"You wanted to see me, Mr. Kang?" you stood at the door of the VP of Sales' office. You had probably only seen him once or twice since you came to Seoul.

"Yes, please take a seat" he motioned for you to walk in without looking up.

"I've been talking to Mrs. Nakamura, she was not mistaken when she recommended we transferred you here. This last year's sales reports show your exceptional skills, you were easily above each and every single one of our other representatives"

Mrs. Nakamura, your old boss, was only a regional sales manager, but when this position opened up at the headquarters, she encouraged you to move back to Korea and take it. Moving to another country to do the exact same job sounded dumb, specially if your mother would be too close for comfort.

She had insisted your chances of growing and learning more were higher in Korea than in Japan. That had sounded questionable to you with gender-discrimination in the workplace being bad in either country and beauty standards being just as skewed.

In the end, you had listened to her and had moved back to South Korea after not having seen it since you graduated. You had hoped that you would indeed benefit from working at the root of the company and were glad your skills had been above average in Seoul as well.

"I'm very happy to hear that, Mr. Kang" you nodded with a sincere smile that he reciprocated.

"You might have noticed Mrs. Kim, our Sales Director, is nearing her retirement. She's done an outstanding job for our company for many years and she's also noticed the raw potential in you" he continued and you couldn't help but feel dread. These praises always came with a huge 'but'.

"As you've been working for us for over a decade now, we thought we should put this potential to a test and, if we find that the results are satisfactory, Mrs. Kim would like to incorporate you to her team of sales managers" your eyes widened in shock and despite feeling your heart race, you replied resolutely.

"Of course, Mr. Kang. I would be more than willing to prove I would be perfect for the position."

Your confident smile turned into a grimace with his next few words and your heart sank in your chest.

It felt like your week was split into a before and after that talk, it had been going well and within twenty minutes it had turned your life into a living hell.

Jimin knew immediately that there was something in your mind when your attitude changed drastically.

"I'm tired, Jimin-ah. That's all" you grumbled into your phone as you laid in a bubble bath trying to relax that Thursday night.

"Okay, aegi. Do you still want me to pick you up tomorrow night? Hoseok and Namjoon hyung will go by the dorms to shower and change, but we should have the place to ourselves" he felt insecure when you got like this, your being short with him made him feel unwanted.

"Yes, of course, Jiminie. I really want to see you" you reassured him fervently after hearing the hesitant tone of his voice and he instantly sounded more cheerful. It made you feel guilty that when something wasn't right with you, he felt it and was down too.

"I can't wait to see you either, baby" he murmured flirtatiously and his tone made your cheeks flush, "have a good night."

"You too, only dream of me" you teased him and he laughed endeared before you said your goodbyes. It was almost guaranteed your night was going to be another sleepless one.

By the evening of the next day you surprisingly felt exhausted, but not faint. Despite your instant need to turn all of your anxiety onto yourself and restrict your food, you did your absolute best to eat the bare minimum, which was better than nothing.

"Good evening, aegi!" Jimin's smile dropped as you walked in the car and he saw the tiredness with which you carried yourself.

"Hi Jiminie" you replied curling up to his side and laying your head on his shoulder. One of the company's cars had brought him today, he had had a long week as well.

He wrapped his arm around your waist and nuzzled your hair to plant a kiss on your head before he rested his cheek on it. The ride to the dorms wasn't particularly long, but you ended up dozing off and the driver had to wake you up.

"Thank you, Jihoon-ssi. Have a good weekend with your family!" Jimin said as you both thanked the man and headed up to the entrance of the building.

"Should we have a quick dinner and go to bed?" your boyfriend offered as you walked in the dark apartment. You had quietly huddled together in the elevator, still feeling sleepy and only needing more hours of proper rest.

"Um, I want to talk to you before we go to sleep, it can't wait until the morning" you muttered, curling the hair behind your ear around your finger nervously and pulling from it shakily.

Jimin offered to make some quick kimchi fried rice and told you to sit down at the kitchen table after you set it. While he took care of it, he stared down at the pan with furrowed eyebrows, not really seeing what was in front of his face.

After serving two bowls and quickly doing the dishes, your boyfriend handed you one and sat across from you with the other. For the first few bites, you were in complete silence and it was not the comfortable kind.

"I talked to the Vice President of Sales today, Mr. Kang. The yearly sales reports are out and I've proved to them than not only am I the best back in Japan, I also am above every sales rep here in Seoul"

"That's great, aegi!" Jimin exclaimed smiling widely, but the corners of your lips curled up only slightly.

"Yeah, they've recognized my potential, but of course they want more proof. They couldn't make it easy for me, as if I hadn't been working for them for over a decade and wasn't more than qualified!" you went on and your boyfriend just looked at you feeling lost.

"The Sales Director, Mrs. Kim, should be retiring in the next two years and she'd like to have me as one of her Sales Managers. Which means I could possibly be considered to step up once she leaves. I mean, I wish!"

