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Checking the time on your watch and the location for the tenth time to make sure you really were at the right place, you pulled open the heavy entrance doors and stepped into mayhem.
If you hadn’t been certain that you were right, now you knew. There were throngs and throngs of women and girls everywhere, chatting, giggling, laughing.
This wasn’t really how you had imagined you Saturday night to be like. It wasn’t as if you had any specific plan, but being inside a building and competing with young girls for your man’s attention wasn’t really something that excited you too much.
You handed your ticket to the attendant, who in return guided you towards reception for you to get your bidding card and get registered.
A few moments later you were all set up and ready to go – so to speak.
You hadn’t really any clue how this works and what would be best, but the one thing you were beat on was that you’d get seats rather in the front. You decided to arrive a little early just to make sure to get a seat with a good view to the stage and from the stage to your seat.
The closer you got to the stage the more buzz and people seemed to be everywhere. But you guessed everyone tried to get a good seat at this venue, hopefully being able to inspect what was on offer from a good angle. They could definitely kick that hope to the curb when your man was concerned. Sure, you couldn’t stop them from looking and hoping, but you crush these hopes pretty early in the game!
You had expected a lot, but seeing someone you knew was surprising. But then again….
“Hey…,“ you said surprised to the girl in front of you. “What are you doing here?”
She turned around and looked equally surprised. “I…,” she started sighing. “Long story short, I’m here to save ChimChim from the evil ex. He literally begged me to come here and make sure his evil ex doesn’t end up placing the winning bid.”
“Why would she? They split,” you mused confused.
“Well…. ChimChim called it quits and she didn’t really have a say in that matter. But I guess when you are caught cheating you shouldn’t have a say to begin with.”
You remembered how that all had ended and how bad you felt for him. Poor Jimin was a fragile soul – so to speak – and that he had caught his girlfriend cheating ended a part of his world. He had been head over heels from what you could tell and what the guys and his best friend next to you had ben telling you. So him catching her cheating surely couldn’t have been easy. You hadn’t heard much about the split – and didn’t ask. It hadn’t been your business and if he wanted to tell you something, you’d always listen, but you wouldn’t poke your nose into someone else’s business.
“So what are you doing here?” Kara asked back and you sat down next to her.
“Ohhh, I need to make sure that no one takes my man home.”
She laughed softly, nodding. “So you got called in as well as savior?”
“No. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t even know I’m here or that I know he is participating. I just found out by coincidence.”
“How mad are you? Or rather, how much groveling does he need to do to get back on your good side?” Kara asked and you laughed.
“I’m not really mad. I mean this is for charity. And he is the branch manager. I guess when all of his guys participate in this it would look kind of weird if he said no. As a matter of fact I’m more annoyed that none of you girls told me.”
“Well, I didn’t know that you don’t know to be honest. I would have figured that he’d tell you just to make sure that a situation like this doesn’t come up and misunderstandings are already cleared up before they can get created.”
“I guess it isn’t the easiest topic to bring up in conversation. Like, you can’t just say ‘Hey babe, guess what? Me and the other guys participate in this auction thing. But no worries, I love only you’.”
“So, you don’t mind any of this?” she asked surprised and interested.
You let out a sigh. “Look, it isn’t as if I didn’t know what I’d get myself into once we started dating. There is a part of me that is proudly broadcasting ‘Do your worst ladies, he’s still coming home with me tonight’ and I also feel some weird sense of proudness that he is my man and all these girls want him but can’t have him. I mean, let’s be honest, most of the girls that go to HOT SHOT ain’t there for the coffee. And Jin has never given me any reason to be jealous or doubt him. Do I wish he would have told me? Yes. Do I sort of understand why he didn’t? Yes again. Will I give him a hard time at the end of this? You bet I will,” you laughed, enjoying this way too much.
“Oh, I sense a very interesting night ahead of us,” she laughed at you, seeing your enjoyment.
All of a sudden both of you heard another familiar voice next to you. “I… wasn’t expecting you two to be here…” came the surprised statement,
You both turned to you left to see Jessica, Jungkook’s best friend.
“Not you as well,” Kara said with sorrow. “Jungkook asked you to save him, didn’t he?” she asked and just one look at Jessica and you knew he didn’t. Though it would have been something you could imagine him doing. He was a sweet kid, but when it came to events like this one you felt like he might feel a little uncertain and overwhelmed. You also knew something most others didn’t. Jessica had been Jungkooks’s best friend for years and probably for as long had she been in love with him. She usually kept it quiet and you had only found out about by coincidence a few months back.
