Stay With Us

I woke up the next morning about six. I grabbed some clothes to wear then went into one of the bathrooms to shower. I tried being quiet so I didn’t wake up any of the boys. I showered quickly so I wouldn’t waist any hot water. I blow dried my hair before fixing my makeup. I put my things back into my bedroom then walked into the kitchen to see Jin standing there cooking.

“Smells good.” I say walking over to find out what it was.

“Thanks. It’s potato cakes and sausage.” He says handing me a plate before putting food on it. “There is coffee in the pot if you want any.”

“That’s ok. I’m more of a tea person.” I say walking over to grab a mug to fix my tea.

“Sorry about last night. I went into mom mode when you guys weren’t calling or texting us back.” He says sitting across from me with his own plate.

“Oh no! I completely understand. I should have been checking mine.” I say taking a bite of food. “This is so good!” I say shoveling it in.

“I’m glad you like it.” He says laughing at my enthusiasm. “So what are your plans for today?”

“Tae mentioned last night that I could go to the studio today so that’s the plan as of now.” I then see him walk in. “Morning Tae.” He comes over flopping himself on my shoulders playfully pretending to fall asleep. “Hungry?” I asked him offering a bite of my food.

He looks up at what I have then looks at Jin. “Potato cakes again?” He asked in a disapproving tone.

“I think they’re good.” I say taking the bite.

“They are good but we have these all the time.” He says walking over to get a plate.

“If you object my cooking feel free to make your own food!” Jin says walking over to clean his plate.

“When are we going to the studio?” I asked Tae trying to change the subject.

“I have to leave here by 8:00. So are you ready to head out in about thirty minutes?”

“Yeah I’m good.” I take my plate to the sink cleaning it. “I’m gonna go put on shoes.” I walk down the hall to my room seeing my door was open. I walk in seeing a bag sitting on my bed. I sit down opening the bag and then gasping. I pull out my bunny I had lost thirteen years ago. “Why would he have this?” I ask myself out loud.

“Why would who have what?” I hear Tae ask from the door way.

I turn around looking at him. “Nothing.” I say smiling. I put the bunny back into the bag then put on my flip flops. “Ready?” I ask him walking out my door.

We got to the studio at 8:30. Tae started introducing me to everyone. Managers, secretaries, back up dancers, everyone. I watched him practicing the choreography for a few minutes to familiarize myself then started dancing with him. After an hour the rest of the boys walked in.

“V, you ready to record yet?” Rap Mon asked him.

“Yeah. Maranda, you good in here?”

“Yeah! Go do your thing. I’m gonna do mine.” I say walking over to the IPod to change songs.
I decided to just go to his BTS playlist and put it on shuffle. I was dancing their choreography for Fire when I hear the door open. I figured it was Tae so I just kept dancing.

“That looks really good.” I hear Jimin say once the song was over.

I turn around seeing him. “Thanks. You guys sure do move fast.” I say walking over to turn of the music. I waited to see if he was going to bring up the bunny or not.

“Where did you learn to dance?”

“I took classes back in America and then took a few summer ones when I would come here.” I noticed he was trying to avoid eye contact with me.

“That’s cool.” He says rubbing the back of his neck.

“Jimin are you ok?” I ask him seeing how nervous he is.

“Yeah!” He squeaks out. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re just acting different from yesterday.” I say flipping through songs.

“Oh sorry.” He then tries to change the subject. “Want to try No More Dream? That one is fun.”

“Sure!” I say flipping to it. “Show me first?”

We continued dancing in the practice room for another couple of hours till we were both out of breath. I lay down on the floor trying to cool off. Jimin lied next to me breathing heavily as well. I was pretty sure we just went through half of their songs.

I looked over at him after a few moments. “Thank you.”

“No problem. It’s fun to dance with other people.”

“No.” I say turning to lay on my side. “Thank you for my bunny.” He doesn’t say anything before turning his head away. “Jimin I know it was you. Tae would have given it back years ago if he had it.”

I see him start to blush and put his hand on his face. “I was gonna tell you but I wanted to make sure it looked like the one you talked about. Then I didn’t know how to give it to you thinking I would creep you out or something.”

“Well I’m glad you did.” I say smiling at him. “Why did you have it after all these years?”

