*** Chapter 2: Interview / Fanmeeting***

“Ah, hyuungg..come on…” Jimin whined while flapping Yoongi’s hand in his grip. “Join us in the interview tomorrow…”

“Why must I?” Yoongi countered. “I’m no longer part of the team. I graduated already.”

“But, hyung,” Hoseok joined, “You’re still in Post-Graduate program. You are still literally student of SIA, you don’t have to quit the team…”

“But I’m getting older and getting more lethargic than usual,” Yoongi reasoned. “Jimin already catch up with me. I can’t keep doing this. I want to finish my advanced studies as soon as possible anyway..”

Jungkook wanted to keep quiet, since he respected Yoongi’s decision, but he couldn’t. “Really, Captain? You’ll leave us just like this?”

“Ya! I’m not leaving you just like that,” Yoongi replied lazily. “I passed the captaincy to Jimin, he will be a good one if you support him. You guys have acknowledged his skills too..”

“But, hyung…” Jimin kept whining.

Yoongi clicked his tongue and rolled his head. Sometimes he wondered how the hell his supposedly formidable teammates-turn-bestfriends were able to act like elementary school kids.

“Come on, Yoongi-a. Just follow their wish and be done with this interview,” Seokjin meddled. “You have to give a farewell speech to that lady from the magazine anyway. She’s a big fan of yours, you know..”

“You speak for yourself. You are also leaving..” Yoongi tilted his head.

“I was never a good player anyway…” Seokjin replied nonchalantly. “Even the others like Kai and Taemin actually played better than me, but they were too busy with their modeling.”

“But still, you’re better than me, hyung..” Namjoon stated, matter-of-factly. But Seokjin just shrugged his shoulder casually.

“Just go recruit some new boys like what we did every semester. I heard there are some new potential players this year,” Yoongi still tried his best to maintain his cool in facing this troublesome kids.

“And you will help us in the recruitment process, won’t you, hyung?” Out of nowhere, Taehyung showed up in Yoongi’s face, bearing his famous puppy-like stare, that no one, even Yoongi, could resist.

The ex-captain tried to turn his head to other direction but he failed to throw out Taehyung’s face from his sight since the younger was following his every turn. Taehyung stayed quiet since moments ago, but suddenly, his 4D personality took over and he become hyper-actively seeking for Yoongi’s attention.

“Okayokayokay… Stop it, Tae!” Yoongi finally snapped. “I will go to the interview with you guys tomorrow, and I’ll help you select new candidates for the team. But then we will no longer have any discussion about my departure. My stamina keeps deteriorating. That’s why I have decided that it would be better for the team if I leave. And that’s final. Do we have a deal?!”

As usual, no one dared to argue with Yoongi if he had put on his rigorous tone like that. Well, except one person.

“You could still become our assistant coach then,” Taehyung said innocently, “Seo Janghoon coach-nim will gladly have you by his...” he couldn’t finish his sentence since Jimin already covered his mouth in attempt not to anger Yoongi any further.

The ex-captain stared at Taehyung in disbelief, but then his stunned face turned into a smirk, “You know what… that idea is very tempting… I could give you guys hellish training… as I wish….” His smirk grew into a devil’s grin.

Therefore by then, Jimin made a mental note to never again let his bestfriend provoke his respected ex-captain-soon-to-be-assistant-coach any further.

The next day, Yoongi and Seokjin joined the interview as they promised. The reason why Yoongi agitated to join the interview was because the event was always far from peace. Yeah, it was always crowded by their fans, surrounding them in the basketball field, as if they were holding an actual match, while actually their idols were just chatting freely, answering questions from the interviewer.

“Why..do..we..always..get..the interview..in..this..kind..of..situation…” Yoongi heaved a long sigh at the sight of the commotion.

“It’s because it is one of the rare occasion where we will have the direct dialogue with both the interviewer and our fans,” Hoseok answered calmly while he enthusiastically waving his hands to the crowd. He was always bright and cheerful, and he loved to interact with their fans.

The basketball team popularity was indeed unrivaled in the college. For not only the team’s achievements in sports, but also each member was particularly skilled in their respective majors. Not to mention their handsomely gorgeous celeb-like appearance. Seokjin was a great actor and he already starred in some CFs. Yoongi and Namjoon skills in composing already earned them proposals from music labels to work with them. Hoseok, Jimin, and Jungkook were great dancers who always win contests here and there. Taehyung was also a good actor and he won the title of “Most Handsome Face in SIA” for two years straight. He surprisingly had a beautiful low-tone husky voice hence he could be a wonderful singer. If not for his strict principle to finish his education first before pursuing anything else, he might as well become a celebrity already. The other members of the team were skillful and have fair shares of fans, but the fame of Bangtan main team was distinctive.

