A Year to Change Your Lives

Chapter 21

As this was the first time that the boys were in London since before the pandemic, there was a healthy appetite amongst fans to see and meet and interview BTS. The schedule was packed form the word go.

Reader and Laura watched proudly from the wings as the boys demonstrated their new English skills. They shook the hands and sat on the sofa's of Reader and Laura's own childhood idols, speaking with relative ease about upcoming dates, thoughts on the UK, favourite foods and such. The questions were always the same wherever they went but the boys had all mastered the art of laughing and feigning surprise as though this was brand new material.

At times, she'd see their attention wandering and they'd begin to mess around. This could be frustrating for whichever host they belonged to that hour but their fans loved it and even throughout the day, their presence in the UK started appearing on Twitter and YouTube.

After Lunch they had a fan meet and greet for those who'd paid for the best tickets and various competition winners. They were seated at a long, raised table, tall enough so that they could sit and fans could stand in front of the table at the same height. The hall behind them filled with a snaking queue.

After much anticipation, the boys made their entrance to thunderous applause and took their seats waving while the first guest made her way one by one along the line spending just a few moments talking with each of the members, followed by the next and the next.

Behind the tables, and indeed in front of all the fans, were lines of bodyguards, handlers and translators telling the waiting crowd the rules for interacting with the boys. Reader joined the staff behind the tables, quietly taking away anything that was handed to the group and occasionally chipping in with the English conversations, helping the boys to understand.

Reader was fairly astonished by what these girls wanted from these interactions. Lots had usual requests to take up close photos or have them sign various merchandise but after that things got strange. All fans wanted to touch them. Some wanted to ring their hands, some wanted high fives, and some wanted to measure the boys' hands against their own. Having arrived in front of their own bias, some couldn't speak for giggling and some couldn't speak for crying.

All the while, the crowd shouted generally at any member who didn't have a fan right in front of them at the time.

"Taehyung!" Came a pleading shriek from the back of the hall. "Kim Taehyung!"

"Yes?" He'd called back through his microphone.

"Taehyung, I love you!"

"Oh, really?" He'd tease back.

The ARMYs would squeal whenever the boys did anything out of the ordinary or interacted with each other or a member of staff in even a slightly intimate way, and it was for this reason that Reader kept her distance from Jungkook. Although they'd recovered from their little mishap the day before, she still felt a longing to be closer to him than ever and she had decided, even if she hadn't informed him yet, that their time as a second-base couple was coming swiftly to an end. She didn't want any of that heat to spill over, not with so many witnesses, so she kept herself to the other end of the table to him and walked the fan line signing an occasional autograph or stopping for a selfie of her own.

ARMYs did nothing to hide their high-key hunger for these boys as Reader passed them by and even made small conspiratorial comments to her about the attractiveness and desirability of her group mates. Some even speculated gigglingly to her that if they were in her position, they would be acting on it without delay. Reader tried to brush it off. Almost all of the crowd here were wonderful and she wouldn't be swayed by a few silly words.