BTS Eighth Member | The Life: Pre-debut Years

Chapter 14- Flipping

March 28th, 2013:

We were all in the dance studio, practicing whatever we felt we needed to work on. Taehyung was with Hoseok and Seokjin working on the We Are Bulletproof Part 2 dance, Yoongi and Namjoon were with Jungkook working on the No More Dream dance, and Jiyoung and I were with Jimin trying to learn how to do his air flip.

"We don't have that much space in here, but we can try," says Jimin, giving in to our nagging. We had seen him practicing and both of us thought it was so cool and wanted to learn.

"Be careful guys, don't get hurt. We're just two months away from the debut," says Namjoon sternly, glancing at us mid-dance move.

"Don't worry oppa, we know what we're doing," replies Jiyoung, stretching.

We both stretch our bodies and stand at attention, listening to Jimin give his instructions.

"You got that? You really have to have a lot of momentum moving forward and twist your body to the side as your jumping. Use your hand on the ground first and then move up to jumping," explains Jimin.

"Got it," Jiyoung and I say in unison.

We go one at a time and practice it using our hands for support a few times before moving up to trying it with no arm support. Jimin continuously gave us pointers on what we had to fix or could do better. We had fallen a few times, but the bruises we were going to get were nothing compared to those we got while dancing.

Jiyoung goes for her third attempt. She manages to start well and maintains significant airtime, but then she completely fails her landing. Her right leg plants on the ground hard and then slides, twisting and stretching fast and hard. A faint pop comes from her leg. Jiyoung crumpled on the ground grabbing her leg, starting to cry from the pain. Everyone quickly turns to see where the noises came from.

"Oh my god, Jiyoung!" shouts Jimin hurrying to her side.

"What the hell happened?" questions Hoseok, rushing to her side as well.

"I... I don't know. It just happened. I did the flip and then my foot kind of planted and twisted while stretching away from me..." says Jiyoung taking deep breaths trying to collect herself and cope with the pain.

"I heard a pop... this can't be good. We have to get her to the hospital," I say worried.

"No! No. I'll be fine, just have to walk it off, maybe stretch a bit. I don't need the hospital, it's not that bad," begs Jiyoung, wincing while trying to move her leg. She tries to get up, first putting pressure on her left leg and then trying to step out with her right, only for her to wail in pain and grab the nearest person for support.

"You're not ok Jiyoung. You can't put any weight on it without crying. You're going to the hospital," says Taehyung, helping her stay upright.

"I can't go to the hospital. Guys please, the debut is only 2 months away. I'll take a break, for the rest of the day, put some ice on it and it'll fix itself," pleads Jiyoung starting to cry even more now, "if the company hears of this, they might not let me debut, guys please".