The doors automatically opened as I went into starbucks. It was a bit busy, the light sound of chatter filled the cafe along with some soft music. I peered around and noticed Joon sitting at a table in the corner, his head buried in a book. He seemed slightly more buff than before. I also noticed that his style today gave off a boyish intellect, mostly due to the fact he was wearing glasses. It was cute and definitely suited him. The silver of his rings also caught my eye as I got closer.
"Excuse me sir, is this seat taken?" I joked as I pulled it out to sit down. Joon looked up at me, probably hoping I wasn't some random weirdo.
"Oh hey, it's you" he sighed in relief as he snapped his book shut and put his book down on the table.
"Were you waiting for someone else?" I teased. He relaxed into his chair more and smirked.
"Nah girl I only have eyes for you" he rebutted playfully. I felt tingles at his unexpected witty reply and now that I was sitting across from him a small comfort came over me, it was a kinda feeling like it was a small space where there were only us two.
"Such a flirt" I laughed. "You didn't order anything yet? Should we?" I went on.
"Yeahhh" as his wide-eyed smiley laugh appeared it seemed so much cuter now that he was wearing glasses. "Jia, What do you want? I'll go and order for us" he inquired.
"Just a salad and Iced Americano" I replied, Joon hesitated before frowning slightly. "Really? That's all?" he asked.
"I don't have much of an appetite these days, I don't know why" I laugh awkwardly. It had been a while since I'd been called out on my eating habits.. Usually people didn't notice when I opted for eating less. I preferred it that way.
"Alright, if you're sure. I'll be back in a sec. I was grateful he didn't make a big deal out of it as he went to the counter to order. I watched out the window as people passed by down the street going about their daily business. The sound of the coffee machine at work faintly in the background had a calming effect on me. Joon returned shortly with my food along with a salad and Iced Americano of his own. I went to reimburse him for my share but he just chuckled and said not to worry.
"So, what's been happening?" He asked. We both opened our salad containers, Joon popped a tomato into his mouth before looking over at me.
"Not that much, just the usual. Writing, studying, hanging out with friends" I admitted. He nodded along, swallowing what was in his mouth before continuing.
"Sounds good, what about your family? Have you heard from them? I mean.. Are they around or?" He hesitated slightly as he asked, seeing as we've never spoken about my family he probably didn't know if it was a touchy subject for me or not.
"Not since I moved to Seoul actually. But I'm going to give them a call tomorrow, see how they are" I replied. "What about you? Spoken to your family recently or?" I threw the same question back at him. Curious to know what his own situation with his family was.
"Ahhh. Things are getting so hectic lately, I haven't had the time but I will when I get a chance" he took a sip of his coffee as he spoke. Now that I thought about it, I didn't know that much about him apart from us working on music together so I decided to push a bit further.
"What else has been happening with you? You don't really tell me that much, come to think of it" I swirled my straw around to mix my drink as I asked. Joon just laughed at my question.
"I thought it might bore you hearing me dribble about my life woes". I felt a bit sad that he thought that way.. although, the fact was that up until now I hadn't really asked so..
"Not at all. Hit me with it". Joon hesitated for a moment, contemplating on what to say.
"Well, uh. To be honest," he began, "I've just been under a lot of pressure lately. I'm pretty sure I didn't tell you but, I'm actually the leader of an idol group in training. So, there's just like so many responsibilities and shit that come with that. I just feel like I never have any time to breathe." Joon looked troubled as he shared what was on his mind. I had no idea that was how he felt and I didn't like seeing him look so dejected. Not after he'd been so kind to me.
"Amongst the pressure and stress.. I'll try and be that breath of fresh air for you then. You can count on me, okay?" I hadn't even thought my words out properly before speaking. He seemed taken back for a moment. Oh god I hope that didn't come off too strongly I internally winced. He let out a relieved sigh.
"God you're sweet. Where did that come from?" His troubled expression relaxes instantly.
"No, seriously. You've been nothing but sweet to me since we met. You can count on me to be there when you need" All joking and awkwardness aside, I really meant what I said and he seemed to resonate in my sincerity momentarily. We finished off our lunch and coffees, it wasn't until we were just about to part ways that he brought up the topic of lyrics which reminded me of what I had planned for later in the day.
