'Ah.' I thought, privately, 'Whatever has gotten into me?' I asked myself as the men around me laughed. Namjoon gestured for Taehyung to scoot over and sat down next to him. I moved too and Jimin grinned over at me as my movement caused me to move closer to him, our thighs touching. Though I was taller than him, this didn't seem to greatly deter him from his lascivious thoughts and in response I winked at him. He grinned back at me, and his face began to turn red, as he began to laugh.

In the next moment, Yoongi walked into the living room and stopped, watching the exchanges between me and the other men. I caught his subdued, somewhat suspicious thoughts and looked up at him. Tilting my head to the side, I regarded him attentively, "Hello Yoongi." I greeted him.

The man nodded and returned my greeting, "Hello." He said, as the room fell silent. The man clearly intimidated the others, but I could feel the affection and bonds between them.

I replied politely, in the way of the western world, "I hope you are well?"

Yoongi regarded me smoothly, his expression blank, "I'm good." Then as if he had realized he had forgotten his manners, he said, "Thanks."

I smiled faintly and returned his earlier nod, "You are welcome." I spoke, using the informal 'gomawo'. The others were surprised and chalked my use up to not understanding honorifics.

I caught a thought from Jungkook, as he wondered how old I was. He then spoke his thought, quietly asking, "Noona." Then paused, "It's noona, right?" He wondered, then continued, "How old are you?"

I leaned forward and looked at him intently, "Older than you. Noona is correct."

He looked a little relieved to have guessed right, when Yoongi asked, "How old is older than him?" He sat next to Hoseok as he finished his question.

I retorted with a laugh, "Older than all of you. So the honorifics would typically go one way." I told him, answering their unspoken questions about my use of the language. Before he could respond to ask more questions, I answered his unspoken thought with my own as I leaned in his direction, my eyes almost seeming to glow, "Don't you know it's not polite to ask a lady her age?" I teased, sending a suggestion into his nearly closed mind. The others were silent for a moment and then laughed, perhaps a bit nervously.

