungkook shows himself to the camera. He sits beside Jin so he could give himself a better look of Tae Bi.

                “Hello there,” Rap Monster sends his greetings to Tae Bi and smiles.

                “Hi RapMon. It’s really my pleasure to have a live chat with you, guys,” she happily replies to the members. I hold her hand and find it really cold, maybe because of excitement or she’s just nervous. “I’m hyperventilating right now actually, but I’m wearing a very cool camouflage so that you won’t see the fangirl inside.” She jokes and to that, all of us laugh.

                “How cool of you,” J-Hope speaks. “So how was it? Hanging out with hyung?”

                “Have you slept together?” Jimin butts in. His question makes me blush because I remember what we just did on the couch earlier.

                Tae Bi nods bluntly but I could feel that she’s also caught off guard by Jimin’s words. “We had. We just slept. That’s it.”

                “Ooh,” The three musketeers, V, Ho Seok and Jimin, nod their heads in unison slowly as if they’re expecting for Tae Bi to say more. These kids, really.

                “Cut it off. Whatever you have in your filthy heads,” I scold them but they burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?”

“Don’t mind them,” Jin hyung finally focuses the cam on him. Jungkook remains still and quiet beside at his side. “So when are you guys returning here?”

                Tae Bi and I look at each other. If I’m selfish, I would never come back to Seoul and face noisy people. But I’m not born to do that, so I ask Tae Bi if we could come back the day after tomorrow. She immediately nods and I see no trace of selfishness on her response.

                “The day after tomorrow. Give us one more day to prepare,” I tell them. Hyung nods.

                “Then we’ll tell manager. He seems to be in a better mood right now because people outside the company building are thinning.” Jin shares good news to us, and I see the others nodding their heads.

                “That’s nice to hear. Well, I hope he would still be in a good mood once we got back there,” I reply. Tae Bi holds my hand tighter and I give her a don’t-worry smile. I’m so prepared to face this kind of trial or should I say excited?

                “Alright, we’ll talk of many things when you get here. Take care, both of you,” hyung smiles and I know that one’s for Tae Bi because it’s too gentle and charming. “It’s nice to see you two together.”

                “Thanks,” Tae Bi politely answers back and her smile never leaves her face. “I’m not sure if I would be able to sleep tonight because of this. I’m ecstatic right now.”

                Nam Joon laughs, “Well, that’s for Yoon Gi hyung to solve. You should take a rest in his loving arms,” he acts out sleeping in his own arms and look like a fool. The three chipmunks laugh at his enactment, so does Tae Bi.

                “Okay, that’s enough,” I tell them because that’s obviously banter towards me. “We have to rest now and I won’t tell you how it feels like to be madly in love.” I boast as if it would help me win this small talk.

                V replies me with his own version of “you’re in danger” line from our Danger song. Very funny.

                “Bye Stef! Be careful of that guy. He looks cute but when you’re alone with him, he-”

                “Hey!” I cut Jimin off from his nonsense speech and roll my eyes. The members, of course, just laugh along with Tae Bi. I feel lighter instead of blushing because Tae Bi is happy. I don’t care if they make fun of me or throw jokes at me as long as it will bring laughter to the girl I love.

                “Bye everyone, and good night,” Tae Bi bows and she waves her hand.

                “We can’t wait to see you in person,” Nam Joon tells his last words before Jin hyung ends the conversation.

                I fold the laptop and put it inside the bag. Tae Bi is still giggling.

                “Thanks for that. I won’t forget this. You guys are really hilarious even if you’re not filming,” she tells me and I am flattered. She might also figure out soon the naughtiness of everyone – especially J-hope and V – once they all meet in person. I can’t wait for it. “By the way, can I borrow your phone? I just remembered I left my phone at Namsan and I’m sure it’s already broken. I have to contact my parents.”

                “Yeah sure,” I quickly hand my phone to her. The smile on her face is slowly dying as she taps on my phone. She seems like thinking of the right words to say to her parents. I’m thinking that it’s my responsibility to explain to her mom and dad about her whereabouts.  Well, I thought she’s going to call them and talk over a lot of things, but after a few seconds of tapping, she gives back my phone.

                “Thanks. And please notify me if they replied,” she says with her sweetest smile I find fake because of anxiety on it.

