February 15, 2020
"Jimin-hyung, would you mind turning that down? Bella's still asleep." Jake requested.
Bella woke up to Jake's voice and looked at him. She moved to stretch her body and bumped into Jimin who was sitting up in bed and watching TV. Taehyung was nowhere to be found.
"Good morning, beautiful." Jake kissed her on the forehead.
"Hey there, my prince." Bella smiled. 'This is the first time I'm waking up beside him.', she thought. 'I hope this is the first of many.' She felt a sense of happiness being in his embrace.
"What are you thinking about, Princess?"
"I was thinking about how much you love your brothers and your fans."
"What brought that on?" Jake wanted to know.
Bella looked at his right hand. The letters A R M Y were tattooed on it. On his pointer finger was a crown above the A, which looked like an overturned V. A purple heart was underneath that same A. On his ring finger was the letter J. Below his right thumb, Bella could see the numbers 0613. On the left side of the same hand was a shield. "That."
"I do love and appreciate them, Princess. So much."
"I see that."
"But... But sometimes, it can get a little overwhelming." He confessed.
Bella sat up in bed beside Jimin. She was now seated between Jake and Jimin. "Good morning, Jimin-oppa!" She greeted.
"Good morning, Bella!" He greeted her back.
To Jake, she asked "Has there been a time when you felt like it was too much?"
The doorbell rang and Jimin stood up to answer it. "I'll get it."
Yeontan ran up to jump on the wicker bench. Bella patted her lap and the black and brown teacup Pomeranian relocated there instead. "Good morning, Tannie!" She said, rubbing between his ears.
Jimin came back to sit on the left side while Taehyung sat in the middle of the bed with his legs crossed underneath him.
"Joeun Achimieyo." Taehyung greeted. Jake looked at him and Taehyung inclined his head to the lone girl in the room. "It means good morning." He smiled that boxy smile of his at her.
"Oh my god, V-oppa! That's way too bright for me!" She responded, blinking her eyes. "Turn it off, juseyo! (please)"
"Taetae is just naturally uh... shiny?" Jimin described. Taehyung dissolved into a puddle across the bed. Yeontan barked twice and everyone laughed. "Even your own dog agrees, V!"
Jake took Bella's tiny left hand in his huge right one. "Hey. We agreed on complete truths all the time, right?" He took a deep breath. "You were asking about a time when supposed fans got to be overwhelming. There was that time in Sweden in 2016 when we were filming for Bon Voyage. Some Sasaengs chased us after we left a restaurant."
"We ran like crazy." Taehyung recalled.
"Uh, sasaeng?" Bella asked.
"Stalker fans." Jimin replied.
"There was that sasaeng in Japan who entered our room during Hobi-hyung's birthday VLive earlier this year. In 2015, sasaengs latched on to me at the airport in Indonesia and wouldn't let me go." Jake continued.
"Things like that make us scared for people's safety, especially in airports." Jimin added.
Jake took another deep breath. "But, Princess, you have to know about this one. It happened very recently, about two months before I met you in Taipei. We had a break and I went to visit Geoje Island. It's a little over an hour away from Busan by car."
