“Hello, I am Lee Jieun, also known as IU. Thank you for having me under your care.”

The first thing Jimin noticed once Jieun introduced herself was that Yoongi had a strange look on his face. The older boy looked horrified when he saw the girl’s appearance, but there was another kind of expression that he noticed. Jimin couldn’t quite pinpoint the exact emotion that Yoongi made, but all he knew was that he was very pleased with how Yoongi reacted to the girl.

Could it be that Yoongi fell in love with her? he wondered. He snickered. This is brilliant! Now I just need to get close to her!

“It’s great having you around in the entertainment world, IU,” Namjoon stated. “I’m BTS’s leader, Rap Monster.”

“I’m Jin,” Seokjin introduced himself, giving Jieun a warm smile.

“Hey, I’m V,” Taehyung said. “We should exchange numbers! You know, in case you run into any trouble.”

Jieun let out a small laugh. “I would, but I don’t know how well I will do for now. I would love to exchange numbers in the future when I’m more successful.”

“I can wait,” Taehyung said casually. “I’m a patient guy.”

Everyone waited for Yoongi to introduce himself. However, the boy only stared at Jieun, giving her a look filled with pain and anger. He slowly gritted his teeth and stared at her in silence. Jieun, too, remained silent, but she couldn’t look into his eyes.

That only made the mint-haired boy feel angrier. Yoongi stormed out without introducing himself, bumping his shoulder against hers. Namjoon, surprised with Yoongi’s unusual behavior, looked at Jieun for a brief moment.

“I’m sorry. That guy was Suga, by the way,” Namjoon said. “I’m sorry. He’s not usually like that. Um, I’m going to check on him right now…”

In a flash, the leader was gone to chase after Yoongi.

Taehyun clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Tsk, tsk. On behalf of Suga, I apologize. He’s actually quite rude to girls. If anything, you should stay away from him.”

Jieun forced a small smile. “I don’t mind. He must have his reasons. I don’t particularly like him, either.”

Jimin, hearing this, raised his eyebrows. “Really? He’s one of the most popular members!”

“Popularity doesn’t mean that you’re loved,” Jieun simply stated. “He never looked like someone who would encourage others to step out of their boundaries. He always gave the vibe that people should be locked up and stick to whatever they do and not what they can do.”

Jimin stared at Jieun for a long time. In the beginning, he had just thought that Jieun was some girl who wanted to use him just to steal some attention. He had really thought that she was getting along with him for the sake of business.

However, looking at her now, he was starting to have second thoughts. He gave her a warm smile, and laughed, surprising Taehyung, who had hardly seen the boy laugh at all. 

From what Taehyung knew, Jimin was always angry off stage, mainly due to Yoongi’s stubbornness. Jimin was only smiley and happy when he was on camera, and that was because he had to smile and look comfortable. 

“You’re exactly right!” Jimin cried out. Jieun looked a bit surprised at his statement, but only returned his comment with another smile. “He’s a stubborn mule. He never likes the idea of us doing something else.”

There’s a girl who’s not blind and can actually see that Yoongi’s an . How beautiful, he thought. I definitely need to work hard and help her stand on stage. It’d be nice to have more of her kind in the entertainment world.

“We should be going on stage soon, right?” Jimin asked her.

“Yes, we should,” Jieun agreed. She turned to Taehyung and bowed. “I’ll be leaving now. Thank you for your time!”

“No problem,” Taehyung said. “Just make sure you give me your phone number, okay?”

Jieun giggled and nodded. She turned around, only to notice that Jimin was opening the door for her. She thanked him and stepped outside. The moment she came out of the room, her eyes landed on two particular people not too far from the room. She could see Yoongi’s troubled and frustrated expression, while Namjoon tried to understand Yoongi’s turmoil. 

Yoongi looked up and noticed at Jieun was staring at him. The two locked eyes for a brief moment before he forced himself to look away.

Ba-thump.

Jieun felt her heart squeeze as she saw Yoongi run off into the crowd while Namjoon desperately tried to catch up with him. Then, she felt a gentle push from behind. Jimin grinned at her and gestured her to continue. She slowly nodded and started walking in the opposite direction from Yoongi.

As the two started walking, they ran into two other familiar faces that Jieun remembered. She quickly bowed to the remaining BTS members.

“Hello! I am IU!” Jieun exclaimed, introducing herself to Hoseok. She had seen Jungkook earlier and knew that she didn’t have to introduce herself to the youngest BTS member. 

