Gym Bunny JK

I dropped my laptop bag on the bed in the hotel room and sighed. The conference was dragging, long days and long nights of speakers and now, at almost midnight I should be heading to sleep. But I'd gone days without working out and my body wouldn't thank me for it. So I grabbed the gym gear from my suitcase, changing in the bathroom before grabbing my room key, a drink bottle and heading down to the basement to check out the hotel gym.

It was empty, only weird people worked out this late at night so I had my pick of equipment, settling on a treadmill, putting my airpods in and cranking up the music. The slow pace picked up and I began to jog as I zoned out to the songs on my favourite playlist, the stresses of the day disappearing in the pounding of my legs.

20 minutes later I'd worked up a sweat, my thin t-shirt sticking to my skin. With no-one here, I stripped it off, dropping it the side and continued to work out in my sports bra and leggings, moving to the rowing machine. All my muscles were getting the much needed work out they'd missed over the past few days.

My phone told me it was 1235am and I decided I needed to wind down so I could shower and get to bed by 1am. The alarm would go off at 7am for another day at the conference and I'd struggle to keep my eyes open if I didn't get some sleep soon.

I had a core workout to finish with, grabbing a mat and laying it out before starting with a plank. It was something I'd been needing to strengthen for a while and I was terrible at. I had to stop after 20 of most exercises and stretch my body before doing more otherwise I gave up. I did some bicycle climbs and stretched, my eyes closed as I breathed through the ache, then butterfly situps. I elongated my body, pointing my toes and stretching my arms above my body before opening my eyes to shift position and realised I was no longer alone.

At some stage, while I'd been busy on the floor, two men had entered the gym and were at the other end of the room, staying out of my way. One wasn't actually even working out, he was sitting on his phone nearby, glancing from me to the other man and back to his phone. Remembering I was just in my bra top I reached for my t-shirt to wipe my face, wondering if the right thing to do would be to put it back on but thinking that it was already too late.

The man working out was lifting weights and I thought I could finish my ab workout and quietly exit. Unfortunately it did mean going near them as they were next to the door. I hadn't expected to see anyone at this time of the morning and felt a little disconcerted. And then he put the weights back on their stand and glanced in the mirror, our eyes making contact briefly before he quickly looked away.

I don't know why I hadn't realised who he was; the body proportions, hair, companion who it was now obvious was security. Maybe because I hadn't expected him to be in this country let alone this hotel at this time of the night. Especially when he was currently singing in my ears.

Now more than ever, I wished I was fully dressed, not sweaty. Or that the ground would open and swallow me up. And the escape seemed a minefield, having to walk too close for comfort. Because now that I knew who he was, all I wanted to do was watch him work out and the right thing to do would be to let him have some privacy.

I grabbed my water bottle, looking down while I drank, the music in my ears covering the pounding of my heart. I felt like everyone in the room could hear it beating quickly but at least the music drowned it out for me. The other option I had was to finish my workout since I only had a few minutes left and pretend he wasn't there, if that was even possible. Deciding it absolutely wasn't, I prepared to leave.

Gathering my gear, I took a breath before looking down at the ground as I headed to the exit. As I approached the door, it was held open for me and I looked up, the "gamsahabnida" leaving my lips without even thinking as the security staff held it for me and stood by to let me pass. He looked surprised, exchanging a look with Jungkook before bowing as I hurried past.

JK POV

The gym wasn't empty when we arrived, one end occupied by a woman who appeared to be doing core strengthening. It was hard not to notice as she did multiple sit ups, her body strong and lacking layers as I attempted to avert my eyes. She hadn't seen us arrive, eyes closed and headphones in her ears blocking out our noise. Security had frowned and looked at me but I'd shrugged and carried on walking to the weights. I needed to unwind after the concert, most of the members didn't understand how I could dance for hours and then still work out afterwards. It was too much pent up energy, testosterone and tension that needed to be expelled.

