Chapter Pic Credit:  ig account taeso.995 (taeso.995 dedicated the pic to her friend to was fighting her illness)

Sohyun eyes were locked on the bouquet of yellow flowers. Baffled at the sudden confrontation, she froze; sat immobile; inert to her reflexes.

Handing over the overs, he tilted his head slightly, asking, “Do you remember me?” His curious gaze eagerly looked for an answer in her petrified eyes. Receiving a silent treatment from her, he took his seat beside her. As her knitted eyes stared at him, he showed his boarding pass for her reference with a smile and comfortably settled beside her.

Sohyun’s breath struck, her hands clenched the bouquet in the act of trying to compose herself.

He observed her hands and said with a smile, “I went through a lot trying to get that bouquet on board… And it’s even more difficult to get yellow acacia and yellow tulips flowers in this season, and still I found it for you…”, looking at the flowers proudly he said, “A secret love and a hopeless one… I think that fits us, doesn’t it?”

The smile and the attitude of him, raged her. Mustering up her courage, she uttered, “You want me to be mindful of things that a stranger gives me?”

But he seemed rather calm and composed with her words. He explained calmly, “You want to know who I am?”, he posed the question decoding her question to his likes. And he voluntarily answered himself, “A fan of yours! Biologically speaking, I’m a male… in his late twenties; 6 years, 4 months and 11 days older than you to be precise! We met once in the airport… not this one…”, he knitted his brows trying to recollect, “If my memory is right, you were travelling to LA at that time…”

Her eyes widened at the recollection. And he smiled reading her expression. Clenching her teeth to calm herself down, she uttered, “Don’t you have any other work to do besides this?”

“Oh! You’re are asking about my profession?”, he spoke casually, “I’m sort of a freelancer…”

“Have you heard of a popular internet slag called, ‘Get a life’?”, she asked him in a calm demeaner.

“If I don’t have a life, would you lend me yours?”, he paused and waited for her response. Not getting any, he exulted at his own joke. Not dropping the wide smile of his, he continued, “By the way, why do you never wonder ‘why’? I prepared a good story for that, you know?”

Sohyun scoffed and looked him in the eyes saying, “People like you have only one story to say, right? ‘I was in a slump… down and out like a lifeless and hopeless being… And suddenly and somehow, I (celebrity) awakened your passion for living and you’re now doing the stalking or whatever you call it as ‘observing from a distance’ or ‘protecting me’. It’s that story, right?”

He gave a quick smile while clapping and said, “Wow, you nailed it! How? Did you just see my life unfurl in my own eyes?” He paused for her reaction, but she held a poker face. “That’s why I like you… From the first time I saw you, I know you’d become a great actress…”

“What you’re doing is so wrong…”, with a straight face she warned him.

“I never followed you, I never gave you unwanted gifts, I never paid you unwanted visits, I never stalked you… though I’m afraid all those might happen! I never did any of those, so what’s so wrong? Sending you bouquets? I’m sure you don’t have pollen allergy…” On seeing her not convinced by his answer, with a sarcastic smile he said, “Things you do in life without any guilt is never wrong!”, he paused for a thought and continued, “Kim Taehyung…” Sohyun expected him to mention that name so, she trained her consciousness to not react to it. Expecting a reaction, he broke the news, “Some of his fans know about you two… And so are some of yours!”

“And?”, she uttered nonchalantly.

“I’ve been told to protect-”, a smack landed on his head from someone behind. The smack was accompanied by a commanding voice of a woman, “Yah!!!!”

Taken aback by the sudden change in atmosphere, they slowly heads turned to find Hwayoung who stood looking down at him with her arms crossed against her chest. Her glare sent him the chills and he unconsciously stood up leaving the seat for her. “Here…”, she gave her ticket to him in the exchange and asked, “I knew you are a trouble, but I still had the hope in you and observed from a distance… But you are going overboard!” Wrapping her hand around Sohyun’s shoulders in a sense of protection, she whispered in her ears, “He is Lee Injung our senior in college… A genius schemer… a fraud, teachers’ pet!” And she turned towards him with an annoyed look, “And what were you saying about my cousin Taehyung?”

