When Tae Met Haleh

Chapter 3: Taehyung

The days were passing in a blur. He always enjoyed his interactions with ARMYs either online or in person. It has been more than a month he's been away from home and he missed his favorite food. But more than that, he missed all the other members. Going for solo was not an easy decision to make. But there he was almost done with the first set of concerts. The response was thrilling and it added up to his confidence.

It was night time and he was sitting in his hotel room with a glass of wine. He was just back from a concert and right now he just wanted to be left alone with some wine so he can rejuvenate. Suddenly his phone started ringing. He looked at the phone and sighed with irritation.

"Hello", he had no option but to pick this call up.

"Hello, V. That was a great performance today. Well done." It was none other than his manager at this late hour. V wanted to cut the call and switch his phone off but he couldn't. He was an idol and he had an image to maintain.

"Thank you for your appreciation. I hope the next performance would be even better." He said monotonously.

"Yeah, yeah. So, I wanted to schedule an exclusive fan sign before your next concert."

V started to protest but the manager cut in

"I know this is very last minute and you won't be able to get rest before your main event. But I just received this message from company that the overall response is great, so it would be good for publicity and obviously your fans are dying to meet you. We'll be having a proper 1-1 photos with you and fans and autographs signing. I will be sharing the whole plan with you in an hour. So, let's prepare!". The manager kept on pouring the details and Taehyung was just half listening to him. He was really furious of sudden intervention in the already set plan.

"Fine."

"Great, let's catch up tomorrow early around 5?"

"Are you kidding me? I am just back from the concert and too tired to be awake by 5 am in the morning! I need to sleep." The irritation bar was getting higher as the interaction continues.

"Aahh. Let's keep it at 7 then. I cannot delay it any further V and you know it. We have many other campaigns going around while you're here so we need to remain on toes. See you tomorrow." His manager hung up without listening to his response.

Taehyung raked his hairs in frustration. He looked at the glass of wine he was just enjoying few minutes ago. His mood was visibly ruined so he gulped all of his wine down in a single go and laid down on his sofa spreading his legs to calm his mind down. He loved his job, but he hated the environment he was working in. The restrictions, the continuous monitoring and the regress training had made him almost give up what he always aspired to do. He loved music and he had a dream to share it with the like-minded people. But at what cost? He didn't want to think about it. So, he poured another glass promising himself for it to be last. It was already 2 in the morning, he needed to sleep else there will be visible fatigue on his face and tomorrow he had a shoot for another commercial.

The work never stopped. He liked to work but he also wanted to have that space where he could simply be. Without the judgment, without the barriers and without the struggle to show what he actually feels. Once the drink finished, he knocked off his boots and went straight to his bed with sleep being his only solace to hide from the reality so many desperately wanted to attain but he was living it.