"Aegi, you got a promotion?! That's great!" Jimin immediately got up from the table and grabbed a bottle of soju from one of the kitchen cabinets and two shot glasses.

You side-smiled amused when you saw him walking back with the biggest grin. But your face quickly changed back into its serious expression.

"We need to celebrate! Finally!" he commented filling your glass and sliding it across the table for you to take it.

"Jimin-ah..." you said softly as you saw him pouring some of the liquor for himself and holding up his glass proudly. This was making it all harder.

"What are you waiting for?" Jimin looked at you whose eyes were fixed on your shot as you swirled it around avoiding his eyes.

"They would offer the position to me depending on how I do replacing my old boss Mrs. Nakamura as a Regional Sales Manager. Kinda like a test run"

"You'll kill it, aegi! I know you can do this with your eyes closed" your heart clenched at his words. You definitely could, you knew it too.

"Back in Tokyo" you added and his face dropped instantly. He put the shot down only after emptying it down his throat.

"They offered you a position in Japan?" Jimin repeated in a low tone without making eye contact, just staring down at his hands that played with the glass.

"It would be a sort of training period, if you will. Depending on how I do working with the Japanese market, they will transfer me back to work from the HQ at a larger scale" you commented and he nodded slowly taking in the information.

"That's great" Jimin said once more, but when he glanced up at for just a second, his smile seemed forced. His eyes couldn't hide his sadness.

"Jiminie" you reached for his hand and took it with a loving squeeze. His lips were pressed together as he bit on them.

"So you'd take the position in Tokyo and then what? How long would you have to be there before they decide to bring you back to Seoul?" Jimin tried to remain unfazed, just his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, but you could tell he was restless as he kept chewing on his bottom lip.

"Well, proper evaluation can usually be done after the sales of an entire calendar year" you replied softly and he nodded stiffly, eyebrows raising as that sank in.

"You should go" he swallowed hard as he finally put down the shot glass he'd been fidgeting with and looked up at you seriously.

"I wish they didn't have to make it so difficult, but I guess I understand that a regional market is rather small in comparison to an international one. Plus my old boss probably was the one that put in a good word for me-"

"I know how much you've wanted this and you do really deserve it. You should go for it" Jimin cut your lengthy explanation. There wasn't much more to say, you didn't get opportunities like this every day.

His heart ached in his chest, but he knew you had to do this. He was afraid to ask what you wanted to do about your relationship.

You didn't see each other a lot with his complicated schedules, but the little you did see each other really was necessary to him. He couldn't fathom the idea of removing that completely.

He'd never considered maintaining anything long distance, he wasn't sure he could pull it off. He was much too physical, much too affectionate in his way to express himself.

"Oh, okay, so I just go?" you asked with an accusatory tone and let go of his hand angrily.

Jimin looked at you with wide eyes in utter confusion, not knowing what he said that could have possibly upset you.

"I guess it works perfectly, we just drift apart and then you don't have to worry if you ever want a kid. No hard feelings, it was natural" you pushed back the chair hurt getting up to leave and Jimin sprang out of his to stop you immediately.

"Aegi, hang on a second" he said holding onto your forearms and looking in your eyes concerned.

"What do you want to do about this? That's not what I want, you know it's not" the words finally came out a little too hoarsely as he forced them.

"No, I know" you repeated his words making an effort to believe him despite your insecurities and took a deep breath, trying to regain some composure. You both slowly sat back down and once again he offered his hand for you to hold.

There was too much going on right now, you had started working on getting your life back together. You had been seeing a therapist for only a couple months, you were doing your best to do what was best for your body despite the urges and the dark thoughts.

You were trying to accept the changes in your body, in your appearance, trying to come to terms with the consequences of all the years of punishing it and yourself by not taking care of it as you should have.

You could barely hold it together and now you felt overwhelmed. You didn't want to fail, you were trying your best and you were not ready to give up your health or your career.

You'd been hoping one day people would overlook your faults, your looks, and truly appreciate all the hard work you had put and give you a chance to be more than a simple representative.

You were quick-witted, smart and more than capable of proving you were worthy of this position and even the one of your director above you eventually.

But you were terrified of leaving everything behind and going back into old habits that you know you have a hard time getting over. With the added anxiety and the pressure handling it all, it would be a challenge and things were difficult enough as they were.

And then there was Jimin, you really didn't want to leave him. What if you really grew apart with all the distance between you two? What if he realized he was better off without you holding him back? If you leaving turned out to be a weight lifted off his shoulders?

There were more pros for him to you leaving than you'd like to admit. As much as you wanted to believe he didn't want you two to break up, you couldn't help but worry that everything would inevitably dissolve into nothing.

"We could still talk at night and schedule video calls, couldn't we?" you offered trying to reassure him you wanted to stay in contact and at the same time listening to yourself for encouragement.

"Yes, I can cover the international fees to call if needed, I don't care" he nodded eagerly holding your hand a little tighter.

"And we can do date night still, watch a movie or play online together" Jimin chuckled at your suggestion.