“Nothing! we were just chatting…”, he drew back.

“So, you’re stalking without any guilt?”

Hwayoung’s furious tone, made him stutter, “I- I never stalked her, just was updated with her whereabouts and sent her flowers… Just flowers!”

“What’s with the flowers?”

“Yellow acacia and yellow tulips? Just my feelings…”

“What feelings?”

“Ani!”, he said promptly. “Love…”, he whispered.

Sohyun was amazed by the transformation of cool and collected Lee Injung into a wimpy scaredy-cat before Hwayoung. And adding more to her surprise, Hwayoung grabbed his shirt at the mention ‘love’ and pulled him towards her asking, “Love?”

“My secret and hopeless love!”, he spoke through his breath murmuring.

“Hopeless? Then, why are you doing this?”

He shut his eyes tightly and muttered, “I won’t say! Even if you kill me, I won’t say!”

Her expression turned stern and in a rigid tone, she questioned, “Why?”

Without giving it another thought, he immediately poured, “Professor asked me a favour…”

“Professor?”, Hwayoung bewildered. “My uncle?”, Sohyun puzzled.

“Yeah, professor who is her uncle…”, his hesitant words continued, “He was worried… that your relationship with Taehyung will be exposed and told me to warn you whenever you two become careless…”

“And you just complied with him and stalked?”, Hwayoung raised her brow at him. “If he asks you to jump from Everest, you’ll do?”

He shook his head in denial.

“I’m a private detective, usually hired by talent managers to check on the background of their recruits… He just told me to keep tabs on you from shadows!

“Then, why did you come out of shadows?”

“He wants me to stop… So, I came to bid my farewell! Maybe, I shouldn’t have come…”

“You threatened them instead?”, Hwayoung asked.

“Ani (No)! I just sent them flowers! You’re doubting such a kind soul!”

“She’ll decide if it’s just flowers or a threat…”, turning towards Sohyun she asked, “What do you say?”

Enraged by his words ‘just flowers’, and having gotten the chance to speak her thoughts, Sohyun spoke furiously, “It’s been a week since I slept peacefully, the moment I close my eyes, all I see are those bouquets…”, she exhaled. “Will a news break out tomorrow? Today? Next minute? Or has it been already exposed and I’m not aware of it? I spent my every minute in fear! And you’re saying, ‘just flowers’?”

“I’m sorry… But I have my reas-”

“A reason?”, Sohyun completed his word, “Reason is a slave of passions, it serves and obeys only for it! And, I don’t need those reasons…” Not willing to spare another second of her time in his presence, she said, “I hope we never meet each other again!”

Her words indeed hurt him, but he never uttered any reason or excuse to justify his action and just took his leave.

With a weight being lifted off her head, she directed her attention to Hwayoung whom she met after months. Hwayoung talked about her arrival and her plan to spend the rest of the year in South Korea. “How are you?”, Hwayoung asked her, and redefined her question to, “How are you with him?”

Fully comprehending that her question is meant for her relationship with Taehyung, she answered, “I would be a lie to say I’m enjoying every day but…”, she smiled contently saying, “I’m happy!”

“I’m really glad to hear that…”, Hwayoung breathed out, “That guy… is unpredictable!”

“I won’t deny that…”

“By the way, if I had not been here… what happens to that guy?”

“The first thing I will do after landing is to approach the airport security! Making any scene before the flight departs will affect everyone!”

“Did I prevent his name from the headlines… He owes me another, I guess!”

“Another?”

“Why do you think he plummeted when I appeared? Don’t ask me what!” Sohyun laughed at her carefree attitude but Hwayoung was more surprised at her on taking this matter lighthearted, “Are you gonna leave it as such?”

“Then, do you want me to book him for sending me bouquets? They are just flowers!”

“‘Just flowers’, huh?”, she asked with widened eyes especially after all those dialogues.

Sohyun gave a sheepish smile in reply.

“Just in case, anybody like him bothers you in airport, there is guy named Kim Kihoon. He is the head of the security in ground station and my high school senior! I’ll put a word about you… He will help you, okay?”

