The Bangtan Gal Chapter 60- Running Man: The Golden Duo

The Bangtan Gal Chapter 60- Running Man: The Golden Duo

Chapter Summary: Due to popular demand, Jennie is asked to guest star in a Couples themed Episode of Running Man, bringing Jungkook with her to go up against other groups of two

Words: 6,000+

Genre: One of my favs!! MAJOR Jungkook fluff and things get suggestive at the end with some suggestive Jungkook content!

Author's Note: I wanted to experiment just for shiz and giggles. Hope it didn't disappoint! <3 Lemme know what you think. And thanks again for reading!

-------

All over the K-pop news sites, there had been a poll on who viewers wanted to guest star on Running Man, and surprisingly, Jennie was voted one of the top favorable picks. Viewers were impressed with her athleticism and passion and wanted her back on the show.

Once she was called and asked about being on the show again, she was thrilled and eager to come back. Besides, the Monday Couple wanted revenge on her, so that added to the anticipation.

When told that there would be other guests, competing against each other in pairs due to the episode being a couples themed episode, Jimin and Taehyung quickly suggested that Jungkook should join and be Jennie’s partner.

Naturally, Jen and Jungkook happily agreed, ready to take on the challenge.

‘BTS’ Jennie and Jungkook to guest on an Episode of Running Man’

Running Man announced today through its Instagram that BTS’ Golden Duo, Jennie and Jungkook are currently filming their guest appearance on the show to compete against the Running Man cast and other guest stars in teams.

The article went on to explain that Jessi, 4Minute’s Hyuna and Gayoon, Hayoon and Amber would be joining in the episode to pair with the cast members. Positive reactions were in the comment section for The Golden Duo to be working together again since they made an impact the last time BTS was on the show.

When all the couples were on the set, they were paired out with one another and wore team colors. Jaesuk and Jessi wore green, Haha and Gayoon wore orange, Gary and Song Jihyo wore blue, Sukjin and Hyuna wore purple, Jongkook and Amber wore yellow, Kwangsoo and Hayoon wore brown and JenKook wore red. 

Each couple stood by one another, inside a cozy room. They were told that their first mission was to play the pepero game and whichever couple had the shortest stick, would win the round and be one step closer to winning Korean Beef at the end of filming.

“How many times have we eaten pocky sticks together?” Jen recalled while Jungkook let out a chuckle.

Yeah, they had this in the bag.

This would be the second time they were filmed eating pocky together, bringing back Rookie King vibes. It was going to be interesting how things played out at this time.

The Monday Couple were the first ones to go up. 

“Golden Duo, watch closely because our stick will be the shortest,” Gary warned

“Wow, tough crowd.” Jen chuckled

The Monday Couple were impatient to get their revenge on them for the tag game the last time they were on the show. 

“Don’t get too cocky. We’re dealing with the Golden Duo here. Don’t get them angry. These kids are dangerous.” Jaesuk exclaimed

Jen’s mouth upturned at his statement as everyone watched the Monday Couple munch on their stick at a fast pace. Their noses briefly touched, causing the rest of the couples to giggle. Their lips abruptly touched and the stick fell on the plate, looking around 1.5 cm.

“Golden Duo can’t beat that.” Gary taunted and high fived Song Jihyo.

Jennie and Jungkook glanced at each other and smirked with amusement. It’s best to let their actions do the talking instead of entertaining their comments. They weren’t bothered by the Monday Couple. They’ll still win for sure with a strategy.

Jongkook and Amber were called up next, grabbing a stick. They both were flustered and giggly, trying to take it seriously. Amber couldn’t help but stay still, squinting her eyes, chuckling to herself while Jongkook did all the work. He continued munching forward until the stick fell before he could go further. JenKook took sight of Haha and Gayoon munching on their stick, and they ended up letting their stick be a little bigger than the Monday Couple’s, who were confident in winning because no one had beaten them, yet.

Jungkook took a stick out of the box and met Jen’s gaze.

“Good ol’ Rookie King.” She mentioned, making them laugh at the memories. 

After they pulled themselves together, she stood in front of him. 

“Go slow and steady,” she advised, getting a nod in response from him.

Jungkook placed the end of the stick in his mouth, leaning down slightly for her to bite the other end of the stick.

“Start!”

They were told and slowly began munching, with their eyes on the stick. Both feeling keen to win and strategic to make sure their stick was the shortest, they ignored any distractions surrounding them which consisted of the Monday Couple playfully trash talking.

Jungkook ended up moving closer to Jennie, cupping her face as the stick got shorter and she slowly tilted her head to the side.

“You ship?” Amber glanced over to Hayoon, off camera.

“I ship,” she confirmed with a giggle.

“I ship too.”

Once their stick dropped on the plate, it was measured as everyone gathered around to see. 

It was announced, “It looks like 0.5 cm.” 

“No!” the Monday couple yelled.

“I ain’t even mad...” Jessi shook her head while Jen high fived Jungkook.

When it was Sukjin and Hyuna’s turn, they were a giggling mess and their stick accidentally broke in half, which made everyone laugh. Jessi and Jaesuk were finally up, going slow and steady. Jaesuk had accidentally dropped the stick, which made Jungkook place out a hand for Jen to slap for a low five, feeling good that they were still in the lead.

“Why is it so long? It should be shorter!” Jessi playfully scolded, causing Jaesuk to laugh nervously when she grabbed ahold of him.

“I-it was an accident!” he tried to explain

“Accident, huh?” she let go of him, narrowing her eyes.

Lastly was Kwangsoo and Hayoon. Jennie giggled at their banter when Hayoon kept covering her face, trying to get serious about the game. She was so adorable as her face became flushed. When they both had the stick in their mouths, everyone began freaking out when they started to munch. After their stick dropped due to Hayoon pulling back when he got closer, their stick was nowhere near close to JenKook’s stick.

“Winners! Jennie and Jungkook, Team Golden Duo!” the staff announced

Jungkook instantly fist pumped and high fived Jennie once again.

“This is unacceptable!” Gary complained.

“We’ll beat them on the next mission.” Song Jihyo reassured.

When they traveled to the next destination, Amber and Jennie had discussed a date when they would be free to hang out and catch up. Both being busy with their respective group comebacks, they managed to find some time to hang out next week. Jen couldn’t wait to hear what F(x) was working on.

For the second mission, each couple stood on a big platform surrounded by water, located in an indoor swimming pool. The mission was simple. All they had to do was push all members of the opposing teams off the platform and be the last team standing.

‘Round 1’

“I have a plan! Let’s all take out the Golden Duo!“ Gary called out.

Wow, again?

“Man, you thirsty! He’s so obsessed with us.” Jennie called him out.

“I agree, they can’t win again,” Kwangsoo added. “Let’s take them out.”

“Geez, what is this? Survivor?” Jennie pondered

“I think they’re just jealous,” Jungkook added.

When the game started, Gayoon had decided to make the first preemptive attack, going after Hyuna. She succeeded in shoving her off the platform as she watched Hyuna fall into the water, giggling. She was clearly unprepared and wiped the wet hair from her face. She’ll get her revenge on her group member in the next round.

Gayoon had tried to push Haha off and they began to try to overpower each other. The other teams had been watching their match and finally got into the game, going after each other. Jongkook effortlessly began shoving people off the platform with his muscular arms.

Cornering Hayoon, Jennie bumped her hip against hers, causing the GFriend member to lose her balance and fall into the pool. 

“Hips for days. Sorry Hayoon, love you.” Jennie waved.

