Nari leaned against the trunk of her beloved tree and looked up at the patches of blue sky she could see through the leaves. She wouldn't miss this place at all. Not one bit. But for some reason, she felt reluctant to leave. As soon as she walked out those gates something completely new would begin. She knew nothing about the outside world and how to live in it. Everything familiar and comfortable existed in this playground and the building before it, and she hated that fact because it was the truth.

But she had Namjoon now, and during these past few weeks she'd missed him much more than what she was willing to admit. This orphanage was never where she belonged, and even though Nari didn't quite know where she was going, she knew that it was somewhere that would truly feel like home.

"Hey there."

A tall figure entered the courtyard, causing Nari to jolt in surprise, but her face soon melted into a big grin once she recognized who the voice belonged to, "Namjoon!" She eagerly ran over to greet him and laughed as he playfully picked her up and spun her around like she was a small child, "I missed you!"

"I missed you too," Namjoon replied lovingly before putting her down, "My darling, are you ready to go home?"

"Nari!" J-Hope called from the gate, "Hi! I'm so happy to see you!"

The girl smiled widely and looked to Namjoon for permission to greet the other boy. He nodded and gave her shoulder an encouraging nudge, "Go ahead. He's been asking about you."

And with that, she eagerly trotted over to the gate, "Hobi," Nari said shyly, "J-Hope. You said I was your hope."

"You remember me!" The dark-haired boy exclaimed and grabbed her hands excitedly, "You are my hope, Nari. Don't forget that, okay?"

"Stop hogging all the affection! It's my turn!" Taehyung shoved the older boy aside and waved to the girl, "Hi! Do you remember me too?"

Nari nodded, "Uh huh. You're Taehyung."

"That's right!" He gave her a bright grin, "I'm your big brother Tae. I'm so excited that you're finally coming home!"

"Is everyone else inside?" Namjoon asked, appearing beside them.

"Yeah," J-Hope answered, "Actually, we should probably go help. There's still a lot more to do."

"Help?" Nari looked to the tallest boy for an explanation. He just smiled and gently took her hand, leading her inside the building where they were greeted by a sea of backpacks in every color of the rainbow. Her eyes widened as she managed to speak, "So many. So many backpacks."

Namjoon smiled, "Well, I saw the condition yours was in, so I thought that it would be nice to give everyone an upgrade. They're filled with pencils, snacks, markers, drawing paper, little things like that." He picked up a red one at his feet and read the name tag, "Let's deliver this one ourselves, okay? This is for Mi-Yung."

"Oh, she was one of my roommates," The girl said, "Here, I'll show you." Nari led him up a couple flights of stairs and into a room that didn't seem like it changed at all since Namjoon's last visit. The walls were still bare and the cots had the same thin sheets. Another boy was there as well, who waved to them.

"My name is Jungkook," He bowed politely, "It's very nice to meet you again. I'm looking forward to being your big brother, little Nari."

Before she could respond, a different boy slammed open the door and excitedly introduced himself, "Hi! I'm Jimin!" His chocolate colored bangs flopped over his eyes playfully and he gave her a big smile, "Nari, I'm so happy to see you again!"

"It's nice to see the both of you as well," She blushed and managed a quick bow, not quite used to all of the attention, "T-Thank you for coming."

"Of course!" Jimin replied, "We want to help you, sweetheart. Now, which bed is yours? I bet you're glad to get out of here. All seven of us had to share a room when we were trainees and it really sucked."

Nari pointed to the middle one, "That one. It has my name above it, see? Well, I guess I'll have to erase it though since I'm leaving."

"Here, let me make one final touch before you do," The energetic boy took a dry erase marker and wrote neatly in front of the characters for her name, "There we go. Kim Nari. That's better."

"Kim Nari." Namjoon repeated and nudged her shoulder lovingly, "It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

The girl nodded shyly, "Uh huh. It does."

"Hey! You guys are taking away my bonding time!" Yet another tall boy burst into the room, "I won the rock paper scissors championship, I get to be with Nari first!" He smiled and held out his hand for her to take, "Hi! I'm Kim Seokjin, or you can call me Jin if you want to. Come with me, okay?"

Nari looked to Namjoon, who nodded encouragingly. "Go ahead, he's right." He said, "Technically you're supposed to spend the day with Jin while we finish up here and get your room set up at the dorm. We'll meet up again for dinner."

"Alright," She tentatively agreed, looking up at Jin, "Where are we going?"

"A surprise!" The boy's eyes glinted with adventure, "But I promise you'll like it."

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"Are you okay?" Jin asked the girl beside him, who stopped in her tracks as soon as they entered the busy marketplace, "Is something wrong?"

Nari shook her head slowly, still starstruck, "It's just, I didn't know this many colors existed in the whole world."

"Beautiful, right?" He spread his arms wide, gesturing to the seemingly endless expanse of booths, "I love coming here. There's always something new to find."

She managed a nod and continued to stare at the marketplace. Nari could feel all five of her senses spilling up and over the top, begging her to explore and experience all that she could. The girl looked up at Jin, who smiled and stepped towards the closest booth to their right, prompting her to follow cautiously behind him.

