Chapter 29 – First steps – OT7

They dropped down on the grass in the park, photo shoot over for now and needing to eat a small snack before they moved to the last location. It was a fresh Spring day, sky a light blue and almost cloudless vista, no breeze needed to keep them cool. It was almost perfect.

"You have about half an hour," their manager said, putting the food in the middle as they all dove in, hungry from the 5am wake up call needed to hit the sunrise photos.

"Oh she's cute," Tae gasped loudly as a baby crawled across the grass near them, stopping to grab a grass flower before attempting to put it in her mouth. The mother quickly reaching to remove it before it hit the babies lips. Not too bothered it kept crawling around and he watched, putting a piece of fruit in his mouth as he did. Tae had always loved babies and here shooting overseas, this sweet little chubby blonde baby with bright blue eyes was the cutest looking doll, content to enjoy the beautiful day.

All of a sudden it veered towards their group, crawling faster than they would've thought she could, destination firmly in mind and the mother quickly stood up, dusting herself off as she attempted to stop the baby girl from interrupting them. The others all noticed as they approached and the baby sat back staring at us all as we cooed at her before she broke out in a tiny, toothy smile earning little claps and smiles from them all.

"Sorry, sorry," the mother said, reaching to scoop the baby girl up into her arms where she promptly kicked and wriggled to be let down again.

"She's cute." "Adorable." "So pretty." "Hello baby," they all greeted before Namjoon spoke up in English.

"They're all saying how cute and pretty she is," he said, translating as Jimin reached out to wriggle the little girls hand in his, earning more smiles.

"Ah, ne, gamsahabnida," she replied, surprised looks popping up instantly on the faces of everyone. "I taught English in Korea for two years," she replied by way of explanation, trying to put the baby back on her hip to secure her from wriggling and not succeeding. "She is cute but now that she can move, she wants to go everywhere."

"She's very friendly," Tae said, taking her little toes in his hand and tickling them. The baby looked at him and leaned out as if she wanted a cuddle. Tae visibly melted.

"No Aria, these nice people are eating, let's not bother them," the mother said, trying to contain her.

"Aria? Pretty name," Yoongi said, keeping his distance but taking in the scene, admiring the mother as he did. The others had seen how pretty and cute the baby was but Namjoon and Yoongi had exchanged a look. They'd noticed she definitely got her looks from her mother.

"Yes, her name is to do with music," the mother said, distracted by keeping the baby from falling out of her arms. Yoongi smirked at that and kept his mouth closed. He was well aware what an aria was but hadn't heard it as a persons name before.

"You can put her down to explore and play if you like, it doesn't bother us. In case you can't tell, we all like babies," Namjoon said, trying to make the mother feel more comfortable.

"I can see you're eating and she'll make a mess so I'll leave you to it but manasseo bangawoyo," and she bowed as she walked back towards her own picnic area, putting the baby back onto the grass again.

"What a sweetheart," Jimin said, watching the baby walk away.

Yes, I have to agree," Jin said, watching the mother walk away, earning slaps on the arms from his younger brothers. "What? You all have eyes too."

"Yes, but she is probably married," Hobi said quietly.

"I didn't see a ring," Yoongi said, surprising everyone that he'd looked. "What? Like hyung said, I have eyes."

"The baby girl is coming back this way again," Tae said, still focused on how quickly the baby moved through the green ocean between the two groups. This time the mother was quicker with grabbing her but the third time it happened, Aria let out a grizzle. She really wanted to get closer to all the men who had been smiling at her.

"You can come join us if you'd like," Jimin called out, as they all glanced at him. "Well," he said under his breath, "don't tell me you didn't want the both of them to come back over here," he finished with a smirk.

"Sorry, maybe I should go and leave you to it, she's very determined," the mother said, reaching to move an empty snack packet out of her way.

"We have finished with the food so can move that out of her way," Namjoon said as they all scurried to tidy up around themselves. The mother looked flustered and a little embarrassed as they turned their picnic area into a baby friendly zone and she popped her down on the ground, thanking them as she did. She hovered a little before Hobi smiled at her.