I mentioned that I was going to see Yoongi and asked if he wanted to come but he said he was busy and couldn't. After I explained that I wanted to work on my solo stuff Joon agreed. He was quite encouraging about it. Going as far as to tell me Yoongi was a genius in his own rights and that he can make a song in the space of a day or even less sometimes. That he was amazed by his aptitude for composing, and that he was eager to hear some of my own stuff soon. It made me happy knowing there was someone who would look forward to it.
We waved each other off and went our separate ways, our lunch date had left me with a sweet aftertaste despite having only drank a bitter coffee. I went to my afternoon class as per my schedule, time flew by and before I knew it I was on my way to the campus studios. There was a settling dusk orange that painted the horizon as I walked across the paths that led there.
The familiar door now faced me, number 28 plastered across it. I knocked lightly, but there was no reply. After waiting a second I carefully opened the door to find a peacefully sleeping figure on the couch. Yoongi was taking a nap. I thought about waking him up for a moment but as I looked at his perfectly handsome face I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Why the hell did he look so ethereal while sleeping? I turned to leave when I heard a raspy voice beckoning me to come in.
"Oh did I wake you up? I'm sorry.." I hesitated, still lingering at the door. Yoongi rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up, squinting at me as he did.
"Ahhh it's okay, I was just trying to get a quick nap in" he gave a small sleepy smile before standing up. A long groan escaped him as he stretched. I took that as my cue to close the door and come inside properly. I sat down on one of the swivel chairs by the computer and Yoongi came over and took a seat in the one beside me and started to open up some production apps on the computer.
"How've you been?" He asked, glancing at me for a moment as he did.
"Yeah, can't complain" I said as I placed my bag down on the ground and pulled out my notes. "How about you sleepy head?" I hummed, earning a small smile in return.
"Good but busy, guess I can't complain either. It's not like I'm doing someone I hate so" the rasp in his freshly woken voice was giving me chills.
"What's wrong?" He then asked. Picking up on my momentary movement.
"Ah it's nothing!" I quickly said, "here," I slid the lyric notes I had over to him to avert attention elsewhere.
"Ahh straight to business huh? Okay, let me take a look." Yoongi picked up the papers and started to graze through them. I looked around the room as he did, noticing the recording room that I didn't get a good look at last time I was here.
"These... Aren't half bad," Yoongi said, pulling my attention back at him as he looked up at me from the sheets. His gaze lingered for a moment. It was kinda mesmerising.
"Really?" I questioned. I wasn't sure if 'not bad' was good by his standards or not..
"Yeah" he gave a short laugh. "Can I hold on to these ones? I want to read them properly when I have time" he was still skimming over them as he asked.
"Of course, they're all yours" I took the other ones that he'd discarded on the table and put them back into my bag. He was still reading through the set of notes so I thought maybe that was my cue to leave.
"Okay, well I should probably get going," I went to stand up only for him to look up at me in surprise.
"Oh really, so soon?" He asked, not waiting for a reply, "Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you about."
"Sure, what's up?" I questioned. Yoongi put the sheets away and then turned to me, giving me his full attention.
"Can you sing? Or um, even better, Can you Rap?" He asked curiously. I kinda felt myself sinking. There was something about him that made me feel really shy.
"Um.. I can do both" I mustered up my courage to let him know. "Oh that's great. Wanna show me what you got?" He sounded so casual which kind of put me a bit more at ease.
"I can't promise I'm any good but I'll give it a go." I ran my fingers through my hair to try and hide my lack of confidence but Yoongi just gave me a barely there smile before standing up and showing me into the recording room and to where the mic was.
"Just sing into here, nice and close. I'll be over there, I can hear better from the production room" he encouraged me. I gave a small nod and he closed the door behind him and went back to the desk. I watched him through the window and he spoke into his mic. I heard his voice over the speaker in the recording room.
"Any song requests?" He asked. "Ummm" I couldn't think of anything so Yoongi proceeded to just play something of his own choosing.
