"You did what?"
My brother's voice rang from the device in my hand, a slight electronic buzz humming through it.
"I ran away."
His tone was one of disbelief as he processed what I had said.
"You ran away," he repeated. "Ok ok ok. I'm gonna need you to explain everything over again."
"Didn't I just tell you the whole story?"
"Yes," he admitted. "But I need to hear it again."
I sighed, the embarrassing moment that had just taken place filling the forefront of my mind yet again, feeling the need to shrink even further into the wall of the women's bathroom I had found.
"Okay, so...." I started.
- - - - - - -
My eyes slowly shifted to meet hers, recognizing the fact Ae-cha was not the person laughing. Her eyes widened as she stared at me, realizing the same thing.
My heart thudded loudly in my ears as I watched her gaze move past me, sight landing on something—or someone. Her jaw went slack, and that was enough.
I slowly turned in my seat to face what Ae-cha was staring at and immediately froze.
Because I finally understood what had her so shocked.
Sitting at the table beside ours, doubled over and laughing his head off with his lips pulled into a big, boxy smile, was the one and only Kim Taehyung.
I couldn't breathe.
Kim Taehyung was sitting at the table behind me, facing my back. Kim Taehyung had just heard me admit that I'd like to marry him over his other members. And, Kim Taehyung was staring directly into my eyes, amusement all over his features as he struggled to control his laughing at my stupefied expression.
I felt heat quickly rise up my cheeks as I realized that this moment was going to be his first impression of me. Ever.
I grew even redder when I realized I had no clue how much he had heard.
I slowly turned back around, wishing I could hide my red face, silently cursing that I had pulled my hair up and into the ugliest bun possible. It doesn't help that he was sitting in front of me, looking absolutely breathtaking with his curly black hair and simple practice clothes.
Why had I chosen today of all days not to wear any makeup, not even coverup?
Which made every inch of my blush mess very, very obvious.
I looked at Ae-cha, noting the delicate pink blush that had spread from her neck to the tips of her ears, eyes shifting between me and the laughing idol behind me.
I cleared my throat. "I'd like to change my answer."
Ae-cha just managed to squeak out a startled, "Huh?".
"Forget Jimin. I'd like to kill myself."
I quickly stood up, feeling like I was burning up from the inside out, wanting to absolutely disappear into the floor. I ignored the choked sound Ae-cha made and the sound of a chair scraping against the floor as I practically sprinted to leave the cafeteria.
What happened to never talking to anyone again, Ye-seo?
Lord.
It's time.
I'm ready.
My silent, pleading prayers were shattered when a baritone voice called out a startled, "Wait!".
No no no no.
If possible I ran faster.
I pushed open the door to the stairwell, quickly ascending as I skipped a few steps. The sound of the door being pushed back open as I reached the next floor caused me to curse silently in Japanese.
This was starting to feel like a sadistic version of tag.
I flung open the door to the next floor and quickly exited the stairwell, hoping that maybe Taehyung will misunderstand and go up another floor.
But I'm not that lucky.
Especially because as soon as I turn the corner I run straight into the last person I want to see in this situation.
I felt his hands lightly grip my arms as he kept me from falling, helping me get steady on my two feet.
"Woah there, small fry. Don't tell me you're falling for me too?"
I lightly patted his arms to signal that he could let me go. He let go of me and viewed my red face with interest, brows furrowed in thought.
I whipped my head around at the sound of faint, hurried footsteps, eyes widening in sheer panic. I quickly peeked around behind Jimin for anything I could use to hide.
And then I saw it.
The perfect escape.
Jimin opened his mouth to speak. "Are you—"
I cut him off with an awkward pat on the shoulder, stepping away from him and simultaneously the hallway I'd left behind.
"Sorry, I have to go to the bathroom. Girl problems," I lied.
I had to stop myself from snorting when a bit of color drained from his face. All he could do was shyly nod, looking everywhere but at my eyes.
I started backing toward the women's bathroom as the footsteps got closer. "By the way," I announced. "I think someone is looking for you."
Jimin raised his eyes in surprise, gesturing to the corner and the hallway beyond as if to say "Them?". I nodded and he leaned a bit past the wall to see who it was.
I took the opportunity and ducked inside the safety of the restroom, quickly shutting the door but not before I caught a glimpse of Taehyung absolutely barreling into Jimin.
I clapped a hand over my mouth to cover my laughing, the sound of Jimin scolding Taehyung filtering through the wall.
"Tae! What was that for?"
"Sorry Jiminie."
I didn't catch the next few words, voices becoming low enough to get muffled. I leaned my head against the door, trying to catch my breath.
"Oh, you mean Ye-seo?"
My breath caught in my throat as I heard my name mentioned.
"I just wanted to know if you knew where she went? I wanted to meet her."
I felt my face heat up again as I regretted every single life decision I had made that led up to this.
"I saw her," Jimin said. "But she had to leave."
Yes Jimin!
Talking about girl problems never fails to work!
"She did look really flustered though."
You snitch!
I could hear the smirk in his voice.
I stopped paying attention, cursing Park Jimin in my head for being the way that he is. He didn't even think twice before coming for my life.
This boy is just asking for me to make good on the 'kill' part of the game.
I strained to listen as their voices faded away. Gingerly, I poked my head out of the door, looking both ways just to see the hallway empty. Sighing to myself, I slid back through the doorway into the bathroom and leaned against the counter.
My head felt like it was actually buzzing, thoughts I was unable to process flitting back and forth across the surface of my mind.
