"You are the laziest person I have ever met." Yoongi's voice was so quiet that I almost didn't hear him, having dozed off on the couch after only just barely gotten up. Sometimes I thought that he did it on purpose because then he didn't have to speak up to be heard but people had to come closer to him instead - a sign of true power. But then I'd remember how he didn't actually like anyone crowding his space so it was probably just that he didn't care whether I heard him or not.

He was wearing shorts and his running shoes and on top of that, he was carrying what looked like two plastic bags full of groceries. He had managed to have a productive day before I had even brushed my teeth.

"Yeah, but I am cute." I said with a smug smile and pushed my index fingers into my cheeks. Which only resulted in him scoffing as if unsure, me opening my mouth a little in protest and then Tae coming in behind Yoongi with another bag. "Actually... you kind of look like you smell right now. Go take a shower." Yoongi said while putting down the bags and didn't look at me anymore, he just started putting stuff into the fridge while Tae looked back and forth between the two of us. "That's not a very nice way to say good morning..." He murmured, shook his head and put down an amazingly huge cup of iced coffee in front of me that he had carried in his other hand, which made me get up and give him the biggest smile. He was an absolute angel and I probably didn't deserve any of it.

I knew I had made the right decision convincing Yoongi a couple of months back to pick Tae out of the people interested in the third room in our flat. Yoongi had been sceptical, mainly because Tae - a few years younger than us - had told us about the fact that he was studying architecture and then given us a seven-minute lecture on how much he loved wood. And while the sparkle in his eye when he spoke of something he was so passionate about had won me over in half that time, Yoongi had sat there and later asked me whether I thought Tae was trying to make it as an actor and this had been him preparing to portray absurd characters. Living with Tae was great. Much easier than living with Yoongi, who regularly told me that I was the most attention-seeking/loudest/annoying/insert rude thing here - but he was still around. After all those years. And I knew deep down he loved me. Pretty sure he had a soft spot for Tae as well, sometimes I would find them watching wildlife documentaries together at night after I got home. As different as they were... they were good at being quiet together. Something I then usually ruined.

"What is all that?" I asked, pointing at the pile of food. "Food." Yoongi murmured while Tae started grinning. "Yes, I can see that. Why though?" "You know why." "But I would like for you to say it out loud." I heard Yoongi sigh into the fridge. "Alright. It is your birthday tomorrow. And since I work from home and the little one only has afternoon classes and you took the day off... I thought we would make food. Nice food. Fancy food." He hated every word of it. Tae and I almost simultaneously let out a "Dawww". "Yeah yeah yeah..." Yoongi murmured and completely ignored us after that.

It was Sunday afternoon and even though Instagram kept me in the loop about how it was going at the gallery and I knew everyone there would be busy prepping for the opening, I wasn't mad to not be there. Normally I would have been, taking a proper vacation was about the only way to not work on Sundays if something like this was going on and since bougie vernissages were how you made potential buyers come and have a look, hopefully buying something on the spot... we had them all the time. This one I would sit out and it probably was for the best. For everyone.

When Sam called around dinner time I was tempted to just not pick up, but then changed my mind, but not without answering with a deep sigh. "Great. Something caught on fire?" "Not quite. But half of the catering team has a stomach bug." "Lovely." "Charlotte... please... I already called everyone, but I am still three people short and we start in an hour. Please. Pleaseplease."

So instead of getting drunk with my friends while turning another year older, a little later I was on my way back to work. Dressed all in black, hungry and annoyed. Sam had saved me too many times, I would have never ignored her plea, but that didn't mean I was happy about this. I was a little late but figured nobody could be actually mad about that given the circumstances. Chris still gave me a weird look when I got in, but he probably wasn't even aware that I wasn't supposed to be working today and just figured I was late. Great. Sam however gave me the biggest hug and then handed me a tray with champagne flutes on it.

The comments didn't bother me too much. Familiar faces talking about how that tray really suited me. How the art market must have been doing even worse than they thought if gallery staff was now handing out drinks. But I just smiled, cursed them in my head and drank two glasses of champagne myself as soon as I got to the kitchen to get more.