"Hope you know this one" he shot me a smirk through the glass window that now separated us. Luckily I did though! It was a power house ballad, Yoongi really was relentless. But that's okay, I wasn't going to shy away anymore. And I made that apparent as I started to sing. I got about halfway through the song before the tune suddenly stopped. Yoongi came back into the recording room with some lyric sheets in hand.
"Your voice is nice," he says plainly. I felt a blush reach my cheeks that I couldn't suppress. I managed to mumble a thanks back.
"You sound like you don't believe me," he laughed.
"Oh no! It's not that, I'm just.. I dono, shy maybe?" I tried to explain.
"Well don't be. I mean it. If you were bad I'd tell you so," he laughed again before continuing, "Actually. If it's okay with you, could you help me with some background vocals?" He asked kind of vaguely. Maybe he was unsure of whether or not to ask that of me..
"Really?" I questioned.
"Yeah.. Really. I've been struggling to find someone with the right voice for it. Not to mention, that can even hold a decent note around here" he explained. His bluntness was amusing to me. I was really starting to like how he so plainly spoke his mind.
"Okay then, sure. If it'll help then I'll do it," I nodded along. A gummy smile appeared but only for a second before he handed me the lyric sheets and went back to the production desk. I looked over them, making sure to note the parts he wanted me to sing.
"Okay, whenever you're ready let me know and I'll take it from the top" he said over the mic. I took another second to read before giving him the all good and the music started playing.
We went over it a few times so that he could get everything he needed recorded. This was turning out to be really fun and I wished I'd come to hang out with Yoongi sooner.
After we finished recording I went and sat back next to him at the desk and he played a few samples of it back. I had to say it sounded pretty nice. I don't know if it was because of his production on it or it was my voice, maybe it was a mix of both.
"Thanks Jia, I appreciate it." Yoongi sighed, he could easily be mistaken to be the cold type but, from my experience he was far from. "It's okay.. anytime" I smiled.
"Hey wait a minute, I nearly forgot about the rap" Yoongi exclaimed. I had totally forgotten about that part too, did he really want me to bust it out right there? "Ahhh I can but it's much worse than my singing! Trust me!" I was quick to repute my earlier statement but he wasn't having it.
"Whatever, I'm not falling for that again. The way you told me you can sing was so underwhelming but then you come out with a voice like that." He narrowed his eyes at me before leaning back in his chair.
"Ahh okay fine! But I'm picking the song this time" I reached over him for the computer mouse and started to search for a beat that I knew well. Yoongi just watched in amusement as I fiddled with the computer and found what I was looking for.
"What? No.." he laughed when he saw what I had picked.
"Yesss" I then laughed back. Knowing that this was going to be fun.
'Epik high- Fly' started to play. I knew this song word for word and had rapped it countless times in the privacy of my own home. The first verse came and I went in, Yoongi just bopped his head along too. By the second verse he was rapping along with me, throwing in the occasional well needed adlib Along the way. By the time the song finished we were both hyped up and laughing.
"What the hell Jia?! Where in the world do you hide this side of you?" He sounded astonished.
"Whatever. You're just being nice" I laughed.
"I told you before, I'm not the type to just say things. If you're bad you'll hear about it" he sighed, playfully pinching my arm.
"Ow heeey, okay okay, I believe youu. No mercy huh?" I huffed.
The mood between us calmed down again and our eyes met for a second, at that moment a phone started to ring. It was Yoongis. He excused himself and then answered, only to groan into the phone. "Okay, I'll be there soon," he said before ending the call.
"Everything okay?" I asked. "Yeah, but I have to get going.. will you be okay to get home this late?" He asked hesitantly.
"Yeah I'll be fine! Don't worry" I nodded quickly.
I thanked him before leaving, he said he'd take a look at my work and get back to me when he could. He also thanked me in return for my help with his vocals. By the time I got home it was late. Time had flown while I was with Yoongi, I never expected us to have so much fun together. And there was something about him that got to me. As I got into bed and laid down, I couldn't stop my mind from going over the events of that night. But eventually I fell asleep.