The Baggage You Carry • Jung Hoseok

Part 17 • Y/n

Thursday, April 9
Eungbong-dong, Seoul
10:54am
Y/n

Your solo wine night on Friday led you to be feeling relatively under the weather for the remainder of the weekend (which was a yucky reminder that you were not 18 anymore) so you decided to treat the past weekend as a blip. As far as you were concerned, it never happened.

Ignoring the weekend seemed feasible but you couldn't seem to stop thinking that you agreed to attend Hoseok's (and Jimin's - ew) showcase tomorrow. The thought that you would be able to see Hoseok in an element that was completely his own made you excited. You only really knew him as Namjoon's cute roommate, but maybe this was a good opportunity to learn another side of him.

Besides, you've been checking him out every time you see him, but now you can do it without being considered creepy, so bonus points for you.

But, as the day of the showcase drew nearer, your anxiety levels started spiking.

First of all, you didn't know how to speak Korean so how in the actual fuck were you supposed to tell him he did well.

Second of all, part of you was concerned that you would still be an outcast in their friend group. You knew that they all accepted you but like, to what extent?

Like, it must be as awkward for them to have a random Canadian girl who barely spoke the same language as they did lurking in the background of all their group hangouts. Luckily, they were all super nice and if having you around was an inconvenience, they definitely didn't show it.

And at least Lucy and her boyfriend were going to be attending as well so you wouldn't feel so out of place while you checked out the hot dance teacher. Oh god, how were you going to survive watching him dance on stage tomorrow night.

You swallowed your anxieties and turned your attention back to the hyper-active kindergarten children who were in your class right now. Turns out, an amazing way to forget about all of your problems was to interact with these little saints, and soon - all of your stresses about the showcase and Hoseok were fading away slowly.

———

You were standing outside your apartment building on Friday evening at about 6:30pm, constantly wringing your fingers together. Lucy and her boyfriend Ye-jun were on their way to pick you up for the showcase.

Your day went by fairly smoothly but the moment you remembered that you were supposed to see Hoseok and the anxiety came crashing down on you. It had gotten so bad that in order to calm yourself down, you tried learning how to say 'you did well! Congratulations!" in Korean.

You were not an expert in the language but you knew that if you attempted to say that to Hoseok, you were pretty sure he'd think you were high.

But it's fine, you're fine. You would just avoid talking to him in Korean.

Your only hope to actually have a legitimate conversation with this insanely attractive guy was to hope that he would take enough of an interest in you to try and learn English.

Unfortunately, you do not have that kind of luck so you weren't gonna hold your breath.

You tried to take deep, calming breaths and practised your Korean but you knew it was a lost cause. Apparently, learning languages was not your strong suit.

You saw Ye-jun's car pull up and you had to let out a breath you didn't know you were holding. You were glad that at least Lucy and Ye-jun would be there so if you made a complete fool out of yourself, you could just hide around them like nothing happened.

It was a fool-proof plan.

You climbed into the backseat and Lucy turned to quickly acknowledge you. Ye-jun smiled at you through the rear-view mirror as he pulled out of your apartment building's parking lot.

"How was coffee?" You asked the couple as you buckled your seat belt. Lucy and Ye-jun had decided to have a coffee date before attending this evening's showcase. The two of them usually had date nights on Friday night because that was one of the only days that worked for them with their busy schedules.

Tonight was no exception of course, but you didn't mind. They never made you feel like an awkward third wheel so you were more than happy to intrude after their dates.

"It was fun! We went to this place called Perfect Blend. Have you heard of it?" Lucy said excitedly, she had a thing for unique coffee shops, so you could feel her enthusiasm. Too bad she didn't know how familiar you really were with Perfect Blend Coffee House.

"Yeah, I've heard of it. My Korean tutor's roommate owns the place I guess?" Ye-jun laughed at your response.

"How are your Korean lessons going Y/n? Lucy said your Korean tutor and his friends have adopted you two in their friend group?" Ye-jun asked as he glanced at you in the rear-view mirror again.

Ye-jun has known about your Korean lessons since you decided to take them. In fact, he had offered to teach you Korean when Lucy first introduced you two, but ended up deciding against it due to the fact that when you had met him, his English was a little rocky. It has since improved since you've known him - you just wished you could say the same about your Korean, but it just seemed to be getting worse.

"Eh, it's going. I don't know how much I'm improving." You shrugged, and started rehearsing your Korean - again. You found this was a nervous habit you picked up before hanging out with Namjoon and his friends.

"You'd be surprised at how much information you absorb every day Y/n. You aren't giving yourself enough credit." Lucy said, because that's how she was - never letting you be self-deprecating.

"Easy for you to say!" You responded to Lucy and gave her a playful glare and she rolled her eyes at you. "You're damn near fluent now. Every time I try to speak Korean, I sound like a drowning turtle." You crossed your arms and watched the passing scenery of Seoul. Even though it was an insanely busy city, it was surprisingly calm and peaceful to you.

"Y/n, turtles can't drown." Lucy said to you and you hardened your glare.

"You're going to argue with the Marine Biology major about a marine animal?" You questioned and tried to hold back the giggle when you saw her pout in response. Ye-jun simply laughed as he started to pull the car into the parking lot of the venue of the showcase. You could already see a crowd of people standing by the entrance - Namjoon and his friends included.

Your heart started to race again and you continued to run the Korean well wishes through your mind before getting out of the car. Ye-jun and Lucy joined hands after getting out of the car and you made your way to the 5 men. You couldn't help but picture yourself and Hoseok in Lucy and Ye-jun's place but you knew you were being ridiculous.

"Hey! Are you guys excited?" Taehyung asked in English and the three of you nodded in response. As Lucy introduced the guys to Ye-jun, you looked at the entrance, mentally preparing yourself for the performance.

You couldn't help but think that this was bound to get interesting.