Two Parties and a Funeral (Sequel to Resurfaced)

Chapter 2

I am not the kind of person who knows to offer words of comfort when someone is feeling down. On the contrary, I am the type that gives an awkward pat on the desolate individual's hand and stammers out a word or two. When J-Hope announced the death of Min Holly, I could not deliberate what I ought to do. Obviously this girl Holly was a close friend or relative of one of the BTS members. I fidgeted around while Nina and J-Hope cuddled for a while. I know what you are thinking- third wheel. Well, it cannot be helped. Anyway, once he left, I solemnly asked Nina who the deceased person was.

With an equally solemn expression she replied, ''Suga's dog.'' For a matter of what seemed like minutes, I stared at her to make sure that this was not some sort of joke. Apparently, it was not. I, Jane Weatherbee was to attend the 'funeral' of a dog. I was yet to understand what a famous dog this was.

I used to think I knew what the word 'fangirl' meant. Clearly, I was oblivious again. In a matter of minutes, social media was flooded with edits of Min Holly. Videos of Min Holly were compiled and posted. Ever since the public was aware that Nina was dating J-Hope, she was an immediate celebrity. Sure, this was not always a good thing, but I shall come to that later. Nina's accounts on social media were spammed to the brim with fans' condolences, begging for her to pass on their regards to Suga. It was not a rare sight to see a handful of BTS fans near the La CJ building. J-Hope was spotted here more often than not, and as secretive as he tried to be, fan girls would stay for hours to catch a glimpse of the idol. Imagine my surprise when the concrete pathway to the office was transformed into a flower garden. Fans had stacked beautiful wreaths and bouquets in heaps with letters and photographs. In a way I was saddened. Surely my funeral would have less than a hundredth of the mourners the deceased dog had.

Differentiating people in Korea is a challenging job. Even as I entered the gate to Min Yoongi's home, I mentally recalled the featues and names of each member. Easy to say, my worst mistake was to assume that I could tell the Bangtan Boys apart from their hair colour. Go on, laugh at me as you will, in my defence I was quite clueless at the time. ''Psst, Nina,'' I whispered quite frantically. ''Yoongi is the one with blue hair now, right?''

Nina gave a chuckle. ''Yes, the one with the pale skin.'' I snorted. Almost every Korean I had seen had a pale complexion, how could there possibly be a paler tone. After all the edits of Min Holly and Suga I had seen, one would think that I had his face in memory. Well, I am not known for my memory power.

The house was not necessarily large, but it looked very spacious and welcoming, leaving aside the fact that it was a funeral. I directly assumed that the five boys sitting beside J-Hope were BTS members. They all gazed at the floor in silence. It was not challenging to spot Min Yoongi with his puffy face who stood beside them. ''Poor boy,'' I said to myself. He looked so sad and his eyes were surrounded by dark circles. I almost teared up. While the boy hugged Nina back, I could say that he did not readily embrace people.

''Umm, hi,'' I managed, as my mind decided to go on hiatus. ''I am sorry for your loss man.''

Suga glinted at me in confusion. ''Not man, it is Min. My name is Min Yoongi.'' I frowned at Nina who attempted to hide her chortle with a cough. ''Thank you for coming. I appreciate it.'' He then gestured for us to sit down. The rest of BTS stood up offering their seat to us ladies. Happily, I remembered Korean courtesy and bowed at Taehyung, who was the closest to me. I could recognise him relatively easily since he was close with Nina and came by the office quite often. He bowed back at me. Confused, I bowed again. The latter bowed at me once more. I gulped and just nodded my head at him, without embarrassing myself further. ''Aishhh,'' my brain told me. Aisshh indeed.

Having welcome a few more individuals, Suga came to us. ''Thank you all for coming.'' He sniffed twice. ''Min Holly may be gone, but she gave her life for three more. She gave birth to three beautiful puppies- one female and two males. As of now, i name the female puppy, Min Holly.''

Much later, I tagged along with Nina and the boys to see the puppies. Suga gently laid down a  wicker basket, in which three adorable little creatures rolled about. They were so beautiful, I could not help but squeal in delight. The manly looking Rapmon went down to his knees and began to tickle the puppies on their stomach, with another pink haired member (who I later found out was Jin) who followed. Taehyung, to my surprise made cute, and funny faces at the puppies, and started talking in some language, which did not even sound Korean. 

''Do you want to carry him, noona?'' the youngest BTS member asked me, holding out one of the male puppies. I agreed in delight and petted the fluffy animal. Moments later I glanced at the couple. J-Hope and Nina who sat a little away from the rest, sweetly fussing over the mini- Min Holly. If the newspapers could capture the sight, the adorable couple would have made headlines again. 'The parents to-be training,' would be the kind of title they would insert. I was not the only one watching them though. Namjoon was looking at the scene with a bittersweet look. I looked away quickly. Some things take time- a long, long time.