"Please sit," he said in precise English, indicating with his hands for her to sit anywhere.

"The baby is Aria, what is your name," Jin asked, flashing his WWH smile at her. She looked a little dazed as he did, although none of the members looked surprised. Jin could dazzle just about anyone with his visuals.

"Oh, I'm Marley, thank you for this," she said waving her hand around as Aria crawled amongst them all and she gracefully sank into a sitting position amongst us all, careful not to touch any of them. She knew enough of the cultural norms in Korea to respect that she was a female stranger and she didn't want to make them uncomfortable.

"Are you on holiday here," Marley asked, distracted as she kept an eye on her daughter who had now crawled over and perched on her knees, rocking in front of Jungkook. He was twirling a flower at her and she looked mesmerised by what he was doing, the cutest grin on his face too. "Flower, flower, flower," he repeated in English to her.

"A little bit and work," Namjoon answered for them all, casting a glance around. They were always careful when they were talking about what they did, unsure if people would know who they were if they said their band name.

"Hopefully you get to enjoy the beaches, there are some great restaurants around here too."

"Any Korean places you can recommend," Yoongi asked, voicing what they all wondered, missing foods from home.

"Oh yes, there's one we go to all the time. Delicious jajjangmyeon and fried chicken but I also really like their jeyuk bokkeum, let me show you which it is," and she pulled out her phone to search it up. By now, Aria was seated on Tae's lap as he played with her fingers, clapping them gently under his hands.

"Do you go there with your partner," Jimin asked, translated a little wearily by Namjoon, earning quick glances from his bandmates to which he just shrugged. They'd all heard her say 'we' and were likely as curious as he was. Yoongi and Jin were grinning at his lack of subtlety, checking to see if the staff were going to interrupt but, even though they were watching everything, they were also eating their own snacks, the threat minimal at this time. Now that they were all a lot older than debut, they were given a little more freedom to handle situations although security was always ever present.

"Do you mean Aria's father? Definitely not unless I wanted his girlfriend along as well," she said and their eyes grew big before they schooled their expressions. "We're not together anymore. I usually go there with Aria and some of my friends. The owners are wonderful, they always make a fuss of Aria and give her easy to eat food."

"She's so sweet, of course they make a fuss of her," Hobi said and Namjoon translated again although Marley could keep up a little with the Korean. It had just been a few years since she'd been there but she did remember quite a lot, watching Kdramas in the evening helped keep up with the language too.

"Maybe we should get food from here tonight," Jin said, looking through the phone at the menu. "It looks like back home."

"You're missing it huh," Marley asked, reaching for her daughter as she crawled over.

"Just the food," Jungkook laughed. "I like it here."

"I miss the food from when I was there too," Marley said, "so I end up eating Korean food at least once a week."

Aria pulled herself up to standing, holding onto Marley's sleeve with one hand, the other stuffed into her mouth as saliva bubbled over while she looked at everyone. Then she let go.

"No-one move," Marley said quietly and they all instantly stilled, looking confused.

"She's done this a few times but hasn't walked yet," and they watched as she wobbled on the grass, legs locked as she stood unaided, reaching for Marley's arms to steady herself again as she almost went off balance. Letting out a breath, Marley laughed. "Sorry, it would've been cute to take her first steps here. I doubt I'll get them on camera when she does since it's just me at home now."

"Can I move again," Jin said, under his breath.

"Oh sorry, that was a bit bossy, of course you can," Marley said, blushing.

"We can all do as we're told," Namjoon answered, then blushed himself when some of the members broke into laughter. "Well, most of us can do as we're told. With our work that is."

"Oh, speak for yourself, I'm not that much of a pushover," Yoongi said and the way he smirked wasn't hard to interpret but Marley looked down. It had been a while since she'd been around so many men, especially good looking ones that may or may not be flirting a little.

"Oh no baby doll, don't put that in your mouth," Tae was saying in Korean, taking grass out of her fist that she was attempting to smoosh back into her open mouth. "Yucky," he added and pulled a face, earning a huge baby giggle, everyone instantly breaking out into matching grins. Baby giggles were a different kind of music, universal no matter where you were in the world. Tae stood her up on her feet again and she stared at him as he took one hand off her, then slowly let the other one go, hovering his hand close to catch her if she fell. Then she took one wobbly step towards her mother and everyone stilled without being instructed, Jungkook whipping out his phone and pressing record.

