The sun sets slowly, painting the city with brilliant shades of orange, yellow and violet. She is nothing but glad that she chose to walk back home because the skies were a sight and the wind was her best friend. She flexed her arms and held her back, massaging it a little in places she felt sore and wondered who had actually told her that teaching kids at kindergarten was an easy job. If anything, it was a nine hour workout and the only thing that keeps her going despite the hardships was the smiles and the hugs she receives from her students, kids filled with pure innocence, after a day’s hard work. The job was oddly satisfying and she was happy. It was probably a practice run for the future, she thought, the day when she would have kids. Then she should be amazingly skilled by that time because she is already dealing with 30 kids at once like a champ. She gives herself a well deserved pat on the shoulder and smiles.

Her phone vibrates violently in her pocket and she pauses her walking to check it out. It was a Twitter notification and she smiles as a picture of her boys’ flashes on the screen. They’ve tweeted their group photo after their concert from backstage and thanked the fans for cheering as well as telling them to go home safely. She checks the digital clock on the top corner of her screen ticking away and she smiles realizing that they will be boarding their flight in a couple of hours and they will be back home tomorrow morning. She zooms in on his face and a warm feeling fills her insides as she sees his smiling visage and focuses on him completely. Tomorrow he will home and he will be in her arms.

She pulls out her headphones and plugs it in as she violently scrolls through her artists list to play their songs. The artist name finally shows up and she ecstatically chooses ‘BTS’, putting her playlist on shuffle. The first beat drops and her heart flutters as their music fills up all that she is. She resumes walking with her phone tucked safely in her pockets, fingers tapping along with the rhythm of the song and she can’t help but feel proud as goose bumps all over her skin, just because of the strum of a string or with the simple utter of a word. They are her boys after all.

‘Tomorrow’ plays and Yoongi’s rap fills her ears to the hilt. Every word hits her with impact and she feels overwhelmed. It was her favorite song of theirs and the fact that he produced it always made her respect him more. The lyrics of the song has been and still is a great sense of strength during tough times and listening to him rap his heart out, she couldn’t help but relate. His tone is unique and as a person, he is unique. Often termed as cold and straightforward, he always speaks the right things and states opinions to its complete fairness. Sometimes people forget how passionate he is as a person. His passion doesn’t transcend only through his music but also with the people he really cares about as well. He may not state it openly with loud words or grand actions, but his silent gestures will always make you feel special and comfortable and she can vouch for that to anyone who doubts that fact.

Taehyung takes over and a wave of disappointment washes over her. His voice is auto-tuned in the song for the depth effect and the lines he sings are impactful even when simply read on paper. She understands the need for the effect in the situation but she also longs to hear his beautiful tone in this song and it irks her that it is missing. She could listen to him just talk all day, let alone sing and she always says that she is blessed to have actually gotten to know him. Quite opposite to his stage charisma, he is a living dork who loves to be happy and make others happy as well. He has his own way of life that he finds interesting, with perspectives you and I would probably never think about. Soon enough after debut he had revealed his true nature and the fans just embraced him for who he is and they love him with all their heart. She was no exception as well. All he ever has to offer was his heart and love and he gives it completely as well. He is a true friend, a guy with a genuine heart and she was simply glad to have him by her side.

Jungkook’s voice always caught her by surprise, despite knowing that he will be singing next. The sheer amount of maturity in his voice always blows her away and realizing the amount of potential he had at such a young age always had her feeling like a proud mother. She always thought of him as a kid and still does in a way, so to see him grow up so splendidly was simply magical. As a role model for her own ambitious streak, Jungkook has always helped her without his own knowledge. The fact that he is not satisfied with the efforts he puts into something despite being lauded for being the best among them all only reminds her of the value of being humble and strive for her dreams further. He is her special bunny, a perfect mix of talent and adorable charms. She is also simply glad that he is on her team because she has seen the way he bullies his brothers and yeah, she is just glad.

The distinction can never be missed when Jungkook and Seokjin alternate during the chorus and she personally loves that. She always calls her porcelain doll. Even though she thought of that name because of his looks, as she got to know him, she couldn’t believe herself how well the name actually fit him so. A fragile heart and shy nature is what the outside world mostly describes him as. What a lot of them forget is the fact that he is like extremely strong and possesses an immense amount of grit. He lives every day working hard to improve and how far he has come is out there for the world to see. Yes, he is sensitive, well who isn’t? However, as the eldest one, she has seen him be a pillar of strength, a symbol of comfort and an epitome of care. She would do anything to protect him from any hard and she would have him feel any kind of sadness because as much as he gives, he never really expects to receive anything. He was her porcelain doll because he was rare and precious.

