Over the following weeks, Ye Jin was kept busy at work. She worked as many shifts as she could to make up for the time she had been sick. Jimin had kept his promise to be better at keeping in contact with her, constantly reminding her to eat and rest enough. Once she had caught up with all of the payments and her finances went back to normal, she returned to her normal shift pattern, giving her and Jimin the chance to finally spend some more time together again.

Jimin sat on the counter in the kitchen as he waited for her to finish her shift in the restaurant. He couldn’t help but smile at her every time he caught sight of her. They had been dating for over half a year and she still caused a flurry of butterflies to stir up in his stomach every time he saw her. Once Mr Kim finally told her to leave, he quickly jumped off of the counter, grabbing her jacket and bag for her. She laughed at his eagerness as he helped her slip on her jacket. They bid Mr Kim goodnight as they left the restaurant hand in hand.

They stopped in at a small store nearby and bought some snacks to take back with them. He took her hand without a second thought as they walked down the dimly lit street together. They chatted about their day, Jimin taking great delight in telling her about the prank Taehyung and Jungkook had played on Namjoon that afternoon. She laughed as he listened to him talk, his boyish enthusiasm was contagious. They spent the rest of the night together, playing silly card games and learning the newest girl group dances together, her pouting about how much better he was than her. They fell asleep in each other’s arms, feeling like things couldn’t get better.

The next morning, they were woken up by the loud sound of Jimin's phone. He woke up in a panic, thinking that he had somehow overslept and it was one of the hyung’s calling him to get back before their manager turned up. He answered the phone, Ye Jin groaning from beside him at being woken up so early. “Hyung? Am I late?” he said groggily. “Jimin, you need to get back here. Now.” Jin said, his voice more serious than he had ever heard it before. Jimin sat up ramrod straight, suddenly completely awake. “Hyung, what happened?” he asked, swinging his legs out of bed, looking for his sweatpants.

“Someone took a photo of you and Ye Jin together. It’s all over the internet. Manager hyung is on his way here now. You need to get here before he gets up.” Jimin cursed loudly and jumped out of bed, scrambling to find his clothes. Ye Jin sat up, covering herself with her blanket. “What’s wrong?” she asked as he pushed her messy hair from her face. “I’ll be right there hyung.” Jimin said down the phone before throwing it on the bed, his face pale. Ye Jin rubbed her eyes, “Jimin?” she said as he pulled on his sweatpants and grabbed his t-shirt. “Someone took a picture of us. It’s on the internet.” He said quickly as he pulled on his socks.

Ye Jin felt like she had been doused in ice cold water. “What?” she asked, her still half asleep brain not fully functioning. Jimin turned to her, crawling onto the bed to press a hard kiss onto . “Don’t worry. I’ll fix this.” He promised. “I’ll call you later, ok?” she nodded pulling the covers higher over her body. She knew how serious this was for him. “Ok.” She said, her voice hoarse as a lump formed in . Jimin picked up on her impending tears. He cupped her cheek, resting his forehead against hers. “Don’t worry, Jagi. Everything will be ok. I promise.” She nodded and he pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “I love you.” He said as he paused at the doorway, looking back at her, his gaze begging her to believe in his promise. She gave him a half-hearted smile. “I love you too.” She said as he disappeared.

She heard the sound of the front door close as the first tears began to fall, wondering what was going to happen to him… and to their relationship.

Jimin rushed from her apartment to their dorm. When he arrived, his six band members were all sitting around the living room, all of them holding phones, tablets, or laptops. Namjoon was the first to approach him. Jimin suddenly felt terrified as Namjoon handed him his phone. He looked at the pictures. They were quite blurry as they had been taken at night, but it was clear that the girl in the pictures was Ye Jin. The two of them were holding hands as they left the restaurant. He was thankful that he had not stopped wearing his hat and mask, but it was undeniable that he was still fairly recognisable. A lump appeared in his throat as he began to panic. “Hyung…” he said feeling at a loss.

“I know. We don’t blame you.” Namjoon said kindly as he rested his hand on his shoulder, giving him a smile. Jimin looked up at him as he forced his tears down before biting his lip as he looked around at the rest of his friends. They all gave him encouraging smiles. “We’ll support you and your relationship.” Namjoon said firmly as the front door was thrown open. Their manager storming into the room. “What the hell is going on?” he shouted, his eyes locked onto Jimin. Namjoon stepped forward, his usual playfulness gone as he fully assumed the role of the leader of BTS. “He didn’t do anything wrong. Our contracts don’t stipulate that we can’t date, nor do they state that we are required to tell anyone at the company if we are in a relationship.” He said, his tone serious as he stared down their manager.

