Chapter 19 - Shock

The third and final day of their fanmeetings in Osaka is one I’d rather not think about.

I felt great when I woke up – Taehyung having assuaged my fears – and headed on over to the venue as soon as he mailed me the ok. We were perfect little angels during the whole afternoon, though that manager seemed to always be lurking around everywhere I went, and I could feel him boring holes into my back.

Since I’d spent the last two days teaching them English, Taehyung decided that, today, he was gonna teach me Korean. So at the most random of times he would point at things and just say the Korean word and make me repeat; patting me on the head if I got the pronunciation right. It got a little annoying but he looked so pleased with his new teacher duties, I just let him go along with it. Also, though he’d usually translate for me during conversations, If someone said something he thought was easy enough for me to understand, he would look at me and make this funny face, tilting his chin forward a little while widening his eyes, saying, “did you get that?” And sometimes, when I wanted him to translate an answer, he would refuse and whisper the correct words in my ear for me to repeat. Most of the time he just did it, but then he started getting me to say things that obviously did not mean what I had asked for, and I only realized when Jimin burst out laughing, tears nearly running out of his eyes, when I told Jungkook (or thought I told him) that I also liked the same drama he was watching, and he just stared at me with the most horrified expression.

“What did you make me say?!” I turned an accusing death stare on my boyfriend’s innocent face, and he just grinned his rectangular smile at me, his shoulders shaking with each giggle.

All in all, it was a pretty good afternoon. We spent most of our time with the maknae line, just chatting and playing games, but he also took me around the room, showing me their various outfits and introducing me to the coordi noonas. I even got to watch as he, Namjoon and Jimin shot a little vlog for the Japan FC, all in Japanese, and it was hilarious.

All too soon, it was time for me to leave. He gave me a quick peck on the cheek – in front of everyone – before he had to get ready to go on stage, as if declaring to them “Yes, this is my girl,” and daring them to say anything about it. Of course, there were a few raised eyebrows, but I kinda think most of them had figured it out already, and didn’t seem that bothered. Silent-Noona, especially, sported a quiet little smirk as she pointedly looked away, fuddling with some supplies in a box on the table in front of her. I guess it had nothing to do with them so they didn’t care either way.

After saying goodbye to them, I made my way down to the auditorium and settled in my seat to watch the show. It went on pretty much the same as all the previous ones, except that, halfway through, something horrible happened.

It was like watching something in slow-motion, like you don’t even think it’s real and you have to shake yourself and blink a few times, wipe your eyes and look again to make sure you didn’t hallucinate the whole thing.

Halfway through one of their games, Jimin, without warning, suddenly passed out and fell over. Except that he was standing too close to the edge of the stage, so when he fell, he fell about 1m down from the stage onto the auditorium floor. A hush fell onto the entire hall as everyone stopped talking. And then a flurry of action came from the side of the stage as staff came over to check on him, and then finally take him away as we all watched in horrified silence. The boys left too and for a while, nobody knew what was going to happen. It was so eerie too because nobody dared to talk and the silence just hung in the air. After a while, hushed whispers started to be heard, and some girls started crying, but only to become hushed again as the boys came back on stage. They said that Jimin was being taken to a hospital and that they would finish the show without him. It was a sweet gesture for the fans, to give them the full two hours that they’d paid for, but I don’t think that anyone there really felt like they could focus on them being silly for all of us after what had just happened. So after performing the last 3 songs, they ended up saying their goodbyes.

As soon as the lights came back on, instead of the usual happy chatter of contentment that one can hear after a concert, the hall erupted into anxious chatter and wails. Everyone was worried about Jimin, speculating on what had happened to him and hoping he was ok. I wasn’t immune to it either and immediately mailed Tae asking if Jimin was alright.

[We’re going to hospital now] he quickly replied.

[I’ll mail when after.]

I bit my lip nervously, not feeling reassured at all. Finally, a security guard came to tell me to leave and I realized that the room was almost empty and that I was still sitting in my seat. So I nodded and exited the venue.

I thought I’d go crazy if I just went back to the hotel, so I wandered around for a while, looking at the city lights and people walking to and fro without really seeing anything. I ended up in a café, scrolling on twitter and despairing with the rest of my fellow ARMYs as I waited for news from Taehyung.

After about an hour, my phone buzzed with a new message, surprising me.

[He’s ok.]

I let out a very long, very audible sigh of relief.

[Doctor say he don’t breathing for too long so he fall down. Hmm… explain in English is hard… but he’s ok. We go home now.]

[Oh, thank god.] I mailed back, and then did a double-take, re-reading his text and panicking.

[Home?? To Korea?]

There was an unbearably long wait as he took several minutes to reply.

[No, No. Hotel.]

[I’ll come your room when I can.]

And that was that.

I exhaled deeply, relieved that Jimin seemed to be ok, and just stared at my empty coffee cup for a long moment. Finally, I decided to make my way back to the hotel, grabbing some food at a combini along the way, and just collapsed on my bed, exhausted.

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of my phone ringing. I raised my body groggily and reached for it inside my bag, which I’d dropped at the end of the bed.

“Hello?”

“Noona, you not there?” Tae’s worried voice came out from the speaker.

“Ahh… I fell asleep…” I answered, rubbing my eyes and glancing at the clock on the bedstand, flashing 1:37am.

“Come open the door.” he simply said, his voice rather emotionless and I realized he must be waiting outside my door so I just sprung out and ran to open it.

Tae was standing on the other side, looking completely exhausted, and before I could even say anything he just pulled me into a tight hug, burying his face in the crook of my neck as he held on tight.

“Noonaaaaa…” he wailed, and his voice was that of a scared little boy wanting to be comforted.

I reached a hand to his hair and started it softly. “Oh… Taehyungie… it’s gonna be ok…”

He started crying quietly into my neck – choked-off little man-sobs – and I was so surprised that I barely heard him whisper, “I was so scared…”

“Shhh… it’s ok… he’s alright now, right?” I said, the inflection on the last word making it more a question, as I wanted confirmation from him too.

He raised his head up to nod, looking at me with red, glistening eyes, and I petted his head once more, smiling at him.

He looked at me for a moment, his strong, unwavering Taehyung stare that made me feel like he could see right through me, and said in a low, raspy voice, “I’m glad you’re here.”

My heart strained inside my chest as I wanted to start crying too, but for completely different reasons. I reached up to cup his cheek and smiled at him. Finally, his face broke into a soft, sad smile too, and he brought his hand up against mine.

Almost exactly at the same time, we both seemed to realize we were still standing in the hallway, and he started laughing.

“Come on, my big baby. Let’s go inside.”