"Wow, we really are a bunch of dorks" he giggled amused at the sound of it, remembering your brother's teasing, but he loved the idea.

"I can fly to Japan whenever I have a couple days off too. The flight time from Seoul to Tokyo isn't too bad, just a bit over two hours, I think?"

"But charter flights*²?" you questioned him concerned and he nodded without hesitation.

"I'll figure it out, don't worry" he smiled looking a little less tense at last and you returned the feeling.

"We can still text as usual and share pictures with each other" you suggested knowing how much he treasured the time you spent together in person*.

"And there's phone sex, right?" Jimin pointed out concerned and you pressed your lips together stifling a laugh. You were both thinking about completely different kinds of interaction.

"Yes, there's that" you nodded smiling to yourself and he looked at you feeling unnecessarily judged.

"Yah, it's a whole year we are talking about!" he protested feeling the heat rise to his face.

"No, no, you are right. I'm here worrying about our relationship and you are worried about little Jimin" you tried to justify yourself.

"L-little?" his head flinched back in shock and his eyebrows shot up dramatically as he blinked repeatedly feeling offended.

"Oh please, it's just...you'd think of that"

"And you wouldn't?" he quirked an eyebrow defiantly.

"Well, I know there's remote controlled stuff we could try. Not that I ever have, but there's that for one"

"An absolute angel indeed" he teased you with a racy smirk.

"Takes one to know one" you replied with the hottest sassy stare and he had to look away, take a deep breath and refocus on the matter at hand.

While he was in the bathroom getting ready for bed, you opened his closet and pulled out a box he kept with the few photos he had taken of you and the ones you had together that Hobi took in Nami Island. There weren't a lot, you didn't like pictures, so they were special to him.

A few minutes later, he walked in the bedroom to see you going through his underwear drawer and looked at you surprised.

"What are you doing, you perv?" he questioned you looking over your shoulder and you finally pulled out what you were looking for: the pictures he had taken of you in lingerie. Such a dumb hiding place, it was so easy to guess, but you were glad you had them now.

You opened his box you had set on the dresser and put them inside before turning to him who was looking at you with a tilted head and furrowed eyebrows awaiting an explanation.

"I'm taking these with me to Tokyo, if you want them back, you'll have to come see me" you announced slipping the box underneath your arm and walking to the bed.

"You don't have to hold them hostage, of course I'll visit" he shook his head refusing to let them go and tried to take them back. You moved the box away and he whined.

"At least let me keep the lingerie photos" Jimin murmured shyly with a little nervous giggle.

"No can do, you have to video call me" you lifted your chin up shaking your head determined.

"Ah, come on! Don't be like that, baby. Do you want me to look up something else?" he wrapped his arms around you and tried to reach the box that you now safely held behind your back.

"Forget about seeing me on camera then, I dare you" you scowled at him and extended your arm far back out of his reach. He easily curved over your body and reached for it, but you bit his neck hard.

"Yah! I'm going to have to say Jungkook did that*³!" he cried rubbing his skin with a pitiful pout as he pulled back abruptly.

"I'm sure the fans are going to love it" you teased him and he scrunched his nose.

"Don't go there, aegi" he muttered and sighed letting his shoulders fall in a round slouch.

"You'd better give them back to me on my first visit" Jimin threatened you staring you down and you shrunk back feeling intimidated. With a cheeky wink and a sly smirk he turned around and headed to the bed.

"Maybe I'll keep it until I come back so you'll have to come looking for me" you said softly as you slipped beneath the sheets shortly after and wrapped your arms around his waist to get comfortable in his embrace.

"Aegi, you know I will" your boyfriend said looking at you concerned and offering a sad smile.

"What if you realize you are better off without me? You can easily find someone less problematic, you can pick and choose" the situation was complicated enough as is, so you might as well put all your cards on the table.

"We've gone over this, that's not true. They are not my baby" he said playfully biting your neck and making you giggle at the ticklish feeling.

"What if you come across a ripped 180 cm. mafia gangster that has all the time in the world for you and dedicates their life to pampering you and taking you places?" his voice was low and shy, he wanted it to sound light-hearted, but he was scared of losing you too.

"Never. One look at your performance of 2019 at Nagoya in that jewel encrusted leather jacket and I'll forget all about Japanese Pablo Escobar" Jimin nodded at your words making a mental note for future reference.

"You'd love that trainwreck of a life, if I don't keep an eye on you you might join a cult" he murmured feeling insecure and you squeezed him for reassurance.

"I love you more, Jiminie" you said snuggling close to his chest ready to sleep

"I do too, aegi" he answered with a little laugh and a big smile on his face as he squeezed you back.

"Can I have my pictures back then?" his voice was hopeful as he turned the side-table's lamp off.

"You thought."

-

* Jimin has been called the memory squirrel of the band, he likes taking photos to keep:

*² BTS stopped taking charter flights because sasaengs would hack the system and find out what flights they were taking and get tickets to be near them. Taehyung has expressed how uncomfortable this made them on vlive in the past This is why they started flying in their own private jet early on.

*³