⋆ ☄︎. · ̊ * 🔭
chapter thirty-nine
( time-skip ; 2015 )

"Stepping foot like Hulk?" Namjoon judgmentally reads out the lyrics that Hoseok has written. "That doesn't even make any sense!"

A tiny pout is on Hoseok's face, as he counters, "Well, do it better, then!"

The rap-line is huddled up in a narrowed studio, all of them desperately trying to write new songs for their upcoming album.

Yoongi and Yona stay silent while the other two keep on bickering. They glance at each other with pursed lips, then sigh. Tiredly rubbing his eyes, Yoongi suggests, "Look, it's 5:00 am, maybe we should end it here—"

"No!" Namjoon and Hoseok disagree in unison, quickly spinning their heads toward Yoongi to stare at him fiercely.

As a silence passes through the group, the male members glance at Yona, who has been silent for quite some time due to her thoughts of the new album.

"Maybe we should do something different..." she speaks up, gaining their attention. "We've been doing this hip-hop concept for two years now. Maybe it's time for a change."

Hoseok thinks for a while, before saying, "I mean, it is 2015 now after all, so maybe we could bring some more diversity into our songs..."

"I like our concept," states Namjoon, shrugging. But he also adds in a quieter and more thoughtful tone, "But maybe you're right."

Ahri hums deeply. "What about 'Illusion'?"

"No, that's boring," Yoongi disagrees, shaking his head decisively.

She glares at him, sighing out an irritated puff of air. "Namjoon hyung, ask me if I have any songs for suggestions."

"Yona, no—" the leader is quick to decline her offer.

Her gaze casts at him. Manipulatively, she pouts deeply, her eyes growing even bigger and cuter.

Namjoon immediately grows soft, sighs at that, and then tiredly mumbles, "Do you have any songs—"

"I'm glad that you asked!" Ahri exclaims, her mood swinging.

Without any hesitation, the female member pulls out a ton of papers and splatters them over the big table, causing the others to jump in surprise.

They all ask in unison, while looking through the lyrics, "What is all of this...?"

"All of my heartbreak songs!" states Yona with a thick layer of confidence in her voice.

"That's a lot..." Namjoon mumbles in concern.

Being proud of herself, she shows off and says, "I know, right?"

After the boys take some time to read through all of Yona's written lyrics, they exchange thoughts and more ideas.

"I like this one a lot," Hoseok states, pointing at the piece of paper and reading it out loud, "Like all the dry leaves fall. Like all the things I thought would last forever are leaving. You are my fifth season..."

Nodding his head, Namjoon suggests another one, reading it out loud as well, "You said goodbye to me. Every night before I went to bed. I hated that even more than dying..."

"Oh, yeah, I wrote that a few days ago and finished it today, actually," she informs them with a curt nod.

Yoongi has been quiet ever since he got the papers handed over. Yet he breaks his own silence, saying, "I like this one the most." And then, he holds the paper closer and reads it out, "The sky is blue and the sun is shining. So my tears are even more noticeable. Why is it you? Why did it have to be you? Why can't I leave you?"

"Who did you think of while writing all of this?" Hoseok asks all of a sudden, catching her off-guard and resulting her eyes to dilate.

With red tinted cheeks, she stutters out with a nervous chuckle, "Um, you know, a lot of people."

"And this one?" questions Yoongi, holding up the paper he was reading from in curiosity. "It's really good, and I think we could work with this..."

"I, um, well." She gulps for a second, not quite sure if she should reveal who she thought of.

They're all staring at her by now, curious. Her face grows even darker, mumbling with a shrug, "I thought of the moment Taehyung left to become an Idol."

"And what exactly did you feel or think of at that moment?" Yoongi asks, quickly grabbing a piece of paper and a pen.

She hesitates, gulping. "Is this supposed to be a counseling hour or something?"

"Just tell me," he cuts her off, rolling his eyes, ready to write something down.

And she does. Tilting her head to the side, her thoughts begin to wander again, and she mumbles, "Scattered, ruined, I needed him—"

Gazing up, Yoongi locks eyes with Namjoon and Hoseok, sharing a knowing look. The two other boys catch on immediately, their mouths parting in realization. So they state loudly while pointing at each other, "I need you!"