Instead of acknowledging her reason for being here and maybe giving away her secret you just nodded and held up a thump. You had always found the two of them to make a cute couple, but that was before you knew Jessica was in love with her best friend. Now that you knew, you always tried pushing her his direction and getting her to confess, but she was rather unwilling – which you understood. If this went wrong she wouldn’t just loose her chances with her crush, but would maybe even loose her best friend. It was quite a risk to take and one that must have been hard to decide on. She took the seat to your right and asked the two of you what you were doing here without actually answering Kara’s question. Kara didn’t even seem to notice.
It was amusing how the three of you all had different reasons for being here and how you had managed to find each other with all these masses of girls surrounding you.
Out of all the seven guys you knew that would be here Jin was up first. He looked good enough to eat, but then again that wasn’t anything new with him As far as you were concerned he always looked good. All business, he was wearing a suit and could easily have doubled for James Bond. All he was missing in fact was a martini glass in his hand and the look would have been completed.
Jin took pride in his good looks, but they also could be a curse. A few nasty people around town kept insisting the only reason my boyfriend was branch manager was because he looked good. And while he looked good, he sure as hell had plenty of talents that all supported his position as branch manager. On some days you hated people not looking hard enough to see all his talents and hard work that he poured into the job each and every single day. On other you were happy that just a few very well selected people were allowed to see the whole pallet of things Jin had to offer.
He smiled into the crowd, gave a little uncertain wave when he was introduced by the auctioneer and you heard all the girls around you giggle and titter and discuss their bidding. You hadn’t expected this to be easy, no, you knew your man would draw quite a bit of attention, but you hoped this wasn’t going to get too expensive.
The starting bid hadn’t even been fully announced by the auctioneer when the first one already shouted her matching bid. That was followed by three of four other girls matching each other and quickly you realized this was going to end in a bit of a war. You hadn’t even started bidding yet and this had only been going on for a few moments and you already had a swift 500 bucks as standing bid.
“Your man sure as hell isn’t going to be a bargain,” Kara next to you mentioned at which you just shrugged. You came prepared. With quite a lot of money. You didn’t plan on using it all, but you had no problems if the need arose.
“No, but worth every cent,” you said smiling, before lifting your bidding card and entering that war zone. Around you there were a few surprised moans, none of your competition probably happy that there was another one interested, but what was the most interesting was Jin on stage. He hadn’t really paid much attention to the previous bids, but when you shouted your bid, his head swung around and his eyes scanned the crowd until they fell on you.
You gave him a small wave paired with a smile that indicated you weren’t really mad. Judging by his first reaction this had been his first fear once spotting you. His fear was replaced by a smile that could blind the whole room and if anyone did have any doubt about who this guy would go to tonight, now it was clear that no one else stood a chance.
A few brave souls who didn’t get the memo kept bidding but eventually they stood no chance against you. Whatever they said, you matched their bid and raised it. Eventually they had to give up, probably thinking that the amount of money you were by now talking about wasn’t worth a ‘what if’ and a dinner that could potentially not lead to anything.
There was in the end only one other girl left and she seemed to be persistent. Whatever you bid, she matched and rose and this was going on for quite a few minutes by now.
“Who is she?” Kara next to you asked annoyed. You turned around, trying to get a view of your competition and had to admit you had no clue. She somehow look familiar, but you couldn’t place her. From the few pictures you had seen of Jin’s ex-girlfriends, she didn’t look like any of them, so much was for sure. That wouldn’t even have made sense anyway, seeing how you and Jin had been dating for almost two years by now. No ex-girlfriend would now come crawling out of the woods.
“Isn’t she that food critique from the local paper?” Jessica said and now it made click. She was indeed.
“Why would the local food critique get into a bidding war?” Kara asked confused and you all of a sudden you knew.
“You got to be kidding me,” you almost cursed, getting surprised and concerned looks from Jessica and Kara. “Well, his cooking skills are amazing. And everyone knows it. I mean he isn’t just the branch manager of HOT SHOT but also takes care of the food they sell there, with most it having been created by him,” you confirmed, knowing that first hand. “And she is known for a series called “The naked kitchen.”
“Oh, I think I read one of these articles. She writes about chefs that are using only natural ingredients and do everything from scratch,” Jessica quipped in and you nodded.
“The idea of the series is that she promotes natural, well made food that doesn’t use artificial stuff and chemicals or whatnot, hence the name ‘Naked kitchen’. The food that she writes about is stripped of anything artificial or store bought.”