“I’ll remember that!” Hayoon called out.

Due to the slippery water and her shoes, Jennie yelped, about to fall. Jungkook was quick to scoop her up, bridal style in his arms and she held onto him. The sudden action made her stomach flip as she locked eyes with him.

“Careful,” he mentioned with a reassuring smile.

Carrying her, they decided to go after Kwangsoo when he was distracted by trying to push Jaesuk out. Using her feet, Jennie kicked Kwangsoo on his back to make him fall off the platform. The motion caused everyone to start laughing at Kwangsoo and JenKook’s unique teamwork.

“I wasn’t ready!” Kwangsoo yelled, with his guard down.

Getting set down, Jennie watched as the rest of the teams were all up on each other, grabbing and pulling, trying to shove each other off. Sadly, Jen ended up getting pushed off due to Song Jihyo tripping her. 

Swimming back up to the surface, she watched the rest of the match, rooting for Jungkook. When it was down to him and Gary, Jungkook had easily shoved him off the platform to win the round.

“Yes!” Jennie got helped back up on the platform by Jungkook and happily celebrated their victory.

“This cannot happen again!” Gary complained.

For Round 2, Jennie went on a defensive route, surviving with Jungkook as she managed to protect him. She would constantly get in front of him, shoving anyone back who tried to go after him. Jongkook, the tiger, began to get ganged up on, as most of the teams strived to shove him and Amber off the platform. Once they failed to shove Jongkook and Amber off, they went straight after the Golden Duo.

“Oh gosh.” Jennie stood back to back with Jungkook. 

After she took in the sight of what was going on, Jen made her move, grabbing a hold of Hyuna’s manicured hands. Miss Bangtan used her strength to shove her into the pool. Turning her awareness to Kwangsoo, he let out a yell, staring at her in horror. 

“Nope! Nope! Nope!” he ran and jumped off the platform

Meanwhile, Jungkook had worked on pushing Sukjin and Jaesuk off the platform. JenKook regrouped and stood in front of Jongkook and Amber. Jennie and Amber go after each other, clasping their hands together, attempting to push each other off while giggling at each other. Amber slipped on the platform and Jen took advantage by rolling her to fall into the pool. 

Turning to Jongkook, she noticed that Haha was trying to shove him off, ignoring Jungkook and she helped Jungkook up, bringing him to safety. The two managed to shove Haha and Jongkook off and happily high fiving each other.

“How many people have they taken out so far?” Amber laughed.

As the round progressed, Jungkook was shoved out by Song Jihyo. He was annoyed that he had lost but rooted for Jennie to win the game for their team.

Jessi had attempted to push her off the platform. 

“Sorry, hon. You gotta go.” Jessi said but Jen stood her ground and managed to push her off instead with the help of using her feet to trip her.

Distracted from Jessi, Jennie felt a strong push on her back and fell into the pool thanks to Song Jihyo.

“Yes!” Gary happily shouted, applauding her.

"Darn it..." Jennie swam up and Jungkook pulled her into his arms.

"Take that Golden Duo!" Song Jihyo smiled victoriously.

"We told you we'd beat you!" Gary added as the audience laughed at how passionate the Monday Couple was about beating The Golden Duo.

"Don't worry about it. We'll get 'em. Good job," the Golden Maknae reassured Jennie with a smile and gently moved some of her wet hair from her face.

In the end, Song Jihyo won the round for her team.

For the final round, everyone ganged up to take out Jongkook first, creating a big group on top of him. Jennie avoided the chaos with Jungkook and decided to start pushing people off who were near the edge to increase their chances of winning.

Standing in the middle of the platform, Gary and Song Jihyo faced off with the Golden Duo, as they tried to push each other near the edge.

“Jennie! I will get my revenge!” Gary yelled, grabbing a hold of her. "We are going to win this! We are not going to lose! We are not going to lose!” 

Miss Bangtan laughed, evading his attempts to shove her off the pool.

Song Jihyo shrieked when Jungkook easily picked her up over his shoulder and tossed her into the pool. With Jennie, she used her hips to bump Gary off the platform.

“Nothing personal.” Jennie shrugged, feeling victorious despite the Monday Couple’s complaints.

Kwangsoo had crawled away from them, on the platform but ended up getting rolled off by JenKook.

Near the end of the round, it was down to Jennie and Amber. They caught their breaths and stood in the middle of the platform. Going to strike, Amber had tried to trip Jennie, but Miss Bangtan evaded her move. It was a back and forth battle between the two, pushing and pulling each other, near the edge of the platform. In the end, Jennie caught an opening when Amber began to lose her balance on the edge. She then did one final push and watched as Amber fell into the water.

“Yeah!” Jennie cheered and jumped off the platform, landing into Jungkook’s arms. 

He embraced her and spun her around as they celebrated their victory.

“Great job, Jennie! You did it!” He giggled, wiping some of her wet hair from her face.

"Woo! That is what I'm talking about!" she giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

“ARMY is going to be very happy to see them winning on behalf of BTS.” Jaesuk chuckled.

“They really want this Korean beef,” Jongkook added.

“Why do they always win?” Kwangsoo complained.

"This is not fair!" Gary complained as the audience laughed.

“I think we should just give them the beef. They already won.” Gayoon giggled.

-------

For the last mission, everyone was scattered around a mall, by themselves. Jennie stood near an emergency exit, with her Korean spelled name tag stuck to her shirt.

On the speaker, it was announced that they would need to find their significant other. Once they reunite with their partner, they must team up and find the correct key. After they find the key, they must find the room where the key opens, and find a platform to land on while avoiding getting their tag ripped. If one person gets their tag ripped, the entire couple is eliminated.

“Gosh...really?” Jen cringed at the camera. “That’s...a lot of work.”

Once she heard the buzzer, the game began and she let out a breath. “ARMY, time to find our Golden Maknae.” she gave the camera a thumbs up and started walking with a cameraman following her.

With Gary, he carefully walked around the mall on the second floor. “I must find Jennie or Jungkook. We need to take out the Golden Duo, so they can’t win. Hopefully, I can convince everyone else.”

He was so fixated on making sure the two teenagers lost this time. They won too many battles. It was time to lose for a change.

With Hayoon, she chose to hide in a changing room that was in one of the clothing stores. 

“I’m going to hang in here for a little while,” she spoke on camera.

Back with Jennie, she walked slowly, looking at her surroundings. 

“All right...so far so good...” she mumbled. 

She recognized Gary walking by and immediately leaned against the wall, making sure he passed her, unnoticed. She let out a sigh of relief and quickly left the area to avoid being detected. 

With Haha and Gayoon, who had found each other, they go to each store to find the correct key. They came across three sets of keys, but none were the right ones.

“Found you!” Gary called them out, causing Gayoon to yelp in surprise. “Wait! Wait! I don’t want to fight. Let’s work together.”

“Why should we trust you?” she pointed out.

“I want to get the Golden Duo out, so they won’t win. Don’t you want to get them out too? Let’s work together, find Song Jihyo and take down the maknaes.”

“Well, those maknaes are insane.” Haha started to become convinced.

“Okay, we’ll work with you.” Gayoon agreed and the three of them began walking together around the mall to find keys and search for Jennie or Jungkook.

It looked like JenKook was in trouble if Gary continued to convince other teams to join him to take them out.

With Amber, she walked around, seeking to find her partner. “I have a feeling someone is hiding around here,” she murmured, going inside the store that Hayoon was hiding in.