Aria took another wobbly step with her arms out on a funny angle, then a third and fourth before she fell into Marley's arms as she swung her up, smothering her face in kisses and praising her. "Clever girl Aria, well done, you did it!" Aria tolerated the attention for a few moments before she wanted to wriggle down and so Marley set her back on her feet, holding one of her hands as she did a little boogie to celebrate her own cleverness. They all were endeared by the cuteness, applauding loudly and telling her how clever she was.

"I got that on video for you," Jungkook said, holding out his phone and pressing play. They all leaned in to watch as Marley's eyes lit up on screen, focused on her daughter, laughing as she fell into her arms.

"Oh thank you so much, can you send that to me? Are you on socials?"

"Ahhhhhh," Jungkook hesitated, looking over to Namjoon.

"Airdrop maybe," Namjoon suggested.

"Ah, I have a rubbish phone, that doesn't work. Hmmmm," Marley hummed, trying to think of a way of getting it. They seemed reluctant to give our social media and that was OK. Not everyone liked to connect that way.

"Perhaps our management could email it through," Namjoon wondered out loud. "We can let you know?"

"Of course, should I leave my email address with you or...," she asked, feeling a little unsure.

"Or you could join us for food tonight," Yoongi suggested and they all turned to look at him, then Marley, then their staff.

"Well, ah, sure. Only if that's OK though," she replied, seeing all their expressions. It was a mixed bag of openness, smiles, confusion at the language barrier maybe and maybe also some worry.

"It will be OK," Jimin answered in English and then Namjoon agreed.

"Yes, of course, you would be welcome, and this little cutie."

"Well, how about I give you my email for the video if that works out and my number in case something changes before tonight? You look like you could be busy people," she commented as the staff packed up their own things, heading to give the nod that they were leaving shortly. She reached into her handbag, pulled a piece of paper from a notebook and scribbled out her details. Namjoon went to reach for it and Jin took it instead.

"Sorry Joon, we don't want anything spilt on this now do we," and they grinned, obviously an inside joke but his eye roll said they must tease him about his clumsiness a lot.

"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you all. I'm glad Aria didn't ruin your break."

"She's adorable," Hobi said and they all nodded, standing up.

"And we're looking forward to seeing you both tonight," Namjoon added.

"Thank you for the invitation. Hopefully the food lives up to expectations."

"Oh, I think we'll find everything lives up to expectations," Jimin said with a wink and Namjoon sighed, politely translating it a little differently.

"Oh, I got it the first time," she replied, eyeing Jimin up. She could tell he was trouble, that actually, they might all be. But the conversation had been easy, albeit brief, and she felt quite refreshed by being around them all. Easy to talk to and very easy on the eyes.

"I stand by what I said," Jimin continued and grinned.

"Someone will message with a time for tonight," Namjoon said, quickly turning the conversation back to something safe than where Jimin was taking it.

"I look forward to it," Marley answered and she waved Aria's little hand at everyone as they walked away.

"Oh my gosh, she's so cute," Tae gushed, waving at how Aria was looking over Marley's shoulder and grinning at them as they disappeared.

"She can apply to both of them," Jin said.

"And does," Yoongi finished.

"Should we ask if she has any other single friends when we send the time," Jimin asked. "The more the merrier right?"

"Not always but I do have a feeling someone is going to be wanting to chat to her most of night so we all might be out of luck," Namjoon answered, looking towards his friend who was watching Marley's retreating back more than the baby. "Right hyung?"

"Hmmmm, were you talking to me," Yoongi asked, raising an eyebrow, purposefully ignoring the conversation he had definitely heard. "Shall we go? Lets get the photo-shoot finished. I suddenly have a craving for some jajjangmyeon."

"Oh I bet you do," Jimin teased and they walked back to their cars, shoving each other a little as their working day suddenly turned into other much more interesting possibilities.