Their said interview session always turned into an event similar to an idol group holding a fanmeeting. Lucky for them to have interactive members like Hoseok and Namjoon who were able to handle the crowd. Yoongi himself actually did wonderful job as usual in answering every questions pointed to him. He just dislike crowd, that’s all.

“Now that we heard your plans for the team this year, let’s move on to the questions your fans had flood our editorial office with these days,” the interviewer girl fluently wrapped the conversation onto next segment.

“The most frequently asked questions are these two. Both have a kind of similar feel, so I’ll just ask it simultaneously. You guys seem very close towards each other. Will you date any of the team members? And, if you have a sibling, will you introduce her or him to them? We know there are openly gay members in your team,” the girls asked eagerly.

“Well…”

“Wow.. tough questions…”

The boys were looking at each other. Some perhaps were thinking seriously if their friends were worthy enough to date either themselves or their family member.

“Captain-nim, perhaps you want to answer this one?” the girl urged.

Jimin didn’t even took a long time to answer. “No! I will not let any of Bangtan team members to date my little brother, Jihoon,” Jimin stated bluntly. “And I too, will not date any of my teammates. Kkeut!” Jimin added firmly, ignoring the fierce glare from Jungkook. He knew that his youngest member had been staring at him since the girl asked the question. What Jimin didn’t realize was, that Taehyung, too, was staring at him, but there was a glimpse of agony in his look.

“Woaa… What a straight-forward answer…” the girl amazed. “Any reason for that?”

The current captain took a glance to his team. “Simply no. I don’t want my teammates become romantically involved with me and/or my brother,” he heard some soft grunts on his back. He knew that some of friends already become fans of his little brother. The said boy already gained fame even before the new semester began. “You know.. I can get very emotional at times. If someone is messing with my little brother, I won’t keep quiet about it. I could literally beat him to death. And if he is a team member, I’m sure it will disturb our teamwork and harmony. It will affect our friendship too as a whole. So I will not take any risk for that to happen. No!”

“Aigoo… Uri captain-nim is so strict..” the girl teased. “Then what about other members. If they date each other, are you okay with that?”

Jimin took another glance to s, “Well, as long as the couple didn’t make any problem for the team, I’m cool with it. But if they do make troubles, there will be serious consequences,” he uttered his last statement with a hint of threat. “I want my team to be professional.”

“Wow… You seem to put your team above anything else…”

“Yes… But not really,” Jimin crossed his arms, “My family is first, and then my friends and the team.”

"You really care about your brother, don't you?" She was amused.

"Of course. He is precious," Jimin remarked. "I would like to take this chance to declare to all of you who might have interests toward my baby brother Jihoon. If you are messing with him, take notes that I will be the death of you..."

"Woahh..Jimin-a.. You're so scary..." Hoseok gaped.

"I have to.."

"Poor Jihoonie... He won't experience any college romance this way..." Jungkook clicked his tongue, earning a silent dead glare from his captain, a.k.a. his crush. But he loved it since he earned the captain's attention for the moment.

The team and the crowd made some noises after the captain's direct speech. They knew that Jimin had always been rigid, but his last statements just brought things to another level.

Two souls were watching from a safe distance from the field. Not too close, but still not too far to look at the boys in the spotlight. One was particularly in a disguise under his oversized brown hoody. He didn't really mean to hide, but he just didn't want to attract any unnecessary attention.

"Your brother is really cool, duh..."

"Cool my ..." the brown-hoodied boy sighed. "He's still over-protecting me as if I'm just a baby."

"It's because he loves you so much. You know that.."

"I know, Woojin-a... But it doesn't have to be this way..." Jihoon pouted. "It's hard you know... To keep secrets from him..."

"You think he doesn't realize it yet?" Woojin crossed his arm in his chest.

"I don't know... He acts like he knows nothing, though..."

"Then.. What will you do? Like you said... You can't keep hiding it from him..."

Jihoon heaved a long sigh, "I don't know, Woojin-a... I don't know..."

His eyes wondered into the idols in the center field. And as if his message was sent by the air, someone there was returning his gaze, as if that guy knew that he was there all the time. Their eyes were locked onto each other. No words needed because they knew exactly what the other must be feeling at the moment. They were drowned into their world. But nobody else realized what they were doing.
 

*** to be continued ***
 

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