Hayoon had heard a noise and remained quiet while Amber walked around to see if anyone was hiding. In the end, Amber couldn’t find her and ended up finding a key, but it wasn’t the right one. The rapper continued her hunt for Jongkook by leaving the store and going up the escalator.

Hayoon, still hiding in the dressing room, placed a hand over her heart. “Thank goodness. I don’t want to get my tag ripped anytime soon. Ah...maybe I should go find Kwangsoo. But I’m so scared. What should I do?”

With the Golden Maknae, he kept a low profile as he went to find keys. 

“Ah...I wish Jennie was here with me, right now. They are doing well to keep us apart. But I will find her. And we’ll win for sure.” he said to the camera, determined.

“Hey!” the sound of Jessi’s voice, caused him to look Jungshooked. 

He immediately began backing up while she walked after him. He ended up giggling at her as she tried to grab onto him to rip his tag off. His strength overpowered her attempts and he escaped. Jessi tried to run after him, but he was too fast and she stopped running. 

“I don’t know why I even tried.” she shrugged on camera, chuckling as the audience laughed.

Back to Jennie as she unsuccessfully discovered the right key in a shoe store, she came across the row of Nike sneakers. 

“Daaaaaamnnnnn, how much are these?” she exclaimed in English and picked up one of the shoes to check them out. “Yo...I need to get this after the show.”

Distracted, she was unaware that Hyuna and Sukjin had spotted her. Hearing footsteps, Jennie quickly set the shoe down and ran out of the store, with them high on her tail.

“Jennie!” Hyuna laughed and grabbed a hold of her.

“This is so cheap. You gonna run up on me when I was looking at Nike shoes? Really?” she evaded her attempts to grab her tag, defending herself against them both.

“Let us oust you, Miss Bangtan. We need to win this.” Sukjin responded.

“Sorry, but I didn’t come here to lose. I appreciate your determination. Not enough to take me out. Jungkook and I are going to win this.” she managed to push them away and escape. 

She ended up losing them, and she hid in another store to catch her breath, hiding behind the register. 

That was too close.

“Ah...I hate this. I want Jungkook. The heck, is he?” she complained.

Turning her head, she found another small box and opened it to find a key. Examining it, she realized that it was not the right key and placed it back. She abruptly heard Hyuna and Sukjin yelling in panic and loudly running past the store she was hiding in. She realized that Jongkook had found them and started chasing after them.

“So glad I’m not them right now,” she murmured.

As the game progressed, Gary managed to find Song Jihyo with Haha and Gayoon, discussing strategy when they found Jen or Jungkook to eliminate them. Unfortunately for them, they had bumped into Jongkook who had been chasing after Hyuna and Sukjin. The two teams instantly run with Hyuna and Sukjin, yelling and screaming all over the place. 

Hyuna got in an elevator but unluckily none of the others made it inside with her. When the door opened on the next floor, she saw the Golden Maknae quickly looking up from his feet, widening his eyes.

“Oh no!” she shrieked as he rushed in, grabbing a hold of her. “Wait, wait, please! The game just started!” she pleaded but unfortunately for her, he ripped her tag off to eliminate her and Sukjin from the game.

“Sorry, Noona.” Jungkook bowed and grinned.

‘Hyuna out. Hyuna out.’

Back to Hayoon, she still was hiding in her hiding spot. When she heard the announcement, she sighed out of relief when it wasn’t her partner. Out of nowhere, she shrieked when she suddenly saw the dressing room door swing open, locking eyes with her best friend, Jennie.

“Really?” Jennie laughed and took a seat next to her.

“Aw...it was nice when it lasted.” Hayoon pouted.

“Have you seen Jungkook?”

“I heard him in here a while ago. I have no idea where he went. Thankfully he didn’t find me.” 

“Thanks. Okay. See you.” she stood up.

“W-wait, you’re sparing me?”

“Yeah.” Jen nodded. “I love you, that’s why.”

Hayoon smiled at her answer and felt a little flustered.

“Just try not to get caught," Miss Bangtan warned. "And if we meet again, I won’t hesitate to take the tag off.”

“Gosh...you and Jungkook are so scary when competitive. Reminds me of our dodgeball game at school.”

“That’s riiiiight.” she kissed her forehead. “Be safe out there.”

“You too!” Hayoon watched her leave. 

Standing up, she decided it was time to move around and find Kwangsoo and some keys. No more getting scared. It was time to play the game.

As the game went on, Amber and Jongkook had found each other and were running after the rest of the teams that were plotting to find Jennie and Jungkook.

“Run faster! Run faster! They’re here! They’re coming!” Haha yelled.

“Ah...we are in deep trouble!” Jaesuk huffed

“This was not part of the plan! Work with us to take out the Golden Duo!” Gary pleaded.

Jungkook had found himself in the mix when Song Jihyo spotted him and started running after him. Now it was Gary, Song Jihyo, Haha, Gayoon, Jessi, and Jaesuk running after Jungkook while running away from Amber and Jongkook.

“Get Jungkook! One team has to sacrifice themselves so we can oust Jungkook!” Jaesuk shouted.

“Go! Go! Go! We’re losing him!” Gary yelled, determinedly.

Out of breath, Jungkook came to a stop and had to fend for himself desperately as he saw the three teams halt in front of him. The three teams were distracted because they wanted to focus on Jungkook but Jongkook and Amber were behind them and they weren’t sure what to do.

Out of nowhere, Jennie jumped into the fray, grabbing a hold of Jungkook from behind. He widened his eyes in surprise when he turned to see her, gesturing for him to run with her. Everyone noticed that Jennie and Jungkook were finally reunited and freaked out.

“No! This was not supposed to happen!” Gary whined as all the teams scattered to go after them and escape Jongkook and Amber.

“Ah! Separate them!” Haha shouted.

“They’re headed downstairs! Go down!” Jessi yelled.

Song Jihyo managed to grab a hold of Jungkook’s arm, which made Jennie get pulled back with him.

“Uh, uh, not today! Kook and I will live to see another day! Get off of him!” Jen made her lose her grip before running away with her Golden partner.

“Aish...these kids...they’re too fast,” Jaesuk called out.

“We are dealing with two pains in the asses here.” Jessi chuckled, shaking her head. “These kids need to go but they run so fast. So how are we going to beat them?”

Once Jennie and Jungkook found a safe area to hide, he wrapped his arms around her tightly for a hug.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“I am just very happy to see you, right now.”

“Feeling is mutual. I really thought I wasn’t going to be able to make it. Catch your breath, I know you’re tired.”

They sat on the floor as he tilted his head back, making it rest on the wall. Jennie laid her head on his shoulder and rested with him while keeping her eyes and ears alert for anyone walking by. 

Finally, they found each other and can work on winning.

After resting for a while, they walked around the mall to find the keys. As they strolled down the hallway, they heard a loud noise behind them. Jungkook was quick to grab her to safety by wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her against his chest. He looked both ways to see if anyone was there.

“That scared the crap outta me,” Jen said in English, exhaling sharply with a hand on her chest when they noticed that one of the camera crew had knocked over a plant by accident.

“What are we going to do? Everyone is after us. Should we go stealth?” Jungkook suggested as they continued their search for keys.

“No, I don’t think we should do stealth this time.”

“Really?”

“Yeah because they aren’t focused on getting the key, they’re focused on getting us out. They’re gonna do anything to eliminate us. They’ll try to corner us, distract us, this, that, and the third. We need to be quick and on full offense. No more messing around. We gotta win this. So, let’s find this key and if anybody runs up on us, we’ll rip the tags off. No more running away. I won’t let anyone rip your tag off. I promise.” she reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I got you, Jungkook.”

