Milan was seated in the middle of the circle made out of idols. BTS insisted on doing this. She felt like she was going to be sacrificed to some random creature. She knew BTS’ mindset was abnormal but not to have her in the middle of this circle.

“We want to ask you questions first. You’re from SM after all and PD wouldn’t want us to help the enemy,” Namjoon said. “Well, I could just go and ask others to help me then. Like, Block B’s Zico? Because, I mean, I don’t want my privacy to go poof,” Milan said as she glanced at the door. Taehyung shook his head while he was grinning, which was really creepy.

“Don’t worry. We’re not going to be too personal,” Jimin reassured her. “Oh really?” Milan asked. Bambam laughed at what was happening. “Trust them, Milan. I mean, Namjoon-hyung here is a close friend of Jackson-hyung’s,” he encouraged her. Milan rolled her eyes and then scanned the expressions on the faces of the idols.

Taehyung, Jimin and Hoseuk are all grinning. Namjoon had a sorry expression on his face. Suga remained expressionless and the eldest and youngest of the group, Jin and Jungkook, were both innocently smiling as if begging to go alone the others’ game. Bambam, on the other hand, had a smirk on his face.

“Alright,” Milan gave in. “One question from each of you,” she added. The idiot trio’s eyes lit up and they all raised their hands. “Pick me! Ooh, ooh, pick me!” They all shouted. Milan scoffed. This was like what happened to EXO before. She shook the memory off and looked around. Milan picked Hoseuk and he proceeded asking.

“Who’s your favourite BTS member? I’m betting it’s me!”

Milan rolled her eyes. She remembered the trouble she went through because of working with her favourite member in EXO. She hoped Luhan would suddenly have an acting project in China. “Jungkook-ssi,” she timidly said, not looking at the mentioned member. Jungkook snickered. “Because of obvious reasons,” he even said.

“But I love how J-Hope-ssi raps,” Milan said just to lift Hoseuk’s spirits up but it was true. Her favourite rapper in the group was Hoseuk. Sometimes, her favourite part in a BTS song would be Hoseuk’s rap. “I knew it!” Hoseuk said as he laughed proudly. Suddenly, Milan’s phone rang and she answered it only to hear Ynna screaming.

“You’re with BTS right? YAH, MILAN,” Ynna shouted. Milan groaned. “Pipe your voice down and you have a boyfriend already, Ynna! Aside from that, you have a bigger with him!” She said. “Next thing I hear, you’ll be working with UNIQ!” Ynna complained. “Didn’t I tell you? I worked with them before. I wrote the lyrics for the English version of one of their songs,” Milan innocently said.

Ynna screamed louder. “You know what, Milan? We’re not friends anymore,” she declared. “Come on, Ynna. Stop being childish. You’re embarrassing me in front of BTS,” Milan told her. “I don’t care,” Ynna shouted. “You little pi hua, you… Alright, I’ll bring back a souvenir and we’re going to visit YG tomorrow,” Milan said. “Yay! We’re friends again~ Good luck, Milan~” Ynna chimed before hanging up.

Milan massaged her temples before sighing. “And that is her best friend for over a decade,” Bambam introduced. “Oh,” the members nodded. “Who’s her bias?” Jimin asked, looked confident. “Ah, Suga-ssi,” Milan answered. Suga smiled like a mad child for a moment before going back to his poker face. “I am flattered, really,” Suga said.

“The only bias who doesn’t know how to sing,” Milan added. Suga widened his eyes then looked offended. “Excuse me,” he said. “Who’re her other biases?” Hoseuk asked. “She loves CL from 2NE1, Sungjoo from UNIQ, Chen from EXO, Wendy from Red Velvet, I am sure you get the idea,” Milan enumerated. “Oh wait, what about you? Your list of biases,” Taehyung said.

