The wooden ramp creaked as I took each step - but not because it was unstable, it's just what it seemed to always do. Sayeon glanced around her surroundings, waving to me. When I started slowing down, she showed no intent of moving as she gestured me to come to her.
"What's up?" I asked, finally stopping in front of her in the shaded area she was waiting in, the roof of wooded stall area providing some shade as well as the tree's nearby giving coverage. Sayeon glanced around again, checking if anyone was nearby.
"Who are we avoiding?" I whispered playfully, Sayeon letting out a breath.
"All seven of those crazy kids," Sayeon replied, thinking to herself. My first thought was us girls, but obviously that didn't make much sense since we were both in our own presence.
"Is Bangtan that bad?" I asked with a laugh, bringing Sayeon back into reality and resulting in her own laugh.
"No, not them," Sayeon replied, "GOT7. They seriously drive me crazy."
"In a good way or a bad way?"
"In every way."
I made a little laugh, making a small gesture towards where I came from. "I mean, Bangtan isn't the easiest thing to handle either. You kinda just learn to live with it and your appreciation for them comes in soon after."
Sayeon nodded, suddenly taking everything I was saying seriously even though it was quite lighthearted. "Do you think it's worth it?" she asked suddenly, making me think a bit.
However, wasn't surprising that the answer came quickly. "Of course."
She made a little smile as I continued, "It's such an honor hanging out with such talented people who know how to work together like that." I said, pointing up towards the stage referring to the boy's performance even though a different group was performing on stage. "Why?" I added.
Sayeon's smile dropped a bit as she let out a sigh. "I'm just having a hard time with the boys, especially since half of them aren't even from this town. They had a song already and I didn't want to jump in and edit all their lyrics before today, but now I feel like I won't be able to help them make anything else that'll fit their style of music... I don't want to disappoint them."
I gave a little smile, softening at the girl's downhearted expression and giving her a tight side hug. "There's really nothing to worry about, they chose you so if it doesn't work out, it's kind-of their fault." I said while giving her a pat on the back.
Sayeon gave a tentative laugh.
"Which one of them asked you to help with their songwriting?" I asked out of curiosity.
"They asked as a group... quite a few of them like songwriting but needed help getting everything together since they're so far apart..." she trailed off, seeming internally nervous about the topic.
I shook my head, thinking of something to help comfort her. "You can ask Suga for help with mixing and composing, he's really good at that kinda of thing."
Sayeon looked up from her gloomy stare at the floor, raising her eyebrows a bit. I nodded at her surprised expression.
"He looks scary, but I'm sure he could help." I said, smiling. It might've faltered a bit as I thought back to just minutes ago when he looked upset about not getting an explanation about Jack's comments, but I faked the following few seconds of the smile until Sayeon smiled back. Her smile shifted from a smile of genuine appreciation to one of a curious school-girl looking for gossip. She leaned forward with an innocent question.
"You like him, right?"
I stuttered out a quick "I-" before covering it out with a laugh, ending it with an awkward, "What?"
"Or is it one of the other guys? I always see you hanging out with J-"
I quickly cut her off with a drawn out "Ehhh" that made her laugh, though the interruption didn't mean anything.
She let out a laugh, then making a playful pout. "I'm gonna keep guessing until I get it right; I bet it's not even anyone in the band - what about Suho?"
This time I couldn't hold back my laugh, which only caused an awkward snicker noise to come from my nose. "Yeah, no, don't go there," I laughed. I had recently drawn a conclusion about who my brother-from-another-mother Suho was interested in, and it certainly was anyone but me.
"So it's someone in Bangtan," she concluded, and I rolled my eyes, shrugging.
"We should move on," I commented, "What did you want to talk about again?"
Sayeon finally calmed down, replying seriously, "Liking people in a band you manage."
I internally laughed at the word "manage" - even if I wasn't BTS' manager it certainly felt like I was managing seven crazy kids. I quickly replied to Sayeon, repeating, "We're moving on from my love life." I made a gesture with my hands as if placing the conversation topic to the side. "Like, being serious here. Talking about your business."
Sayeon let out a soft embarrassed laugh. "Yeah, we did. This is that business." she said, pointing towards her feet.
It took me a few seconds to realize what we were talking about, and even after I had drawn a conclusion I didn't show my interest for a few seconds, leaving Sayeon waiting for some sort of response to fill the silence she obviously wasn't going to fill.
"Who?" I asked, after a while, the word coming out lightly as I glanced around.
Sayeon let out a defeated laugh, pointing to herself. "Me - My problems."
I quickly grew a smile, shaking my head. "No, I got that part - who's the person in GOT7?"
She gave me a confused look, making me question myself too.
"Are we on the same page here?" I asked, making Sayeon slowly shrug with her eyes squinted, letting out a confused, "Maybe?"
"Which member?" I asked again. Even though I thought I was clear enough, she stayed silent as she thought about something. She finally looked up from staring at the ground.
