SUE Ollie had left Hybe in a rush, saying she had forgotten "the money envelope" at home. I had tried to tell her that it was a wedding where two Koreans were getting married, but not that kind of Korean wedding. "But tradition!" she had exclaimed and disappeared. I had shrugged. Knowing that there was another one of those envelopes in my suitcase as well. Yoongi had mentioned several times that he didn't want any money, not any presents either but I was pretty sure we wouldn't be the only ones ignoring that. He didn't need our money, sure, but it just felt right and since
Olivia had never been to a wedding here she wanted to do everything right, which was fair I guess. I wanted to do everything right as well after all. And I knew the traditions and somewhat what to expect. And still, I was incredibly nervous. This wasn't just any wedding. It was the wedding of someone I considered a friend by now. Who also happened to be incredibly famous. But the thing that made me - and probably the whole company - nervous was the fact that this was something that couldn't be kept quiet from the public and especially the media for very long. All the bookings had been made under a fake name and there was enough security to guard (hopefully somewhat subtly) three weddings, but most people involved knew what was going on. A couple of days ago there had been a meeting at Hybe to go through the steps of what would happen when the news broke. The room had been quiet and incredibly tense. A lot would change, but to what extent was to be seen.
When I got to the guy's apartment from which we would all go to Daegu by bus, it was surprisingly quiet. It hardly ever was. Even though they now all had their own apartments, someone was usually there and since they had basically grown up in each other's company and were used to speaking up to be heard at all in the chaos of seven people plus staff, the quietness almost seemed eerie. I walked around the living room and kitchen and ran into a very stressed stylist re-organizing outfits on a rack and then packing them. She smiled at me knowingly and I felt my heart sink. Apparently even my much smaller secret was not really a proper secret anymore. Just as I was about to sit down on the couch, Jimin basically ran out of his room. "Wow. You are already here! You are early!" I didn't have the heart to tell him that I wasn't. That he was running late. But by then he had already walked off again, only turning around to yell a smiley "Jin is in his room." at me. I bit my lower lip a little, feeling caught that I was still somewhat uncomfortable just knocking at his door. Of course I knew he was already here and I felt a little pathetic.
I had to knock twice for him to even hear and then heard a muffled "Yeah, yeah, I'll be out in a second." and stopped. Unsure what to do I stood there, but then opened the door slowly. Jin looked at me in surprise, he was sitting on his bed, back against the headboard, an already packed suitcase next to him and a Playstation controller in his hand. "Oh, sorry. I... of course it is you, no one here ever knocks." I smiled, still not moving, but Jin rolled his eyes with a wide smile on his face and patted the empty space next to him on the bed. Now also smiling I got on it, his arm around my shoulder the next second. "Just for the record: I am actually fine with you walking in without knocking. No matter when." He kissed my cheek and I knew that he had seen right through me. I nodded and leaned into his side. "What are we playing?" "We are playing everyone outside is late as always and it is stressing me out so I am in here hiding." "Oh, that is my favourite. I am very good at it too." We both chuckled.
The mood on the bus was good. Really good. I did see people checking their phones from time to time, probably just seeing whether the news had somehow already broken as soon as we were on our way, but management had promised us that there was a whole team at Hybe, checking and taking care of it. They had tried to make this wedding as "normal" as possible, which in itself was not realistic at all, but I had to give them kudos for focusing at least somewhat on making sure everyone attending could enjoy themselves. Jin had fallen asleep as soon as we were on the highway, one hand still on my thigh. For a while, I kept dozing off, happy the noises of chatter and laughter around me didn't make me as nervous as I had expected but rather lulled me to sleep, made me comfortable because I was around people I trusted. It took us almost four hours to get there, but by the time we got to the villa that had been rented over the weekend for us, it almost felt like a vacation. No Run cameras, no schedule for the day, just us waiting for the big event. To keep out of the spotlight everyone stayed in. Seeing the boys turn into teenagers again - simply because they weren't used to so much free time on their hands and... apparently communal wedding nerves, was hilarious. When Yoongi - who had been in Daegu for a couple of days to help to prepare - dropped by in the evening to say hello before quickly disappearing again, he was greeted by a group hug so rough that Hobi got an elbow to the ribs and a pretty large bruise. Hobi blamed Joon, Joon blamed Jin, Jin mentioned from the other side of the room that he had not even been IN the hug. Silently laughing on the couch I had to eventually wipe away a little tear because I couldn't breathe properly. When Jin walked over to me and saw me he leaned down and kissed my wet lips, something we had never done in front of everyone else, and I was a little afraid of the other's mocking reaction. But even though they were looking over, they were all smiling. No matter how happy I was for Yoongi and knew that this was right... I really wished that nothing would change too much, because I was incredibly happy.
OLIVIA It wasn't that the mood dropped towards the evening, but it definitely got quieter. After a while, I noticed how Joon, Jin and Hobi were taking their turns calmly talking to the younger members who weren't as good at downplaying their nerves. I mean... pretty sure I had seen a makeup Noona cry earlier before most of the staff had left. Tomorrow would affect a lot of people. A LOT. Around midnight Namjoon found me at the pool outside, dipping my legs into the heated water and quickly throwing my cigarette to the side as soon as I saw him. I had been so good for the last couple of weeks, but this was too intense. He groaned when he sat down but also couldn't help but chuckle at my bad bad attempt at hiding it. I joined in when I realized how stupid that must have looked. But instead of complaining or really saying anything Joon just moved an arm around me and pulled me in close. No matter how much it seemed like he had his shit together more than the others and wasn't as terrified... he was. I looked at him from the side for a bit and then moved behind him so he could lean into me. It made him laugh, but then sigh when he gave in and let me pull his back into my chest and dig my nose into his cheek. "There is always the treehouse as a last option if we need to hide for a couple of weeks..." I murmured into his ear. Not sure this was the encouraging message he needed but it made him laugh even more at least. And it was true. Worst case they would keep it low for a bit and let Hybe deal with the rest because there wasn't much else they could do or change anyways. At the same time it of course wasn't that easy. And it wouldn't be done with hiding for a couple of weeks, the news would not only shake Army but the industry. Idols had gotten married before but rarely and usually much later in life or only if they kind of had to... because someone had gotten pregnant. And every time it happened CEOs all over Seoul were probably furious because they were scared it would break their toxic way of running things. None of the other bands had been as big, especially internationally, so it was simply hard to know what to expect without precedent. The water in front of us was calm, the sounds of cicadas around us and laughter being carried over from the open living room doors. It was a beautiful night and I was searching for words for a while. But there wasn't anything I could say or do really, I could just be there.