"No, I clearly said I needed him—"

"No, you dumb-ass!" Yoongi smiles in joy and victory. "Our new song. It's 'I Need You'!"

"Oh..." she blurts out, slowly processing the news. "Oh! I get it now!"

Namjoon comments critically while writing more rhyming words down, "Took you a while..."

"And what about the next album?" asks Hoseok, nibbling on his bottom lip. "Maybe it should be named 'The Most Precious Moment', or, 'Life's Most Beautiful Creatures'—"

Before he could continue, the loud ringing sound of a phone cuts him off. As Namjoon answers the call, Seokjin does not hesitate to threaten them with the saying, "If you don't bring Yona home in five minutes, I will put your head in a fish bowl and throw it in the Han River until you get eaten up by sharks as you float away to the Pacific Ocean."

The cold, sharp, and protective tone of Seokjin's catches him off-guard, resulting Namjoon to let out cowardly, "Y-Yes."

"H-Hey, let's get home. It's quite late..." mumbles the leader in fear, eyes stretched widely.

Noticing his fright, Yoongi asks, "What happened?"

"Seokjin hyung happened."

━━✦ :･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧

Seokjin holds Yona tight in his arms, firmly glaring at the three male rappers while her face is stuffed in his chest.

"How could you let our young girl work so long with you?" He scolds them in a louder tone, but still making sure not to wake the younger members up. "Do you how late it is?"

Hoseok looks down on his watch, stating obliviously while nodding, "It's 5:24 am."

"It's a rhetorical question, dumb-ass," Namjoon whispers to him, while nudging Hoseok's side with his elbow.

The eldest softens as Yona tenderly mumbles in his chest, "I'm fine, hyung, really. They are not the ones at fault, I was the one who kept on begging to stay longer."

He pulls away slightly, looking down at her in worrisome. "Aren't you tired?"

"Well, yeah," Ahri states. The other rappers tense up as Seokjin gazes back up at them with a glare, ready to scold them again.

But the eldest blossoms into more concern, as she admits, "But I want this new album to be our start for something more positive. A change even. Maybe people will finally accept us for who we are..."

The other rappers sigh in relief, glad that Ahri didn't betray them.

Sighing softly, Seokjin tiredly mumbles while moving to the bedroom. "Go to sleep now, all of you. We need to go an award show tomorrow, so get some sleep into you."

"As if we'd win an award," states Hoseok, snorting.

When the sun comes out to shine, and the night takes on that aroma of the morning, when the birds sing for the joy of living, their beds await them.

But not for long, though. A few hours later, they are woken up once again. Yet after working for more than two years, it grew out to be their routine. They simply got used to it, whether they like it or not.

"Do I have to practice alone again?" Yona asks with a pout, as the group members are exiting their dorm to go to the different entertainments. "Can't I go with you for a change?"

"No, Yona, that's not allowed," Namjoon firmly declines, staring at her to emphasize his sentence. As Ahri keeps on pouting and won't be putting her puppy-face away, he states as a matter of fact, "We could get in real danger for that."

She offers, "I could hide!"

"You ain't small to do that," Yoongi mutters from the side, causing Ahri to harshly push him away, before looking at Namjoon with those baby-eyes again.

If it would've been about anything else, Namjoon would've given in to Yona's puppy-eyes immediately, but as he is the leader that their CEO trusts on and has faith in, he won't. The leader simply fears to cause any hints of disappointment.

Moving her gaze to Seokjin, her pout grows even deeper, tugging on his sleeve. "Hyung... I feel lonely in there, and I'm not allowed to talk to anybody."

"Is it really bad there?" asks Seokjin in worrisome, his warm eyes holding concern.

"Yes!" Ahri yells to put more emphasis on her statement. "It's, like, the worst company I know! I talked to a girl there, and she said that they get such a low payment even though they work a lot. They treat their Idols so badly, really. I read so many alarming articles about them as well."

