DISCLAIMER: If any information about the training process is incorrect I apologize, but this is just from my imagination.

“But don’t you run away run away

When you get tired”

    A year later…

    Rin sat down on the closest chair, collapsing against the plastic, rubbery back. A thirteen hour flight was insane, and the fact that she had a migraine wasn’t helping. She plopped her bag unceremoniously on her lap and rifled through it for her water bottle. She felt like her brain was pounding on her skull, much like the small child sitting behind her was pounding on her chair during the horrible turbulences during the flight. The water bottle she bought on the airplane that was unnecessarily overpriced was stuck at the bottom of her travel bag, so when her hand closed around it and she tried to yank it out, her phone fell out with it. The clean smack of the screen on the tile floor of the airport made Rin and everyone around her wince. Carefully, she dug her nails under her phone and lifted it up, sighing in relief when she didn’t see a crack and it still .

    Ring.

    “Perfect timing,” Rin thought, as she clicked the answer button and swung her phone up to her ear. “Hey, where are you?”

    “I’m outside waiting-- hurry up because they’re not letting me park.”

    “Yeah, yeah, okay I’m coming. I just got off of the plane,” she said as she started to get up. Sandwiching the phone between her ear and her shoulder, she said, “I have so much to tell you about America.”

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    Rin dumped her bag in the trunk, huffing because she was offered no help. Running to the passenger side of the car, she yanked at the door, glaring at the driver when it didn’t open.

After receiving a sheepish look, the door was unlocked and Rin was able to slide in and buckle up (but not before ruffling the driver’s hair).

    “Rin! Stop that!” Iseul shouted, “my hair gets so tangled -- you know that.”

    “Iseul, dear, I just arrived back in Korea after a year of school-- I can do whatever I want.” Iseul rolled her eyes and her left signal to change lanes and drive out of the airport.

    “So, Rin, how was America? I didn’t get to facetime you like ever. I wonder how much sunblock you used to stay the same color with all the sun.”

    This time, Rin rolled her eyes and said, “We facetimed at least once a week, Iseul. I didn’t use much. Curse my pale genes -- a tan was all I wanted.”

    “But pale is always ‘in’ in Korea,” Iseul replied, raising her eyebrows.

    “But tan is also beautiful,” Rin replied.

    “Never said it wasn’t, my friend. Never said it wasn’t.”

    The two girls smiled and laughed the short drive back to Rin’s apartment (which Iseul had been looking over) as they sung loudly to the car radio, both of them clearly aware that Iseul was avoiding a discussion that needed to happen sooner or later.

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    Rin threw open the door: “HOME!” she shouted. Iseul laughed behind her while closing the door. The suitcase was abandoned by the door as Rin collapsed on the couch still dressed in her huge parka.

Iseul walked to her and patted her hair that somehow still looked artfully messy after a long day of travel. “I gotta go, Rin; my mom’s visiting and I can’t leave her alone,” she said with a scowl.

Rin laughed, “Go! Don’t keep mother waiting~” she sang. Iseul rolled her eyes before walking out the door yelling at Rin to lock the door. The girl got up from the couch and skipped over to her suitcase, rolling it to her room to take a well needed shower and unpack.

After her shower, Rin stood at her bathroom counter, using an old cotton t-shirt to wring out her wet hair as she stared at the pile of cosmetics she picked up in America and wondered where to store all of it. Her doorbell rang, and her eyes widened in excitement as she abruptly turned from her counter and power walked towards the door, her still wet feet leaving footprints on her hardwood. “I’m on my way, just a second!” she yelled, her hands busy styling her damp hair into a braid. Without looking through the fisheye hole thing in the door (she knew who it was already), she yanked the door open and was greeted with a smiling face. “Jimin!” she said as she hugged him.

Laughing, he wrapped his arms around her. “Welcome back, American Pie.” [AN: if you

don’t know what American pie is, it’s basically a classic]

“How’s the girlfriend?” she asked.

“Didn’t you just see her? She told me she picked you up…” he said uncertainly. Rin hit

him lightly on the head and stepped back to let him in.

“Yeah, I did. I just wanted to mess with you,” she teased. Jimin and Iseul had met while

Rin was in America and really hit it off. Being away from Korea, she wanted to facetime home as much as possible, but the busy Johns Hopkins’ schedule didn’t allow her a lot of free time, so she suggested that the people who had the time to facetime her just talk to her together. Even though Jimin was also a trainee during her stay in America (and he was now an idol), he managed to carve out twenty minutes every couple days to meet with Iseul and talk to Rin. In fact, Jimin and Iseul’s six-month anniversary was coming up.

