Promise Me / Yaksokhae • K.T.H

•오•

My eyes scan over the videos that have been taken by ARMYS in New Zealand. All of the videos have Bangtan walking in the airport. There are around 70 people surrounding them- not nearly as much as those in other countries.

It gives me relief to know that with the small amount of ARMYS, they aren't getting pushed around.

I open safari and write in BTS in New Zealand. A few suggestions pop up from korean sites and New Zealand news.

So it is real.

I scroll down to look at all the information about their arrival in New Zealand.

"The korean boyband was last seen entering the five star hotel, Hotel Novotel. Kiwi fans are keeping their distance from the boys as the hotel is loaded with security."

Hotel Novotel? The name seems familiar to me. Where could that hotel be?

I open another tab as I type in the hotel's name.

Searches show up, one of them showing pictures of the hotel.

Ah so it's the hotel that's opposite the airport.

They're so close to me. A mere 20 minute drive from my place.

I tug at my hair, not knowing what to do. I can't meet them, but they're here- so how can I just sit here and watch them stay and go?

I'm really weird, I can't express my feelings well. Most of the time I don't know what to feel when something unexpected happens.

Maybe just looking at them from my screen would be enough, I shouldn't ask for too much. Besides, having five brothers and just a strict family overall, there's no way that I can meet grown artists when my family is like this.

"Raihe-ah! Come downstairs, your dad's hungry." My mum calls from downstairs.

"Leave me alone. I'm tired!" I shout back. "You do it."

"I can't hear you from here, hurry up- heat up the food for him." She responds.

For a weird reason I feel extremely stressed, it's probably from school or something, I just feel like screaming- or just going somewhere isolated, where no one is there to bother me.

Leaving my ramyeon pan on the tray in my room, I get up mumbling to myself. I walk downstairs and get the plate of food in the microwave as I see my mum vacuuming the living room with sweat rolling down her face.

I feel bad for my mother but then at the same time she picks on me too much. It's always my name called while my brothers lay around. She says it's because they never listen to her or abide her when she asks them to do something. I don't know how to feel about it anymore- but I haven't given up on making them do things for my mum.

Whenever they say something back to my mum- I talk back to them. It angers them but I do it regardless. Usually, all my cousins will follow what their brothers ask them to do- but for me, my mum likes to call me 'smart mouth.' She says I never back down whether I'm fighting with my siblings or not. They all play sports and know how to do boxing- so whenever we get into a physical fight, they go merciless. I don't fight them back but I know what gets on their nerves.

The microwave beeps, interrupting my clouded thoughts. With a sigh I take the plate of rice and chicken out as I roll out the traditional mat in front of my dad, which is what Afghans use to eat on instead of a table. I put the food on the mat as my dad starts to eat my mum's delicious cooking.

My dad and I are extremely close. Everyone knows that. Whenever we go somewhere and someone asks my dad how many kids he has, he explains to them that he has five sons and one daughter. As always, he adds, "She is a moon amongst five stars." With that, he looks down at me and smiles as I remind him of how cringe his lines are. Everyone says the same thing. "She must be very loved." Which is true. Majorly only loved by my dad.

He is such a dad. He makes these dad jokes and tries to catch up to the phrases my brothers and I use with each other. An example would be when- once we were sitting in the car and I told my dad about how cringe-y he is. From then on he started saying "oh you're cronji" I like to correct him saying he says it wrong but he repeats the same mistake.

"Have you eaten yet?" My dad interrupts my exposing thoughts on him.

"Yes." I reply with a short answer. I move towards the refrigerator, taking out my water bottle.

"I'm going to exercise, no one is allowed to come into my room." I walk upstairs and go straight into my room.

I open up the exercising app and change into exercising clothes beforehand. I press play as the voice from the app begins talking- reminding me that it's starting the first exercise.

• • •

40 minutes and a very sweaty me later, I pop into the shower- taking a cold refreshing shower.

Legs aching and breath still unstable, I tilt my head to the side, a habit I do when I'm thinking about something.

Would dad be going anywhere near the airport? Maybe he has already gone there?

Dad is a taxi driver and he sometimes gets passengers that are going to the airport, maybe he has gone there.

I'll just ask him when I get out.

Closing my eyes, I let the water fall down on my face, completely refreshing my mind.

• • •

"Dad, did you pick anyone up from the airport yesterday?" I ask him in my language without sounding suspicious.

"No, I only worked in the city area. There weren't any jobs yesterday. Why'd you ask?" He asks.

"I was just curious. That's all." I smile back at him.

Am I overreacting about this situation?

• • •

Hey, how was the chapter? What do you think of Raihe's family? And when will we see Mr Kim? Just a reminder that whenever Raihe is speaking with her family- most of the time she's speaking in her language pakhto. I'll add on if she's ever speaking in English though! Have a good day and don't forget to vote!