----Interlude: Jisoo----

Usually, Jisoo enjoys working every Sunday at Inkigayo. Meeting fellow idols, working alongside her coworkers, the experience she gets, the connections she builds all make her job rewarding in many different ways.

But today, she would've rather stayed home in her sweats, reading a book or playing games, far away from the real world.

Still, she's a pro so she gave it her all and played her part perfectly although Jinyoung hasn't been completely fooled by her act and threw her worried looks the whole day. Looks she’s done her best to ignore.

The interview for BTS had been especially agonizing.

It’s not like it was the first time she interviewed them so what has changed?

Jisoo has gone crazy, that’s what’s changed.

There are no other logical explanations for the weird state she’s been ever since that day.

After that little hip hop show Taehyung had dragged her to, she hasn't been able to forget that little electric touch caused by Jeon Jungkook, no matter how hard she tried. And tried hard, she did.

How hard could it be to forget a touch that lasted no more than two seconds?

Hard, it would seem. Hard for Jisoo that is.

Which is frustratingly crazy. Frustrating that nothing works, that she can’t erase that tiny touch from her head.

And that cute laugh.

As if it sounded special, different from all other laughs.

She can’t stop hearing it.

His face completely changed from a barren late autumn field to a bright summer day.

How silly.

She's Kim Jisoo. She's calm, collected, and easy-going. But not anymore.

Nope. Kim Jisoo has now turned into some crazy, obsessed woman that has lost control of herself.

She even put that little party together when they were in The Philippines just so she might get to talk to him. How silly is that?

Crazy, crazy, crazy.

That hadn't worked. When he wasn't with his group of friends, he'd danced with SinB from Gfriend. He probably never noticed she was there.

And why would he? She’s just Taehyung’s friend whom he brought to a show he also coincidentally attended. It’s that simple. It’s just Jisoo building it into something more than it is.

After that, she thought she'd learned her lesson and would've moved on. That's what a smart woman would do, and Jisoo is supposed to be a smart and level-headed young woman.

But no. She still tried to seek him out at Mamamoo's party. There, their path crossed and she managed to engage in a polite conversation, but he'd been distracted, so Jisoo had left him alone, unwilling to make a fool out of herself more than she already had.

She should have some pride left, she doesn’t want to turn into one of those obsessed fools.

Surely that would be the end of it.

But when she'd seen BTS' name on the interviewee list, her heart had gone in a frenzy, that traitor.

Ridiculous. She’s so ridiculous.

Oh Jisoo, you’re so ridiculous, her school friends used to tell her while laughing at her antics or her weird jokes. Would they be laughing at her now? Most definitively. Her actions lately have been so derisive, she deserves their mockery.

Still, she pulls through the interview, goes through all her lines, smiles her usual smiles and finally, the recording is over and most of the staff are already gone.

She can finally breathe, but somehow, each breath remains a struggle.

Which is why she's still in her dressing room, still in her onstage outfit, slumped on the ground without a care in the world that her current seated position isn't suitable when wearing a skirt. Moving sounds too troublesome right now.

Her manager is waiting for her in the van, but she's so low on energy. Surely for all the punctual and even early, she’ll forgive her that one tardiness, maybe with some bribery in the form of sugary treats. times she’s been

She sighs.

Her life sure is dry, she thinks, her head dropping low. Especially her love life.

That shouldn’t even be an issue. Sure, she yearns for someone who loves her, not just the outside part of her but also the inside. To fill that void of loneliness in her heart. But it’s not a priority right now, her job must come first.

Secretly? She wants what Chaeyoung has.

Not Jimin, of course. But someone.

She’s suppressed those desires for years while training and then debuting, so why are they resurfacing now?

It's all that Taehyung's fault. Why did he have to drag her to that show? He could've picked anyone else. She would have never given Jeon Jungkook a second thought if she hadn’t gone!

That fleeting touch would have never happened, and it wouldn’t still haunt her after all that time.

Crazy.

She hears footsteps moving close by. She groans at the thought of moving but she recognizes Taehyung's voice calling her name so she doesn't bother and only grunts in answer, a rather unladylike sound.

