The traffic was crazy. What should've been a 30 minute trip had already taken more than an hour and we weren't even halfway there. Sighing, I glanced out the window leaning my head back to scope out the world that was creeping incredibly slowly by. It felt like I was playing a game with the cars in the lane next door. One or two inched forward ahead of me then my lane seemed to speed up and we overtook them, playing that game for the last ten minutes. Not exactly a super exciting way to pass the time but my music had stopped not long ago when the charge on my air pods had gone flat. I was sitting in the back of an Uber ride, thankful this one was being paid for by the company and not me since it was taking so long.
Watching the same two cars inch forward ahead of me, I sighed. But then a third car went past and a fourth. My lane seemed to have come to a halt while that one moved. Sighing again, I realised it was just going to be one of those days. When a black SUV became the fifth car to go past, I rested my forehead on the window, my breath creating a mist against the glass as my ride shuddered slightly forward, overtaking two of the cars again. Two steps forward, one step back. Eventually I'd get to my destination. It was a work trip, I wasn't even sure why I was in a hurry to get there.
Grinding to a halt again, I played with the fading mist on my window, drawing patterns and shapes in it with my finger as the SUV pulled up almost next to me. I breathed on it again, making the images sharper, tracing over the heart I had doodled. I could hear music coming from the vehicle next door, muffled within it's doors but I smiled. It was one of the songs on my playlist, almost as good as having it in my ears. I was glancing that way, smiling at the song when I saw mist appear on the back window next to me and patterns being traced against the darkened backdrop. Those windows were tinted unlike mine, unable to see who was drawing them but I watched in interest as shapes similar to mine showed up, a breath from inside cementing them in place. This was the most interesting thing that had happened in the last half hour.
And then our cars did the overtaking game again and I drew ahead, this time hoping the other lane would catch up again as I wiped my glass clean, glancing at the Uber driver to see if he was watching. He seemed to be blissfully unaware of anything going on around him, staring blankly ahead at the road. So I let my breath hit the cold pane again, steaming up a new canvas for me to draw on. Wondering what to write, I heard music coming from the car next to me again as it crept up to join me and I grinned, hearing Attack on Bangtan. Tracing a few words, I breathed over it. 'Hi. ARMY?"
I watched in interest to see what would happen. And I wasn't disappointed, a hand wiping the patterns on their window away, mist appearing, another blank slate. "BTS ARMY?"
"Yes," and I added a big heart with my finger, wishing there was a way I could colour it purple. It was rare to connect with another ARMY in the wild so the smile that flitted across my face was genuine. Thinking quickly, I reached into my bag, finding the notebook I kept in there, with purple pages of course. I ripped a sheet out, tearing it into a heart shape and pressing it inside the heart I'd drawn. It stuck to the glass, not the same shape of heart but the idea was there.
"Cute! Thank you," came the written response before the cars were separated again and I felt a strange sense of loss as we drifted apart. The boredom must really be getting to me. I wonder why they said thank you, I thought, leaning my head on the window again, willing this never ending trip to finish. Maybe because I was alleviating their boredom too?
As the car came closer again, I saw new words had been written where the others had been, perking up. "Norae?" Did they want to know which was my favourite song or one I'd like to listen to? That would be hard to pick but what was one I'd like to listen to right now if I had the choice? Their music was cranked up loudly enough I could still hear it, not playing BTS now but a vibe I liked anyway. Maybe they'd be a travelling jukebox for me. Quickly I scribbled back, breathing onto the window. "New – ON. Old – Idol."
A hand wiped again, pausing to press the palm to the window for a moment, long hand and fingers visible before vanishing as the mist appeared in it's place. Was it a man in there? It was less common to find ARMY men but they were definitely out there. I watched a big heart appear and the words OK ARMY in the middle. I smiled. Now they were the ones being cute, I thought as the music was turned down and I waited to hear. It was faint but I could hear the strains of voices drifting from the car, too quiet to really tell what it was. Looking at the Uber driver again who was fiddling with the buttons on his air con, I wound the window down a little, trying to hear what song it was. Some kind of acoustic version of ON maybe?
"Can you hear," appeared and I shook my head, wondering how clearly they could see me and if they caught my movement. Their window drifted down a little too, just a few inches and I could hear the voices; clearer, louder, acoustic and I wondered where that recording was from. I felt like I had heard all the clips of them over the years but something always turned up to surprise me.
"When was that? Love it!" My writing covered almost the whole glass panel next to me and I had to keep breathing on it to keep it visible.
Their mist was replaced by a fresh canvas against the glass as the voices stopped. "2023.02.19."
I frowned. That was today. Breathing on the glass again, I drew a big question mark, wondering what they meant. Maybe BTS did a radio interview while I was on my way to work this morning which didn't seem likely since they were on hiatus. While I was thinking, our cars got out of sync, their one racing ahead much to my disappointment. Maybe now I'd never know. I could Google it though, find out when an acoustic version of ON had been performed That could pass the time and I did, drawing a blank at the results. None of the youTube clips that came up sounded as raw as what I'd heard and I realised it wasn't acoustic that I'd listened to, it was just vocals. Strange.
As our cars drew close again, I saw their window was blank, my question mark unanswered. Maybe they didn't understand what I was asking but that was OK. I'd enjoyed listening to what I'd heard anyway, very much. Breathing, I drew a smiley face followed by BTS and a wonky heart. Wiping that part away, I tried to draw the heart again, going over a little bump in the road, causing the heart to be lopsided and I rolled my eyes, wiping it away a third time. This time I drew it quickly before there was any chance of a mistake. BTS did make me smile and they did have my heart and I wondered if the ARMY in the other car felt the same. In return I got "smiley face ARMY heart" and laughed. If they meant ARMY made BTS smile and had their heart too then I hoped it was true. The relationship between ARMY and BTS had always felt reciprocated, wanting the best for each other. I watched as tiny heart after tiny heart appeared, rows and rows as they faded, more mist appearing, more hearts drawn and I laughed at the sight, pleased ARMY had kept me busy on this trip.
"Thank you ARMY" I said, noting my turn off was not too far ahead, finally able to get off this motorway.
The hearts disappeared, replaced by two words. "Not ARMY."
I frowned. For someone who wasn't ARMY, they sure knew a lot about how to make me smile and they had been able to find BTS songs at the drop of a hat.
"They all have my heart," I replied, voicing what my doodles had said earlier.
"Thank you," came the reply, again, weird that a non ARMY was thanking me for loving BTS. I just shrugged my shoulders, relying on the fact they could see me even if I couldn't see them and did a finger heart, followed by a two handed heart at my chest and finishing with a heart above my head. Glancing at the driver, I saw he was watching me in the rear vision window before looking away but I didn't care. Sometimes you just had to express your love for something and those gestures summed it up in that moment.
The window next to me inched down a little more and I watched, wondering if they were going to play me more music, smiling at the thought. Then it was lowered halfway and my mouth was frozen in the smile, eyes growing big as two dark haired men appeared, bread cheeks and a bunny smile shared between them as they grinned at me. Cranking out another live version of ON, sharing all the parts between them, I just stared, stunned, not really believing this was happening. They wiggled their fingers at me with a laugh as our cars took different paths, mine heading towards the off ramp. I came out of my shock as we separated and quickly threw a kiss at them. The last thing I saw of them were two hands, returning the flying kisses before they were gone, my mind all over the place. Winding the window all the way up, I sat back, hand clutched to my chest, sure my mouth was still hanging open in surprise. I was never going to complain about being stuck in traffic again.