                “Sure,” I stiffly answer back, because I don’t know how to start a conversation about her family. I’m afraid she might get broken and cry again. I don’t want it to happen anymore. “I’ll take the floor, you sleep there.” I continue despite the fact that we already slept together last night. Well, last night’s different because she was crying and I remained by her side to provide comfort.

                I spread a blanket on the floor and Tae Bi gives me a pillow.

                “Okay,” she nods as she lies down quietly. I knew it. She’s sad again. One more thing I discovered about her since we get in a relationship is that, she’s so quick at changing her mood. She’s happy now and then sad later. But her beauty and benevolence never change. As her boyfriend, I should be a steady bridge for her so that she won’t fall to depression and get hurt by the ground of the past. I should always make myself able to make her happy.

So instead of lying on the floor and rest, I sit on the edge of the bed, beside her.

                “Something’s bothering you,” I tell her and take her hand. “Tell me what it is.”

                She gives me a small smile but her eyes won’t look at me. “Nothing worries me that much. My parents in States, maybe.”

                “What about them?” I ask and she moves to the right to give a space. Even if she didn’t insist me to lie next to her, I know that the space is for me. I pick up the pillow from the floor and put my arm under her head. Even the smell of her hair is really hypnotizing.

                “Well, what should I tell them about my relationship with you? I mean, how should I tell them? Mom loves Peter so much and she would get mad at me for breaking up with him.” She sighs and palms her forehead.

                What? That makes her stressed? If I’m in her shoes, maybe I won’t worry that much because the only solution to that dilemma is to say the truth bluntly, and with politeness of course. Is the fact that Peter betrayed her not enough to make her parents mad at the guy and be satisfied at the same time because their daughter broke up with him? “How about we call them? And tell them we’re doing perfectly fine?” I suggest, hoping that it would brighten her up.

                Sadly, she shakes her head. “No. That’s not the center of the problem. Mom would surely go berserk if she finds out that Peter and I broke up. I’m so afraid to tell her that Charmaine betrayed me by stealing Peter. She treats Charmaine like her daughter. How would she react about these things?” finally, she looks up to me.

                I caress her hair and smile, showing that I’m not worried of anything. How I wish my fighting spirit could reach her as well. “Why don’t we wait for their reply? Then we could deal with it right away. I could help you with that. Don’t worry,” I kiss her forehead and she smiles, too.

                She embraces me and don’t answer back. Just like that, we remain quiet for minutes. I have to admit that it really feels good to hug Tae Bi without wearing Brown’s heavy mascot. Pieces of lyrics are starting to form in my head, and maybe I could produce an album with songs that only talk about her and her uniqueness among the other girls in the whole world. Definitely, it would be sold-out in just a day.

                I thought she has gone asleep because of her calm breathing and the fact that we’re not moving for almost 30 minutes.

                “Suga, may I ask you a question?” she speaks in a room of silence. Her voice remains my favorite genre of music.

                “What is it?” I start to smooth her hair again to keep her talking.

                “Believe me, I don’t want to include this in any of our business anymore, but how did you know Peter and Charmaine?” she asks, not looking at me. Her arm is still over my chest. “Umm…you know Charmaine because she was the MC on the day of your special concert. But how about Peter?”

                I thought she didn’t want to talk about those two anymore, but maybe curiosity attacked her so I have to go with it, too. “That Peter?” I even let out a chuckle mentioning his name in this quiet room. Thinking of his face just want me to punch his nose. “Well, that bastar-” oops, I have to stop myself from saying bad words in front of Tae Bi. It’s so inappropriate, especially in times like this. I clear my throat to cover up my mistake. “Well, do you remember this weird taxi driver you encountered at the airport?”

                I’m so sure she would remember that man because I looked weird that time.

She stays quiet, thinking deeply. And then she nods. “Yes. I remember. That driver who looks so scary because his face is covered with-” something surprises her that she quickly gets up and looks at me. “Wait, was that you? That weirdo driver?”

                I try not to look happy because she guessed it right. Instead, I raise an eyebrow. “Are you sure? What makes you think I would do that?” I ask.

                “Well, isn’t the fact that you’re my stalker enough?” she raises an eyebrow, too, and smirks. I find it y. So she sees me as a stalker, huh.

                I laugh and sit up across from her. She waits for me to continue my story so I cross my legs and proceed. “Well, you’re right. I was that weirdo driver slash stalker of yours.” She laughs to that because she couldn’t believe an idol like me would stalk a fan like her. Sounds ironic, but it’s sweet. “When I first saw you, I got this crazy feeling of not letting you out of my sight so I did the most insane thing to do: be a stalker.”

