**Longest chapter yet, lots needed to be said!**

Chapter 10

Marley POV

Room 1401 was a hum of motion as we opened the door onto a small hallway which opened up into a suite, a lot of people and a lot of noise. They all looked up as Tae called out a "hey everyone," as we walked in, startling me with his considerable volume. "This is Marley, Marley this is everyone." There was a mixture of sound as people called out hello, annyeonghaseyo, nice to meet you, many of them bowing as they spoke.

I waved out a greeting, feeling self conscious as I cleared my throat before replying. "Hi, nice to meet you all." There were lots of smiles in returns, a few confused faces at our linked fingers and maybe a frown or two flitted across a few faces which I tried to brush off as my imagination. As I looked around, members were sitting in various places, staff tending to their makeups and clothes and Tae led us over to where a chair was waiting for him.

"The interview is in the room next door, you can watch behind the cameras if you want?" he said, sitting down into the chair and I nodded, leaned against the wall nearby, trying to keep out of everyone's way.

A makeup staff came over, bowing to the both of us before she began to transform Tae into the working V. The way her hands ran across his cheeks when she was applying product stirred a little jealousy in me and I turned away slightly so I didn't have to watch it, reminding myself that he didn't belong to me so I didn't have the right to feel that way. It didn't change anything though, my brow furrowing slightly when I realised I wanted to replace her hands with mine.

Distraction in the form of people watching came into play as I attempted to ignore the pangs I was feeling. The room was chaos, the seven members, makeup staff, stylists, managers, someone setting out food. At least 20 people in a small space and no-one seemed to be blinking at the noise level, most of the members having headphones in their ears, Suga even nodding off in his chair. To me, it was overwhelming, the only other person who looked somewhat familiar being Mr Muscles who nodded in my direction with a smile when I looked his way.

Occasionally, a voice could be heard over the others, speaking in Korean but I could work out they were giving an update on how long it was until they needed to be ready as he looked at his watch a few times.

A tap on my arm brought me back to the present as Tae got my attention and I gaped, quickly closing my mouth as I took in what he looked like. The sweet, tiny moles on his face had disappeared, covered by product which lightened his skin, smoothing it out into a flawless canvas. He did look truly beautiful but I was familiar with his darker skin tones and I had to blink to take it all in.

"We're going through to this room now," he said, giving my hand a quick squeeze before leaning in to my ear. "Staff in this room I trust but next door are people from outside my world and I can't be next to you if I want to protect you. I'm sorry."

"It's OK," I replied with a smile, feeling again like I was trying to balance on a tightrope, torn between wanting to explore but terrified of falling as it all seemed so complicated.

He walked me over to a female staff member, speaking to her quickly before she nodded and bowed to me. Turning back he explained, "Lee Seul-ki will help you. I've asked her to show you where to stand next door so you can watch."

"Thank you Tae, I'll see you after the interview," as he dropped my hand and walked through the door into the connecting room.

"Nice to meet you," I said to Lee Seul-ki as I turned to her. She had a stack of papers in one hand and a staff t-shirt on, she looked like someone who had everything under control, a warm smile crossing her face.

"You too Miss Marley. Come this way."

"Just Marley is fine," I answered as I followed her towards the door and she nodded her head as she guided me.

The room was set up with chairs for the members to sit on, some already taking their seats as microphones were being attached to their shirts. In front of them were many, many cameras, video and still, plus a monitor to watch themselves on. Tae glanced at me briefly as he took a seat, a slight smile on his face as he looked away while Lee Seul-ki showed me the place to stand near other staff. I could see most of the room in front of me, crowded and nothing like what ever appeared when an interview screened. The behind the scenes of things like this had always fascinated me, the craziness that goes into putting something together versus the clean version of what is shown to the world.

More people filtered into the room and placed themselves behind the cameras, some standing so they could clearly be seen by the band, others like makeup staff standing back but ready to dart forward and fix anything that needed tending to. When everything seemed to be in place, the door was opened and a very attractive, long legged woman walked in, guided by staff.

She walked confidently over to the band who all greeted her politely as she shook their hands before taking a seat in the interview chair. Her skirt perfectly accentuated her legs and being a woman, I knew the outfit was chosen with the purpose of being professional but showing off her assets. Jealousy stabbed again as I looked down at what I was wearing then over at Tae who didn't seem to be paying much attention to her but there were a few of the band members who were appreciating that the interviewer today was a beautiful woman, a similar age to them. RM and J-Hope exchanging a glance and smile between themselves before looking away.

