This song is called 'Rain' by BTS. 

I actually named Areum's house after this song but then thought it'd be fun for Ms. Hwang to be a fan of the idol 'Rain'. Do give this song a listen. Jimin's last part in this does things to my brain. So does the start of Hobi's verse.

ALSO: STREAM STANDING NEXT TO YOU AND GOLDEN BY THE GOLDEN MAKNAE 

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Areum squints a bit as the air from the open window lashes at her face, making stray hair dance like the wobbly air dancers one sees at a carnival. Almost dozing off, she startles as a loud laugh rings around her.

Her mother was currently at the wheel of their car, a grey out-dated thing, and had just laughed at some wisecrack from Jimin who was at one of the windows in the backseat. Taehyung giggled from behind Areum. She looked at the maknae in the rear view mirror. He was squeezed between Jimin and Taehyung , who were both talking animatedly to Min-ah. 

Like her, Jungkook too seemed to not be paying attention to whatever antics their journey companions were engaged in. Instead he seemed utterly fascinated by the gear stick. His expression looked so lost, it was cute. 

'Jungshook' She smiled at her thought. 

Looking back outside, Areum approximated the time to reach Rain to be around ten minutes at the most. Her and Ms. Hwang had invited the three over for lunch. 

It started when while helping eachother out with dress and suit choices, Sejin had come inside the store to remind Yoongi of their time limit. Yoongi looked up from talking to Ms. Hwang about types of fabric materials and comfort and rolled his white shirt sleeve to look at his watch, an Audemar's Piguet, and seemed surprised at how fast time flew. 

He had lost track of the hour while with their new shopping companions. Yoongi would have to leave soon if he wanted to make it to office on time. They did not even have lunch yet and wow, wasn't he hungry. It seemed that his brothers shared the sentiment since not a second after Yoongi thought so he heard Jungkook's stomach rumble. He saw Ms. Hwang look over the the maknae as well. He was sure that if the woman had animalears, they would be twitching by that time. Her body language tensed up when Jimin whined to Yoongi about how they'd missed breakfast and were now hungry. 

The businessman in Yoongi saw a good opportunity. It was common knowledge in the Kim household that Ms. Hwang despised the idea of take-outs unless absolutely necessary. It was also agreed upon that Ms. Hwang's cooking skills could put him and Jin-Hyung a run for their money. Not that they ever complained. Another thing they collectively agreed upon was that they needed to bond a bit more with Areum. The shy girl was not one to start (or lead) conversations and steered clear of their path in college. While this was something most of them liked, they would however also like to know Areum a little better. If the younger girl shared her mother's opinions, she too would not like the idea of them potentially starving till someone comes to cook for them or have unhealthy take-outs. He knew dropping off the maknaes was not an option for the females, because 

1. It was impolite to make them go all the way to their house(mansion, really) and have them come back. It was un-gentlemanly and very dangerous. Who knew how many were waiting in the shadows just for a moment, an opportunity, a golden strike, something to hang over Bangtan's and Kim Sang-Yeob's heads. No. Just no.

2. Min-ah's car was old to the point it could be called ancient. The company had long since stopped making the model. It wouldn't even be repaired now if it broke down, except if his second-youngest had anything to do with that. He had the Midas' Touch for anything and everything machine. Taehyung was looking forward to an engineering degree and none of them had a doubt he would graduate summa cum laude. Back to the point, the grey grandmother to the new cars now held as much sentimental value as it had been useful. It would soon reach it's point of no return and Yoongi had no intentions for it to do so on their way to or from Tomorrow- their mansion. (Even if his father has been desperately looking for excuses to make Min-ah buy a car or at least gift her one.)

Hoping that the female duo took the bait he offered, the now black-haired boy gave a forlon sigh as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and looked at Jimin, pursing his lips into a thin line. "We are running late, Jimin. If I have to make it to the meeting, we need to leave now. You've all selected your outfits, right? Take them to the counter, I'll get them delivered later." 

He then sent a look at his most dramatic brother, one that screamed play along. In a tone painful enough to thaw the coldest of hearts, Taehyung said, "What about lunch, Hyung? I really don't want take-out again. We had that yesterday!" 

Taehyung's exclaimation seemed to be where Ms. Hwang drew the line. "Yoongi, what meeting? What is this about missing breakfast and apparently regular take-outs?" 

The pinched tone in her voice at the mention of the offending food parcels was not missed by anyone. Yoongi turned to her and explained the important meeting, and she undestood which one. It was one the company was preparing for about two weeks now. He also told her that they did not have time to cook breakfast in the morning and since they clearly did not have time to go out for lunch now, take-out was the solution. Both women now wore similar expressions of concern.

From the corner of his eyes, the second-eldest of Bangtan saw Taehyung squeeze Jungkook's hand twice and wondered what they were up to.

The maknae surprised Yoongi when he let out a tiny noise of disdain and turned to him with the most pitiful eyes he was capable of making. Ai, that cunning brat. He pretended to look at Yoongi, but his eyes were directly in Areum's view, who was standing in-front-of Jimin, who's shoulders had suddenly slouched down and plump lips formed a petulant pout.

Those devious, scheming little shits. He was proud. 

He knew Bambi Arrow™️  hit bullseye when Areum turned to her mother and suggested they invite them over for lunch. 

The weapon must have had a wider range of impact than expected, for Mrs. Potts was looking at them now with barely concealed pity from two aisles down. Seriously, the woman should've stopped eavesdropping by now. Sejin did not think of her as a threat, so he wouldn't worry about that now. If she was any weirder, their security head would handle that anyways.