"Do your fans know you sprawl around like this?"

"They wouldn’t care, my fans love me for who I am," she affirms. “They would probably turn it into a meme,” she adds with a snicker.

She hears the sound of a camera flashing and whines when she realizes he just took a picture. The disrespect. She lowers her head and critically stares at her lap, just to make sure her underwear isn't showing in her current position. The last thing she needs is Taehyung having pictures of her with her underwear in full sight.

It isn't. Thank god.

She hears his low chuckles, then watches his shoes moving closer to her until he plops down on the ground next to her.

A comfortable silence falls between them even though it’s been some time since they’ve been able to spend time together. Still, silence isn’t helping her much with all the crazy thoughts it brings.

She steals a glance at him between her eyelashes. His eyes are on the ceiling as if it’s the most fascinating piece of art he’s ever seen.

“Good job on your stage today, it was quite energetic,” she praises, having decided to speak first. Surely he hasn’t come in here to sit with her in complete silence.

“Thanks. So many of our fans came to see us, we couldn’t let them down.”

She nods, knowing how important their fans are to them. But they would’ve given their best even with an empty audience. That’s who they are.

Taehyung then nudges her on her side, his stare intense on her. “You’ve been acting off today. Is everything okay?”

“Sure, everything’s fine,” she answers automatically, keeping her eyes on her lap. God, why did she have to speak? Maybe if she remained silent, he wouldn’t have brought up her mood.

“Liar.”

Jisoo raises her head, surprised he’s calling her out. “No, I mean... sure I’m a little stressed. There’s Chaeyoung’s trial coming up, and before that, there was that awful story making the headlines, and Jennie’s unwavering friction with our manager...”

“But none of these are about you.”

“They’re about my members, so of course they’re about me too!” Jisoo replies, offended.

"Anyway, I kinda want to plan this dinner tonight with our both groups," Taehyung announces, completely changing the subject, so out of the blue it takes her a moment to register his words.

He wants to what?

"The two of us are friends, there's that thing with Jimin and Rosé,"

"Chaeyoung," Jisoo corrects.

"That thing between Jimin and Chaeyoung," he concedes without much fuss. "Hoseok and Lisa are participating in that dance show, and Yoongi and Jennie are recording a song together. So I thought we should grab a meal all together. Should be fun."

When he put it like that, their two groups seem to have quite the number of connections, but she's not sure this idea is a good one. In fact, she’s sure it’s a terrible one. For her, that is.

Strange how not so long ago she proposed the same idea to Jennie and Chaeyoung. It now doesn’t sound as good as it did before. Probably wouldn’t have gone as it would in her head anyway.

It never does.

She’s so tired already.

But life goes on, no matter. If only she had a remote control for her life, she would pause for some time.

Take a breath. Gather her bearings.

But life doesn’t work that way, it moves at lightning speed. And Taehyung is watching her with unreadable eyes, still waiting for an answer.

She clears , smiling awkwardly. "I'd have to ask my members..."

He raises a brow at her. "So, do it! They invented texting for this reason."

Jisoo frowns at him, but she has no excuses. Or any excuses she could find would be rebutted by him and she has no energy to debate her points with him, so she clicks on Blackpink's group chat and writes down Taehyung's proposal.

In a perfect world, they would be all away from their phone, thus unable to answer and she would have to a good reason to refuse. But her members are all glued to their phones at any time of the day. Lisa even takes it along to the bathroom with her while Jennie sleeps with it laying on her pillow.

it doesn't take long for all of them to answer.

All positive.

She has no arguments.

"We'll go."

Taehyung is thrilled and gifts her with his trademark smile. Jisoo can’t help but reciprocate. She’s weak for it.

But still, Jisoo wonders about his motives.

If this were a mystery drama, his reason would be to try and find the killer among them by gathering them all in the same place.

If this were a horror movie, his masterplan would be to get rid of them all at the same time, maybe by poisoning the water with the help of his mysterious accomplice.

But in this context? Jisoo has no clue behind Taheyung’s idea.

Hopefully, she won’t make a fool out of