As soon as Seokjin notices the frightened tone of Ahri, he turns to the leader, saying, "Namjoon-ah, let's take her with us. Just for today."

"Yes, please!" Jimin chimes in, smiling lightly. Taehyung and Jeongguk nod their heads eagerly, clinging onto Yona as if they're koalas.

Namjoon glances at the only sane ones, Hoseok and Yoongi. But even they agree with the idea of taking Ahri with them. "I missed her annoying presence, to be honest," Yoongi states, shrugging while hiding his smile.

"Fine," Namjoon agrees with a slight scoff The group begins to cheer loudly, some of them hugging onto the female member. He also declares while pointing at them, "You guys are at fault if this comes out."

Jimin hums while looking Ahri's figure up and down. "You cant go like this, though. They would immediately notice that you're a girl."

The group agrees and thinks for a while, until Taehyung comes up with the brilliant idea, "Let's transform her into a boy!"

"Well, her clothes do fit," Yoongi shadily remarks, glancing down at her loose t-shirt and sweatpants in a judgmental manner. "But her long hair is an issue."

Taehyung smiles widely, innocently stating, "Let's cut off her hair!"

"What? No!" she immediately disagrees in a loud tone, clutching her hair tightly while backing away from Taehyung.

Jeongguk purses his lips, thinking while gazing intensely at Yona. A light shines on top of his head as an idea enters his mind. He takes off his hat and puts it on her head, making sure to put her long hair into it. "Now you don't have long hair."

"And now you're one of the boys!" Hoseok informs her with a smile.

Sighing, Namjoon mumbles aside while continuing his walk to the company, "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

Almost magically, Ahri is able to pass through the security without them discovering her real gender.

As soon as the door of the empty practice room closes, Ahri dramatically takes the hat off and lets it fly across the room.

Jimin squeals. "We did it! Those bodyguards must be really stupid to not notice that she's a girl—"

"Okay, okay, enough of that," Hoseok interferes Jimin, silencing him right away. "We need to practice now."

And the group does as he says. They practice until a glossy shine glazes their skin and the salty droplets invade their eyes and lips.

Yet they halt in their steps as they hear someone knocking on the door. Almost instantly, Jimin pushes Ahri under a small couch, so that the person that knocked won't see her.

Hesitantly, Namjoon opens the door, sweat dripping from his forehead. He sighs in relief, as someone shouts while fist-bumping him, "Aye, what's up, Namjoon-ah?"

"I'm fine, just practicing..." he replies, opening the door a bit wider for his members to greet the other group. "How about you?"

Without allowance, the group comfortably steps in and begin a light-hearted conversation. Ahri's members laugh along, and that is causing her to wonder who the unknown voices belong to.

Their eyes widen immensely and panic rises in their system, as one of the members of the other group sit down on the couch that Ahri is beneath of.

"This feels weird..." he mumbles, touching the fabric of the couch while frowning.

Suddenly, he starts jumping with his lower body to get more comfortable, resulting Ahri to clutch her mouth tightly to not let out any sounds of pain.

As that unknown Idol won't stop, Ahri yells all of a sudden, "Boy, if you won't stop jumping on the couch, I will personally kick you to the hospital with my feet you keep humping on."

Silence. There is no noise or sound from anyone after Ahri's threat, whatsoever. The female member desperately tries to squeeze herself out of the couch, mumbling, "Help me up!" Jeongguk comes to the rescue, pulling her from the couch with all his strength.

As soon as the other group discovers the presence of a female, they begin to shriek and yell, dramatic acts popping out of their skins.

After many minutes of them screaming and jumping around, they silence one by one, creating a domino effect. They're all staring at Ahri at this point.

One of them steps forward to pinch her cheeks. "Oh, my God! She's even cuter in person!"

"Is that..." Another one gulps, pointing at her as if she's a wild animal. "A-Ahri?"

"Yup, not really living but existing at very least," she mumbles. Yona bows politely, a small yet nervous smile on her face.

Once again, Namjoon sighs. "I knew that this would happen..." Nevertheless, he takes hold on Ahri's wrist and leads her right in front of the other boy-group.