There was some kind of briefing between the lady, the members, staff and the translator, confirmation that they knew which questions were going to be asked and through all of that, more people seemed to appear behind the camera causing me to slink back to keep out of their way, losing sight of Tae.

Then the interview began and although I couldn't see now, I was listening to all of their voices, Tae's deep one clear from time to time, trying to see if I could tell one from another without seeing their faces. As the interview was in English, most of the questions were answered initially by RM before he helped the others answer in either language and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at some of the inane questions she started with, wondering if this ever became tedious for them.

5 minutes in, Lee Seul-ki appeared at my side and barely audibly she spoke into my ear. "Miss Marley. Can you please come stand over here. Taehyung-ie is distracted and he'll keep searching for you unless he can see where you're standing."

I turned to nod, a little embarrassed but followed her quietly until we were standing within his line of vision. He had been looking down, playing with some invisible fluff on his pants and nodding along at random moments. He did seem distracted but when he looked up and saw me, his face broke out in a quick smile and he seemed to tune back into the interview, Lee Seul-ki beside me sighing quietly in relief.

The next 15 minutes flew by, very short moments of eye contact as he looked between the interviewer, members and briefly, off camera to me before sliding quickly away. I was surprised when it wrapped up, all that effort for one short interview but it was with an important local TV show and likely some of the best advertisement they'd get here.

As the interviewer stood up and members did the same, bowing and thanking her, she took a moment to go over to RM, conversing quickly in English before turning to zone in on Tae, rubbing up his arm as she did, flirting with her eyes. My insecurities flared up and my teeth gritted as I looked away, only drawn back as I watched a staff member go over to politely lead the interviewer away and I caught the back of Tae disappearing into the next room.

I started to wind my way over cords and through people as I went to follow him when I voice stopped me. " Marley? We haven't met properly yet. I'm Namjoon," and turning, I caught dimples and a genuine smile as he bowed an introduction next to me, taking off a chain around his neck as he did.

"Oh hey," I answered, warmed by his gentle expression. "I'm glad you said hello, I haven't met any of Tae's friends properly yet."

"He has made a point of not sharing you, I know he wants to keep a bubble around you both for as long as possible. But, you looked away before so missed what happened and I wanted to explain."

I looked at him questioningly, waiting for him to continue as I wasn't sure what he meant.

"When she touched his arm."

I was embarrassed that he had noticed my reaction to that moment and looked down, unable to meet his eyes.

"You need to know, Tae is one of the sweetest and most loyal people you could meet. When she spoke to him, he stepped away so her hand dropped, politely telling her he had important business to get to. That's our way of getting out of a situation as respectfully as we can."

I looked up, meeting his eyes which were sincere and warm and I smiled. "Thank you for telling me. The last few days is a lot for me to take in."

He nodded empathetically and we started to walk into the other room as he continued, leaning in to speak quietly. "Unfortunately that kind of thing does happen a lot when you're in our position but he likes you, we all know that. He actually won't let us forget it," he laughed as we drew closer to where Tae was sitting.

"I appreciate you letting me know," I replied, "And I hope we can talk more at some stage soon?"

"If this guy ever lets us get to know you, he's not around much at the moment," he said, hitting Tae lightly on the arm as Tae raised an eyebrow at the both of us.

"Namjoon was just telling me you've been neglecting them," I said, jokingly and he laughed.

"I think after a decade, I can probably have some time away from them without being missed too much."

Namjoon bowed to us both as he walked away and Tae reached for my hand. "Hopefully the interview wasn't too boring. Most of the questions were the same we often get. I lost sight of you at the start though."

"Not boring, very interesting for me at least. The interviewer was very pretty," I couldn't help adding, watching for his reaction.

"There are lots of pretty people in the world, I am only interested in one of them," and he tucked hair away from my eyes so he could look into them. "Lets finish up here so I can spend some more time alone with her."

My cheeks rose as my smile split across my face, gripping his hand tightly. "I'm ready when you are."

"For you, I'm always ready," he said, leaning in close and my heart did a little gallop at his words, double meaning dripping from them. I wasn't even going to try and pretend he was only talking about preparing to leave, the air between us was buzzing.

