Temptation [ Min Yoongi | ENG ]

S I X T Y N I N E

Maud was lying with her legs on my stomach. The floor of her TV room being comfortable by the furry carpet in front of the sofa. We watched the video clips and commented on each one, curated by Evi, who was lying on the couch. The sound of the bell made we all jump.

"Who arrived?" Maud shouted at my side.

"Lotte!" We heard her voice announce.

"Go around! The back door is open." The woman beside me shouted again, while I cringed holding my breath at the volume of her voice. Moments later, Lotte appeared at our side.

"Some people are lazy today, huh?" She commented laughing, removing her sneakers.

"What time is it? It is better to take advantage of the fact that you are still standing and leave the front door unlocked." Maud suggested to Lotte, who obeyed it promptly. She returned in a matter of seconds and sat next to Evi on the couch.

"It's noon and forty minutes." She announced.

"Wow, I think we better start cooking." Evi spoke, emerging from the middle of the cushions. "Where's Dirk?"

"It was leaving Yoongi's car at his house. He's coming later with the drinks."

"Aren't you going to use his car anymore?" Evi spoke loudly as she headed for the kitchen.

"No." The newcomer just said, looking at me.

Lotte was one of the most important people in my life, but this feeling that she knew things I didn't know bothered me a lot and I still haven't figured out how to prevent this dynamic from happening between us. Her looks like the one she had just thrown at me left me exhausted and asking her not to do that anymore had no effect. My best strategy was to start ignoring them.

"What about Bram?" She asked, still looking at me.

"He was helping a friend move, a!d will come later too."

Gradually, everyone was arriving. While the pie that Evi prepared was baked, we sat in the living room in smaller groups.

I was in the back garden with the cigarette between my lips when I felt a hand rest on my waist. Almost at the same time I heard Dirk's voice and for a few moments I thought that hand was Yoongi's.

I turned around immediately and found Bram smiling at me. His eyes were dark gray from cloudy weather. His hair escaping from under his beanie.

I returned his smile and pushed the beanie off his head, letting the long, almost white strands fall over his face. He laughed as he tried to fix the mess I made, and I accompanied him trying to help.

He gave me a quick peck on the lips and then stopped by my side, lighting a cigarette for himself.

I was there with him in silence when I heard some commotion inside the house and then his deep, slightly hoarse voice reached my ears. I turned to look at what was going on inside the house and saw through the glass doors when Evi threw herself into his arms. Yoongi was there.

I watched the scene in silence, but my way caught Bram's attention.

"It looks like Yoongi is back?" He said casually and I turned to look at him. "I met him and Dirk outside."

"Hm."

I was still watching him when he finished hugging everyone in the living room and then let his eyes drift towards me. He gave me a small smile, quick and discreet, but it still touched his eyes. I struggled to return it, and I couldn't say whether I did it or not.

We sat at the table and the subject was still Yoongi's Korean experience. He answered everyone's questions, about the album's production, about the group he produced, about what it was like to live in Seoul for so long, whether he had time to visit Daegu... the excitement was so great that even Bram was asking questions.

The subject flowed naturally to his mixtape. Dirk was by far the most excited, but everyone had comments to make. The conversation was not much different from what had already happened in our group chat. Yoongi was humble, accepted all the praise he received, but did not dare to consider himself worthy of it.

He once again praised the singers who participated in much of his mixtape. He admitted that all the lyrics were his own, apart from the parts of the other rappers had their collaborations, because in these excerpts it is important that the flow is in line with who raps the rhymes. Evi asked how it was and he explained that in this case he explained the concept of the tracks, inspiration, motivation and intention to them before they did their rhymes.

Everyone listened interested. Even I, who was not participating, had my full attention in the conversation.

Maud helped Evi bring the ice cream out of the freezer and it was only then that the conversation moved on to other matters.

Lotte got up from the table when she finished eating and I followed her, catching up with her when she sat in one of the armchairs. I sat on the arm of her seat and she raised her head to look at me.

"Why didn't you tell me he was coming with Dirk?" I asked, my voice low.

"I do not know. I didn't know if it would be better or worse." She admitted. I was silent, processing what she told me.

"Hm... I don't know either." I shrugged my shoulders, defeated. "I think it would have been better to have known about it before, but not knowing it wasn't too bad."

"Are you okay? You didn't say anything during the entire meal."

"I am... I just had nothing to say."

I returned to the garden to smoke again and saw him sitting on one of the sun loungers, near the door. I decided to go to the side garden and was walking away when I heard his voice, directed at me.

"You don't have to go anywhere else. I'm almost done." I turned to look at him. He was looking at me, the cigarette between his fingers almost gone. I sighed and walked over to him, sitting down on the chaise next to him.

"I thought you would be in Korea for six months." I found myself saying.

"The standard contract is six months, but we finished the album a little earlier." He explained to me, his eyes still on me. "You look good with your hair long like this."

"Thanks." I accepted his compliment, which seemed so sincere, and looked at my feet. I saw my black socks sticking out of my red high-top Converse and disappearing into my jeans that were folded over my ankle. "I am thinking about cutting it again though." He listened to me in silence and then smiled.

"You should shave your head. Just like when you graduated from college." Still smiling at the memory, he stood up, walked to one of the walls and put the ember that was still burning in what was left of his cigarette out in the grout between the bricks, then disappeared through the portal.