"Ahri, meet GOT7." The leader motions at the other group, and then back at Yona. "GOT7, meet our female member, Kim Ahri Yona."

Quickly, the other boy-group does their introduction, "Come and get it. Hello, we are GOT7!"

Ahri starts off with the first one in line. To be more specific, with the boy that pinched her cheeks as soon as he saw her.

His blonde bangs are right in front of his face, yet his warm smile averts the attention from them. "Hey, my name is Jackson Wang!"

"I'm Jinyoung," the next one mumbles, waving a small hand. He seems a bit more introverted than the other ones, but he still smiles politely.

The person beside him is more on the quieter side. "Mark." He nods. "Hi, Ahri."

"I'm BamBam!" Another one states with a wide smile. Yet it extinguishes and gets exchanged with a smirk as he wiggles his eyebrows and adds, "But you can call me yours."

"Watch it, boy," Jeongguk snaps swiftly.

Ahri laughs at BamBam's statement, but moves on, nevertheless. "My name is Youngjae! It's nice to meet you!"

She smiles widely, bowing. The tallest of the other group says, "I'm Yugyeom, maknae and true visual."

Jinyoung diverts his gaze to Yugyeom, judging him heavily with his eyes. "You wish..." he mumbles quietly.

Last but not least, the leader introduces himself blandly, "I'm Jaebum." He also adds while looking at the members behind her with no expression, "Not to be rude, but she's actually not allowed to be here, right?"

"Well, yes," Namjoon states, shrugging slightly. "She's here just for today."

"Don't be such a buzz, Jaebum," Jackson chimes in, comfortably putting his arm around Ahri's shoulder. "I've always wanted to meet her since Bangtan always babbled about about her."

"It could just get them in real trouble—" Jaebum says, but gets cut off almost immediately.

Jackson ignores him and walks away with Yona, whispering, "These dudes right there couldn't shut up about you. You know, they even told me that—"

"I-I think it's time to continue practicing!" interferes Hoseok in fear, pulling Ahri away from him by her hand.

━━✦ :･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧

Due to not catching a wink of sleep, Ahri takes a small nap while the stylists are applying all kinds of makeup on her face.

That is until Jimin and Taehyung decide to fool around with her, knowing how angry she gets when someone wakes her up, whilst a camera is filming everything for their so-called Bangtan Bomb.

Jimin begins to lightly blow against her ear, causing her face to jerk away and her brows to furrow, but her eyes keep on staying closed.

After the stylist is done with her work and leaves, Taehyung starts lightly tickling her nose with a feather, giggling to himself.

Ahri sneezes loudly, catching both of them off-guard. As she realizes what they're doing, her eyes squint meanly while she's silent.

The duo tries to hold in their laughter while  they're staring at Ahri's irritated face, but they start to giggle loudly as the female member stands up and chases after them, ready to give a well-deserved revenge.

"Get here right now!" she yells behind them, causing their giggles to blossom.

After running around the same large table repetitively, Ahri sighs loudly, completely out of breath. She says slowly, holding her hands up in surrender, "Look, I don't want to fight, I just—"

"—Want to kill us?" Taehyung finishes, re-gaining his breath with a hand on Jimin's shoulder.

"Yes," she agrees, shrugging slightly. Yona keeps on babbling nonsense, whilst taking slow and sneaky steps in their direction, so that they won't notice her.

Jimin and Taehyung gasp loudly as Ahri is ready to attack them, rushing away immediately. "Jeongguk-ah, help us!" Taehyung yells, laughing evilly.

Jeongguk has a confused expression on his face. That is until he sees Yona rounding the corner and runs into their direction like a maniac. He waits a little, and then grabs onto her as she's about to chase them any further.

"No!" she dramatically yells, wriggling in his hold. Then, she lets herself plop on the ground, stating in false agony, "I may have lost this battle, but the victory of the war will be mine!"

"Yeah, yeah. We need to go now," Namjoon mumbles while looking down at his device, completely ignoring her antics. "Ahri, stop being dramatic and stand up."

