Talia sat in the outer office, looking up numbers for other entertainment agencies in Seoul. If she could manage to at least keep her home base in Seoul, she would get to see Namjoon more often. If she had to go to another country, it meant having a long distance relationship. Not an ideal situation, but still she'd rather do that than lose him. She was scribbling down the numbers on a piece of paper she pulled from her bag, when the assistant came to escort her into the office.
Talia walked in, greeted Mr. Bang, and sat in the chair next to Namjoon. He reached over and gave her thigh a squeeze. Namjoon reached to take her hand and she dropped the small piece of paper she was clutching. He reached down to pick it up and saw the list she had been making. Nmajoon looked at her questioningly and set the paper on the desk.
"It's ok," Talia said, "I was just preparing for the inevitable. I would like to thank you, Bang PD-nim, for the opportunity of a lifetime. I learned a lot about the entertainment industry in South Korea and I made friends I hope will last a lifetime."
Namjoon tried to reassure her, "Talia, I don't think you..."
But Talia cut him off, "It really is ok. There's no hard feelings and if you find your company in need of an interpreter in the future again, I hope you'll give me a call."
Namjoon could tell that Talia was losing it. The more she talked, the closer she came to having a complete meltdown. As soon as he saw the first tear leak out, he knew a disaster was about to happen.
He took her hand and tried to help, "Sweetheart, please stop and take a breath..."
"Please don't patronize me, Joon. I'm sorry that things didn't work out, Mr. Bang. I apologize for wasting your time, sir," mumbled Talia.
She stood up, excused herself, and quickly exited the office. Namjoon just sat there and smiled at Mr. Bang.
"What just happened, Namjoon?"
Namjoon said, "You're right about her; she is full of confidence 99.9% of the time. But then there is that .1% of the time when her confidence fails her completely. That's why she always goes over and above what is asked of her. She never thinks she's done quite enough. She was positive she was being let go and she's never been fired before.
"This paper I set on your desk, she was making a list of other agencies in Seoul that might need an interpreter. She could literally make a few phone calls and have another job anywhere in the world. But she loves Korea and she loves me; she was looking forward to having a home here. She hasn't had a home anywhere since she was eighteen years old, so I think she just got overwhelmed."
"Why didn't you stop her from leaving?" asked Mr. Bang.
Namjoon chuckled, "Oh, I'm pretty sure she was sprinting by the time she hit your lobby. I'm not that fast."
"Namjoon, get her back here, please."
"Yes sir, let me give her a call."
Namjoon dialed Talia's number and waited for her to answer. He could hear her sniffling before she even said hello.
"I'm so sorry, Joon. It's just that I've never wanted a job so badly before. But I'm sorry I embarrassed you in front of your boss. I just couldn't stop my mouth from talking. I've never acted so unprofessionally before," Talia cried.
Namjoon spoke English to keep the call private, since he hadn't stepped out of the office.
"Talia, stop talking! You have never embarrassed me. Bang wants you to come back here. You didn't even let him speak."
"No, I can't come back there after the way I just behaved," Talia said.
"He wasn't going to fire you, sweetheart," Namjoon told her, "You just assumed he was going to. I know it's embarrassing, but you need to come back. How soon can you be here?"
There was silence for a few moments.
"I don't know what the point of coming back now is; he's surely not going to hire me after I acted like that. But give me a few minutes. I need to fix my face," she answered.
"All right. See you in a few minutes. Just be calm, no matter what happens. Everything will be fine."
Namjoon finished the phone call and told Mr. Bang that Talia would be back soon. He offered to wait in the outer office, but Mr. Bang still had other things to discuss with him.
Five minutes later, Talia arrived and was ushered in by the assistant. Mr. Bang asked Namjoon to wait outside while he spoke with Talia. He winked at her and left the office.
Mr. Bang indicated a chair and asked Talia to sit. "Let's pretend our last meeting never happened, all right?" he kindly said.
Talia took a deep breath and asked Mr. Bang if she could speak for a moment. He nodded.
