Daydreaming

Chapter 5

Hoseok was exhausted.

Today was a busy day. He enjoyed meeting TXT again, dancing and producing music. The night before they had performed on stage, which was the main source of his exhaustion.

The next day - today - they had to start working again, so none of the BTS members got a lot of sleep.

When they all arrived at the dorms, most of the members settled and gathered in the lounge. Yoongi, on the other hand, went to bed to take a nap. He said he would come out later anyway.

Everyone wasn't doing anything in particular, just sitting around and talking among themselves. Hoseok decided to join them, but the moment he sat down, their attention was on him. The instantaneous action bewildered him. Not only that, but it caught him off guard.

"What is it?" He raised an eyebrow.

Why are they staring at me?

"You went to visit TXT, right? How did it go?" Seokjin, who sat next to him, asked him.

Hoseok nodded, "They're doing good. I can't wait to see the end result."

Smiles spread across their faces. They seemed happy to hear their juniors were doing their best. But was that all they wanted to ask him? Were they that worried?

"I can't wait to see them perform too. They've always done well," Namjoon agreed and continued to ask, "Did you get to greet the new manager?"

Hoseok shook his head, "No."

And by that answer, everyone's attention was off Hoseok. He didn't realize a few of them had leaned closer to him until they sat - or stood - up straight.

"I heard some staff saying she's a scary person, so I wondered if they were doing okay. They didn't seem troubled? Nothing was wrong?" Seokjin said.

"I heard that too," Jimin chimed in.

"The staff talk a lot, don't they?" Taehyung commented in a mumble. He and Jeongguk looked out of it. They should've gone to bed.

"Pffft-- you shouldn't say things like that," Jimin half-scolded.

Hoseok thought over what he just learned. He thought about it some more, but what they had said couldn't have been true. His face had shown nothing but confusion at this point.

"But when I was in front of the door, I overheard them speaking. It didn't sound at all like they were scared of her. They kept praising her. Saying things like 'she's so cool'."

Hoseok looked as if he was trying to remember exactly what he heard. He then nodded. "Yeah, that's what I heard. They were very respectful too."

"I guess the staff really does talk too much then," Jeongguk finally said, but he was half-asleep as he said that.

Namjoon shook his head and stood up. "Well, as long as TXT are fine, we shouldn't worry about that. Tomorrow the schedule is packed, so I'm off to bed."

"Me too."

"I'll just eat something and go to bed."

"Goodnight!"

Everyone soon left, leaving Hoseok and Jimin. The latter looked over his shoulder at Hoseok. "You're not going to bed?"

"Not yet. I think I might sneak out for a bit," he answered with a smile.

"For food?"

Hoseok nodded.

Jimin had a look mixed with uncertainty and worry. Nonetheless, he nodded. "Okay, but don't come too late back, please."

"If you're asking me so nicely, of course!" Hoseok said in a cute voice.

Jimin laughed. "Goodnight, Hoseokie Hyung!"

"Goodnight, Minnie."

➵

Feeling as if she wanted to get away from everything, Byeol decided she would eat out tonight.

Thus, after work, she found herself standing in line - in the cold - to get into this specific restaurant. The cold was unbearable, but as the man in front told her to come inside, she remembered why she came here.

He showed her to an empty seat, where a man sat next to her at the counter. Too excited, she didn't pay mind to him. Besides, when she came here, she often did end up sitting next to a complete stranger. She was used to it.

She ordered her favorite with a bright smile. Whilst she waited, practically vibrating in her seat, the man's phone vibrated itself.

Byeol couldn't help but look in his direction but regretted doing so when he put his phone on. The restaurant was quite dark, so the light from his phone was extremely bright. Her eyes squinted out of instincts.

The man might have noticed, because he quickly lowered the brightness opacity. Followed by this, he apologized after swallowing whatever he was chewing.

Byeol had gotten a better view of his face then and recognized him immediately.

"Oh." Her eyes went wide. She scanned him up and down.

"You're," she looked around and back at him - lowering her voice, "J-Hope from BTS?"

"Uh..." He turned his face, too speechless to say anything. He only cleared his throat.

She realized they were a bit too close. How intrusive of her! He was Jung Hoseok, but she didn't need to know that. He had most likely come to enjoy some food. He definitely did not come here to play idol.

She leaned back into her seat and on cue, the waiter served her bowl and chopsticks. The smell followed by the steam floating in the air tempted her to dive in. But she held herself back.

Albeit not fully.

"Thank you! The waiting was worth it," she reached for the chopsticks, "Come here my precious food."

She heard a chuckle beside her, causing her to shrink in embarrassment. She keeps embarrassing herself in front of important people!

"Sorry," he said.

Her cheeks were red, she bet. She was grateful it was so dark. In fact, she favored this restaurant, because it was private. Despite the dark silent atmosphere, customers were never troublesome. A lot of people, like her, came alone and - or - came to not be recognized. The food was good, and the seating was always random.

She could put two-and-two together. This was an ideal place for an idol to relax.

"Then let's call it even," she replied, smiling.

Right, today he was a stranger.

He smiled back at her. "Agreed."