Cora propped her guitar case against the wall and kicked off her shoes. The hotel room was small, as New York City hotel rooms tend to be, but nicely decorated. She wedged her suitcase into the closet and grabbed her phone to text Yoongi.

Moments after she hit send, someone knocked at the door. Cora looked through the peephole and grinned, then threw the door open. "Hi! I just texted you!"

"Yes, I saw."

"Come in, come in!"

Yoongi pushed his long hair back out of his eyes and stepped into the room, grinning. "How was your flight?" he asked, looking a little bashful.

"Uneventful." Cora smiled at him. "How about yours? What time did you get in?"

"Uh, two in the morning?" He scanned her face. "It's good to see you again."

"Same!" She grinned. "OK, I'm American, so I'm just going to do this!" She went in for a big hug, and Yoongi stiffened up for a moment but then relaxed into it and hugged her back. He cupped her face in his hands and gave her a gentle kiss. She felt a thrill run up her spine, and smiled into his eyes.

Yoongi stepped back and cleared his throat, then asked, "How is my bias, Nana?"

"Jeez, way to ruin the moment, man!" she laughed, mock-scowling at him. "She's good. She sends her love!"

He chuckled. "I want to meet her. When we go to LA for the tour, I should meet her."

Cora's eyes got very wide. "I don't know, she has a weak heart, and she's a huge fan. She might die of happiness!"

"Maybe we can video chat first so it's not too much shock." He smiled at her.

"Oh my god, just that would be the highlight of her life, I'm sure. And she's done some crazy shit in her life!" They both laughed.

"Are you hungry?" he asked. "I have jetlag and it feels like breakfast time."

"Yeah, let's go get food! The US airlines suck. I flew for six hours and all they gave me was nine peanuts and a cup of coffee." She giggled and he frowned sympathetically.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shinwon-shi played a complicated riff on his guitar, and Cora responded with an even more intricate bass run. The two of them battled back and forth, with Jinhun and Changhyun adding embellishments and bits of fill. Yoongi stood and watched them with a huge grin on his face, then started to dance along.

Shinwon ended his solo with a scream on his high E string, and Cora punctuated it with a slap on her open low E. The whole band laughed and applauded.

"That was daebak!" Yoongi clapped his hands. "OK, thanks for all your hard work today, everybody! You guys, it sounds really good. I think we're ready for tomorrow! Be here by 4, soundcheck at 6, OK?"

Changhyun said, "Yoongi-shi, I think we should all have dinner together again tonight!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Jiwon-hyung, can you make a reservation? Maybe some galbi, if there's a place nearby?" Everyone started to pack up. 

Yoongi called out, "Baekjeong BBQ in about 30 minutes. We'll be in the private room at the back. See you there." He turned to discuss some last-minute details for the first show with EL CAPITXN and the stage manager.

Cora hung back a bit until the rest of the band had filed out. Then she walked over and said quietly, "Yoongi-ah, I'm going to drop off my bass and grab my warmer jacket. See you at the restaurant."

Yoongi gave her an eye-smile and nodded, then returned to his conversation.

The cozy dusk smell of damp pavement made Cora smile. She moved purposefully but comfortably, her guitar case slung across her back, feeling at home in this urban environment. The hotel was only about five blocks from the studio, and it was good to be up and moving after sitting most of the day. In just a few minutes, she saw the clean, modern façade of the hotel up ahead. 'I should change my shoes, too. My feet are hot,' she thought.

"Got a minute?" said a raspy voice from the shadows between buildings.

Cora stopped and her body stiffened. "Ray? What the fuck do you want? How did you know I was here?"

"I heard the old lady telling your mom you would be in New York, and I did a little sleuthing. I guess you're a big shot now, huh? Going on tours, making records, a famous musician?"

"So?"

He leered at her. "So I figure you owe me about 100 grand for raising your sorry ass after your dad ditched out."

"I don't owe you shit. You're just some loser who married my mother. Get lost."