“Sure! Thanks”, Sohyun said with a gladdened smile.

“Anytime!”

“By the way, where will you be staying in Seoul? We have an empty room in our shared house, wanna join?”

“Thank you, but it’s alright! I’ll be staying with my parents! Just a month more for the year to end, my job here is temporary project for the year end… might go back to Australia for the new year if there’s nothing more planned…”

“What kinda project?”

“Movie making!”

“Movies?”

“Hmm…”

“By the way, what do you do?”

“You don’t even know what I do?!”, she chuckled and handed her card saying, “I’m currently working as an assistant director…”

“That’s great! What kinda movies you make? That action and sci-fi movies… green room?”

“Not the contemporary ones…”

“Medieval? Historic?”

“Not really… but close! Movies which are inclined more on emotion than logic… close to biopics but totally different…”

While she struggled to explain, “Understood, unnie!”, Sohyun said assertively.

“Since you’re an actress, you understood… others need a story to even get an outline…”, she sighed remembering her past experiences.

Their discussion continued throughout the flight journey as they tried to make-up for the years of lost contact. They bid their farewell upon leaving the airport and Sohyun made her way straight to her dorm after intimating Taehyung about her arrival in Seoul. She gave him a gist of what happened in the flight through text since his phone was not reachable. And about an hour later, he replied, ‘Ok, take care’, to her long texts. Though she expected something else for the reply, she decoded his words into, ‘I’m busy, talk to you later’.

After a storm, she slept peacefully.

Lost in deep sleep, she overslept and was late for her commercial film shoot. Thankfully her manager came to fetch her directly from her house instead of the company. She rushed straight to the studio and managed to make it in the last minute. Though she had a good night sleep, it wasn’t enough to compensate for the sleep that she had lost for a week. Despite feeling sleepy, she pushed herself to be energetic for the shoot. Past the evening, shooting for the day came to a wrap. PD checked with Sohyun and his manager about the next day’s schedule for the CF. Upon noticing that everyone was very concerned about tomorrow’s outdoor shoot, Sohyun whispered to her manager, “Aren’t they being extra careful today?”

“Did you forget?”, manager asked wondering.

“What?”

“That stalker of yours? The agency informed the PD that you were being stalked, so they were being extra careful… just for you!”

“What?”, it was then Sohyun realized that she forgot to inform her agency about what happened in the flight.

When she narrated the incident to her manager, he just breathed out a sigh of relief instead of getting angry at her for informing later. They decided to report the incident to her agency in person and he drove her back to the company. On the long way to her agency, Sohyun’s only company was her phone. She logged into her SNS which was flooded with massive follows and tweets. The reason attributes to the ‘follow’ by his agency’s official account. Though BTS’s firm followed just her agency’s official account, fans have started following her speculating the possibility of the Sohyun in BTS’ music video. Since his agency is going on with the original plan, Sohyun wondered if Taehyung had forgot to inform his agency about the incident on the plane.

The night went hectic after Sohyun explained the bouquet incident to her agency. They immediately contacted Taehyung’s company and held an emergency conference with the staffs regarding the issue. They learnt that Taehyung was informed of the incident, but he didn’t bring it to the notice of his agency. After considering the disturbing fact that not just that stalker but few of their fans know about their relationship, they decided to proceed with their original plan, but they chose to take it slow.

With things getting settled peacefully, Sohyun reached home with light head. Enjoying the breezy evening beside her window under the yellow sky, Sohyun found her mind all occupied by Taehyung. Missing him dearly, she took her phone and rang him.

“Hello, Tae? Today-”, she started.

“Hello”, Jungkook voice sounded through the phone.

“Hel-lo…”, her hesitant voice greeted him back.

“Sohyun-sshi, Taehyung is busy… he is working on a song… To be honest, he locked himself in the room and is composing a song, we can’t get near him!”

“Oh…”

“He has been like that since last night…”

“It’s alright… it can’t be helped, right?”, the disappointment in her tone was evident.