"Please let me apologize for my behavior earlier. At the very least, it was unprofessional and I have no excuse for jumping to conclusions. I shouldn't have been so nervous, especially considering how kind you've always been to me. I beg your forgiveness," she quietly apologized.
Mr. Bang smiled, genuinely pleased that his matchmaking had worked out. He set her mind at ease, "Very nicely said. You are forgiven. Now let's forget it ever happened and talk about happier things, such as bringing you on full time."
~~~
Later that evening, Talia said, "I can't believe he just forgave my bad behavior like that. He didn't even lecture me or anything. He just said, 'let's forget about it' and moved on. I'm so happy he still wanted to hire me."
Talia sat on Namjoon's bed, leaning against the headboard. Namjoon lay with his head in her lap, while she ran her fingers through his hair. They had ordered take-out and were watching a movie. The moon had risen outside, casting shadows all around the room. They kept the lights low while watching the movie.
Talia could hear the familiar sounds of the other members from the open doorway. Someone was singing; others were laughing. She could smell the dinner Jin was cooking for the others. It was all very comfortable and cozy. It made Talia think...
She said, "When I started out in my career, all I wanted was to travel, to stay in fancy hotels, to make a huge paycheck, and to hang out with rock stars. And those things are great; I'm not going to deny that. I just now realized how wrong I had it though."
"What do you mean?"
She thought for a moment and said, "Those things don't mean anything if there's no home to come back to."
"Yeah, we need to find you a place so you can move out of that hotel room," he answered, distracted by the movie.
Talia chuckled, knowing he wasn't really paying much attention, "That's not what I mean, sweetheart. I don't think home is a place; I think it's a person. I'm home whenever I'm with you. I think I could have all my dreams come true, but without you, there would always be something missing. I could be a pauper, but with you, I'd feel rich. You're my home."
Namjoon picked up her hands, tenderly kissed them, and then wrapped his own large hands around hers. Mere seconds went by, when he suddenly sat straight up.
"Wait a minute! Brilliant," he shouted.
He scrambled off the bed and grabbed a notebook. Sitting at his desk, he started writing.
"Joon, what's wrong?"
However, Namjoon was completely absorbed in his writing. Talia rolled her eyes and settled back to finish watching the movie. She knew better than to disturb the creative process.
An hour and a half later, Namjoon woke Talia up and grabbed her hand, pulling her off the bed, out the door, and down the hallway.
"Where's Yoongi?" he asked.
"I think he's in the kitchen with Jin and Jungkook," answered Tae, "Why? What's happening?"
Namjoon burst into the kitchen, with Talia in tow. He placed the notebook on the table in front of Yoongi. Yoongi looked up at Namjoon with raised eyebrows. Namjoon just nodded and pointed to the paper. Jungkook hung over Yoongi's shoulder and read along with him. As he read, Jungkook nodded his head, "Yes! Exactly!"
Yoongi looked up at Namjoon and smiled. Jin reached over to take the notebook and read it too.
"Amazing! You want to start working on it now?" asked Yoongi.
"Can we?"
Yoongi nodded.
Talia wondered out loud, "What is going on? I'm so confused."
Jin handed her the notebook, but Talia saw nothing except a scribbled mess. Eventually, she made out that the mess was song lyrics and written at the top of the page was the title, Home. She scanned through the lyrics and teared up. How had he written exactly what she felt so quickly?
Namjoon leaned his forehead against hers and their eyes locked.
"You know I feel that too, right?" he asked.
She nodded and he kissed her as he took the notebook from her hand. In a flash, he and Yoongi were gone. Talia looked around more confused now.
"What just happened?"
Jin and Jungkook just laughed. It was a typical occurrence at their house.
Jin said, "You might as well stay in Namjoon's room tonight. He likely won't be back until early morning."
"C'mon noona, I'll get you a toothbrush," offered Jungkook.
As Talia turned to follow Jungkook, Jin called, "Hey Talia..."
She paused at the doorway and looked back.
He grinned and said softly, "Welcome home."
~the end~