Home | Kim Namjoon

One

Namjoon's eyes fluttered open; he could sense the misty filtered predawn light pushing against the curtains of his darkened hotel room. He took a deep breath and tried to remember which city he was in right now...and what day it was. His band, BTS, was six weeks into a world tour and every few days he was in a new hotel, in a new city, singing in a new venue.

He became aware of soft, steady breathing coming from the other side of the room. The only constant in his life right now was the sound of this breathing in the mornings. Talia was the group's new interpreter. She'd been hired on for this tour one month before they'd left, with the possibility of a permanent position, if things worked out well.

Talia was fluent in several languages and, besides interpreting for the group, she was also tutoring Namjoon in Spanish and French. Wanting them to have plenty of time for studying, Bang PD had asked them if they could behave professionally if he put them in the same hotel rooms. Of course, they'd said it would be no problem.

Namjoon rolled over and looked across the room. Talia must have been hot in the night and had kicked her covers off. Her red tank top was pushed up, exposing the length of her back. Namjoon couldn't take his eyes off the curve of her hip and the generous swell of her behind. The tiny sport shorts she wore did little to cover her.

He felt a familiar tightening in his lower region and softly groaned. This was becoming a problem. Namjoon rolled over onto his back to try to go back to sleep, but thoughts of her kept crowding his mind.

He went back in his memories to the day he met her, remembering his shock when she walked through the door into Mr. Bang's office. For some reason, Namjoon had been expecting a man, an older man, someone who looked like a scholar. He had been told the new interpreter was fluent in eight different languages--English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, and, of course, Korean.

He couldn't wrap his head around the fact that this girl had the time in her young life to learn so many languages fluently. And she definitely did not look like a scholar. She was sleek and sexy; not the cutesy type the other guys usually fell for. She confidently walked into the meeting, seemingly not even nervous for her first official in-person meeting with Bang PD-nim.

After introducing the two of them and finalizing plans for the language lessons, Mr. Bang sent them to lunch to get to know one another better. Before they left, Mr. Bang asked Namjoon to stay for a quick talk.

He said, "She's something else, huh? I think she'll work out ok, don't you?"

"Yes, sir. She sounds like she knows her stuff," answered Namjoon.

"Smart as a whip, too! You two should have some interesting conversations. I think you'll get along very well," predicted Mr. Bang.

Nodding his head, Namjoon answered, "We'll get along just fine, I'm sure."

"She's pretty too."

Namjoon's eyebrows popped up at the unexpected comment, "Um, that's probably not something that will necessarily make her better at her job, but...yes, she's very pretty."

Mr. Bang smiled, looking very satisfied with himself. Namjoon could see the wheels turning in Bang PD's head and wondered, what is he up to?

"Ok, I just wanted to see what you thought of her. I was very excited to find someone so well qualified and professional."

Namjoon agreed, "As you should be, sir. I think she'll work out very well."

"Go on now; get to know each other. When you're ready, introduce her to the others. I want you all to get along well; she'll be traveling with you from now on, if everything goes the way I think it will," said Mr. Bang, crossing his fingers.

Namjoon and Talia decided to go to an outdoor cafe to take advantage of the fine spring weather. They took their time getting to know one another over Korean fried chicken and sodas. Namjoon told her how he learned English from the 'Friends' videos he had watched over and over as a child. He then asked how she had learned so many languages by such a young age.

While fumbling with her chopsticks, Talia explained, "Well, it's obvious I didn't grow up in Korea. English is my first language. When I was five years old, a Korean family moved in next door. They had two kids my age and we became the best of friends. They are, in fact, the only friends I've hung on to. They only spoke Korean at home and I was at their house so often, I just picked it up naturally. It wasn't long before their mother started teaching me to read and write Hangul. Tsk, I'm never going to figure these things out! I used to be able to do this!

"Anyway, after that, I became passionate about languages. Much like you with your videos, I learned both Spanish and Portuguese while watching telenovelas. I took every language class the schools would let me take and I filled in the rest myself with tutors. Languages I'm good at, chopsticks not so much," she laughed.

Grinning, Namjoon reached across the table to show her the proper way to hold the chopsticks. The warmth of his gentle hands on hers made her heart flutter unexpectedly. Slowly, she pulled her hand away from his, "Thank you. I- I think I've got it now."

Namjoon smiled and his dimples popped, "I'm sure after a bit of practice, it will come back to you. Did you always have a professional goal in mind?"

"I did. Originally, I wanted to be an interpreter at the U.N. building in New York, but as I got older I realized I didn't want to be that tied down to one place. I wanted to travel; I wanted to see the world.

"I asked myself what I could do that would combine languages and travel, and one day it just hit me...bands! They travel all over the world, as you know, and generally only know their native language; maybe they would need interpreters. So I put out feelers and almost immediately was hired for a world tour. My parents were shocked anyone would hire me at all, let alone for something that big. I was only eighteen years old. I've worked consistently ever since."

Talia continued, "One of the stops on that first world tour I did was in Seoul. I immediately fell in love with South Korea and I've been trying to get back here ever since."

"Wow! How old are you now?" Namjoon asked.

"I'm twenty-three."

"Did you go to university?"

Talia answered, "By that time, I was already traveling for my job, so I've not technically gone to university, but I've been taking classes online."

"That's what most of us have done too. It's almost impossible to commit to actual classes with the  amount of time we spend traveling in a year," Namjoon told her.

They had so much in common and she was so easy to talk to that Namjoon sat outside the cafe talking to her for four hours that day.