When the Sun Fades

Midnight Cravings

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a great hunger must be in want of good noodles.

Nam Joon was tiptoeing across the dorm, trying to get out without waking up the other members. He couldn't choose another better time to get hungry.

Cling!

Of course, he had to drop the damn keys.

"Calm down, not even an earthquake would be able to wake these boys up."

"Shhhh!" hissed Nam Joon in anger, putting his finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.

Mi-young laughed under his breath. "Man, I never thought this job will bring such fun."

Nam Joon rolled his eyes. He checked for one last time if the other guys were asleep then closed the main door. Soon after they left the residential area.

It was around 1 am and it was pitch dark outside. They had to drive across the city to get to Nam Joon's favorite restaurant, who was pissed at Mi-young for making fun of his rituals. He couldn't leave for tour without eating at least one bowl of noodles. Without meeting with her.

"Poor thing can't leave the state with an empty stomach. Get something for the boys too, and don't eat it on the way home like you did last time, okay?"

Mi-young was their new manager. Dude was well into his thirties, had a scarred eyebrow and broad shoulders. He looked pretty scary in a suit and was able to free their schedule a bit before the tour without having to skip practice, organize future events AND assist the birth of his third baby like it was a piece of cake.

As good as he was at being BTS' manager, Kim Mi-young was a terrible pain in the ass. He loved teasing Nam Joon whenever he got the chance and this was one of them. Nam Joon swore he would never drink again just so he won't have to call the "babysitter for the rescue", as Mi-young liked to refer to himself.

"So when are you going to tell the boys that you have a girlfriend?" asked the other man, not taking his eyes off the road.

It had been raining heavily throughout the week and they had a flight scheduled for the next day.

"When are you going to get a nicer tie?" responded Nam Joon, not looking up from his phone.

7 missed calls. Damn.

"Don't try and change the subject", huffed the other man. "It was so obvious I wonder how the other managers haven't figured it out yet. I've followed you around a couple times. After you're done eating you leave on the back door and turn left on the first block. She's pretty by the way.

<<Fuck me>> was all that he could think of at that moment.

Mi-young parked the car in front of Nam Joon's favorite restaurant, Chae-won Noodles. Their food was great, to begin with, but there was something else that convinced him to come back again and again.

Or rather someone.

"You know what will happen if this comes out. Is she actually worth it?"

Nam Joon's brain was unable to process that question anymore. He contemplated those thoughts over and over: <<How are the other managers going to react? How am I gonna tell them??>>

What will Jin, Tae, Jimin, Hoseok, Kookie, and Yoongi think of him? Nothing good for sure.

Was he going to get fired at some point? Definitely.

But one thing he knew for sure: he couldn't remember to forget her voice, always echoing in the back of his mind.

"Well, you better go before she changes her mind" Mi-young gave him a smirk and unlocked the car doors. "I'm picking you up at 4:30 so the boys won't notice you were gone."

"Thank you so much," whispered Nam Joon as he got out of his car. Although his jokes were pretty lame and repetitive, Mi-young became more than just a manager to the boys rather quickly. In just a couple of months, he was able to impress them with his time management skills and professionalism, but also enter their heart with his kind personality.
<<Damn, we truly got lucky on that one.>>

Mi-young watched him as he crossed the street and enter the building before making his way back to their dorm.

"This is going to be so much trouble..."