Cora woke up feeling anxious and excited and confused. 'What is up with me today?' she wondered, blinking up at the ceiling. 'Ooh, that's right... I have what might be a date with Min Yoongi!' She screamed quietly, in an experimental sort of way.

Satchmo lifted his head and gave her a dolorous look. She snarled at him, then laughed.

"What am I going to wear tonight, Satch? I think I will just wear a long flowy skirt, my Doc Martens boots, a band t-shirt, and maybe my black denim jacket because the beach gets cold. I gotta be me, right?"

The hound woofed softly at her and wrinkled his forehead.

"Yeah, well, what would you wear?" she asked him. "Nothing?! I can't do that, doggo! I would get arrested! Plus, Koreans are kind of conservative sometimes, Yoongi might be shocked." She giggled at the mental image.

"I hope he's going to be done early enough that we can get Jerusalem Chicken for dinner. And then go to Nana's secret beach. This is going to be so fun, Satch!"

She popped up out of bed in an uncharacteristically cheerful way, and started to do some yoga sun salutations. The dog sighed and put his chin down on his paws.

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

Yoongi stepped out of the SUV and walked into the studio, whistling. His bodyguard and manager exchanged curious looks. He had woken up early and prepared a nice breakfast of galbitang (short rib soup), rice and side dishes for everyone. When they asked him what the occasion was, though, he evaded the question.

This afternoon would be devoted to recording the core band parts for his collaboration project - the keys, drums, guitar, and bass. 'I want to get this done as soon as possible,' he thought with a secret smile. 'Maybe I'll have them do a couple of takes all together. Tell them it's for synergy.' He chuckled.

The keyboard player was already in the studio and running through her music, so Yoongi got right to work.

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

Cora was standing in the backyard, cinching Satch's harness around his tubby midsection when Nana walked out. "Hey, girlie, are you guys off for a walk?"

"Yep, do you want to come along?"

"No, I'd better not. I have to go grocery shopping this afternoon, and I'm not sure my hip can do so much walking in one day. But enjoy the sunshine, you two!" She leaned down to scratch Satchmo behind his long, floppy ears.

"I'm not working today, Nana, so I can come to the store with you," Cora volunteered.

"Oh, that would be lovely, thank you!"

"Sure. I have a date tonight, but I'm free until then." Cora couldn't help beaming.

"Ooh, a date with whom?" Nana asked, giving her a sharp look over her eyeglasses.

"Just another musician." She grinned.

"Anyone I would know?" Nana asked.

"Oh, I doubt it. It's not Neil Diamond or Willie Nelson."

Nana pretended to whack her across the shins with her cane. "I listen to newer music, too! You little punk!" They both laughed.

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

Yoongi's mood stayed good for the first two hours of recording, but he started to get a bit grumpy after the lunch break. The bassist was not very good, in Yoongi's opinion, but had a lot of attitude about being asked to play sections again. In the end, Yoongi had to give him an Agust D look, which put the guy in his place.

Finally, the recording was finished around six. 'Jeez, I think the sun went down more than an hour ago,' he thought. 'And I have to be on a plane at 9 am tomorrow...'

Jiwon drove Yoongi and Jiwo back to the vacation home. Yoongi saw the black rental convertible parked in the circular drive, and grinned. "Nice one, Jiwon-hyung, thanks!" He hurried inside to shower quickly and change into a grey hoodie, Nikes, a baseball cap, and some baggy jeans. 'I don't think we're going anywhere fancy, so this should be fine,' he thought, checking his fit in the mirror.

He texted Cora, Are you busy now, or can I come to you? What is your address?

I'm ready! She sent him the address on Simmons Ave.

OK, I will be there in 15 minutes.

Yoongi's breath caught in his throat as he pulled up and saw her waiting on the front porch of the single-story adobe house. 'How can a person look ethereal in Doc Marten boots?' he wondered, chuckling softly.

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

Cora double and triple-checked that the hot guy in the black convertible was really her date, then grinned and waved wildly at him. She felt a rush of warmth when he responded with a huge gummy smile, and she skipped down the sidewalk to the car like a little kid, her black leather backpack bouncing on her back.

