Can I help you?

Chapter 7

They arrive in Ostend.The first thing the members see is the old station building. It looks majestic. "So the city of Ostend hasn't preserved medieval buildings, but we did preserve a lot of buildings, build in the Art nouveau style." Mary starts her tour. V is wearing a bonnet and doesn't look at all out of place in the city of Ostend. He is taking pictures. "Art Nouveau or Charlestonian style is recognisable at the revival of Rococo. The chambrising has many fine details to it." Jimin is excited when he sees the ships. "OOOhhh boats!" Mary smiles. "Yes, we are a coast city, we have our own yacht harbor." They walk away from the station, crossing a bridge over the harbor. Seagulls are flying about. "First off, who wants to go in an authentic sailship, the only one left with 3 sails?" She points in the direction of the Mercator. Majestically the ship lays at the far end of the harbor. Everyone's jaw drops at the bombastic sight. "It's beautiful!" They are snapping pictures. "Or maybe you prefer to walk along the seaside a bit more? We can try some fresh local seafood." Jimin pulls an ugly face. Mary walks them all on the dike. Suga and Doenja walk all the way on the end of the group. They talk a bit about some good liquors. "So for me Jack hits the spot just right." Doenja mentions. "I prefer some Williamson. Straight of course." Doenja nods. "I mean it's not bad, but single malt is always the best." "I agree on that. Have you ever had an Irish bomb?" JK looks back "Friendship!" Doenja is surprised at the sudden reaction of that young man. Suga just laughs. "I had his first time. Irish bomb that is." Both are laughing.

They are gawking at all the choices of seafood. "Any recommendation?" V asks at Mary. She points out the grey shrimp cocktail. "This is crab. And here we have some smoked fish." They all grew hungry and bought a lot to eat. "Be aware to eat it while guarding it. The seagulls are aggressive here." Everyone eats it shielded. Emma feeds a piece of her food to RM. "You should try this one!" RM eats it and smiles. "HMMMM delicious!" "It tastes so fresh!" Jin is enjoying it too. Jhope is eating, but he is still thinking about Sarah. Maybe we did something wrong. Did we rape her? No, we are not that kind of people. Did she enjoy it? Maybe she didn't... Is she okay? "Hey, hobi hyung! What's wrong? Is yours not tasty?" JK asks. Jin looks at Jhope. Ever since this morning, he has been out of it. Maybe we did something to each other after all? Jin is worried. But somehow Sarah jumps to my memory. Is she okay? Doenja looks at the 2 Seoks and shakes her head. Maybe those two have no idea... V is staying around Mary, asking more questions. They see the sea. "They are preparing the coast line for the Thousand Year Storm. It is long overdue. Unfortunately, every time we have a small storm, all the preparations are back to zero..." Mary has a sad and annoyed face. "Guess it won't be my concern anymore when we move to Korea with you guys." She smiles and they nod. "Then you only have to take care of smog, earthquakes and tropical storms." Jimin playfully says. They all laugh. "Don't forget North Korea." Emma adds. They all nod.

After walking a bit past the dike she turns into a street that is a shopping street. It is full of people and very lively. There are some street musicians busking and JK claps his hands in delight. "Why don't you busk here, Mary?" Mary instantly turns red and vigorously shakes her head. "I wouldn't dare. No way." "Come on, don't be shy. Do you want to do it if me and Jungkook join you?" She seems a bit more hesitant, but still shakes her head. "I'd rather not..." V slowly lifts her chin to see her embarrassed face. After briefly looking into his eyes she turns her gaze to her side. V grins. She is cute... "E-eh and h-here we s-see the market square." She removes her chin out of his hand and tries to continue. He smiles when he looks at her cute attempt to escape his gaze. He poses in front of the many Art nouveau buildings. "Give him a fucking french baguette and he looks so perfect." Doenja jokes. Suga laughs at her joke. "And draw a curly mustache on him!!!" He continues the joke and Doenja is dying. Jimin and Jin are busy shopping with Jhope. RM and Emma are still with Mary, looking at the buildings, listening to the info that Mary is telling. Eventually all of them go shopping. They are having a blast. Jhope hears Mary talk to Emma while the others are shopping. "Sarah loves this shop so much. She always gaws at the jewels here." They are in front of the Swarovski shop. "She loves butterflies and flowers... But she always wears her DNA necklace." Emma remarks. Mary nods. "DNA is the song that turned her." Emma laughs. "Turned her? Jesus, Mary, you make it sound like becoming an ARMY is like a vampire." She is laughing hard. They move on to the next shop. Jhope is looking at the window of the shop. He sees these beautiful crystal jewels. She would look amazing with it... Maybe I can gift it to her, as a way to make up for whatever I did to her. He walks in the store and talks with the shop assistant.

