November 5, 2019
Bella walked into the office carrying the cloth bag full of her souvenirs for her officemates. She handed the guards and their branch messenger their souvenirs first. As the branch was still empty, she went to place the souvenirs on top of their desks one-by-one. Then she went to have breakfast.
Sipping her coffee, she thought about the conversation that she and Jake had last night. He called her around 8pm Philippine time, when he had arrived back at his home.
She recounted Jeon Kookie's experience at the immigration counter. Jake had laughed at the reactions of the immigration officials. Bella blamed it on him. Why would a stuffie have a passport in the first place, anyway?
Their son was going to be well-traveled, he had replied. She just rolled her eyes at him. She was not going to be bringing Kookie through immigration again.
It was either that or check poor Kookie in as luggage, Jake countered. He knew that Bella did not particularly like having checked-in luggage.
Bella took a bite of her spam and a spoonful of garlic rice. Her phone rang. 'Kim Yeontan.' Her phone informed her. "Why is V-oppa calling me?", she wondered as she answered the call.
"Hey, Bella! How are you?", Taehyung asked. He was in a white cotton shirt.
Bella held up her spoon and fork. "I'm great, V-oppa. Currently at the office having brekkie. Have you had breakfast yet?"
"I did! My mom made Gyeran Bokkeumbap. It's egg fried rice. It was so filling." He replied.
"That's good. What are you guys up to?" She asked.
Taehyung looked at something off-screen. "It's Bella, hyungs and Jk!" He called.
Then to Bella he said, "We're in the practice room. We're supposed to learn choreography today. Just waiting for everyone to get in. Well, Jimin's the only one missing."
Jake's face came onto the screen. "Hey, Princess! I miss you already." Taehyung made room for him and Jake sat beside him. Jake was also in a white cotton shirt.
Bella swallowed her spam and rice. She blushed at that. "Hey Jake!"
To Taehyung, Jake asked, "V-hyung, why are you calling my girl?"
Bella's face scrunched up. "Someone's a little possessive."
They all laughed.
"JK, tell your girl to hurry up and learn the game. We need her on the squad." Taehyung told Jake.
Jake nudged him. "She just arrived back home, V-hyung. Give her a break."
"I'll see about it this weekend, V-oppa." Bella promised. "My team on Azefalgar are waiting for me too."
"I'll be expecting you soon, okay? And just so you know, if I don't hear from you this weekend, I'm going to blow up your phone like nobody's business until you start playing." Taehyung said, satisfied.
Jake and Bella both snickered at his veiled threat.
"Is that Bella?" Hobi said off-screen. Both Taehyung and Jake nodded.
Hobi went behind both of them. He too was in a white cotton shirt but had a yellow cap on. "Hey there, Bella! How are you?"
"Doing good, Hobi-oppa!" She replied. "Back at the office today."
"What exactly do you do?" He asked.
Bella looked at Jake. "I'm just an ordinary employee, Hobi-oppa."
"Oh, but her work is very important, Hobi-hyung. Without her and the black ink, who knows what's going to get done at the office?" Jake teased.
Bella stuck her tongue out at him. "By the way, Jake, I listened to Idol and I couldn't figure out the lyrics."
"Which part, Princess?" Jake asked.
"Your part about loving yourself."
Jake tried to recall the lyrics, humming it to himself. "I love myself. I love my fans, my dance and my what."
"You said it's 'My What?"
Jake nodded.
Bella giggled, "I thought you said 'My Wife."
Taehyung chuckled, "I saw a discussion about that on a forum."
Jake punched his arm. "Please don't tell me you added some comments of your own in there, hyung."
Taehyung mimicked zipping up his mouth.
"Hobi-oppa, maybe Idol could be one of the choreographies you teach me?" Bella suggested.
Hobi's face lit up into a blinding smile. "Of course, little Bella! I would love to teach you that. It can get intense but I'm sure you can handle it."
"Watch our dance practice on YouTube, Princess." Jake recommended.
"I will, Jake."
"I want her to learn Fire." Taehyung stated.
"What's Fire, V-oppa?"
"Look it up later tonight, Princess." Jake told her.
Just then, Bella could hear people walking into the branch and finding the souvenirs she placed on their desk. She turned to look and make sure no one was on their way to where she was. "Guys, I think people are arriving. I have to go."
"Have a great rest of your day, Bella! I'll add you on Line later." Hobi waved.
"Yeah, have a great one Bella! I'll wait for your good news this weekend!" Taehyung told her, raising both eyebrows up and down.
Jake took the phone from Taehyung. "I'll talk to you tonight, Princess. Take care, okay?"
Bella smiled. "Talk to you later, my Prince." Then she hung up.
A few minutes later, one of her officemates walked in the breakroom. "Mam, welcome back! Salamat sa souvenirs. Cute kaayo! Kumusta man ang bakasyon?" (Mam, welcome back! Thank you for the souvenirs. It's so cute. How was your vacation?) She asked Bella in their local dialect. It was Mitty, one of those she usually had breakfast with. She was a tall, fair-skinned girl with long black hair.
Bella gave her a kind smile, "You're welcome, Mittybebs. It was good."
"Diin ka, mam? Wala lagi ko kita ug pictures sa Facebook?" (Where did you go, mam? I didn't see any uploaded pictures on Facebook.)
Bella smiled coyly, preferring to keep her travels on the down low.
"Hala, si Mam!" Mitty exclaimed, "Asa kaha ni sya ay." (Mam, where exactly did you go?)
Bella laughed and scrunched up her nose.
"Mam, salamat ani! Kumusta ang bakasyon?" (Mam, thank you for this! How was the vacation) Anna entered waving her paper bag. She had short hair and was tanned.
"You're welcome, AngryBird. It was good." Bella replied, using her pet name for Anna. She tended to use the expression "Maglagot ko nimo run" which loosely translated to "I'm about to get angry" and this gave rise to the pet name.
Eloisa, the youngest and fondly called BabyBird, came into the break room and thanked Bella for the souvenirs as well.
The rest of the gang eventually piled into the break room as they did every morning to place their bags and things in their lockers. Others, like Bella, Mitty and Anna had their breakfast at the branch. Before long, it was time for them to open their branch and fulfill their customer service duties.