Indeed, they have to exit for their performance, so they do. "People will never take me serious while performing this..." she mumbles to herself, sighing in defeat.

"Why?" asks Hoseok obliviously, re-adjusting his microphone.

Looking at him with a deadpanned face, Ahri sings mockingly, "I want to be your oppa~"

"Why are you shaking up my heart?" she continues while nearing him. Her voice changes into a more sensual one to tease him, knowing that he gets flustered really quickly.

Hoseok's face scrunches up immediately, cheeks a dark shade of red. He firmly places his hand on her mouth as she's about to continue teasing him. "Ew, stop."

"BTS is on in 30 seconds!"

Namjoon goes through everything again, making sure that all of them are ready , "Microphones, chains, Ahri stop making Hoseok flustered, caps..."

The first ones step outside to do an extra-ordinary dance, and then the others follow along. Ahri is about to giggle as her part comes on, but she keeps her face straight while dancing passionately, "A bad, bad girl on the outside. An even more bad, bad girl on the side. If you lose a girl like me, you'll regret it."

There he sits. His lips part slightly, eyes widening in realization. "Isn't that the girl you told me about? The one with the allergies against men?" asks one of his members.

"Yeah..." he replies slowly, keeping his eyes on the performance. "I don't know who she is, though. Only saw her a couple of times in our company."

Another member states, while bobbing his head to the song, "She raps pretty good."

He answers in a thoughtful tone, "She does."

Before they go to sit down around a table, the group ends their performance and get their hair and makeup fixed.

Yona sits there, bored. "How long are we going to stay here? We're not even allowed to do anything! Just sitting..." she whisper-yells to her leader.

"For a few more hours, Yona," Namjoon responds quietly, glancing at her for a split second and then back up at the ones that are performing.

Minutes pass and pass, but her bored expression won't. That is until she sees more vibrant and expressive performances. "Damn, Leeteuk could get it at any time in any given place possible," whispers Ahri to herself.

"Ahri, he's fourteen years older than you," Taehyung states as a matter of fact. His eyes are pried open in a horrified manner. "He's 32 years old."

"I don't mind," she comments, shaking her head while shrugging.

Taehyung purses his lips and crosses his arms over his chest, irritated. "Well, he's about to catch a case, then, Miss seventeen-years-old."

"I don't mind," repeats Ahri.

He gets even more annoyed by that, scoffing. "You told me you wouldn't date someone older than you!"

"I only said that because you were annoying me—" She's quick to defend herself, but cuts herself off as she discovers someone familiar sitting in the crowd.

Eyes dilating, her mouth slackens in a terrified way. Her breathing hitches slightly, gulping right after. "Please kill me," she mumbles, not taking her eyes away from the group as if she's hypnotized, tugging on Taehyung's sleeve.

"What? Why?" he asks, confused and perplexed. Looking around, he tries to search for an answer, but nothing makes sense as he does.

Secretly pointing her finger at them, her breathing hitches in her throat again, stuttering excessively, "T-T-T-T-There's E-EXO."

"Huh?" questions Taehyung again, not catching onto her intentions. "Oh! Yeah, of course they're here, they always win an award. Why? Do you like EXO?"

"Yes!" Yona almost yells, staring at him as if he's crazing for asking something so unthought, and in her opinion, stupid.

She turns back to stare at them. "And t-there sits cute-smiley-boy."

"Who the hell is that?" quivers Taehyung in a raised voice, eyebrows scrunching together while looking over at the other group a bit too obvious.

"Stop making it so noticeable!" Ahri whisper-yells, clutching him by his shoulders to pull him back in. As Taehyung gazes at Yona's eyes intensely, she sighs and says, "See that cute one in the middle?"

"Oh! You mean—"

Yet before he could say his name out loud, Yoongi slaps both of them at the back of their heads. "Behave," is all he says, immediately causing their mouths to shut tight.

With languid ease and in complete boredom, Yona starts stacking up the water bottles, trying to balance them.

But all of them fall down as the MC states loudly into the microphone, "The 24th Bonsang award goes to BTS!"

Being caught completely off-guard, the group stands up and walks toward the stage, smiling. Yona smiles cutely at the camera, waving a small hand.