Ray took a step forward and loomed over her, still an imposing mountain of a man more than six feet tall and sturdy, but Cora could see that the years of hard living and mental instability had taken a toll on him. "You better pay up, or I'll make you sorry," he growled. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will."

"You won't." She looked him dead in the eye and silently dared him to come one step closer.

He did.

Cora's fist smashed into his chin and he dropped like a bag of cement. She wanted to stomp him into the pavement, but took a step back instead. 'I'm not going to prison over this piece of shit,' she thought, glancing around for security cameras.

Ray was still down, but he started to scream. "You little bitch! I'll kill you!"

"You'll stay the hell away from me from now on, if you know what's good for you," she replied in a deathly calm tone. Although she was playing it cool, she flinched hard when she felt people walking up on her from behind. Relief flooded her when she realized that it was Yoongi and Jiwo. The men stood on either side of her, looking down at Ray, who had pulled himself up into a seated position now.

The muscles in Jiwo's arms were twitching, but his face was a mask of calm. Yoongi's hands were balled into fists at his side as he stared straight into Ray's eyes and said with a snarl, "You heard her."

Ray hoisted himself to his feet and shambled off, muttering under his breath about Chinese gangsters and the United Nations. Jiwo tapped his ear piece and barked an order, while Yoongi took Cora's elbow and steered her toward the hotel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yoongi, I can take care of myself! I just did!" Cora flared at him as she slammed the door to her room open, adrenaline still pumping through her body.

"Yes, I know. I saw. But you shouldn't have to. This is the security team's job. As long as we're in the US, you're going to have a bodyguard."

Cora set her bass down and bent over to unlace her boots, kicking them off, then turning to face him. "I don't expect special treatment just because we're dating," she said.

"It's not special. If someone attacked Changhyun or Shinwon or Jihye the makeup noona or whoever, it will be the same! Don't be stubborn, please."

She studied his face for a moment, but suddenly all of the fight went out of her and she sat down abruptly on the end of her bed. Yoongi walked over and sat next to her, gently taking her right hand in his own and lightly stroking the angry red bruises on her knuckles. He blew on the marks like a Korean mom soothing a child's scrape.

Against her will, Cora scoffed and started laughing. "You know we don't blow on wounds here. We kiss them," she said.

Yoongi looked at her through his curtain of long curls and grinned, then softly kissed her knuckles. "You are tough and beautiful and strange, Cora Hertshorn," he said, running the back of his fingers across her cheek. "You surprise me every day."

She sighed, and leaned her head into his hand, then wrapped her arm around his waist. "Yoongi-ah, I'm not used to people taking care of me, but I do appreciate you. It's nice to know that somebody has my back."

He laced his arm around her waist, too, and gave her a very serious look. "Always. You are a precious person to me."

Cora was determined not to cry. She said, "I really wanted to stomp him into the sidewalk. It looked like you and Jiwo were thinking the same thing!" She chuckled.

He nodded. "Who was that guy, Cora?" he asked.

"He's my mother's husband. My stepfather." She spat the last word with a snarl.

He exhaled sharply, absorbing that information. "Jiwo-shi and whoever will guard you will ask you more about him, but can you tell me the important data?"

"Raymond Stark. Asshole. Lives in Killeen, Texas. Former special services in the US Army, a Green Beret." Yoongi's eyebrows twitched up in surprise, but he didn't say anything. "Married my mom when I was six, after my dad left. Physically and emotionally abusive. He was the main reason I didn't move to Germany with them when we left Korea, although my mom isn't a picnic either. They've both been using drugs pretty heavily for years, and got dishonorably discharged from the service. I don't know how they're making a living these days. Don't care, really."

Yoongi nodded.

"He asked me for $100,000 to repay him for raising me for eight years." She scoffed. "I don't know what kind of shit he got himself into, but I bet it's serious." She sighed. "Apparently Nana told my mom that I'm playing on your tour, and he decided to come up and try to shake me down for money."

A flash of anger crossed his face.

