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chapter eight

"So, BTS," an older man starts, "I'll be your photographer for today. My name is Choi Jisoo."

All of us bow. "Hello," we say in unison.

"First of all, we'll do solo shoots, and after that some duos or trios, and lastly as a whole group," he explains, motioning over to the green screen.

We nod and he starts from oldest to youngest. Since I'm the youngest, I have a lot of time and discover the place a little.

I didn't eat a lot before coming here and didn't drink anything as well, so I take a water bottle from the counter where many snacks are placed.

Gulping all of it down in a second, I take some of the grapes to ease my growing hunger. I need to go grocery shopping after all of this, seriously.

Since the aching pain in my arms and legs won't stop, I sit down on an old couch and relax my eyes a little.

A few minutes later, I lay my whole body down to make it more comfortable. I lightly place my hand above my eyes to protect myself from the glaring lights.

My exhausted body soon falls asleep without me even being aware of it.

"Did she fall asleep again?" Seokjin sighs.

Hoseok gazes at me in concern. "Hyung, does she not get enough sleep or why is she exhausted all the time?" He asks Yoongi.

"I don't think she does," Yoongi replies, deep in thought.

"Kim Ahri is next!" The photographer yells from afar.

"Let's wake her up now," Taehyung states, already making his way over to me.

Just to be held back by Yoongi who's pulling him away by his shoulder. "You are not going to wake her up," he declares.

"Why not?" He whines, "I know her the longest and she likes me the most!"

Jimin gasps, "that's not true! She likes me the most, it's pretty obvious," he states confidently.

"I don't want to kill your dreams, but she was my partner in Mario Kart and cuddled with me," Jeongguk adds cockily, a big smirk on his young face.

"Easy there, you didn't even talk to her the first days," Namjoon roasts Jeongguk and soon the younger one gets red.

"That isn't important right now!" Yoongi declares, silencing everyone.

He goes up to me himself. "Ahri, wake up, it's your turn," he informs me.

My eyes open and I sit up with a sigh, still tired. "Thanks for waking me up," I tell him quietly, nonetheless.

As I stand up, I lose my balance a little and trip over my own feet. Fortunately, Yoongi catches my arm and helps me up. "Whoa, easy there."

Well, now I'm clumsy and exhausted. And also dumb.

"Are you okay?" The others immediately rush towards me.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just a little clumsy." I chuckle nervously while making my way to the set.

Breathing in and out, I tell myself that everything will be fine and that the boys are with me. I can do this.

Standing in the middle of the green screen, the photographer looks up and analyses me. "Okay, Ahri. Since your concept is cool and tough, I would recommend making a colder face and standing tough and intimidating," he advises.

Nodding slowly, I think of what positions to do. Having a few in mind, I strike some poses. This is so humiliating.

Putting my hands inside the pockets of my jeans, I gaze up and put on an intimidating face. "Good, now cross your arms," he orders me. "Be a little more expressive! You're way too stiff!"

Obeying, I cross my arms and bob my head to the side. After a few more photos, my solo photo shoot soon ends.

"You did okay, Ahri," he states honestly, and I bow while thanking him.

"Let's move onto the group shooting now," he announces and the boys gather beside me.

Firstly, we strike a few poses next to each other and after a few more different positions, we're done with the whole shooting. All of us change into our normal attire.

"What time is it?" I question to no one in particular. I hope I'm not late for work.

"4:20 pm," Jeongguk says as he walks to the counter where the snacks are at.

"Fuck," I whisper to myself. Well, I thought to only myself.

Seokjin sighs. "No swearing."

"Sorry, hyung," I apologize for the, like, fourth time for swearing.

"When do we go back home?" I ask Jin, nervously playing with my fingers.

"I don't know—in around ten minutes or something," he shrugs, drinking some water.

Nodding slowly, I plan on how to apologize to Jaehyun. What if his boss will fire me?

Who is his boss even, I never met him. I hope he's not too strict because I seriously need this job. What if he asks me why I was late? They would
immediately fire me if I said that I'm going to debut in a k-pop group.

"Yona, are you okay?" Jimin rests a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Hm?" I quickly look at him, "yeah, everything's fine."

He hums and wraps his arms around me slowly.

"Uh—" Ahri instantly freezes, not knowing why he's suddenly hugging her out of nowhere. "What are you doing!"

"Sometimes, the most comforting thing is a hug. You don't have to tell me what's wrong," he whispers assuringly, smiling.

Hesitatingly, I squeeze him back. We pull away after some time. "Thank you," I state genuinely.

This actually helped. He's right, sometimes all you need is a good hug.

"No problem," he smiles, "just tell me when you need a hug, I'll be your cuddle buddy."

Chuckling, I nod eagerly. "Okay, cuddle buddy."

"We can leave now, guys," Namjoon declares and goes out to the jeep. We follow him and he counts if everyone's here.

We didn't even debut yet, but he's doing the leader role really good already. "Okay, let's get going now," Namjoon states.

After around twenty minutes, we arrive at our dorms, and I immediately rush towards the cafe.