Then, they stand there. Taehyung takes the award and Jimin the flowers, both of them bowing. The group immediately makes space for their leader to do his thanking speech.

As Taehyung notices that Ahri is eagerly staring at the award, his dreamy smile enlarges and he gives it to her. "It looks better on you."

While Namjoon is making his speech, Yona is simply staring at the award in her hands, utterly mesmerized by it. "Wow..." she mumbles to herself, zoning out from the actual world.

Now, it's just her and the award. And it pulls her into a completely different universe. "Would it be weird if I were to marry an object?" asks Yona while innocently gazing at Jimin, who doesn't even know if she's serious or not.

━━✦ :･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧

Regardless of the usual stress and work they have to do, there is still a tiny bit of time left in which they can do whatever they want.

When the sun has sunken, Taehyung and Yona are watching series with their heads upside down the sofa.

"What are you guys doing?" asks Hoseok in curiosity, but also watching the weird duo with a concerned and judgmental expression.

Taehyung shrugs. "We're watching Avatar The Last Airbender for the fourth time."

"We used to watch that together when we were still in Daegu," informs Ahri, smiling lightly. Then, both of them state in unison while gazing at each other, "Every Saturday at 6:00 pm!"

Hoseok asks with a confused face, "What's that?"

They both halt in their motions, staring at one another. All of a sudden, Taehyung and Ahri sit up, glaring at Hoseok as if he's from another universe.

"W-What did you just say?" questions Ahri. Her mouth hangs open in shock, she gulps, then her lips form a thin line.

Eyes pried open, Hoseok clears his throat awkwardly. "I asked what Avatar The Last Airbender is."

"So, you're telling us..." Taehyung slowly says, but then he pauses and gulps, not even wanting to let those sinful words leave his mouth, "T-That you've never watched Avatar The Last Airbender?"

The lead rapper is slow to unsurely question, "Is that bad...?"

Both of them exclaim loudly, "Obviously!"

As Ahri thinks of the series, the old memories of her childhood with Taehyung splash her entire body like a box of cold water. She gasps, then harshly slaps his shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?" quivers Taehyung, clutching his pained shoulder while offendedly staring at Yona.

"I still can't get over the fact that you argued with me!" Ahri pipes. Her eyes are stretched widely in utter betrayal. As she notices the still confused frown on Taehyung's forehead, she adds, "You said that you don't like Zuko, and never in my entire pathetic life will I forgive you for that!"

"That's because he's a damn hothead!" concludes Taehyung, adding fuel to the fire.

Ahri remarks sassily, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because he's a fire-bender?"

He tries to interject, "That doesn't even reason his actions!"

"Which actions are you talking about, boy?" Ahri continues arguing, jerking forward while staring at him provocatively.

As the duo keeps on bickering, Namjoon passes by and asks Hoseok, "What's going on?"

"They're fighting over a fictional dude named Zuko..." Hoseok slowly mumbles. He sighs, then leaves both of them by themselves, commenting, "This is an argument between weebs. Never could I keep up with that."

Namjoon is confused as he watches his other rapper walk off. "But Avatar The Last Airbender isn't even an anime, though...?" Nevertheless, the leader leaves as well.

"You're acting completely ignorant right now!" states Yona, causing Taehyung to gasp. "Zuko has had the best development in the century of developments, and I can emotionally fight you if you disagree one more time! Never will I understand why you're acting so illogical!"

Taehyung grows silent, his lips formed thinly in irritation. "I just don't like him because of various reasons, all right?"

Out of nowhere, Jimin passes by, sipping on his hot, brewing tea. "Or maybe you just don't like him because Yona has had crush on him ever since she watched ATLA."

The duo spins toward Jimin with furrowed brows, perplexed by his sudden presence. "How do you even know about my crush on Zuko?" Ahri slowly asks.

"I know many things, sweetie," Jimin smirks. And with that, he walks off.

The brown-haired girl turns back to Taehyung, asking with raised eyebrows, "Is that true?"