“We have to leave for Seoul today to get ready for the world tour, but we are unable to get near him! His manager is taking all the toll for him”, after a pause, he said, “Though he is working, I think his thoughts are filled with you… because his song-”, he consoled.

Sohyun chuckled interrupting him and said, “Thanks for consoling me! Ask him to call me when he is free. And tell him that I won’t call him back till then!”

“Sure…”

“Ok, then. By-”

“Sohyun-sshi!”, Jungkook interrupted him, “I wanted to confess something, may I? Shall be honest with you? Is it okay to be honest?”

Not really sure of what he is gonna say, though she was anxious, all that came out of was a confident, “Sure!”

“If you had observed our pop culture, every band’s fame lasts for a generation and it ends with them. I thought our generation was this and till next generation take us over, we will continue to soar together… But I felt sure that your arrival might disrupt us! We all have been through a lot… Sometimes we fall apart and with great difficulty we get together! And honestly, I always thought you might be the reason that we will fall apart again! I always thought that… When I knew you as just an actress, I never had any opinion on you and when I learnt that you’re Taehyung’s girlfriend, I never had a favourable impression on you”, his hesitant words sounded brutally honest. “But I know I’m wrong! I’m sorry for having such thoughts!”, he blurted out.

“It’s alright. I understand. I’m sorry…”

“Yeah… you should definitely be sorry”, he said agreeing with her.

Dumbfounded at his statement, she wished him a happy journey for the world tour that starts tomorrow. With a thank you, he hung up the call abruptly.

Sohyun was taken aback at too much honesty. But she understood his contemplation and his fear. She felt guilty about feeling happy. She realized that the articles always cited him as “BTS’ Taehyung or V’, it means, a scandal under his name is a tough time for the entire band.

Just when was relieved about the stalker, these new thoughts had invaded her. She lost her sleep after that call.

“I was too selfish, wasn’t I? I took us for granted, right? Without any concern for others, I was too worried about myself, right? What will become of us? Are we too carefree about tomorrow?”, she pronounced her question aloud that sprouted in her mind as she stared at her phone into the picture of them hugging each other.

After staring at the picture for a while, “Everyone is telling me, ‘Love doesn’t mean you’re mine…’”, she said and kissed his photo as tears trickled down her cheek. Yeri who could hear her all the way, jaywalked towards the fridge from her sleep, grabbed a pack and made her way to Sohyun’s room. Seeing her all down, she gripped her shoulder and looked into her eyes, “You’ve been like this for the past few days… I hate to break it to you… I might hurt to hear what I’m gonna say, you might even disagree with it, but-”

“Am I falling into depression?”, Sohyun’s anxious tone interrupted her.

Yeri shut her eyes tightly and sighed saying, “You’re PMS-ing!” Handing her over a bag of chocolates, she took her leave to resume her sleep.

Before Sohyun could decipher the situation, Yeri was long gone. Upon nibbling on the chocolates, she somehow found herself calming down. The tiredness pushed her to sleep but somehow, she often woke up in the middle of the night. Her threads of attachment that entangled with him and the months of separation that’s waiting for them, seemed to have left her with no clue. When sleep abandoned her, it was 4’ in the morning. After a lot of contemplation, she took her phone to give him a call. But she couldn’t bring herself to call him given the previous incident with Jungkook. She realized that it’s getting difficult to even converse with him on the phone now and it will get even more worse once his world tour starts, so she decided to meet him in person. She intimated him about her arrival just through text and drove to the airport to see him off. She never had a plan at that time. Never did she know what came over her to take this bold step. Most likely she never realized what she was trying to do, until she saw the parking lot crowded with reporters and fans. Though the flight was early in the morning, the crowd didn’t seem to lessen. So, she took off her overcoat which might attract attention and with just T-Shirt and Jeans, she camouflaged by covering her hair in a headscarf and her face with a hat and mask. Taking a long route, she entered into the airport area where the reporters are off-limits. Upon securing her perimeters, she made a call to him.

