"What are you doing?" Taehyung smiled through the phone.

"Nothing. Got two days off for you. I'll join tomorrow's concert. And for today...." Ashley raised her brow.
"Going out with Maya. We are going skiing."

"You can ski?" Taehyung questioned promptly.

"A little. I am a noob though," Ashley laughed. "It snowed heavily this year and Maya got a discount on a ski resort. So..." Ashley shrugged.

"I am dying here to see you," Taehyung pouted.

"Me too. I can't wait. It's been over how many? three months?" Ashley counted.

" Two months and twenty-seven days." Taehyung chuckled.

"You think I don't know that?" Winked Ashley.

"Be careful out there," Taehyung frowned.

"In the ski, or the concert?" Ashley smiled sheepishly.

" You'll survive the ski. No doubt in that." Taehyung smiled amusingly.
" Can't guarantee about the concert though."

"Behave yourself, or else you are gonna kill the army. Like a lot of armies. I can't compete with them." Ashley smiled.

" You don't need to. You have already won the game." Taehyung gave her the warmest smile.

"Don't make me flustered again," Ashley warned him frowning.

"I'll. if I get to see you like this, then definitely. See you tomorrow." Taehyung waved her goodbye.

Taehyung shoved back his phone into his pocket. Namjoon was talking with the stage director. Jin and jungkook were fighting over a cup of ramen.
Jimin was as usually watching his previous performances and his critic's eyes were searching for the tiniest mistakes he had made before.

This boy never gets satisfied with his performance. Probably this hunger and drive made him come this far for longing for perfection.

"Ok, gather around," Namjoon came back and sat on the sofa near him.
"Jin hyung, can you come, please? Kookie, have my ramen later. Stop fighting now."

Jungkook groaned and came back.

"PD nim checked the lightings during the rehearsals, shouldn't be any problem there. The props are ok. But Hoseok hyung, you said that the stage was a bit smaller. How should we cover it?"

"It is ok unless some of us get excited and moves too much around. It fitted the backup dancers quite well," Hoseok scratched his forehead, "but I  think during the medley, jungkook should be in the center and Jimin, don't move around too much. Jin hyung you are ok but are you planning on something during the encore?"

"A heart event?" Jin said unsurely.
"I didn't plan any unique reveal this time though. Should I do it? "

"You should. Prepare something. Yoongi hyung, any suggestion?"

"You know I am not that comfortable in hyping up people. But hyping up and keeping up the energy, it should be done carefully. Especially during the ballads and solos which don't have choreography," Yoongi replied.

"People will join in the chorus in those ballads if given cues, that's no problem. But for solos and songs without choreo..." Hoseok was thinking, "maknae line, you should hype them up. Show them hand gestures and make sure they keep doing those. It's a long concert, you won't want audiences to leave before the encore. But don't overwork yourself."

"Yes, Jimin and Jungkook, keep it in mind, health is the priority," Namjoon nodded. "And Tae, let us know if you feel weak or dizzy, we can stop the choreo casually, you can sing sitting for some minutes, people even won't notice. Don't push yourself. It's for everyone."

"How many people will be there?" Jin questioned.

"21 thousand. All sold out," smiled namjoon. "Now boys, ARMY's don't get to see us often upfront. They are coming with expectations. Let's not disappoint them and let's give them the best live performance they'll ever see!"

Rest six cheered with enthusiasm. His words never fail to encourage them.

Taehyung was going back to his chair pushing the earphone in his ears, revising the cue sheets in his hands.

"Tae, the production team has agreed to something," Namjoon was suspiciously grinning at him.

"What?" Taehyung was clueless.

"Whoaaa...really?" Jimin almost jumped.

"Ahhh..... it's gonna be great!" Jungkook jumped in excitement.

The Rest were smiling silently at him. Taehyung was still clueless. Did they do something for him that he didn't know? Is it his birthday somehow in the middle of July surprisingly?"

Namjoon carefully eyed the production team, crews who were all around them as usual.

"We have arranged a small meet and greet session with the VIP ticketers."

Taehyung's eyes widened in realization. He couldn't believe his ears. He sent Ashley VIP tickets a few days ago. Ashley didn't want to take that at first. She Prefered a seat in the normal audience with her own money. But Taehyung knew how fast their tickets get sold out and with the busy schedule, Ashley probably won't be able to make time for that.

Jin winked at him, "Thank us later."

"At last, I'd be able to get introduced to someone!" Jimin smiled suggestively.

"Hyung!" Taehyung tightly hugged Namjoon. Why were these guys so thoughtful?

He planned to meet her after the concert somewhere away from the madding crowd. But wrapping up and going back to the hotel was a long time in between.