"That's not really important," she said, and I dropped my shoulders in disappointment, giving a little pout. I wasn't one to dig deep into people's feelings and drama, but certainly it was a bummer not to know about which specific person it was so I could tease her about it later. I started pairing her up with the people I knew in the group, which was difficult because I didn't know much about the other members from out of town other than my cousin. The thought of Jinyoung trying to be romantic made me cringe internally.
"But my main question is - since you deal with crazy boys on the daily -"
I laughed to myself at her statement, but of course she was right; They were basically my life at this point, yet for some reason I didn't regret anything.
"- is it hard to help when you like one of them?"
I gave a smile at the innocent, quiet girl, still internally trying to pair her with people. (Jackson? No, he's probably too outgoing for her. Then probably the same for BamBam. Would Sayeon like the cute childish kind? Mark's soft but-)
"Not sure, I haven't tested that yet." I replied with a little smirk, "Why don't you test that out and get back to me?"
She let out a groan and stomped her feet lightly in anxiety. "You're supposed to give me a straightforward answer so I can just get it over with!" she whisper-shouted.
I couldn't help but smile, giving her a nudge in the arm. "I say go for it, don't get business stop you from those types of things."
"Are you sure?" Sayeon asked tentatively, obviously skeptical after hearing that I had no experience in the matter. I felt like she should have already known I wouldn't have many personal stories about it, but based on our conversation earlier it seemed like she had suspected some relationship already.
I saw her nervous expression and pointed up as I came up with an idea. Almost like a parent to a child, I gave a childish offer.
"How about I test it out first?"
~~~
I offered to go with Sayeon to talk to "her kids", as I thought of them, though now the fact she definitely had a giddy school-girl crush on one of them (Which she still never told me!) made it a bit weirder to call them that. She immediately declined my offer, actually impressing me since I assumed she'd want some moral support in the situation. Honestly she was probably making a good decision to make sure I didn't embarrass her.
The most awkward part was trying to merge back into my group without making eye contact with Suga. Thankfully he was looking in the opposite direction, talking to a boy I forgot the name of but remembered being in Suho's group, EXO. I headed over, hoping to clear things up as I thought of something to say. While deep my thoughts I didn't hear Jungkook until he nearly dragged me from my path.
"Rona," he said, quickly letting go after seeing my confusion. After seeing that I wasn't going to leave he continued, "What did Jack say to you earlier?"
The was a bit or urgency in his voice and his gaze trying to find answers in my expression. I glanced past him to where Suga was, and his confident gaze faltered a bit.
"Why?" I asked simply, asking the person who asked a question first for an answer.
Jungkook glanced back towards where Suga was, then turning back towards me. "It's not only for him, I just want to make sure everything was okay. Jack isn't harassing you or anything, is he?"
I wanted to laugh and crack a joke, thought his serious expression made it look he'd take any words coming out of my mouth literally. I shook my head, shrugging. "Not really... I mean never any more than he teases you. It's just annoying..."
Jungkook's eyes widened, yet his expression somehow softened. "You don't really know how far harassment has... never mind. You're okay?" he began, shaking his head and then cutting off his statement with a reiteration of his previous question.
I nodded, almost sarcastically since I was mostly tired of his pestering. Jack had never done anything terribly bad, just annoying actions and teasing comments that made life a bit more frustration - but isn't there always someone in life like that? It's not like Jack ever went past that point. Jungkook looked concerned at my expression, catching onto my nod being insincere.
I shook my head, trusting him. "Okay look, he just made a comment about Suga that I didn't want to recall verbatim. It's not bad, I just don't need things being awkward. Tell him whatever you need to to make sure he doesn't misunderstand." Jungkook wouldn't do anything dumb, and it seemed like he definitely wasn't about to play a prank on the matter. He could definitely think of a good idea quickly.
However Jungkook seemed to stare at me for a while, comprehending that I was sending him to explain this to Suga instead of doing it myself. I predicted he would protest, or at least suggest that I do it myself, but with a glance behind him at the older talking to some other people, he simply nodded. "Sure, I'll go talk to him." he said, taking a step away and then stopping himself.
He turned back towards me, stepping forward again and lowering his voice as he spoke near my ear so I could hear.
"Next time try to be more transparent with Hyung, even if it's weird. Leaving him without answers just confuses him..."
I gave a little nod, feeling bad after seeing Jungkook's sudden melancholy.
"He really cares about you, by the way."
And with that he turned away with a smile, heading towards his original destination. I couldn't help but smile as well, jogging up to catch up with him as we headed towards the short(-tempered) producer in performer's shoes.
a/n: unedited, so ignore my quality mistakes and writing repetitions if necessary. I'll come back to fix them later, but feel free to point them out for me.
meanwhile i've got a cello lesson, quartet rehearsal, fencing tournament, homework, volunteering, and PACT studying ahead of me (i'll probs rant or post pictures in my personal book later) so hopefully i'll survive this weekend aha... love y'all! thanks for your support!