A dose of Optimism || BTS Jung Hoseok

A Dose of Optimism Episode 1

Whatta Man, Hoseok! ;)

***

Hoseok is the main dancer in the group BTS; however, he was an amazing singer, composer, and rapper. His stage name is known as J-Hope. The group he was in, BTS, which had a comeback soon, along with the AMA's, so he was practicing like crazy to perfect his moves and distract his mind from the thoughts he has been having recently. He wanted to be a positive person, but right now he was going through the depression. Depression of unappreciation or not being recognized very often. He was glad he and his hard-working group had made it this far. He was proud of them, but whenever he tried to connect with his fans through live apps by himself, they would ask about the other members. The staff noticed how hard he practiced and at first encouraged him to work hard, by giving him food and drinks. However, that encouragement turned to worry since he would barely stop to eat or replenish his strength. To stop him from practicing too much, they locked down the entire building for the night so he could get some rest instead of injuring himself.

As Hoseok drove himself back to his dorm, those thoughts began to circle his head again. It was late in the night, so the roads were quite desolate. As he was driving quickly home, he had a violent flashback of all his trainee pain, the mistakes he made, and his vision blurred for a few seconds. He slammed on the brakes, but the light in front of him had already red, so a young lady was passing, with her earphones on. He heard something hit his car. He put his car in park and ran out of the car with shaking legs. Bending down, he placed his hand on her nose to see if she was breathing. Relieved that she was alive, he immediately called the police so they could get him an ambulance. Hoseok didn't dare move her, lest she be put in more pain. He looked around himself desperately to see if he could help her somehow, but all he saw were ruined groceries scattered across the road. "Are you okay? Can you talk?" Hoseok asks bending over her twisted body to look at her face, but her eyes were still closed and he received no response. Then the situation hit Hoseok like a truck. 'If this young lady passes away because of me, I might ruin our group's image, her family will be distraught, I will be marked as a killer... Wait, what am I thinking? I should make sure she's safe and still breathing!' Hoseok scolded himself. As Hoseok's brain rambled, the ambulance and police came by and gently placed her in the ambulance.

Claire woke up to bright lights flashing in her eyes. In shock, she tried to sit up but her right arm was too heavy and her body felt as if her energy had been zapped out of her. Hoseok, who was reading her condition from the paper, given by the doctor when he noticed her movements. He skidded to her bedside to help her sit upright. When Claire saw the person who was supporting her, she jerked herself away from him, too shocked to say anything. "Sorry for hitting you. The doctor said you have a broken arm, but other than that, you only have minor scratches," Hoseok spoke gently, not understanding why her eyes were blanket wide. "Oh, Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Jung Hoseok," he greeting holding out his right arm but then remembered her arm was broken and switched arms.

Claire didn't even budge, all she could do was stare in awe, thinking, "Oh, my gosh. That's Jung Hoseok... Right next to me. Talking to me. He's so buff!" her mind shouted.

Hoseok rocked back and forth on his shoes as he wondered at her silence, "So, um... we called your emergency contact information, but they weren't able to be reached, and your parents are in the States so I was assigned your guardian by default [A/N: I'm not sure how it works, and I'm positive this is definitely not how it works, but please let it slide for the story ;)]. You were out for quite a while, you really scared me." Hoseok laughed merrily, honestly very glad Claire was awake.

Claire somewhat forced herself to pull together and ask, "What time and day is it?" a bit bewildered by her odd condition.

"Oh, you weren't out that long, just three hours or so. You were knocked out more out from shock than a concussion."

"Oh, thank you..." came the short reply. The two sat in awkward silence, not sure if they should talk or pretend this situation was normal.

As they sat in eerie silence, a nurse walked in and handed Hoseok the discharge papers, "I hope you make a speedy recovery, Miss Claire," she said as she left.

Claire just nodded, still in a daze, definitely in shock, since her favorite artist J-Hope was right next to her! Her mind was just screaming, "Look at those muscles move as he's concentrating on writing. Just WOW!"

"So, because I was such a reckless driver, I can't drive for a while. However, it wouldn't be right to let you go home at night by yourself, do you mind if I walk you home?" Hoseok asked as he finished signing the papers.

Claire was a normal person, so her first reaction was to pull back defensively, "I'm not very comfortable to walk home with a stranger," she mumbled, trying to get out of the hospital bed. "Oh, it's okay. If you don't trust me, you can have my knife. If I try to do anything, you can just poke me with it. I'm very good at running away. Especially from snakes, I hate snakes," Hoseok hissed, shuddering.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I guess?" Claire said, accepting the plastic utensil knife from the cafeteria that Hoseok offered her with a bright smile.

"Yes! I really want to make this up to you. I feel like a brick fell on my heart after such a terrible deed!" He cried, jumping up and down.

The walk home wasn't as strange as their first conversation. "So what do you do for a living?" Hoseok asked, walking on the left side of the sidewalk, closest to the cars, with his hands clasped behind his back.

"I program for a gaming company called Riot Games."

"Oh, really? Isn't that the company for League of Legends? I love that game. You must be so smart!" Hoseok complimented, his face shining brightly with his smile as they talked about a subject he enjoyed immensely.

"Haha, thanks," Claire giggled.

"So, how long have you lived in Korea?" Hoseok asked before silence enveloped them again.

"Well, I only temporarily live here. I live in the U.S. but I'm here on a six-month project. We have about two months left. So what about you, what do you do for a living?" Of course, she already knew, but she wanted to seem like a normal person, as best she could without making it evident she was dying from excitement inside.

"Ah, well, I'm mainly a dancer, but I can sing, compose, rap, and dance. I also have a beautiful sister who is a model!" The conversation eventually ended as the two arrived at Claire's doorstep, but they felt close enough to be friends because of how long it took them to get there and talk the entire way.

"Bye, thank you for walking me home. I hope to again see you soon," Claire called from her doorstep.

"Yes, me too. I'm sorry for rambling the entire walk... and for running into you. Hope we can talk later!" Hoseok replied. As he skipped back towards his dorm, his heart and steps bounced together in sync. He had clearly enjoyed a kind person's conversation. Especially since they had such common interests. He had told her some of his small problems in his life so they could laugh over it, but the advice she gave made him realize she was quite understanding. He felt a bit alive to meet this new person. When was the last time he met someone with this fresh positive attitude? He wasn't a very good liar, so he didn't want her to know he was going through depression, so he told her his problems were those of a friend he was trying to help out.

When he got back to his room he pulled out his lyrics notebook and titled one of his pages: Inspiration

Under inspiration, he wrote the things that helped him push through the obstacles and potholes in his life. Flashback:

           "You know, in life, people have both good and bad times. The people that love your friend and support him, will hold his hand and pull him from the darkness that he is in, and vice versa. He just needs to find the light by looking up and around at the beauty around us. It doesn't matter if people don't appreciate him for what he does, because a person who truly loves and cares for him would love him for who he is, and not what he can do or what he looks like." Claire comforted as Hoseok related the unfortunate situation his "friend" was in.

Hoseok grinned in satisfaction, stretched his tired body before getting ready to shower, brush his teeth, and sleep.

***

I have two tests this week, and writing this story makes me so happy, I'm ready to study!

Strange, right?  I know, but Hoseok does strange things to us, doesn't he? ;P