Book 3: 24/seven | A Jung Hoseok BTS Fan Fiction

Facts from Fiction

What does one say when a person you grew to adore from a distance suddenly tells you that he regrets getting your number? She certainly was at a loss for words. She noted that he tilted his head as he would when he was thinking through a question or was caught off-guard. Did he also surprise himself with what he said? Aiko wondered.

 Hobi put them both back at casual ease by following his declaration with, "It would have been nice to be friends all this time." He then went back to his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He asked more about her business which he seemed to be greatly interested in. He said he was fascinated by entrepreneurship. She was fine with that. It excited her as well.

So many years have passed since that day they met. Nothing came of that otherwise ordinary encounter except the birth of Aiko's ideal. He went out of his way and dropped his plans in service of a lost stranger, but it had set the bar for her in so many ways.

Aiko remembered that day very well. In fact, she had replayed it so many times in her head.

That day, she had decided to take the bus to follow her schoolmates for a Gwangju Lake trip, but she had gotten off the wrong bus stop. Aiko didn't see him at first, but he approached her and ask if she was lost. He offered to keep her company until she found her friends which was very kind of him. Noticing that he had a big bag, which he shifted from one shoulder to the other, she initially declined but he insisted. "You've come too far to turn back!" he said encouragingly. He seemed like a nice person, so she agreed.

As they started walking, he introduced himself as Hoseok. It turned out that the entrance to the park was within walking distance, but how much walking they needed to do inside was undetermined. He was the quiet sort, but she noticed little considerate things he did like stepping on the side of oncoming traffic. He also kept on checking if she was okay to walk considering she was wearing flats.

She also remembered him being very gallant. He always stepped ahead going up and down steps to hold his hand up for her to take even though he was carrying his monstrous baggage. That bag! it must have been awfully inconvenient to find himself trekking with it, but he had a ready smile for her the entire way.

"Where are you going with that bag?" She had asked him.

"Home." He answered, "Maybe for good."

"Have you been traveling?"

"Well," he shrugged, as he shifted the bag again. "I guess I could say that. I went a certain distance, but I wasn't certain where I was headed so I decided to go home."

"Hmm..." she nodded. He laughed at her expression. "What's with the face?" he asked her.

"Well, you insisted I don't head home because I traveled so far, but here you are," she teased. Of course, she should not make any judgment. She looked up to see if he was offended, but it seemed like he was not. He tilted his head and laughed at her challenge.

"Where were you going?" she had asked.

He took a deep breath then and then cleared his throat. "I uh...I was going to be an idol." He confessed. She looked at him and he shyly looked away.

"Well, I guess it won't happen now." She shrugged. He turned to her then and she saw that there was a tinge of sadness in his eyes. "I mean since you're walking this road with me instead." This made him smile.

"Well, where are you going?"

"I'm going to be a writer." She smiled.

"Are you any good?" He teased back. She turned to look at him then. She tilted her chin up. "I will be." She told him. He nodded approvingly; his dimples showed when he smiled.

"It's too bad you're not going to be an idol." She shrugged.

"Well, you do make good company. That's hard to let go." He told her.

She shrugged again. "I can't help that." She told him. Hoseok laughed.

He was correct in remembering that he kept looking at his watch. She thought he was in a hurry to go and she apologized, but it turned out that he was checking the compass on his watch. With the pathways' twists and turns, he was just making sure they were not wandering off too much. The funny thing about that was they did get lost anyway. Fortuitously, they ended up at a philosopher's garden called Soswaewon where they ended up catching her school party. He waited for her teacher to approach and made sure she was accounted for before he took his leave.

"Here, Aiko." He had said before he left. He reached into his pocket and handed her two 100 won coins. "When you get to the lake, make a wish for both of us." It was an unusual request, but she accepted the coins anyway.

"I'm bad at wishes. They never come true." She told him.

"Keep it then." He shrugged.

"What should I wish for?"

"Hmm.." His head tilted again, "The right choice...for both of us! Let's both do well!"

A year later, as she was standing at a bus stop, she saw Hoseok's face on a billboard. She genuinely felt happy seeing that he had debuted.

She remembered when BTS was just starting. She watched his video log and he said he didn't get any messages from fans. She had wanted to write him then. When he had said it, she wished she had. Instead, many drafts remained in her outbox. She couldn't bring herself to write. It seemed like the more famous he got, she felt it was harder to reach out. In time, more and more people admired him, and she just let her admiration of him grow from afar.

He had crossed her mind from time to time. It was especially difficult when she was dating. She remembered thinking about him in comparison and she never found Hoseok in any of them.

When she got into her car, she laid the flowers he gave her on the passenger seat. Sunflowers. She didn't even realize what they were. Sunflowers, just like she wrote in her book. Does he know about her book? Impossible. She reached into her bag and took out a small pouch. She opened the knot and let the two coins from within drop into her hand, it was the memento she had kept through the years that reminded her that her day with Hoseok was real.

When they said their goodbyes, Aiko thought that they probably would never meet again, so she was grateful that she had a chance to meet up with him. It was nice to hold on to something new other than the coins in her pouch.

Aiko's phone beeped. She took it out of her handbag. A message for her was waiting, and it was from Hoseok. It read:

Are you busy on Sunday?

She blinked at the screen and tapped it on her head. She leaned her head back on the headrest and smiled.

Not far, but off in the shadows, Jeongguk was jabbing at Hobi playfully. "Hopie!!" he growled. "Hyungie! She's smiling!" He grabbed Hobi by the shoulder and started shaking him excitedly. For all he cared, Jeongguk could do whatever he wanted to him at that moment, Hobi had a big smile on his face too.