2 - unwind

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CHAPTER 2

UNWIND

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"It was awful," you groaned into your hands, burying your face in them and resting it on your knees. "I completely ruined it."

Mrs Kim cooed at you from the driver's seat, reaching her free hand over to rub your back a little. She had just picked you up from your interview, your suitcase ready and waiting in the back of her car, to drive you to Incheon for your flight.

Namjoon piped up from the backseat. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad," he offered.

"You're just saying that because you have a second interview!" you wailed. "It's not fair. The interviewer was obsessed with Charles Dickens. And I mean obsessed. Who the hell is obsessed with some crusty dusty white dude from England?!"

"Lots of people," Namjoon pointed out correctly, and you swung an arm back to pinch him on the knee. "Ouch, woman, really?"

"I'm not obsessed with Charles fricking Dickens," you glowered. "Which may have just cost me that job."

"Nonsense. We're both going to get the job. I can just feel it," Namjoon said confidently, leaning back and trying to spread out his long legs, which was a struggle in the back seat. It hit you then that he had deliberately sat back there to let you ride up front, despite being far too uncomfortable in the back. "But if you get it and I don't, I won't be mad, you know."

"I know," you sighed, taking a deep breath. "Neither will I. Anyway - no point worrying about it now, I guess. Thailand, here we come!"

"Have you called your eomma, dear?" Mrs. Kim said kindly now, her eyes on the road as she turned onto the highway. "Told her that you're leaving?"

"Mhm," you hummed non-committedly, staring out of the window, but Mrs. Kim didn't question it. Truthfully, you and her both knew that your own mother wouldn't care if you were moving to Thailand permanently. She was more interested in whether her facialist could adminster a higher grade of botox, or which of their many villas she and your father would be summering in this year.

When Mrs. Kim pulled into the drop-off zone, you clambered out of the car, a mess of suitcases and rucksacks and hugs and kisses goodbye, before you headed into the terminal. Even now you could feel the anxiety and stress of the interview begin to lift, dimmed by the prospect of spending two weeks on the beach doing nothing but party and sleep and repeat.

"Hey, there's Jimin," Namjoon pointed over to the check-in desk, at a blonde-haired boy who was waving back cheerfully with crescent-mooned eyes. As you waved back, you saw that he was with the rest of your friends who were joining you on the trip - Jungkook, Jin, Yoongi, and-

Oh crap.

You took a deep breath.

How did I forget Kim fucking Taehyung was coming on this trip?!

"What?" Namjoon was looking at you with genuine confusion. He knew you well enough to know something was wrong. "What's up?"

"Nothing," you mumbled, unable to take your eyes from Taehyung's laughing form as he chatted to Jungkook.

Namjoon, however, was not an idiot. He followed your gaze, and sighed heavily.

You'd had a crush on Taehyung since first year. He was part of your circle of friends, though you didn't know him well at all; he was a drama major, and only really part of your group through Jungkook, with whom he shared some classes. Your crush on him was entirely one-sided and ridiculously juvenile; you became a blushing schoolgirl around him, unable to do anything but giggle and stumble over your words.

Namjoon often joked that when you talked to Taehyung it was like you had halved your IQ, and that surely no good relationship would come from having to dumb yourself down for someone. You would roll your eyes and tell him that you weren't looking for a relationship, but some mouth-on-mouth action wouldn't be so bad every once in a while.

Namjoon was unimpressed with this response, to say the least.

"You're not gonna profess your undying love for him in Thailand or anything, are you?" Namjoon groaned, as you wheeled your cases over to meet the group. "Cause I don't want to have to watch that."

"What? No!" you hissed, already blushing at even the idea of it. "But, you know, I'm just saying, if we get a little tipsy, and hands start to go places..."

"Yah! Enough," Namjoon's face turned up in disgust. "Keep it in your pants, woman."

You giggled, feeling better already, as you reached the group. To your utter shock, it was Taehyung who turned to you first, flashing you a dazzling boxy smile.

"Hi," he murmured, in his deep voice that stirred the pit of your stomach. He eyed you with an interest you had never seen in his eyes before.

"Hi," you beamed back.

Maybe this trip will hold some unexpected surprises, you thought.

And, unfortunately, you were right.

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