"I have a question, though," Cora said. "I thought you were going straight to the restaurant. Why did you come this way?"

He shook his head. "I just had a strange feeling that I should check." He turned and looked at her seriously. "I knew something was wrong for you."

She raised her eyebrows in amazement. "You really are Minstradamous, aren't you?" she laughed. She took his hand and traced his fingers. "I don't remember if I said thank you, Yoongi, so thank you."

He puckered his lips and nodded, then glanced at his watch. "Should we go to dinner now?"

"Yeah. I'm hungry." Cora pulled on her Converse kicks, and Yoongi started laughing.

"Converse, Converse, I really hate Converse!" he sang, and they both cracked up.

"Maybe I'll leave them untied," she said with a flirty look, and chuckled when he blushed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After they ordered, Yoongi quietly told the rest of the guys a little bit about the incident with Ray. They were shocked and angry, and asked to see a photo of him so that they could be on the lookout. Jiwo promised to distribute it as soon as he had one.

Cora felt embarrassed that they were all making such a fuss, and she started to object, but Jiwo gave her a fierce look. She stuck her tongue out at him and he smiled despite himself.

Yoongi told the other band members a pretty colorful version of the punch-out, and they were all gasping and looking at Cora with awe and respect. She scoffed and shook her head, but Changhyun grabbed her hand and showed the others her bruises.

"You should ice this, Cora, so you can play tomorrow," he said. Jiwon stood up and signaled a waiter to request ice and a cloth napkin.

"Stop babying me, guys. I'm fine!" she said.

"We're not babying you, we're just trying to stay on your good side!" Shinwon said, and the rest of them nodded and laughed.

"You're scary!" Jinhun the drummer said, and then poured her a cup of makgeolli very respectfully, supporting his right arm with his left hand even though he was quite a bit older than her. Cora sighed loudly and shook her head. Yoongi was laughing so hard his eyes were crescents so she shot him a fake glare and started to giggle, too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a long time after midnight. Cora was lying on the bed staring up at the ceiling, feeling very full of barbeque and also slightly drunk from the makgeolli and whiskey. Her mind was spinning through the events of the evening, trying to make sense of everything.

Suddenly she heard a quiet knock at the door, and jumped up to find some pajama pants since she was wearing only a t-shirt. She peeked to see who it was, and unbolted the door to let Yoongi in. He looked ready for bed in an oversized t-shirt, sweatpants, and slippers.

"Still awake?" he asked.

She nodded and gave him a wry smile. "You too?"

He nodded. "I'm worrying too much," he said.

"Tomorrow's the big day!" she said, smiling.

"Yes, but my brain is worrying about you. Security has this floor completely locked down, as usual. I know you're safe. But I still worry."

She sighed and tilted her head at him. "I'm OK, Yoongi, I promise."

"Can I sleep here, on the chair, to make sure?" he asked, gesturing toward the armchair.

"No," Cora said, and he looked at her in surprise. "You need to rest well, the tour starts tomorrow! But you can sleep on the bed with me, if you want to. I won't try anything." She winked at him.

Yoongi laughed and blushed. "OK. This will be my half and that's your half," he teased, drawing a line down the middle of the bed with his hand and claiming the side closer to the door.

Cora giggled. "As soon as you say that, I only want to cross the line, you know."

He nodded and gave her a sly little smile. "I know." He kicked off his slippers and slid under the covers.

Cora went to relock the deadbolt on the door, then climbed into bed. She sighed. "I feel weak admitting this, but it is much better having you here with me," she said.

"You're not weak. You're human. We need each other." His gruff voice was gentle, and he turned his head to smile at her softly.

She smiled back and then reached up to turn off the lamp.

She was still trying to focus on her breathing and fall asleep when she heard Yoongi stirring. She opened her eyelids just a tiny bit and saw him peek over at her face, then turn on his side and scoot closer. Her lips curved up slightly as she felt his arm gently snaking across her waist. She exhaled, and drifted off to sleep.