"Whatever." Taehyung rolls his eyes, leaning back in his seat while crossing his arms over his chest. "Azula deserved better anyway." His eyes sneakily cast to her, observing her upcoming reaction to his statement.

"I know, right?" Ahri exclaims, oblivious to his intentions. "No one understood her, and she was so loveless. My main girl deserved way better—"

Scoffing loudly, he cuts her off, "Why are you never getting jealous?"

"Boy, it's Azula we're talking about," she states, looking at him with a 'duh, obviously' expression. "Plus, she's a fictional character. You're just weird for getting jealous over someone that doesn't even exist."

He nods slightly. "I don't know, she just kind of reminds me of Kim Ahri—"

"Don't you fucking dare," Ahri cuts him off as swift as a knife, glaring at him with this fiery-filled eyes of hers.

An amused expression takes over his face, smirking. He pinches her cheeks, then comments, "You can be provoked so easily."

━━✦ :･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧

"The most beautiful moment in life!"

Ahri and Hoseok are staring at the other two rappers as if they've lost their minds. "Huh?"

"Our new album and concept," mumbles Yoongi, passing around numerous photos of astonishing butterflies. "It's 'The Most Beautiful Moment In Life'!"

Namjoon smiles so brightly that it reaches his tired eyes. "I thought about this a lot, and I understand if you don't understand it immediately."

"Well, what is it about, then?" Hoseok asks in interest, his gaze casted downward at the song-texts and pictures.

It's Yoongi's turn to answer their curiosity-filled questions. "So, everyone has their own most beautiful moments in life, right? But Bangtan's most precious time in life are our teenager years!"

"I don't quite understand..." Ahri slowly mumbles, her dumb-bitch behavior jumping out.

"Even though our teenage years are limited and only for a short period of time, we blossom and let our light outshine everything other than positivity!" continues Namjoon, pointing down at the photos. "That's why our layout will be butterflies! They are beautiful, precious, fragile, and innocent!"

"But it's not always sunshine and rainbows..." states Yoongi, gaining their attention and causing their eyes to stay on him. "All of us have struggled in our teenage years with all kinds of topics. And that's not a bad thing."

Nodding, Namjoon affirms, "Not at all! These dark times, in which we face uncertainty, fear, and failure, affect our personality and shape us more."

"So, you're saying..." Yona whispers with an uncertain frown, pointing at them lightly. "That we're describing the dark side among teenagers and ourselves?"

They both nod. "Do you like it...?" asks Yoongi as he notices her expressionless face.

"Hell, yeah!" she exclaims loudly while fist-bumping the table, catching them off-guard by her swinging mood.

The leader tidies the wide table up a tad bit, pointing at a few pictures and ideas with his hand. "Okay, so, we still don't exactly know how it's going to turn out, but we have a few suggestions and you can conclude more as well."

"But we already know that the title track is going to be the song you've written, Yona," Yoongi adds, tapping at the lyrics that are placed on the table.

"Oh, you mean 'I Need You'?" questions Yona, nodding her head in acknowledgment.

Yoongi corrects her, "Yes, but it will be written with an 'U', so it's 'I Need U'."

Hoseok smiles lightly, nodding. "Okay, cool. Is the song finished, though?"

"No, not really..." Ahri mumbles, scratching the back of her neck. "I tried to come up with a chorus, but nothing entered my mind."

"That's okay, we can help and improve," says Namjoon, smiling encouragingly at her.

With pursed lips, Yona mumbles aside, "I think I have another idea in mind..."

They're all listening to her, gifting Yona their undivided attention. She smirks, stating, "Bless my intellectual mind, honestly..."

"Just say it now," Hoseok mumbles, growing quite impatient.

An she does, exclaiming with a ton of suspense in her voice while she holds her hands up, "What about a storyline—"

A loud knocking cuts Ahri off, causing her to scoff and fall back in her chair dramatically.

Jimin's head pokes through the door. With a soft smile, he informs them, "PD-nim wants to talk to us for a second."

After the rap-line exits Namjoon's studio, they walk to S-Hyuk's office with light steps. As the entire group is standing there, Jeongguk says, "He told us to wait here until he calls us inside."

