Taehyung’s POV:

I got to know Ahri a lot more over the course of the last few weeks. I felt like I met her just yesterday, but we’ve been good friends now for around about 2 months. We went on that date a while back, having a few others after that, and just hanging out with the guys. During all those times, nothing escalating over a hug here and there. Her kissing me on the cheek happened only that one time, but I’ve been inside her new apartment I think twice now. I helped her move into a small place she could afford now with her salary. It’s a tad bit farther from the dorm and the studio, but not longer than a decent walk.

We saw her almost everyday, even on her days off. She’d pop in, whenever we weren’t busy. She even brought some sodas and snacks for Yoongi, Namjoon and Hoseok if they were ever staying late producing music at the studio. She’d go out shopping for groceries with Jin, picking out different foods, trying street vendor treats, even exploring around. She’d stay in the dance room with JungKook and Jimin, bringing them water, sometimes driving them back to the dorm if they were too tired.

What would she do for me? She’d make me smile, laugh, make me watch stupid movies with her that we both knew were terrible, we’d go to weird shops with random merchandise. We would go to the arcade with all the guys, go on picnics with just the two of us, Jin packing our lunch, but, we weren’t dating, and we both knew that.

It was coming around to being 2 months since she started working at the company, and the guys and I were talking for a bit and we decided on throwing her a little party at the dorm for her. We wanted to do something for her first month, but the both of us were just too busy to organize anything, so we decided to do it on her 2 months. Today was our first day off in almost three weeks, but I told Ahri that we had to go somewhere downtown for a meeting with the agency. Giving us time to decorate the dorm, the guys all meeting in the living room.

“Did you already text her?” Jin asking me, I bobbed my head up and down. “Ok, good. Yoongi and Hoseok, go to the store and pick up some streamers and balloons. Namjoon, go with Jimin and get some snacks. I’ll stay here with JungKook and we’ll finish making her cake.” Jin ordered, sending us all out of the door, different lists in each of our hands. “What’s Tae gonna do hyung?” JungKook questioned, tugging on Jin’s shirt. “He’s gonna go pick up something else, he knows.” he commented as I grabbed my car keys. “See you guys in a bit!” I said, locking the door behind me.

I got in the car, my stomach filling with butterflies once again. I put the keys in the ignition, taking a deep breath before starting the car. I drove for around 30 minutes, before getting stuck in traffic. “Aish, why does this place have to be so far~” I whined, looking at the clock. “Ehh, I still have a lot of time, I won’t be there long anyways.” I thought, switching lanes. Within another 10 minutes, I was driving into the parking lot, shutting the car door and walking inside.

20 minutes later, I had my package, heading back towards the dorm. While stopped at a red light, I opened the box, looking over the gift, being pretty happy with it. “I hope she likes it..” i mumbled. A couple minutes later, I called up Jin, seeing how he was doing. “Yeah? Did you get it?” he asked, the oven sounding in the background. “Yeah, I’m on my way back, how’s it over there?” I questioned, moving the phone to my other hand. “Everything’s good, Hoseok and Yoongi came back not too long ago with the decorations, they’re putting everything up now. And the others should be getting back with the snacks soon. Hurry back.” he said, passing the phone to JungKook briefly so he could grab the cake out of the oven. “Hi, Hyung, everything’s going good here, hurry up so we can all have cake, it smells really good~” “I’m around a half hour away, I’ll try to get there sooner.” I said hanging up.

I kept getting caught at red lights, making me take a bit longer than I’d like. I decided to take a shortcut through a few neighborhoods, picking up some flowers some woman was selling on the street, getting me back home in just under 15 minutes. I grabbed the bag and the flowers, heading upstairs, meeting Namjoon in the hallway. “Why are you out here?” “The guys are scared of me breaking something, so they want me to just hang out here for a while.” he pouted. “I guess its for the best, but, why don’t you just stay on the couch or something?” I asked, “That’s what I said! But they just want to take any chances.” he commented. “Just come inside.” I said, opening the door for him. “I’m back~” I shouted, Hoseok turning over to me. “Yah help me put this last streamer up, Yoongi went to go shower.

I stood on one of the chairs, pinning it to the wall, a nice shade of green and purple. The balloons were scattered around the room, accenting it pretty well. I grabbed my gift, placing it in my room, under the pillow, the roses put into some water in the meantime, closing the door as I walked back into the living room. Just then, Jin came out of the kitchen, his apron covered in different colored frosting. “Just finished icing her cake. I call the next shower~” he sang, taking his dirty apron off. “Where’s JungKook and Jimin?” I questioned, not seeing either of them around the room. JungKook is getting dressed and Jimin is getting some extra ice from the lobby for the drinks.” Namjoon answered.

