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Sanduni was coming to see me.  We had met on Weverse and become instant friends through Twitter.  We’d spent hours chatting.  I knew how very much she loved Jimin and hoped to one day meet him.  We had no idea how soon her dream would come true.

She planned to meet me in Chicago for the BTS concert in the autumn of 2020.  I prepared for that encounter with joy.  I bought us both a ticket to their performance.  I traveled the necessary distance and checked into my hotel room before heading to the airport to pick her up.  She had come a long way to see me and Jimin.  All the way from Sri Lanka.

This was the first time we were meeting each other.  I parked my car before entering the airport.  I headed towards the arrivals area.  I had given her my description, and I knew hers.  I kept an eye out for her.  Her flight was on time.  I would be meeting my precious friend at any moment.  

I scanned the airport for her.  Then I found her.  I saw approaching me a beautiful girl with long, dark brown hair that flowed all the way to her hips.  She had great, chocolate eyes in a pretty face.  She had beautifully tanned skin.  She was my first Sinhalese friend and a true treasure.  She was about my height, perhaps a little shorter, about five feet, four inches tall.  But she was tiny, quite slender.  A perfect match for Jimin, I thought to myself privately.  A good height for him too.  He’d outstrip her by four inches.

“Sanduni!” I called to her, and her face lit up in a big smile as she hurried towards me, dragging her suitcase behind her, its wheels making a clickety-clackety racket as they slapped along the floor.

“Grace!” she shouted.

I grinned.  It was so good to see her!  How amazing that I could find such a sweet friend an ocean away over the Internet!

“Did you have a good flight?”

“I had a long flight!” she responded with a weary smile.

I grabbed the handle of her suitcase as I offered, “Here.  Let me take this.  Let’s get you back to the hotel for a rest before tomorrow night’s concert.”

We headed for the hotel, making small talk in the car on the way.  I could tell she was exhausted, so I left her to nap while I planned to investigate our hotel.  To my shock I heard several familiar voices in the hallway as I closed the door to our room.

“Jimin!  Are you really going to dye your hair like a rainbow for tomorrow night’s concert?” That was Tae’s deep voice.  I would recognize it anywhere.

“Hoping to make the ARMYs happy, huh?”  But that was the soft voice that stopped my heart.  That was the voice that had reached all the way around the world to touch me.  It belonged to Jungkook.  

I leaned back against the door to steady myself and briefly closed my eyes before turning to look at the beautiful boy and his friends.  All beautiful boys.  The maknae line of BTS.  In my hotel!  On my floor!

I spared a thought for my friend sleeping on the other side of the door at my back as I watched the boys walk to the room directly across the hallway from me.  Jungkook slid his hotel keycard into the card reader before swinging the door open.  “You’d better get started if you’re going to be done before dinner,” he spoke softly to Jimin.

I watched as Jimin and Tae entered the room before Jungkook turned towards me.  I stopped breathing.  The door shut behind him as his eyes locked with mine.  Then he smiled the sweetest smile at me, and my heart, which a moment before had stopped, began to gallop a hundred miles an hour.  I tried to calm it.  To no avail.

“Hello,” came his quiet voice.

Then I watched in shock as he crossed the hallway and came to stand directly in front of me.

“Can you do me a favor?”

Anything.

“Can you please not tell anyone that we’re staying in the room across from you?”

Anything but that!  Not tell Sanduni?

I took a deep breath.  “I can’t.”

“What?” He furrowed his brow, surprise clearly written on his face.

I watched as he tilted his head and those lovely raven locks fell into his eye.  I didn’t even try to resist the urge to reach up and push them back.  As my hand brushed his hair, he leaned backwards.  Embarrassed, I tore my hand away from his forehead. 

“Sorry!  It was a reflex.  So sorry!  I shouldn’t have touched you without your permission!” I took a deep breath, suddenly mortified, but somehow, I still managed to meet his eyes.  “To answer your question, if you knew such a secret, could you keep it from your best friend who had just traveled halfway around the world in the hope of meeting Jimin?”

His eyes enlightened, Jungkook responded in his soft voice, “Could you keep it a secret if I promised to bring Jimin over to meet her before we leave town?”  

My eyes growing wide, I nodded my head vigorously.  “Of course!  I don’t want you stampeded by ARMYs or media.”

He smiled.  “How did you even get a room on this floor?”  

I was busy being mesmerized by those dark pools staring back at me.  He was even more handsome in person than in his photographs.    And I could sense the depths of his sweet spirit, the one that had always called out to me from behind the screen.  I could feel the force of that beautiful personality.  

“I thought we rented the entire level,” he commented, clearly stumped.

I shrugged. “I just went where the hotel clerk told me to go.”

Jungkook grinned, his chubby teeth shining down on me.  “Must be serendipity.”

I laughed at his joke.  “I love you,” I responded.

His left eyebrow flew towards his hairline.  I could tell that he didn’t know what to say.  “What I mean is: I love your compassionate heart.  I’ve always believed that if we knew each other, you’d be one of my best friends.”

His face softened into a sweet smile again.

“Of course, at this point you probably think I’m nuts,” I blurted out, very disappointed in myself.  One chance to make a good first impression, and I had totally blown it.

He quirked a dark eyebrow.  “No.  Why?”

“Well, for starters, I tried to push your hair out of your eyes – doesn’t it drive you nuts? – and then I confessed my love for you.”

“Not to mention refusing to keep my secret.  What kind of a friend are you?” he whispered sternly, but the twinkle in his eyes belied him, as did the smile that chased the frown from his lips a moment later.  He was teasing me.  I always knew Kookie was a sweetheart.

