Andromeda

V.

On Friday afternoon I packed an overnight bag that would last me several days. I had spent many hours over the week learning about the famous Bangtan Boys. By the fortieth video, I thought it was almost bizarre how much I already knew about the boys, considering how little they knew of me.

And no matter how much I looked, I couldn't find even one mention of Andromeda or a friend that even sounded vaguely like her. Considering how close she seemed to some of them, especially Jeongguk, that was both surprising and confusing. I also felt unprepared for meeting with them to go to her house. I was practically a stranger to her, and she to me. She was welcoming, but it was still odd. And the boys, who now I then knew just a bit more, were all still nearly perfect strangers. Despite how much about their current lives I knew at the time, there was still very little about their pasts that I knew. Case in point, there was never a mention of Andromeda.

Still, I was packing a bag. Because I wanted to learn more about these people. I wanted to spend more time with them. I wanted to learn more about a group of eight people that would spend hours in a grimy railway station for one of them to draw a picture while everyone around them rushed around, their eyes facing the dirt as they looked down at their phones.

When I got to the station, I saw Namjoon and Seokjin standing next to a wall. They had huge smiles on their faces as they spoke to each other. I figured they were "talking smack" as my brother used to call it, based on the way they were light-heartedly pushing and elbowing each other.

I threw my bag higher on my shoulder and walked toward them. I didn't think about what I was going to say until after I said it and wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of the statement.

"You guys lie a lot about how much English you can actually understand."

They looked at me with wide eyes.

"Not Namjoon, technically," Seokjin said.

"Technically, you're all still liars," I said, then looked at Namjoon. "What, did you lose a bet?"

He laughed, tugging on a lock of his purple hair. "Damn, you're good."

"That's one hell of a bet."

"You should have seen the other possible punishments," Seokjin said.

"Anyway," I said. "So you guys pretend you can't speak English, and you also don't talk about Andromeda. Ever. Why?"

Seokjin raised an eyebrow. "What do you think would happen if we announced to the general public that we spend a lot of time with a girl our age?"

Oh.

"I didn't think about that. Would it really be that bad?" I asked.

"Yes," they said simultaneously.

"There would probably be some sort of gang going out with swords or something like that to hunt her down," Namjoon said.

"Pitchforks," I said. "The saying is pitchforks. Farmers use them."

"Pitchforks," he repeated like he was testing out the new word.

Seeing that we were not going anywhere quickly, I sighed and adjusted my bag. "Alright then. Where are we going?"

"Do you have a cell phone?" Namjoon asked.

I stared at him incredulously. They did know I was an adult, right? "Obviously."

He didn't seem all too offended by my response. In fact, he looked rather amused. "Okay. Download a red light app so it doesn't mess with your eyes adjusting."

"What?"

Seokjin looked like he was already reaching the end of his patience with me. I wanted to ask him what his problem with me was, but I thought he might have actually answered and thought better of it. I did as was suggested on my phone and thought about how strange it made the colors.

"Why did I do that?" I asked them.

"We can only use red light. It's the only light that doesn't affect your eyes adjusting to the natural darkness."

"You guys do realize that the sun hasn't even gone down yet, right?"

They both scoffed. "It takes a long time for your eyes to adjust to the darkness," Seokjin said. "Trust us, by the time we get there, it will be dark enough that you'll want to have your eyes used to the dark."

By this point in time, I began thinking that something very odd was happening. "Why do you guys care so much about being able to see the stars?" I asked, perplexed. I knew there were people that enjoyed stargazing, but it seemed that they did this every day, or at least often to know these things.

They looked at each other. Namjoon looked back at me. "Andromeda is obsessed with it, and I guess we just found it really interesting."

"Why?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, avoiding my gaze. "Because it reminds us of equality. The same stars shine on everyone. Don't they?"

~