You and Hoseok finally stopped kissing each other long enough for you to have a conversation with all of the members.

"So, how have you been while you were gone?" Namjoon questions as he looks over at you. You shrug your shoulders.

"I've been alright. I took some time to get a lot of old errands done and I started seeing a therapist." You say while smiling softly.

"A therapist?" he questions. You nod. "How do you like it? I've been meaning to see one myself but while here, it's been really hard to keep up with mine." He states.

You nod your head in agreement.

"Yeah, I was worried about how I would manage to keep up with my appointments but my therapist has a new way of doing appointments for her clients who travel a lot. She has this app that's similar to FaceTime or Zoom and we just get on a call through there." You state. "I've tried it once so far but I have more appointments coming up."

Namjoon nods his head and you can see that you've intrigued him with saying this.

"Interesting. Would you be willing to give me your therapist's card? I'd love to schedule an appointment with them." You nod.

"Sure! I can text her information to Hoseok and have him give it to you." You state while smiling softly.

"Thanks!" he says before giving you a dimpled smile. "We're so happy that you're back on flights with us." He states.

"What other things have you been up to lately, Y/N? Any new hobbies or anything since you had time to do more fun stuff?" Jimin questions. You pause for a second as you think.

"Not really, no." you state. "I just spent more time with Jisoo since she was able to get time off while I was off too."

"That's nice, I'm sure it was fun being around her more often since you two are always on different flight routes, right?" Jimin questions. You nod your head and smile softly.

"Yes, it was really fun having a lot of time with her." Jimin smiles when you say this before leaning back in his seat.

After a few moments of silence, you widen your eyes.

"Oh no, how long have I been back here?" you question.

"About 15 minutes." He states.

"Ah, you should probably get back up to the front...." Hoseok says before leaning over his seat to give you a kiss on your cheek. You smile softly as he does this before starting to get up from the seat near them that they let you rest in.

Sighing, you give all of them another quick wave.

"I'm not sure if Aera is going to let me come back here since I took so long giving you guys drinks so... I'll see you at the end of the flight if I don't get to come back." You say. The men nod before each of them give you a smile. You smile back and make your way back towards the area where the flight attendants sit.

Once you sit down, you see Aera now fast asleep while listening to the music she had playing when you left.

You let out a sigh of relief, glad that she won't remember how long you've been gone by the time she wakes up.

If she doesn't keep track of when I got back, I won't tell our boss she fell asleep.

It's a win-win for both of us. No one gets in trouble.

You nod your head to yourself before looking out of the window once more to see the clouds in the sky.

After a few more minutes of looking out the window, you see that Aera is starting to wake up. You shift your attention to her as you see her lifting her head. She lets out a soft yawn as she looks over at you before widening her eyes once she realizes that she fell asleep.

She looks over at you and gives you a worried smile.

"I'm so sorry for falling asleep... you didn't have to do a lot of work while I was knocked out, right?" she questions. You smile softly before shaking your head.

"Nah, it wasn't a lot. I just handed out drinks." You state. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. I'm still on Korea time right now so I get it." She smiles softly when you say this before nodding her head.

"You're awesome, thanks." She states. "So, since we're stuck in our hotel room for the rest of this tour... what do you think we could do to make it more tolerable?" she questions, sitting up straight in her seat.

You shrug.

"I'm not sure, honestly. We're probably going to end up passing out today since we're still not used to this time zone yet." You say while laughing softly.

"I'll tell you what..." she states while glancing around. "Since you have my back on me falling asleep... how about I make it up to you by letting you leave the room tonight?" she questions.

You lift your eyebrows as she says this, surprised that she'd even suggest this.

No wonder the boys chose her to be the person helping me on the flights.

"Really?" you ask, making sure it's not just a test.

"Yeah! I don't really care. I don't see why they're making such a big deal about me watching you and making sure you don't go out." She states. "If you ask me, it reminds me of the way Britney Spears was treated during her conservatorship." You let out a soft laugh when she says this.

"It's good she's free now though!" you state, causing her to smile and nod.

The rest of the flight ends up being really quiet because you have nothing else to talk about.

You were right about not being able to go back to see the boys again because Aera offered to check on them since she fell asleep. You would've protested against her being the one to check on them but based on what she said earlier, you can tell no one told her why you aren't allowed to leave the room. So instead, you let her do it and didn't push any further.

However, you continue to get excited as you think about tonight.

This is going to be an interesting night tonight.

*-> *-> *-> *-> *-> *-> *-> *-> *-> *-> *-> *-> *->

You're now at the hotel room, laying on the bed as you think about how the guys are resting tonight for their concert tomorrow.

Luckily for you, you know that any minute now, they're going to have a plan.

While you were telling the boys to have fun at this stop, you managed to tell Hoseok about what Aera said. He was ecstatic to know that you could sneak out and told you that they'd come up with a plan.

So now, you wait.

