The One I Should Love

Chapter 9 | 슈가

She looked out at the dark streets through the window as the phone rang in her ear, the street lights illuminating her face then swallowing it back into shadows as they passed. After a few moments, the line connected with a soft rustle and a voice came through.

"Hello?"

"Hi Namjoon-ssi. If it's a good time, I wanted to visit for a few minutes. Are you home?" Hana hoped they were, because she had already got on a bus impulsively. 

"Hana-ssi! Of course you can visit," Namjoon said warmly. In the background, she could suddenly pick out a few other voices, and sounds of rushing around. "Ah, how far away are you?"

"Around 15 minutes."

"15, okay, see you soon!" 

Hana laughed as he hung up. He had clearly announced her imminent arrival to his dorm mates; he didn't have a talent for subtlety. It didn't matter to her how tidy the dorm was, but it sounded like she had caught them at a bad time. 

A short while later, she took the stairs up to their dorm and knocked on the door. It was pulled open a few seconds later by Jimin. 

"Hana-ssi!" he greeted, but his tone held surprise. 

"Hi Jimin-ah. You're expecting me, right?" Hana laughed when he just stood there. She could hear muffled noises from the room behind him, but she couldn't make out what they were from.  

"Yeah! Yeah we were, come in," he said, moving out of the doorway and gesturing her in. 

"Is everyone here?" 

"Ah yeah, we're all home. We were just rearranging some furniture," he explained, smiling sweetly as the sounds stopped behind them. He poked his head around the corner and raised his voice, "Manager is here!" 

Suddenly, she was surrounded by several of the members welcoming her, and someone pulled her into the living area, which was suspiciously tidy. 

She sat down on the couch next to Yoongi, who looked like he hadn't moved in a while and nodded at her in greeting. 

"Sorry to show up on such short notice," Hana said. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

Hoseok sat down on her other side, patting her knee with a bright smile, "You're always welcome, Hana-ssi."

The other members had sprawled out around them, the maknae line gathered around the coffee table in the centre of the space and Seokjin on the other lounge chair. Namjoon rested against the cushions in front of him. 

"Oh!" Namjoon said then, looking at her suddenly as if he'd just noticed, "Hana-ssi, you look so young without makeup!" 

Shit. 

She had completely forgotten that she'd washed off her makeup in the shower after the music show. She had meant to go straight home, but in her excitement to share the news she had decided to tell the group tonight instead of waiting until they were back at the agency. 

It was bad enough that Seokjin had already seen her like this once before, but he was nice enough to keep her real age to himself. The other members and most of the agency thought she was older and she preferred it that way. 

Though she was working legally, she wasn't of age yet and it could make things awkward at work, especially if she did get any extra managerial duties in future. In comparison, it was easier to accept the societal judgement of being in her position without going to university, but it helped that the company was still small so there wasn't much competition.