A bunny smile appeared on the Golden Maknae’s lips, motivated by her words. “I got you, first. Now let’s go.”

As time went on, the Golden Duo searched around, undetected, and managed to find the right key. All they had to do now was find the room to open the door and stand on the platform. 

Walking to the door that leads to the stairwell, Jennie opened it and walked in with Jungkook, only to spot Jaesuk, Jessi, Kwangsoo and Hayoon, Gary and Song Jihyo trying to get each other’s tags after they all had turned against each other.

The sight of JenKook caused Kwangsoo and Hayoon to rush down the stairs in panic while the rest of the teams were caught off guard and ran down the steps to avoid them. JenKook had decided to dash after them, going after the Monday Couple first for revenge. 

Running through a door, the Monday Couple had pushed to close it shut, only to have JenKook push forward to push it open.

“No! It won’t end like this!” Gary yelled.

“Don’t let them in!” Song Jihyo shouted.

Jennie, using her strength, gripped the doorknob and placed her foot on the wall, slowly pulling it back as the door gradually opened. Jungkook took advantage by grabbing Song Jihyo’s arm. He pulled her to him and used his other hand to search for the name tag on her back.

Riiiiiiiip

‘Song Jihyo out. Song Jihyo out.’

“Ah...I can’t believe this.” Song Jihyo slid down and sighed in defeat with Gary. 

After bowing and thanking the Monday Couple, Jennie and Jungkook continued their search for the platform.

“Are you okay?” Gary helped Song Jihyo up.

“Wow...the Golden Duo is no joke,” she mentioned, bewildered.

“They have to be the strongest guests we ever had. Iron Man and Captain America strength. This won’t be the end. We will get them next time.”

Near the end of the game, Jennie and Jungkook finally found the door. Managing to open it with no problems, they quickly jumped onto the platform as confetti popped out from the ceiling, making them the winners of the game.

All the teams had met up in the room to recap on the episode and congratulated JenKook on their successful win despite the odds not being in their favor.

Receiving Korean Beef as their prize, Jungkook happily announced, “We’ll eat this proudly. Jin Hyung, prepare to make this for us when we get home!”

“Ahhhh, they came to our show and won everything. They cannot be beaten.” Haha shook his head as everyone laughed

Once Jennie and Jungkook went back to the dorms with Seijin, the members greeted them with loud cheers when they saw the Korean beef in their hands. 

A victory dance commenced between the members and afterward, Jennie showered and helped Jin cook the beef. 

After dinner, Jennie chose to turn in early due to the full meal and long day of filming. Wearing a white tank top with black shorts, she dozed off in her warm bed.

-------

Buzz Buzz Buzz

Stirring in her sleep, Jen slowly woke up and grabbed her phone off the nightstand. Squinting her eyes at the high brightness of the screen, she turned her brightness down and checked out the message.

Kookie: You awake? I have a headache. Could you massage it away?

Jen: Sure. Drink water and then stop by

She sat up and stretched her limbs. Turning on the lamp, she turned to look at the time. It was past 1am. It looked like Jungkook was done gaming for the night with the rest of the Maknae Line. 

Noticing that her bun was messy, she realized that her bonnet had fallen off while sleeping. Yawning, she took out her bun and shook her hair out, deciding to fix it after massaging Jungkook. 

Hearing a firm series of knocks on her door, she called out with her voice filled with sleep, “Who?”

“Golden Maknae in need of Miss Bangtan’s famous massages.”

His bright voice made her smile. “How much are you paying?”

“I’m sure we can negotiate with smarties.” he quipped, making her giggle softly.

“You got me there. Enter my realm.”

She watched him walk in with a big smile as he closed the door. She noticed he was wearing one of his many white shirts and a pair of shorts that came to his knees. His hair was messy, too, it made him look even cuter.

She scooted over as she felt the bed dip when he got on the bed to lay down next to her. 

“I told you don’t eat so much candy. But what do you do? Eat a lot of candy. Now, look at you. Suffering from a headache.” she scolded.

“The candy Hyung buys is really good. I can’t help it.”

“I can’t help it.” she mocked in a low voice, making him chuckle. “How much did you even eat after dinner?” she let him lay his head on her lap as she gently began to massage his temples.

“You don’t want to know.” he let out a content sigh, closing his eyes.

“No more eating a lot of sweets, especially before you go to sleep. Those sugar headaches are killer. And make sure you drink more water and take aspirin."

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You’re a handful.”

After a while, he ended up falling asleep, with his headache nearly gone. She gently removed his head from her lap and let him sleep next to her. Moments later, Jen decided to play on her phone, to pass the time until she felt herself getting tired.

After ten minutes, she glanced over at the Golden Maknae, watching him sleep as his chest rose and fell slowly. Placing her phone on the nightstand, she turned to her side, to continue observing him. Her hand slowly ran through his soft hair. Gently brushing her fingertips against his cheek, she absentmindedly ran her thumb over his bottom lip. Glancing at his lips, she quickly shook the thought away and removed her hand.

‘The heck was that Jen?’ she looked away from his lips but couldn’t help but look back at them.

Jungkook had grown up. His vocals get better and better throughout each comeback. He had gotten so much taller, it was like it was yesterday when they were almost the same height. His English skills improve day by day, making her proud of his efforts. And he had become so handsome over the years.

Her body began moving on its own as she found herself slowly leaning down. She stopped midway, looking at his gentle face. Closing her eyes with hesitation, she pulled back. 

Jen laid on her back and looked up at the ceiling, inhaling and exhaling deeply. She didn’t understand what she was doing. What this strange feeling was. 

Turning her head to the side, she looked at him, falteringly.

After a moment, she turned her body on her side and leaned forward to press her lips to his. She kissed him softly while closing her eyes. His lips were softer than she anticipated, taking her off guard. Nonetheless, she felt something strong from the kiss. 

When she realized what she had done, she pulled away, confused by her abrupt actions. 

‘What the hell, Jennie? Why did you do that? Stupid, stupid, stupid. I am such an idiot.’ she thought to herself, touching her lips.

She was so fixated on thinking of what she had done, that she didn’t even notice Jungkook slowly opening his eyes.

Consequently, he knew exactly what she had done and when she met his gaze, her stomach dropped.

Busted.

She stiffened, widening her eyes while her face felt flushed. All she wanted to do was crawl into a hole. She had no excuse for her actions and couldn’t even think of coherent thoughts without making a fool out of herself.

“...u-um-I’m...” she hesitated, averting her eyes from him. “I-I’m sorry, I don’t know what got into me. I think I’m gonna go get something from the kitchen.”

She began scrambling to get out of bed but felt his warm hand, firmly grabbing her wrist to stop her from getting off the mattress.

“Don’t leave,” he whispered.

Jen let out a sharp gasp when he gently pushed her down on the bed, feeling the soft, warm sheets under her. Her heart raced quickly as she watched him slowly climb on top of her, placing his palms on the bed, next to both sides of her head.

She couldn’t look at him in the eyes as she felt a mixture of crazy emotions while still feeling awkward by her previous actions.

“Look at me,” her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his low voice. 

She nervously held his gaze, unable to ignore his request. She didn’t understand where this sudden desire to kiss him was coming from and it bothered her.

It bothered her because she shouldn’t even be in this foreign position with him.

It bothered her because the way he was staring at her made it harder to resist him.

It bothered her because he looked so enticing and she anticipated what he was going to do to her.

Her chest rose up and down with the butterflies in her stomach getting worse. She watched him take a good look at the position they were in. 