"Why don't you find out where my car is then so we can head away," and he nodded, going off to find my keys while I re-centred my breathing, intoxicated again by everything about him.

KTH POV

The amount of times we'd been interrupted today was actually making my head spin. We'd come so close to kissing a number of times and I was almost positive that when we did, Marley would be ready for it. She was responsive when I was near her, both of us drawn to touch now that we had started holding hands. And I could feel the weight of the tension in the air whenever things became more heated. I was having to breathe through some moments to keep everything in check. So when we got back to my hotel room, I changed in the bathroom because it seemed the safest way of not moving faster than she could handle. As for me, I'd keep on waiting, hoping that my angels would guide when it was the right time.

Marley POV

After raiding his hotel room for a few changes of clothes, quickly changing in the bathroom and leaving his interview clothes on the bed, we made another plan to leave. Although I hadn't seen anyone hiding in the car park to take our photo, we had to assume there would be someone there this time and be cautious just in case. I was to go down first and get in the car and drive round the corner to the place I'd gone when I'd arrived at the hotel. Tae would leave with staff through the same carpark entrance and drive to meet me there 10 minutes later in a different car. Since we had seen cameras out the front, it was possible there were others scattered but quickly transferring between cars should be OK and that was all we could hope for in the daylight.

So, I'd headed down in the lift with Mr Muscles who had delivered my envelopes and who I discovered was named Choi Ji-ho. He held the door for me as we exited into the carpark, flicking his eyes from side to side as we walked to my car. "OK Miss Marley?" he asked as I started my engine.

"Just Marley is fine and yes, thank you. I appreciate you coming with me."

"Taehyung wouldn't have it any other way," he smiled at me as he bowed and closed the door, staying to watch me drive away.

15 minutes later he pulled up with his manager who got out first, opening my passenger door then Tae's door, creating a barrier for him walk past. I had scouted with my eyes and seen no-one suspicious but there were buildings and windows all around and although my windows were slightly tinted, it wouldn't be hard to take clear photos if someone really wanted to, especially with the type of cameras paparazzi used.

I secretly loved the baseball cap look, which he had on now, pulled down over his face and I hoped it was enough of a disguise for where we were going. "I'm pretty sure we'll be OK where I'm taking you. Are you sure it's OK to go out in the day for you without staff?" I asked as we pulled away.

"To be honest, I had to argue that you would be taking me somewhere that wouldn't cause a stir. I can be very forceful when I have to be."

I got the feeling not everyone on staff was happy with our current arrangement and it left a slight feeling of trepidation which I was trying to shake.

"Well, it's nearly lunchtime. Neither of us had breakfast so we could swing by, get some drive thru food and take it to the spot along the river that I thought would be mostly private? Does that sound fine?"

"Food, water, you. That ticks almost all of my happy boxes," he said, taking my hand. "Add some music and I could probably stay there all day."

"You can turn the radio on if you want. What do you feel like eating? Unfortunately, we don't have Korean drive thru here but if that's what you're wanting, I could pull over and pick something up for you?"

"Burgers is fine and easy. I just want anything really and then as much time with you as I can get Marley."

"You, you're... ah," I said as I drove towards the river, searching for a drive thru as I went.

"What does that mean," he asked with a laugh.

"I'm just not used to someone saying they want to be spending time with me the way you do. Even when you say my name, yeah, it's nice..." I trailed off as I realised how understated 'nice' sounded.

"Marley," he said in a low, husky voice. "Marley," he said again, dragging out the M. "Marley," he started to say again, a glint in his eye, leaning close.

"Stop," I giggled, poking him in the side as we pulled up to grab food and he grinned along with me, both of us comfortable with the teasing.

Once the food was ordered, Tae turned to face away from the window as I went to pay, pulling his hat further down over his face, sunglasses hiding his eyes. He had been annoyed at the fact we were using my money but since he didn't have the right currency on him in cash and I'd pointed out the name on his credit card might be a bit of a giveaway, he reluctantly agreed to let me pay this time, telling me he'd make it up to me over the next few days.

"It's just a few burgers Tae," I replied. "Honestly, it's not a big deal."

"It is to me. My parents would be very disappointed in me not paying, it's not the polite thing to do as a gentleman."