“That is not important,” Milan sternly said. “For you, but I want to quench my curiosity,” Taehyung pouted. “Sheesh, alright. My ultimate bias is Lee Taemin from SHINee, my other biases aside from Jungkook-ssi, are Sungjae from BTOB, Seungyeon from UNIQ, GD from Big Bang, Eunhyuk from Super Junior, Amber Liu from f(x), Hyuna from 4Minute and Joy from Red Velvet, etc,” Milan enumerated. Bambam coughed.

“And Bambam from GOT7. Happy?” Milan gave a sarcastic smile. “Very,” Bambam nodded with a grin. “Did you only befriend Bambam because he was your bias?” Jimin asked. “How did you two meet?” he added. “That’s actually a funny story,” Milan said sarcastically with a forced smile but after a few seconds, she frowned.

“Didn’t I say one question each person, Jimin-ssi?” she said. Jimin looked down at a sheepish smile. “Ooh! Ooh! Me!” Taehyung raised both of his hands in the air. “Hm?” Milan gestured at Taehyung. “Aren’t I cute?” He asked, making all of his fellow BTS members groan. Bambam chuckled. Milan raised an eyebrow with a clueless expression.

She nodded. “Yeah, you are,” she said. Taehyung grinned widely and glanced at Jungkook. “Hear that? She knows I’m cute!” he proudly said. Jungkook laughed. “And so? Who’s her bias again?” he said. Taehyung stuck out his tongue. Milan coughed before a silly argument could start.

“Any other questions?”

Chanyeol sighed because of the fatigue he felt. It was tiring rehearsing like this. Sure, he was in this industry for over 10 years already. Soon, he might need to leave. If he was lucky enough, EXO might be famous enough to survive a few more years like BoA. BoA was still a known star, especially in Japan, and she has been singing since 2000.

He glanced at Taeyong who was from a fresher group. The boy’s getting old already too. There was a fresher group, a collaboration between SM and Woolim. And the visuals was a rapper. He could see the young boy, a boy around Milan’s age, being trained by Amber.

Tao sat beside him. “Hyung? You’ve heard?” He said. “Heard of what?” Chanyeol asked. Tao seemed surprised. “Milan is in Big Hit. Remember a few years back? She had been singing old songs from that group,” he answered. “BTS right? Aish, isn’t someone there near her age?” Chanyeol asked. Tao nodded. “The oldest one is around your age and the youngest is 2 or 3 years older than Milan,” he explained.

Chanyeol groaned. “First, it was that dude from GOT7 and now, it’s BTS. Does she have some with hiphop groups?” He complained, making Tao laugh. “Didn’t you listen what the rookies said? They said she only cares about business. I think you better change that aspect of hers,” he said before standing up and stretching.

“I want the old Milan back.”

Venice raised her eyes to the collection of albums and books before her. Most of the albums displayed had songs Milan composed or assisted in composing. Reading books was always Milan’s leisure time. Venice never had an interest in them because she still had trouble with Korean and she had trouble reading.

Venice slowly slipped the Overdose album out of the shelf. It was a very special album to Milan. It was the very first album her parents shipped for her. It was the first time Milan saw acceptance of her preference in music. The most special thing about it is when you open it, you’ll see the photo card of the first member who left EXO.

“Wu Yi Fan,” she muttered under her breath before smiling. There were also other pictures in the album like Baekhyun’s picture behind Lay’s. But the photo card shone out the most. Venice returned the album and glanced at the BTS album at the top shelf.

Being an ARMY, it was hard not to go with her sister to Big Hit. Milan already asked her if she wanted to. The album she was staring at was the album BTS released last year. Smokes & Mirrors. Venice thought every member looked handsome for once, especially Taehyung.

Venice’s phone suddenly rang and she immediately answered it. “Hello?” Her voice resounded in the empty room. “Venice-ah,” a familiar male voice answered. “Sehun-oppa, I told you like the last time, I am not interested to have a relationship with you,” she rejected the man a few times already.

She didn’t hate Sehun. She just never imagined herself to be in a relationship with anyone. She focused on her studies. The nearest thing she wanted for romance was for Taehyung to notice her. She wasn’t interested in Sehun. Sehun wasn’t even her bias in EXO.