Wanting and Having

Five: Feast for the Senses

~ Jungkook PoV~

I barely made it to the chair before my Hyungs. I saw what Jin was doing and had moved to the left while the rest of them stood a bit dumbfounded at the small party Hobi and this woman had made of cleaning. I sat next to the defacto hostess across from Jin, I raised a covert eyebrow in his direction. 

"I have had everything on the menu," the lovely curiosity before me explained as everyone seated themselves, "I asked the guys in the kitchen to throw together my favorites. Strip steak, seasonal veggies, fried chicken, fries, nothing elaborate."

"Everything looks delicious." Jin purred, pouring water into her cup.

"What can I get you to drink? It's a real mix of flavors, so I couldn't pick wine..." She confessed, "I'm happy to act as a server, Chase bravely entrusted me with the bar, so I can get a drink order."

She was moving to stand up, when Jin assertively put his hand across her arms, staying her. Yoongi, sitting on Jin's other side, pushed himself away from the table and headed toward the bar.

"I would love to play bartender tonight if that's alright with you, it's my favorite place to be at a get-together." He spoke over his shoulder as he strutted behind the bar.  "The usual guys?" We sounded our agreement. "What would you like Charlotte?"

"I'd take a Manhatten in a Collins glass, if it's not too much trouble, with 3 cherries?" She smiled, and Yoongi smiled back.

"Whiskey! I feel like we are going to get along just fine Ms. Charm." He smirked and went about mixing our orders.

I was taking in the scene around me. The lounge was contemporary, less rustic, with modern lines made of natural materials of wood, and stone. This Inn clearly catered to younger patrons, I could see myself hanging out here in the countryside on a getaway under different circumstances.

My brothers were sitting at a large solid wood table. Charlotte at the head of the table, Jin to her right, Yoongi next to him, then Hobi. At the foot -  eyeing the scene intently - Namjoon. Taehyung, Jimin, and myself sat clockwise around the table from him. Jimin had almost slid into my seat, but I was in motion a fraction of a second before him.

Namjoon hyung had read us the riot act on discretion on the way down to dinner. He sat close enough to Hobi to make sure he got the gist so we didn't spoil this rare opportunity at total anonymity. Joon and the crew had been emailing about their game plan for being stuck here since we got WiFi, it was best to keep it low profile as no one here was vetted for our security.

Jin hyung had taken it upon himself to feel out Charlotte, not entirely trusting her intentions - hence why we had been sitting as we had.

Jimin was trying to keep the peace, avoiding Joon's gaze. He had not fussed when I beat him to the chair to our hostess' left. We must be tired and a bit bored to make sport of our curiosity over the woman, but I do love a game...

All this culminated in the relaxed albeit stifled conversations we fell into over food. Had Charlotte gotten to see the reality of our dynamic, we would have been far more playful and informal.

"I'd like to make a toast, to our lovely and surprising champion, Ms. Charlotte Powell, who saved us from a very cold night's sleep in our cars." Jin was raising his glass, attentively smiling in her direction.

"Geonbae!" Said Yoongi. I followed suit, and we all raised our glasses.

"Thank you. I'm flattered that you think so highly of my gesture, I'm sure you would have done the same, but your gratitude is sweet." It was at that moment, as she looked around the table addressing each of us, that I noticed three things.