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     chapter seventeen      a snippet into the lives of idols.

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The door closed behind Arang and she exhaled deeply. She rested her head against the wall for a quick second before she pushed herself off and stood up straight. Arang felt like she had just married Taehyung because now she was legally bound to him. “What did I just do?” She mumbled as she dragged her feet all the way toward the elevator. She pressed the button and the shaft arrived shortly after. She climbed aboard and made her way toward the boys’ practice room. While she was standing outside, she could hear music coming from the concealed space.  

“Hold your head up high, So Arang. You can’t show them you were affected by today’s mishap.” She forced herself to smile as she twisted the door knob and quietly entered. When the boys noticed her presence, they all stopped what they were doing. Jungkook walked over and paused the music. “You guys could continue. Don’t mind me,” she prodded.  

“We just want to make sure you were really okay.” Yoongi answered. “Things like this could be traumatic for some people.”  

“Yeah, even we’re still adjusting to everything.” Hoseok nodded.  

For a moment, the girl didn’t know what to say. How could they be so nice to her? Especially after how rude she had been to them earlier? She wasn’t used to this; that was for sure. When she talked to people the way she did to them, they often left her alone. But these boys? They were something else. It was kind of touching actually.   

“Look your clothes are still dirty,” Jimin frowned. She peered down at her own attire and sighed. How could she forget about her ruined clothes? “Do you want something to change into? I always carry extras.” He ran over and rummaged through his gym bag. He pulled out a neatly folded long-sleeved shirt and some fitted sweatpants in the same condition. “Here you go.”  

Arang was taken aback by his generous offer and didn’t know what to do. No one had ever done something like that for her, not even Byunghyun (her only friend). Then again, she’s never been in this kind of situation before. Hesitantly she stretched her hands out but before she could accept his belongings, Taehyung cut in.  

“Take mine instead.” He ordered as shoved his clothes into her arms. She stumbled back and pursed her lips out at him. He jerked his head toward the bathroom in the corner and obediently Arang did as she was told. She didn’t feel like bickering at this point. If she wanted to make their relationship more realistic, she had to pretend that she could actually stand being around Taehyung. She had no choice now.  

When she was done changing, she folded her clothes and exited the restroom. The boys looked at her and smiled warmly, all with the exception of yours truly of course. “Thanks,” she told Taehyung who simply nodded. Her body was adorned with his white HBA t-shirt and a pair of black shorts that fell down a little passed her knees. Although they were slightly big on her, they weren’t too uncomfortable.  

“Do you want to watch us practice?” Seokjin questioned.  

“Uh—sure. Why not?” Arang replied. She felt a little weird since she wasn’t really acting like her usual self.  

“You know our debut song, right?” Namjoon jumped in.  

“It’s No More Dream, isn’t it?” She answered almost immediately. It was one of her favorite tracks. The lyrics really spoke to her. That was until one of them had shamelessly flashed his abs in the music video. It’s not that she hated seeing abs or was out to get the boys; it was people’s reactions to those kinds of things that peeved her. That’s what Arang didn’t like about k-pop sometimes.  

Everyone was so damn hypocritical and judgmental. When guys grabbed their crotch, do a body wave or show their skin, it was okay and considered y and normal. But God forbid when a girl rubbed her hands against her s or showed her legs or stomach, she was labeled as a . Now did that seem fair? Double-standards were the worst. They claim equality among every gender but does gender equality really exist?   

Arang didn’t think so.  

“Yeah that one. We’ll show the choreography to you. Tell us what you think.” Hoseok requested.  

“Will do,” she promised. Then she dropped to the floor and sat in front of the mirrors. The boys got into formation and the song was replayed from the start. As they danced and lip-synced, Arang was mesmerized by the performance, especially the la la la la part. Then Jimin suddenly lifted up his shirt, exposing his bare skin and Arang’s eyes widened. So he was the culprit! But he seemed so innocent! The song came to its conclusion and the boys were all panting. Their eyes were all focused on one person.  

“So what’d you think?” Jungkook inquired as he tried to catch his breath.  

“It was pretty good.” She gave them two thumbs up. They asked her for her honest opinion and she was going to give them what they wanted. Her tone came off harsher than she intended but that was the way she spoke. “There was a lot of energy. I could really feel the passion you guys have. The only part I wasn’t too fond of was when Jimin flashed me. Don’t you guys think that part is unnecessary?” When nobody said anything, Arang stood up and cleared . Well it wouldn’t be bad to sugar-coat her criticism either. “I meant to say that it doesn’t fit into the whole song that’s all.”  

“Ah yeah, that part was added in last minute by the video director. You should have seen how shy he was once he got it over with.” Yoongi teased, slapping Jimin’s back.  

“Other than that, you liked the dance, right? That’s good. You should definitely come to Music Bank this weekend. It will be so much cooler when we sing live.” Yoongi assured enthusiastically. “Don’t you agree, Taehyung?”  

“Yeah, you should come if you have time.” He seconded the idea and Arang flashed an awkward smile.  

“I’ll check my schedule and see if I’m busy. Thank you for the invitation.”  

“Don’t you have a younger sister as well?” Seokjin remembered Saeyoung from the fan-meeting and Arang was surprised he recalled that small detail.  

“I do,” she affirmed. She was still mad at the girl but she was still her own flesh and blood after all.  

“You should bring her along too. She seemed like she was a big fan of ours.”  

Should she? She’d have to think about it more. If Saeyoung apologized to her when she got home, she would consider it. But for now, she wasn’t going to worry about it. “I’ll see what happens.” She stated.  

A couple of hours had flown by and the boys were still practicing. From dancing to singing, they were doing it all. Since Arang was technically a visitor, she sat down and didn’t make too much noise. While she was there, she didn’t have much to do and therefore ended up observing all seven boys. After having watched them for so long, she realized that they were definitely hardworking and determined.

They were all shedding buckets of sweat but not once did she hear anyone complain or whine. She was expecting Taehyung to be a slacker but to her astonishment he was just as diligent as the rest of s were. For once she saw a whole different side of him. Perhaps her perception on the lives of idols weren’t as accurate as she had always thought they were.  

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