Yoongi looked at me for several more moments and then he began to crack a smile, his mouth turning up at the corners just a bit, "Yes. I guess that's true." He responded almost sheepishly.

~~~

Namjoon watched Felina as she conversed with his brothers. She was charming and seemed to know just what to say to them. She was also attentive and equally coy with all of them, drawing them all in, deeply. He looked over at Yoongi. 'Except for maybe Yoongi.' He thought to himself. He looked over at his hyung, who said little but watched them all, then at Felina as she looked at him, watching him look over at the other man.

He found himself strangely shy and not sure what to say to her, but he smiled and gathered his courage to say something when Jin announced from the kitchen, "Food is ready!" The guys stood up in waves and she joined them, but hung a little back as he stood and moved beside her. He felt Felina smoothly move to link her arm with his and he looked down at the gesture, then back into her face and suddenly smiled.

Felina smiled back with a soft, "Escort me to dinner?"

His smile grew wider as he asked, "Going all out old European on me?" He tucked her arm more firmly inside his own.

"I'm old fashioned." She answered.

Yoongi passed them and gave out a soft snort, hearing their conversation. Namjoon followed in Yoongi's wake, guiding Felina to the table where eight place settings were, sometimes jostled by the movement of the men who were already sitting or in the process of doing so. Yoongi went and helped Jin bring the food to the table and Jungkook jumped up at Seokjin's suggestion and got drinks to go with the dinner.

Following the example of the western tradition, Namjoon pulled a chair out for Felina and she sat down, as he pushed the chair back against the table, tucking her in. He sat in the chair next to her that his brothers left for him, as they all settled down to eat. The conversation flowed back and forth, sometimes between a few of them and sometimes around the table amongst all of the group. Occasionally, a question would be thrown Felina's way and she would respond either directly or with more mystery, which he found curiously appealing.

Seokjin called across the table from her, raising his voice some to be heard above the others, "So, Felina. Joonie says that you are staying in Korea for awhile. Are you on business or here on vacation?" He asked her.

She took a swallow of water, before responding, "I am here on personal business." She said, "It is not related to work." She did not offer more.

Namjoon added, wondering, "Are you in Korea a lot?" She looked down at her plate with a faint smile, which he found enchanting as he gazed at her, watching her eat and talk. 'Not that she ate much.' He decided. She seemed to push her food around her plate more than eat, sometimes using her chopsticks to add a portion into her mouth, and sometimes not eating at all. He noticed she mostly ate the vegetables and rice and barely touched the meat. She also avoided the wine she had brought, only drinking small sips of the beverage. Seeing that her water glass was almost empty, he reached for the carafe containing water and offered her more. She thanked him, holding her glass out to him so that he could fill it.

In that brief moment of time, Namjoon noticed that she did not respond to his question right away, but after taking another swallow of her water, she set the glass down and looked at him directly, answering, "I am in Korea from time to time. Some visits are extended over time. Some are brief."

"Do you like it here?" Taehyung interrupted, watching her with a subdued eagerness.

She smiled at the man briefly and spoke, "It's a lovely country. I have enjoyed some of the culture and the people, but I prefer the countryside and especially the forests." She told him.

Jimin, who was sitting across from her interjected, "So you don't like Seoul? I guess you'd prefer nature over cities?"

She smiled on a nod, "Seoul has its charms, I suppose, but I do prefer nature, if I am able to be within it. Gotjawal forest is a favorite." She explained.

Namjoon spoke up, interjecting himself back into the conversation, "Nature is soothing." He said, beside her.

She nodded in agreement, "It is life giving." She added and smiled at him warmly.

Hoseok mouthed the words, 'life giving', then said out loud, "That's a great way to say it."

She laughed, then took another drink from her glass of water, "Thank you. It sustains me, so it is of life, yes?" She related to him.

He nodded, not sure how to respond to that, "Oh. Yes. Good point."

She smiled as she fingered her glass, rubbing her finger along the side, "I can't say that I know everything about your group, but I imagine that you also enjoy nature? Does it sustain you?" She looked around at all of them, then continued, "After meeting Namjoon, I had to look you up, as I did not know of you before, but I did see a few images of your group camping, so I assumed." She stated, as an opening comment to follow her apparent rhetorical question, then continued, "Do you enjoy nature often as a group or alone?"

Felina's eyes moved around the table, meeting each of their eyes. She stopped at Namjoon, her eyes holding his. He gazed at her and responded, "We are usually very busy and working, or there is some kind of filming going on when we do, so we can't totally enjoy it, but we have gone for pleasure too, just to relax."

She regarded him, "Perhaps we could go hiking some time." She suggested, not quite making it a question, "While I am here."

Smiling into her eyes Namjoon nodded, "I would like that." He said. The rest of the men were quiet around the table as they listened to the conversation. With Namjoon's response, the table erupted in conversation around it as they discussed hikes they had gone on and other things they had experienced in nature. The table, which had seemed to hold its breath, seemed to breathe again at the small explosion of sound. She smiled back at Namjoon, tilting her head to regard him again. It reminded him of a dog, when they tilt their heads curiously at you. He smiled and asked, "What?" As the rest of the men at the table seemed to ignore the two of them.

She shook her head and took a sip from her glass of water, "It's nothing. I just felt a small ring of familiarity? Perhaps some Deja Vu?" She suggested to him, looking again at him, "But it's as if I have known you some other lifetime."

"As in reincarnation?" He asked.

She concurred, "Perhaps. I do not know yet. As before when I stated that I am following a path to understand and that you are part of that path, the path itself has many mysteries. What part do you play in it, Namjoonah?"

His lips quirked again as he noted her affectionate use of his name and watched the mysterious woman, lost in their own conversation, the other men seeming to fade away into the background, "Another rhetorical question?" He asked her.

Felina laughed, turning her face away from him, then gazing steadily at him again, "Perhaps." Was her only response.