There he stood, amidst the busy hall filled with chatter and laughter. Everyone had a drink in their hands and it seemed to be a pretty busy party. From the corner of his eye, he could see the woman twirling and twisting around the many people gathered in separate and small groups, engaged in different conversations.

His eyes followed her until someone took a seat next to him on the bar-section chairs of the restaurant he was in, leaning towards him.

"Kim Taehyung is hooked onto the mysterious girl's every single step while sitting inside a restaurant for a commoner's party in Seoul. This would make big headlines," He heard the feminine voice speak casually, leaving him to smile in a sarcastic manner before turning towards her direction.

"No one asked that opinion at the last, Jeremy" he caked the smile even more with raised eyebrows.

"And I don't care about that, Karen," She fired back before leaning back on the seat and smiling back. "Thank me."

"Thank you for inviting me," Taehyung's smile turned into an unpretentious and grateful one as he respectfully slid a glass of alcohol towards Moon, the immediate persona switch made her chuckle a little until he spoke up again. "So what's the occasion? Is this, like a get-together or something?" His voice was light as a feather while he sounded genuinely confused.

"Oh, about that-"

"Oh God, where have you been, Moon? I've been trying to find you for the past twenty minutes-"

The two figures on the bar seats turned towards their back to face the owner of the voice in sync, and that's when she immediately froze upon registering the presence of the male out of the two.
The voice obviously belonged to Yumi. Yumi, who was innocently searching for her best friend amidst the crowd just to find her sharing a drink with V of BTS.

"-Oh holy fuck," Her words tumbled into a sudden expletive with big eyes and parted lips. "What is Kim Taehyung doing at my birthday party?"

"Your birthday party?"

"I invited him,"

Taehyung seemed to be even more confused than before, until he realised that the woman who had invited him never told him what he'd been invited for, except for the part where he knew he would meet Yumi. And he never bothered to ask about the rest.

Moon tilted her head at her soulmate before softly hopping down the bar chair and walking to Yumi's side. "You know, we just caught up after I returned from the U.S. Felt fair to invite him here. You asked me to invite all of my close friends after all," She smiled sweetly after whispering in Yumi's ear and attempted to escape until the latter caught hold of her arm and pulled her close.

"Since when, is Kim Taehyung your close friend?" The birthday girl hissed back and narrowed her beautiful eyes at Moon, who simply shrugged before tugging her arm away and giving her another smile. "Enjoy." She whispered again and left the scene to socialize. Yumi followed her figure with disbelief until the man sitting behind her cleared his throat, leading her to focus on him out of impulse. She definitely wanted to run.

"Hey," He breathily let out and she gulped before smiling and realising that she couldn't run. Not now, no. Taking the seat formerly occupied by his 'close friend', she licked her lips before taking in a deep breath.

"Hi," She nervously chuckled and blinked, gripping her drink tighter than before. She wondered if her nervousness was reflecting on her face when it obviously was, but all she secretly prayed for was that she doesn't sweat like hell out of anxiety and all her makeup turns into a mess on her special day, in front of this special unexpected guest who was giving her special butterflies in the tummy.

But little did she know that Taehyung was blind to all her negatives at the moment, all he could see was this gorgeous woman with the prettiest black dress on her flawless body, her eyes as beautiful as he remembered and her lips lush and plump painted with the darkest shade of red.

He briskly shook his head and realised that she had been awfully quiet, biting her lips every now and then. He needed to get himself together. And wish her. Oh God yes, wish her!

"A-a very Happy Birthday to you, Yumi-ssi" He mumbled so softly that he almost couldn't hear himself. All he could pray was that she heard it either way. "I apologise for not bringing anything for you, I had absolutely no idea about it. Moon didn't mention it is your birthday, she- yeah," He grew quiet when he saw her shaking her head rapidly.

"Absolutely not, there is no need for a gift. I'm just very glad that you could make it here, Thank you for joining us." She grinned back and he shyly looked down with a small smile dancing around his lips.

"How old do you turn today?"

"Twenty-six?" She said it as a question for some reason and he nodded in acknowledgement. "I turn twenty-seven this year," His handsome smile appeared as he leaned his head on his fist.

"I know," She mumbled back.

