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Mimie and Yoongi were greeted by the sound of raised voices. Distinctly Sihyuk's. Barely registering Jungkook's enthusiastic greeting, Mimie sat in the corner of the green room with a face like stone.
"You haven't even told your fans that you and Mara broke up. You can not force a new couple on them already. They will tear her to pieces!" Namjoon could hear it. Sihyuk's concern for his niece was wrongly expressed as anger towards the defiant Maknae, and his eldest hyung who made a habit of living by his own rules. All Jungkook and Jin heard was 'no'.
"This isn't about the fans, or Mara, or Mimie," Jin returned, his usual polite nature discarded in favour of the defensive inner mother bear. "This is about us being treated as human beings and not as an asset that brings income."
"That is too far, Seokjin-ah," Sihyuk warned, eyes blazing. "Your career requires you to bring in a certain level of profit, that is true. But this is the life you agreed to live when you signed your contracts, both times. Now you stand there and throw the world I've helped you create around yourselves back at me because I'm trying to protect you? That is the bassist display of disrespect."
"You're not protecting us you're protecting your wallet!"
"Enough," Mimie spoke lowly, drawing the eyes of the room to her. "You have a show in forty-five minutes. This can wait." Following Mimie's lead, with significantly more emotion and excitement, Namjoon jumped to his feet and carried her message, chivying the members into autopilot as they prepared for the show. Jungkook darted about desperately trying to spare a second for Mimie, who sat in the corner like a statue.
Behind her eyes, it was all persistently spinning, even though outwardly she was entirely still. She was so still, in fact, that at times she ceased to appear separate to the wall behind her. The irony was that she felt as valuable as the wall behind her. What was she other than something to look at. She couldn't have what she worked for, what she dreamed of, her career, Jungkook... She couldn't have Namjoon, he was moving past her relevance in his world, and she could feel it. She couldn't have anything. She couldn't be anything. Her panicked decision to follow Jungkook had been a cry for some purpose that she didn't even realise she was looking for. But that's just not fair, is it? You can't make a person your reason for living. That's too much.
"Mi-ah," Jungkook finally managed to break away from his prep team, just as she was gathering her things. "Where are you going?" he pleaded, although he'd meant to say a whole list of other, more meaningful things. Something about the way his eyes seemed to reflect his heartache brought Mimie back to earth for a moment,
"Home," she offered apologetically, squeezing his hand before pulling hers from his tight grip.
"You said you would watch the show," it seemed a ridiculous notion to focus on given the circumstances but it made Mimie smile. Only slightly and with a shadow of pain behind it, but she still smiled.
