here we are now.

the experience was once in a lifetime for them. taehyung couldn't sleep or eat even if he wanted to. they all worked themselves to the bone for this opportunity and now that it was here, they couldn't let it slip away. they sharpened their moves, practiced their singing and rap, stood in front of mirrors all day to conjure better expressions. they helped one another, hoseok constantly reminding seokjin to make bigger movements, namjoon helping out yoongi with his english diction, jungkook and jimin having one on one vocal lessons to improve their tones.

everyone was busy, taehyung most of all. the staff told him they got calls and emails from local magazines for photoshoots and interviews with him, but he declined for the sole reason that they wanted him only and not the whole group. 

"you should've just said yes to at least one, you know." jimin told him one night while they're in his room playing xbox to relax themselves after another long day of interviews and performances and fan meets.

taehyung absentmindedly shrugs, his fingers busy fiddling with the controllers. "i'm not that interested right now." 

"is that the same thing you said to jisoo?"

he acts lke he doesn't hear him, which was dumb since it was obvious he did. but taehyung chooses to ignore jimin's words for now.

he had other things he needed to focus on. 

when the glitz and glamour of hollywood slowly faded and they flew back to south korea for a few days of rest, taehyung confines himself in his room thinking about how much of a jerk he must've been to her. it's been a while since he had last seen her, much more his last text to her but she still sent him texts of encouragement and even called him twice while he was in california.

taehyung feels like the bad guy. he's been lying on his bed, watching video clips of her in inkigayo and her vlives. she really knew how to put on a show.  she smiled and laughed and stood out like usual. he scrolled through pictures from her solo shoot and feels his chest tighten a little out of guilt and shame.

he exits from the youtube app and decides to call her. but of course, she doesn't answer. he called her four times before he eventually gave up for the day. maybe she'll call him back later. 








she didn't call him back at all. 

he's called her the day after and also the day after that, but her phone was either always busy or out of coverage. taehyung wants to apologize for being a such a douche, for leaving her hanging all these months. he wanted to make up for it and the last option he had in reaching out to jisoo was nayeon. though the two of them weren't that close, nayeon knew of them because of seungcheol and gladly agreed to help out.

"they're at thailand," she had said when they met backstage during an awards show. it was that time of the year again. taehyung is especially sensitive these days since he keeps on thinking back to how they met a year ago. it was also during an awards show. "they're filming for their upcoming reality show."

"oh," taehyung's face fell a little and upon seeing his shift in mood, nayeon reassured him that jisoo didn't contact her friends much either.

"don't worry, taehyung." she said in a comforting tone. "she's been inactive in our groupchat since they left, but she did confirm she'll be at gayo daejun for sure. they might fly back next week." she said, smiling at him a little.

taehyung appreciated that. "thank you, nayeon." he excuses himself and they go to their separate dressing rooms. he makes a mental note that if ever he needed help again, im nayeon would be his go-to girl. 

when the night droned on, taehyung was to distracted to mingle and sing along to the songs. he stood and clapped like a robot every time when someone won and sat back down to think right after. he sat beside yoongi and jimin, both noticing how out of it he was but decided to just ask him later. for the remainder of the night, taehyung's not even bothered by the fact that he's thinking of her again. 

up to now, he's still not exactly sure what makes him drawn to her. sure, he had all those reasons but he was positive there was something else. he had been fine before he knew her, but now he gets worked up just having thoughts that revolved around her. everyone's been telling him to try, and though he's literally jeopardizing their careers with his decisions, kim taehyung is still not someone who backs down so easily. 








it's still six in the morning and taehyung's only awake at such an ungodly hour because of the urgent meeting their ceo called them for but he only talked about their recent chart-topping, record-breaking, history-making success.

nothing new. 

he did mention about their upcoming plans for 2018 and how they were already drawing drafts for the next concept and yoongi and namjoon would meet with the producers for their next album soon.

when taehyung felt that his presence would no longer be needed, he excused himself to go ahead. the members shot him suspicious looks, except for jimin but he acts like he didn't even noticed.

he contemplates on eating breakfast at the cafeteria or maybe just head back to the dorms when he receives a text from nayeon saying jisoo was already back in seoul. 

taehyung doesn't know what he's feeling after reading her message. overjoyed? ecstatic? nervous? scared? guilty? he feels all of those at once.

when he steps out of the elevator and enters the lobby, he directly walks to a secluded corner where he leaned against the wall and stared at his own reflection on the pristine gold-colored walls for five solid seconds before getting himself together.

he calls her, and this time her phone is actually ringing.

he's surprised both in a good and bad way that she picks up after the third ring. taehyung gulps down his own saliva and mutters his greetings to her first. "h-hi, jisoo."

"hello," her voice held no emotion. nothing at all, not even a hint of anger or hurt or anything.

taehyung thought this was probably bad. "um, how are you?"

at the other end, he hears her static sigh. "good. why did you call? we have recording in five minutes-" someone in the background distinctly yells 'three!', making her sigh again. "make that three minutes."

"oh, i -" for the first time in forever, taehyung doesn't really know what to do or say. he's completely lost and helpless at the clutches of a pissed off woman. and to make matters worst, she was pissed off at him. "i'm sorry!" he bursts out, louder then he intended to. the people in the main lobby clearly heard him.

"v, look-"

v? his whole body frowned, he suddenly lost what little confidence he had. "i know you hate me right now but please, jisoo, please. let me make it up to you. i'll call you later, what time are you free today?"

he counts the seconds until she answers, when he lost count she still doesn't say anything. he can hear her breathe on the other side of the line, and he wonders just how much he's upset her.

"i have to go." she hung up on him just like that.

she must be really annoyed.







thank the heavens for im nayeon and kim jennie. the two of them agreed to conspire with taehyung after he pleaded for their help.

the plan was simple, nayeon would ask jennie and jisoo to go with her to this restaurant for dinner and to catch up. only, they weren't meeting nayeon. they were meeting taehyung. and jennie would leave shortly after convincing jisoo to stay. 

"jisoo is upset with you, you're right about that." jennie had told him in their groupchat. the three of them created one just for this purpose. "she blames herself mostly, for being deceived."

taehyung felt the need to defend his actions, but he thought if he were a girl, he would obviously hate a guy like him too. idols dating were just like any other relationship out there, only they had to hide it and keep it a secret from the world. taehyung sent her mixed signals, it's only fair that he would be the one to clear it all up. 

and he would tonight.  

"it's going to be fine, taehyung." the two girls had reassured him before they commenced their game plan. taehyung drove over to the back of the restaurant with the company car he borrowed under the reason "i want to go out for  little while tonight". he was decked in a blue long coat with a black and white shirt underneath plus dark navy denim jeans. he didn't think much of what to wear, he just wanted to see her. 

he went inside a private room that nayeon booked herself and there, he wai