"Don't get too excited during performance boy," Hoseok teased him, " You'd make a certain person worried if you collapse."

When Taehyung came back to his hotel room, he was utterly spent. He couldn't keep his eyes open longer. The first day went well. They made few mistakes, some funny blunders. Jimin and Jin tripped as always, he forgot his verse and just left it for the audience to fill it. Swag!

Tomorrow was the second and last day. Due to the VIP ticket, Ashley would be there during the soundcheck before the stadium starts to fill up. And random people will be selected at the spot for the little meet and greet though they hardly do that.
Taehyung called Ashley.

The call rang on and on but nobody picked it. He tried again but the result was the same. He fell asleep during the fourth call.

Taehyung called Ashley the next day again. But surprisingly this time she was out of reach. He was getting a little tense. Did she got caught up in any emergency again? That would be bad. Really bad.

He cast aside the worries and attended every meeting and small last-minute rehearsals before going into the sound checking. His heart was beating like crazy in anticipation.

He saw Namjoon coming back from the audience side while entering the stage. He shook his head towards Taehyung from left to right signaling Ashley wasn't there. She probably was running late.

The sound checking didn't last that long. After changing into the costume, Taehyung handed himself to stylist noona for his makeup. He was worried, he was dishearted. Moreover, he was puzzled. What happened to her?

"Tae, you called?" Jin asked from the chair beside him, getting attended to and avoiding uttering the obvious.

"Same. Unreachable."

"What about the best friend?" Jin said in a suggestive voice.

"Oh, right!" Taehyung suddenly lit up a bit. He could ask Maya. She was with Ashley the day before and she was coming too.
But he couldn't just call or text her right then without creating suspicion to others around.

He immediately called after he was done. There was not much time left for starting the concert.
Maya picked up the phone after ringing two times, "Hey Tae."

"Where are you?" Taehyung asked quickly.

"Almost there. Got caught up in something."

"Good to know. Gotta go. See you later." Taehyung smiled and put the phone off not wanting to know why Ashley's phone was out of reach. He doesn't care anything as long as he gets to see her tonight.

"Five minutes," someone cued from behind.

The concert went well. Taehyung tried countless times to see Ashley in the crowd but the area was dark already with flashes of lights. That's impossible for someone to detect somebody in thousands of roaring fans in that light.

He spent his every bit of energy in this concert knowing somewhere out there a pair of eyes getting flustered seeing him smile.

They were given a little time to take a breather after they were done. They took the group picture together and headed straight out to the outer room for the meet and greets.

His smile disappeared immediately after entering the rooms. Lucky fans were already waiting for them. But there were no signs of any of the two girls. Namjoon ensured Ashley's presence. But why they were not there? Did they already leave? Or worse? Didn't they make it to the concert?

Taehyung looked at his other members. They tried to act natural. The fans were too overwhelmed with joy to actually notice the unprepared expression of the members.
Jin quickly took the control of the situation and everybody played along. Taehyung really hated to pretend, but he had to too. There was nothing else to do either at that moment.

The meet and greet were short. It took 10-15 minutes at best.

They left the arena after changing. In the car, Taehyung again called Maya.
But this time Ashley was on the opposite of the phone.

"Hey."

"I waited for you to come," Taehyung muttered silently. Trying to let the heaviness in his chest go down. But rather it was getting bigger with hearing her voice.

"Did you finish it well?" Ashley's voice felt a bit tired and weak.

"What happened? " Taehyung suddenly felt worried again.

"Nothing happened," Ashley smiled.
"I am sorry for not being able to be there."

"Give it to noona," Taehyung spoke softly.

"Hey Tae," Maya's voice came from the phone.

"You said you were on the way. Did you lie? "

"I am sorry Tae. Pip said if you knew, You'd be worried and it could ruin your big night. So I had to lie. I am sorry."

"What happened?" Taehyung was tensed up.

"Nothing big. Don't worry. Just a minor accident."

"How minor?" Taehyung's voice was rising with each sentence.

"Tae.."

"How minor?"

" She was hospitalized for yesterday and the whole of today. She was released this evening. She still wanted to attend, but I couldn't just let her," Maya's voice was apologetic.

"It's not minor. What happened?" Taehyung's voice was trembling with anger or fear whatever.

"A little ski accident. She was unconscious for a couple of hours, signs of frostbite were there, but those already got ok now."

"I am coming," Taehyung sighed.

"Please don't," Ashley's pleading was heard. "You are tired. I am really ok now. You take some rest. Tae, Please. Later."

" I missed you," Taehyung whispered in frustration.

"Me too," Ashley sighed.