Ms. Hwang searched for something in her daughter's eyes and she must have found whatever she was looking for, for she smiled slightly and told Yoongi to go for his meeting and she'd take the three to Rain- her home- for lunch. She did not ask- no, she told him. Because she had the power and right, he gave her that. 

The dark-haired male was content with picking up the maknae's after his meeting and eating at the comapny itself. Atleast the maknaes got to spend some more time with Min-ah and Areum which was some progress. But Ms. Hwang The Mother was a force to be reckoned with. It wouldn't be her if she did not manage to wrangle out a promise from him to come and eat something with them right after his meeting and have lunch at the office because "You need to eat more, child. And eat healthy. Whatever soggy sandwich they give you isn't going to be tasteful or nutritious. I will leave out a plate for you."  

Now Yoongi was both content and warm. 

From Areum's point of view she had decided that they would have lunch with them as soon as she saw their moods dampening and the three highschooler's metamorphical animal ears tails that had been wagging with excitement up until then droop down as if someone poured water in their milkshake. Yoongi, who was stoic most of the times she'd seen him looked resigned. She was having none of that. So was her mother.

They'd all gone to the car park together and waited by Ms. Hwang's till their chauffeur? Driver? Escort? Bodyguard?brought out their ride. Areum gave up on guessing the man's designation when she saw the gun holster concealed under his loose shirt. Bodyguard it is then. 

A humogous black SUV stopped in front of them and their maybe bodyguard rolled down his window. The two cars couldn't contrast more. 

Her mother was still chatting with the boys as Jimin rushed to open Areum's door for her while Yoongi did the same for Ms. Hwang. Areum smiled wide at Jimin and thanked him before getting her seat belt. Jimin smiled back in a beautiful eye smile she could see even under the pink Gentle Monster shades he was wearing and ran off to join his brothers in the backseat. 

Yoongi waited till Ms. Hwang pulled out of the drive way and onto the road before getting inside his car. 

When the two cars passed each other, the SUV clearly faster and a bit hurried, the boys in her backseat screamed out a "Bye Hyung!" quite unabashedly. Areum was surprised when she saw that shy Jungkook had joined them and was grinning wide. The bunny was bunnying. Bad boy? Who? There's just three cuties in her back seat.

The triple combo attack of cute and enthusiasm caused a momentary glitch in her system. 

Just when she thought she couldn't be surprised more, the passenger seat window of the SUV in front of them rolled down and a pale-veiny hand sporting a silver Audemar's Piguet waved back in a two-finger universal motion of bye before retreating back and the beast then picked up speed before disappearing at a turn. 

Needless to say, her jaw dropped a bit.

Present

Watching the trees on the roadside and a few random kiosks or people, Areum got comfortable, sinking into the cushions that she'd planted herself on the passenger seat a few years ago. Her mother making small talk with the boys and the familiar noisy hum of their car was a soothing background noise; and the girl closed her eyes.

The once a beauty was bought by them when the girl was around five at the cheapest prize only because Ms. Hwang's workplace and her babysitter's was too far from their then ratty old apartment. Areum's father had passed away quite recently, causing a heavy fianancial unstability. Buying a car took a toll on their already low finances, but it would be a better investment than the economical, mental and physical cost that came with absolutely jam-packed buses. 

Taking a bus was easy, but taking a crowded one daily with the additional weight of a toddler was actually difficult, and some might agree, in a way dangerous. So when someone from Min-ah's then workplace wanted to sell their car, Ms. Hwang knew the opportunity was not to be missed. 

Coming out of her exhaustion induced stupor, Areum checked the window to see they had reached Hope Street and home was just around two turns in. 

She looked at herself in the side mirror and was mildly horrified but not surprised at the condition of her hair. The bird's nest cosplay was bound to happen with an open window, but thankfully her hair was tied back in a single loose plait. It was the small hair that gave her the mad scientist look. 

Gathering her wayvard hair she looked ahead to see the outline of Rain, only to give a not-so-quiet groan of despair, interrupting whatever gossip Jimin, Taehyung and her mother were engaged in and pulling Jungkook out of his fixated stare at the gearstick.

"What's the matter, honey?" Ms. Hwang asked. 

"We have company, not you three, but waiting at the gates." Areum replied.

It was almost comical, the way everyone turned to stare at the approaching house and ultimately, the distant figure of an old woman carrying something in her hands and - was that a chihuahua in the basket?

Hi. How was this? How are you? 

To people that might not have understood this yet:This is somewhat of a slow-burn. I like describing the scenes in details, and it more often than not crosses 1k. Like this chapter is more than 2.3k words.

Thank you for reading. The votes, comments mean a lot, so if you can: do comment because this author treasures comments and votes with the same ferocity of a dragon to it's hoard.

If you see mistakes, do not hesitate to point them out but also remember to be the socially required amount of polite.

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The note below is for ARMY. If you are not one, this might not relate to you but you are welcome to read it if you want to!

13th November, 2023 marks the seventh anniversary of the day Taehyung gave us the phrase, "Borahae", translating to "I Purple You" -a phrase that has become synonymous to Bangtan. In his words, "Do you know what purple means? Purple is the last color of the rainbow. Purple means I will trust and love you for a long time." He said he just made it up, but it holds so much value now.

Happy Purple Day, ARMY.💜💜

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Picture credits: Pinterest