From his face, it seemed like he was contemplating if he should risk it all. It was like he was struggling to suppress the urge to do whatever his mind was thinking of doing to her. She regarded that he had licked his lips and placed his bottom lip in between his teeth as his eyes traveled down to her bare, thick legs. When he locked eyes with her, she felt her nervousness intensify.

He slowly leaned down, pressing his body against hers, gently kissing her softly. She froze, widening her eyes as she felt his lips move on hers while he tilted his head to continue kissing her slowly.

‘What the hell? What the hell are we doing? What the hell are we doing?’ she thought in panic.

His lips were tender and he pulled away briefly, leaving her breathless. Jungkook moved some hair from her face before leaning down to crash his lips against hers again.

Part of her wanted to push him off.

Tell him that this should not be happening.

But his kisses were too much to handle and she found herself kissing back, uncertain. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Gradually, she became in sync with his lips, finding a rhythm, despite her lack of kiss experience.

With a hand in his soft hair, she ran her fingers through it. Shortly after she felt his large hands caressing her legs and she hitched a breath. 

Jungkook’s hands were all over her. Places that a friend shouldn’t be touching but he was so gentle that she couldn’t help but melt into his touch. They slowly eased back from their lingering kiss to catch their breaths. 

Jennie, unable to resist and giving in to this heated encounter, sat up with him to straddle him on his lap. The sudden gesture made him grunt softly as she gripped onto his shirt. 

The way he looked at her looked like he was giving her permission to do whatever she wanted. Sensing her hesitation, he ended up guiding her hands to remove his shirt before tossing it to the side.

'Oh my God...' she thought as she ran her hands down his chest and then took his face in her hands. 'What's gotten into me?'

She resumed kissing him again as she felt warm and tingly. Each kiss felt better than the last one, making her feel good. Their kissing got heated as he slowly ran his hands down her back and squeezed her hips. He was starting to drive her crazy as he continued his frisky behavior when his hands slowly traveled down to squeeze her rear. The sudden gesture made her jump and let out a squeal of surprise before resuming their heated kissing.

Once they pulled back to breathe again, a thought in her mind made her place a hand on his chest, as the doubts came back.

‘We shouldn’t be doing this...I should not have kissed him. This isn’t right. But it feels right. But friends don’t do this. We need to stop. This can’t go any further. I need to get out of this.’ she thought, feeling conflicted with everything that was going on.

Jungkook noticed her pulling away and closed the gap by pulling her back against his body.

"Don't. It's okay," he murmured and swiftly laid her back on the bed, climbing on top of her to kiss her again.

Jungkook made her forget about the doubts as he deepened the kiss, causing her to softly moan. It made her feel embarrassed that an abrupt sound like that came out of her since she never made a sound like that before. She felt his strong hands grab her wrists, pinning them on the bed, beside her head. His hands gradually slid up to her hands slowly intertwining his fingers with hers. He kept a firm grip, making her unable to escape his passion.

Jungkook took his time, placing sweet kisses on her face. From her cheeks to her jawline, he made her feel wanted and cared for. He needed to stop kissing her like this. Every time he kissed her sweetly, he would glance at her lovingly before doing it again. His kisses were making her heart pound. She couldn’t take much more of this.

Turning her head to one side, she closed her eyes and let out shaky breaths when she felt him shift down to her neck. His nose nuzzled against her neck before placing, soft and gentle kisses around it, leaving her panting from the foreign feeling.

‘Oh God...why am I enjoying this?’ she thought as she threw her head back against the pillow.

She tightened her hands against his, writhing underneath him while trying to fight back any sounds. Of course, with Jungkook pinning her down to the bed, focused on her neck, she failed miserably, becoming undone. Jungkook appeared to be satisfied with his efforts and her reactions because he let out a low chuckle in response.

“Jungkook,” she whispered breathlessly as she felt his warm breath against her ear.

“Relax, baby girl...” he whispered, feeling her squirm from all the overwhelming and foreign feelings in her body.

This was torture, what he was doing to her, and she couldn’t do anything as he held her down.

"Do you trust me?" she heard him ask in her ear, making her shiver. 

"Y-yes," she breathed out. 

Suddenly he let her go and began kissing down her neck and started to move lower, making her feel flushed

"W-wait...where are you going?" she stuttered with her breathing increasing as she placed her hands in his hair when he continued to travel down to her stomach. 

Never would she think that Jungkook would ever do this, especially to her.

----

Jennie ended up falling off her bed with a big thump. She quickly got back to her feet. Snapping her head from side to side, looking around, she noticed that no one was in her room but her.

“What the hell...?” she placed a hand on her hair, which was still in a bun, and checked her phone to see no messages from Jungkook that indicated that he needed a massage tonight.

She then realized that she was just dreaming.

“Oh no. Oh my gosh, please. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.” she started pacing around, in panic. “No. No. No.” she shook her head repeatedly, trying to get the thoughts out of her mind.

It startled her that she just dreamed about her friend this way. 

“That meant nothing. That had to mean nothing.” she tried to convince herself. “No way. No way this would happen. Why did I dream of that? Why? Am I drunk? Did I eat one too many Smarties? Get it together!”

She slapped her cheeks with her palms. Going into her small bathroom, she splashed her face with cold water and sat on top of the toilet seat, to collect her thoughts.

That imagination...came out of nowhere.

Jungkook would never think of this, would he?

He would never think of her like this, right?

So why did she think of him like that?

He probably never dreamed of her like that, either, so why did she?

He would never think about making out with her, would he?

She was so confused.

Friends don’t just make out with each other like they did in that dream and she shouldn’t be having these types of thoughts of him.

“This is wrong. We can’t...we’re friends.” she reminded herself. “Best friends. In a group. We are in a group, working together. Professionally. This...can’t happen. It meant nothing. It meant nothing, Jennie.” she tried to convince herself as she worked on pretending that the dream didn’t happen.

Boy, it was going to be hard to act normal around Jungkook in the morning.

The Bangtan Gal Chapter 64- Sweet 18

Chapter Summary: BTS attend the Melon Music Awards. Jennie turns 18. An uninvited guest visits Jennie as all hell breaks loose

Words: 10,000+

Author's Note: Fluff! And protective Yoongi and Jungkook! There is some angst in this near the end regarding diet and weight. Kindly let me know if I need to be more specific for angst warnings to make sure no one is uncomfortable! :)

----- “Oh dear, the guys are at it again, huh?” Hayoon asked, taking a seat next to Jennie with the rest of the GFriend members. 

They all decided to have breakfast together and catch up on what was going on in their lives. Jen had just informed them about the chaos that happened and she still was feeling some type of way.

“Yes! Oh my God! They threw up on my Nikes! Nikes! Of all things. I wouldn’t have cared if it was something else but my Nikes!? I was irate.” Jen exclaimed.

“And I’m sure some of those pairs are limited edition and can’t be replaced huh?” Sowon asked “Loving my fashion and all, I understand how you feel.”

“A few were limited edition. And now they’re ruined. And one pair, my mom went through hell and back to get it for me because of the high demand! The one pair was the Nike Dunk Low Pro SB Paris and they’re impossible to find now and they threw up on them! I was one out of the 200 people to get them jawns! My mom told me that I wouldn’t be getting anything else for a couple of years after she bought those expensive shoes for me. Like y’all do not understand. I love my Nike sneakers. Those were some of the rarest sneakers out there! Now it’s ruined...”

