Today is the first official work day for the house staff so I don't end up preparing lunch myself. I offer to shadow Dasom but she waves me off. "There will be plenty of time in the future for that. Wait until they become busy again. We will have more free time then."
Joon comes up behind me. "Feel free to make some easy leftovers to be stored away for the weekend, Yum-ssi. We will be ordering pizza tonight for supper."
She smiles warmly at Joon and bows. "Of course Kim-nim."
"We're ordering pizza?"
"We thought it would pair nicely with bowling." I don't fight him as he pulls me out of the kitchen. I'm not really sure where we are going, but I don't disengage my hand from how his large one is engulfing mine. I'm a little surprised when he leads me to my own room and pulls me inside. I'm even more surprised by the way he pushes me up against the wall and the mirror hanging there rattles from the impact, even though he wasn't forceful with the action.
"Careful there God of Destruction." I smirk up at him.
He glares at the mirror for a second, as if it were the object at fault, then glances back at me. "With the staff here it's a bit harder to find somewhere private to talk. I'm not sure what possessed me to trap you here like this."
I shrug. "Being trapped in your arms seems like a good place to be to me."
His dimples make a sudden appearance, and I find myself immediately swooning. "Yes, I just wish we had more time together. The others have next week also, but I will have to go back to work Wednesday. I won't have a full schedule, but it will make things even more difficult to find some time to ourselves."
"Did you have something in mind?"
He nods. "I was thinking we could go out just the two of us Monday. Somewhere nice." He smiles encouragingly.
"I'd like that." I smile for a second, but find the expression falling shortly thereafter. Regarding Joon and our relationship, the timing has always felt off. I'm thankful that we will have time together for our date, but I am also worried a bit too.
"What is it?"
"I might express this poorly, so I apologize in advance if I do so." He nods at me, indicating I should proceed. "Do you mind if we take it slow? I want to get to know you directly a bit more, and I just don't think we have really had that much time to do that. I wanted to express this because I was afraid after going on the date with Jimin yesterday and the way things progressed you would exp--."
Joon interrupts me by kissing me softly on the lips, which seems to be my soulmates' favored way of shutting me up. See if I complain about it. It works and gives me loving lip locking moments. I'm all for it!
"I don't expect anything, Daisy. Honestly, I 100% agree with taking it slow. Being each other's soulmate only means that we will have a deep bond and loving feelings, but it doesn't mean that it will necessarily happen overnight or right away. When it comes to romantic reciprocated feelings they have to have a chance to build over time. I definitely don't want to rush things, and I understand why you feel the same."
His statements are soothing, reassuring, and somewhat inaccurate. I already have deep rooted feelings for the handsome leader of BTS. I just want to feel more connected to him intellectually and on a more personal level also.
"You are feeling okay, right?" Joon asks me.
It takes me a second to realize he is referring to last night. The minute I fully register that I am blushing. There is a part of me that is getting a tad annoyed with the question at this point, but the fact I know they are only asking out of loving concern definitely locks that annoyance away to the back of my mind. "I'm fine. I promise."
"Good." He kisses me deeply for a moment before pulling away again and sighing. "I bet lunch is about ready."
Once we get to the kitchen table Tae immediately pulls me to sit down beside him. I don't even utter a complaint. I know he is somewhat upset that he will probably be missing out on the group activity tonight, and so having me sit beside him at lunch is his way of trying to get more time with me.
When lunch has been consumed and it's time for Tae to leave. He pulls me with him to say goodbye at the door. "I'll miss you, Angel."
I smile at the sweet sentiment and know that he is considering staying home after all. "I'll miss you too. But, you should spend time with your friends. I doubt you all have openings in all of your schedules at the same time often. You should take advantage of it."
He sighs dramatically and confines me in one of his whole body cuddle hugs that I will never get enough of. "I might be back before you even get done with bowling."
"Just in case you aren't, can I share a secret with you?"
His eyes widen which I take as confirmation and whisper something softly in his ear. He laughs. "Really?"
I nod. "Yup."
We finish saying our goodbyes, and I decide to spend some time out at the pool for a bit. When I mention what I plan on doing Jin and Hobi come with. Hobi because he is insistent I wear one of my bikinis. Jin because he is worried I will miss a spot with the sunblock and doesn't want me to burn.
They are both my exercise partners this time. Each of them flanking one of my sides. I don't push myself to swim as fast as I would with Jk. But we all do keep a moderate pace beside each other.
Afterward we all relax in the hot tub for a bit. Jin surprises me by pulling me on his lap for a change. His broad shoulders give me an ample space to lay my head against his chest. His hands rub up and down my arms and the soothing touch has me shuttering my eyes in no time. "Princess, you shouldn't fall asleep here."
