I tried to act normal after hearing those words but it bothered me. I was being so absent minded that I nearly used blush as lip balm on Jungkook. “Noona! That’s not for the lips!” Jungkook said while pushing my hand which was holding on to the lip brush, dabbed with blush powder. “Ah, sorry!” I realised my mistake and quickly wiped the blush powder off and used the lip balm.

Lurking like a shadow, I cannot help but think, the boys always had cameras around them, with bangtan bombs, fancams and more. Does that mean I am being exposed to the public in some way? Fans will not start making crazy connections or theories about me or my team, right? Do I look that close to them? My mind starts running, exceeding its normal capacity of processing my thoughts. I did not realise that Jin was staring at me until he snapped his fingers in front of my eyes.

“Rian? Rian ah?” Jin called to me, snapping his fingers and waving his hand to catch my attention. “Oh, yes?” I blinked. “Come to the stairwell, I want to talk to you.” He whispered with a straight face.

“Rian, tell me honestly, are you okay?” He asked with a concern look.
“Hmm? Yes, I am fine,” surprised that he asked me this.
“No you are not, your mind is not here.” He said.
“I…” I hesitated as I did not know whether to tell him or not.
“What is it? You can tell me, no one is here,” he persuaded me.

I told him about what happened and how I got the advice to keep my distance from the boys. Jin listened quietly before bursting out loud, “What? Who is she to tell you that? Is she just jealous that you are close with us and Got7? She’s not even from our company, don’t listen to her!”

Jin, the gentle giant is being angry? This is my first time seeing him raise his voice with anger. He always laugh when the younger ones play with him and prank on him. He never lost his cool. “Oppa…thank you for being angry for me. I did not how to react and I started overthinking about things and I…” I could fear my heart do a little lemon squeeze as hot tears start to well up in my eyes.

“Rian ah, don’t cry…” Jin spoke softly at my sudden tears.
I cannot help my flowing stream of tears as everything just piled up. The constant warnings that I got that I just shook off, accumulated like a pile of dust. After hearing another person from another company warning me, made me realised that maybe I am in the wrong and I was being so ignorant. I can affect their career with just one rumour. I should have thought of it from an outsider perspective…

“Rian ah, don’t listen to her, it is up to us to decide if we want to be close friends or not.” Jin comforted me as he dabbed my tear-stained cheeks with his thumbs.
“I… it’s just that…I started to blame myself and realised that I was being selfish…what if there’s already a rumour waiting to be exposed by paparazzi?” I stuttered.

“Rian, look at me, look at me in the eyes.” Jin held my face gently with both of his hands.
I looked into his eyes. His eyes were warm and his gaze was unwavering.
“Jin…” I trailed.
“Don’t worry about anything. You trust me, right?” Jin said.
“Yes.” I nodded.

“Then don’t listen to what anyone tell you. If anyone says anything to you, promise me you will come to me first and let me know about it?”
“Okay. I will.” I nodded again, getting self-conscious about how close I am to him now that my vision is cleared up without tears clouding it.

“Promise me? Promise me you will stay close to my side?” Jin urged, now bending his body down to meet my eyes at eye level.
Stunned and struck by how he is a few inches away from me, how his face is directly in front of me. His eyes, his nose, his lips… While I studied his face, my heart started to beat like I am running on a treadmill (which I never do).

Be still my heart. Be still.

A/N: Merry Christmas everyone and my dear readers. 

May the year bring you joy, love and health! <3 xoxo