Fate

Chapter 7

Mina's POV
"Why not?"

"I'm not a good singer, Namjoon. Especially that it's one of your songs, I'll ruin it." Honestly, after he did karaoke in a serious way.. I couldn't fool around, could I?

He nudged my shoulder. "Just for fun, remember? I can accompany you if you'd like. For the first one."

I was getting shy, can't lie. "I'm more of a harmony type, but I can try."

He pressed play on his song Wind Flower. I knew it well, so it was a safe choice. I joined in the last syllables or sentences. He glanced at me with a smile each time. Then the chorus came. I came in it, voice light and soft. I couldn't reach as high as the featured artist. At least, it was karaoke so her voice wasn't muffled by hers. I gained more confidence afterwards and matched the energy, not the notes, but it was something. When the song ended, I turned to him, as if he was my teacher. "So? How was that? I told you I can't carry myself in a song."

Namjoon's POV
She was partially right. Pushing herself to match a key off her own, she couldn't do, but she could sing decently. She was right about being good at harmonies. She made more than a few nice ones. "Didn't make my ears bleed, so I'd say good." She fake threw a pillow at me. "Easy!" I laughed. "I'm kidding. You know your strength."

Her mouth was agape. "You complimented it? No way. I was ready for more sarcasm and messing around."

"We can do that if you want. We'll both pierce our eardrums." I pointed at the bottles of alcohol. "Drink first?"

She didn't make me beg. "Oh, yes please!" We sat down and she took the bottle. "Youngest serves, isn't it?" I nodded. She twisted the cap and poured us some, supporting her wrist with her other hand.

Impressive. "You know the etiquette?"

She grinned. "How can you drink in Korea without knowing?" Fair enough. "Cheers!" As we drank, she turned her back to me, as etiquette says.

I put my glass down. "You don't have to turn around with me, I don't feel disrespected." I joked.

She put hers down. "Prefer you tell me it's okay, than not do it and be rude."

"True!" With that, we did a couple more songs, never one of my group. She did goof around with me with Airplane and Daetchwita, but never one of mine. "Can I send a request?"

She raised a brow. "What is it?"

I put it on the TV. "Please?"

"Your own song? It's a tongue twister too." She glared at me, it ended it a laughed sigh. "Fine! Not joining are you?"

"No chance."

And she started. "Is this love, yeah"...
Until it ended. "Happy?"

She didn't stumble on a word. "That was awesome! How about we get food and play games a bit?"

Mina was more than happy to oblige. "Oh my gosh, yes! I'm so hungry."

Mina's POV
After we settled and had eaten, we leaned more into the delicious liquid that soju was. We... Had a  bottle each by now and we decided to play a great game to finish the others. "Never have I ever? Aren't you too old for this, Namjoon?"

"I'm a grown up teenager, let's play! Ask me anything."

Really? "Anything?"

Answer didn't change. "Yup."

"Alright, so..." What could I say? "Never have I ever broken a leg or arm."

He gave me a look, and drank. "Not fair, there are pictures of me with a cast. My turn... Never have I ever done an actual dance competition. MC countdown doesn't count."

Fine. I drank. I added to the basic phrase. "...made friends at random before."

He drank. "Never?"

I shrugged. "Before you? Hell no. I'm not a people person. I don't flirt, don't ask people out. I don't enjoy conversations that are not expected."

"Hmm? Is that so? But when you're not in public you're so bubbly and everything."

I laughed. "Because I'm not in public! And when I talk, sometimes people don't get my tone. In French and English I mean. I seem angry, direct or rude some people have said."

Namjoon's POV
No way. "But your Hangul is so expressive. I don't get it."

"Not the same tune? I don't know. Come on, your turn." A pause. "Doesn't have to be something you never did, because it's hard to think about that."

She made me laugh. "No kidding.. Never have I ever gotten drunk." Of course I had. She didn't drink. "What?"

She opened a new bottle. "I get tipsy, like I probably am, but never drunk or sick from it. I hold my alcohol pretty well."

"I can see that." A bottle and a half emptied by her.

"Never have I ever been missed when in the military." I had to drink. "If you didn't, I'd call bullshit."

"The guys and I didn't get to see eachother a lot out of there, but Kookie is in my unit, so that was nice. ARMY clearly missed us." I wondered, Canada did have a great military. "Did you miss anyone in the military?"

She brought her knees to her chest. "I know you don't mean Idols, but yes. I have a friend, Stef. He got in the military straight out of highschool, so I didn't see him much. We reconnected summer of 2020 very randomly. We saw eachother a lot then, but I moved for university and we couldn't hang out. He went to the police academy and now he moved 3 hours away to work in the military police for two years. He's coming back this year, actually." Wow.

"5 years seeing eachother not often.."

She sighed. "It's a pattern with friends. Meg is a flight attendant. I don't get to see her much either. More than him! But not a lot. At least we talk. She should have been with me on the trip, but she had to get a refund because they didn't approve her days off."

So, she was coming back maybe? "Will you come back again? Since she didn't go or just because?"

She smiled. "Of course I am. I love it here. I really do."

"Would you move here?" She turned to me. "What? You have barely any strings attached. You could go anywhere."

A shrug. "I'd like to, but visas are complicated. I'll visit a couple of times before then. I want to see spring here."

She was right. It was beautiful. "You know... All of us will be back by the end of November. Maybe we'll have a comeback you can attend."

"No way! I'm keeping the secret. Promised!"

"Mina."

She grinned. "Yeah?"

"You're drunk."

Her pout and voice was the funniest thing ever. "Noooo. I'm not, oppa! What are you saying?"

"You're acting like a kid."

She held the blanket tight. "Not true.."