While Taehyung was making his way through the crowd, his phone buzzed. He had his doubts that it might be Sohyun, he never took his phone out of his pocket especially with the reporters following him. Unable to answer the call with the crowd around him, he made a visit to restroom and sent her a text explaining the situation. Not bothering what he had texted, she sent her location to him with a photo of her inside the airport. Though her reply perplexed him, never it failed to give him a defeated smile. He was glad but he was more worried about her being all alone in a public space. So, he determined himself to visit her and check on her status. He sought the help of Jimin to meet her. Jimin’s initial reply to him was a no but he knew with Taehyung’s temper, he could never stand against his idea. As other BTS member made into the security check, the ‘no camera’ zone in the airport, the reporters and fans took their leave slowly. In that short while before he could pass the check, Taehyung rummaged his backpack and got himself covered in a long hoodie and changed his shoes to sneak out to her location. Meanwhile, through Hwayoung’s influence, Sohyun got the help of Kim Kihoon. Understanding the situation, for the sake of Hwayoung and security of other passengers, he offered his office room to her to wait for Taehyung. Handing over the only spare key he had, he took his leave to attend his work.

In a while, Taehyung arrived at the office room panting, “Are you mad? You came all the way all alone! What if-” He was out of breath from running. When he looked at her and gazed into her brightly lit eyes which had a tinge of guilt, he lost all his resolve to scold her. He took off his long hoodie jacket and put it on her. After adjusting the hoodie on her and zipping it up, he rubbed his hands and cupped her flushed cheeks in his warm palms. “It’s dangerous to come here…”, he uttered softly while warming her up. “I missed you…”, she said gripping his shirt. He hugged her tightly apologizing, “I’m sorry for not answering your call… I won’t do it again… And you shouldn’t do this again, okay?” She nodded and breathed into his scent. Breaking the hug, she asked, “I heard you locked yourself in your room…”

“Yeah, I was writing a song… a song about some dark past… So, I didn’t want to let go of that feeling while writing the lyrics…”

“Dark theme!”, her mind went on a tangent. “Tae…”, she paused in hesitance and slowly took her lips to pronounce, “About the bouquet…”

He sighed out his frustrations at the mention and his tone got rough around the edges as he spoke, “Intentionally or unintentionally, your uncle once did good job of bringing our agency together through that stalker. But he will be glad if he stops right there!”

“Huh? ‘He’ will be glad?”

He was clearly riled up at the mention of the incident. He tried to control his temper, but his knitted brows told him on. He uttered through clenched teeth, “He is worried much about the scandals, right? If he didn’t stop with that stalker… then I would create a scandal with his son, Kwak Dongyeon!”

“You and him in a scandal?”, Sohyun asked not believing her ears.

“I would even create a scandal with your uncle as well!”

She chuckled at his words though he looked serious with it.

“I don’t understand why you’re laughing right now?”

She planted a kiss on his cheek saying, “The phrase ‘Tit for Tat, I think you got the meaning wrong…’”

In return, he kissed her on cheek saying, “Is this not the meaning? Or…”, his eyes fell on her lips. His hands gently rested below her ears and gazed into her eyes as if he was holding something precious in his hands. He angled his head and slowly leaned in for her lips. Her slightly parted lips immediately welcomed him when he locked her lips. She felt his smile on her lips when she let him in. His thumb caressed her cheeks and her hand on his spine pulled him closer. Just when their tender kiss heated up, the announcement broke them off. It was the security check call for his flight. Breaking off the proximity, “It’s already time, I guess. I’ll ping you upon landing… You have the CF shoot today, right? Have a good day. Be careful on the way back!”, he said and walked out of the office room. Walking off several meters, he turned back to wave goodbye, but caught her wiping her tears hurriedly and waving back to him with a forced smile. Her reddened eyes told her on. He looked at her for a second longer and walked back to her. Her eyes widened on seeing him walking towards her. He cupped her surprised face and wiped her tears with his thumb, “Your cheeks have turned red with tears…”, his words softened.

“Those aren’t tears…”, she said averting her eyes away.

“Your eyes are red too!”, he said softly looking into her eyes. “If those aren’t tears… Then, were you sweating in eyes?”

