Year 2014 had been a difficult year for me, both in my personal life and as a fan. That one group I was following started to fall apart, and even though I have seen new ones, I could not get myself to like any just yet. Fortunately, I found this newly debuted group, with two familiar members from Dream High 2. Yes, it was GOT7.

The first one I noticed was, of course, JJ Project. But also, Jackson. With his goofy attitude and mood-making abilities with "Just relax" catchphrase when he said his dream was to be an underwear model. I also learned he is Christian--a plus point for me, who has the same religion. I binged watch Real GOT7 along with my sister, and got to know each member. A special one was the maknae, Yugyeom, who had the same birthdate as me. After watching more shows, especially the old Weekly Idol, one guy with this shrill laughter kept calling to my heart, and that was when I finally found my true bias, Mark Tuan.

And so I watched more and more of their shows, After School Club (MarkSon), Real GOT7 1 & 2, iGOT7, all the radio shows, you name it. They were free, genuine, talented, funny and relatable. I even memorized that Thai rap Bambam used to do, just from hearing it too many times until I was sick of it.

Full of feels and insipiration, it led me to posting a fanfiction here--one that helped me grow as a writer. For the first time, I was able to share to other people my love for the Korean culture and GOT7, as well as my passion for writing to other people. It was also the first ever online story that was not a oneshot that I completed. Writing it helped me get through one of the most difficult times of my life, as well as their music.

December of year 2016, I got to reward myself from all my hard work by going to their Fan Meeting. For the very first time since I started following Korean groups and singers (I started 2008), I got to see them perform and interact with the fans IN PERSON. I can still remember that moment they all came out to the stage and sat on the row of seats all lined up and greeted the audience. I finally got to see them in the flesh, and not just in pictures and videos. They sang "Let Me" and the song was so touching, I was moved to tears. They played games and sang songs from their album, Flight Log: Turbulence, and my favorite was BOOM3x. They sang Fly and Hard Carry back to back and I remember feeling bad for them after seeing them so out of breath. When they sang No Jam, JB sat there on the stage right in front of me, just three feet away, and I was just so starstruck I did not know what to say.

I was also one of the lucky fans who got to participate in the High Touch event, where you get to high five each member. Those very few minutes are still etched in my brain like a short movie, since filming was not allowed. I remember Jinyoung waving, calling at me and the girl before me to go up the stage (I was the 5th one on the line) already even though we were told to wait. He and Youngjae were pretending to whisper to each other and point at us, fans, waiting in line. We were told to just give them high fives, no holding their hands and no spending too much time with one member and just move on to the next. When I got up there, though, I was able to tell Yugyeom (in Korean), that we had the same birthday. Bambam reacted with an "Ooohh" and gave me a high five a little too forcefully that it made a loud smack sound. It made Mark laugh, and my thought was "Oh my gosh, I got to see Mark's gums in person!" which was probably stupid, but that was what came to me. Then he must have thought it hurt because instead of a high five, he gently squeezed my hand instead. I was too dreamy that I almost went ahead and off the stage but Jackson called out with a "Hey!" and teasingly smiled at me for forgetting him while he did the same thing Mark did.

It was magical. If ever I get to have grand kids someday, I'll relay the same story over and over again.

They are one of the groups that has genuine friendship between the members, as well as loyalty. When Jackson could not join them in the Japanese comeback, they wrote JB, Mark, Jinyoung, Youngjae, Bambam and Yugyeom as the artists, instead of putting GOT7. They are not GOT7 if they are not complete. It was 7 or nothing. And so it came to nothing, and all of them are leaving their company now. I have a lot to say about that, too, but I want this to be just about the boys and not JYP, so I'll leave it at that.

For the past seven years, I have followed, stopped, and followed GOT7 again. One of my regrets was not coming to their concert last October 2019, thinking there was still going to be a chance for me in the future. I was wrong. I guess that Fanmeet was the first and last time I will see them all together in person. Still, I am happy to have gotten to know them and become their fan. It's safe to say they made a change in my life enough to get me to where and who I am now.

So we are in that part of our lives when the book GOT7 has ended, yet we will be blessed by seven spin-offs called Jaebom, Mark, Jinyoung, Jackson, Youngjae, Bambam and Yugyeom. I could have been a better fan and I know I should have supported them more, which why this breaks my heart. But then as Mark said, it's not really the end yet, so I'll just keep being their fan even when they're not together anymore. I hope you will, too.

#GOT7FOREVER #AHGASEFOREVER

To GOT7, thank you for sharing your youth, your sadness, your pain, your happiness and love to us. Thank you for letting us be a part of your lives, and being a part of ours, too. We grew together into becoming better people, and we will not stop doing so.

Come and get it! GOT7!