__EIGHT__
Saturday comes, and Chaeyoung is secretly happy to see she's not the only one complaining about going to this party.
Déjà vu.
The three of them all coincidentally color-matched in sombre and dark, to reflect their mood, while Lisa is in tight blue jeans and a red shirt. The youngest is oblivious to their reluctance at leaving their dorm as she chatters away while they put on their shoes even as Jennie struggles with her laces to buy some time.
It doesn't work since Lisa just kneels down and ties the laces herself, giving Jennie a big smile when her task is successfully completed.
The rapper mouths a 'sorry' to the two other girls as she has no choice but to get up. Still, before they leave, Jennie warns Lisa as politely as possible to stop letting BamBam drag them left and right to parties when he really just wants her to go.
A subtle warning in case Bambam has any ideas about an upcoming third party.
"You're crazy," is Lisa's answer to Jennie's words, looking baffled. Then she starts her usual rambles on how they're childhood friends so of course they're close! And how there has never been more than friendship between them, and that friends attend each other's parties, it's in the friend code.
Familiar with the music, her three members tune her out and Jisoo even shushes her when they arrive downstairs where the taxi is already waiting for them.
The ride is rather silent and Chaeyoung spends it watching the nightlife outside the window. Groups of people walking on the sidewalks, laughing. Other cars zooming past them, eager to get where they're heading. All the different lights of the buildings, bright and inviting.
Next to her, Jennie is pressed to her side, glued to her phone with a bored look on her face.
Chaeyoung holds back a sigh. Hopefully this evening will go smoothly.
The ride isn't too long and they reach their destination soon enough. The Seventeen dorm.
It's funny really, that during the first three years of her idol career, she barely had any run-in with that group and now in such a short time, that name is everywhere on her path.
They enter, Lisa at the front as BamBam gave her directions to reach their dorm safely, and BamBam is there to greet them when they knock on the door as if he owns the place. He beams at the blond girl the moment he sees her.
Lisa probably texted him the moment they got out of the taxi and he waited for them - her - at the door.
"I'm so right and she's so blind," Jennie whispers next to her as they watch the both of them smile at each other, and Jisoo and Chaeyoung nod their agreement.
Lisa can be oblivious sometimes.
With a sigh, Chaeyoung looks away from the pair to see Woozi coming toward her, and she bows her head in greeting. When she straightens, he smiles brightly at her. She smiles lightly in return, Jungkook's words still in her head but she refuses to let them influence her. Instead, she's determined to act normally around him.
They start talking and her members all branch away in different directions while she stays close to the living room with Woozi.
He's acting like he always has with her, no traces of the man Jungkook described. His eyes are as kind, his smiles as genuine as before.
He's chatting about some issue with one of their managers wanting to come by tonight and his whole group trying by any means possible to keep him away, means that pull a smile out of her.
He's getting to the final part of their masterplan when she distractedly scans the crowed dorm, and freezes when she spots him some distance away, staring at her.
Of course he's here too.
He's not that close, but she can feel the intensity of his stare.
She tears her eyes away, answering a question Woozi threw at her, but her mind is oceans away.
She's so not having sex with him here.
That makes her halt.
Why is that the first thing in her mind? Before at the MBC building and now here. He really has turned her into some sex-maniac. She got mad at him for what he previously said, but turns out he wasn't that far off.
Creeped out by her own thoughts, she forces her attention on Woozi. "So, who's the birthday boy?"
"Our leader, Seung Cheol, aka S.Coups," he answers as he points out the boy in question who's smiling cheekily at a girl Chaeyoung thinks is from Pristin.
Yeah, that doesn't look like a boy who struggles to invite female guests to his own birthday party.
"He planned a whole bunch of games later, so I hope you'll join."
Chaeyoung laughs nervously at the mention of games. She's pretty sure she doesn't want to stick around for those, whatever they will be.
If Jennie gets wind of that, she'll definitively kill Lisa for bringing them here.
Oh, here's a thought. Maybe that'll make them leave faster. It's imperative that they get out of this dorm ASAP – that she gets far away from Jungkook.
