withering leaves ❁ yoonmin

XVIII

March 30, 2014

Dear Kim Seokjin-ssi,

Thank you for everything you've done. I'm not even joking. Thank you so much. Thank you for staying up late to help me ice my shoulders and back after dance practices. Thanks for waking up early to cook everyone breakfast. Thanks for making us dinner every day (and somehow managing to make it edible despite your lack of expensive spices). Thank you for being Bangtan's rock. Our precious Hyung.

I remember walking into dance practice when you were a new trainee. You were the handsome new person that the girls swooned over. Even in your sweatpants and baggy t-shirt and no makeup, the girl trainees were swooning over you. Everyone thought you were going to be the ace of the new boy group, especially when we all heard you sing. And then you started to dance.

Oh, how quickly we abandoned that thought.

In all seriousness, you've improved so much since I first met you. Your stage presence is as alluring and fiery as always. Your looks have (somehow) improved since that first day. And of course, you've become like our father. You and Namjoon. Our two over-protective parents who sometimes act like maknaes but still care a lot about us.

Thank you for all the makeup lessons. Thank you for always treating us out when we go to that cafe just outside of BigHit's back entrance. Thank you for all the late-night hot chocolate fixings that you wake us all up for (the ones that we pretend to be angry about).

I remember that one time when my neck and shoulders were aching so much after a dance practice. And when you forced me to pull off my shirt because I was having trouble eating, the area turned out to be so swollen, that you called a manager and had them take me to the hospital. I was so angry because I had to wear a neck brace for three days and was banned from dance practice. I just realized I never actually thanked you for that.

After those three days, my body felt so much better. I felt like I could actually dance. I wasn't struggling to extend my arms above me anymore. I wasn't having trouble lifting my arms to put on a shirt. I think if you didn't intervene, I would have been kicked out of BigHit before we debuted because I couldn't dance. Because no one else would have known me well enough to give a damn-or to even notice that I was struggling. I think you saved my life, Seokjin-ssi.

I am forever indebted to you.

Thank you, Hyung-nim.

Love,

You-know-who

.

"Welcome to Daegu!" Taehyung crowed, stepping out of the van first. He had the brightest smile on his face even though it was six in the morning and he wasn't exactly a morning person. "The bestest city in all of Korea!"

"Hyung, it's 'best', not 'bestest'. And I would have to disagree," Jungkook countered, stepping out of the van behind his Hyung. He slung a messenger bag over his chest and shook his head so his hair fell down neatly over his forehead. Although he still had an adorable little bedhead on the back of his skull from when he fell asleep in the car. "Busan's the best."

"Excuse me?" Seokjin stepped out of the van just in front of the maknaes', pulling a box of decorations and merchandise out of the trunk. He was wide awake and assisting the coordis with the equipment needed for the fansign. "Gyeonggi is obviously the best. It must be in order to raise such a fine man like me."

"Of course, Hyung," the two maknaes chorus, not wanting to start bickering with an elder. Taehyung turns to Jungkook, makes a face, and rolls his eyes. The two laugh quietly even as Jimin shoves them out of his way to run inside the small theatre where the fansign would be taking place. He found the bathroom quite easily and slammed the stall door shut. In his haste to get to the toilet, the stall door didn't lock and bounced off the locking mechanism, leaving it wide open.