The Baggage You Carry • Jung Hoseok

Part 11 • Y/n

Friday, March 20
9:03pm
Myeongdong Night Market, Seoul
Y/n

When you glanced up, you saw Namjoon frantically waving at you. You laughed until you realized that people might start staring when they realize that this 6 foot tall Korean man was waving you down. You glanced over to Lucy and she had a similar look on her face as you did.

"Do you know him?" She asked and you chuckled.

"He's my Korean tutor." You replied and nudged her arm. "Come on, I'll introduce you guys."

You both made your way over to Namjoon and his (to put it lightly) extremely attractive friend. Lucy seemed to notice and she whispered to you:

"He's cute." She said while subtly nodding at Namjoon's friend. You silently agreed by nodding as you made your way in front of Namjoon.

"Hey Y/n! I didn't know you'd be here tonight?" Namjoon greeted you with a massive smile that you couldn't help but reciprocate.

"Yeah, no kidding! Small world, eh?" You responded, and clued in to the fact that Lucy was standing right next to you. "Oh, Namjoon! This is my friend Lucy. Lucy, this is my Korean tutor, Namjoon."

"Nice to meet you Lucy." Namjoon smiled at your friend and seemed to remember he wasn't alone. "Oh, this is my friend, Hoseok. Hoseok, this is Y/n and her friend Lucy. Y/n is the one I tutor in Korean." He explained to Hoseok and he smiled at you (and Lucy too, but you wanted to just think it was at you).

"Bangapseumnida." You muttered to Hoseok who smiled at you. Your pronunciation was so far off and you weren't even sure if you used the right greeting, but when he greeted you back using the same phrase, you felt a little better.

You and Namjoon continued to chat, with Lucy interjecting every now and again but you couldn't help but feel a little bad. Hoseok seemed to be a little left out and was playing with the strap of a bag.

You couldn't deny that he was attractive and you were attracted to him for sure. But, you knew the likelihood of anything happening (considering, you know you didn't even speak the same language) was slim to none, so you tried to get your immediate infatuation under control.

You, Namjoon and Lucy continued to idly chat until 5 other men showed up - with you only recognizing one of them.

"Oh, Y/n! Nice to see you!" Namjoon's friend with the pretty face and wide shoulders (whose name you were almost certain was Jin) said to you when he saw you. You waved and Namjoon completed his tasks of introducing you to everyone.

"Y/n and Lucy, meet Jimin, Taehyung, Jungkook, Yoongi, and Y/n, you already know Jin." You smiled and waved slightly because you were certain you were not going to remember all of these names - at least not for awhile.

They took turns shaking yours and Lucy's hand and they all seemed nice enough, until the guy with the pink hair shook your hand. You couldn't remember what his name was but he looked like a living Bratz doll (were those even still a thing) and something about him irked you. He shook your hand for too damn long, and he felt the need to laugh and whisper to one of the other guys after your interaction with him.

What a fucking dink.

Namjoon started speaking to his friends in Korean and while Lucy understood what he was saying, you were lost. You heard your name and Lucy's name come up a couple of times and the guys seem to nod at what Namjoon was saying, but you were stumped.

"I checked with the guys," Namjoon said as he turned his attention to you both. "You're more than welcome to join us this evening."

You and Lucy shared a glance and both nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good! Thanks Namjoon." Lucy responded on behalf of the both of you.

With that being said, the nine of you exited the bag shop (you were a little sad, you didn't buy a bag but you didn't feel comfortable asking everyone to wait) and made your way down the streets of the night market.

The night had a slight chill but it wasn't uncomfortable at all - it was refreshing. There were a few people and you were just enjoying the fact that you were actually here. It was surreal and you almost felt like you were having an out of body experience - after planning and anticipating your move for months, sometimes you had to just take a step back and appreciate where you were.

You were currently walking around a city that you never thought you'd have the pleasure of experiencing and you were in the presence of 6 people you could really see yourself being good friends with.

Except for the pink-haired pretty boy. Fuck that guy.

You felt slightly awkward and shy that you couldn't join in the conversation, so you just played with your fingers nervously. You were really glad that Lucy was fitting in nicely with the guys and you were only hoping that soon enough, you'd be able to comfortably fit in the conversations as well.

Seemingly able to read your mind, Hoseok started walking beside you and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"So, what do you, uh, work?" You smiled and couldn't help but feel a bit elated that he was attempting to include you. You could tell he wasn't the most comfortable with English, but you sympathized - after all, you were garbage at Korean.

"English teacher. You?" He broke out in a smile and it almost disarmed you - holy shit was he ever pretty.

"Dance uh, teacher." You could tell he wasn't sure if he said it right so you smiled at him.

"Cool." You responded, and you couldn't help feeling optimistic.

The day started out rough and made you second guess yourself, but you couldn't help but feel like Seoul is exactly where you needed to be.