BO-YOUNG
I grab my ears, tugging them down, but they stubbornly spring back up in full attention. My concentration has betrayed me.
Namjoon gives me a patient smile, chuckling at my ear's antics. I try to flatten them again, but to no avail. They spring up again, this time not out of concentration but flustered alertness. I huff, wrapping the red scarf around my head like the stereotypical babushka to subdue my ears. Namjoon stifles his chuckles as he steps aside to let us in. Jungkook rests his hand on top of my scarved head for a moment, though I can't tell if he's joking or if he's trying to reassure me. Before we turn out of the vestibule into the living room, where all of his friends are chatting loudly, Jungkook stops me. His eyes seem almost black in this lighting, and his face is serious, bordering on severe. It's dark, the light of the hallway fading as Namjoon closes the door. Jungkook leans in, speaking in a hushed tone.
"Before we go in, I want to check that you're okay," he says.
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" I ask, confused.
"Good, relish it, because in around five seconds you'll regret coming here," he blurts out quickly. He tugs me out of the hallway, leaving me with my mouth hanging open in disarray.
The light almost blinds me as I stumble past the corner, managing to stay on my feet only because of Jungkook's firm, but not painful, grip on my arm. I stop, my legs buckled like a stereotypical protagonist's legs do, staring at the group of men with the fatalistic awe and dread of a deer caught in headlights. For a second, they don't seem to notice our entrance, but soon one man who is an absolute stranger to me notices and stops, soon followed by the rest.
"Hey, Shortie! It's good to see you!" Taehyung cheers, breaking the silence. He, along with the rest of the group, are wearing equally ridiculous Christmas jumpers as Jungkook is, all in varying arrays of Christmas colors.
My eyes are instantly drawn to the grinning man in the middle. His smile is welcoming and warm, and despite the fact that I've never met him before, nor has he said a single word to me yet, he manages to make the atmosphere comfortable and safe. I've only seen him in pictures and drawings, both of which I assumed were somehow edited, yet here he is, arguably prettier when he's moving and smiling brightly. Jin.
Next to him is an unfamiliar face, the one belonging to the man who first saw us come in. He gives me a small, understated smile. His face, in contrast to Jin's slim features, is rather wide and more circular, his soft features making him look almost doll-like.
"This is Bo-young," Jungkook announces once he knows he has everyone's attention, releasing my hand to gesture at me dramatically. I stumble, managing to regain my balance with the elegance and poise of a newly-born giraffe. "She's my hybrid."
Jin is the first to stand, soon followed by the rest. He greets me warmly.
"Hi, I'm Seokjin," he introduces, his welcoming smile unwavering.
"I know," I blurt out thoughtlessly. The horror of what I said sets in.
"Abort! Abort!" the alarm in my head sounds loudly.
"I mean, Jungkook has told me about you. He even showed me the drawing he made of you," I attempt to save the conversation. Luckily, Jin doesn't seem fazed. "You're pretty much his muse." I laugh awkwardly.
Taehyung snorts disbelievingly before hastily covering it with a cough. Jin chuckles, his nose scrunching up a bit as he stifles it.
"What's so funny?" I ask, genuinely confused.
"Well, Kookie here has never painted a full picture featuring me, nevertheless taken me on a trip to get references of me," Jin laughs.
Hoseok speaks up to clarify, saying: "It took him a year to agree to draw any of us, and suddenly you come into his life, and he can't wait to draw you. There are simpler ways of showing someone what they look like. Mirrors exist, right? I didn't dream it?"
I shoot a disapproving glare to Jungkook. "Exactly how much have you told them? Do you host weekly kikis where you discuss your everyday lives?"
"No," Jungkook denies, his face now matching the red on his sweater.
"Kookie here hasn't shut up about-" Taehyung begins, but his sentence is abruptly cut off when Jungkook pressed his hand against Taehyung's mouth, effectively silencing him. Everything turns into chaos when Jungkook realizes that he doesn't have enough hands to silence all of his friends. Taehyung and Hoseok excitedly tease Jungkook with stories about god knows what, their voices overlapping to the point where their stories become unintelligible. The soft-faced man and Jin watch in mild amusement.
My attention is drawn away from the chaos and towards the figure who still remains seated, solemnly looking at the tomfoolery with a soft smile. Jimin. When his eyes catch mine, I give him a small smile, which he happily returns. I consider joining him on the sidelines, but my considerations are interrupted by Namjoon, who has just made it to the living room.
"Hey, let's stop exposing Jungkook and let's start," he says, to which the rambunctious duo of Taehyung and Hoseok, both of whom seem to be either tipsy or on an extreme sugar high, agree to begrudgingly.
(AN: This chapter is a bit shit, sorry. I'm not in the mood to write. My dog is probably being put down later today or tomorrow, so I'm pretty down, to say the least. 0 effort was put into this chapter, so it turned out pretty messy, but hopefully the next one will be better.)