Make It Right / V KTH / Suga MYG / BTS Completed

The Gallery

Taehyung and I walk the three blocks to the gallery where my photographs are on exhibit along with several other photographers. He's comfortable walking these streets, no one pays attention to anyone over in this area of the city and he can feel free to look in shop windows and stop to admire murals along the way. 

It's nice to have this time alone with Taehyung. I have been trying to identify if anything in his behavior has changed since he insisted that it be just us to go to the gallery but he seems just as happy and excited to be here and to be with me. He walks down the street, head held high, holding my hand. He moves along quickly almost floating, lighter than air.

Yoongi told us he was going record shopping nearby and although I worried he wouldn't be able to communicate, I remembered that he travels the globe without necessarily having someone to translate and that he is in fact older than me and can take care of himself. He told us he would meet up with us later and I gave him directions to my local pub. 

Tae browses in a market stall and tries on a scarf. He turns to me, "What do you think?"

I smile, "You look amazing." I honestly believe he looks amazing in anything, even my ugly yellow sweater which he is now proudly wearing under his wool jacket. He puts a hat on to complete the look, and hands some money to the vendor.  As we round the corner of the market, the gallery is facing us, gleaming white facade among the tan stone and red brick shops around it. He turns to me and smiles.

"It looks fancy." His eyes light up. I laugh.

"You didn't think the one on the West End was fancy?" I open the door to allow him to come inside.

"I didn't pay attention. I didn't think much about it at all I just saw one of your photographs from the window and I dragged everyone inside to see what else was there.

We step in closing the door. It's quiet and our voices grow softer.  "Who was with you?"

"Namjoon and Suga. Jimin was there but he came in after he bought a pair of shoes." I smile at the assistant who has stepped out from the back and he nods recognizing me, and backs away from us.  Taehyung stops in front of a mid shot picture of Skepta in contrasty black and white, looking at the camera and holding his hand up to his collar. "That's the one I saw first. I think I noticed the Gucci." He points to where Skepta is holding a Gucci scarf.

"Oh, is it the Gucci that appealed to you?" I ask, wondering if he gets the point of the image.

"It's that I know he's rejecting all of that, like in his song. I, I wear a lot of Gucci, and I guess where I am from you can easily get caught up in labels meaning something, but I see why he's saying it's going in the bin. Because it's a mask, and it's not real." He refers to one of his older songs, and I realize he does understand the image.

"Where he's from you can get caught up in the labels too. He's from just north of here, and he had nothing, his parents were immigrants from Nigeria.  Did you have money growing up?" I ask as we step to look at another picture.

"Not really. We didn't have money to have really nice things, but I had what I needed most." He looks at me and smiles. "What about you? How did you manage to come to London so much when you were still in High School?"

"I was determined," I laugh. "And my parents were gone a lot. Sometimes I feel like I raised myself. It's probably why I don't mind being alone now."

"Oh I hate that!" he says and I realize that he is probably never alone. "I feel lost without everyone around me. I don't know if I could be happy without my brothers." he says without turning his eyes from the photograph in front of him. I watch him quietly, and I know that it's true. My mind thinks back to Yoongi, and their connection.  I feel a little sad, but I try to hide it from Tae by turning to another artists' work in the gallery.