VLIVE | j.jk

t w e n t y - n i n e

MIA & JEONGGUK

mia watched with a small smile as jeongguk made his way to the small pond a couple yards beyond their campsite. finally a chance for him to be by himself and enjoy the fresh air.

she took a deep breathe, doing the same, as she adjusted her position on one of the four logs surrounding their camp's soon to be fire.

realizing mia would also have this time to herself, she quickly went into their tent in search of her phone. as she returned, she resisted the urge to scroll on social media to find what the public were saying about the whole debacle.

deciding against it, she went to the notes app she had been searching for originally. inside a note she had pinned contained just one of many drafts. a secret she hadn't shared with her family or even archie. inside were the yearnings of her heart and soul in rhythm and rhyme and styles in words. lyrics.

as though someone might be watching, mia looked up, craning her head behind her expecting an intruder. when she finally believed she was alone, she began to read through them.

she smiled at herself, at words that seemed silly, feelings that reminded her of a past moment, rhymes that didn't quite land.

she wasn't a naturally gifted writer just passionate about her emotions and putting them somewhere. it was a trait that provided motive for the scrapbook she had created when she would one day meet jeongguk. thankfully, he saw it already, something she never expected. but seeing him react to something she created by her own hands, an expression of her emotions in paper, passion, and tape made it feel worth it.

maybe this would be worth sharing as well. this secret, this window to her heart. it was just a hobby. but when she didn't feel like she could talk to her mother or brother, or burden her father, she used her words to speak to herself or whoever would eventually listen to the words.

words. it was what draw her to BTS. they just had a way with them, especially the rappers.  and the dancers knew how express those words, and the singers knew how to recreate the emotion with their voices. they had a whole team create story after story for their music video universe and it was all so captivating and real.

in fact, mia's first exposure to BTS was an explanation of their "i need u" music video and its connection to "run". after the rabbit whole of just wanting to learn their names and the rest is history.

mia thought a particular song she had been thinking about that expressed what BTS had done for her. at first they were a distraction, a hobby, and then they became an important accessory to her life. not necessary, just a wonderful compliment that made life that much more prettier.

as the gentle breeze blew into the woods, tickling trees and it's leaves as it traveled across the forest, mia took a deep breathe. her mind began to think back to her first years as a fan. being here felt like a vacation, a break despite what was at stake.

meanwhile jeongguk took off his shoes and socks, dipping his feet into the cool pond.

he instinctively looked around him. seeing mia far in the camp and no one else, he allowed himself to relax.

he was alone. for once. there was not a day that went by where he was surrounded by people. his body guards, managers, staff, members. the people at BigHit Entertainment all inside the building, while he trained away inside a room. surrounded in and by the black vehicles he would be subject too for almost the rest of his life as a celebrity. surrounded by people he knew and didn't know but could never talk to on camera at award shows, with crowds of fans behind them all. surrounded by expectation and adoration. never had he expected to find himself in the forest of the east of the United States by himself.