Yoongi cleared his throat gently and everyone fell silent. "OK, I think we should do introductions first," he said in Korean, and Park Jiwon translated for him into English. "Some of you already know each other, and some don't. On keys we have Kim Changhyun, drums is Kim Jinhun, bass is Cora Hertshorn, and guitar is Park Shinwon. Also, producing will be EL CAPITXN, aka Jang Yijeong. He will be running the boards during the show."

Everybody shook hands and did little bows. "Alright, why don't we run through Haegeum as a warm-up, then?" Yoongi counted them off. "A five, a six, a five-six-seven-eight!"

The first couple of run-throughs already sounded pretty good to Yoongi, and everything seemed to click into place on the third take. "That's pretty solid, everyone. OK, let's try Interlude: Shadow next," he said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cora was having such a good time learning Yoongi's music that she was actually startled when he called for a break and she realized that they had been playing for three hours already. He smiled at all of them and thanked everyone for their hard work so far. "Let's take an hour for lunch, OK, and then meet back here."

She stood up and twisted gently from side to side to loosen up her lower back, then set her bass on its stand. The other band members were talking among themselves, and decided to go to the Hybe employee lounge and order food sent up from the cafeteria. Yoongi sidled up to Cora. "Do you want to eat with everyone, or go somewhere else?" he asked, slightly raising his eyebrows.

"I think it would be good to bond with the group today," she replied, smiling at him.

He eye-smiled back. "OK, let's go."

Cora ended up sitting across from the guitarist, who introduced himself again in English and asked her to call him "Sammy." She learned that he lived in the Bay Area, and knew one of the artists she had worked with on the Alicia Keys album.

As the two of them chatted, she became aware that Yoongi was watching her out of the side of his eye from a couple of seats down the table. She made eye-contact with him and jutted her chin out slightly, then grinned. He dropped his eyes and concentrated on his galbi, an obstinate look on his face.

Sammy glanced down the table toward Yoongi, looked over at Cora, and then sat back a bit and struck up conversation in Korean with the keyboard player, Changhyun. Cora twirled her fork in her pasta and eavesdropped on them as best she could with her limited language skills. Yoongi was still avoiding looking at her.

After lunch, Cora got slightly lost trying to navigate back to the practice room from the women's restroom. She was standing at a crossroads between two corridors, trying to figure out which way to go, when a deep, friendly voice said to her in English, "You look perplexed, can I help you?"

She turned to see Kim Namjoon walking toward her, a book in hand. 'Cliché RM,' she thought, and smiled. "Yes, thanks, I seem to have misplaced the practice studio. I'm here for the Agust D D-Day Tour rehearsals." RM nodded and gave her a dimpled smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Namjoon spotted the girl standing in the hallway on the sixth floor looking confused. She wore a Siouxsie and the Banshees t-shirt, a black miniskirt, fishnet tights, and black combat boots. Her heavy punk-rocker makeup couldn't disguise her youth, or her prettiness. 'Still, she looks kind of tough. Not in a really defiant way, just self-assured. This is a competent person who isn't used to being at a loss like this,' he thought, smiling to himself. He was 95% sure that the young woman was Yoongi's bass player, even before he spoke to her.

She confirmed all of his suspicions immediately; she was the bass player from Yoongi's video, and she was also a bit lost.

"Ah, no problem, I can show you the way," he said, motioning toward the right with his book. "Oh, I'm Kim Namjoon, or RM, by the way."

She smiled and reached out to shake his hand. "Cora, Cora Hertshorn. Nice to meet you, Kim Namjoon. What are you reading?"

"Oh, it's a poetry book, Barefoot by Moon Taejun. I left my copy at home, and there's a particular image I'm trying to bring to mind, but it's just out of my grasp. I'm writing lyrics today." He showed her his dimples again.

"Wow, I wish I could read Korean well enough to understand poetry..." Cora told him, shaking her head.

"I can translate a little bit," he replied as they walked down the hall. He opened the book to a random page. "Today the air teems with goodbyes. A handful, just a handful at a time, I exhale words of goodbye. A far away place appears. As it pushes me away, little by little, a far away place appears." He pushed open the door to the practice room, still reading and translating. "I would bring with me the first new leaf of spring, her lips, her rosy cheeks, her smiling eyes that make me shy. The air lifts my heart, fragile like a piece of ice, and then it passes me by."

"Oh my god, that is so beautiful! 'Smiling eyes that make me shy...' Who hasn't felt that, huh?" Cora said, beaming at Namjoon.

He nodded and grinned, then gave her a slight head bob and said, "Well, enjoy your practice. It was nice to meet you, Cora! Yoongi-hyung." He waved and turned to leave.

"Thank you for the guidance and the poetry, Kim Namjoon!" she called to his retreating back. She turned and caught Yoongi glowering in their direction. "Ah, sorry guys, I got a little lost on the way back from the bathroom," she said to the group. Nobody but Yoongi seemed bothered at all.