“Listening to all that makes me upset. I wouldn’t want any of my items to get ruined like that. And something so rare, too? They better do something for you.” Sowon shook her head.

“They are just like I remembered. I wonder what they’re up to right now.” SinB pondered.

“Probably recovering from their headaches. I didn’t think they’d get that drunk. Sometimes you can’t leave those boys alone by themselves.” Jen said. “I love them. But I want to kill them.”

“Let’s just stay positive. Don’t worry. I know it’s upsetting but watch you get even better pairs than that.” Yuji responded. “Remember, always move forward.”

Jen sighed and nodded. “Yeah...I guess.”

“Jennie, we heard about Bangtan’s contract with Puma! We’re so happy for you.” Eunha beamed.

“Thanks...”

“Uh oh, you don’t seem so happy about Puma.” Yerin chimed in.

“It’s because she still wants to endorse for Nike.” Umji giggled.

Jen thought back to the day she found out about Puma.

-------

Jennie had walked into Bang PD’s office, meeting the members as they all sat around. She heard about a contract for a big brand and assumed that maybe, just maybe it would finally be the opportunity she had been praying about for years. Endorsing for Nike.

The members shot worried glances at her, tensed and anxious to see her reaction to what Bang PD had to say. 

Noticing, Jen called them out, “Okay don’t stare at me and not expect me to ask what is wrong.”

“Nothing, nothing.” Hobi shrugged.

“You sure? You good?” she looked around.

“Yeah, we’re great,” Jin added.

“Uh huh. Okay,” she responded, not convinced.

“Jennie, I’m glad you can join us. I called you all in here because we have a contract for you to sign, to endorse a big brand.” Bang PD mentioned.

“Oh my God...is it-is it Nike?” she covered her mouth as she felt her eyes begin to water.

“Uh...not quite.” he responded with an apologetic smile.

“Not quite...?” Jen felt her life get sucked out of her as soon as he said that. “Okay well, who are we endorsing?” she blinked the tears away, trying not to hide her disappointment.

“Puma!” he presented the contracts.

Staring at the contract, she started laughing. “Wait, wait, wait, Puma?” she pointed at the stack of papers.

“Yes!” Bang PD happily grinned.

“Puma?”

“Yes, Puma.”

“What about Nike?”

“Here we go...” Yoongi murmured while the members shifted uncomfortably.

“Uh, I have to water my plant. I’ll see you.” Jimin quickly got up.

“Sit down,” Jen ordered in a harsh tone. Jimin shrieked and quickly went back to his seat. “So, what about Nike? What is going on with Nike? Why not Nike? Nike is like, better! Nike is like, the best brand ever. Nike is my life.”

“I’m sorry, Jennie. They have not reached out to any of us for endorsements.” Bang PD explained.

“So, we’re not endorsing Nike?”

“No, we are not endorsing Nike.”

“And we’re endorsing Puma?”

“Yes, if you sign the contract.”

“No Nike?”

“No Nike, Jennie. I’m sorry.”

'Are you-are you kidding me?' She asked herself this, wondering why Nike wouldn’t let her endorse them. Was it because she wasn’t an athlete? Should she switch her profession to tennis to get an endorsement? Volleyball? Even running? 

“You’ll love it. Puma is a great brand.”

“Oh my God, Puma? PUMA!? No Nike? After I have been trying my hardest to get noticed by this damn company, they still won’t holler at me! I don’t understand why the world is against me and Nike.” she buried her face in her hands. She sighed and signed the contract. “All right, Puma it is. Let’s do this. Thank you. Maybe Nike will see how badass I look in the Puma merch and give me a call."

Bang PD laughed, while Namjoon explained, “ She’s grateful for this, don’t worry. It’ll just take some time but she’ll love Puma.”

“As expected. I knew she was going to react like this."

---------

“My mom always tells me that good things happen to those who wait and to just leave it up to God, so I’ll continue to just wait on it,“ Jen responded. “My time will come. Maybe it’s not my time yet to endorse Nike because there is a bigger opportunity out there waiting. I’ll probably look back at this and laugh.”

The next day, in a better mood thanks to the new pairs of Nikes from the members, Jen went to school, wearing one of the pairs. They were forgiven, for now until they mess up again.

“Class, for today, we have a special guest coming in to teach you a short routine.” the dance teacher announced. “Please show her the same respect as you give me and give her your undivided attention. Please welcome, Jennie.”

Walking in with a duffle bag, Jennie waved and bowed to everyone. An overwhelming sound of gasps, fanboying and fangirling filled the room because a BTS member would be dancing with them.

“Thank you for having me.” she beamed. “Are we ready to have some fun?”

“Yes!” she heard the overwhelming response which brought a smile to her face.

“Okay, let’s stretch.”

After stretching, some eager fans in the class asked her if they could take a photo with her. 

“Let’s get this dance down first. And after that, I’ll take a photo with you. This dance needs to be your top priority, okay?”

Once she demonstrated the dance while playing My Style by The Black Eyed Peas, the students watched, astonished, and intimidated at how fluid the dance was. Seeing their facial expressions through the mirror, she turned around after finishing and smiled in reassurance.

“I know it looks complex, but we will go through this step by step, taking all the time we need. Don’t panic, you will get through this and get it right. Now let’s get started.”

The freshmen truly appreciated how patient she was with them. She was a part of Big Hit, their choreography was always powerful and outstanding. Learning from her would benefit them in the long run.

“Make sure that every move connects. Don’t rush it.” she helped one student.

“Like this?” the student did the move again.

“It looks like you’re so eager to go to the next step that you don’t finish the previous move.”

“Ugh, I’m never going to get this.”

“Hey, it’s fine. I was like this too when I first started dancing. It’s okay. Let’s not think about speed. Let’s take it slow first and then increase our speed. Take your time.”

After a few more tries, the student got it right.

Once finishing teaching everyone the dance, Jen danced with them twice and then sat out to watch them perform. Her heart was filled with joy to see her finished product look so nicely done by the students.

“Yes! Great job everyone! You have worked hard!” she applauded and as promised, took photos with them.

-------

The Melon Music Awards approached fast as the members got ready for the event. With Jennie, the stylists were taking care of her hair and makeup after adjusting her long pink dress. Looking at herself in the mirror, she was in awe at the person staring back at her.

“WOW! I dunno how you stylists do it. You always know how to make me look good.” she spun around and checked out the dress. “I love this. This is so amazing, thank you.”

They all met up with the rest of the members who already had their attire for the red carpet.

“Okay, Jennie is all set. Are we ready to depart?” one stylist called out.

Jungkook turned his head in the direction of the stylist and noticed Jen’s dress. His eyes widened with his mouth agape. Blushing, he soon adjusted himself when he heard some of the staff members giggling at his reaction.

Jen noticed that each member had something pink on them to match with her. Jungkook and Jimin had pink ties, Jin and Yoongi had pink handkerchiefs, Taehyung had a pink bowtie and Namjoon and Hobi wore pink watches.

Jin turned around after getting his jacket adjusted and widened his eyes. “Oh no. No. Why this dress?”

“We thought this was the best one for Jennie.” some stylists tried to explain to him.

“Ahhhhh! Why are you growing up so fast for me?!” he complained, placing his hands on Jen’s shoulders as she laughed. “You were just sixteen! Look at how high the slit is! It’s showing so much leg! And is that a leg chain!? This is too sexy!”

“Keep a close distance with us. Heads will be turning to stare at you in that dress.” Namjoon added with a soft laugh.

Jen spun around to show off the dress. “Come on, you have to admit I look pretty awesome in this, thanks to the stylists.”