Jimin could have kissed him in that moment. He had obviously looked up a way to defend him in preparation for this meeting. “That might be the case but that doesn’t change the fact that we now have a scandal on our hands.” Their manager said, his hard gaze moving from Namjoon to Jimin. “This doesn’t just affect you, Jimin. This affects BTS as a whole, and it also affects whoever this girl is.”

“Her name is Ye Jin.” Jimin said firmly. “She’s my girlfriend. We’ve been dating for almost seven months.” He said, a note of pride in his voice. Their manager swore. “I don’t care how long you’ve been dating. I've been on the phone with the higher ups since last night as they’ve been trying to bury this story, but it’s already over every social media platform on the internet. It’s only a matter of time before you start receiving backlash for this. You know what some of those fangirls are like. If they even hear a hint that the idol they like is dating and they turn their backs on you.”

“Are you saying that I can’t be happy just to please the fans?” Jimin asked, his voice rising. Jin stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder, half to warn him to keep his voice down and half to show his support. “Lots of idols date. The fans will get over it.” Jin said carefully. Their manager ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “You don’t get it. The higher ups are pissed. They want you to break up with her. Never see her again.” there was silence as his words sank in. “No.” Jimin said, his voice barely a whisper. “No. I won't.” he said, his voice getting stronger. “You can’t make me!” he said angrily.

“He’s right.” Namjoon said. “Look, they’ve been dating for so long and no one ever knew. It’s not negatively affecting his work, hell if anything he’s been working harder than before. Did you know that he’s been working with Yoongi and I to write new songs?” Namjoon said as Yoongi nodded. “He actually came to me with some decent lyrics this time.” Yoongi added, his gaze intense as he stared at their manager.

“That and he’s been working even more on his dancing. We’ve been working on some new choreography together.” Hoseok added as he came to stand by Jimin, all signs of his cheerfulness gone, replaced instead by a serious calm as he took on his role as one of the older members of the group. Jimin felt pride swell up inside him as his friends protected him and his relationship. “You can’t force them to break up.” Namjoon said, his tone leaving no room for argument as he folded his arms over his chest.

Their manager swore loudly then sighed. “I’ll talk to the higher ups and see what I can do. They’re still gonna be pissed no matter what, but maybe I can calm them down a bit.” He said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Thank you, hyung.” Jimin said as he bowed deeply. “Don’t thank me yet.” He said as he pulled out his phone and wandered into the other room to make his phone call. Jimin turned to his bandmates and friends. “You guys… I don’t know how to thank you.” He said as he bowed to them. Hoseok chuckled at the formality, throwing his arm around his shoulders.

“We’re friends. That’s what friends do. They look out for each other.” He said, giving the younger boy a big grin. Jimin smiled back, grinning at his six friends. “If you're really so grateful, then dinner is on you.” Yoongi said with a wicked smirk making the others laugh. Jimin managed a chuckle. “Ok. But you're all getting jajangmyeon.” He said with laugh, the others teasing him for being a cheapskate.

After a very long, and loud, conversation with the higher ups in the company, their manager finally came back into the room, looking like he had aged ten years in the time he had been on the phone. “So they’ve agreed that they won't force you two to break up.” cheers sounded from the seven men as they high-fived their victory. “They want to get an official statement from you about your relationship to put the rumours to bed.” he said wearily.

Jimin nodded. “Ok, that’s no problem. Thank you so much hyung.” He said as he hugged the older man who pushed him off him with a weak chuckle. “Such a headache at this time in the morning. You’re pulling double vocal practice today.” He threatened. “Get your asses out the door, you're late for practice.” He said as he trudged towards the door, the BTS members grabbing the things they needed to take with them. Jimin ran into his room to quickly call Ye Jin. She answered the call immediately. “Jimin! Is everything ok? What happened? They're not going to make you leave the group, right?”

He laughed, “No, don’t be silly Jagi! Everything is going to be ok.” he said, thankful to hear her sigh of relief. “The company want me to make a statement to say that I'm in a relationship. I don’t need to mention your name and you don’t need to be there so don’t worry. It shouldn’t be a big deal.” He left out the fact that they had originally mentioned that he was told to break up with her, he didn’t want to worry her. “So that’s it? You just make a statement and everything’s ok?” she asked incredulously. “Yeah.” He said. “I told you everything would be ok, didn’t I?” he said making her laugh. “I was so worried.” She admitted quietly. His heart clenched at her words. while he had had Namjoon and the others with him to support him, he had been forced to leave her alone to worry and stress out. “I know Jagi. I’m so sorry. You must have been so freaked out this morning.” He said apologetically.

Jin knocked on his door, motioning to him that they had to leave. “Ah, Jagi, I need to go. We’re running late for practice. I’ll call you later, ok?” he said as he grabbed his bag. “Ok Jimin, I love you!” he smiled down the phone. “I love you too, Jagi.”