Yoongi got out of the bathroom, just a towel wrapped around his waist. “Hyung, how come we have three bathrooms, but we only use one? It doesn’t make any sense.” Hoseok questioned. “They all work completely fine, you just can’t shower in all three at the same, only one will get hot water while the others getting really cold.” “Ohh, and plus, having to get out and get all the different bottles from all the bathroom would get annoying after a while.” “Yup, whoevers next, go and shower, and also, someone needs to change the battery on the vlog recorder, remember, they want each one of us to record it every few days. I think it’s Jin’s turn today?” he asked, patting his ear, trying to get excess water out. “Yeah it is, I’ll do it before she comes over, we’ll all be tired after.” he said, grabbing a towel and entering the bathroom.

“After Jin, you go. I’ll be quick.” Hoseok said, patting my back as Jimin came in with the ice, three bags in each arm. “Waa, hyung, you really amaze me sometimes.” I said, putting two into a cooler. “Okay, I think we have everything.” I said, scanning the room. Jin exited the bathroom, a towel on his waist, and one folded into his hair, walking over to his room. I grabbed my own towel, and went in, trying to hurry up.

I was out in 10 minutes, walking into my room, drying my hair with the towel. I looked over to my closet, no idea what to wear, ultimately deciding on a white sweater with black sleeves, and a pair of black jeans, slipping them off quickly before grabbing the hair dryer and plugging it in, hearing Hoseok turn on the water in the bathroom a few doors down.

After drying my hair, I walked back into the living room, seeing everyone there, dressed, except Hobi who was now taking a shower, and Jin who was recording his vlog in the back room. The company wanted us to record ourselves and just talk about what we did during the week and how we feel about debuting soon. They want to use it months from now so that when we do debut, we can look back and see how much we’ve changed since then. Hoseok came out of the bathroom, his hair wrapped into a towel. “I’ll just be a few minutes, tell her to start coming~” he hummed, closing his room door.

“Are we all good?” I asked, looking over at everyone. We all glanced at each other, agreeing that we should call her. “You know what you’re going to say right?” Yoongi asked, as I nodded my head. I grabbed my phone, finding her name in the ‘favorites’ in the contact list, pressing it and raising the phone to my ear, it ringing a few times before she finally picked up, the guys wiping the tense looks off their faces.

“Hey, Ahri!” I said as she picked up. “Hey Tae, I thought you said you and the guys were busy?” she asked, “Yeah we are, but we we’re wondering if you could pick up something from our dorm?” “Yeah sure, what do you need?” she replied. “The production staff needs our vlog tapes for the week and we forgot to hand them in, so if you could stop by and just pick them up and drop them off for us, we’d really appreciate it.” I said, Hoseok coming out, hair dried and dressed already. “How do I get in?” she asked, “We have a spare card under the mat, just leave it on the table on your way out.” I told her, hearing her footsteps over the phone. “You want me over there now?” “Yeah, they want them asap, we’re really sorry.” I commented, trying to make it sound as convincing as I can. “Alright, I’m walking over there right now.” she said, I could hear her door locking in the background. “Thanks so much, we’ll make it up to you ok?” I said, “Don’t worry about it, you guys do a lot already, so don’t stress it~” She commented, a soft chuckle coming from her. “I’ll let you know when I pick them up.” she said hanging up.

“So she’s coming?” Hoseok asked, all of us astonished as to how he got ready so fast. “Anyways, yeah she’s on the way right now. So she’ll be here in around 10 minutes, so any last minute things we need to do?” I asked, checking the room once more. “Can we see the cake Jin?” Namjoon asked, none of us seeing besides Jin himself and JungKook. “Yeah sure.” he said, walking over to the fridge. He placed the decorated cake on counter, all of us gazing at it. Namjoon put a hand on Jin’s shoulder. “You really outdid yourself this time.” he said, “Ahh, it’s nothing~” he shrugged. “Oh come on, you even put roses made out of icing! Don’t tell me ‘it’s nothing’”. JungKook patted his hyung’s back.

“What a minute guys..” I said, just then realizing something. “We don’t have a spare key outside, someone put yours fast!” I yelled, unsure of where she was at this point. We all scrambled, looking for our wallets, grabbing our pants, folding them inside out, until finally, Yoongi found his, quickly going outside and placing it under the mat and locking the door. “Ahh, ok, ok, we’re good.” I said, catching my breath.

