*Min Yoongi OS*

Dedicated to YoonRooh the kindest and the most beautiful star I know. Yoongles loves you, like the Wolf loves the Moon.

The air smelled like perfume and artificial sweeteners. It was choking me. Or maybe it was the champagne dress I'd been forced into so I could be put on display for the afternoon. The emerald choker  that I was dogtagged with didn't make things any better.

I think I'll just go ahead and blame all of it, including my sister. It was her brilliant idea to bring me along to one of her husband's extravagant business parties.

Her excuse? That people wouldn't believe her when she told them I existed, because I was such an introvert who was satisfied with staying within the confines of my world.
The exact opposite of who she'd become ever since she married that silk-stockings guy.

You can decide for yourself, who's to blame.

So here I was.

A wallflower trying to blend in among a crowd of wild vines. The elbow rubbing and fake-smiling was so tiring that my facial muscles had started to hurt. The music wasn't all that loud because it was a formal event. But it was nothing close to my taste.

What. A. Bore.

There was a welt forming around my wrist from all the dragging around my sister was doing to me. We were in the middle of an extremely interesting conversation about oil wells and petrol rates, when, ironically, my brother-in-law comes to my rescue.

"Huda, I need you to come with me for a minute." He grabbed my sister's elbow and from the expression on his face, it seemed urgent.

"Oh, but what about Rouha? Wait, let me just find your mother and leave Rouha with her."

"NO!"

Both heads and a few more turned to look at the sudden outburst from the girl who was saying no more than "nice to meet you" and "I'm Huda's sister".

"I mean," I continued in a quieter tone,  "I'll be fine, Huda. Go with him. You can call me if you can't find me." I waved my phone at her for emphasis.

She gave me an unconvinced look but didn't reject my proposition. She left with her husband, both of them talking in hushed tones with their heads lowered.

Finally! I was free. Excusing myself from the gold diggers, I mean older gentlemen, I let my nose steer me away from all the lavish scents and towards fresh air.

A party this absurd was bound to have a scenic balcony and Aha!

Found it!

Scenic would be an insult to the view this one provided. It was something right out of a Vincent Van Gogh. The stars were all out and not a single cloud interfered. And right in the middle of the constellations was the Moon. The night sky never looked more..

"Aleumdaeun."

The depth of the voice shook me out of the trance the night had put me in. But then I caught a glance of the person who spoke and I couldn't stop myself from comparing him to the darkness that surrounded us.

He stepped out into the balcony from behind the doors, taking his own sweet time, giving me more to take him in. It was a surprise how he had blended so well with the shadows despite his ivory skin. But then I noticed his dark hair and obsidian eyes and questioned myself instead. There wasn't a single man,  in the sea of people I'd survived from, who had been better dressed than him.

The light from the moon gathered at the lapels of his coat like moondust. It glazed all over his black suit, till the tip of his charcoal coloured shoes. He caught me checking him out and smirked at my impressed expression.

I righted my thoughts. Who was he to just barge in on my privacy, no matter how good looking and magnetic he appeared?

"Excuse me?"

"The night sky. It's beautiful, is it not?" I could make out the lilt of an accent when he spoke. He came to stand next to me, one hand on the rails and the other in his pockets. He looked up and then at me, as if daring me to disagree.

It was unnerving how powerless I felt under his gaze. Who was this man and what was he doing to me? I must have been silent for too long, because he was waving a hand in front of my face to get my attention.

"Oh, right. The night sky." I cleared my throat and faced forward again, away from those bewitching eyes.

"What else did you think I was talking about?" The taunt in his voice was evident and it irked me for some reason.

"Can't you see I'm not out here to have more pointless conversations? If I needed that, I would have just stayed in there."

"I saw. I see everything." Was it the cold air playing tricks on my senses or did his voice get a tad more deeper. I could feel my skin tingling. Definitely the air.

"You should go back in then. I'm sure there's much more left for you to see."

"I like what I'm looking at right now." When I turned to look at him, he was looking at me. He did not. Did he?

