Beyond The Stage

Stronger Than Us

(This is BTS Gayo 14)

Taehyung's POV

I always pride myself on my focus. I may not always be professional when the time calls for it, and I don't like to be serious, but I am always focused. Today, however, I am not focused. I zoned out so many times, fighting the urge to just stare at her. Even in casual clothes with her hair tied up, she still looks beautiful. Her concentrated face as she types on the laptop is addicting. I tried making up for this by being more energetic but ended hitting myself with the jump rope. I always end up looking back to her to see her reaction. I hadn't been informed of her duties, but seeing as she's a translator, they probably have her in to spectate. It doesn't really make sense that she would be on set, but I'm glad she is.

During the breaks, most of the other staff were more reserved and too shy to speak with her outright, but some of them talk casually with her. They were the ones from the tour who got to know her. I'm happy is finding a place here, I have been worried about her adjusting for the longest time. This is only a small part of her move, but as long as she can be comfortable that's all that matters.

I couldn't help but notice that she rarely ever looked at us or the set, just the laptop. One of the few times she did, Jin and Jimin were performing the fart scene and she looked genuinely confused. It was hard to not burst out laughing just at her expression. I had to play it off as a reaction, which wasn't too hard.

Since its her first time doing digital translations, I was worried she wouldn't be able to keep up, but she seems to have her own system.

Once the director calls for the end, the shoot stops and everyone disperses. The bright background and blinding lights shone solely on us dim quickly, making me see spots for a while, but it's nothing I'm not used to. The tech staff save the recordings and disassemble, makeup artists come up to check our appearance, and the editors all meet to discuss, including Alexis.

I can tell she is nervous, but they all include her without bias, having gotten slightly used to her during filming. I stand close to them, too curious to ignore anything that involves the love of my life. "Alexis!" They say her name with honorifics, something she gracefully returns.

"Yes?"

"Are these the English translations for each part?" One of the editors asks.

She nods, "Yes, the live caption feature was very convenient. I typed as much as I could."

They look astonished. "This is amazing! I was thinking to add these parts in actually!" He points to something on the screen.

"I'm glad." She smiles. "I wanted to do Korean as well, but I can't type that fast. I don't keys well."

"That's fine. We already have some caption writers. He introduces two other editors, "I'm sure you'll work well with each other."

Her voice chimes happily as she continues to make friends with our coworkers. I look at her fondly, completely forgetting not to stare. Everything about her draws me in, just seeing her makes me want to pull her into a hug, any form of physical contact. If this is the bond, I'll gladly let myself fall into it. If it's love, even better.

"Taehyung!" A voice gets my attention. The artist looks stressed telling me she's finished. She looks between me and Alexis confused. Shit. I know we're going to announce the truth in a week, but we agreed to keep it hidden until then. For Alexis.

"Sorry, I was daydreaming. Thank you." I tell her. Luckily, she believes me and lets it go. I breathe a relief. I guess its fortunate that I stare off so often.

"Don't worry, I did it too." Jin whispers to me in a quiet laugh. He pats my shoulder. "At this rate, I think a week might be a bit far-fetched."

"Just look at Jungkook." I turn where he's looking and just like he said, Jungkook stares straight at Alexis. He's worse at daydreaming than I am, so he could get away with it, but we know that he's fully aware now.

I glance over at Alexis again, "You think she's this distracted too? She doesn't look like she's struggling." I pout. It seems almost easy for her.

"That would be a good thing. But there are seven of us. If it's like this for us, just multiply that by seven." He says with certainty.

I remember our conversation about Alexis a few days ago. Jin claimed to have searched about our bond. "What did you read about the bond?" I ask.

He recalls calmly, "You know that her health suffers when she's away from us too long?" I nod, that was what brought us to our compromise. "That's because her soul is with each of us. The bond affects her strongest because there are seven connections to her. We have one soulmate, but she has seven. So anything that's caused by the bond would be multiplied as well. Including pull.

"All of that and she can still stay focused. She's stronger than all of us, most likely." He praises.

He's right. Over a month ago at the dorm, Alexis was immediately able to recognize the change in Jimin's attitude. In Brazil, she stayed with Jungkook until she was absolutely positive he was okay. She got Yoongi a cake on his birthday back when we barely knew each other and decorated it herself. She always considers us, how could I doubt her? My love never fails to amaze me.

One day, maybe after the tour is over and she is settled in, she'll have less worries. After she has had a few paychecks, she can get an apartment somewhere near here, instead of living with her friend. I know she wouldn't let us pay, but she might let us help look for a place. I have to ask her about that later.

~~~~~

Hello my loves!!~~ Long time no see! I wasn't planning on making you wait this long, but I said in the first author's note that I wouldn't force myself to write when I didn't want to and produce bad quality content. Despite that, I'm sorry for the long wait! I know some people were looking forward to an update. I guess I was waiting for something to change in my life, but even with less work and less classes, I still couldn't find motivation. Maybe it was the absence of new BTS content for awhile? Of course, we were all busy. Anyways, excuse my long rant loves, I've missed you~~ Comments from new readers and funny reactions to the characters always make me happy, so thank you so much! I'll see you all in the next chapter!!