You're sure they've been talking about potential plans since they got into the airport. It's just a matter of them informing you of what the plan is. That, and well, figuring out how to sneak out without Aera figuring out who you're going to see.

You shift on the bed as you anxiously wait for a text or call from any of the members.

Aera is sitting on her bed that's directly next to yours, watching TV as she paints her toenails. She slightly leans back on the bed, staring down at the pedicure. After a few seconds of examining it, she uses the nail on her thumb to clean up the excess nail polish.

You look over at the TV and watch it for a few seconds before your phone goes off.

Hoseok 🥰: We have a plan! Sneak off so I can give you a call baby

You smile widely before pointing towards the door of the hotel room. Looking over at Aera, you make sure she isn't paying attention to you before getting up. You walk into the hallway with your phone in hand as you exit out of the front door.

You make your way a little further down the hallway where there's a vending machine just in case she decides to check on you.

Your phone starts ringing.

"Hello?" you immediately answer.

"Baby! We have a plan. You ready?" Hoseok immediately questions from the other side of the line. You nod your head eagerly as you hear this and smile widely.

"Yes! What's the plan?" you question immediately.

"So, just in case this is a test and Aera follows you, we ordered you an Uber so that way it doesn't look like you're doing anything involved with us."

"Clever. I had a feeling we wouldn't be able to use your usual drivers this time." You state. "So, what about if Aera asks where I am?" you question.

"You tell her that you're going to visit the nearest tourist attraction. We'll be five minutes from there in case we have to cut our time together short." He states. "Hopefully, that doesn't happen but just in case she tries following you or needs to get you back to the hotel, we got you covered." He states.

"So, I'm guessing the Uber is going to drop me off at the tourist attraction and then someone's going to get me to bring me to the date location?" you question. You hear him laugh on the other side of the line.

"Damn, you know us way too well by now." He states. You can practically hear the smile in his voice as he speaks into the line. "This is why we missed you so much... well, especially me." You smile widely as he says this before biting onto your lower lip.

"And that's why I love all of you... but specifically you." You state.

"I love you too, baby." You hear his voice getting a little raspier as he speaks which causes you to get butterflies in your stomach. "Your Uber should be there in about thirty minutes so I'll let you have some time to get ready. See you soon, baby." You smile widely before nodding your head.

"I'll see you soon, baby." You say before hanging up and making your way back to the hotel room.

As you walk back, your heart begins to speed up as you continue to feel butterflies.

Something about sneaking around behind someone's back to go see Hoseok is so exhilarating. It feels like you're a teenager again, sneaking out of your house at midnight to go on a date with the bad boy from school. It's like you're doing something bad, something forbidden in a way.

It's... hot.

You bite onto your lower lip as you think about this before opening the hotel room door and stepping into the room.

Aera still hasn't looked up from her toenails since you've been in the hallway talking to Hoseok.

You let out a soft breath of relief before closing the door behind you. Stepping towards your suitcase, you immediately begin looking through your clothes and start pulling out some pieces of clothing.

"So, are you taking my deal or not?" Aera speaks up before looking over at the clock that's sitting on the bedside table. "It's already 9PM... are you going to go out or not?"

"I just was about to get ready." You state before letting out a soft laugh.

"Sweet!" she states before looking up at you. "If anyone asks, I watched you like a hawk." She says while pointing her index finger at you.

You nod before giving her a thumbs up.

"Got it." You respond. "Just in case of emergency, I'll be at the tourist attraction that's about 10 minutes from here."

"Ah, the popular museum," she states before nodding her head. "I'll call you if our boss does a random phone call check-in." you nod before smiling over at her.

"Thanks for being so chill, Aera." You state. "And I'm sorry that you have to be stuck with me during the rest of this tour."

"Don't even worry about it." She states. "I've been to the states probably twenty times now so there's nothing I haven't seen already." She states before she starts putting her socks back on now that her nails are dry.

You nod before grabbing the clothes you want to wear and heading towards the bathroom.

Once you step into the bathroom, you glance at Aera once more before softly smiling to yourself.

Note to self: never doubt the guys' opinions on people. They really made a good choice with Aera.

*****
Surprise update because I'm having a great day today!

I hope all of you are having good days/nights as well!

I just listened to Bad Decisions and I'm so in love with it. That song is such a good song and I'm so proud of all the vocal line, their voices are incredible.

Also: IM SO FUCKING PROUD OF HOBI!!! I didn't get to mention in my author's note last chapter but man, he KILLED IT at Lollapalooza. I saw so many locals and non-kpop fans saying how they went to see Hobi just because they were curious and some of them have become fans of him. And he even got to sing Chicken Noodle Soup with Becky for the first time which was incredible.

Speaking of: don't forget to support each member's individual projects! We're getting so much content from all of them and I'm loving it.

I hope all of you are doing well and staying healthy. In case no one told you today, I hope you succeed in everything you want to do today. I hope you're happy today and I hope you're healthy. You're important and you matter.

I purple you.
Kim 💜💜💜