                “You call that insane?” she cuts me and I know I said the wrong term.

                “Okay, I’m insane. But what I did is a modern way of courting you. I guess,” I say with a failed chuckle. “So to make the story short, I got this yellow cab borrowed from a nice guy and then I followed you to the airport. There, I saw this tall American guy whose name is Peter and found out that he’s your boyfriend.” Every detail of it is still fresh in my head because aside from I was victorious for following Tae Bi, that day broke me up too, because of Peter’s existence.

                “And you drove us to Hansol Oak Valley. That’s when you figured out where I reside,” Tae Bi continues my story and she’s still in the midst of absorbing these surprising revelations. “I knew it. I wasn’t crazy that time. I knew it was you because of the way you caught me in your shoulders when I was about to fall. I remember that. Oh gods, why didn’t I remove the mask from you?”

                I laugh at her innocence. “So it seems like I answered your question?”

                She shakes her head and comes back to her senses. “But if you know that I’m in a relationship with Peter, why did you still disguise as Sugar? Or why did you still follow me?”

                I’d love to answer that question. “Aside from my sincere love towards you, it’s the treachery of your dear friends that drives me to look after you as much as possible.”

                “What? What do you mean? It’s just me who witnessed their cruelty. You weren’t there,” Tae Bi’s face is completely serious. I take her hand to mine to calm her down because she seems like she’s going to cry again.

                “I was about to give up because I know it’s wrong to put myself in a growing relationship, but when we had our live radio broadcast at Arirang, I saw Peter there. He and Charmaine are a couple already that time. He gave Charmaine a bouquet of flower and I thought he did that just because they’re good friends, but no, they-” I pause from talking. Should I say it? That k-word is a stimulus for her tears to go down again. Do I really have to remember all of it? It makes me sick. I take a deep breath and say something else instead. “What I saw in that studio tells me that I should continue looking for you.”

                Tae Bi nods. She holds tight on my hand. “So they’re already having a disgusting tête-à-tête behind my back? I’m amazed.” Her sarcasm transforms the heavy ambience into a light one. I want to laugh to that but it would only turn out as an insult because her eyes still look sad.

                I tap her back like a friend. “You know, when I started following you like a stalker, I thought I was ending my life as an idol because obviously no superstars do that kind of silly thing. But after what happened in Arirang studio, destiny told me that I am really the right guy for you. The right guy who will never ever betray you like what Peter did. He’s a gay.”

                Tae Bi finally smiles and she gives me a hug. “I still can’t believe I’m with you.”

                “Are you feeling better now?” I ask her politely, making sure that her heart is strong again. Thankfully, there are no more tears wasted over our conversation about Peter.

                “Feeling weird. Probably because I feel like standing in the middle of reality and a dream,” she parts from me to touch my face. I just smile and feel the warmth of her hands. “Don’t you think the time flies incredibly fast recently? I was just brokenhearted and now, I’m in front of a BTS member, smiling as if nothing bad happened.”

                “Well, I guess that’s what you call life. You cannot tell time to stop, but you can either go with it or against it. It’s your choice.”

                “What will you choose? Go with it?” she curiously asks.

                “Neither of the two because I’ll spend all my time dating you,” it sounds corny but I did it to make her laugh. And it’s a success because she hits my shoulder as she laughs hard to what I’ve just said.

                “I can’t believe it. We’re so in love with each other,” she tells me and I agree of course. Then, she embraces me for the nth time that I always find pleasing. “Thank you, Suga. For saving me from deep sorrow.” Her words are so soft that I could cry. “And for loving me.”

                “Don’t mention it. I’m also thankful for having you.” I move closer to touch her cheeks. “Just so you know, you’re the best prize to my talent that I’ve been waiting for years.”

                She takes something out behind the collar of her shirt; it’s the puzzle-piece necklace. It’s nice to see it again.

                “I have no idea that we’re in a relationship for months already.” She also reveals the necklace I’m wearing and matches it with hers. It fits perfectly just like us. “Hi, Sugar.”

                I smile and lots of our memories together since I disguised as Sugar in Brown’s mascot flashbacked. We’ve been through a lot and I’m so glad to see that we finally reach what I’ve been trying hard to achieve: To be his boyfriend.