The Baggage You Carry • Jung Hoseok

Part 13 • Y/n

Monday, March 30
Hannam-dong, Seoul
4:12pm
Y/n

You found yourself seated in a booth across from Namjoon in the cafe that his friend (Jin, you thought? Gosh, you should really learn all of his friends' names) owned.

You both found it to be massively convenient to meet there as opposed to the library seeing as it was within walking distance of both your apartments and the beverages weren't half bad.

The fact that Namjoon's friend, Jin insisted on constantly giving you discounts was just a perk and not the biggest reason you decided to keep coming back - not at all.

You were currently working on a worksheet on the Hangul alphabet when Namjoon's phone dinged with a text message. And then another one, and another one. By the fourth text message, you glanced up and saw Namjoon's cheeks and ears tinged pink and he looked extremely sheepish. You chuckled as he looked at his phone.

"I'm sorry - it's the guys." Namjoon mumbled and he was obviously still embarrassed and you slightly shook your head.

"It's okay. But you should answer them - they seem like the types of guys to harass you until they hear back from you." You laughed at Namjoon nodded in agreeance.

"You have no idea." He answered as he looked at his phone and furiously typed and once he was done, he put the phone screen-side down. "Sorry, they were wanting to go for dinner tonight." You shrugged.

"It's all good! You don't have to apologize." You said, and you laughed at Namjoon's face when his phone buzzed again - the constant distractions obviously getting to him. He grabbed the phone and glanced at it.

"They're wanting to know if you and Lucy want to tag along for dinner?" He said as he looked up at you. You briefly mulled it over, and thought that it wouldn't hurt.

"Yeah, I'm down." You responded. "Lucy has a date with her boyfriend tonight though so she probably won't come." Namjoon nodded and typed out (what you were assuming) was the confirmation of your attendance. Once he typed it out and got a couple of responses back, he switched his phone on 'Do Not Disturb' and grabbed one of the worksheets that you had finished and started making notes on what you could improve upon.

You didn't know how much time had passed but you heard the door chime of the door opening and when you glanced up, your breath got caught in your throat.

In your quickness to agree to dinner with Namjoon and his friends, you forgot that Jimin was involved in Namjoon's friend group. God dammit.

But, the fact that Hoseok was standing beside Jimin and looking oh-so-gorgeous made you think that you could tolerate Jimin for the evening.

At least, that's what you thought until he pulled out the chair beside you and sat down. Immediately, the smell of vanilla invaded your nostrils and while you normally enjoyed the smell (you even owned a few vanilla perfumes yourself) but the smell on Jimin was nauseating and you hated him.

"Hello!" Jimin said, a little too enthusiastically for your liking. "Who's ready for some BBQ?" God, you wished he spoke in Korean because then you have an excuse to not acknowledge him.

Namjoon said something in Korean, and from the looks of it, he was scolding Jimin (maybe for being so gosh dang annoying), but Jimin didn't look deterred so you didn't think you were that lucky. Your nostrils flared - a habit that you picked up some time ago that you did when you got especially annoyed.

"No problem! What are we working on?" Jimin said (in English) and started peaking over your shoulder to look at the worksheets you were working on. Someone reading over your shoulder was a big enough nuisance but this Jimin guy was making it unbearable.

"Hey, don't disrupt my customers - even if they're our friends!" Jin (being your knight in shining armour) scolded Jimin in English and smacked him over the head. "Thank gosh," you thought as Jimin rubbed his head with a slight pout on his face. Serves him right.

Jimin and Jin continued arguing in Korean, and everyone was absorbed in the conversation - well, all except you. You played with your pencil as you tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of being an outsider setting in.

"How are you?" You heard a whisper in English and when you glanced up, your eyes met Hoseok's eyes and you were immediately taken aback. How can one guy be this gorgeous? The fact that he was trying to make you feel included made you smile at him. God, this guy could be the absolute death of you.

"Good. How about you?" You responded and Hoseok smiled - God, his smile - and gave you a thumbs up to show you he was doing okay too and if you weren't motivated to learn Korean before, then by God you needed to now so you could actually talk to this living, breathing angel.

You don't know how long you were admiring (ie, drooling over) Hoseok for when the rest of the guys showed up. You and Namjoon were pretty much done tutoring for the day so you started packing up your stuff to head out. You put your worksheets in your new bag - a gift from Lucy when one day. She said that you needed a bag that was different from the "popular style" to prevent you from accidentally stealing someone else's bag at the train station.

What a bitch, but you couldn't deny the fact that she was right, so you accepted the bag and actually used it pretty frequently.

"Okay, let's go eat!" The tall, skinny one with black, curly hair (Taehyung, maybe?) said in English and you all nodded before heading out. You stayed behind everyone else, still feeling a bit uncomfortable with all the Korean that was being spoken, but because this was totally a definite 'you' problem, you didn't want to be a burden.

All the guys left the cafe, laughing and talking loudly and despite not knowing what the heck they were saying, you couldn't help but laugh along with them. You guys walked to the restaurant and you could smell the cooking meat from outside and you started to realize how hungry you were.

You all walked to your table and you sat down right in the middle of the table - despite how much you objected. So here you were, sandwiched between Yoongi and Jungkook - and across from you was Namjoon and Hoseok. Apparently, Yoongi and Jungkook were the next two fluent in English so they volunteered themselves to help you navigate through the menu and maybe teach you a couple of things.

You got through the meal and even ordered some meat for yourself, and you couldn't stop cringing at the pronunciation because even you could tell it was absolutely garbage. However, Yoongi reassured you that it wasn't that bad and even though you knew it was, you appreciated the effort of him trying to make you feel better.

As you looked around the table, you couldn't help but smile because you knew you were surrounded by mostly good people who were trying to help you navigate this new chapter in your life. And honestly, you felt optimistic for the first time in a few months that packing up and moving to a brand new country after a horrible heartbreak was the best decision you could've made.

You made quick eye contact with Hoseok and when your heart accelerated, you couldn't help but thank your douche of an ex boyfriend to help give you the push you needed to make yourself actually happy.