Her eyes were downcast, and she remained quiet.

“Look at me in the eyes, while talking to me!”

As she hesitantly looked up into his eyes, he winked and threw her an air kiss by smacking his lips. Hiding her smile in her pursed lips, she sulked, “That’s why I never look into your eyes!”

His thumb gently caressed her cheeks and his voice turned low, “Take care, okay?”, with a peck on her lips, he took his leave.

From the person who can’t do goodbyes, it was a better goodbye than she hoped for, nevertheless, it failed to make her feel better. More than failing, moving away was dismaying. Gathering her senses together, she dragged herself out of airport and went on with her daily schedule. She got busy with the hectic schedule, and soon the night fell. Bidding her farewell to the CF crew, she took her leave and plopped on her bed dead tired. The moment she felt the comfort of the mattress, her phone rang. She turned away trying her best to ignore the call. As soon as she realized the time, she rushed to fetch the phone hoping it to be Taehyung and she was right.

“Hello!”, despite her tiredness, her voice sounded energetic.

It wasn’t energetic enough to convince him, “I’ve arrived in LA and just reached the hotel room… You sound tired Sohyun-ah. Take rest, I’ll talk to you lat-”

“I’m not tired!”, she answered promptly and went silent since she knew that he would not buy her lie.

Realizing that she was pushing herself for him, he said, “You know, I could use work as an excuse to make you hang up the phone. But I’m afraid, you won’t rest peacefully if I hung up that way. So, tell me… what should I do to make you sleep off your tiredness?”

“I don’t know…”, her reply was ambiguous but honest.

“I know this distance is cruel… So, we must stay strong, now!”

“I miss you…”, after a pause she continued faintly, “You know, form the moment I decided to show the world about us, I gave my purpose of existence to you…”. ‘So, I hope you understand why I am acting clingy’, she realized these untold words of hers reached him when he replied, “As much as you are mine, I’m yours! I swear I will fulfil all the promises I have made to you! Just bear with this distance for a while!”

With a gentle smile, she hummed agreeing.

As days went by, as the distance created different time zones, the more they struggled to keep up the communication, the more their conversation was filled with her sniffles and his silence. While he got busy with the concerts, she reviewed the scripts that was offered to her besides looking for opportuniies to pursue her higher studies.

Weeks scrolled on. His schedule got tighter as concerts happened across different countries. Juggling between travel and concerts, his time got struck between jetlag and practise. And Sohyun, after a lot of consideration, accepted an offer for a movie. Despite offers for light-hearted Romcom dramas, she chose a dark themed movie. Her agency contemplated about her selection, but they gave in to her stubbornness ultimately. And the very next day, the official announcement by the production team led to the articles titled ‘Park Bogum and Kim Sohyun soon to hit the big screen: The dream pairing to come alive on screen!’

Author’s thoughts:

Hello! How are you doing? You'll will get through the tough days and soon will see the bright side:) :)

It’s been almost a month since the last update, right? I’m really sorry for the delay.

I fell sick and it consumed two weeks for a complete recovery. I tried my best to finish this chapter sooner, so there’ll be lots of mistakes, I’m really sorry for that too! I think I have lots of ‘sorry’s stored in my bank (hehe)

Two more chapters to go! Hang in there!

Reader’s query:

One of the readers (who first introduced me to taeso and placed a request for taeso fanfic) asked me a question…

Short version of the questions: ‘The male characters in your story are inspired by any true person? Such male characters (person) exists only in dramas and books'... is it true?’

Author’s reply:

Some characteristics of male lead are, of course, inspired but not the whole package. It’s like extracting some extreme ends of few persons we come across (So, it’ll be difficult to relate in real life where we show only mild tones of us to others) Like, while imagining the male lead to be Taehyung, and since my knowledge about him is limited, I evolve his character rather than sticking with his on-camera image/character.

For the second question, I think the disclaimer have the answer, ‘What happens in fanfiction, stays in fanfiction’.

Note from me to you:

If you have some queries or doubts feel free to ask me, I’ll be very happy to answer :)