I stole a few glances as she stretched, mirrors always great for indirect looks. She started another set of situps, these ones a butterfly version to which I definitely needed to look away. They were great for flexibility but not for keeping any tension at bay. This time as she stretched, her toes pointing and her arms went above her head in a full body stretch, I gulped and focused on the weights that were beginning to take my strength before I finally rested them back on the stand, glancing back in the mirror and meeting her eyes. They grew momentarily large and I did the internal panic when someone recognised us, feeling caught as I looked away. But when I looked back, she was focused on the ground and I looked at security who were deciding whether the threat level was worth reacting for. I shook my head, frowning. She might be strong but it was doubtful she posed a threat with two of us here. The worst she could do was leave and post all over social media but it was likely people already knew what hotel we were staying in and hotel staff had always proven to be great with not allowing random people to access our room details.

Stretching while deciding what exercises to do next, I watched while she grabbed her bottle to drink, seeming to think before gathering her things together. I turned away so it wasn't obvious I'd been watching as she came past. Staff held the door open as she approached, partly to be polite but mainly to step between us and out eyes met briefly as she said thank you, leaving as we bowed a farewell.

"Maybe we should leave, she clearly knew who you were," I was told but shook my head. I didn't think she would be a problem, it even looked like she'd finished her work out early to give me privacy. And now, even more than before, I needed to work out. Because having seen her eyes, a deep, vivid green, they were stuck firmly in my mind, clouding my thoughts. So, I jumped on the treadmill, running fast, burning off the feelings that came when someone caught my attention but I couldn't do anything about it.

The next day

My POV

After another long day I was happy to hit the gym again, this time a little earlier. Only one more day of the conference and I could fly home. As I walked into the gym at 1130pm, I crossed paths with another lady leaving and then it was empty again. At the back of my mind was the thought that maybe he'd be there again but I'd Googled and last night was their last concert in town so it was likely they had already flown out to the next location.

So 15 minutes later when Jungkook walked back in, this time with Namjoon and security in tow, I almost lost my footing on the cross trainer, thinking that all my Christmases and nightmares were being rolled into one. For a second time I was sweaty but at least this time I was fully dressed.

Jungkook went to the weights again and Namjoon came over to the treadmills near me, not making eye contact but looking out the corner of his eye as he set a pace and started a run. The only thing I could do to not look like a weirdo was to drop my head a little, avoid looking at either of them and turn my music up so I couldn't hear any of the noises being made as they worked out because they were beyond distracting.

As soon as my time on the cross trainer was up, I dropped to the ground to complete my ab work out and leave as quickly as I could. I didn't want to stop for a second day in a row just because of the interruption so that was my best solution. I needed to make up for the shorter ab workout I'd done yesterday, telling myself I'd do the 100 I needed to do of everything then the extra 40 of each I'd missed. Then I was out of there.

The first 60 I handled, slowing down and my legs beginning to shake for the last few so I stretched to take a break and then do lots of 20. When Jungkook appeared, crouching next to me, I had to blink a few times from shock, hooking my airpod out of one ear to hear what he was saying.

"I can hold your feet so you can do another few?"

"Ah ummmm...," I mumbled out, incoherently.

"Yesterday, you stopped. Because of us I think. So today, I can help you finish your set."

His huge brown eyes were uncomfortably close to mine, only uncomfortable because of how gorgeous they were and how he was staring into mine. I gulped before speaking.

"I stopped so you could have privacy and I haven't mentioned to anyone that you were here in the hotel."

"And I thank you for that. So, can I be your trainer for a few minutes, help you hit your goals since you left me to hit mine?"

"I can't turn that down," I answered, wiping my hand across my forehead and thinking that this was the best and most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to me.

"What music motivates you to work out?" he asked, scooting down to prepare to anchor my feet to the ground as he handed me the airpod that I had dropped to the ground.

"Well, ah, currently I'm listening to you guys."

"Oh," he answered, blushing a little as I lay flat and he held my feet in place. By this point my brain was thinking I was definitely having an out of body experience, his hands pressing down lightly on my shoes, supporting my ankles. "Something fast like Idol?"

And when I thought it couldn't get worse, I had to answer that one. "Ummm... it's a playlist, so currently it's Pied Piper."

His eyebrow went up and so did the temperature in my cheeks so I laid down, preparing to do a crossover sit up, pretending this was a normal situation to be in. "Well, I work up a sweat in that one so I guess anything works." He was pursing his lips together, suppressing a smile and I leant up on my elbows to look at him.

