"Jimin, your birthday gifts have been delivered to the conference room. Make sure and get them cleared out by the end of the day, okay? We need to be able to hold meetings in there by tomorrow." The manager smiled half-heartedly and patted Jimin's shoulder firmly as he passed by on his way down the hall.
"Yes, Hyung-nim," Jimin replied with a smile.
"Your fans are amazing, as always, hyung," said Jungkook, who was walking beside him. "I wonder how long the company is going to allow us to keep receiving gifts like this."
Jimin shrugged and giggled. "I dunno! I kind of feel badly about them sending so many things and high-quality things at that. It's almost embarrassing anymore." He sighed and smiled as he always did when spending time with his favorite maknae.
"But until they drop the hammer on this small perk, let's just enjoy it and go see what they sent me this year. Shall we?" He grinned at Jungkook, and the younger man shrugged and nodded.
"Sure. I've got nothing else to do at the moment."
They made quick work of the distance to the conference room and stepped in. Jimin gasped, and Jungkook fell into stunned silence. The pile of gifts was quite massive. Now they knew why the manager had asked for it to be taken care of by the end of the day. They could barely move around without almost tripping over a box or gift bag.
"Hyung," said Jungkook quietly, "where will this all go in the dorm?" He stared with his mouth hung open and moved a few bags to the side so he could sit in one of the chairs.
"I don't have any idea," whispered Jimin. He picked up a box and ripped off the paper to find a brand new high-end wallet. Laying it aside, he opened box after box and bag after bag. After thirty minutes, he had only gotten through a quarter of the packages, and so far he had been given five watches, ten pairs of various styles of shoes, three coats, a dozen shirts, five pairs of jeans, six bottles of cologne, a couple of sweaters, and a new cell phone. He could only imagine what the other packages held.
"Jungkook-ah, grab some boxes and start ripping. I'll never get through all of these at this rate." Jimin leaned back in his chair amidst a sea of lovely wrapping paper, tissue paper, gift bags, and various sized boxes. It was almost obscene the number of gifts he had been given.
"How many fansites was that all from?" asked Jungkook, opening a box of what looked like socks.
"Two," sighed Jimin. "I know of at least four more that might have sent things, but I don't want to assume they did." He tore into another box that was revealed to be designer headphones. He laid them aside and grabbed another box.
Two hours later, they had finally finished. Jimin called one of the managers and asked him to help him out to their van with all of his new things. Jungkook offered his services as well, eager to show off the muscles he had been developing. Jimin accepted, and the three of them each grabbed an armload and carried it to the elevator.
"Jin-hyung is going to kill me for bringing all of this to the dorm," sighed Jimin.
"He'll get over it."
"So cold," snickered Jimin. They quickly loaded everything into the van and headed home.
Later on that evening, Jimin was trying to find homes for all the new things and failing miserably. He was officially out of room. He sighed and sat down on his bed, picking up his phone from his nightstand.
He opened Twitter and scrolled through, searching up some of his fansites and seeing their posts about their gifts to him. He was mildly embarrassed at the amount of things they had given him. It was only going to worsen since they had a fansign coming up tomorrow. Holding one so close to his birthday always ended up making him feel so embarrassed. Indeed, he loved the attention, but sometimes it was crazy and unbelievable. He sighed and laid his phone down. He would have to do something about this, but first, he would need to get through the next fansign.
* * *
"Nari, please! I can't go like this!" The young girl leaned closer to her older sister and whispered ominously, "What if I made them all sick and they couldn't attend their next schedule all because of me?"
She shook her head. "No, that kind of notoriety is too much for me to bear." The young girl flung herself backward and threw her hand over her eyes dramatically.
"Nana, I have no interest in K-Pop! I only know these guys because you're so obsessed with them."
"But Nari, I made this specifically for Jimin's birthday with every intention of giving it to him at this fansign if I got in! I got in! I just can't go because, well, we can all see why I can't go."
Nana held up her arms and stared hopelessly down at the small, red spots all over her skin. "Why couldn't I have gotten chickenpox when I was a baby, like you?" she sighed, absentmindedly scratching her arms.