"I'm sure they'd understand given the situation was out of your hands," I said, heading towards the river, handing the food and drink over to him to hold. Unfortunately that meant using both his hands and I was instantly disappointed at the loss caused by the unlinking of our fingers. I had to shake my head to remind myself again that I had known him less than 72 hours. It felt like months already, not just a few days.

The river lay-away was empty as we pulled in but he glanced around as we got out, holding the food. "I know if we walk along this way, there is a bench we can sit on to eat. It's tucked away off the path so sort of private but has a great view," taking the drinks from him as I spoke.

"Sounds good, I'll follow you," he said and I set out, along the path, Tae close at my back. I glanced back and he was looking down, head ducked against being seen and I felt sorry for him. Instead of spending his days looking up and enjoying the view, he had to look down so no-one would hound him. All the amazing places he had been but not seen properly. My heart hurt a little at the thought.

"School is in session, dog walkers usually come in the morning, soccer mums are probably at the gym, we'll be OK," I joked.

"Sorry, habit. In lots of countries that we go to, this would be unheard of, walking around without security."

We reached the bench, climbing the five steps to where it was tucked in against a slight grassy hill. "We're only a minute or two from the car so if things were to get crazy, we can get back very quickly. But look around," I said, "there's honestly no-one here."

"I know I should have more faith in you knowing what's best. It's just years of being trapped in hotel rooms because it's not safe to go out means it will take a little getting used to. But, I'm glad we came here, it's beautiful."

He zipped his jacket up against the breeze, the river was calm, a few boats out enjoying the sunshine. We sat munching on the food while life went slowly by. "I'd hold your hand but in public, that's a recipe for disaster. I want to though," he reassured me, holding my eyes in his.

"It's enough that I know you want to," I smiled back and we sat in comfortable silence for a bit, Tae closing his eyes with his head laid back against the seat to relax. That gave me the perfect opportunity to look at him again, constantly staggered that he could look like that and be sitting next to me, wanting to spend time together. I was particularly captivated by the mole on the tip of his nose, my tongue coming to rest on the roof of my mouth behind my teeth as I noticed another one just below his eye.

"I can feel you watching me," he said, his eyes still closed but a smirk breaking out on his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied, turning my eyes to the water as his popped open catching me as I quickly looked away.

"It's not a bad thing," he laughed. "I do the same but you just don't catch me doing it."

I reached my hand towards him and then retracted it when I remembered I couldn't, sitting on them both instead to contain them. He went to say something then dropped his head, leaning forward with his arms resting on his knees as he looked at the ground, making himself smaller. It was a quick change in position and I was confused until I heard voices and saw a couple of women approaching on the path that ran in front of us. They were talking non-stop and I didn't think they would be a threat but I watched them wearily as they came close, one smiling at me briefly as they passed but not breaking stride as they continued on their way. He waited a minute before lifting his head.

"See, people are actually quite self involved, they definitely wouldn't expect to find you here."

"You're right and it's bliss to be here," he said, reaching for his phone. He snapped a few photos of the river, as the sun hit the water causing it to shine. The reflection of the trees on the far side was also pretty and I watched the water rippling in the breeze as he took photos in all directions. Then he turned his phone towards me, snapping off a few shots before I leaned forward, putting my hand up, my hair falling forward to hide my face.

"No, I'm a mess," I said, embarrassed.

"You don't see what I see then," he commented sweetly. "I realised I only have the photos at the park and none of those have your face in them, I need some photos of you Marley so I have something when we leave. And photos of us together."

"Together is good, I'd like some of those too. But can I sit closer to you for those then," I asked, trying not to think about the fact he'd mentioned they were leaving. In my head that was weeks away, in reality, it was only a few days. Not enough time. I smoothed down my hair and he looked around, seeing no-one within sight.

"We probably shouldn't just in case but I don't care," he said, grabbing my arm gently and pulling me close to rest against him, taking shots of the both of us together from all angles. This was something he was an expert at, unlike me who just felt awkward. He wrapped his arm around my waist, lightly tickling his fingers against my side, causing me to crack up laughing as we leaned together. What felt like 613 selfies later and we were done.

"I'm thinking there should hopefully be an OK one amongst all those," I said with a laugh, pulling away from him again but he held me tight against him.