This particular booth sold all sorts of different snacks. Nari excitedly rummaged through the brightly colored packaging, remembering all of the times she had stared longingly at convenience store windows hoping that one day she would have the money to buy some all for herself. Outside food brought into the orphanage had to be brought to the staff to be evenly distributed to the other kids before it could be eaten. Smuggling it in wasn't an option either due to random bag or room checks throughout the day. All hope for snack food was solely sustained within money and generous friends with money, of which Nari had neither.

"Seokjin?" She asked quietly, catching the attention of the tall boy beside her.

"Yeah, kiddo? What's up?" He replied, "And you can just call me Jin. I promise you're not being rude or anything."

"Okay," She paused, "Jin." The words still didn't feel quite right on her tongue. She supposed that she would get more used to it in time. "Would it be okay if I got some snacks?"

Jin nodded, "Of course. Actually, we should probably get enough for the rest of the guys too. This'll save me an aisle at the grocery store."

After a generous period of narrowing down her choices, Nari picked up a five or so packages of the junk food that she wanted to try the most. She didn't want to seem greedy, after all. However, when she went up to pay for the snacks with Jin she saw that he had almost 3 times as much as her in his possession. That much could have fed at least a couple rooms in the orphanage. Do boys really eat that much?

"Are you sure that's all you want?" The boy asked as he placed his armful of snacks on the payment table, "You can get some more if you want. They're like really cheap, if cost is what you're worried about."

She shook her head, "Uh, I think I'm good. There's a lot here anyway."

"Alright." Jin handed a few bills over to the saleslady that was bagging their food, "I'm gonna warn you though, protect your share with your life. The rest of the guys will eat anything that isn't already claimed."

"Sounds like the orphanage."

He smiled, "Well then, I guess you're an experienced player, huh?"

Nari nodded shyly as she picked up a few bags of snack food. Jin was so kind. She hoped that the rest of the boys were as nice as him. Nonetheless, she also wondered what they were doing right about now. The girl deeply anticipated seeing her room; a space that was all her own and no one else's. Just thinking about it made the butterflies jump in her stomach.

"Hey Nari! There's something else I want to get you here." Jin spoke up, interrupting her from her thoughts, "But it's a bit expensive, so we can't tell the rest of the boys how much it costs, okay?"

"What is it?" She asked curiously they zig-zagged through various stands, "And what about you? Don't you want to get something for yourself?"

He laughed, "Oh, don't worry, this is a combo gift. Something for me, something for you." The tall boy stopped in front of a large booth covered in all different colors and patterns of fabric, "Here we are. So, kiddo, have you ever gotten fitted for a hanbok?"

"Good afternoon!" A woman organizing cloth from inside the booth called out, "Can I help you with anything?"

Jin stepped inside with Nari following behind him, "Actually, yes. I'd like to purchase custom hanboks for me and my sister."

"Excellent!" She exclaimed and picked up a measuring tape from the table beside her, "I can have you two fitted right away."

"Awesome. Thank you." Jin nodded and turned to the younger girl, "I'll go first. Nari, why don't you go look around and choose the fabric for yours?" He grinned, "Make it pretty, okay?"

Nari managed a slight smile and turned her attention to the racks of cloth surrounding the three of them. She had only worn a hanbok once, and that was for 30 minutes in a school festival. That hanbok had been pretty plain, white blouse and red skirt, so she wasn't sure what colors were appropriate to choose.

"Seokjin?" She timidly called out

"You can just call me Jin." He reminded her, "And what is it?"

"What colors are you going to get?"

Jin bit his lip, "Hmmm, I was thinking a dark pink for the vest, white for the sleeves, and brownish maroon for the pants or something. And why do you ask? Do you want to match?"

"Uh-huh!" Nari nodded eagerly. If she and Jin chose matching colors, then she wouldn't have to make a big decision. The girl felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"Alright. You're done." The woman running the stand finished writing Jin's dimensions down, "Next up is you, girly."

The boy ruffled her hair as she stepped up to the front of the booth, "I'll go look for some colors for us."

Nari stiffly held her arms out and allowed the woman to measure her, trying to avoid as much small talk as possible. Jin looked happy going through all of the different fabric. Occasionally he'd pick up one and look at for a little while longer before either putting it back or setting it aside for later. She admired his ability to smoothly make decisions like that.

For all her life she had been told what and where she could and couldn't do, go, say, wear, and eat, among other things. She had dreamed of the freedom to do whatever she wanted for so long, but as it turns out, freedom is hard. Freedom means making your own decisions. No one is there to tell you if you're making the right choice or the wrong one. Nari didn't like that kind of insecurity.

"Aren't these colors cool!" Jin exclaimed and held up the pieces of fabric that he picked out; a dark fuscia-like pink, light cream, and dark brown.

The girl nodded, "They look good."

"She needs a color for her blouse." The woman measuring Nari spoke up, "I would suggest teal or some sort of green."

"Like this?" Jin presented them with a greenish-blue rack of fabric, "Is this good?"

"It's pretty." Nari replied, "I like that."

"Alright. You're done." The shopkeeper said and picked up the racks of cloth that Jin had picked out, "I'll have these done in about a week."

Jin grinned, "Thank you so much." He turned to Nari, "So, now that we're done here, I was thinking maybe ice cream?"

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hey friends! don't forget to vote and maybe leave me a comment too

also what album is your favorite? i really like wings. i think mama and reflection are my favorite tracks from that album. 21st century girl hits hard af as well