“And that has what exactly to do with Jin?” Kara asked confused. She probably hadn’t read the articles. Judging by Jessica’s rather deep blush the same couldn’t be said about the other girl.
“Well, the way the articles are written is a rather raunchy and direct way. Giving naked kitchen also a very direct and literal second meaning. She never actually writes how these evenings when they cook for her, end, but well… it is implied. With the chef being naked. And her probably as well….”
“What?” Kara asked confused. “How have I not have heard about that series. Finally two things I like combined. Food and sex!”
“That’s not the point,” you explained while Jessica next to you only shouted “Kara!”
“Yeah maybe. But what are you worried about? The winning bid gets dinner with the guy she won. In a restaurant. As in out and about town. Not back at his place for a private cooking lesson.”
“Maybe she didn’t get that memo,” Jessica said and I turned around once more, looking at her again. The look on her face was telling me she wasn’t here for any professional reasons.
“Maybe she doesn’t care,” I conquered.
“Then you better get your claws out, kitten. This is a war you don’t wanna lose,” Kara laughed and I just nodded. I wasn’t planning on loosing this one, that much was for sure. If anyone got to get a personal tasting of Jin’s cooking skills out of this it would be me.
The two of us were continuously bidding, raising the bids only slowly and steadily. Until I had enough and figured a bolder choice in regards of bids might have gotten my message across better.
I held up my bidding card and shouted “2500” raising the current bid by almost 1000 bucks. The murmur around me that started all of a sudden let me know that my announcement was loud and clear. The question was whether little Miss Food Critique would have gotten it as well.
Jin looked impressed with me and I felt rather proud. It wasn’t as if I was here to mark my territory. Sure, some could argue that was why I was here exactly. Why else would I bid on my boyfriend and make sure he didn’t get won by someone else. But it wasn’t as if I planned on announcing that he was my boyfriend once all of this was over. For everyone in the room I was just a rather aggressive bidder – just like Miss Food Critique – and nothing else. And that’s how I’d keep it.
Another two or three slower bids and my competition finally called it quits. The current bid was standing at 2800 and I was about to win. Unless some other insane person decided to join this war. Which I hope they didn’t. Sure, I still had enough money on me to keep going for a while, but I didn’t need to unless absolutely necessary.
The moments until the winning bid was announced felt like hours ticked by, but when it was finally announced that my bid was the winning one I felt a huge weight being lifted of my shoulders. Finally this was over. And it had been weirdly enough much more nerve wrecking than you had anticipated or needed.
Jessica next to you clapped excited, while Kara patted your back as if this had been some huge achievement. You needed to smile to yourself when you heard the loud curses of the food critique a few rows behind you and couldn’t help but turn around, smiling at her triumphantly.
Now all that was left was taking care of the forms you were supposed to fill out. But before that you needed to make sure Jessica got her man as well. You didn’t worry about Kara. She was a fighter and wouldn’t go down without a good battle. Jimin was in good hands with her.
With all of you having succeeded in what you came here for, you made your way towards the exit, ready to fill out these forms and claim your prize.
Jin apparently was already waiting for you by the register, smiling widely at you, while you took the forms that needed to be filled out.
“I love you,” he exclaimed, making you smile at him.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” you answered, still smiling.
“I should have told you about this right from the start. I should have known there was no way of keeping this from you.”
“I actually only found out by a mere coincidence. So you would probably have been good with all of this. Not sure though how you would have wanted to keep that dinner away from me.”
“I… actually didn’t think that far ahead. This was a stupid idea to begin with. If the other’s wouldn’t have thought this to be a great idea, I wouldn’t even have participated,” he explained, comfirming your initial suspicions.
“So, whose idea was it anyway?” you asked curiously.
“Take a wild guess,” Jin prompted you and you didn’t need to think very long or hard.
“Taehyung,” you stated, not really needing any confirmation.
Jin just nodded, grinning. “I think it took him about a minute to convince Kookie and Hope. After that ChimChim and Joonie were easy and once he had Namjoon, Suga was an easy feat. I couldn’t do anything else but agree.”
“My poor baby boy,” you cooed, patting his cheek. He roll his eyes at you which made you smile even wider at him.
Choosing to ignore your cooing, he took your hand. “It says I need to contact you to set a date for our dinner,” he informed you about something you already knew yourself.
“I know,” you just said, not sure what else to say.
“How does tonight sound? You free?” Jin asked grinning and you grinned back.
“What a coincidence. My schedule is wiiiiiiide open.”
“I guess we found our date, now let’s find something worth your money,” he said, pulling you towards him for a quick kiss and the next moment out of the door into the night and more adventures.