"It's unfair though," He gently whined and she frowned with her lips still curled up. "You obviously know a lot about me, so every conversation I make would be in your knowledge already," His lips formed a pout instead. "Rather it's only fair I get to know you more. I mean, beyond the part with your gorgeous, stunning visible beauty which I can already see," He slyly slipped and she stared at him for a second, trying to decipher his words before a chuckle bubbled up in her throat, eyes rolling a little.

"That was straightforward," She snickered, looking away from him to randomly gaze at the bar. "I feel like there's a very slight possibility of this being you trying to hit on me but then again that might be too bold of me to assume considering that you're-" She paused to see him giving her a look that screamed 'please no' and she instantly shut up.

"Anyway." She giggled, shifting back to look at Taehyung's face, this time, without shying away. "My name's Jeon Yumi, born today, twenty-five years ago in Seoul. My father's a businessman and divorced, haven't met my mother in years. I prefer sweet over spicy and cold over hot. I can't stand bad odours. I've been part of ARMY ever since 2017," He smiled at that along with her while she paused to take a sip. "I don't own pets, I like coffee, I don't like to live with my father's wealth and I love eating." She finished with a wide beam and Taehyung did a small clap session for her.

"I might have a little something," He took a breath before interlocking his fingers together in deep thought. "Born in Daegu, have a special place for my father in my heart, don't like wearing shoes, love drinking hot chocolate... can't drink coffee," she chuckled with him at that. "love wearing jewellery, secretly own a cat, not very good at expressing what I feel for real and for the TMI, I really wanna walk in dried leaves on an autumn day with someone's hands in mine,"

Yumi's eyes widened a little, a small giggle leaving her lips. "See? I hardly knew all of that. Proves that there's always room for knowing more," She raised her eyebrows and he nodded once.

"I wanna do forever in a minute right now," he blurted and her orbs widened. "Not that," he laughed. "Been running out of 'interesting' things about myself to tell someone, so I like to get over with the get to know you part quickly these days. Always the hardest for me to initiate, you know,"

"But mandatory at the same time," Yumi completed for him and he gestured with his fingers "exactly". "I treasure it though. Makes things less complicated. Also to a certain extent feels like an important portion. And I mean, it's definitely not hurting me to sit next to you and listen to you talking, even if it's about things I already know. I can do that for quite a while without any complaints, actually," She added with a firm look on her face and Taehyung timidly breathed out at her words, pursing his lips.

"Ah, I hope I'm not stealing your time from your other friends right now," He shifted in his seat and Yumi chortled.

"If I'm being honest I don't really care about giving time to my other friends at the moment," She tilted her head with confidence and the man in front of her laughed.

Now that there was evidently no elephant in the room anymore,she took her sweet time to enjoy the sight in front of her. The most handsome man in the world, a few inches away from her, playing with a glass full of liquor in his hand. His ethereal eyelashes fluttering every once in a while, his parted lips tilted up in the handsome smirk that wasn't planning to leave any time soon.

"You're turning the tables, Yumi," He complained with a simper when he looked up at her again, crossing his legs.

"Sure looks like you're enjoying it," She counterattacked and he blushed furiously under her stare and her newly found boldness.

"I couldn't get you a gift for your special day, and that hurts my ethics," He matched her gaze. "When can I get the honour to do that?"

"Ooh. Interesting. You're asking me out at my birthday party?" She chuckled that melodious honey-dripping laugh of hers, and Taehyung shrugged.

"I need confirmation to know I will see you again, before, you know," He sighed. "I lose you amongst the crowd," He glanced towards the other guests at the party, "I don't want to let that happen," but she knew he was referring to the bigger picture.

A thrill and a chill went down her spine as she slipped something she would've never ever said if she wasn't drunk on the handsome-ness of God himself. She had immediately regretted the second she spoke her next sentence but she couldn't take it back after saying it out loud anyway.

"Then look for me, Taehyung. And it might end up just like right now with us sitting in front of each other. Maybe we can do forever in a minute then?"

❥

A/N

Yumi is our role model, girls. Get that self confidence where you have the potential to play hard to get with the Kim Taehyung.

Keep commenting and voting. Sorry for the late update! We'll be officially starting this book now. Hoping for regular updates every two weeks ☺️

Be yourself