Yoonmin in Malta

5 - Sharing a Bed (I)

Once the six band members have finished eating and paying, they head to their apartment. It's very close to the restaurant in Valletta Bay, not far from the ferry terminal to Sliema. They leave their suitcases in the cars, as they will come back for them later.

"Room allocation!" Hobi calls through the apartment. He paces impatiently in the living room, which consists mainly of a large rectangular sofa on the first floor of the maisonette. The rest of the group gathers around the sofa in excitement.

"There are three bedrooms, two downstairs and a big one upstairs," Hobi announces, as if everyone hadn't already inspected the apartment on their own – secretly looking for the best bedroom.

One of the rooms downstairs has a queen-size bed and its own bathroom. To the right is a smaller room with two narrow twin beds, parallel to each other. The large bedroom, upstairs, has two queen beds and another bathroom. Everyone now knows what to do to divide the rooms fairly among the friends: a few rounds of rock-paper-scissors.

"Hyung, should we try it again today?" Jimin beams at Hobi with wide eyes.

"Oh that?" Hobi answers amused.

"Yes, like we did on our last trip, but today we're going to do it right, even if someone has to sleep on the floor in the end!" Jimin exclaims, waving his fists expectantly over the game he's now proposing for room allocation.

Yoongi has to chuckle at this. He himself doesn't care where he sleeps, the sofa seems to be comfortable as well. But he can't help smiling when he sees Jimin's carefree happiness. He's also happy to see that Jimin's mood has visibly improved since lunch.

They start to divide up the rooms by using a few rounds of rock-paper-scissors to establish an order in which each person gets to pick a room. The twist is that the others don't know what the previous people have chosen. So it can happen that three people choose the popular single room at the same time and have to stick to this choice. When picking the single room, there is a very high risk of not getting a good night's sleep during the vacation because several friends would be forced to share the bed.

"Me, Namjoon, Jimin, Jin, Jungkook and Yoongi," Hobi lists the names of his friends in the order in which they are allowed to decide on a room.

"What about Taehyung? It's not like he has a chance to compete!" Jimin interrupts just in time.

"Taehyung just automatically gets the room he enters first!" Jin says amused. Satisfied with the elder's suggestion, Jimin claps his hands in excitement and anticipation.

"Get out of here, I'm going to pick my room now!" orders Hobi while waving his hand. The rest of the band starts to move towards the roof terrace, so they won't see his room selection.

Impatiently waiting for their turn, Jungkook and Jimin excitedly play with the pool noodles they found on the rooftop.

"My turn." Namjoon puts his smartphone away. He read Hobi's message in the group chat that it was now his turn.

The bandleader walks into the living room and purposefully makes his way to the downstairs room with the twin beds, where Hobi is eagerly waiting. Hobi greets his friend with a broad grin as he enters. The two elders enjoy the game, as well, and giggle to each other.

Jimin is next. When he arrives in the living room, he first takes off his shoes so that no one can hear his footsteps on the squeaky wooden stairs. He has chosen the large room in the upper part of the apartment. Happily, he closes the door quietly when he notices that no one has picked this room yet.

Jin, whose turn it is after Jimin's, also goes straight to the upper room and joins the younger man chuckling. Meanwhile, the two remaining people on the roof terrace, Yoongi and Jungkook, talk about how Jungkook would take the single room no matter what. And that's exactly what he did when it was his turn to choose his room. Delighted, he makes himself comfortable on the bed of the best room.

Yoongi, now last in line, curses his friends.

"Can't we just divide the rooms like adults?" He gets up frustrated and makes his way to the living room. After a short pause for thought in the living room, he finally runs up the stairs.

"The upstairs room is definitely the least popular," he says confidently, knowing that everyone in the apartment would hear him.

Jimin sits on a bed in the corner of the upstairs room next to Jin and buries his face in his hands. He didn't expect to end up in the same room with Yoongi, of all people.

Without waiting to see how Yoongi would react at the sight of his new roommates, Jimin storms out of the room past him.

"It's done, we're done!" he shouts down the banister into the living room to see who comes out of the rooms downstairs.

The apartment fills with laughter as the friends finally recognize Jungkook as the definite winner of the room selection.

"But Tae's choice will turn everything upside down again.", Jimin remarks, but no one pays any attention to his statement. For now, they're just happy that the room allocation went so smoothly for everyone – with one exception.

'Damn, this makes it harder for me to avoid him.' Jimin muses absently.