before you love me | jjk

chapter forty

━━━༻ ˚✩‧₊ september 2020₊‧✩˚༺━━━

The mood around the dorm was electric and everyone was in high spirits. Not only was it Jungkook's birthday, but the boys had received the news earlier on in the day that Dynamite had made it to number one on Billboard, the very first number one of their career. Absolutely nothing could bring their mood down even if they tried.

Narae, meanwhile, was busy running around Seoul, making the last minute preparations for Jungkook's birthday that she had been planning for the past few months. Everything had to be perfect. As the day progressed, she grew more and more nervous, whilst the others were getting more excited.

She stood in the middle of the venue talking to the assistant, whilst simultaneously running through her checklist in her mind and cataloguing each item. As she looked around, she suddenly wondered if maybe she had done a little too much, or perhaps gone a bit too overboard for Jungkook's birthday. She didn't have time to dwell on those thoughts however, soon the guests would start arriving, and she wanted to be dressed and ready for Jungkook's entrance.

Meanwhile, back in the dorms, Jungkook was in his room getting dressed in preparation. The only hint that Narae had given him was that he needed to wear a costume, which was why he was currently putting on a fitted Spiderman suit.

As he walked over to his mirror to check how it fit, he smiled at the colourful post-its stuck to it. Narae had been helping him learn English and one day had arrived in his room with a stack of them, each one written with different English words and phrases as well as their Korean translations and little drawings next to them. His whole room was now covered in them and he loved seeing them throughout the day when he was in his room. Narae really had infiltrated every aspect of his life, but Jungkook wasn't complaining.

Tousling his hair, he nodded, satisfied with his appearance before making his way to the living room where everyone had gathered. Yoongi had left earlier to help Narae with the last of the setup, whilst Hobi and Namjoon had gone to pick up Tianna and Kamaiyah, and would be meeting them at the venue. That left Jimin, Taehyung and Jin to welcome him with cheers and raised champagne glasses.

Jin had also gone the superhero route, though a different franchise, and was dressed as Super Mario, complete with the detachable moustache, whilst Jimin was dressed up as his favourite character, Zoro from One Piece with replica swords attached at his waist. Taehyung had gone more classical jazz vibes, dressed in a pinstripe zoot suit with a chain attached to his waist. He had completed the look with a black fedora and had a pipe held between his lips.

The four of them drank and chatted until they got the message saying that the car was ready to take them to the party. They walked outside to see a limo waiting for them, a chauffeur standing at the open door to welcome them. The luxurious interior served quite a contrast to their costumes, but they didn't care either way. The journey wasn't long before they arrived at the very familiar club Signal.

It wasn't until they got past the security checks and made their way inside that they realised the décor was completely different. They were led to one of the various rooms they had passed on their first time at Signal, the attendant telling them to wait before confirming something into her earpiece. When she was given the go-ahead, she opened the wide double doors, the boys pushing Jungkook forward to enter first.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" The guests cheered as Jungkook walked forward, popping streamers and clapping as he made his entrance.

He couldn't believe his eyes as he took in everything around him. His friends all came up to hug and congratulate him. The first set of people were his group chat friends: Yugyeom, BamBam, Mingyu, The8, DK and Jaehyun, the next being the other members of Got7 and EXO, Jackson in particular greeting him with a loud whoop and bone-crushing hug. Next up was Jimin's friend Sungwoon, then Sol and Eunwoo who had come together dressed as Kim Possible and Elton John respectively.