Beyond The Stage

Precursor

Yoongi's POV

The van pulls up to the walkway. Cameras start flashing before we even get out, the screaming of fans sounds loud and clear through the closed door. At least she didn't have to deal with this. The support from ARMY is great, but airports are always dangerous because of the sasaengs mixed in with true ARMY. I would love for Alexis to be here, but at least she's safe right now, wherever she is. 

The managers and bodyguards get out of the front seat, making the screaming louder. They look around quickly before opening our doors. Jin gets out first, then Hoseok, and myself last. The security staff stand slightly behind us. The van drives off, and the other one pulls up with the rest of the members. A few minutes more of camera flashes before we start the walk to the airplane.

This is always the worst part. Sometimes, the company posts our departure dates to give paparazzi good pictures of, 'airport fashion' or to kickstart tour excitement. They didn't have to for this one, since the time between our leaving and the date of the  first concert is so short. I don't know why they would schedule it so close, we might still have jet lag by the time of the concert. 

I'm not worried about myself, but I am worried about the other members. Especially Jungkook. I don't think he slept last night either when he found out she was with a guy. He barely spoke to any of us today. Alexis called us this morning to say goodbye since there was never a proper time to meet after that day, and he was silent during the whole call. 

I know she wouldn't betray us like that and deep down, he knows too. The sooner they reconcile and realize that neither is mad at the other, the sooner we can progress. Who knows when that'll happen though, with all these interruptions and this loop that we keep going through with her.

The guards space themselves out evenly around us, side-stepping to block the reaching hands. The whole walk takes about thirty minutes to the gate, where more airline staff wait for us. They usher us into our seats as quickly as possible without letting any false workers through.

We take our seats in the first class. The flight is commercial, but a whole section was bought out just for ourselves and the staff, because of issues in the past. I put my bag up and sit next to Jungkook. I slouch back, letting myself relax from the commotion. The others find their seats around us, and settle themselves in for the long flight. In a few minutes, announcements come on for the start of the flight. The attendant goes over safety features in Korean first, then in Spanish since the first stop of the tour is in Chile.

The lights for the seatbelts turn on, and the people outside start directing the plane. I turn around and look for the two most worrisome members. Jimin is with Hoseok and Taehyung is with a manager. Jimin and Taehyung both get really bad flight sickness. Taehyung looks out the window, waiting for the view from takeoff. It distracts him a bit, but he doesn't get sick until after the flight anyways. Jimin gets sick for a long time during the flight. He goes on his phone too, which makes it worse. I know Hoseok will take care of him. Jin and Namjoon are together, but they don't usually have problems with flights.

The plane finally lifts off the ground, and starts ascending. Jimin and Hoseok are holding hands like I thought they would. They don't stop until clouds cover the window. After my mental assurance, I turn to my own partner.

He lays his head back, staring out the window at the clouds. His pupils are large from the exhaustion, yet his eyes stay open. "Jungkook, you should get some sleep. You were up all last night," I say. 

He turns his head to look at me. He stares me into my eyes, and his jaw clenches before he releases a sigh, "I can't. I can't get her face out of my mind. I hurt her, hyung." It's about time. He's been sulking this whole time without a word. He had to say something eventually, probably letting it out now because it's just us two. He's either been alone or with all seven of us lately, and neither would allow him to share his feelings.

Her expression hurt all of us. But we didn't know back then. We are still learning a lot about her, and there has only been more reason to trust her as time goes by. At this point, the issue is getting her to trust us. "I'm sure she understands. She wouldn't be mad at you," I respond.

"That's the problem, she wasn't. That's what makes it even worse." His eyebrows scrunch together. "It would be better if she had yelled or cursed at me, but she didn't. She blames herself."

I think before answering, "Then it's your responsibility to fix it." He turns toward me in confusion. "Now that I think about it, she has a lot of insecurities. I would probably mean a lot if you helped with that. It would mean the most coming from you." I explain. He doesn't answer.

I sit back and start using the touchscreen on the seat. "Something to look forward to next time we see her." Whenever that will be.

The seatbelt lights turn off. "Yeah, hopefully." He says. 

I felt relief when he said this. I thought that he would relax and finally get some rest, but he didn't. By the time we landed, it had been at least two days since he slept. 

We never knew what was going to happen.

~~~~~

I know what it looks like. A late update, a short chapter, and a cliff hanger.

For the late update, I had an assignment due and work so I couldn't update yesterday. I have horrible time management. This was sort of a filler chapter, but the end has very important foreshadowing. There are many hints in the story, but if you were an ARMY back in 2017 or an informed ARMY, you should know what is going to happen. If you know, don't spoil it in the comments😘 I tried very hard to follow the timeline, which is why I crammed so many interactions and chapters into what was only four days in the story.

Some good news, is that the semester is almost over in a few weeks! I will be working still, but will only have one class during the Summer, so I should have a lot of time to write. It really takes a lot longer than it should for me to write a chapter, but I want them all to be amazing for you guys!

I want to thank all of you for the support. We are at 170,000 reads, and I couldn't be more proud.❤️❤️😚

A HUGE shout-out to 26cmmh101 for the kind words and motivation! Thank you so much, it means a lot, love💜💜💜