Eighteen

Author POV

Hoseok and Layla sat on her bed in her old room, looking at the boxes of things they packed up. After their "session" they ignored the rest of Bangtan and started getting things ready to take back to her apartment.

Hoseok flopped back on the bed and sighed. "I'm gonna miss you here. I was wanting you to go to the practice room with me in the morning before we record." He looked at her. "Aish, this sucks."

Layla laid beside him and turned on her side, slowly moving her hand through his hair. "I'm going to need some help moving some of this tonight. Do you wanna come with me?"

He raised his brow. "Like spend the night?"

"Mmhmm." She nodded. "I'm not going to be able to fit much in my car, but having an extra pair of arms will help me get things in quicker." She yawned and then laughed. "Wanna have a sleepover? We can ride to Big Hit together so we can get some excercise in."

"Cool." He smiled. "Do I need to bring anything?"

"Just clothes for tomorrow and maybe a tooth brush. I've got towels thanks to Sejin! Oh," she giggled. "And a new microwave and pots and pans."

He laughed back and pulled her close to him. She laid her head and his chest and closed her eyes.

She wasn't going to fool herself into thinking that she wasn't falling for any of these guys, because the truth? She was. She had a connection with all of them. Even if some of them were strained.

Hobi tapped the top of her head and she looked up at him. "What is it, Hoseokie?"

"When were you going to tell me that you saw Tae and I in the bathroom?"

Laylas face got hot and she buried her face into his neck.

"You saw me?" She groaned. "Oh my god, Hobi."

He chuckled. "I didnt see you. Tae did." He lifted up her head and winked. "Is that why you had shower sex with Jimin?"

"Kill me now."

Hoseok laughed again and pinched Laylas cheeks, causing her to grin. "You bad girl," he teased. "I think you need to be punished."

Layla sat up and shoved his chest. "Oh, no. We've got to move some of this shit tonight. That can wait until later."

"Okay okay, just kidding." He smiled. "What boxes do you want to take first?"

"Uh," Layla said getting off of the bed. "Just these two, it's my clothes."

Hobi got up and picked up one of the boxes when a small pin fell out of the side. He squatted down and picked it and turned it over. It was a small pin, with a picture of Layla and Jackson smiling at the last award show before his plane went down.

He looked over at her; she was taping the top of the box that she grabbed, humming to herself. He didnt want to make you upset, but he also didnt want this to risk getting lost. He sat the box down on the ground and walked over to her, slightly tapping her shoulder.

She stood up and smiled at him, then it faltered when she saw what he was holding.

"This fell out of the box. I didn't want it to fall out again when we moved these."

She took the pin and stared at it; a faint smile forming on her lips. "This was a fun night," she began. "They won the TikTok Popular Artist award. Do you remember?"

Hobi nodded. "We were so excited for them."

"He was bummed before that. He wanted Got7 to win Best Male Group. You know how competitive him and Namjoon were." She laughed. "He said the TikTok award was the best award that they recieved that year at MAMA. BamBam took this picture for us. This was right before we got engaged."

Her eyes moved to Hobi's soft brown ones. "You miss him too, don't you?"

He sighed and shuffled his feet. "When he died, it hit the whole K-Pop industry hard. I was pissed when Got7 started touring again. I mean how can you have Got7 without Jackson?" He ran his hand through his hair and took a breath. "I just wish we knew you back then. You shouldn't have went through all of that alone. Especially the death of your parents."

Layla placed the pin in her pocket and then walked into Hoseoks arms, hugging him tightly. "Thank you, Hobi. I have all of you now so I'm not alone anymore."

"Yeah," he sighed and placed his chin on the top of her head. "You will never be alone again. I promise."

Layla and Hobi took the boxes into the living room and placed them on the coffee table. Jin and Namjoon were playing cards on the couch, Taehyung, Jimin, Jungkook and Yoongi were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are the rest of the fools, Hyungs?" Hoseok said as he tied the laces on his Nike shocks.

"Out." Jin said laying a card down. "I dont know where."

"DAMN IT, JIN HYUNG, WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO ME." Namjoon yelled and then threw his cards on the floor. "That's it. I'm not playing with you anymore."

"World Wide Handsome and World Wide Card Player," Jin said as he laughed. "I'm good at everything, you know?"

Namjoon rolled his eyes and grabbed the remote to turn on the tv. Hobi walked back over to you and tapped your shoulder. "I'll go get a change of clothes and we can leave if you want."

Layla nodded. "Okay, Hobi. I'll be right here."

Hoseok walked off to his room and Namjoon sighed. "He staying with you, tonight?"

"Yeah," she said fiddling with his fingers. "I asked him to since I needed to take some of my boxes to the apartment."

Namjoon nods and looks back at the tv. "Jin, get us a beer and I'll find an action flick."

"Fine." Seokjin sighed. "Eomma Jin is always going to do something for someone."

Seokjin left the living room and soon Layla and Namjoon were all alone. It was awkward, but not too bad to deal with. Layla started thinking about everything she packed up and then it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Joonie," she said while peeling the tape off the box she carried. "I've got something for you." Tears started to fill her eyes. She didnt want to part with this, but she knew that Namjoon would want this.

He would want something of Jacksons.

She pulled out a velvet pouch and slowly walked over to him. She dangled it in front of him and shyly smiled. "Here."

He took it from her and looked up at her. "What is it?"

"Just open it, Namjoon."

He pulled the strings apart and and dumped the contents out into his palm. He took a sharp breath and looked back at her. Tears were in her eyes as she smiled back at him.

"I want you to have this. You were his best friend. It deserves to be worn every day. I know you'll take care of it."

"I cant accept this." He muttered.

"He would want you to have it. I want you to have it."

He looked back into his hand and grabbed the small silver chain. He sighed and half smiled, then put it around his neck. He touched the chain with his finger tips and closed his eyes.

Jackson was his brother; just like how Bangtan is now.

"Layla I-"

"No," she interrupted. "Please take it. It helps.....seeing it, you know? Instead of it just being locked away. I need this, Namjoon, to heal. You do to."

Namjoon stood up from the couch and walked over to her and swiftly took her in his arms. Her arms went around his waist and his chin rested on the top of her head. "Thank you, Layla."

Layla buried her head into Namjoons chest and sighed. "Thank you for being here," she began. "I care so much about all of you, but you, Namjoon, you-" she takes a deep breath and pulls away to look into his eyes. "You are like having Jackson here."

Namjoon smiled and brought her back into his chest. He was falling hard for this girl and he couldn't stop it. He knew he wasn't the only one taken with her and he sure didnt want to be the one to keep her away from a chance at happiness with anyone else.

She was special to him, special to all of them. If he could be one of the reasons she smiled, then he was happy; so happy.

Jin and Hoseok were standing at the entryway of the living room with half smiles on their faces. Watching Namjoon and Layla together hurt their heart, because they knew they were bonded by Jackson. Namjoon would always have that with her and they didnt want to get in the way of that.

"She's special," Jin said as he nodded at them. "I never thought that we would all be head over heels for this girl. But Namjoon? He's in love."

Hoseok sighed. "I know and that scares me."

"Why?"

"He's not the only one."