“Oh, um, hi,” Hoseok said slowly. He glanced at Jimin, hoping for some hints on who she was.

“Her name is Lee Jieun. Her stage name is IU,” Jimin added.

“Uh huh,” Hoseok murmured slowly, turning to Jungkook for some help.

“She’s the girl who’s going to have a special stage with Jimin,” Jungkook explained. “You know, the rookie?”

Hoseok snapped his fingers and widened his smile. “Oh! That’s the girl! Hi, I’m J-Hope!”

“Yes, I’ve seen you on television,” she told him. “You always stood out from the group. You always look like you’re one of the happier members.”

“In contrast to Suga, right?” Jimin asked her. She paused, then nodded. He chuckled and turned to Jungkook and J-Hope. “Isn’t she great?”

“What a match,” Hoseok murmured, surprised with her negative thoughts on Suga. “Are you going on right now?”

“Yeah. Wish us luck,” Jimin said.

“Good luck. Kill it out there!” Hoseok exclaimed.

Jimin nodded and led Jieun to the stage. As the two disappeared, Hoseok turned around and headed back to the waiting room with Jungkook. While the two were walking, Hoseok blew a small whistle.

“Wow, that girl has to be a match made for Jimin. I don’t think I’ve ever crossed paths with a girl who hates Yoongi like how Jimin does,” Hoseok said.

“Maybe she’s faking it,” Jungkook commented.

Hoseok snorted. “Faking it? Oh please, she’s a rookie. She knows noting about how the entertainment world works. Chances are, she’s telling the truth. T-R-U-T-H. Truth.”

• • •

Why?

“Yoongi, calm down!”

Why was she here?

“Yoongi, slow down a minute!”

Why was she ing here?

“Min Yoongi, I’m calling for you!”

Out of all the places, why was she ing h—

Yoongi felt a hand grab his shoulder. He forced to turn around and faced Namjoon, who started to glare at him. Yoongi coldly gazed at Namjoon, but his eyes slightly watered with hurt. Seeing this, Namjoon released his grip on Yoongi’s shoulder and stared at him with soft eyes.

“Yoongi, what’s going on?” Namjoon whispered, trying to approach him calmly. “You’re not like this. Why couldn’t you greet IU—“

“Stop!” Yoongi shouted, covering his ears. His hands started to tremble. “Stop! Stop…! Just don’t mention her name! Stop!”

Namjoon widened his eyes. It was the first time that he had seen Yoongi so emotionally disturbed. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but he knew that somehow, Jieun triggered something in the poor boy’s heart. 

Yoongi closed his eyes shut and muttered a few words to himself. Those words quickly came into a form of freestyle rap. He started spitting out words, trying to refocus on the situation. The BTS leader only watched Yoongi until the boy calmed down. By the time he was able to maintain his breathing, Yoongi’s eyes grew hard and unwelcoming.

“Can I now ask you,” Namjoon started again, “why you didn’t greet her?”

Yoongi flinched. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yoongi, I need to know,” Namjoon said. “What is going on?”

“I don’t want to t-talk about it—“

“Yoongi, all I’m asking is why you chose not to greet her,” the leader stated. “That’s all I want to ask you.”

It took a while for Yoongi to find an answer. He knew that Namjoon wouldn’t like the answer, but he also knew that he would have to give him at least some kind of answer.

“I just didn’t want to greet her,” he murmured. He glanced up at Namjoon, who face-palmed his own face.

“Oh my gosh,” Namjoon mumbled. He removed his hand from his face. “Well, why don’t you go back and greet her?”

“No.”

Yoongi’s answer was short, but forceful. It was clear that Yoongi did not want to see her again.

“Yoongi, it’s not like you’re going to see her every day. Think about it: she’s a rookie, and you’re someone who had a large fanbase. She even goes to a different company than us. Do you really think that someone like her will be able to compete against us? Do you really think that we’re going to see her every ing day? Heck no! That’s not how things work, Yoongi! Honestly, by the time she gets famous, we’ll probably be on a world tour or something like that. Maybe we would go on vacation—who knows?”

Yoongi kept quiet. “I still don’t want to see her.”

Namjoon groaned to himself and face-palmed his own face again, leaving Yoongi feeling deeply troubled with the current situation.

But why is she still here? Yoongi wondered. He felt his chest squeeze. He looked down at his shoes. Why did she return in front of me like this?

He continued to remain dumbfounded, drowning himself in useless questions and endless worry that caused anxiety to run through his veins throughout the rest of the day.