Note: Warning for language, disregard for the actual timeline and the obvious risk of people being out of character.

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He could feel the energy bubbling and crackling beneath his skin as he walked through the halls of the KBS building and he knew exactly why. While in the waiting room, he took a quick peek at his secret social media accounts and found that the current light—not love, mind you—of his life entered the building a few minutes ago and her aura was calling to him...but that was him just being his sappy, cheesy self, really. Bae Joohyun was somewhere in the same building as him and Taehyung could not keep still.

He couldn't help but feel disappointed as he didn't run into her at all during his walk from the toilet to the holding room, no matter how slow he moved. He had full knowledge that their rooms were on the same floor in the same wing—the Music Bank hosts used the same room every week and BTS was luckily assigned to stay down the same hallway this time—and yet, there was no sign of her. His ringtone broke him away from his sulking as he neared Bangtan's waiting room and upon seeing who it was, his face broke into a grin.

"Hey, mom. What's up," he greeted the caller in satoori.

"Hello, Taehyung-ie. We all miss you here," his mom lovingly said over the background noise of what seemed like a restaurant. "I was just wondering...are you at KBS right now?"

He stopped right outside the waiting room. "Mmmhmm. You guys are gonna watch Music Bank, right?" he replied, imagining his folks cheering for him in front of the TV.

"Of course! I'm your number 1 fan," she said with a giggle, making him smile. "Anyway, I'm calling about something else. Taehyung-ie, do you know a Bae Joohyun?"

Taehyung, in the process of casually leaning against the wall, completely miscalculated the distance and fell over with as much grace as a toddler on too much cough syrup. He quickly stood up and self-consciously tried to look cool and unbothered, refusing to look around to see if anybody was laughing at him. He cleared his voice once...and another time for good measure, before replying to his mom. "Why are you aski—" His voice still cracked out of nervousness. .

Mrs. Kim's laughter could be heard from the speaker. "Son, are you going through a second puberty?" she , making Taehyung frown as she continued to giggle. "But honestly," she said as her laughter died down, "I'm asking because Mrs. Lee—remember her? The one who cooks our favourite saengson jjigae?—she introduced me to another one of her regulars who also has a kid who is an idol!"

A lightbulb went on in his head and Taehyung felt his heartbeat speed up for some reason. "Oh! Are you saying...you met Iren—uh, you met Joohyun-ssi's mom?"

"Oh, so you know Joohyun! I'm with her mom right now! Hang on, I'll put her on the line for you."

Taehyung's heartbeat tripled in speed. Holy , I'm gonna talk to my future mother-in-la—I mean, Irene's mom.

"Hello?" an unfamiliar but melodious voice spoke through his phone. "Taehyung? This is Joohyun's omma."

The soothing quality of her voice, which reminded him so much of Irene, made him unconsciously stand up straighter. "Y-y-yes, ma'am! Pleasure to meet you. How can I help you, Mrs. Bae?"

"Oh, such a polite young man! You raised a gentleman," Mrs. Bae said and, even though he didn't know what she looked like, he could imagine her smiling at his mom warmly. "Thank you, Taehyung. I actually do have a favour to ask you..."

Taehyung's grip on his phone tightened as he listened...and his heart completely burst when he heard what it was.

He shifted uncomfortably for about 10 seconds before bravely knocking on the door. After all, Mrs. Bae was patiently waiting on the other end of the line. He really just hoped to God that things wouldn't get too awkward. 

The door opened slowly and from behind the door peeked a pair of round, confused eyes. Taehyung could feel his knees weaken as Irene recognised him and opened the door completely, leaving her in full view. "Taehyung-ssi, hello! What brings you here?"

He shifted once again, scratching the back of his neck, as he slowly offered his phone to her. "Hope I'm not bothering, Irene-ssi," he told her as she eyed his phone curiously, "but...well, your mom wants to talk to you."

Irene's eyes widened in shock as she, much to his surprise, pulled him into the room—luckily empty and devoid of one Park Bogum who was still at a prior commitment—and quickly took the phone before settling on the lone couch in the room. "Hello, omma?"

Taehyung saw her eyes begin to glisten with tears as she heard her mother's voice through his phone and, frankly, he felt blessed to be the one who was able to get them a chance to talk to each other. He doubts anybody else could've done that for her. Take that, Bogum-hyung, he smugly thought. As much as he cherishes Park Bogum as his friend, he still couldn't help but be jealous of the older guy's closeness to his crush and this situation at least helped him feel better about it.

"Omma! I missed you so much," he heard Irene said. Her voice sounded thick with emotion and withheld tears. The room suddenly felt so small...it was a scene so intimate, Taehyung fel