Bangtan Imagine

That lucky fangirl (HS/Cont.)

Once Jimin fell asleep, Hobi carefully grabbed his jacket from the chair next to the desk and pulled out the green envelope from its pocket, then sat down. He read it carefully and absentmindedly smiled as he did, it was so heartfelt and warm, not the typical fan letter. Not that he minded all the letters written with love and gratefulness, but this somehow felt more personal and once again Hobi felt slightly uncomfortable.

Like when he heard your voice after you were completely starstruck, like when he saw your smile up close. It was not a bad kind of uncomfortable, it was just a weird feeling and he was not sure what to do about it. Every night for a whole week, he repeated this little ritual of waiting for Jimin to fall asleep and secretly re-reading the letter, different feelings popping up each day.

The following week, Hobi decided he would write a personal response. Usually all fan-mail went to a specific address and the reply was pretty standardized, as it was not possible to reply to every single letter. He, for some reason, decided to keep this letter to himself instead of handing it over to the staff to go through that process.

After carefully thinking about what he wanted to say for a few days, Hobi sat down and tried to transfer it onto the paper. It took him two hours to be mildly satisfied with it, but once he was done, he put it in his bag to take with him the next day and fell onto his bed, not even bothering to change into his sleepwear before he was out.

The next morning, he made his way to the smallest post office in the area to avoid being noticed and got all the necessary information to send the letter to the address that you provided on the envelope. He asked about the options he had to have his mail arrive into the small shop and not the dorms or the studio. Once everything was arranged, he dropped the letter into the mailbox and walked out, he felt a shiver run down his spine.

This was the start of a sort of pen pal relationship between you two, for months you exchanged letters pouring your hearts out to each other, telling each other your deepest secrets, fears and the little things that made your every day worth it. What you shared on paper was familiar, but deeply meaningful.

After 8 months of weekly letters, he finally gathered the courage to ask you to meet him at this completely ordinary cafe that was right around the dancing studio where he practised. He had brought a change of clothes, slightly less informal than what he usually wore on a daily basis, and had showered at the studio before going to the cafe and sitting at a table in the very back. He had said in his last letter, that he would wear his Mang face mask so you could recognize him from afar. He wore his hat pretty often as well, but it was a bit too flashy for when you are trying to go unnoticed.

You came in and looked around the tables, until you saw a flash of blue hiding beneath a bucket hat. You looked closely at the person who was reading their menu and noticed the pink heart shaped nose of Mang on his blue facemask. You nervously walked up to the table, it had been so long since the day of the fan sign and this was unreal to you, in a way, it didn't feel like you had been exchanging letters with Hobi. You were way too comfortable with that and right now you just felt very anxious as you shuffled your feet, now just a few meters away from the table.

You weren't sure how to proceed, so you just pulled out the chair in front of him and sat down, the noise it made when you moved it made Hobi look up unsure, as if he was not waiting for anyone at all. You had lowered your face mask and were smiling timidly at him. He moved his mask down to his neck and returned the smile, he wasn't very confident, but it didn't show.

As the waiter took your orders and brought the food, you slowly started chatting away. At first it was very awkward, but as time passed, you felt more at ease with each other, realizing that these letters were who you were. A strange realization that you both needed to have, for some reason.