We all hid behind the couch, JungKook next to the light switch turning it off. A few minutes passed, but we soon heard a pair of heels coming down the hallway. “Aish, Ahri and her heels.” Namjoon said, laughing at himself shortly after. We heard the card being passed through, a short beeping noise following, the door opened, Ahri stepping inside, stopping when she realized how dark it was. “Ahh, where was the light switc-” “SURPRISE!!” we all yelled, JungKook turning the lights on. Seeing her face was seriously so priceless.

“No! Guys I don’t like surprises! What is all this?!” she gasped, looking at the decorated room. “Its for being with us for 2 months! And how well you treat us, it’s just a thank you gift” I said, repeating her words from before. “Guys~ You shouldn’t have, you should’ve used this day to relax.” she whined. “We wanted to do this for you.” Jimin smirked. Her lips curled into a smile as she looked down the floor, then back to us. “Thank you guys so much, this really means a lot.” spoke softly, all of us hugging her tightly in a group hug.

We sat on the couch and played video games, Jin beating everyone at Mario Kart, we played twister, Jimin winning at that. We talked about stupid stories of our childhood, how we all met, and our impressions on one another. “I remember when I first met JungKook on my first day when you guys took me out to eat and how awkward we were with each other, and awhile back, he was hugging me for bringing you chicken~” she said, all of us cracking up. “Give me a break, I’m not good at meeting people.” he whined, shoving Ahri gently. “Or when I first met you and you drank like 5 macchiatos!” I said, tears forming in my eyes from the laughter, my gut already hurting. “You drank 5?!” Hoseok shouted, Namjoon rolling off the seat. “It was 2! Then you bought another and we shared one! Don’t make me sound weird!” She yelled, pushing me off the couch, meeting Namjoon on the tiled floor, catching our breath.

We migrated to the kitchen, placing two candles into the cake and lit them, turning off the lights again. Her face was lit by the faint glow of the candles, making her smile look even brighten and we all blew them out together. We cut the cake and we each took a piece, tasting Jin’s creation. “Waa, Jin this came out awesome!” Ahri said, taking another bit. “I helped too! Don’t forget I helped.” Jungkook waved his arms, grabbing our attention. “Thank you Kookie for helping, thank all of you for putting this together, I won’t ever forget this.” She explained, looking back at all of us, finishing our cake slices.

By the end of the night, Namjoon and Jin were going at it during an endless match of Mario Kart, while Jimin and JungKook both fell asleep on the couch, exhausted from a tiring day. She was talking with Hoseok and Yoongi, but they chose to stop by the studio for a bit, cleaning things up with some tracks, leaving Ahri there alone. I approached her, her hugging me, tightly. “I really had a lot of fun, today was amazing.” she thanked me, letting me go. I grabbed her hand, leading her to the back room.

“What’s this?” She asked, curious about what room we were in. “This is where we record all those vlogs, sorry about lying to you earlier.” I apologized, rubbing the back of my neck, starting to feel nervous, sitting next to her on the red couch we had set up there. “Did you want to talk about something? Just the two of us?” she asked, looking into my eyes. I reached into my pocket, fishing the box out of it, placing in my palm in front of her. Her eyes traveled from my hand to my eyes, trying to read my next move.

I gestured for her to open it, her delicate hands taking it from mine and opening it softly, revealing a silver ring, hung on a small chain. “Tae.. Wha-” she started before getting choked up on her words, unsure of what to say. “I’ve been meaning to get these for a while~” I said, taking the chain from its black suede box. “These?” she asked, before lifting her hair, letting me put it around her neck. “Yeah, these.” I said, pulling the collar of my sweater down, an identical necklace around my neck as well. I grabbed mine, showing her what was engraved within the ring. “A & V” it read, in a cursive font. “What’s V?” she asked, confused about the mysterious letter.

“That’s my stage name. They chose ‘V’ for me, it stands for ‘Victory’.” I explained. “I put your initial first, because you’ll always be before everything else.” I added, getting lost in her eyes.

“I know that because of the company, we can’t really be anything other than friends right now, but I’m giving you this, so that when we can, we can be more than that.” I finished. She took her ring looking at it more closely, before smiling sweetly. She bobbed her head up and down, placing a hand on my cheek, making her blush a little. “I’d like that.” she said, barely louder than a whisper. I cupped her face in my hands, filling the empty space between us, kissing her gently.