"Good evening, Mr. Min!" she said as she got into the car and put on her seatbelt. "You look very handsome tonight."

"And you look beautiful, Ms. Hertshorn."

She smiled fondly at his pronunciation, which sounded like, "Huh-ta-shone." 'I should make everyone pronounce it that way...' she mused.

"Now, where are we going first?" he asked.

"Well, I was thinking of Jerusalem Chicken, and if traffic is OK, we can get there just before it closes. But do you like Middle Eastern food, Yoongi-shi?"

"I don't often eat that, but I think it is good."

Cora glanced at him. "OK, well, I'm a little intimidated to be picking food for Chef Min, but let's try it. If you don't like it, we can get something else later!" He smiled as she typed it into the navigation system.

Cora tried not to notice how beautiful his hands were as he shifted the convertible and started to drive, but they were kind of distracting.

"So, did you enjoy your free day today, Cora-shi?" he asked her.

"Yeah, it was pretty relaxed. Walked the dog, took my Nana grocery shopping, went for a swim..." She smiled over at him. "How was your day in the studio?"

"Mostly it was good. The bass player was not so good though."

"Oh, noooo! You should have called me!" she laughed.

"I can't fire him because of the contract, but I wish you played it!" Yoongi grinned.

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

On the way to the beach, Yoongi glanced over at Cora, who was cradling a paper bag full of lemon and garlic chicken, saffron rice, pita bread and freshly made hummus on her lap. 'Why does this feel so comfortable and natural?' he wondered. 'I would be worrying so hard if we were in Korea, and thinking the whole time about Dispatch showing up to take pictures, but here I feel really free for some reason.'

Cora directed him to park along the edge of the highway at a particular place, and then the two of them picked their way down a steep, rocky hill to a secluded beach below. "Not too many people know that this beach is here," Cora told him. "We shouldn't have to share it with anyone, this time of year!"

The cove was small but had beautiful white sand that shone even in the feeble light of a waning crescent moon. Yoongi turned around a few times at the really treacherous parts of the climb down to offer Cora a hand, which she accepted gratefully.

Cora took an oversized beach towel from her backpack and laid it out on the dry packed sand. She set up a little camping lantern, and laid out forks and spoons.

"Wow!" Yoongi said. "You brought a real picnic!" Cora smiled at him, making him feel weirdly bashful.

"Yes, so help yourself! Dig in!" she said, opening the paper container full of rice.

"Oh, this chicken is so good. Try it!" Yoongi said, feeding her a bite. He could feel himself blushing under the thin moonlight.

"This hummus is amazing, too. Did you have some yet?" she asked. He shook his head, and she fed him a piece of pita with a generous dollop on top.

Once they were both pleasantly full, they packed up all the leftovers and put them back in the paper bag. "No garbage cans down here, so we'll have to pack it back out," she explained. "Yoongi-shi, would you like to go for a stroll on the beach?" she asked, smiling.

Yoongi felt his heart race. "That sounds nice," he said, standing up as gracefully as he could.

They walked slowly down the strand, chatting comfortably together. Yoongi learned that she was an only child, and told her a bit about his older brother, the actual Chef Min. He was amazed to hear that she had lived in his hometown of Daegu, and they calculated that she had showed up there just around the time he had left to seek his fortune in the big city of Seoul.

"If this was a K-drama, we would meet as kids, but I think we missed!" Yoongi said, and then blushed when he realized he was describing a romance drama.

Cora just laughed.

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

Cora was not entirely sure how to read the situation. On the one hand, conversation was going very smoothly, especially considering the language barrier, and they had shared some intimate moments like eating from one another's forks. But Yoongi showed no inclination to take her hand as they walked, and was keeping himself very much to himself.

'I guess this is just a cultural difference, but I would sure like to hold his hand right now!' she thought.

At the far end of the cove, they found a comfortable driftwood log to sit on, so the two of them took a seat. The soothing thunder of the waves and the tiny spatter of spray felt magical to Cora. She smiled over at Yoongi, and he smiled back with that wonderful gummy grin.

