Shine Seoul City Lights~ A BTS Encounter

Maybe Makeup Does Make a Difference

After the interview I managed to find my way down to the dance practice room without getting lost once. I watched silently from outside through the window in the door as Jimin practiced by himself. From a distance and unnoticed, I could truly appreciate his talent. Wow, I was so jealous. I waited for him outside and as he came out, I waved hello, then, remembering, bowed.

A strange expression passed over his face. He nodded his head and greeted me, then gestured down the hallway towards the door so we could walk to the gym. It took me a moment to figure out what it was, and when I did, the realization shocked me. Was it nervousness? Anxiety? Shyness? No way. Jimin? Mr. I-will-tell-you-to-call-me-oppa-then-spill-water-on-you-and-make-you-choke Jimin? Huh. I must have seen wrong.

He held open the door for me and then went to the lady at the desk for a brief conversation. I followed, smiling a little at the lady and bowing as I passed. She gave me a smile in return and said something in Korean. I pretended to understand.

Jimin pushed the doors open, and we walked through. I glanced around excitedly. Were there any more idols to meet? So far I saw no one. Jimin and I rounded a corner. To my excitement, there were three guys working out on the pull-up bars again. I bowed to them respectfully, saying 'annyeonghaseyo' shyly. They were all very good-looking.

One was short, only about two inches taller than me. He had large, round eyes that looked a little crossed. His hair was thick and short, and he was wearing a white T-shirt and grey pants.

The second guy was very tall, with black hair and big eyes. He looked like the sort of guy who would be super quiet all of the time in class. I noticed that his eyelashes were very long and his smile was peaceful and happy.

The third was medium height with full lips and round eyes. His hair was dirty blonde and he had high cheekbones. Also, I noticed, he had very muscular legs, the legs of a true dancer. He was wearing black shorts and a grey muscle shirt.

They grinned at me, waving sweetly and then caught sight of Jimin. The guy in the muscle shirt's eyes widened. He began speaking in rapid-fire Korean to his friends. I caught the words 'bangtan sonyeondan' and a whole lot of other random stuff. Jiming grinned at them and gave each of them a high-five before gesturing towards the bars for me to practice. They watched in awe as I began to do pull-ups, although I think they were mostly surprised at Jimin being here.

Jimin helped correct my form and made me complete a few sets of pull-ups before gesturing towards the treadmill for me to run. As I ran I watched the three guys at the end of the room. They weren't really exercising at all, more just talking and goofing around. All three of them looked super young. But then again, so did a lot of people in Korea. Jimin leaned toward me.

"They are Astro." He said. "Uh... debut less than a year ago."

I nodded, interested. "Cool."

The tall, good-looking one met my gaze as I stared, and I blushed, noticing how truly handsome he was. Sheesh. I quickly broke the eye contact and pretended to push buttons on the treadmill, speeding up the pace to match the beating of my heart. I glanced around as I ran, taking in the gym for a second time. For such a large gym, it didn't have a lot of people in it. It had at least four pull-up bars, each a different height, and at least ten treadmills. Yet there were only five people here.

I caught my reflection in the mirror and almost missed a step. I stared. My makeup was perfectly done. I still looked like myself, same eyes, nose, hair, but it didn't look entirely me. My skin was a shade lighter, but thankfully not too pale I looked pasty. My eyeliner and mascara were still perfectly done, and the makeup hadn't smudged, despite the sweat sliding down my face. My eyes looked large and begging. Was this what everyone was seeing? I really did look like an idol now. How strange.