"You don't?"

"Mwo?"

"The stars, the Moon, and the darkness adding compliment to their shine. All those people inside drowning in their glasses, the only things sparkling around THEIR eyes being the chandelier and the plated jewellery. Yet here WE are. A witness to things that truly matter."

I stared at him for a moment as my heart thundered rapidly against my chest. They were just words, I had to remind myself. But the way he had put them together, transforming them into an emotion I had never felt before, I felt it all the way down to my soul.

But what came out of my mouth was,

"Are you some sort of closet poet making a comeback?"

I wasn't expecting it when he laughed out loud, throaty chuckles echoing off the walls of the building. Having given me an aura of brooding mystery at first sight, the gummy smile that broke out on his face, took me by surprise.

I cleared my throat. He must wonder how rude I must be from all the staring I'd been doing.

"I'll take that as a no."

The laughter faded into a little smirk that kept playing at the corner of his lips. We were standing close enough for me to notice how unblemished his face was. I turned away before he could catch me at it again.

"Well the words were pretty poetic. So I just assumed."

He had been leaning against the rail, with both hands hanging out, as he laughed. He laid his head on his arm and looked at me.

"Kamsahamnida." The smile that came after was directed right at me and I could swear my heart had melted into a puddle, despite the chilly weather.

"But a poet? Nobody has ever called me that before," he continued, the smile still on his face.

"Yeah? What have they called you?"

"Quite a few things." He wasn't smiling anymore. A grim change came over his demeanour as he clenched and unclenched his jaw. I seemed to have wandered into sensitive territory. Not wanting to ruin someone else's evening as well, I changed the topic.

And I had to choose the weather. How cliche.

"It's pretty cold tonight, isn't it?" I rubbed my arms, through the thin, glittery cloth that covered it. I might as well be sleeveless.

"In that dress, it took you long enough to complain."

I just gawked at him for a moment. That was a complete 180 to the person he had been just a moment ago. I just huffed in reply and shuffled a little away.

Just when I thought he was warming up to me, he had to turn into one of those snobs. Bah, I should have known better. I was still mid sentence into my ramble, when I felt warmth envelope me. I tensed for a second but then I recognised the weight of the fabric.

I grabbed the sleeves to keep the coat in place. He came over next to me, after having wrapped me in his coat. He showed no sign on his face, of having done anything so thoughtful.

"Kamsahamnida", I whispered.

"If I were a proper gentleman, I'd say we should go in so as to prevent you from getting a cold. But,"

We were standing closer than before and I realised that he was taller than me, if only by a few inches. But with his coat engulfing me and him with only a shirt on, one that was fitting enough to stretch out about his chest and biceps, I felt like a midget.

"I don't know when I'll get this chance again. To stand underneath such a beautiful sky, at such a beautiful hour," he reached out towards my face and I held my breath. He twirled a single curl of hair that had fallen over my cheek.

"With such a beautiful woman. So I'll take all the time I can get." He let the strand fall and went back to looking at the sky.

Before I could say anything in return, my phone began to ring. It was my sister. I ended the call a couple times but she kept calling. He noticed it as well.

"Go."

"But,"

"It's fine." For some reason, that didn't convince me, and my eyebrows scrunched up in doubt. He grinned and rubbed at the crease on my forehead.

"I thought you didn't want to miss this chance."

"I didn't. I made the most of this one. But on the next one,"

"Next one?"

"You think we'll never meet again?"

"I don't think the odds are very favourable."

"We found each other tonight, didn't we?"

"Coincidence."

But as I said it, I wished for it to be Fate. Destiny. Serendipity. I wished for him to correct me. But he didn't. Instead, he stepped closer and grabbed one of my hands, that was wrapped around the sleeve of his coat, in his own.

"The next time I get a chance like this one. I'm not letting you go. So go now, while you have an option."

I bit my lip from smiling too wide, before slipping away from him. From the darkness. From the night. Back to the too bright lights and reality. But his promise sang in my heart for the rest of my life.

Until he found me again.