Volcano | Bangchan

Beautiful Stranger

Christmas holidays passed by too fast. I left my family after heart-rending goodbyes. Not being able to tell when I would see them again was painful. But my life belonged to another country, and I was lowkey happy to be back. As promised, I spent another Christmas night with my sunshine, just watching Christmas films while drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows. The rest of the week went smoothly, and it was now New Year's Eve. The boys were having a special stage tonight with many other groups at the MBC Music Festival. We headed to the Sangam Media Center early in the morning, and right now we were in our guest room, waiting for their turn to rehearse. 

I was lying on the floor, my head on Hyunjin's belly. Han was in the same position, laying his head on Felix's belly. Seungmin and I.N were on the couch, and we were all playing Mario Kart on our phones. I was first in line, far away from the others. I giggled evilly, sure of winning : "How does it feel to be a bunch of losers?". Hyunjin stopped playing for a few seconds to give me a tap on the forehead. "Stop being an arrogant ass.". Han groaned : "I don't even know how I ended up being the last one.". The race was almost done, my victory was on the way. Seungmin smiled cheekily : "If I were you Soo, I wouldn't claim victory this fast.". Hearing him smiling when he was about to lose wasn't a good thing. AT ALL. I watched the map and gasped : something blue was coming for me. I straightened up (as if it was gonna help me) and prayed to cross the finish line before the blue shell destroyed me. "No no no NOOOOOOOOOOOO !". Too late, my kart did a backflip, and Seungmin overtook me a few meters before the finish line. He stood up and yelled : "Yaaaaaaaaaas and this is how I win !". I side-eyed him, which made him laugh. He winked at me : "What's up, looser ?". He then ran into Han's arms : "Thank you bro for that blue shell. My victory is also yours.". I gasped : "IT WAS YOU ?!". Han patted Seungmin's bum : "Always by your side to make her shut up, bro.". I mumbled : "At least I am second.". I.N grinned : "No one remembers the second.".

I stood up and looked for distraction : "Where is Changbin ?". Nomi shrugged her shoulders. "Nowhere to be found. But if I had to guess, he's probably with Wooyoung since Ateez is here too.". Of course, the chaotic duo reunited. Hyunjin came behind my back and put his chin on the top of my head. He gave me a mischievous smile. "Sookiiiiiiiiiiiii, don't you forget something ?". I played the innocent card : "Hyunjiiiiiiiiiiiin no I don't.". Seungmin came in front of me, shaking MY wallet. "Oh, you don't remember our bet ? Hannie will gladly remind you.". Han appeared next to me and put an arm around my shoulder : "You two bet, and the loser had to buy us drinks.". I rolled my eyes but took my wallet anyway. I didn't want to go alone, the place was huge and I was afraid of getting lost. I eyed my two best friends, but didn't dare to ask them to come with me. There was no world where they would accept. I decided to try my luck with Hyunjin. I put on my cutest face with my doe eyes and took his hand. "Jinnie, will you come with me so I don't get lost, pretty please?". He melted as he saw my pouty face : "Oh cutie... you have a phone, right ? Call us if you're lost.". Gravity seemed to stop for Han as he fell to the ground, laughing his ass off. Seungmin high-fived Hyunjin and gave me his cockiest smile as he put his hands in his pockets. "I'll send you our order. Good luck bestie !". I sighed in defeat and went out of the room looking for a coffee place.

It took me about half an hour to find a place and order the Americanos. But as I was afraid of, I turned around for so long that I had no idea how to go back to the boys. I knew they should have come with me. There were so many groups attending the event, so the whole center was crawling with staff members and idols. And of course, I was too shy to ask for directions. So I wandered around, hoping to find the door with Stray Kids written on it. In a way, it was cool to look around. I spotted Jaehyun from BoyNextDoor getting along with Sunwoo for The Boyz. I giggled to myself as I watched them. Of course, those two would get along, two extroverts.

The problem when you walk while observing the surroundings is that you don't watch where you are going. My body bumped into something hard, or must I say someone's chest. Luckily, the drinks didn't spill. The man I bumped into grabbed both my shoulders to prevent me from falling. I immediately bowed and apologized: "I am so sorry, I wasn't looking.". I shyly raised my eyes to see who I bumped into. Oh. My. God. I bumped into Dokyeom from Seventeen. I blushed almost instantly and whispered : "Oh my god.". He spared me with his bright smile. "Well, hello there. God is good, but you can call me Dk.". His joke immediately soothed the atmosphere. I took a moment to admire him, and to say he was beautiful was an understatement. His skin was flawless, he had those sparkly eyes and a bright smile similar to Felix's. He radiated good vibes.