Chaeyoung hates to be a rude guest, but if she wants to plan their escape successfully and in a timely manner, there are a million other places she should be right now.
Staying here is not an option anymore.
She leaves Woozi's side after a few minutes on the excuse of wanting to chat with her friends a bit. She first heads to Jennie, who's chatting with Nayeon in a corner. She smiles apologetically to the other girl before whispering in the rapper's ear about the upcoming plans for the evening.
Better that Jennie knows what's coming.
And hopefully that'll make her want to leave as much as Chaeyoung does.
When she falls silent and steps back slightly, Jennie's eyes are wide open and she groans loudly. It echoes her feelings perfectly and they share a desperate look.
"No matter the game, it always ends will a drunk guy slobbering all over me," Jennie whines.
Nayeon giggles. "I wouldn't mind any of those guys slobbering over me."
"Good for you," Jennie mutters darkly. "I'll think of a plan to get out of here soon. Check your phone," she then tells Chaeyoung who nods with relief, and heads off, probably to find Jisoo.
Good.
Jennie is good with plans, so it shouldn't get her long to get back to her, and Chaeyoung will finally be able to leave this place before anything disastrous happens.
A quick scan of the crowd confirms that Jungkook isn't around.
Maybe she'll survive the rest of her time here without making a fool of herself once more.
To pass time, she wanders around a little, chatting with Jihyo for some time until the older girl is dragged away by some handsome guy she doesn't know.
The few people she does know are already busy with other people or dancing, and since she doesn't have any interest in the latter nor in socializing, she goes in search of something to drink as there's still no sign of Jennie in her alerts.
In the kitchen, she stares at the table filled with many different bottles, ranging from all sorts of wines and strong alcohols to colas, juices, and water. There's even a bottle of champagne.
She grimaces. There's no way she's drinking anything with alcohol, no matter the percentage. She sagely grabs a water bottle but before she can uncap it, a finger pokes her cheek.
Almost jumping out of her skin in shock, she turns to find Jungkook standing next to her.
Oh.
"Hey," he greets with a small grin.
And dammit, he looks good from up-close, dressing in a sport grey hoodie and dark jeans, his hair falling freely on his forehead. Her fingers are itching to brush the strands away so she grabs her bottle harder.
Must. Resist. Temptation.
"Hi..." she answers carefully.
He frowns. "What's with the cold reply?"
"We..." She glances around to make sure no one is around, but still lowers her voice to be on the safe side. "We're not having sex here, so leave me alone. Should we even speak to each other in front of other people?"
He rolls his eyes at her. "Don't worry, I wasn't planning on having sex at my friends' dorm. That doesn't mean that we can't hang out. Why do you care if people see us? We're two people talking. Plenty of others are doing the same."
True.
Maybe she worries too much, thinks too much.
Still, she frowns slightly at his words. He confuses her so much, never acting or saying what she expects him to. "You....you want to-to hang out? But...we never hung out before..."
He shrugs. "First time for everything." He extends his hand to her. "Dance with me?"
She looks at him suspiciously. He's smiling at her innocently, but she can't trust that smile. The man behind the smile is in no way innocent, but the invitation is tempting, her previous worries now completely forgotten now that he's standing in front of her, so alluring.
"Well...I guess... Sure, but no grinding, no hip thrusting, not any sort of move remotely sexual," she warns.
He nods seriously, but there's a playful twinkle in his eyes that gives her insides jittery flip-flops. "It'll be very children-friendly."
"Hey, I mean it!"
He smiles at her as he interlocks his fingers with hers and drags her where people are dancing to a Rihanna song in the middle of the living room.
She's on her guard when they settle toward the corner, but he stays true to his word. They move together, a respectable space between them, jamming to the music more than dancing.
She's stiff at first, barely moving, but the songs are all ones she likes, and since he looks like he's having fun, she slowly starts to relax. Her moves become more confident and maybe she's gradually having fun too, dancing with him.
Still, even when lightly dancing, his footwork is impressive, Chaeyoung notices. She stares at his feet as she tries to copy the way they move but it probably looks amateurish.
"Is the floor so interesting?"
She snaps her eyes back up to find his questioning gaze.