And suddenly, I needed to talk to someone. To get my thoughts out into the open and out of the confines of my mind before they caused me to explode. Hands slightly shaking, I reached into my pocket, calling the one person who had no choice but to put up with my crap.
- - - - - - -
"Aww so you called me," Seo-jun said.
"Actually I called grandpa but he didn't pick up."
The line went silent as I bit my lip to keep myself in check.
"....are you serious right now?"
I let out a quiet laugh. "No. I called you first, idiot."
"Watch who you call an idiot!" He argued. "I'm not the one you professed their undying love for an idol in front of said idol."
"You must be high on something."
"Yeah, my freaking big brain."
"I'm pretty sure that's just swelling from being dropped on your head as a baby."
"Yeah right. How does swelling explain my beautiful face?"
"Maybe you're hallucinating."
I heard a quiet exhale through the phone speaker, a tell-tell sign that Seo-jun was trying not to break out laughing.
"I just have one question," he said finally, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen.
I hummed in acknowledgement. He took a deep breath.
"First of all, HOW DARE YOU?"
I jumped at the sudden volume, fumbling the phone in my hands.
"What the heck, Seo-jun?!" I exclaimed, but Seo-jun did not stop as he launched into a rant.
"I cannot believe you! How can you just run away from someone like Kim Taehyung? Especially after he asked you to wait. What if he wanted to be friends? What if he wanted to say yes to your proposal—"
"Do not even finish that sentence," I said.
I paused as the sound of a loud sigh rang through the phone's speaker.
"Now how am I supposed to be related to the Bangtan family?" He lamented.
I snorted. "If you want that so much why don't you marry him?"
"Bold of you to assume I won't."
"You do realize you're not the only person in the world who wants to marry a member of Bts, correct?" I said.
"Yes, but are they me? No."
I shook my head. "You're ridiculous."
"Okay, and? I'm not the only one Ms. Marry-Kim-Taehyung."
I groaned in frustration. He's never gonna let me forget this, is he?
The sound of other voices on the Seo-jun's side of the line filtered through. I heard him let out a sigh before speaking.
"Alright, dum dum, I gotta go. My roommates are back from getting high on pre-workout."
"They're what?"
He ignored me, saying a quick goodbye before hanging up. I stood in the middle of the bathroom in silence.
I looked at myself briefly in the mirror, taking in my baggy grey sweatpants, white t-shirt that I had tied up, and my low messy bun that made me look like an Eren Yeager wannabe.
Wow.
What a catch.
I scoffed at my reflection, turning and walking to the bathroom door. Just to make sure, I peeked my head out of the door frame to see that the coast was clear.
I stepped out of the bathroom, almost tiptoeing as I tried to be as quiet as I could on the marble floors. I paused at every little sound, praying that it wasn't Taehyung or Jimin. I could not relive that embarrassment again.
I knew Jimin was going to tease me for it, so I was going to avoid him for as long as I could.
And Taehyung?
Who is he? I don't know him.
A loud resounding squeak echoed down the seemingly empty hallway and I jumped.
I let out a curse when I realized it was my own tennis shoe.
Idiot Ye-seo.
I shook my head at myself as I continued walking toward the practice room, hoping to meet back up with the group without bumping into anyone else.
Those plans were quickly dashed when the sound of footsteps thudding from the opposite direction caused me to panic and jump behind the nearest furnishing.
A large leafy plant.
I squeezed my eyes shut as I made myself smaller behind the thing, wanting to disappear to save myself from the embarrassment of stupidly saying I'd marry Kim Taehyung in front of Kim Taehyung.
Curse Ae-cha and her stupid pictures and her stupid games—
I screeched when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Wow. I knew you liked nature but this is taking 'tree-hugger' to a whole new level."
My body relaxed as I recognized the voice of one of my group members. I opened my eyes to see Iseul disgusted expression.
"Are you on drugs?" She asked in English, her British accent coming in strong.
"No, but I'm about to be," I answered. "Got any suggestions?"
She rolled her eyes, switching back to Korean. "Where were you? Big Ben had to put off practice so we could come find you. Did you not look at the groupchat?"
"No." I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, my eyes widening at the sheer amount of texts and missed calls.
I glared at Iseul. "Why the actual crap would you call me 93 times?"
She snickered. "At first it was because Ben told me to. Then I just decided to annoy you until you answered. Obviously it didn't work so I went looking for you and instead found Mother Nature."
"Haha, you're so funny."
She grabbed my arm. "Come on, plant girl. Let's go meet up with the others."
I allowed myself to be led away by her, still looking around as we walked. When we finally got back to the practice room, my eyes immediately settled on Ae-cha, who was sat in the middle of the floor with the other girls in a circle. She looked up, alarmed that I had entered in the middle of her story.
My freaking embarrassing story.
I am going to kill her.
I lunged forward, chasing her around the room as she screamed and ran away from me. She suddenly tripped, falling into a front roll to catch herself and landing on her back. I stood over her, my arms crossed and face impassive.
"Wait wait wait," she said before I had the chance to open my mouth. "Hey don't kill me! Think of it this way, you were lucky to see him in the first place! Bts has always been elusive! And I'm sure Taehyung is no different!"
I scoffed. I wouldn't call it lucky, I'd call it completely unfortunate. But, I couldn't deny that part of what she said was true. I rolled my eyes and walked toward the rest of the girls, thinking to myself.
Bts was a group of established artists, and we were a group of trainees that haven't even been given a debut date, meaning it was very unlikely for us to really be in the same location or interact with each other.
I smiled at the thought.
The BigHit building was such a large building.
What were the odds I run into him again?
____________________________________
I hope you liked this chapter!
I wonder what will happen next?
Happy reading!