"Stop scratching," sighed Nari. She threw a small stuffed bear down to the bunk below her bed.
"Yah! Eonnie! You actually hit me this time."
"Stop pouting and just get better so you can go to this blasted thing tomorrow," sighed Nari, slouching down on her top bunk. She was twenty-one and still sharing a room and a set of bunk beds with her sixteen-year-old sister. She stared up at her ceiling plastered with pictures of Yiruma and Jim Brickman. They were her two favorite pianists, and she aspired to be just like them.
Some day.
"You know that's silly." Her baby sister's voice irritated her ears, interrupting her train of thought.
"I won't be over this by tomorrow. The doctor said I couldn't go out of the house for a week! Pleeeaaaaaase, Nari?" A dark head popped up from the side of the bunk.
Nari looked at her sister briefly before staring back up at the ceiling. She sighed heavily and covered her eyes with her hands. "Fine. I'll do it. Just...let's not have this happen again. Okay?"
"Sure. No problem. I promise not to be sick with a highly transmittable disease next time I happen to win the lottery and get into a BTS fansign," said her sister, seriously, with her hand over her heart.
Nari giggled and shook her head. She loved her little sister, and truthfully, she would have gone without Nana begging her. "Just tell me exactly what I have to do. I may know who they are because of you, but we're definitely still strangers. I don't cherish the thought of embarrassing myself in front of any one of them."
Nana giggled, and as she scratched at her spots, she drilled Nari on the finer points of proper fansign etiquette and behavior.
"Never take a photo."
"No worries. My phone is full. Why would I want their photo anyway?"
"Because they're all stinking HOT, that's why! Duh!" Nana rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Oh, yeah? Grown men dancing around like little fairies and practically selling their bodies on stage is hot? I'm sorry for being so behind the times." Nari laughed and then quickly stopped when she realized she was the only one laughing. "Ahem."
"You offend me; you know that? They don't dance like fairies, and they aren't selling their bodies...wait...okay, so maybe in the bottom-line sense." Nana looked confused for a second before shaking her head and waving her thoughts away.
"That's neither here nor there. Just make sure you take the gift and get it into Jimin's precious and tiny, little hands." Nana smiled dreamily and held her hand up, staring at it longingly.
Nari rolled her eyes. "You're delirious because of your sickness. I got the basics, and I won't forget the gift. Just lay down and sleep. Otherwise, I won't go in your place." Nari folded her arms and glowered at her younger sister, who was still holding herself up on Nari's bed.
"Now get off before you infect my bed some more." Nari lightly pushed her sister's forehead and giggled.
"You can't get it, though, remember? You've already been...INFECTED." Nana cackled like a maniac and slowly disappeared to her bed below.
Nari giggled and clicked off her bed lamp. She poked her earbuds into her ears and turned on her favorite song to fall asleep to, "Kiss the Rain."
* * *
"Nari! Wake up! Come on!"
The ground was shaking under Nari's feet as she trudged through the quiet streets of her neighborhood.
"Nari, I swear if you don't get up right now, I'm going to come up there and throw your sorry carcass to the floor! I mean it!"
The shouts of drunken people around her assaulted her ears and sort of grossed her out. She smelled the vomit puddling in the gutters.
"NAAAAARI."
Nari's eyes slowly opened to find her sister's face dangerously close to her own. Nana was grabbing the sides of the bed and shaking like she was the embodiment of King Kong.
"So, your breath is the reason I dreamed about vomit in the gutters?" Nari smirked and then yawned, stretching out her cramped arms and legs.
"Ha, ha. You're so funny," said Nana. "Get up. You have to get ready for the fansign. It's a one-hour bus trip to Seoul, and you'll have to take several connecting busses to get to the book store. Look, you have to start early if you expect to get a good seat. I'm sure the fansite masters are already there and lined up. They know how these things work." She let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head. "Why must I be saddled with such a sister?"
Nari sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "It's six in the morning, Nana. The fansign isn't till eight tonight, right? Can't I even eat breakfast?"