Embarrassed, she gives him a sheepish smile. "I was admiring your footwork, not the floor."
His low laugh is her reward for her truthful answer; she didn't even try to think of a random excuse to save her from mortification. And she loves it, his laugh. It's such an alluring, unexpected sound, she has no time to regret her honesty.
If only she could hear that laugh more often.
She gasps in shock when he suddenly starts twirling her around, and she giggles with delight as she spins around a few turns but her expression freezes when he brings her back around.
"You said it'd be children-friendly," she stutters as two dark pools stare back at her, filled with lust.
"This is the kind of dancing you can do at kindergarten parties," he answers with a grin.
They're holding hands and their arms are swinging in sync with their bodies and weirdly enough, they're matching the beat of the song, but the rest of the dancers are mostly swaying sensually to the suggestive lyrics, so they probably look silly among the crowd.
"The dance...sure...but stop looking at me like that!"
He takes one step closer to her. "Like what?" he whispers.
She swallows, her throat dry. "Like that."
With just a look, she forgets all the people around them, although a part of her brain hopes they don't notice this little exchange. But it's impossible for her to tear her eyes away from Jungkook to check.
Impossible to think about anything other than him right now.
"Well, you said no sexy dance and no sex. You never mentioned anything about intense staring," he fights back, bringing her closer to him. He moves his arm around her neck while his other hand intertwines their fingers together.
They start oscillating lazily in place, and while there's nothing sexy about the dance, his eyes on hers are on a whole other level.
It's not just staring. His eyes bore into hers, hungrily. They devour every part of her body, but they always come back to her eyes, as if hypnotized, as if his eyes could only see her among everyone else in the room.
Breathless from the intensity, Chaeyoung lowers her head to let it rest on his chest, her free hand grasping his shirt at his side. She tries to calm her frenetic heart, but his arm on her neck, a heavy weight she never wants to disappear, is so warm...
And his hand holding hers, firm and soft at the same time, is a foreign sensation but one she immediately enjoys. Probably too much. His skin is soft, his fingers long. And she loves the way it feels in her hand.
This obviously wasn't a good idea, dancing together. His proximity alone is enough to set every little part of her on fire. Especially her heart. Her heart that is now burning in hunger. It's beating so loud, like a constant reminder of what it wants.
She should've stayed away like she intended to do.
But she can't. She really can't.
So she keeps dancing.
"I love this, you know," he whispers in her ear, his breath sending shivers down to her toes.
"What?"
"That you want me as much as I want you."
<><><>
"...and that's when Jackson entered the bathroom and found Mark naked."
Lisa is rolling her eyes by the end of BamBam's silly story involving his members who always seem to find themselves in compromising situations. He has so many to tell, she sometimes feels like the eighth unofficial member of GOT7.
She watches him laugh with a fond smile, shaking her head at how familiar this sight of him is, and her eyes scan the room dismissively until they spot a flash of blond hair.
The front door closes just in time for Lisa to catch Chaeyoung's back before it disappears on the other side.
She frowns. Why is she already leaving? And without a word too! Barely an hour has passed since they arrived... They were all supposed to spend a nice evening here together, but for some reason, Chaeyoung left?
With a dissatisfied groan, she offers a weak excuse to BamBam and heads to a quiet spot where she takes her phone out of her jeans pocket to give her friend a piece of her mind.
It's not Chaeyoung's style to leave so rudely without an explanation, so Lisa is willing to hear her side of the story before chewing her out. Maybe that time of the month suddenly hit hard.
The low bar of the battery greets her when she opens her phone, and she whines. "You stupid thing! You'll run out of power before I have time to properly scold Chaeng, dammit!"
"Poor thing, it's not like it can walk itself to the charger."
She whips her head around in the direction of the intruding voice she doesn't recognize. The owner of the voice, a tall man staring at her in amusement as he leans against the wall, is not who she expected at all.
She squints her eyes as she unconsciously straightens up.
"That would be so useful if it could actually do that... ah, V sunbaenim?"
How the BTS singer ended up here is quite puzzling. Why he is talking to her is also a complete mystery.