    “You are horrible, Rin,” Jimin deadpanned. “Anyway everyone’s going to be waiting at the restaurant tomorrow and you cannot sleep through it, okay?”

    “Fine, Chimchim.”

    “Don’t call me that!”

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    Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. A hand reached out to smack his alarm clock. “Jimin, do I really have to go? This is the only day we have can sleep in with our schedule for a long time,” Jungkook complained. Jimin smacked him with a pillow.

    “Yes, you have to go. Get up, now.”

    “But Jiminnnnn, I don’t even know her,” Jungkook complained.

    “Not anymore you don’t but you used to, so get up and get ready.”

    Jungkook dragged himself out of bed and into the washroom. Jimin shook his head. “Those two are meeting whether they want to or not,” he thought.

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    Rin had been out of bed for a very long time, courtesy of jet lag, and when nine in the morning rolled around, she was wide awake and ready to go to Starbucks and meet her friends. But the thought of an old… friend… made her stop in her steps. No way Jungkook would be there, right? He was obviously too busy as an extremely popular idol to talk to her (not that his group member Jimin was deterred by his own schedule at all).

    With a couple taps on her cell phone screen to call a taxi, she was outside in a casual red and white sundress waiting for it to pull up. The lady who was driving was very sweet, and immediately complimented Rin on her beauty when she drove away from the apartment complex. Needless to say, Rin gave the driver a good review and a big tip.

    She walked in and saw Jimin standing with his back to her and his hands on his hips, looking like he was scolding the person who sat left to him hidden from her view. A small bell tied to the handle of the door rang when she closed it behind her, and Jimin whirled around and grabbed her arm when she was close enough, trying to pull Rin into the seat next to him. Right as Rin was about to sit down, Iseul, sitting across from Jimin, spoke. “No, Jimin. She’s sitting with me.”

    Jimin stuck his tongue out. “Sorry sweetie but she likes me more.” Holding back her laughter, she fluffed the already fluffy hair sticking out of his cap and stood up to join Iseul on the other side. Oh, how she wish she didn’t. Sitting next to Iseul meant that Rin and Jungkook could make clear eye contact.

    “Hi, Rin.”

    “Hi.”

    “How have you been?”

    “Wouldn’t you like to know, Jungkook.”

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    As much as Rin had believed that Jungkook would be able to maintain a friendship, it didn’t end up working out. They had tried practically everything, but his idol schedules combined with her long hours as a biomedical engineer were overwhelming. So, he stopped coming to the facetime sessions, opting to go train instead. So, a year later and after months of not speaking, here they were, in a Starbucks, ignoring each other once again.

    Jimin and Jungkook both wore facemasks and a cap (famous boys couldn’t be spotted at a Starbucks, so they took extra precaution). However, Rin thought that it was pointless: the scary, stalking fans would be able to recognize them no matter what. The four had a pleasant brunch, even though it seemed more like three people with the way Jungkook was so detached from everyone else. Constantly on his phone, all he did was text the other members asking them why they didn’t have to come. To Jungkook, a drama filming wasn’t good enough of an excuse.

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    After two or three hours, Jimin and Jungkook were busy once again and had to leave, so they all got up to say their goodbyes. Jimin and Iseul hugged casually and she went out to get her car (Rin was catching a ride) while he opened his arms up for Rin.

    “You know, Chimchim, I missed it when your eyes disappeared like that.”    Jimin made a face before telling her to hurry up and give him a hug -- time was ticking.

    “Jimin, you can’t hug her. You don’t want people taking pictures,” Jungkook cut in. Rin stared at his eyes peeking through under the brim of his hat and above his face mask.

    “Yeah… of course, sorry, Jungkook. I’ll see you later, Jimin,” she said with a bittersweet smile before turning around.

The bell jingled as she shut it behind her and jumped into Iseul’s car.

Jimin turned to Jungkook, “Why can’t I hug Rin when I can hug Iseul perfectly fine?” Jungkook only shrugged.

AN: Does this count as more “angsty?” lol I don't think so -- I’m not exactly sure when they’re going to actually fall for each other…

Well anyways, did you guys like it? 17 of you! That’s insane to me :)

Thank you SO MUCH for reading and please leave feedback and subscribe :)