Namjoon
It was awkward.
They were sitting in a private study room at the university, face to face. No masks.
She couldn't breathe. Couldn't talk. Her blush extended out to her ears.
He was also nervous, scratching the palm of his hand under the table.
"I don't have a lot of time, as you can imagine. The only reason I can even take this class is because we don't have another comeback until November."
Alexandria nods at this, peeling at her nail beds under the table.
"A comeback is when we release new music and new choreographies and stuff."
"I know," Alexandria nods once again. Namjoon nods.
And so they continue like this. Awkwardly bringing up random things they thought the other should know about them. Alexandria carefully picked out what things to mention to portray the best image of her.
"What," Namjoon paused, "What is your favorite book?"
Alexandria blushed, "Oh, I don't really have one. I just, I read a lot - I guess."
Except she did have one, of course she had one. It was personal to her. Like somebody's darkest secret, she held on to it.
"Do you have one?" Alexandria asked, quietly, almost secretly.
"I do, it's kind of stupid. It's not inspirational or intuitive. I really like the book Norwegian Wood." He looked down, "By Haruki Murakami."
Alexandria nods, "He's one of my favorite authors."
"Really?"
She nods.
"What's your favorite?" He asked more confidently this time.
"I like After Dark, a lot. I really liked the imagery and, just - like - the overall portrayal of Tokyo and I'm a pretty big fan of the whole - intertwining lives and everybody's got their own thing going on - trope, I guess." She finished her words with an awkward smile.
Namjoon took note of the way her arms moved when she spoke, and her small filler words in between her points.
"Have you ever been?" He asks, "To Tokyo?"
"No." She felt stupid, why wouldn't he think she had gone to Tokyo. The way she had said everything made it sound like she knew what it was like and didn't just hold a romanticized idea of it.
"It's better than in After Dark. Going there feels better than reading it."
"I can imagine," Alexandria smiles, "Too bad we're not all rich and famous."
He chuckles, "Where are you from?" He extends his legs a little bit, getting a bit more comfortable.
"LA, but I'm studying at UC Berkeley right now. Well, I'm studying here, right now - right now, but I'm an exchange student from Berkeley." She smiles and looks down.
"That's a great school," he looks down, this time, feeling a bit intimidated, "What are you studying?"
"English, mostly," She laughs at herself, the inability to choose anything.
His response is cut off by Alexandria's eagerness, "I'm sorry but I have to ask, but how are you here like you're in BTS? How does that even work" she puts her head in her hands, "I'm so sorry, I know this is exactly what you didn't want but - I'm sorry."
Namjoon sighed, "You said you hated us."
"I know, I lied. I mean, I don't. But I do know who you guys are," she said with her head still buried in her hands.
"I knew you had to be a fan. I mean, why else would you study in South Korea?" He scoffed.
"I am not studying here because of you, I have other aspirations. Is that all you think of your country?"
He decided to leave it there and only with a shake of his head.
"I'm not a fan."
He ignored her, "Who's your bias?"
"I don't have one, I don't like you guys," she continued, head still buried.
He chuckled, "You're kind of stubborn."
Alexandria shrugged, finally taking a look at him.
The rest was filled with more obnoxious banter and hidden feelings, not yet feeling comfortable sharing.