“Yes, you look beautiful. Just, growing into a beautiful young lady right before my eyes...I can’t handle it.” Jin began to tear up. 

Taehyung and Jimin started laughing at his overdramatic whining.

“Oh, my God...calm down,” Yoongi called out. “Stop whining. She looks great. The dress suits her anyway.”

Arriving at the event in a van, while it was raining, the security guards had umbrellas up to make sure none of the idols were wet from the weather. Jen was in the van with Jimin, Taehyung, and Yoongi, behind the van that had Jin, Jungkook, Rapmon, and Hobi. As soon as the door opened, Jin walked out first, commencing the ‘Car Door Guy’ nickname, as the fans began screaming.

Jen was the last one out of the van, getting help from Jimin and Yoongi, to make sure her dress was fine. After meeting up with the rest of the members, they walked down the red carpet, waving and smiling at the fans.

Her dress caught a lot of attention from everyone, including the leg chain on her exposed leg. She had wanted to start wearing more body jewelry and thankfully the stylists allowed her to. It would be a nice trend to start. As they stood to take photos while MCs, Seo Yuri and Heo Young Ji from KARA, talked about Bangtan, the members waved while the cameras kept flashing. Rapmon then talked on behalf of the group for a quick interview. Afterward, they were guided by security to head backstage.

Many idols were dressed in various suits and dresses in different colors and lengths. They all looked stunning to Jennie as she walked by, bowing to various people.

“Jennie! You look amazing!” Hayoon rushed up to her for a hug.

“Girl! So, do you too! Nice legs. I love the white on you.”

“Really? Thank you!”

When Jen saw G-Dragon, she had to hug him and catch up on everything that had been happening. She told him that she wasn’t nervous and was pumped for tonight. He had given her some advice on ways to relax when it came to performing on stage. She was always amazed at how YG Artists seemed so chill at award shows and all casual.

When taking her seat with the rest of the members, sitting between Rapmon and Yoongi, she regarded that GFriend was sitting behind Bangtan and Big Bang was sitting in front. When G-Dragon turned around, he met Jen’s gaze and they waved at each other.

“Ooh! Okay!” Jen grinned as she saw Wonho jump out on stage with a smirk on his face. 

The camera caught her numerous times jamming to Monsta X’s performance as fans called her a huge stan of theirs.

And as soon as they began to perform Hero, she got hyped and started singing along, “What, what, what, okay man, let’s go!”

As the performance went on, a camera showed Rapmon, Jen, Yoongi, and Jin. Jen and Yoongi were already lip-syncing along, so they immediately looked at the camera, getting even more hyper together. 

Best New Artist Award was up next and GFriend was up against some other girl groups. Jennie had her fingers crossed, obviously hoping that her friends would get this award. They deserved it. Everyone watched on, anticipating the results and before they knew it, GFriend appeared on the screen.

“Yasssss!” Jennie happily clapped. 

She turned around and stood up to applaud as she saw the members looking shocked and thrilled. GFriend began walking to the stage, bowing to everyone while Jen continued to cheer. 

“That is my best friend! My best friend! Yes, Hayoon! Yes! Strut!”

Hearing her cheer, Hayoon quickly ran up to hug her, tightly. 

“I can’t believe we won!” Hayoon exclaimed.

“I am so proud of you! Now get up there, this is your moment!” she let her go and watched her catch up with the other members.

Watching their acceptance speech, Jen had begun tearing up. They worked so hard for this. She was so proud. And then watching GFriend perform, Jennie couldn’t stop smiling. There were so many fancams of her jamming out to IKON’s performance as some fans wondered what it would be like to party with Jen because she was so lively during award shows while a majority of the idols just sat there, nodding to the beat.

Backstage, the members strolled to their dressing room to get changed for their performance. On her way to the dressing room, she bumped into Monsta X. 

“Yo! Your performance was friggin lit! Like wow! I‘m blown away. Amazing job, guys! Gotta go, bye!” she quickly told them before she had to rush to the dressing room. They had thanked her and told her they hoped to see her around to formally meet. 

Jen wasn’t feeling the outfit for the performance but it is what it is. She did think it was cool they were using LED gloves. She felt like Iron Man. Before they went on stage, they did last minute rehearsals. When they performed, everything went great and Jen loved the remix version of I Need U. The dance break, especially her facial expressions, showed more emotion this time for the song.

“It’s over! It’s over! Woo!” J-Hope yelled on camera as they walked backstage. 

Their performance went well after they prepared hard for it. Now they got to get back to their seats to enjoy the rest of the show. Throughout the show, the camera would focus on various idols. When the camera focused on Jennie yet again, she looked up at the screen to see herself. She smiled softly and turned to the camera, giving it a small wave. Fans were screaming loudly as soon as she popped up on the screen, cheering for Bangtan.

Later, they won Best Dance Performance which overwhelmed the members with joy. 

“GO JENNIE!” Hayoon yelled out of nowhere before shyly sitting back down after getting surprised stares.

She was so quiet, it amused and caught everyone off-guard to see her like this as she was so supportive of Jennie. Her sudden yell startled Jennie herself, and she let out a laugh, rushing over to give Hayoon a big hug.

“I love you!” she smiled and turned back to walk on stage, meeting with the rest of the group for their acceptance speech.

Once Bangtan was backstage, they celebrated on camera for a Bangtan Bomb. 

“Look what we wooooooon!” Jen presented the award with Jimin as everyone started yelling in cheers before dancing around.

“We suffered so much and finally won the dance award. Teacher Sung Deuk worked so hard and finally, we got it!” Jimin cheered.

The show was exciting with great performances and cheers from the fandoms of each idol. Big Bang’s performance was her favorite throughout the entire show as she sang along with Taehyung. Not caring who was watching, she had to stand up and start dancing. Taehyung immediately joined her in the fun.

--------

18 years old. 

Jennie was finally 18!

Crazy how time flies.

In the morning, she woke up early, in a bright mood to record herself dancing to 50 Cent’s In Da Club.

Go, go, go, go go, go,

Go, shawty

It’s your birthday

We gon’ party like it’s yo birthday

She posted the video on Twitter with the caption, ‘WOOOO! 18! Let’s go! Love you all! Thanks for the birthday wishes!’

She was overwhelmed with joy at the support from the fans. From their birthday wishes, amazing fanart, and even Tumblr posts, she was grateful. Fans even trended #HappySmartieDay to celebrate.

‘Thank you for being such an amazing black woman in K-Pop. Although we all can be tired of some of the BS over there, thank you for representing us and staying your natural, beautiful self.’

‘So down to earth and has grown so much as a performer. I am so proud of you, happy birthday queen!’

‘Happy birthday to the baddest bitch in K-Pop! Have a blessed day Jennie! LOVE YOU!’

‘You always look so healthy. Continue to eat well!’

‘Thank you for existing, without you, my confidence wouldn’t be as high because your representation of us colored girls, makes me feel amazing’

‘You show me that it doesn’t matter how you look, you can still do anything’ 

‘You don’t understand how much I love this girl! She makes me appreciate myself and my skin color’

Taehyung tweeted an embarrassing photo of Jennie sticking her tongue out with a face mask, ‘Happy Birthday Ennie! Love youuuuu! Please don’t hurt me’

“Oh my God...” Jen muttered as she looked at the photo of herself. “I’m going to kill him.”

