Viola (비올라)

Chapter 2 - The Soop

Hannah's POV

The place was pretty much as she remembered it. It had been almost a decade since she had been here. The last trip she had barely left the living room as dad mostly was resigned to the couch with the panoramic view of the river that stretched out in front of them.

The summer house stood at the bottom of a steep but paved driveway that curved down from the main road. A rougher dirt path, just as steep and barely big enough for a car continued from the end of the drive, past the house, and across the lawn to the private dock. The rest of the lawn was landscaped into tiers for a more gradual descent to the river's edge.

The landings alternated between grass and wildflowers beds. The wildflowers seemed pretty well tended, it almost seemed a shame that they were maintained year round for no one but the gardeners to see. She wondered what kind of wildlife had grown to call the backyard home.

The wildflowers had always attracted a myriad of butterflies. Being surrounded by nature was part of the reason dad had always preferred summer's here over their other flat in London. He would say he was tired of people and just wanted to be around the things important to him. Hannah supposed she inherited being an introvert from him.

Looking around, breathing in the country air, Hannah supposed this place contained some of the most peaceful memories she had with her family. While her dad and Hannah would hangout on the back porch reading or crafting some chachkis, her mother would go on long hiking trips with Shelly. When they got back, while her mother and sister were napping Hannah would practice her viola. Her dad would nap more often as his health declined every trip. But he'd tell her that music was the best thing to fall asleep too.

Hannah frowned. The loss of her dad didn't devastate her like it used. They all had had time to come to terms with it while he was still alive and he'd always insisted he didn't want anything but smiles in his name. It was just how things happened sometimes he'd tell Hannah. Her dad had infectious enthusiasm for the here and now. The light breeze that swirled around her as she looked out over the river from the driveway pulled away with it some of the tension she'd been holding in.

She picked up her bags and opened the electronic door lock with the passcode she'd been emailed. The scent of pine and lemon, likely from cleaning products, wafted around her as she kicked her shoes off and nudged the door shut with her butt.

She was ready to take full advantage of this time to herself.

Taehyung's POV

The property was huge!

Taehyung took in all the green as Jimin pulled off the road following the staff car in front of them. He always missed the outdoors after too long in the city. It had been a few months since he could always take a day trip to visit his folk's farm. He wished the production would have allowed him to bring Tan on this trip. Yeontan, his Pomeranian Teacup dog stayed with his parents now that their schedule made it almost impossible to give him the time he deserved. Tan would have given Jimin a run for his money on who was most excited to run like a maniac around the property.

First thing's first, their manager gave them a tour of the property.

Their vacation destination was made up of two simple but modern buildings on a gradual slope to the river side and a boat house.They had each given the production team a wishlist of activities and things to help them enjoy their time. He hadn't realized that one of them had asked for a hot tub, he was going to have to take advantage of it, especially as they were definitely not going to be filmed while in their swimming trunks. And as expected they spend a good amount of time during the tour of the grounds messing around with the moving camera set up in various places around and inside the buildings. Thankfully the manual shut off timers were fairly intuitive.

The morning went by in a blur between fighting over sleeping locations, some truly terrible games of ping-pong, and making, then eating, lunch. Taehyung had secured a room in the upper house for the simple reason the upper house had the gaming computer he had requested. He was looking forward to tonight when he was definitely going to get further in the dungeon crawler game.

The afternoon was gorgeous. It was truly a beautiful summer day with sparse clouds and an occasional breeze. So Taehyung decided to steal Jimin for the afternoon's canoe expedition. But like lost puppies unsure what to do with so much free time, the rest of the guys joined them. He was surprised when even Yoongi joined. He enjoyed hanging out with him, but it was hard to get him away from his computer or out of bed outside of work. It ended up being Seokjin, Namjoon, and Yoongi, with Yoongi strategically in the middle to avoid having to row at all. Typical.

Hoseok paired up with Jungkook and Taehyung made sure he got Jimin. He didn't feel bad for Jungkook one bit, after all he's the one who had proposed going boating in the first place.

Drifting lazily down the river one could almost forget the pressures of the outside world. But out of the corner of his eye he could see the speedboats flanking them. Taehyung understood the vacation was being filmed to maintain their momentum and ARMY could probably use some carefree content given the chaos the pandemic around the world.

But Taehyung also, selfishly perhaps, wants some of that carefree too.He knew it didn't do to dwell on the times. Back before they were all so closely guarded that they could still sneak out for an evening. Back when he could walk from the bus stop back from school alone with his thoughts.

It was work to stay "on" all the time. Sure, they had more fun than most idol groups but it was a double-edged sword. Even as they laughed and jokes, there was always a level of censorship, a protective barrier the members all had up to stay safe. 

"Think of it as away to protect your heart from the outside world, so you'd always have enough of yourself left at the end of the day to come back to," Namjoon  had once described it. "Like a healthy relationship. You don't wanna do everything with your partner. You gotta have some things just for you." Namjoon was always trying to help even if Taehyung had the feeling even for him that was easier said than done. 

Taehyung's thoughts wandered as he looked out of the mostly calm river. Jimin playfully pinched his side.

"Tae-hyungie we have to bank a little to the right or we're going to run into them"

Jimin was right, Taehyung had been lost in thought there for a second. He corrected their path as he was in the head of the boat. Jimin turned the pinch into a friendly tickle. Taehyung smiled despite himself. Hoseok was yelling something at them from the far side of the little cluster of boats that was the group. Jimin laughed at whatever was being said. There had been some sort of disturbance ahead.

"Don't you even think of tipping us over too Jungkook!" Hoseok was saying. Taehyung looked in the direction of interest. A good ways away a canoe, a traditional wooden one just like they were using, had just tipped over. Namjoon who was still in the lead interrupted their joking,

"Hey. Shouldn't whoever it is have tried to tip it back over?"