I smiled crookedly at him.  “I guess I’m the kind of friend that wants to protect your eyes from being stabbed by your hair.  And the kind that wants to make sure you feel loved.  And the kind that wouldn’t betray another friend for you – I mean, that shows I’m faithful to all my friends, right?  And…I would be your friend forever.  One you could confide in and trust with your heart.”  As I looked at him, I wondered if the depths of my heart were shining in my eyes.  Could he see all the times that I had cried over his personal pain and worried myself over his welfare?  I sighed.  Probably not.  It didn’t make any sense anyway.  Caring this much for someone I had never met before.  Just a face on a screen and an angelic voice in my ear.

“So, if I revealed my heart to you,” he leaned down towards me, closing the distance between us as he put his hand against the door right next to my left ear, “you wouldn’t tell a single soul?”

I nodded, staring at him wide-eyed.  I couldn’t breathe again.  Where did all the air in this hotel go?  I gazed into those ebony orbs.  Had Jungkook inhaled it all?  He didn’t seem to be having any trouble breathing.  Not at all.

“Not even your best friend?”  That twinkle was back in his eyes.  

I watched the smile dancing about his lips before replying, “Your heart is safe with me.  So is Jimin’s location.”  Then I boldly met his eyes as I responded, “As long as you keep your word.”

He grinned, and the sun seemed to break forth from his mouth.  “You drive a hard bargain, you know that?”

“I believe you’re trustworthy,” I tried to placate him.

He leaned closer to me.  “Do you really?”

Just then I thought of his friend, the tattoo artist – the one he’d taken to dinner – and the CCTV cameras, and I became nervous.  What if some ARMY got a hold of this video?  What if they got the wrong idea again?  What if they believed Jungkook was flirting with me?  It was absurd, but the thought made me nervous.  Kookie could feel the tension in me.

“What?  What’s wrong?”  He stood straight up and looked up and down the hallway.

“Are we on camera?  Is someone going to see us and get the wrong idea?”

“What idea?” He raised an eyebrow as he turned back towards me.

“That you like me,” I mumbled.

His beautiful face split into that gorgeous grin again.  “I do like you.”  There was a sweet lilt to his soft voice as his eyes penetrated my own.

Fears forgotten, I locked eyes with him again as my heart melted into a puddle all over the floor.  

“How could I not like the girl who confessed her love for me so calmly only thirty seconds into our first conversation?”

“Be careful,” I warned.

“What?”

“If you talk to very many girls like this, you’re going to leave a string of broken hearts behind you everywhere you go.”  Then his final words came back to me.  “Our first conversation?  Are you implying there will be another?”

He raised his dark eyebrows and smiled mysteriously.  “Oh, I think this is just the beginning of many.”

Could it be?  Did Jungkook really like me?  Or was he just playing with me?  This whole conversation was absurd.  Maybe I was still asleep and actually dreaming.  Yes!  That would explain it!

“I’m dreaming, aren’t I?” I smiled at him.

“What?  No.  I’m really here.  Talking to you.”  His face had grown serious again.

“How do you do that?” I asked, still fascinated.

“Do what?”

“Look so different.  Depending on whether you are serious, smiling, or grinning.  When you show your teeth, you look like a whole different person.  Your grin transforms your entire face.”

Looking at me quizzically, he asked, “Is that good or bad?”

“All your faces are beautiful.”  The words came out before I could stop them.  Really?!  What was wrong with me?  I could feel myself turning bright red.

Jungkook laughed.  “Thank you.  I think all your faces are beautiful too.  Especially this one.  You look like a red rose.”

I wanted to bury my burning cheeks in my hands.  Or run and hide.  But then I wouldn’t get to enjoy Kookie’s lovely eyes or smile.  And if you think they’re gorgeous on a screen, you should see them in person!

So, flaming cheeks notwithstanding, I raised my eyes to his own again, inwardly sighing as he grinned at me once more.  “That’s my favorite face,” I whispered.

“When I smile?”

“When you grin.”  Then I smiled sweetly at him.

He stood just staring down at me for several moments.  

The door behind him opened.  “Jungkookie?  Ah, we need your help.”  It was Tae.  

Inwardly, I sighed in disappointment this time.  Then I was surprised as I heard Jungkook let out an audible sigh.  

“I’m sorry.  I’ve got to go.”

“Ok,” I whispered.  “If you need anything, I’ll be right here.”

His lips quirked upward.  “Right here,” he pointed down at the floor in front of my hotel room.  “You’re going to wait right here for me?”

I shrugged, deciding to tease him now.  “Sure, why not?  It’s not like I have anything better to do.  My friend is sleeping off her jet lag.”

“Ahhhhh.”  He tilted his head back and glanced down his nose at me.  “Want to help us dye Jimin’s hair?”

I began to laugh.  “You just asked the last person on the planet with any expertise in that department.  But I’m a willing pupil if you want to teach me.  Though, if you want to keep yourselves a secret, is it a good idea to invite me into your hotel room?”  Then I wondered about the cameras again.

He read my mind.  “Give me a minute.”  He entered his room and disappeared for a few moments.  When he returned, he reassured me, “It’s all right.  I had them disable the cameras on our floor.”

“And burn the last ten minutes of video, I hope.  What on earth will they think if you’re out here talking to me for five minutes, and then the video suddenly ends, and we disappear.  Having video evidence of no wrongdoing might be better than leaving it up to people’s imaginations.”

“Nah.  The last thing they saw was me leaving you to head to my room.  Alone.”

I sighed.  I guessed I couldn’t do anything about it now anyway. 

“All right.  Lead the way.”

I followed him into his hotel room.  Unprepared for what I was about to find.