"I've already taken care of that. Here, have a toaster pastry. I splurged and bought you some American ones. The name brand kind. Oooooo, what a good sister I am." She flopped the silver package onto Nari's bed with a small pint of milk and practically danced over to the girls' shared closet.
Nari looked down and saw the pastry was cherry. She hated cherry anything. Cherry scented, cherry-flavored, cherry printed, all of it. She looked up from her disappointing breakfast to see her sister throwing clothing items out of the closet.
"Must look good," Nana mumbled as she chucked shirts and skirts from the dark recesses of the closet. "You're representing me. You have to look good."
"Don't I literally get like ten seconds with this guy? Who cares how I look? He won't even remember by the time everyone gets through." Nari sighed and opened the package to her pastries. She bit into one and frowned in displeasure. She forced herself to eat it, though, considering her sister spent her own money on it.
"Yeah, but you have to...I don't know...make your encounter memorable! Every time he uses the gift I'm giving him, I don't want him to see some frumpy girl in his head!" Nana pulled out a light purple sweater and a simple black skirt. "This should be alright. I mean, it's not like you really own much of anything stylish."
Nari gasped and almost choked on her breakfast. "That's unfair! I update my wardrobe at least every...two..."
Nana coughed.
"Okay, three-"
"UUUUUGGGGHHHH."
"ALRIGHT! I have never updated my wardrobe since middle school. At least I didn't gain a ton of weight or something! Cut me some slack." Nari grumbled and sipped on her milk. Why was she doing this again?
"Oh! I almost forgot to give you the photo book from the album for them to sign. I already have my questions on sticky notes, so don't worry. They'll know what to do. Just smile and nod if you don't want to talk to them. Make sure they know they're signing for your sister. Not you." She poked her finger in Nari's direction and looked at her sternly.
Nari rolled her eyes. "I got it already! Good grief."
She finished her breakfast and slowly rolled her way out of the top bunk.
"I'm doing your hair and your makeup," ordered Nana.
"Seriously, you're making too big of a deal out of this. Wouldn't you rather they remember you and not me? I mean, aren't you afraid they'll all be taken with my innate beauty, and if they ever met you, they wouldn't give you the time of day because their minds are so clouded by my gorgeous memory?" Nari flipped her hair and stuck her nose up into the air.
Nana doubled over with a cackle. "That would never happen, you troll!"
"TROLL? Is that how you treat your sister who is doing you this HUGE favor? Hmmm??" She poked Nana in the ribs and grinned victoriously as the younger girl slithered right down into the floor, laughing hilariously.
"I'm sorry, Nari! I'm sorry!" Nana gasped and wiped tears from her eyes. "Just get ready. Leave when you think it's okay. I won't pressure you anymore." She hugged her sister and laid back down in bed, itching her spots frantically.
"That's better," said Nari smugly. She went ahead and got ready anyway. She would hate to ruin this for Nana. The girl had bought ten of BTS' latest albums and won this fantastic opportunity, much to everyone's disbelief. It was regrettable that she couldn't go herself. Jimin was her ultimate bias, and she had been so excited to get a chance to give him a birthday gift in person rather than through the mail.
"So, you got Jimin's gift all finished, right?"
"Yes. It's in a nice gift bag and everything. I know it's homemade, but I hope he can see past that." Nana sighed and grabbed the gift bag from next to her bed. "You think he'll like it? I really want him to."
"Nana, he will love it. And once I tell him you made it with your own hands, he will certainly love it more."
"Ahh, maybe we should just not tell him I made it," said Nana shyly.
"I'm telling him." Nari smiled and winked at her sister. "It's too beautiful a scarf to let some store or designer take all the credit!"
Nana smiled and nodded. "You're right. I'm just glad I won't be there when you tell him, though. I would be embarrassed if he didn't like it."
"I'll make sure not to embarrass you in any way today, Nana." Nari tousled her sister's hair and finished prepping for her very, very long day ahead.
Walking past one of Nana's many Jimin posters on the wall, Nari poked his smiling cheeks.
See you soon.
* * *