Reversed

☆38☆

Jimin sat on a small floor cushion in Namjoon's studio.  The elder member sat in his desk chair, hands clasped tightly, legs outstretched.  The dim light of the room did nothing for Jimin's nerves.  He knew he had messed up.  Badly messed up.

"You worried us all to death," said Namjoon lowly.  "Tae was pacing the floors.  I had to forcibly remove his phone from his hands to get him to even somewhat stop fixating on the fact you weren't answering your phone or messages.  Yoongi was a mess.  He kept acting overly happy.  You know that's not normal.  It was like he had become J-Hope's twin."  Namjoon jerked his gaze away before sighing deeply.  "You missed an important meeting.  The managers were just as worried.  If you had been gone any longer we'd had to tell PDnim and possibly call the police."

Jimin felt dread wash over him but also relief that the CEO hadn't heard about his escapade yet.  He kept his eyes on the floor, his shoulders slumped in embarrassment and guilt.

"Do you want to tell me where you've been the last five hours?  Was it something important?  Did you get abducted?  Held at gun point?  Mugged?  Stalked by sasaengs?  Was there a shoe sale somewhere?  C'mon, Jimin, tell me!" Namjoon's voice raised slightly and Jimin could tell he was angry. 

Telling the truth seemed ridiculous.  Lying, however, seemed even worse.  But to tell his leader that he was trying to get close to a girl he had been eyeing, well, that seemed even more ridiculous than the other two options. He sighed deeply. His head turned slowly from side to side and his hands rubbed his face.  "Okay," he breathed out.  "So, there is this girl-"

"A girl?! Jimin! We don't have time for that right now!  Was this some one night stand or something?  A quick hookup?  When did you even have a moment to find a girl?! I can't believe this..." Namjoon groaned and put his head in his hands. 

"Hyung!  It wasn't like any of that!  Why...what?!  No!  It wasn't anything like what you just mentioned!"  Jimin felt exasperated.  "I met this girl at a fansign-"

"SHE IS A FAN?!" roared Namjoon.

Jimin felt more agitated and he jumped to his feet.  "Hyung!  Listen to me please?!"  His hands instinctively ran through his hair and he then placed them on his waist as he tried to formulate a calm response.  "I met that girl from the fansign, Nari.  Hyung, I really like her.  She's a piano student at the arts university.  She came to our concerts in honor of her sister who just died.  I just went to her work tonight to listen to her play and hopefully get to speak to her."

"You went to her work?! What are you, Jimin, a sasaeng yourself?  Why did you go there?" Namjoon was feeling agitated now.  He couldn't believe one of his members was exhibiting the kind of behavior they were all afraid of others doing to them. 

"I...I am not a sasaeng," said Jimin, now unconvinced of his own words.  "I'm merely interested in her.  Our common ground is her sister, who was a fan of mine.  When she passed away, Nari fulfilled all the things her sister had wanted to do but was no longer able to do, which included our fansigns this past week and our last concert.  Hyung, I don't know what it is about this girl but I'm just drawn to her in a way I can't explain."

"That's what our fans say about us, Jimin.  They forget we have value outside of our looks or personality.  They get hung up on that and then the next thing you know, our underwear is being sold on eBay to the highest bidder."

"Hyung, isn't that a bit extreme," mumbled Jimin. 

"Maybe," admitted Namjoon, "but regardless, don't push yourself on her too much.  I understand you're interested in her, but seriously, man, when will you have time to get to know her at all?  We're going on tour. We won't be back to Korea for a long while, except maybe a day or two here and there.  What makes you think you can win her over like that?  She must have a life outside of you, you know.  What if you come back and she's dating another guy?  How's that going to make you feel?"