Namjoon, well he was on a different league all together. They were like so close that they can complete each other’s sentences because they think alike most of the time. ‘They are really… weird!’ Jungkook had once said much to the amusement of the two. They were passionate about writing and their personalities matched perfectly. They were strong, independent and at the same sensitive and easily hurt on the inside. They don’t hold grudges and move on but let the wounds stay only to fuel them forward. Of course when it came to being unusually clumsy, there was nothing but tough completion on who would clinch the title of the ‘destructor’. The rest of them strayed away from them when they were together in vicinity. The only two areas where she knows that they are no equal are talent and brains, something he is blessed in abundance. He hates it and denies it when she says that but she knows it’s the truth after all. She can at least try and make a bid for talent, but the brains…it was way out of her league.

When Jimin’s voice follows Taehyung’s, she almost welps out loud in public out of excitement. She absolutely loves it when the 95 line vocals transcend from one to another and yes, she was biased. And if we were speaking about being biased, she was biased all the way when it came to Jimin. He was special and nothing short of a miracle to her. Her eyes twinkle when she sees him despite knowing him for so long. She loves dancing and she loves to see him dance. She could watch it forever if she had to. His voice was unique and it melts her every time he hits those notes, especially the high ones with no qualms and wonders how it was even possible to have such a note in existence. More than anything, the way he smiles every time you’d call him and how he makes sure that he listens to whatever you tell him, making you feel important and worth his time was irreplaceable. He was always termed as the most caring even by his fellow members and it was no doubt the truth. He was mystical to her and she will never get to solve that mystery, thereby never get over him. He owned her.

She stops walking as Hoseok starts to song. That rhythmic rap that he does distracts her always, so she decides to wait and enjoy it to the fullest without interruption. She loves the way he hits his words with impact and it always did something to her. Yoongi and Namjoon had this unique tone in their voices that automatically gained attention. While Hoseok’s wasn’t anything different, it is the raw energy that vibrates off his voice, the way he lets the words roll off his tongue was really special. She had always told him that his feet were blessed by the dancing Gods and she isn’t all that wrong. His fluid movements and effortless execution of the steps always puts her in a trance. However, his attitude is the best thing. His fans call him an angel and she called him her sunshine. The sheer amount of effort he would take to make you happy, to have you smile, to let you feel some hope during a bad day is impeccable. He was, is and always will be her hope.

Seven wonderful men and one of them is hers. It was a reality that she still refuses to believe.

Stirring the noodles in its soup, she felt this uneasy feeling building up within. She thought she’d skip cooking for the night and entered into a restaurant on the way and now there was, sitting and wishing she could skip dinner instead. She had started thinking as she had sat there, staring at her home screen, a picture of the two of them cuddling, while waiting for her food to arrive. Now she is unable to stop as continues to walk home, her noodles in a take away bag, swinging aimlessly in her arms. She continues playing their songs and every time she listens to his voice, something stirs her up and she is unable to explain the reason behind her fear.

It has been the third overseas concert in a span of four months and they have also been working very hard in producing their new album. The amount of time he’s home these days was gradually decreasing and it was understandable, it comes with the job. Her fear was that of losing what they had. They were the most unlikely of couples and the rest of the guys always said that they shared some magic that allowed them to stay together so well. She didn’t know what they really meant but she always believed that it was him. He sees her in a new light, in a way so indescribable that makes her go weak on her knees and her insides to turn into jelly. She was not ‘pretty’, she had never fit the definition of pretty and is certainly not size zero as well. She had never been asked out all through high school and college and all those dances they would have, she organized them. So what miracle actually led him to like her was still a mystery unsolved. Now this distance meant nothing but fear to her because he is not with her. He will get to see more people in the outside world, more girls out there and she knows for a fact that a lot of their fans were absolutely pretty. So she fears that the magic would leave, that he would leave, realizing better prospects. She fears that he wouldn’t see her the way he sees her now and might want to move on. She fears maybe he will think of her as a mistake when he meets someone better than her, someone who actually might be the one for him.

