love you so bad (discontinued) | vsoo

07 | element of surprise

The audience let out ear-splitting cheers as the mass of performers bowed, concluding the end of the award ceremony. Jisoo finished downing the remains of her water bottle, seeing the crowd of celebrities disperse from the stage.

Her eyes strained to locate a certain blonde in the midst of the retreating idols, only catching sight of him right before his figure slipped backstage.

"What now? Any instructions from Mr. Yang?" Jisoo asked, twisting the cap between her fingers before finally capping her now empty water bottle.

"Mmm," Rosé hummed, "I think we're finished for today. Mission success!"

The redhead cutely threw her hands up in congratulations to Jisoo for finishing the day's agenda.

"Chaeng, I was supposedly unconscious half the time I was supposed to 'entice him,' as Mr. Yang called it," Jisoo replied with a skeptical glare.

"I mean, from what Bobby reported to me, you definitely made an impression on him," the latter suggested with a raise of her eyebrows and a prominent smirk.

Jisoo laid her head down to groan into the table, cursing her boss for not assigning her with Jennie or even Lisa instead.

"Mission success!" she heard her partner repeat, this time with a teasing tone.

"Do me a favor and please deny the request the next time Mr. Yang sets you up on a mission with me."
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"I'll be right back, thanks."

Jisoo's ears strained to pick up the conversation that occurred outside the restroom, a paper towel still crumbled between her hands.

She had previously paid no mind to the voices she heard through the confines of the restroom as she was throughly washing her hands, when she thought she heard the name "Tae" slip into the conversation.

Throwing the forgotten paper towel into the bin next to the door, the female cautiously lifted the handle and slipped outside. As expected, Jisoo was met with her target leaning against the adjacent wall, mindlessly scrolling through his phone with a bored expression on his face.

At the sound of the door opening, Taehyung lifted his head, making eye contact with the female for a split second before he dropped his gaze.

"I see you found your way to the restroom," he teased the agent while continuing his ministrations on his phone.

Jisoo's previous excitement at the unexpected reunion with her target faded at his words, making her groan miserably instead.

"Will you ever let that down?" Jisoo grumbled with a bang of her head to the nearest wall.

"Hey, first impressions count. Sorry we had to meet that way," the male continued to poke fun at the visibly miserable brunette.

At another one of Jisoo's now common groans, Taehyung locked his phone, slipping it into the pocket of his pants, and focusing his attention onto the figure slumped against the wall.

"Hey, about first impressions— what happened? Why did, y'know..." his voice trailed off, hoping for Jisoo to catch onto his message.

"Oh," the agent muttered, caught off guard by the sudden change of mood.

She paused, mind reeling for an explanation, an excuse, anything. She didn't anticipate to reunite with her target today, therefore pushing the need to come up with explanations later, when she was curled up in the comfort of her sheets.

"Don't worry about it, my bad," the male's deep voice interrupted the tense silence between the two. "We don't even know each other and I'm already shoving myself into your personal issues. Sorry..."

Taehyung's sincere apology faltered, both parties realizing he never received the agent's name.

"Ji-"

She paused, realizing her mistake.

That wasn't her mission name.

Jisoo choked on her words, thoughts flooding with panic.

How could she almost let her true identity slip from her grasp?

Taehyung gazed at her expectingly, furrowing his eyebrows when Jisoo failed to answer.

"-eun," Jisoo coughed. "Ji-eun, sorry. I had something in my throat," she mumbled with an added cough to accentuate her excuse.

"Ji-eun," he repeated with a hum. "I'm Taehyung, nice to meet you." he introduced himself, offering a hand to the newly acquainted female.

Jisoo eyed outstretched hand before giving in and taking it in a firm handshake.

"Nice to me-"

"Sorry it took so long, I— Oh."

The brunette was interrupted by a younger male who noisily exited from the men's restroom adjacent to Jisoo's previous position in front of the female's.

She immediately recognized him as Jungkook from her background studies into her target's life and band history— also who she remembered touched her forehead in a terrible attempt at checking her temperature when she was "unconscious."

"Sorry, did I interrupt something?" Jungkook sheepishly asked as he eyed the pair's hands, still connected and momentarily forgotten by both parties.

"Oh," Taehyung muttered in surprise and broke off the contact. "You didn't, we were just introducing ourselves." He paused, presumably thinking of ways to change the subject. "Did you manage to get the stain out?"

"Yeah, I did..." he answered as he eyed Jisoo, who was stood awkwardly amongst their conversation. "Hey, aren't you the girl who fainted?"

The mentioned female nearly choked on her spit, not expecting the doe-eyed brunette to be so straight-forward.

"Yes?" Jisoo replied, not really knowing what to say. "It's a long story, but forget that ever happened."

She pointed at the two idols, warning them never to speak of it again. She already had Taeyang and Rosé up her ass about her spur of the moment plan, and she didn't need two more people reminding her of her terrible way out.

The two Bangtan members cracked a grin at Jisoo's words, lifting the awkward tension previously surrounding the trio.

"Well, we have to go back to our group now. It was nice meeting you, Ji-eun," Taehyung brought up after a few seconds of comforting silence. "I don't know if I'll ever see you again, but you definitely nailed the first impression."

At the mention of their impromptu meeting, Jisoo cringed for the nth time that day, weak against her target's playful teasing.

"You too," she managed to groan before returning a wave at the two retreating figures.

"I don't know if I'll ever see you again."

His last words echoed in Jisoo's thoughts as the idols disappeared around a corner.

'Unfortunately,' Jisoo thought to herself, 'you will.'