Cora sat down, picked up her bass, and cocked her head to give Min Yoongi a challenging, 'What's with you?' sort of look. He bit his lower lip and looked away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After rehearsal, the other musicians packed up their things and headed out into the spring night. Cora made a real process of changing her D string, even though it didn't actually need to be replaced.

Yoongi put his mic in its case and tidied up the practice room a bit, then stood with his hands on his hips, watching her. She finally finished, and met his eyes.

"How are you doing, Yoongi-shi?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

"I'm fine," he replied, sounding anything but fine.

Cora sighed and cocked her head at him. "You seem troubled. What's going on?"

"Nothing." He looked away. Cora just stared at him quietly. He met her eyes again and sighed. "You talked and laughed with Shinwon. And then you talked and laughed with Namjoon-ie." He paused, his forehead creasing. "I don't like feeling this way," he said at last.

"What way? What are you feeling?"

"I... I feel jealous. I don't like to see you talking and smiling to other men. But I have no right to feel this." His eyes were hooded.

Cora smiled at him. "Well, either I can talk to other men or I can be silent all day. This place is a total sausage-fest, if you haven't noticed."

"A sausage...?" Yoongi gave her a 'what the hell?' look and started to laugh despite himself.

"Yeah. Just men, as far as the eye can see!" she continued, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

Yoongi stopped laughing.

She gave him a calculating look. "Why do you feel jealous when I talk to guys, Yoongi-shi?" She smirked, just a little bit.

"I wish I could ask you out. I wish I could date you, Cora Hertshorn. But it's not possible."

Her heart sank. "Why not?"

"I am too old for you," he replied. "And I will go to military service soon, and come back even older."

Cora laughed in relief. "Jeez, Yoongi, I thought there was some real, serious reason! That's all? Age and military service?" She exhaled noisily and stood up, then walked toward him. Staring into his eyes, she said, "Ask me. Ask me right now. Find out if it's possible."

Yoongi's alabaster face turned a cute shade of pink. He cleared his throat, sucking his lips in and glancing away as if looking for help. Finally he met her eyes again, and said, "Cora, I like you more than any woman for a long time. Will you date with me?"

She smiled at him from an arm's length away. "Yoongi, since the first time I saw you, I haven't been able to get you out of my head. Yes, I will date you."

Yoongi broke into a full gummy smile. "Cora, can I kiss you? On purpose?"

She laughed and nodded, blushing a little. Yoongi stepped forward and put his hands on her hips, looking bashful. He leaned in and brushed her lips with a sweet, gentle kiss. Cora wound her arms loosely around his waist and returned the kiss to him, then pulled back so she could smile into his eyes.

"Cora, would you like to see my studio?" he asked.

She giggled. "Is this a producer's way of saying 'Would you like to meet my cat'?"

Yoongi guffawed, then shrugged and gave her a spine-tingling stare.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He grinned when Cora laughed at the "Keep Off" rug that covered much of the floor in his studio.

"Please, sir, can I approach the desk?" she asked, folding her hands in supplication and then wrinkling her nose at him.

Yoongi obligingly rolled a second chair over for her. "Of course, anything for you!"

Cora noticed the framed prints of her drawings that were already mounted to the left of the desk. "Oh! You actually put them up!" she beamed at him.

"It looks nice, yes?" he said. She gazed at them for a moment, and then nodded at him. "Do you want to hear some music?"

She rolled a bit closer. "Yes, please! What have you got?"

He grumbled deep in his throat as he started to scroll through his files. "Thousands and thousands of beats... let's see..." He started with the demo for a fun, summer beach type song. "This one always reminds me of California, and now it sounds like you," he said, nodding his head to the beat.

Cora bopped along with the song. "I love it. It sounds just like a summer day!"

Yoongi played her an EDM beat next, and she got up and jumped to the beat, pumping her fist in the air. Yoongi laughed with delight. "You're a one-person rave!" he said, grinning.

"Love that one, too. I don't think you guys have ever done a straight EDM song, have you?"

"No, lots of elements in Best of Me and Fire and other songs, but we always mix it up. Oh, I will play this one now. It's collab with Halsey, not released yet, so top secret, OK?"

She nodded, bouncing in her seat in anticipation. He opened the file and she saw the title Lilith. "Oh my god, Yoongi, that's my middle name!"

He looked at her, stunned, for a moment, then glanced at her initials on the Amygdala print: CLH. "Isn't it a demon?" he asked, putting his hand over his mouth in mock horror.

"Some people say that, but my mom liked the story where Lilith was the original wife of Adam, but got kicked out of the Garden of Eden because she wouldn't obey him. She just did what she wanted."

Yoongi laughed. "Yeah, that sounds right. Well, I guess this is your OST, then." He clicked play.

By the second time the chorus hit, Cora and Yoongi were singing along. "You got me feelin' like I been too mean / And everything that I say, I believe / Tuck a knife with my heart up my sleeve..."

"I absolutely love it, Yoongi." Cora smiled at him. "I hope it's not really my sound track, though. I don't want to fuck this up."

He reached over and brushed her cheekbone with the back of his fingers. "Me, too. We won't fuck this up." Then he got shy again and started to scroll for something else to listen to.