Regardless of her manager's order, Ahri strides toward the door, ready to burst inside. Taehyung holds her back by her wrist, asking, "Girl, are you crazy? Did you not hear what Jeongguk just said?"

"You may think I'm stupid, but I'm not deaf," she states in point of fact. Ahri raises he eyebrows, straightens her posture, and adds, "In fact, I need to talk to him."

They question in unison, "Why?"

Winking, Ahri simply says while opening the door, "You'll see."

"Let's just go," Namjoon mumbles to the others while sighing. "This will take some time."

As soon as she opens the door, Si-Hyuk wants to start scolding her, but she interferes in a calm tone, "Chill, it's just me."

Si-Hyuk simply sighs, shaking his head. "What is it, Ahri?"

"I came here to talk to you about why I have no studio," Ahri starts with a confident voice, standing straight and tall. "No offense, or no, actually, full offense," she corrects herself, and then continues with the exaggerated words, "I think it's sexist that all of the rappers have a studio, except for me."

Her manager is listening intently, whilst she keeps on babbling, making sure to exaggerate a few things here and there, "I mean, I do have rights as a woman in this country, right? So having my own studio, considering the circumstances and that I write a lot of songs, is something I deserve."

"And if you are against that, PD-nim, I will not hesitate to throw a tantrum; cry, sob, weep, and wail like a lost whale, and to even make a petition go through, in which I will physically fight my members if they won't sign it, or maybe even make a five-hour-long presentation on why I need, and more importantly, deserve a studio—"

Unfortunately, Yona's speech is cut off as the door behind her opens after a quiet knock. "Boys, I'm not finished yet—" the female member states loudly, while she's still facing her manager.

"Yona!"

Ahri's existence halts, as if she's malfunctioning. Her face falls faster than a corpse in cement boots.

In an instant, her skin begins to tingle because of the layer with goosebumps on it, her mouth hanging with lips slightly parted, and her eyes as wide as they could stretch.

Demanding her body to slowly turn around, her eyes grow horrified, gulping. She couldn't bring herself to answer. She just couldn't.

"Oh, my God! I haven't seen you in, like, years!" the girl in front of her exclaims with a wide smile across her beautifully sculpted face.

The black-haired girl takes quick steps to Ahri's stiffened body, slightly squealing while pulling her into a tight embrace.

Ahri's arms stay loose on her sides, not even blinking at this point. Fortunately, the girl pulls away, still smiling. "It's such a coincidence, isn't it?"

Suddenly, the door opens again and the rest of the members stand there, oblivious to the current situation. That is until the black-haired girl turns around, squeals, and runs over to them.

More specifically, to Taehyung. She wraps her thin arms around him, hugging him tightly while smiling hugely.

Yona watches. She watches with those slightly ajar lips yet calmly hanging eyelids. If you look closer, you could see the perfected mask of pretense crumbling down and raw emotions taking over.

With much uncertainty, Taehyung unsurely and slowly embraces her as well, panic rising in his system. "Hey, Ahri..."

The other members were confused to the situation until now. Until Taehyung spoke her name out loud. Yet they notice how different it rolls off his tongue in comparison to how he addresses their female member.

"I can't believe that all of this is happening!" she exclaims, her long lashes fanning as she blinks repeatedly.

Swiftly, she spins around, and notices Yona's speechless figure, striding toward her. "I'm so beamed to see you again, Yona!"

Ahri pushes her overthinking mind away, and answers in a mumbled and detached voice, "Call me Ahri, only my members call me Yona."

"Oh, that won't be a problem, then!" she states, still smiling widely while all group-members are caught in a surging perplexity.

"I'm the new member!"

━━✦ :･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧

A/N: i love drama lol

i love how some people comment that bang
si-hyuk isn't behaving like himself in this book,
as if they know him lmao. a message i wanted
to convey through this book is that all—yes,
ALL—companies are bad. none of them are good.
there are so many shitty things going on that
most kpop fans don't even know yet. big hit
isn't an exception. we literally know so little,
but the knowledge we have is still so bad.