"Just a little longer," he replied softly, resting his arm across the back of the bench and I lay my head on his shoulder, following his lead. The suns rays warmed my skin while the air felt cool coming off the water. It was still, peaceful, perfect and I relaxed into the moment. I had a fleeting thought that after all those interruptions, here and now would be an amazing place to share our first kiss but if we couldn't hold hands in public, that was definitely off the table. "A pity," I thought, "it was definitely idyllic."

There was a disturbance as a flock of birds flew over us and across the water, Tae stirring to remove his arm in case it was because someone was walking nearby. He gave me an apologetic look and I returned it with a smile. "It's fine, honestly, I understand."

"It's not fine but it is my life, thank you for trying to fit around all the rules, I wish it wasn't this way." He frowned but seemed to shake himself out of it. "Shall I put some music on? I usually have music on all the time."

"Sure, what kind do you like?"

"Everyone and everything," he replied, scrolling through and clicking on a playlist, resting the phone between us as classical music played softly. "Jazz especially, I can play the saxophone a little and I want to get better. I enjoy music from the 30s and 40s as well as finding fairly unknown new musicians to support. I know how hard it is in the beginning so their voice deserves to be heard too."

"The saxophone is a hard instrument to play, I'd love to hear that. I used to play the piano as a child. I've tried the guitar but my hands aren't big enough to fit comfortably on the chords. Yours would be good at the guitar," I said, referencing his long fingers. Don't think I hadn't noticed those when they linked with mine.

"I'm getting better but not enough to play well for you yet. One day I will though. You sound like you understand music, can you sing then?"

"Yes, well enough to carry a tune. I can't sing in front of you though, that would be embarrassing considering what you do for a living." Internally I was having trouble with the fact he'd said one day he'd play for me, like it was a foregone conclusion, like we'd be around each other in the future. That didn't make any real sense. Our days were limited and even though I was enjoying it, I was realistic. When he left, he'd take a little piece of my heart and be just a fleeting happy moment in time as much as I might be starting to want it to be more.

"Ah, I'll wait to hear that. Maybe we can do karaoke together at some stage?"

"If you'd like, I do enjoy singing, I used to do it a lot. Before...," my thoughts momentarily of evenings spent lying on the couch with Matty, belting out tunes together on Singstar.

"If it will make you sad, we don't have to do that, ever." His fingers curled reflectively on his knee, like he wanted to take my hand and was stopping himself.

"This past year I've had to do lots of things that were painful in order to move on and create happy memories on top of the sad ones. I don't shy away from making things better. Creating a new memory with you would be perfect. But, I warn you, I don't know any KPop songs yet so they'll have to be in English."

He laughed. "I know quite a few English songs now and I could teach you some of ours. I hope you'll begin to like them."

"I know some of yours already," I confessed. "There hasn't been much time yet but I heard Christmas Tree and it's very, very pretty. Your voice is amazing but I guess you know that by now. You sing in pictures, it's beautiful."

He blushed, looking away. "People tell me but I don't often believe it. Jungkook has a much stronger voice then me."

"Your voices are completely different. Yours, well, I imagine people often play your songs when they are wanting time with someone they love, a definite Marvin Gaye quality." I accentuated the word 'time', not wanting to say what I actually meant. His voice was bedroom material.

He turned sharply to meet my eyes and I could tell he knew exactly what I meant by the way he pursed his lips together, hiding a smirk. "Ah well, I can't say someone has said that directly to me before but if I help set the mood, then that's great."

My tongue crept between my teeth, biting back a laugh as I reluctantly looked at my watch. " We should probably get going. It's 45 minutes back to pick up Sophia and I'll go quite a bit earlier than normal to miss all the regulars at pick up time. Do you want me to drop you somewhere first so there's no chance of being seen with me at preschool while you wait in the car?"

"Staying in the car is fine, I'll just keep my head down and find something very interesting to look at on the floor," he said, standing up and stretching. "Thank you for suggesting here, it was a very relaxing place and I took some beautiful photos to keep the memories alive."

"I'm just really happy it was somewhere you felt free enough to relax. I can't begin to understand what it's like for you being so well known but if I can ease that a little at times, I will."

"And if I could pull you close to thank you properly for that right now, I would," he replied softly, pupils dilating as he looked at me. The intensity was instant and powerful, invading my core and I had to put my hands behind my back to stop myself from reaching for him. All I could do is nod in answer and acknowledge to myself that I was ready for it to go further, promising myself that the next time the moment was there, I'd make sure there were no interruptions.