“I found it at my parent’s café and thought it was cute. I actually carried that thing around myself for a few years. It got to where it reminded me of home so I just kept it with me. It was sitting in the trunk in my room at the dorm.”

“It’s really sweet of you to return it to me.” I say smiling at him. “You’re a really good friend.” I say rolling back onto my back. I hear my phone buzz. I read the message from Tae saying he is going to be a few more hours and that I could go home if I wanted to. “Well sounds like Tae is going to take forever.” I say to Jimin.

“Wanna go to the cafeteria then?” He says getting up. “Their food’s good.”

“Sure! I’m starving.” I follow him to the cafeteria which looked more like a buffet line. Jimin handed me a try getting in line.

“Ok so you just ask for the stuff you want and they will put it on your tray.” He says gesturing to the employees. “Some of the stuff is covered so it stays warm so just ask what it is.”

“Ok. Sounds easy enough.” We get through the line. Jimin piled everything he could onto his tray. I ended up with dumplings, rice, and some kind of soup that smelled amazing. I then realize there is a woman taking money at the end of the line and start to get out my wallet.

“Put your wallet away.” I hear Jimin say in front of me.

“Excuse me! But I owe you food. Remember? You bought dinner last night which I know wasn’t cheap.”

“Maranda. It’s fine.” He says laughing. “As long as I am your escort you don’t need to buy food.” He then looks down at my pathetic tray contents. “Besides. You hardly got anything.” He says laughing.

“I’m telling Tae.” I say looking away from him.

“Tell V! He will just thank me for taking care of you.” He says laughing.

I look up glaring at him. “I don’t want you to think I am something to take care of. I know I am young and I didn’t grow up here like you guys did. But I can take care of myself.”

Jimin’s POV

I look down shocked from her scolding. Her face still hadn’t changed. “Maranda, I. I didn’t mean.” I could no longer get any words out.

“I know that isn’t how you meant it but that’s how it sounds.” She says to me with the same anger.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like you couldn’t do anything. I just meant that if I invite you somewhere or suggest something then you don’t have to pay for it. I don’t want you wasting your money if it was my idea to begin with.”

Her face begins to soften. “Well I don’t want you wasting your money on me. You work hard for that. The last thing I want to do is take advantage of you. Any of you guys for that matter Tae included.” She breathes in sharply. “Now let me repay you for last night and buy this.”

I put my head back realizing she is just going to get angry again if I don’t let her. “Fine. But don’t get used to paying.” I say sternly to her this time.

She gets a smile on her face and walks over to the lady at the register. She pays for both of us and we go find a seat. We had just started eating when the rest of the guys walked in. V walks over to us after getting his food.

“Hey! I’m surprised you didn’t go home.” He says sitting by Maranda.

“Jimin mentioned food and I wasn’t turning that down.” She says laughing. “We had been dancing and I was starving.”

After everyone was done eating the rest of the guys had to go back to record. I was already done with my parts so I walked Maranda home.

“I’m sorry for my outburst.” She says while we were sitting on the bus. “You were just trying to be nice.”

“It’s ok. I insulted you. I won’t let it happen again.”

“Me too.” She goes back to looking out the window.

I went to my room when we got back to the house. I can’t believe I said something that stupid to her. She had every right to be upset with me. V was right though damn could she dance. Fire was nothing to her and even I have problems with it at times. I picked up my phone calling my choreographer.

“Hello?”

“Hey. Any news yet on if there are any spots available?” I asks laying on my bed.

“Yes! I was actually about to call you. One of the backup dancers left suddenly and we need a replacement. Can she come in Monday with you?”

“Yes she will be there!” I say excitedly on the phone. I hang up and run to Maranda’s room. I knock on the door waiting for her to let me in. Nothing. I knock again a little louder. Still nothing. “Maranda! It’s Jimin. Open up! I have good news.”

I decide to just go in to see if she is in there. I slowly open the door seeing her asleep in bed with her head phones in her ears and snuggled up to the bunny. I couldn’t bring myself to wake her up knowing she had a busy day. She looked so peaceful laying there. I was curious as to what she was listening to though. I walked over picking her IPod up off the floor. I turned on the screen. Aww she was listening to us. Wait. The song is on repeat. And it was my song Lie.

Notes