Bangtan's Best Friend

Reunion

I sat in my tiny apartment, staring out over the city of Seoul. I should have been studying for the final coming up in my English class. Should have. While studying the English word "sky," I looked through my window to see what the sky actually looked like. A few wispy clouds stood out against the light blue, the sun shining brightly to the right of my apartment building. It made me think of the old days in Gyeongii-do when my best friend and I used to sneak out of school to stare up at the sky. We'd talk about life and even plan out the next time we'd sneak away from class.

My friend was four years older than I, but we always found ways to hang out despite being in different grades. Whether it was sneaking out of class occasionally or working at the same place, Seokjin and I were inseparable. However, that closeness suffered when my family moved into the city of Seoul once I started high school. It was there that I met my first love.

Apjugeong High School was settled in one of the poshest areas of Seoul, so some of the students tended to act snobbish. Not Namjoon. Though he was my senior by two years, Kim Namjoon always treated me as an equal. He was also an extremely talented musician and rapper. While we dated he helped me with my English; I owe him for helping me find an interest in foreign languages and supporting my dance hobby. If not for him, I may not have started on the path to becoming a linguist or taken that first dance class.

Namjoon's talent was soon recognized by a talent agency and he started having less and less time to spend with me; life as a trainee was not easy for him. Our romantic relationship lasted about a year before we mutually decided to break up so that he could focus on training with his debuting group, BTS. To my surprise, Seokjin had also been scouted by the same company as Namjoon. Not that I didn't think Seokjin was talented...I just saw him as more of a visual artist rather than a musical one. Nonetheless I was happy to be reunited with my childhood friend again.

Though their schedule was a bit crazy, Namjoon and Seokjin tried to spend time with me as much as possible. Many times the rest of BTS accompanied them, so I got to know all of them pretty well. Hoseok was irritatingly bright despite his "tough rapper" image. Yoongi and I got along well due to our love of sleep and quiet. Jimin and I constantly argued about who was the better dancer between the two of us; we had a dance battle at least once a week which Hoseok judged — after a while we figured out that he flip flopped winners each week so that we were technically tied. The maknae, Jungkook, joked that we were family because of our shared surname "Jeon"; later down the road, we realized that we were actually cousins.

And then there was Taehyung. At first I thought he was a weirdo because of  his random outbursts and quirky style. But within the first year of my friendship with the boys, I became extremely close with him. This closeness continued even after the boys debuted in 2013. Despite their growing fame, they all continued to keep in touch with me while touring and traveling. We hung out in person the few times they had a break. I was grateful for those times throughout the years; FaceTime and group chats only did so much.

BTS became a worldwide phenomenon at the end of 2017. The boys that everyone knew as RM, Suga, J-hope, Jin, Jimin, Jungkook, and V were the boys I knew as seven dorks who worked hard and loved music. I was so proud to watch them on the American Music Awards. They deserved every ounce of success.

I thought about them as I looked out over Seoul. The last time we'd talked was when Tae had FaceTimed me after the AMAs. Each of the boys spoke to me a bit, obviously ecstatic from their performance. But that was a few days ago and...I missed them.

Sighing, I tried to focus my attention back on my English vocabulary. This would go so much faster if Namjoon was here to help me study, I thought. When we were in high school, he always helped me with word association. If that didn't work, he explained the concept in Korean so that it would make more sense in English.