It all started in the park

Chapter 6 - The chance that gave me hope

It was around 11:30 when the two girls arrived at the park. Right after they got off the bus, Jessica pulled up a map she had found on Google.

"Okay, so we're currently at the McDonald's Cycle Center. We should be able to get to the Great Lawn through here. I think it'd be best if we camped there." She looked at Emalee for reassurance.

"Yeah, I agree." Emalee said. "They're bound to walk past it at least once."

Jessica nodded.

"We should sit near the Lurie Garden," Emalee continued. "They'll get a glimpse of the Great Lawn through the main entrance, but they'll have to come back for that garden."

Jessica nodded again. "Good thinking."

They quickly walked to their new spot and enjoyed the view, while waiting for BTS to arrive.

~

"Hyung, we're about to leave. Are you ready?" Jimin was standing in front of Hoseok's bedroom door, not sure if he should open it or not. It was five past twelve and their plan had been to leave at twelve sharp. A few members were getting impatient, so they sent Jimin to go get the remaining member.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Hoseok squeaked from the other side of the door.

Jimin stared at the still closed door in front of him, as he heard some rummaging on the other side. After about thirty seconds, he decided to try again. This time, his tone held a hint of impatience.

"Hyung?"

A crash.

"Hyung, what are you doing? Are you okay?"

Silence.

Jimin stood there, still confused. It was time to go inside. Jimin put his hand on the doorknob.

"Hyung, I'm coming-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, the door opened and Hoseok flew out of his room, quickly reclosing the door behind him.

"I'm ready. Sorry for the wait."

Jimin nodded slowly. "Good... So, what were you doing in there? I heard a crash."

"Hmm?" Hoseok replied in a somewhat nervous tone. "I don't-" he coughed to get his voice back to its usual pitch. "I don't know what you're talking about." He quickly walked to the front door. "Are you coming or do you plan to make us wait even longer?" He said teasingly.

Jimin, at a loss of words, stared at the elder boy for a second before a smile emerged on his face. "No way." He replied with a smirk as he quickly ran past Hoseok to get to the car first. Hoseok laughed at Jimin's competitive reaction and closed the front door behind him.

"At least I got him distracted." He said to himself as he approached the company van.

~

"Hey Em."

No reaction.

"Em, get up."

Nothing.

Jessica looked at her friend who was literally taking a nap in the early afternoon. Jessica sighed and moved closer to the unconscious girl laying in front of her. "What'd be the best way to wake you up..." she muttered to herself as she stared at the girl's face. She let her gaze slide down her body, until it halted at the sides of Emalee's stomach. A mischievous smile formed on Jessica's face as she let both hands move closer to her friends' sides. Suddenly, she poked them hard.

A shock ran through Emalee's body and her eyes flew open as she shot up, her hands covering her sides.

"What the hell are you doing?" she said shocked, a hint of agitation in her voice.

"Oh, I don't know." Jessica replied with a shrug. "Waking you up so you don't end up regretting life maybe?"

Emalee looked at her in confusion for a bit. It took her a few seconds before she realized what was going on.

"Sorry, I was out of it. So, what's up?"

Jessica grabbed her phone. "Well," she started. "It says here that BTS was sighted at the Cloud Gate roughly forty-five minutes ago," she pointed at the tweets on her screen. "I haven't seen any posts about them being at other locations though." She added hastily when she saw Emalee's expression turn into that of pure panic. "I think they're still here, but they're probably wrapping up. So, try to keep your eyes open."

Emalee felt her stomach turn. She had tried to get a good night's sleep the evening before, but the nerves had kept her up. Worries like 'what if he doesn't recognize me?' had been bothering her a lot for the past two days. She just didn't want it to become awkward.

"H-hey," Jessica said in a soft voice, but still managing to pull Emalee out of her thoughts. "Doesn't that mob of teenage girls look like they could be ARMY?"

Emalee's head shot from left to right. "Where?" she said in a determined yet scared voice. It sounded like she was on the verge of panicking.

"Over there." Jessica pointed towards the BP Bridge. Emalee noticed the mob now as well. It was approaching the parking lot stationed right next to the bridge.

Suddenly, the two girls heard a loud "JUNGKOOK OPPA, SARANGHAE!"

As if they had practiced it before-hand, the two girls shot up simultaneously.

"Go!" Jessica shouted at Emalee. "I'll grab the stuff, I'm right behind you!"

Emalee nodded and broke into a run. She quickly reached the mob of people. Unfortunately, her height that lingered between 5'2 and 5'3 wasn't of much help. She couldn't look over the heads of her fellow-fangirls at all. She got on her toes and managed to catch a glimpse of the six guys that she had only seen on her computer-screen and the one guy that she had met. She saw them approaching the company van and desperation started to kick in.

'Screw it', she thought and she ran past the mob, onto the grass to get closer to the one that she wanted to see the most: J-Hope. She saw the opened van door, which scared her even more than the mob of screaming fangirls stationed next to her. She watched as the members got into the van. She didn't see Namjoon, Jin or Yoongi, so she guessed that they had gone inside already. Taehyung was still getting on as Jimin waited impatiently. This meant that there were only two members left: Jungkook and J-Hope.

Emalee's heart skipped a beat as she laid eyes on her bias for the second time that week. She tried to shout his name, but her voice got stuck in her throat. She couldn't create a single sound, when suddenly, she felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder. It was Jessica.

"J-HOOOPE!" she shouted, which sent Emalee over the edge.

"J-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPE!"

She shouted as loud as she could, causing Hoseok to stop walking and turn his head. He looked around, trying to find the person that the voice belonged to. Hoseok's sudden stop made Jungkook walk into him.

"Hyung, please keep walking. We have to go."

Hoseok looked around one more time before resuming his walk.

"But I recognize that voice from somewhere," he muttered.

He was up next to get into the van, so he looked around one last time, scanning every face he saw.

Emalee saw J-Hope standing in the door opening, looking around once again.

"Over here!" Jessica shouted, catching J-Hope's attention. His eyes locked into Emalee's, but before either one of them could react, Jungkook pushed the poor guy in front of him into the van. He quickly hopped in as well and hastily slid the door behind him shut. A few seconds later, the van took off.