She swings back and forth on the swing set in the mini playground housed in their apartment complex, staring at the sky that was now dark with a million stars decorating it. She was so deep in thought that random things seemed to bother her even more. They had picked this complex for its safety and also with a potential foresight of their future together, to live in a calm environment when they would start a family. These reasons now haunted her, with a possibility of disappearing from her life and she didn’t like it one bit. She had been sitting there for almost two hours now, her playlist finally ending and silence filling her world. Unusual to its normal behavior, silence actually bothered her tonight, the noise inside her head getting louder as time ticked away, chipping her little by little. She couldn’t really get herself to enter their home knowing that she feared the worst and despite repeatedly trying to coax herself by saying that she was fearing for reasons unnecessary and she knew that she was right. Separation brings in anxiety and anxiety always drove her crazy. She glances at her watch and sees that its only a half an hour to midnight and jolts up from the swing, startled. Her eyes fall on the security guard opposite to her, also on alert and she figures she had scared him. He had been sitting opposite to her, just in case and that made her smile. She bowed in thanks and slowly made her way to the apartment.

She assures herself as she types in the security code to open the door, a combination of their birthdays and promises to herself that this will last forever. The doubt doesn’t cease immediately and she sighs hard, opening the door.

‘SURPRISE!!!’

She almost jumps as she curses out loud, eyes closed shut in shock. She opens her eyes to find all seven of them standing in front of her, laughing hysterically as if she had put on a one woman comedy show. Rather than feeling anger for scaring her, she was completely confused as to how they were all present there right now as opposed to tomorrow morning,

‘Hahahahahaha…’ Tae laughs at her face with such happiness. ‘We got you!’

‘What?’ she finally manages to pull words out of , moving past the shock. ‘How are you all here and not on a flight? And what do you mean that you ‘got’ me? Why the hell did you have to surprise me?’

‘I told you she’ll forget!’ Jungkook snorts in amusement.

‘Dude, she misses you way too much. This is too… cheesy!’ Namjoon chuckles and Jungkook gives him a high five.

‘What did I forget?’ she asks, knee deep in confusion, still lost and all seven of them stare at her in disbelief.

‘Maybe she didn’t miss you that much. Maybe she just mentally blocked it out because aging actually terrifies her.’ Seokjin giggles and it finally hits her.

It is her birthday tomorrow, something she had completely forgotten as all she could think was about how he was coming home. Namjoon was right, it was too cheesy. She covers her face with her arms in embarrassment and the rest of them just laugh.

‘Your man here put so much pressure on our manager to somehow get us on an early flight. No one really expected us to bolt to the airport right after our concert. He was very persistent and it was getting annoying.’ She listens to Yoongi explain with utmost happiness, refusing to break eye contact with ‘her man’, loving every bit of it. ‘Go to her already!’

She trembles at where she stands as he approaches her. He embraces her softly and she feels home when the warmth from his chest radiates to hers. He holds her head delicately and places a kiss on her forehead while intertwining his other with hers. She holds it tighter and gets distracted by a glint of light from his finger. She finds his wedding band pressing slightly against his skin and now hers, as it shines under the lamp above them. She looks down and finds a matching one and tears instantly pool in her eyes. No matter what the future held that could scare her to death, this was her reality and she was thankful.

‘Ah… I am hungry! Let her go so she can make us some food. It’s the least you can do after hauling us all the way here without proper rest and the airline food unexpectedly .’

‘Shut up for a while, Jimin. I am having a moment with my wife here!’ Hoseok screams and she can’t help but laugh.

‘And we have a cake too.’ Taehyung announces. ‘You have like ten minutes to make a moment. After that, that cake is gone with or without the birthday girl!’

The rest of them make a ruckus trying to set things up while she stands in his embrace unwilling to let go. After two years of dating and one year of marriage, it is amazing how she still felt butterflies in her stomach every time he smiles. She guesses that she might never get over it.

‘Are you okay sweetie?’ he whispers sending her into a whirl inside. ‘You were out there so long and I almost ran out thrice to comfort you. Sitting alone out at this hour, you worry me!’

‘You’re here… I am okay.’ She says and she is not lying as she buries her face in his chest. He giggles lightly as she hugs him tighter.

‘Should we talk about it?’ he asks, voice still laced with concern.

She nods violently in disagreement. ‘I don’t think that it is necessary.’

He kisses her forehead again and she flutters. ‘If you say so, my love.’ Everything is perfect.

The guys start counting down to midnight and scream ‘Happy Birthday’ as loudly as they can with no real regard to the sleeping neighbours. She couldn’t care less as she made a wish and blew out her candles, feeding each with a piece of cake, all the while held by Hoseok by the waist, somehow him not willing to let her go as well. Jimin wasn’t lying when he said he was hungry as she saw him quite ravenously finish half of the cake all by himself. The others weren’t far behind with their hunger and they all looked extremely tired, very well craving for some good home cooked meal and beds to cuddle and sleep away. Defusing refusing Seokjin’s help, he insisted that he would help her whip up something in the kitchen. She had heated the noodles that she had bought home for them while the two of them prepared but that didn’t last a minute between six people who were very hungry. Sighing hard, they hit the gas pedal of the cooking vehicle.

