used to be the reason

Chapter 3: Joke

     Manager Jigaemae and Lily shake hands with the members, exchanging small talk as I realize I'm quite irrelevant in this talk. Still in awe, I walk back to where I was originally sitting, trying not to mess anything up. I look down at the floor, desperately trying to occupy myself with doing something. I look up and realize Tae is staring at me. It feels weird, as I've only seen him in photos and the last photo I saw of him was before he went to the military. He observes me from afar and then taps Namjoon's shoulder. Lily sees the commotion and goes to explain presumably who I am.

     After quite some discussing, Namjoon heads over with Lily and Tae, his dimples showing.

     "Hello. I'm RM." Namjoon sticks his hand out at me.

     "Holy shit, Kim Namjoon's talking to me," I joke as I shake his hand. Namjoon seems apalled, taken aback.

     "Haha, call me Namjoon." His smile is fierce and visible. Tae steps forward and smiles.

     "Hi, I'm V!" His english has improved and his smile is even boxier than ever. This encounter reminds me of the Ellen Show, when BTS starred on it.

     "Hi Tae." I grin, unable to contain my excitement. Lily leaves to call the others forward. She explains the situation. Suddenly, I'm aware of how foolish I must look, intruding into their home with nothing but my bag and a purple suitcase. I wish I could sliver behind my suitcase and die of shame. Jin steps forward, his hair swooping to one side.

     "Hi, Worldwide Handsome Jin is here!" He says through broken fragments of english. I can't help but laugh. Next, Jimin comes over, his face full of gleam. He looks different but still has the glint of himself in his face. He's stocky, similar to Taehyung and Jungkook, but he still looks like an idol. He is an idol.

     "Excuse me, hello,"Jimin grins and I can't help but smile, tears forming around my eyes. I would've never guessed this to happen. I wipe my hand hurriedly and quickly look back at them.

     "Hi Jimin!" I say in excitement, shaking like a five year old at a carnival.

     "I'm your Hope, your my Hope, I'm J-Hope," Hobi says jokingly behind Jimin. My attention lingers on Jimin before looking at Hobi. He looks different, just like Jimin. Pictures don't do him justice, he's much better looking in real life. I wave my hand furiously at Hobi.

     "HI!" I hear someone shout from behind me. I flinch and see Jungkook standing next to me, his bunny eyes brightly opened. "I'm JK!" His english has a strong slur but I don't seem to notice it that much.

     "Hello." Then, seemingly remembering that I need to bow in Korea, I bow at every member hurriedly, embaressed I forgot such an important detail to when you first meet someone here.

     Last, Yoongi stands in front of me, his semi pale skin glows.

     "Hey, I'm Suga," He mutters, emphasis on the u. I can't help but giggle, as they're all so friendly and polite.

     "Hey Yoongi!" Then I advert my attention to everyone and give a respectful bow. "I'm very excited to be here, thank you so much for this opportunity. I'm also thankful for Lily for being so nice to me and being very helpful." I motion towards Lily, who is blushing just like me. There are claps from Namjoon and Lily, as they're the only ones who understand what I say.

     "We are glad to meet you..." He pauses. "Excuse me but could you introduce yourself? You know 'bout us, but we don't know 'bout you." He gives me a reassuring smile.

     "Yeah, okay, so I'm Lucie Mcqueen Xing, and I'm from Chicago Northwestern College. I'm chinese, abc, and yeah." I don't know what to say. "Shit I'm nervous," I mutter. Namjoon laughs.

     "Aha, we are also. Please to meet you." Namjoon translates what I said to the others as they all smile back at me.

     "Lucie! Nice name!" Hobi grins. He high fives me. "We excite to meet you!"

     April 16, 2026

     7:30 am

     After awhile, the conversation has gone all around and they head back to their sleeping quarters. Lily and Namjoon linger with me.

     "What you like a lot? What do you do... for fun?" Namjoon asks. I look up, pretending I'm searching for an answer.

     "Well, I like," I speak slowly, "Singing, but I'm not very good, dancing, but I'm not very good, and drawing, I'm kinda good at it. I also like rapping, but I'm not that good." Namjoon beams at the word 'rapping.'

     "You are rapper?" Namjoon asks. "Favorite song?"

     "Me? Rapper?" I'm appalled. "No, no no, I like rapping, but I'm not a rapper. My favorite song is..." I chortle. "Its from ten years ago. Its one of your songs." Namjoon squints his eyes, trying to remember songs he's made from awhile back. "Its your song Joke." I laugh.

     Namjoon covers up his face, embaressed. "Ah, that's long time ago. I was... weird."

     "Yeah, Rap Monster," I cackle then look back at Namjoon. "Can you rap apart of Joke? Do you remember how to rap it?" Namjoon nods slowly, hesitantly. "Can you rap it please?" I beg. Namjoon sighs and begins to move his neck to the beat.

     "Ok, but I might forget some parts. It also has, uh, bad words." Namjoon sighs, and begins to rap. "내 고막을 울리는 리듬, Bass and drum 날 움직이는 기름여기 존재하는 모든 행복과 너의 새해 복까지 모두 I'mma fuckin' get 'em 나는 엘라스틴 너희들은 비듬 랩 병신들 너희 수준 , 등비등 Fame, girls, money that ma honey to the 100 to the 100 누가 나를 막니 I'mma fuckin' beat 'em.(Lyrics from Joke by Rap Monster-azlyrics.com)" I close my eyes and listen to the beat of the music, bopping my head along with it. He takes a deep breath and smiles, his dimples beaming on both sides.

     "What the fuck." I say. "That was good. Hella good. Shit man, I wish I could rap like you." Namjoon bows politely. Besides Namjoon, Lily nods in approval at our conversation.

     "Thank you Lucie. Your very kind. Will you sing for me?" Namjoon asks politely. I jump up, exaggerated of course, and shake my head furiously.

     "No, no, no. I'm too embarrassed. And I'm too embarrassed anyways. I do singing all the time, just not to anybody outside of my room. Sorry." I say apologetically to Namjoon, and Lily, due to the huge commotion I had just caused.

     "Haha, its okay. What are you majoring in?" Namjoon asks.

      "Well, my parents want me to be a docter and I'm relatively interested so I chose to major as a docter." Namjoon smiles faintly, but his eyes are clouded. He seems very tired and stressed, and I don't know how to deal with it. "Are you tired? You should go sleep, I'll be fine here." I turn to Lily. "You too Lily, you've been with me for this whole day, get some rest. I'll be fine." Lily nods and then looks at Namjoon for approval.

     "Ok, your so thoughtful." Namjoon yawns and rubs his eyes. "Thank you for caring. I will go rest. If your tired, rest on this couch." Namjoon grins and motions for Lily to go. A few staff members are still lingering lazily around, managing the situation. Namjoon says something and the staff seem to remain at rest. Lily hugs me.

     "Take care and don't do or say anything stupid. There are camera's everywhere for a future vlog of your adventure with BTS. There will be a few staff around to make sure everythings alright." Lily whispers into my ear. Only then do I look around and take in account the amount of cameras everywhere. I understand what Lily says. Be perfect everywhere. Lily pats my back and heads out with the other staff. Namjoon heads to his bedroom and I lay on the couch, replaying todays events until I fall asleep.

     Authors Note:

     Omg guys this was a quick chapter, its not going to be a very mature story, sorry to ya'll who were waiting for Namjoon to like grab onto her or something. Any suggestions on what you want to happen next? This is @snappedfics signing off lol.