My eyes open immediately at the term of endearment. I turn and kiss him softly on the cheek. "You just called me princess." I can't keep the smile from growing on my face.
Poor Jin immediately becomes shy and flustered. His ears turn red first before the hue grows and dusts over his cheeks.
I don't want to give him too hard of a time about it so I acquiesce to putting my hand in Hobi's when he reaches to help me out. We all rinse off in the pool house, and afterward I head upstairs to get a proper shower.
Hours later, as the pizza arrives, we all head downstairs with plates and the cardboard boxes in tow. When we get to the downstairs game room we unload the pizza boxes at the nearby bar, and leave our plates at the nearby table.
"So, are we all going to group together to try to beat Jk?" Jimin asks curiously.
"I have a better idea." I do my best to try to control the grin wanting to break over my face. I glance at Jin, Hobi, Jimin, Joon, and Yoongi each in turn. "I think we should eat first. But after I wondered if I could do a warm up game with Jk."
I can tell they are all confused, but also intrigued by my curious suggestion. I polish off three slices before I claim I am full. I lean against the nearest body which happens to be Yoongi. He smiles at me for a moment, but continues eating. Once he too claims he's done he pulls me onto his lap. "You're up to something, Honey." He whispers in my ear. "What is it?"
I shrug trying to feign that the way he breathed softly against my ear had no effect on me. "You'll see." I whisper back.
Once everyone is finished I ask Hobi to hand me my bowling shoes. He's the closest to the rack where they are kept. He smiles and nods. However when he brings them over to me he holds them behind his back. "I require payment."
I arch an eyebrow at him, but stand up and kiss him softly. "Will that suffice?"
He shrugs nonchalantly. "For now at least." He smirks.
I sit back down and lean over to put my shoes on when suddenly Jin is at my feet and assisting me. I feel like Cinderella for a second, and then I realize that's exactly what he had been intending. He was subtly reminding me of the endearment he bestowed on me only hours ago.
I sashay over to the rack where the bowling balls are kept. Intentionally adding unnecessary hip action to my walk. My purpose is to completely throw Jk off his game. I did, after all, wear the tight leggings with a short tee on purpose. After I bring it back over to the rack on the machine, I glance at Jk and see him running his tongue over his lip. So, while I know my plan worked to distract him I didn't realize it would also blow up in my face. That look is pure sin and makes me want to immediately jump the maknae. I mentally shake myself to clear my head and focus back on my current goal; to surprise Jk and take him down in equal measure.
He tries to insist I go first. Mentally I rejoice in how much of a gentleman he is. "No, no. I really want to see how well you bowl, Jk. I mean I know you are good at pretty much everything. But I still like to see the proof." The praise has the desired effect and he immediately puffs up his chest in pride.
I'm not surprised at how well he does the first frame. He gets a strike right off the bat. When I execute my practiced stance and delivery I hear a murmur of surprised excitement behind me. I'm a little out of practice but, despite that, I still manage to get a strike in the first frame too.
The game goes by really fast. We are both pretty even in talent, and when we hit the 8th frame my score is a bit higher than his. I know that is due to him slightly floundering the second and third frames. He most definitely wasn't expecting my skill level. My biggest flaw though is that I hardly ever score more than two strikes in a row. I guess I just sike myself out or something along those lines. So after I actually score a third strike in my 9th frame I know my 10th frame is going to probably suck. I'm proven right when he scores two strikes in the tenth frame and knocks down seven in the end. I score a spare and also knock down seven. He beats me by two points.
"Okay, now I have to know. How on Earth are you so good, Petal?"
I shrug. "I told you I was from a small town. There wasn't much to do there. Most every Friday night my family would bowl together. We even had a pseudo bowling team night once a month." I see some confusion on the other's faces so I further explain myself. "We would bowl competitively against other families."
"I say for the next game you two should be captains." Joon suggests.
I frown. "But the teams would be uneven."
I swear my life is like a television drama or a movie. Just as I utter that I happen to hear footsteps above us. "I think Tae just got home." Joon voices my own thoughts.
Sure enough Tae pops through the door only a minute or two later. We quickly make lots to draw so it will be fair. I end up with Yoongi, Hobi, and Tae on my team. The latter is of course ecstatic since he had been away for hours.
The antics ensued during this game have me almost rolling in laughter. I don't even care about the score in the long run because I am having way too much fun. I glance over at Jk and notice he must be feeling the same way judging by the smile on his face and the laughter in his eyes. In the end somehow my team wins, but once again it is only a small margin. We end up winning by 5 points.
We all part our separate ways. Tae surprising me when he grabs my hand and weaves our fingers together. I had nearly forgotten we planned on another Korean lesson tonight. But it was pretty obvious from his enthusiasm that he hadn't.