"OK, funny man, lets do this," and he cracked up as I lay down again, beginning the next set of 20 situps.

I quickly learnt why noone liked to work out with him once I'd done 2 lots of 20 and had to stop and stretch. "Come on, another 10."

"I can do another 20 but I need to stretch first," I answered as he scooted out of the way as I stretched out fully, politely averting his eyes. It felt as if this was some kind of weird mating ritual and that I'd won the worlds weirdest lottery, all the while, bright red and sweating. Closing my eyes so I couldn't see him watching me, I stretched for 10 seconds before getting ready for another set of 20. This time, when I got to 16, I slowed down a lot and he started counting for me.

"17, come on, 18, just two more, 19...and...20."

I collapsed ready to stretch again before the final 20, although, I was thinking that I didn't want to finish up after all. Not when his hands gravitated back to my ankles and seemed to 'accidentally' brush my calves on the way down. "As if, don't be ridiculous," I scolded myself internally, preparing for the final 20.

Once the 140 were complete, I sat up, leaning on my knees before reaching for my water bottle.

"What, you're stopping?" he asked.

"100 is my normal so yes, I'm done."

"Ah but, we interrupted you the other day so you must have another 20 or 40 to do to catch up on those?"

"No, that's a no, I've already done more than normal. You're a sadist."

"I don't know what that means but if it has anything to do with going hard then yes, I go hard."

I had to look down to prevent myself from blushing, hoping that the bright red cheeks I regretted earlier are now masking the thoughts firing in my head. Language barriers surely meant that innuendos were lost in translation, right?

So when I did finally compose myself enough to look up, I was amused to see that his cheeks were also tinged rouge and realised that maybe he understood what he'd said after all. The tongue, resting inside his cheek sealed the deal and I laughed. "Oh, I believe you," I answered and he gave me a small smile.

"So, you're finished then," he asked, hands dropping from my feet.

"Yes, I fly out after my conference tomorrow, early start so I need to go to bed."

"We fly out tomorrow too," he replied, not moving away.

"What city are you playing in next?" I asked, slowly gathering my things.

"We're flying to Australia tomorrow, Sydney I think."

"I'm sure it will be an amazing concert there too. I wish I'd known you were here so I could've gone."

"I would've enjoyed seeing you in the crowd, no doubt dressed differently to this," he indicated my sportswear.

There was an awkward moment where I wanted to say so much but not turn into a fangirl. I also didn't actually want to leave although a shower was definitely beckoning. Did we shake hands? Bow? I decided I had to at least speak.

"Thank you for helping with my workout."

"Thank you for not saying we were here. It's nice to have a little time to ourselves but not have to be in our hotel rooms."

"I won't be telling anyone about this until you're long gone and maybe then I'll only believe it happened in a dream." I blushed a little, feeling self conscious the moment the words left my mouth.

"This was sweet for me too, we don't normal get to interact with ARMY in their normal places. And, I found it... interesting."

I smiled at the way he said interesting, meeting his eyes for a moment, wondering if the interesting night could continue in any way shape or form. Then I looked to his security and realised, even if there was some remote chance of any mutual interest which I very much doubted, nothing else could happen. His world was too complicated.

"It was a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for creating beautiful music, stay safe."

"A pleasure for me too," and I could've been hopeful but the way his tongue moved over the word pleasure sat very nicely inside me.

I was standing now, all my gear in my hands, reluctant to leave but waiting for any longer would make it awkward. "Well, annyeong."

"Annyeong, I'm sorry, I haven't asked your name?"

"No, you haven't," I said as I walked backwards with a small smirk. "Nice to meet you Jungkook," and he bowed with a grin, watching me walk away. I kept my cool for as long as I could, only fangirling once back in my room, reliving the conversation that I would never believe had actually happened.

Two weeks later I was scrolling through Instagram and saw a small snippet of a concert when the band was lined up talking. I could see the screenshot was JK so clicked on it to see what it was about as the tagline was #his english is so cute!

"This one goes out to all the ARMY who listen to us when studying, working, on the bus, working out doing situps in a hotel gym. We might not know your name but it doesn't mean we don't think about you. It's always a pleasure making music for you. Thank you for being the reason we exist. Borahae."