He grins at her. "That's just my stage name. I'm Kim Taehyung."
"I'm...Pranpriya Manoban."
He blinks at her name, which makes her chuckle deviously. It's not a name she uses anymore, except maybe to laugh at the expense of others. "Sorry, it's my birth name. Nowadays it's Lalisa, or just Lisa, I'm not picky."
He smiles, showing a set of perfectly white teeth so blinding Lisa has to look away. "So why were you chastising your poor phone?"
She glances down at said phone in her hand with a grimace. "It's almost out of battery, and I needed to make a life-or-death phone call."
"Oh? If it's urgent, you can use mine."
She's surprised by the offer, maybe a bit touched, but she waves him off with a shy smile. "By life-and-death, I meant annoying Chaeng to know why the hell she just left the party without even telling me! I mean, BamBam went to the trouble of inviting us, and she just left after like only one hour! And didn't even tell me! That's real-"
She realizes she's ranting, so she lets out a nervous laugh. How awkward. "It's not really her style, but I'll just talk to her later, no big deal."
"I thought someone was on the brisk of death from how you were talking."
She shrugs innocently. "Well, I thought I was by myself... and maybe I exaggerate sometimes." She thinks her words would close the conversation and he would move on, but he stays at his spot, staring at her.
Maybe she stole his spot? She's starting to feel nervous too, with the way he's looking at her. "Ahh... well, thank you for offering your help anyway. That was very kind of you. So...I guess I'll go find BamBam now?"
He pouts. "I was bored until I found you...do you really have to?"
Lisa hesitates. Five minutes in his presence and he's already surprised more times than most people do in their lifetimes. He wants to... waste time with her, talk some more? Why? They've never interacted before, so she doesn't get his sudden interest.
And BamBam really wanted them to spend time together tonight as they rarely get an opportunity to do so, even though Lisa thinks he should use the chance to flirt with some girls since he whines all the time about being single.
"Well...you can always tag along if you want. You know BamBam, right?"
Her answer causes him to laugh, a low sound that's yet another surprise, a sound unlike anything she's ever heard.
She really wants to hear it again. For study purposes.
"I know him. But it's fine, you go. I'll find another source of fun. Maybe next time." He sends her a grin before moving away.
Disappointment hits her as she watches his lanky form leave the room, and she sighs.
She should've agreed to hang out with him for a bit. She loves meeting new people and he seemed interested in getting to know her somehow? And it's not like she never has opportunities to hang out with BamBam.
She could've given him fifteen more minutes of her time.
BamBam would've understood.
And yet, she hesitated.
Truthfully, she's always found all of the BTS members intimidating.
She did a dance gig with Park Jimin some time ago, and while he was overall nice and polite, she got standoffish vibes from him.
And the last award show they went to, while going to the restroom, she bumped right into Min Yoongi, and even stepped on his foot while wearing her high heels. The heel hit one of his toes square on.
His groan of pain, low and guttural, haunted her for days.
And V, or Kim Taehyung, looks like a model ready for the catwalk, unapproachable and beyond reach.
Why did he even come to talk to her?
She wonders what kind of conversation they would've had if she had agreed.
Not like it matters since she sent him away.
Lisa sighs again.
This was supposed to be a fun party. So why isn't she having fun at all?
Shaking her head, she pockets her phone, deciding that she'll talk to Chaeyoung tomorrow.
Lisa knows she didn't feel like coming to the party, but it's not like she was forcing anyone's hand.
She just... wanted the four of them to have some fun.
When she returns to the main room, she almost thinks about maybe searching for Kim Taehyung, to take him up on his offer. But she quickly brushes that idea aside and instead, she takes the safest path and heads for BamBam.
The only time she diverged from her safety-zone was when she auditioned for YG, won, then moved to South Korea.
That was quite the ballsy move, not so unlike her, but not a common occurrence either.
Somehow she has the feeling that Kim Taehyung is very far off her safety-zone, and it's better to stay in her lane.
--
sooooooo..... are rosekook finally starting to make some progress??? and taelice finally met! Thank you for reading and voting, and please let me know what you think, feedback is like food for an author.