Never Forget || Kim Namjoon x MC || Namjoon's PoV

Chapter 3: Meetings

"Namjoon-ah! Get up, you're so heavy!" Seokjin grumbled grumpily from underneath me.

Apparently, he had been trying to get me to wake up. I blinked a couple of times. Rolling over, I looked at the alarm clock and frowned at Jin. It was 6:10 in the morning.

Yawning, I asked, "Why so early? I thought we got to sleep in today."

Seokjin laughed. "Nope. Did you forget that we were supposed to practice for an hour first, and then go to the fan-meet?"

Oh shit. We had to go to a god forsaken fan-meet today?

"I thought that was scheduled for next week!" I stammered, confused.

"They rescheduled to today. Didn't Manager Sejin tell you?" Seokjin cocked his head, bewildered.

Shit... he did. I shook my head and face-palmed. I was getting so caught up in the details and memory of Byeol that I didn't listen properly to Sejin when he was talking to me. Rubbing my temples, I rolled out of bed tiredly and onto the floor, yawning again while doing so. Getting up, I made a beeline for the bathroom to get ready for the excessively long day ahead of me.

"Rap faster, Namjoon! Don't falter! Use your hand gestures!" Sejin called out.

My patience was starting to wear a bit. I had to skip breakfast because I woke up late, and I'm not exactly the most pleasant person when I'm running on an empty stomach. Also, I hadn't gotten much sleep last night and practice was wearing me out faster than usual. I danced absently until the song stopped blasting from the speakers, and Sejin frowned at me.

"Namjoon, put more effort into your dancing and rapping. You dance and rap well, it just gives an empty vibe and doesn't deliver any passion or emotion," Sejin pointed out.

Sighing in frustration at both Sejin and myself, I mumbled tiredly, "Sorry, I'll practice more."

Sejin sighed. "Good. You need to display the passion and assertiveness that we chose you as leader for, Namjoon."

Hoseok seemed to sense my tiredness and hunger, because he got up and walked over to me to talk.

Hoseok murmured quietly in my ear, "Namjoonie? Are you sick?"

I shook my head, muttering a quiet 'no'. Hoseok frowned and pulled me into a hug, clearly making an effort to make me feel better. I smiled, exhausted, and hugged him back happily. It was very warm in his embrace, and soon Jungkook walked over and wrapped his arms around both of us. Then Jimin. And then Seokjin. Taehyung came dragging an extremely reluctant and pouting Yoongi, and we shared a group hug.

"Alright, guys. As much as I hate to break up this cute and sweet little moment, we need to get moving if we are to make it to the fan-meet on time," Sejin interrupted loudly.

We all laughed, and one by one disentangled ourselves from the blob of humanness that we had become.

"Alright boys, lets go," Seokjin said, chuckling softly.

In the car, I sat shotgun and Seokjin drove, while Jimin sat Jungkook behind us. Behind them was Hoseok and Yoongi, and Taehyung sat in the back. He kept complaining that he was unlucky and Jimin snapped grumpily that he at least didn't have to deal with Jungkook. After a loud tantrum from Jungkook, Jimin ended up sobbing that Jungkook was cute and sweet and he would never complain about him again. Yoongi slept soundly for the entire ride (even through the noisy fit Jungkook threw), and Hoseok just looked somewhat intimidated and stayed silent. Taehyung stopped whining after a while and I calmly let my mind wander to Byeol. I deeply regretted not finding some way to contact her, and I worried that I would never see her sunny smile or her beautiful eyes again. Seokjin screamed when needed and interrupted my train of thought, but I managed to get it back anyways. All I needed to think of was Byeol and I would immediately get back on track.

We managed not to die in the car before we got to the fan-meet. Of course, bodyguards flanked us protectively, forming a cold and relentless circle shielding us (mostly) from the press, fans, and cameras. All of us were used to this by now, so we didn't mind any of the previously listed things and acted perfectly normal. Fans were still flocking nearby, the cameras were taking pictures from any angle in which we showed up in the photo, and the press was still screaming questions at us, but at least we had some space. I glanced up, surveying the place. It was pretty nice and modern, but it was sparsely decorated with most of it being just empty space. We took our seats arranged in the fan chant order (Me, Seokin, Yoongi, Hoseok, Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook) and I hummed quietly while waiting for the first fan to sit down. I ended up nearly drifting off before the person's voice drew me back to reality.

"Hello!" The person sitting in front of me said happily.

I looked up and saw in front of me... Choi Soobin. I grinned, recognizing him at once.

"Hey!" I said, smiling happily. "Is TXT doing well?"

Soobin smiled. "Yeah! Thanks for asking."

I looked around, seeing the fans in a long line that looked like a clump of color and human. I would never be able to pick anybody out from that line anyway, so I stopped looking. We exchanged greetings, and Soobin pushed one of our albums towards me.

"Sign it, please!" His smile was adorable, and I could never say no to that face.

Besides, we had to sign an album for everybody.

"Okay, okay!" I laughed, pulling a azure ballpoint pen striped with black out of my pocket.

I scribbled my signature quickly, my tongue tip sticking slightly out of the side of my mouth. Pushing it back towards him, I ran my hand through my hair quickly in case it had messed up from the hectic ride. Soobin laughed.

"Your hair is fine, hyung," Soobin said, stifling a chuckle.

I nodded. "Thanks for telling me."

After a few more minutes of chatting and catching up, I watched absently as Soobin moved down the line to Jin, who smiled at him and immediately struck up a conversation. I turned to see the person in front of me now, and was shocked when I saw Yeonjun.

My eyes widened. "Are all of you here? You know you con just arrange an interview with us or come over, right?"

Laughing, Yeonjun shook his head. "This is more fun, and yes, we are all here. I like seeing how you guys react, and we wanted to surprise you all!"

I smiled, and started chatting with Yeonjun about simple and carefree topics like the weather, outfit choices, and hobbies. I signed his album as well, and he moved up to Seokjin while Soobin sat in front of a tired Yoongi. I laughed and shook my head, turning to Kyong.

"Hello, Namjoon-hyung," Kyong said shyly, avoiding my gaze.

I raised my eyebrows, not questioning it. Kyong was naturally shy, and tended to do most things alone.

"Hello," I smiled.

Kyong pushed his album wordlessly over to me, fidgeting while I signed it for him. I handed it back to him and he took it, pausing awkwardly when our hands brushed in a brief interaction. I almost laughed at how adorable his mostly shy demeanor could be even around people he knew.

"Don't be shy. You can speak," I urged gently.

Kyong smiled. "Okay, hyung."

We discussed TXT's "CROWN" music video, and he turned pink when I complimented his vocals. I laughed, and asked him if he wasn't used to getting compliments yet. He nodded and I laughed harder while he sat awkwardly in front of me. I told him that since he was a k-pop idol, he would have to get used to it eventually. He nodded, and moved on when our time was over. I talked to the rest of TXT as they, in turn, came around, and when Kai moved on to Jin, I took my time to watch him go.

"Namjoon-ah," A soft voice above me called.

I froze up. No. Could it be? I drew in a deep breath, holding it. After letting it go, I looked up.

"Byeol."