"The spray feels like the ocean is giving me tiny kisses all over my face!" she laughed. Yoongi just nodded and gave her a quick side-eye glance.

She started to sing:

"Crash in softly, and rock my world/

Pull me like a moonbeam, I'll be your girl/

Never felt this feeling, lost in your eyes/

You see right through me, through my disguise..."

"What is this song?" Yoongi asked.

"Oh, it's not a real song, I'm just making it up!" she answered, laughing. "Sorry for my crap voice; this is why I'm a bass player."

"I think your voice is nice. And I like the song! Can you sing that verse again?"

Cora obliged, and then Yoongi started to rap a second verse.

"Mysterious but home, yeah, you are my sea/

Explore these depths together, what could we be?

This feeling is dark and wide, frightening, vast/

Your heart shines a light to me, can the light last?"

"Holy shit," Cora said, after a moment of stunned silence. "That's what a real songwriter can do! You're amazing."

Yoongi shook his head. "Nah, I'm just trying something. My English is not so good."

Cora laughed incredulously. "You must not have heard what I just heard. That was incredible! Let's write the rest!"

Yoongi got his phone out and started to record as they worked through a pre-chorus, chorus, and third verse. They sang the whole thing together a couple of times, playing with some harmonies, then listened back to it.

"This is actually good, isn't it?" Cora asked.

Yoongi nodded and smiled at her. "I still have a key to Steve's studio, I didn't give back yet... Should we break in and record it? He has acoustic guitar in the booth, too." He grinned mischievously.

Cora smiled slowly. "My bass is in the storage area..." She studied Yoongi's face for a moment in the thin moonlight. "Yes. Let's do it!" She laughed and suddenly shot up off the log, running helter-skelter back to pick up her backpack and the picnic trash. Yoongi laughed too and ran to catch up.

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

Yoongi looked around furtively as he unlocked the studio door. He flipped on the lights and powered up the computer and mixer. "Cora-shi, do you want to do your vocals first, or a bass line? You choose the key."

"I'm not sure I can sing in tune without any instrumental tracks playing, Yoongi-shi," she replied.

"Hmmm..." He looked at her with his brow puckered. "Should we do really old school, and just record everything together?"

"Sure, let's try it! Let's run through it a couple of times first, though."

"OK!" he agreed, but quietly pressed the record button anyway.

They spent about an hour sorting out guitar and bass lines, and practicing some vocal harmonies. "Alright, I think it's sounding pretty good!" Cora said. "Are we ready?"

"Let's go!" Yoongi said, going into the booth to stop the practice recording and start a new file.

They did three takes, then listened back.

"I like the last one best," Cora said.

Yoongi smiled at her. "So, one final, final take?" he asked.

"Sure, let's do it," she replied.

Yoongi glanced at the clock, noticing that it was getting close to midnight. 'It's OK, I can sleep on the plane tomorrow,' he thought with a little shrug.

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

Cora whooped with delight when Yoongi pressed the button to drop the top on the convertible as they drove back to her place. She didn't feel any pressure to make conversation, just enjoying the night breeze in her hair.

As they got closer to her neighborhood, she started to wish that she could hit the brakes on time and pause in this moment forever. But she knew that Yoongi had a flight to catch, and she had a recording session in the morning, too.

He parked in front of the house and turned to look at her. "I'll send you a copy of the song file when I can," he said, smiling softly. "Thank you for showing me some LA secrets tonight."

She smiled and blushed. "I really had fun tonight. I'm sorry that you have to leave already. Hopefully we'll see each other again someday."

He gave her a serious look, then nodded. Cora started to turn away, then saw him leaning in, so she turned her head back. Yoongi made a startled, "Oh!" sound as the kiss he intended for her cheek landed on her lips.

"Oh, oops, sorry!" she said, blushing furiously. She jumped out of the car. "Uh, good night! Have a safe flight! Thanks! Bye!"

Yoongi smiled and said, "Bye, Cora." He drove off without a backward glance.