Red and Violent ✔️

Chapter 2: The Meeting

You're done with the photoshoot and it's the next day. Your day off. You swear to yourself a day of the week when you're 100% free of responsibility. You've got your assistant on every schedule and every meeting. So, for this day,  you breathe. You go and meet up with your old friend Ae Ra. She's been your friend since you came to Korea. You started as roommates but you ended up best friends.  You were attached to the hip. She's been your gate to get into everything that's Korean. You always owe it to her. She was there at your darkest times.

"Kaesolin-ah!" You heard her trying to take your attention off of your phone. "What now? Are you working on your holy day break?" She said sassily. You smiled. You love that bitch.

"For once, Ae Ra, try to give me the respect I deserve to have," you giggled "I am older than you." You teased her. You always love teasing her about that. Even though you're 3 months older.

"Shit, Kae, I missed you!" She hugged you tight. Then sat in front of you and ordered soju. You were drinking your red wine. "Now, tell me," she said all curious, "what are they like?!" You knew this would be the first thing she'd address.

Sigh. "Your curiosity will sure kill you one day, Ae Ra"

"Come on, Kae! Don't be such a buzzkill. Spill!!"

"Well, they were great. They were all sweet. Maybe even sweeter than what most people see." You play with your wine glass. "I haven't had that much fun on a job for so long!"

"Are they cuter in real life?" She asks with goggly eyes.

You roll your eyes. "Yes, they're cuter. Really actually. It's also that they have this warmth within, you just feel it reflecting on their faces." You smile.

"Is someone crushing over them or what?" Ae Ra giggles so hard while holding one of your hands. She always did that. Try to marry you off to the closest celebrity you have contact with. Even if it was for a minute on a red carpet. Your first red carpet she spent the whole night analyzing everything. Every man that came your way was an oppa and a future husband to you.

"One day, Ae Ra, my eyes will never get back to where they should be!" You roll your eyes again.

You guys kept drinking and laughing for sometime. Until you got a call from your assistant.

"Do Hyun,"

"Kaesolin," a deep voice said. "You've got an urgent meeting with bighit and Bangtan in 3 hours at the restaurant location I sent you." He said hurriedly.

"Haven't you told them that today is my off day?" You said annoyed as you made that clear in your contract.

"They didn't mention that it was of professional nature." He tried to reason.

You took a deep breath. This was the only day of the week when you detach yourself from anything work related. You know you can't say no to your first casual meeting. So, you just accepted the fact that you should be getting ready to go.

"God, Ae Ra, God!" You said in frustration as you hang up.

"What's wrong?" She said with a frown of worry.

"I guess I have this casual meeting with Bangtan and their manager.." You said.

Ae Ra looked at you like you're a stupid child who awaits a beating. "Fuck you, dude!" She said while shaking her head. "You know any girl your age in Korea would kill for what you're so annoyed of?" She hit the table. "We're going to get you ready." She took you in a Taxi to her house.

"Should you wear something sexy?" She says as she rummages in her walk in closet. "Ah-huh!" She exclaims jokingly as she takes a short dress that looked like it was meant for a stripper.

"Oh, let me guess, I am going to wear that and go back home with all of them to get gang-banged." You said taking it from her and putting it on your body. Ae Ra is the only person you can be that explicit with. You never take things seriously. You've always joked around that way. At the beginning, you thought it was very unladylike but you eventually got sucked into that spiral.

"Well, if that's what you're going for."

You threw the dress at her and fantasized about strangling her but then you realized that you still need her in your life so you shook that image and went through her closet. You finally chose a plain rose dress with a coat. It looked modest and classy. You were satisfied. You look a lot better than you first met them. Actually, you liked what you were seeing in the mirror.

You got a taxi and arrived at the restaurant. There was a special reservation under a made-up name for safety reasons. Once you entered you saw them sitting with their manager— Sejin. Once you entered they all stood up to welcome you, missing Taehyung. You did the same. You sat in front of Sejin.

"Pleasure seeing you again, Kaesolin." He said. "Thank you for coming even though it's your day off."

"Thank you," you replied. "I hope you liked the episode."

"Actually we are here to watch it for the first time with you," He said, frustrating you as you thought this was just a casual work meeting. You mustered a smile regardless of that frustration.

You were sitting next to Hoseok. His energy was distinct. Like an excited kid who's about to watch their favorite cartoon. "I am excited!" He directed the words to you. Smiling huge and and giving you thumbs up. Oohh-ing and Aaaa-ing.

Finally Taehyung arrived and it was time to watch the episode. The intro already grabbed their attention and Jimin woo-ed.

The episode started and the boys laughed hard. You were glad to watch their faces brightening up because of something you created. A weird warm feeling. Your audience, this time, felt closer to you.

At a certain point your favorite part of the episode came and you spontaneously laughed your ugly laugh. You put your hands on your mouth as you felt your body's temperature rise. They all looked at you and Jungkook said in a low voice with no thought, "ah, cute!" You heard him despite. Your cheeks felt like they were about to melt.

By the end of the episode you felt like you actually belong here, somehow. They all cheered and showed great appreciation.

"That's one of the top episodes," The manager said amused. "You've shown great work, Kaesolin."

"Thank you," You replied. Blood was flowing in your veins. It's been a while since you felt this warm. You don't know why.

You talked about your future projects and everything that's related to the tour. He mentioned in his words, only by implying, that at a certain point you'll manage everything media related to the boys under a condition that your work gets more attention than previous teams. It wasn't something you ever thought of but since he didn't explicitly mention that, you brushed it off. He had a corporate meeting. He left you with the boys.

"Okay!" Hoseok shouted, directing his gaze at you. "You've become part of the family, now." He paused. He lifted his eyebrows. The energy shifted in the room. It felt less formal. Hoseok is older than you as far as you remember. As your eyes scanned their faces, make up free. You saw their dark circles and their tired eyes with no lenses. You couldn't brush it off.

"Are you guys okay?" You said in a motherly tone. They answered with silence. Namjoon was wondering why you would ask such a question. You haven't been with them for long and you could see their tired faces under all that smiling. You could analyze their body language. How they're pushing through all that tiredness. They all nodded. You could tell they weren't answering sincerely.

"I hope you guys are doing good," you said. "I know how much you give into this, and I want to thank you for everything you contribute to this world. I am really thankful for being part of this." You've always had this appreciation to everything around you. You couldn't stop yourself from mesmerizing and expressing your appreciation. They smiled. This time with comfort. Their bodies relaxed.

"Thank you so much, Kaesolin." Yoongi said shyly.

"We feel like it's going to be special experience having you around." Pausing slightly between each word as he usually does, thinking before speaking. They were too courteous for their own sake. Jin called in for a toast, "to what's to come and Kaesolin's health." You all cheered. You were smiling all that time. You anticipated getting to know each one of them. They hold way more than just Idols with millions of fans.