With Seokjin’s timely help, she put together a platter of side dishes along with rice enough to feed ten and she was sure that it will all over before she could realize. Soon it was a party with food splayed all over the floor, as they went over all the photos they had taken during the tour, all of them ranging from crazy to insane that in no way helped her to hold in her laughter. Once food was done, Taehyung and Jimin had pulled out the video games.

‘It is not a birthday party unless Jimin is on his , crying over about his defeat.’ Taehyung had declared much to Jimin’s annoyance and others amusement.

They pulled out the Wii and the battle had begun vigorously. They played tennis, boxing and even sprinting, alternating between the duos over the condition that whoever rakes in the most wins as an individual was the winner. Surprisingly Jimin was on such a hot streak that he even managed to beat Jungkook at boxing, something he is good at, managing to clinch the most victories and there by becoming the winner. The disappointment on Jungkook’s face was way too evident and before anyone could actually become crazy with competitive spirit, she switched the games to Karaoke. It was the best idea, she thought, as she saw them all naturally unite as one singing all their favorite songs. Hoseok didn’t leave her alone for one second, hands always held tightly as he lead her to dance along with the songs. He even made her sing along and she practically screamed the whole time. Picking up on that trend what started out as singing became a scream fest with world class singers, braying away like there was no tomorrow as their living room transformed into a club. She couldn’t get her eyes off him as she saw him jump around crazily and yet looking so flawless doing it. He would steal her gazes, exactly at point she doesn’t expect it and oblivious to the party there, they both were in their own world.

All of them shifted into the guest room where the resorted to play board games. The guest room was more like the ‘BTS room’. They had bought this apartment also because it had three bedrooms and they set up one of them with mattresses and everything, just in case the guys decided to crash at their place on occasions like these. They were glad it had worked out really well. All the while playing the game though, Taehyung kept accusing Jimin of cheating and kept arguing with him while Jungkook was screaming at them to play so he could beat Jimin, still unable to move on from his previous defeat. Yoongi was the only one helping her separate the two kids who were now starting to get into a slap fight while Namjoon and Seokjin were too sleepy to care. She helplessly looks around to find Hoseok and finds him sitting there, relaxed, and watching her deal with the mess with a smile on his face. It was such a naughty expression and she felt the heat rise in her cheeks. She lost her sanity as he winked at her and pouted cutely, teasing her terribly and she turns back to the chaos in a bid to hide herself from further embarrassment.

Soon all their bodies gave out and the boys were all fast asleep on the mattresses with no regard to the world outside, in no proper order. To her surprise or rather amusement, the two fighters that almost pulled at each other’s hairs a while ago were hugging each other as they slept with their mouths wide open in exhaustion. She laughs silently as she facepalms, wondering how her day job had followed her all the way home, where she ended up taking care of seven naughty kids at once. She calmly admires their sleeping image as Hoseok comes up and puts an arm around her shoulder. She switches of the light and leans in on the crook of his neck, breathing in the sincerity of the moment. Her reality was perfect and she wasn’t complaining. She closes the door and ends the festivity finally at 3AM in the morning.

They plop down on their couch, equally exhausted, hands still tangled, as they sat their staring at the ceiling for a while. When she suddenly shuffled in his seat, she sits up startled and sees him reach for his bag and violently go through its contents. She takes the time to admire him, seeing him after three days and nothing has changed despite his tired self. His hair falls gracefully on his forehead and his sleek fingers holding the bag, tickles her insides. His loose white tee shifts to his left and right as he moves and his collarbone peeps out passionately tying her stomach up in knots with desires that she would love to fulfill the very next second. However she sat there watching him look for something with such seriousness, drinking in all that he was. He finally pulls out a small box, wrapped prettily even with a bow on top and a card hanging on the side, blown back and forth slowly by the wind. She takes it silently, treating it with much care as she reads the card. It held only two words that would seem quite normal to a third person but she knew how much meaning it meant and couldn’t help but feel the gratitude rise from within. She looks at him with her gaze passionate and he returns the favor by looking into hers with the same, if not more passion. After a minute of silence, they burst out laughing realizing how cheesy they were acting and couldn’t stop as they let it all out. She rocked laughing hard, holding the box close to her heart with the card that assured her he is going to keep the promise he had made her on their wedding day.

‘FOR YOU’

Right then she knew that everything was going to be alright~