Him
A whirlwind of a day passed in a blink of an eye. I was in a blissfully cheerful mood through a particularly difficult and grueling practice much to the annoyance of pretty much everyone. Our coaches hammered out every mistake with scarcely any breaks between sessions. Jungkook and Taehyung were highly peeved at how I kept a smile up through a particularly nasty stint during our solo stage work. When RM asked me how I managed it on our lunch break, I smiled and shook my head. I wasn't going to give up my secret that easily.
"Thank you for your hard work today." The head choreographer, Mr. Yang, said. "Get some rest and eat well tonight. Practice will resume regular times tomorrow. Have a good evening." He nodded his farewells and left the studio. The remaining staff members quickly said their goodbyes and hurried after him.
I groaned as I sank deep into a cushioned office chair. It was definitely time to go home and get some sleep. And maybe some food. I closed my eyes against the harsh white lights of the studio.
"J-Hope. J-Hope, wake up."
I jolted upright. Had I fallen asleep just sitting here? Namjoon was standing in front of me, shaking my shoulder. "The others are leaving now, but I wanted to work on some lyrics with you before we head back to the house. Are you up for it?"
I rubbed the bleariness from my eyes. Sleeping would have to wait a little longer "Yeah, I'm good. I just needed a quick power nap first. It's been a long day."
He laughed. "Well, it's about to get longer. We have a lot of music to cover tonight." I stood up, stretching my arms out above my head. I yawned broadly to emphasize how much that appealed to me.
Namjoon threw back his head and laughed his deep, light-hearted laugh. I smiled sheepishly. "C'mon, sleepy-head. Dinner's on me tonight."
Namjoon and I sat cross-legged on his couch an hour later with his laptop opened up on the coffee table. Boxes of various take-out items covered the remaining tabletop space. Papers and notebooks stuffed with random scribbled-on pages were scattered over any open spot on the ground, couch, and other chairs in the room. Demo track after demo track blasted through the computer's tiny speakers. Speaking was limited to quick snippets of "Pass the kimchi" and small questions about the music.
The night was young but we ignored the outside world. Deep inside RM's studio, we existed in our own little world of music and creative energy.
I stuffed another chopstick loaded with black bean noodles into my mouth. "Mmph," I gestured at the screen with the utensils. "Sffp hmm."
Namjoon pressed down on the pause button and backed up the track a few seconds. "Here?"
I nodded furiously. I set aside my container of noodles and swallowed hard. "The track is missing something here."
Namjoon nodded. "Let's try adding in what V recorded yesterday in the recording session. I'll just add some reverb and settle it into the background." He typed for a moment on his keyboard before pressing play.
I bobbed my head to the beat and smiled as the melody played out around the room's speakers. The bold contrasts in chords and touching lyrics made my heart sore. "I love the sound, don't you hyung? It's going to be a smash hit once it breaks on the charts." I sat back and scoop up my bowl again, letting the music carry away my worries. I opened my mouth to down another scoop of noodles.
Namjoon followed suit. He stuffed an extremely large amount of kimchi in his mouth with a look of pure satisfaction. I choked on my own food laughing at the look on his face.
He swallowed the massive lump of pickled cabbage and pointed a chopstick at me accusingly. "Hey, I'm hungry here, okay? Don't blame me for wanting to eat."
I held up my hands innocently. "I didn't say anything," I said teasingly.
Namjoon flicked a stray noodle at me. I dodged it and stuck out my tongue, snickering as he tried to hit me with another noodle.
He grinned before digging back into his dinner. "So, J-Hope," he asked conversationally, "How long have you and the new stylist been seeing each other?"
I spat out my drink. Water dribbled off my chin and down my front, soaking the neck of my shirt. "What did you just say?" My voice was wobbling in the upper octaves from nerves.
A victorious smile cut his mischievous face in two. He continued to pick around his noodles like we were talking about a bar of music we both loved. "Oh, you know, the really attractive stylist you got as your replacement? The one I asked about to see if you knew if she was single? By the look on your face, I'm guessing she's not anymore?"
He looked meaningfully over his box of takeout at me. "What's the truth, Hoseok?" His voice held the serious tones he used when we were talking before a concert or trip.
I fumbled to put together how he had found out. We had been so careful. Where did we go wrong?
He raised an eyebrow at me. "Wondering why I've waited so long to talk to you about this?" I nodded, not sure what else to say. He set down his container and steepled his fingers like he always did before group discussions.
"I knew you were captivated by her the moment she stepped onto the floor the night of the first California concert. Everyone was. You could see it in the way the dancers stopped as she worked and the subtle way that whenever she smiled, a few heads would turn." His words struck me like a bag of sand landing on my chest, stealing my words before I knew what I was even going to say.
Namjoon continued. "Something happened that first night. We came off the stage and you just seemed different. I couldn't put my finger on it until I saw the stars dancing in your eyes whenever you talked to her between sets. What made me first notice something was going to happen was when I saw how happy she seemed when you talked together."
He stood up and started pacing around the room. "When I asked her later that evening why she stopped to talk to you, she made so many excuses. I remember her saying in passing that she didn't have time for any of the dancers that flirted with her. Hoseok, she wouldn't even meet anyone else's eyes that night. Yet she would make time to talk to you, personally."
Hot anger bubbled in my veins when he mentioned the dancers. He was probably talking about Chai and his incessant attempts to flirt with Hiroko. He noticed my angry expression and cocked his head to the side. "Ah, so you know a bit about the dancers."
"Yeah," I said testily. "One of them won't give up trying to catch her attention He's the type who doesn't take no for an answer, if you get my meaning, hyung."
"Hm, I see why that would make you angry," he said thoughtfully.
"Hyung, can you just get to the point of all of this?" I asked irritably.
"If you want, then yes." He sat back down on the couch, all sense of teasing vanishing from his expression. "I want to know how long this has been going on. How long you plan on making it last? You're going to get caught sooner or later. And I want to help."
My jaw dropped. "Help me? Hyung, why would you want to help me? Why aren't you mad at me for hiding this from you?"
He smirked at my apparent confusion. "I've seen how happy you've been since she switched on to our personal staff. I want to help you stay happy because that's what brothers do for each other."
I was shocked. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Did he really want to help me and Hiroko? This was unbelievable. "Hyung, this means a lot to me. Thank you."
He smiled brightly. "You're welcome. Now, how heading home or not? It's later than I thought and I don't want the others to worry about us." He stood up and offered his hand to help me to my feet.
We cleaned up his studio quickly, filing away notebooks and packing up the food in his minifridge under the cabinets. RM tossed a tired arm around my shoulders as we walked down the hall to the door.
"Let's go home, Hoseok." I smiled and nodded in sleepy agreement. The door to the studio closed behind us with a gentle click.
Merry Christmas, my dear readers! I hope all your holiday festivities and celebrations are merry and well. Stay safe and warm!
-Mads