Afterwards, they all meet up again at the market square and Mary takes them to an amazing fish restaurant. After they finish their dinner, they all watch the sunset on the rocks that run into the see. Even Suga and Doenja are looking at it with dreamy eyes. Everyone is quiet. V softly starts to sing Butterfly. Mary joins him. Everyone joins them. Even Emma, who is not a professional singer. It is a goosebump moment. RM hugs Emma when he notices the tears in her eyes. Emma is thinking about her past. This song was a song that meant a lot to me, to deal with my past... Emma places her head on RM's shoulder, and enjoys the comforting of his arm around her. "We should return home now. It is getting dark now. Also we should pack for out departure." RM orders. The all get up and follow his lead. "So you arranged everything for us too?" Mary asks. "I did. Don't worry. When we are in the hotel, you all should sign the contract." "Sarah is arranging everything from on our side." Doenja mentions casually. "Won't you miss your family?" Suga asks Doenja. She shakes her head. "They know I am free spirited. I will miss my dog though. Any chance I can take her with me?" Suga thinks for a moment. "I think it will be impractical. We tour a lot and if you are on our staff, you would even hardly be home in your new apartment in Korea. It's better for her to stay at her home, and be taken well care of." Doenja realises that it does take some sacrifices to chase dreams. She nods.

Sarah is at home, after organising everything, buying and taking the morning afterpill. She has packed everything for everyone, and the boxes are ready to be collected. She sits on top of a box. The events of last night still fresh in her memories. How Jin felt, how Jhope's skin felt on her back. She hugs herself. "Guess I was just a lucky fan to have a one time event..." She pulls up her leg and leans her head on her knee. The others come home. They see Sarah, sitting like that on the boxes, deep in thought. She hasn't even noticed them being back yet. Doenja rolls her eyes and sighs. "We are home!" Mary yells cheerful and exhilarated. "Not for long anymore... Guess this is truly final now, right?" Emma looks around at the boxes. They seem to think Sarah is downspirited because of the final goodbye. Doenja nears Sarah. "Did you take the pill?" Sarah nods and jumps off the box. "I finalised everything. We are good to go. Just make sure you all have your passports with you when we go to the airport." Mary yawns. "The sea air makes one tired. It was fun." Emma tells Sarah about everything. Sarah smiles. "That's amazing! So happy. Are you guys already getting used to being around our idols?" Sarah asks. "Yeah. RM hugged me when they sang butterfly. Even Doenja was talking a lot with Suga." Sarah looks at Doenja who just smiles and poses. Seeing Doenja act all cutesy like that made Sarah laugh out loud. The other two start laughing too and they don't even know why.

The next day they close the door and hand the keys to the landlord. They hop into the extra van that has been rented and are on their way to the airport. "Our stuff will arrive approximately 2 weeks after we arrived in Korea." They all nod while Sarah runs over all details. In the van in front of them are the members of BTS.

"Belgium was amazing! I will never forget it. And the capital is Brussels!" Jin laughs his windshieldwiper laugh. Jhope looks at Jin. He really does not remember a thing, does he? He looks out of the window. Sarah is in the car behind us, but I couldn't get a good look at her. Will she be okay? Suga is sleeping already. V is browsing his pictures with Jimin. JK is playing with RM.