You snuggle under the bedcovers with your phone. How can a human being be this tired, you ask yourself. You don't even remember what happened throughout the day - just that you've been zooming from one recording to another choreography practice to another dinner based on a schedule Monica put together for you. That recording with V and Suga happened just two weeks ago but feels like a couple of months at least.
"Aaaagh!" you scream to the ceiling. "Get it together Y/N, it's just until the album's out - and a few weeks after that..." But the thing you really wish to get over with is Ribbon. You absently tap through people's stories on Instagram, then Kakao Talk. Your brain is too tired to focus, but also too tired to sleep.
Mint choco or choco chip?
The text is over the blurry photo of the 97% fat-free ice cream counter at Cafe Yeongsan. You pause at Suga's story for about three seconds before replying:
Choco chip obviously.
And now you're craving it too. Mmm. Okay Y/N that's it, you're going to sleep. Sweet things are the last thing you can have when promotions are round the corner. You shut your eyes and shove your phone to the side.
Ting.
His reply is quite short:
Ugh.
"Ugh"? Are you judging me?
Of course.
I didn't take you to be a mint choco kinda person
I'm not...I don't understand the debate either.
But it matters to many people so I thought I must research,
Take different opinions and such. :)
Bullshit :)
You can't decide which one
to eat, can't you?
...no...
Don't bullshit people okay.
I've heard that your phone falls on
your nose while scrolling if you do that
Choco chip it is.
He sends you a photo of the ice cream in his hands along with the text. It is absolutely dumb that him choosing your flavour of ice cream makes you giddy. But wait.
So choco-chip got the maximum votes?
Ani. I got it right after your text.
You get even giddier. It's the tiredness, you tell yourself. You act like a drunk person once you're tired enough. All this extra pleasure isn't all him. Both of your next texts reach each other at the same time.
Where are you?
Why are you at Hybe so late?
Both of you keep typing simultaneously.
It's 2 AM, and I'm at home. Thank god
Bang PD is making me dance and I am
not enjoying it.
Aww, give him my regards.
Right. :)
When will you go home?
I won't. I have a flight at 6.
Shit
I've got to be up at 6 too
But I can't sleep
Then don't.
Unhelpful
Seriously. Watch a nature documentary.
Best sleeping pill.
Lol okay
But now I'm hungry
I want ice cream
We can get that when I'm back.
When are you back?
Next week.
Uri Daegu Ahjusshi needs help in the shop.
Do you want to come?
Okay, deal.
Deal. Now sleep.
You wait for a minute, and then you shriek. There's a sound of running footsteps and the door of your room bursts open. A harrowed Lily in a pink night suit stares at you.
"What happened? Why did you scream?"
"Oh shit. I forgot you were sleeping here too," you mumble.
"You must be really disoriented, Y/N," Lily says in a gentle way. Young as she is, it is awfully heartwarming when she tries to be caring towards you. But there was a pressing reason for your scream.
"Okay, now that I have woken you up. Come here. Read this," you show her the last 6 messages of your conversation with Suga and wait for her reaction.
"Okay...I see...oh...oh?"
"Is it a date? The Daegu thing. Did I just agree to a date?"
"Maybe - but are you stressed or are you happy about it?"
"I have no idea!" you shriek. A throbbing ache is building up on the left side of your head.
"Y/N. Please sleep. Figure out your feelings tomorrow, okay? And then decide whether it's a date or not."
"Aaaaagh! I'm not built for this much stress!" you tug at the roots of your hair. But looking at Lily's tired eyes makes you feel guilty. She's overworking too.
"Thank you, Lily. You should get some rest too, I'm sorry I woke you up. I will sleep now, for real."
Initially, Lily often slept over when you had an early morning thing to get to. But off late, living alone was starting to get both of you - her more than you, you felt - so you asked her to stay with you whenever you were in Seoul. These days, that was almost all the time.
After Lily leaves, you play a documentary - something about bioluminescence and ocean sciences, and fall asleep before you know it. The entire night you have strange dreams of dolphins eating chocolates while you're stuck on a beach. The waves are so high. Your mom's in the sea. You want to save her, but there's no boat. Yoongi is there too. He gives you a surfboard, but you yell at him that you don't know how to surf. You wake up soon after, feeling woozy and remembering nothing.
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"Oh, hyeong, have you seen this?" V is at the airport with the band, sitting in the waiting lounge next to Suga.
"What?"
"Y/N's album concept! It's nice. She looks pretty," he grins.
"Show - I want to see -" RM chimes in.
"Damn - wait - damn," he is impressed that you've incorporated surrealism into the visuals. "This is Dali - I can't believe she used Dali as her inspiration - it's brilliant!"
Jhope also joins in the circle around V out of curiosity.
"Whoa. And I still remember Yoongi saying "oh yeah - that girl on the airport was dumb"." Jhope imitates Suga so well that all of them end up laughing.
"Hyeong has had a crush on her for almost a year now!" Jungkook comments.
"Jjinja?" Jimin asks dramatically.
"I don't - yah! Kumanhe!," Suga covers his face with a hand while the rest of them guffaw.
V adds more details. "Last year, Hoseok hyeong and the two of us were just catching up and Suga hyeong is like 'yeah, I met this girl at the airport - but she's a foreigner -" V pauses as they are all laughing too hard.
"So judgemental, hyeong!" Jimin sniggers.
Suga is scarlet by now. It's true, he was both annoyed and taken by you that day, but he never thought you would actually become a part of his life. And he never thought he would like you more for it - not less.
"Why blushing so hard, Yoongi shii?" Jin asks.
"Why no savage comebacks Yoongi shii?" Jhope adds.
"I knew hyeong has issues showing affection but I didn't think he would be too shy to even ask a girl on a date," V chortles.
Suga decides to not tell them about the Daegu conversation. It's not like he openly asked you out - so he can't believe that you agreed to go on a date. And he's annoyed with you - the way you've impressed everyone and the way you occupy his mind these days. But he can't deny that he's looking forward to seeing you, to hearing your voice and that every beep of his phone makes him wonder if it's a text from you.
[Okay Wattpad formatting is really annoying me. I'm not able to right-align the texts so they're all coming in one line. I've manually added the spaces but I have a feeling that it must be showing it all wrong for those of you on your phones because I'm doing it on a wider screen. *angry shooky emoji* Let me figure this out hmph!]