As far as I could tell the opening itself was going well. Namjoon's career was only just taking off and a few bigger local names were arriving. If he or rather we... or rather someone who wasn't apparently part of the catering team now... could sell one or two works tonight and make them part of well-known collections, the rest would sell itself over the coming weeks. At this point it was less about money (even though it really was always about money) but more about building a reputation. So definitely an important night for both gallery and artist. I could see how Namjoon was trying to play it cool, but even he - stone-faced as always - seemed to fidget with his hands a bit more than he usually did. Usually, they were buried deep inside the pockets of his coat. No idea why I had noticed that.

"Got a promotion?" he asked when I finally made my way towards him after leaving him hanging dry for a good while. "Got a huge stain on your shirt?" I replied. Opening his eyes wide he looked down, to where there was of course no stain and I could have sworn there was a twitch in the corners of his mouths, almost as if he had been about to smile when he looked back up, at me. But more of an "You are an absolute idiot."-smile than anything else. Without another word, he took a glass from my tray and took a sip, seemed to debate with himself whether to just walk off again or not. But something seemed to bug him.

"No, but seriously. Weren't you supposed to be on vacation?" Ha. At least someone seemed to remember that. I shrugged. As if it wasn't a big deal. Which it wasn't...but kind of was of course. I didn't quite know what to answer because I was a little confused that he of all people had remembered and thought about that. So what came out of my mouth was among other things random. A little dumb. And most of all rather odd.

"Why... if I can serve drinks to you M'Lord."

I don't know. At least I kept myself from curtsying. I guess I wanted to sarcastically imply that I could imagine nothing better than serve him drinks of all people, but my choice of words... man...

Namjoon just raised an eyebrow after almost choking on his champagne, cleared his throat and then shook his head. "So...sooo weird..." "Well, as you put it the other day: I am just a gallery employee. So what do you expect."

That didn't make much sense because when it came down to it we were salespeople and those usually were anything but weird by definition. The worst kind was just boring, the best kind was interesting and made you feel interesting as well. But his words - not even meant for me at the time- had stuck and well... not everyone could be an artist with a degree from a fancy university. Instead of saying anything he just finished his glass, put it back down on my tray, grabbed another one and just walked off. I nodded. And then kept walking as well.

Nights like this one were weird in that contrary to popular belief they didn't last as long as one would think. Well. At least the "important" guests left before midnight and at some point the alcohol was just left out for the remaining guests - a mix of regulars, friends and fans - to serve themselves. I had changed into another dress and noticed that it was ten past midnight when I finally got a chance to check my phone. Happy Birthday to me.

Just that second my phone started buzzing, it was Tae. And he was singing and it was very sweet. I told him as much. "You look very pretty. That is a nice dress." he said and I must have looked pretty confused, looking around and finally spotting him on the other side of the huge gallery windows. In the dark, he was only visible because he was waving like mad. Right next to him - to my surprise - Yoongi, barely raising his hand to greet me. "What the hell are you doing here?" "Coming by to wish you a happy birthday!" "Well then come inside..."

Not sure how but the connection was so bad all of a sudden that I put him on speakerphone in the hopes to hear him better, still had to push the phone to my ear. I could barely make out a "Nah, don't want to get you in trouble." I was about to explain to him that it was fine, that they could at least come inside and have a drink when Tae's mouth suddenly formed a big O. "Wow. Is that the grumpy artist behind you? Jesus. He really looks like a bit of a dick. And you are right. He really is hot..."

My eyes got bigger and bigger, then I turned around. Namjoon was standing behind me and was staring at me as well. Then at my phone. He let out a little laugh, then raised his hand to wave at my two friends who now were also staring as if frozen, before turning around in unison. As if that would help. As if he couldn't see them. Or better even... couldn't hear them.

And then - on top of all that - Sam appeared right next to us, a makeshift birthday cake in hand which was really only a tealight on top of a lemon tart from the catering table, stepping towards me and humming Happy Birthday. Behind her a few colleagues I was friends with and even Chris smiling in the distance. I tried to smile as well, eventually blew out the candle and thanked them, hoping that they thought I was blushing hard because of the surprise. Not the fact my stupid friend had accidentally told fucking Kim Namjoon that I thought he was hot.

People congratulated me and I knew he was still standing next to the group, even though I didn't look. I thought I could maybe sneak out soon to beat up Tae in a dark alleyway or drown myself in a puddle, when he suddenly was next to me, leaning down and whispering - I could hear him grinning - "Well. Happy Birthday."