Panting heavily, I open the door quickly and run behind the counter and rapidly put my apron on. "You're late," Jaehyun states nonchalantly as he cuts some cakes.

"Yes, I know," I put my hair together and help him, "I'm sorry, I had things to do."

"It's okay, just try to come earlier the next time," he smiles at me.

Honestly, I don't deserve him. "How can someone be so cute and generous?" I question while playfully hitting his shoulder.

"No." Jaehyun whines and slaps my hands away. "Don't call me cute. I'm a man," he states confidently, puffing his chest up.

"You're sixteen, I doubt that you're fully grown," I reply while cleaning the counters.

"Hey, I am!" He seems offended, arms crossed. "I am fully grown,"

"Not really," I whisper to myself, still being occupied with cleaning.

"What was that?" Jaehyun asks, standing dangerously near behind me.

Turning around quickly, I gaze into his brown eyes, my own being widened due to the close proximity.

His breathing hits my flustered face as I'm glued to the ground. My body's sending my brain alarms because of his unreadable gaze.

"You don't even know how grown I really am," he says teasingly, laying his hand on the counter behind.

What the fuck. My eyes seem to rip open even more. I'm unable to form words.

Suddenly, he pulls away. "Because I'm around six feet tall, dumbass." Jaehyun suddenly reaches out to ruffle my hair.

Being stunned about his duality, my mouth's wide agape. No words leave my mouth as I simply stare at him. What the fuck, I repeat.

"Let's get back to work now, shall we?" He turns around and brings customers their bought food.

Shaking my head quickly, I get back to work myself.

After many hours of work, I head to the grocery store. I have enough money to buy many things now.

My sore legs carry me around the supermarket, putting many sweets, some cleaning stuff, and other things into my cart.

After paying for everything, I quickly make my way back home. I open the front door with my key and enter the kitchen to put all the food into their ordered place. My small fridge is actually full.

Smiling widely because of my achievement, I put my hair together and start to clean my whole apartment. I take a quick shower right after.

Looking inside my closet, I notice that I need to do my laundry because almost all of my clothes are dirty. I don't think I have a washing machine, though.

Before making my way to the boy's dorm, I wrap a towel around my wet hair to make it dry. Knocking on their door slowly, I wait for someone to open it.

Taehyung opens the door. His mouth forms a smile as soon as he sees me. "Hey, Nana," he greets me.

"Hey Tae," I greet him back, smiling.

"Don't wait outside, come in," he opens the door wider and motions for me to enter their dorm.

"No, I actually just wanted to ask if you guys have a washing machine. I don't have one and I have to do laundry," I explain my situation to him, praying that they have one. I can't afford to pay for my laundry.

"I don't know," he makes a puzzled face, "I'll ask Jin hyung," he dashes away, leaving me alone in the doorway.

Picking on the skin of my hands, I wait for him patiently.

"Do you guys have one?" I ask as I sense someone in front of me.

"Have what?" Yoongi is suddenly in the doorway, his voice startling me and causing me to look up.

"O-Oh, hyung. Haha, what a coincidence seeing you here. Funny. How have you been?" I ramble nervously while scratching the back of my head.

"Ahri, we literally saw each other a few hours ago and you live right opposite of us," he states, dumbfounded. 

"Oh," I blurt out while looking behind me at the door of my own dorm. "Yeah, true." I nervously chuckle.

All he does is blink calmly whilst silence takes upon us. He is completely unfazed, meanwhile I seem to be as awkward as she's ever been—and that means something. Looking down at the ground, I pray for Taehyung to finally come.

As soon as Yoongi is about to open his mouth, he's cut off by Taehyung rushing toward them. "Yes, we have a washing machine. You can give me your laundry and I'll give them back to you tomorrow."

"Oh, okay. I can do the laundry myself, though." I nod curtly.

"All right," Taehyung smiles for one last time, before walking further into the apartment. I follow suit.

I take all of my dirty clothes and make my way inside their dorm. "Where's the washing machine?" I ask Taehyung.

He leads me into their shared bathroom and points at the object at the back of the room. "Thank you," I mumble, pushing my clothes into the machine already.

After starting it, I say goodnight to the boys and enter my own bedroom.

Should I eat something or go to bed already? Caught in the biggest dilemma of my life, I decide to just sleep already.

Laying down under the cool covers, I close my eyes and finally relax my body for the first time of the day. Hopefully, I'll get some sleep and peace now.

My eyes suddenly open wide as I sense someone in my room. It is so sudden, and I don't even know why I'm woken awake.

I can't move my body, but my eyes are desperately searching around the place; trying to find the appalling perosn.

A black figure is standing right in front of me, gazing at me hungrily with its big black eyes.

Failing to run away, I discover that my body can't move. My physique is simply laying on the bed, soulless.

I start to panic as I see the figure approaching me slowly, and my heartbeat quickens.

"Go away!" I try to scream out, but my mouth won't open.

My eyes quickly move around the room, trying to avoid facing the hideous creature.

Soon, my eyes fall closed by themselves.