She replied, ‘Oh HELL no! You screenshotted me while we were on facetime!? #YouAreDead’ 

J-hope tweeted two videos of her performing the Milly Rock and her teaching BTS the dance and then them performing and laughing. ‘#JenMillyRocksOnAnyBlock she does this dance the best. I can’t keep up, kekeke. Don’t challenge Munchkin to a Milly Rock dance off’

Jin tweeted a video of her teaching him the lean back dance, ‘Thanks for helping me learn this dance. I think I do it better than you, now.’

Namjoon tweeted a photo of her posing like he would for KimDaily. ‘Happy birthday, Jennie. You do KimDaily photos pretty well. Remember this? Giving me a run for my money.’

Jungkook tweeted a short video of them performing a dance cover of Wonder Girl’s Rewind. ‘Happy birthday to my one and only golden best friend. She’s irreplaceable. Thanks for asking me to cover this with you.’

Yoongi had tweeted a photo of her asleep in his studio after a rap lesson. ‘I’m proud of you smartie. #HappySmartieDay #SmartieIsTheBest #ImAMasterofTagsNow’

Big Hit even released her dancing to Electric Lady with some of her idol friends while she was in her Janelle Monae costume. She had a blast filming for it. 

“AHHHHHHHH!”

Turning in alarm, she was attacked by silly strings in all directions as she tried to block her face. Laughter filled the room as she confirmed it was the guys.

“Happy birthday, Jennie!” she heard them shout.

She felt herself get thrown over someone’s shoulder and spun around as they began singing and dancing around. Meanwhile, Jimin had recorded the entire thing, laughing in the background, hoping to post the video later on Twitter. Jen realized she was over Namjoon’s shoulder and began laughing after he set her down.

“Thanks, guys!”

“I made your favorite blueberry pancakes. Pancake mix straight from America. Come on!” Jin dragged her out of the room.

Walking into Big Hit’s building, she received many greetings as the staff wished her a happy birthday.

Even from Bang PD and he tweeted two photos. One was the first photo they took together before debut, looking young, and then the other was a recent photo as he expressed how proud he was to have a young lady like her become Miss Bangtan in BTS. His words made her feel really good about herself and she even visited his office to thank him for everything. Thanking him for allowing her a spot in the company. She felt so loved. This company was such a big family. She had also taken the time to thank each of the staff members for everything they have done for her from her trainee days until now.

Whenever it was makeup, clothes, helping her mic, dropping her off someplace, everything she appreciated. And they were touched by her kind words.

When inside her studio, she noticed Yoongi was waiting for her, sitting at her desk with a large pink box in his hands. Turning around, he smiled softly and presented it to her.

“Happy birthday, Smartie.”

“Ahaha, you remembered.” she looked at the Hello Kitty box. “I don’t want to cry today.” she chuckled and began to read his cute birthday note as he took a page out of her book.

“Sorry, but I have a birthday rap made for you. To my annoying Nike loving Smartie,” he responded and began to rap for her.

After he finished, she pulled him in for an embrace. “Thank you for this.”

Before she knew it, the members came inside with a big cake, filled with candles while they were all recorded for a Bangtan Bomb.

“Thanks, guys. Yo, this cake looks so good. Hang on a sec, I have the perfect song.” she put on Cut It and started bumping to the beat. “Cut it, cut it, cut it, cut it, cut it! This cake looks way too good, we need to cut it! This cake looks way too good, we need to cut it!”

“You’re so corny. Cut the cake already, I want to eat a slice.” Yoongi exclaimed as the members laughed.

“Hey! She gets first dibs.” Jin called out

“Take as much time as you want,” Hobi giggled

“Can I have the strawberries on the cake?” Taehyung started reaching for one.

“ARMY got something for you.” Jungkook presented her with a big box.

“The heck is this? ARMY didn’t have to do this,” she said, looking at the box in amazement.

ARMY raised money to buy her a custom made purple electric guitar with each of the members’ names engraved on it and other encouraging messages. She hadn’t talked about wanting an electric guitar for a long time but the fact that ARMY remembered, and they did something like for her, made her cry as she wiped her tears. As if the birthday bus advertisement wasn’t enough, this took the cake.

Jen sniffed, “I don’t understand what I did to deserve such loving fans. Thank you ARMY, you’re the best.”

-------

A few days later, Namjoon and Jennie were in Namjoon’s studio, patiently waiting for Angelina to arrive. She was just a few minutes away from arriving at the Big Hit building, and Jen noticed Namjoon trying to remain calm.

“You are freaking out.” she teased.

“I-I’m not.”

“Sure. Just make sure you don’t freeze when you meet her in person.”

“Why would I freeze?”

‘He is so going to freeze.’ she thought.

Before they knew it, Jennie found Angelina at the building. “FINALLY!” Jennie shouted and jumped on top of her, making them both fall down.

“Ahh! You got heavier!” Angelina laughed. “I missed you!”

“Missed you more! I am so happy you’ll be staying for a while.” Jen got up and helped her up. “Come on, let me introduce you to the guys. Let’s go. We have a lot to talk about.” She beckoned her to follow her.

Once they made it to where the members were, Jennie decided to introduce her to Namjoon first. She had a feeling Angelina really wanted to see him, so she decided to fulfill her wishes. And like Jennie predicted, he froze. 

He stood there, stunned in his studio.

“Hi.” Angelina softly greeted. “Wow, you look cuter in person, good Lord.”

“H-hi. You look even more beautiful in person.” he stumbled over his words

Jen snorted. He was smitten and it was adorable to see him like this. Namjoon was about to go for a handshake but then decided to hug her.

‘Aw...’ Jen smiled.

Jennie had told Angelina about what was going on in Bangtan and the three of them had a long conversation about everything. Miss Bangtan began to feel mischievous and decided to tease Namjoon.

“Oh! Angelina, you got to hear Expensive Girl. It’s funny as hell. I could not stop laughing when I first heard it. He singlehandedly killed ARMY with this song."

Namjoon widened his eyes. “Nah, nah, we don’t need to listen to that. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Ignore him. I have it right on my phone.”

“Woman, don’t do it. Do not do it!” he warned while Angelina started giggling.

“What? What? Let her listen! Her mind is as dirty as yours so she’ll love the song regardless.”

“Ah...why me?” he whined as she played it loud for them all to hear. 

Namjoon was mentally preparing to make sure to tease the hell out of Jennie whenever she and Jungkook started dating because there was no way she was getting away with this. With Jen, she had to control her laughter as the song played. Namjoon felt his face warm up and glanced at Angelina who looked amused but into the song.

Once the torture was over, Angelina said, “You’re really cute, you know that? I like the song.” 

Namjoon stared at her in surprise. “Y-you do?”

“Yeah. I really do.”

“Well, I gotta go, so, I’ll see you two later. Namjoon can introduce you to the rest of the members.” Jen stood up.

“Wait you’re leaving?” Namjoon asked in alarm. 

He was so nervous, he didn’t want Jen to leave, yet. He felt like he’d say something wrong in English or something. Truth be told, Angelina was also nervous. Her best friend was leaving her alone with Namjoon and she lost count of how many times her heart raced or how flushed she felt.

“Bye!” she left the studio. 

She wanted to give them some alone time. They deserved it. Turning around, she saw Jungkook and smiled.

“Hyung froze, huh?”

“At first glance. It was hilarious.”

“Did Hyung ask her out, yet?”

“They’re working on it. I’m just happy that she’s happy. I haven’t seen her like that in a while.”

Throughout the rest of the day, Jen spent time practicing choreography with Hobi and then stayed in her studio. Angelina walked inside and sat with her.

“What?” Angelina glanced away after being stared at.

“You’re glowing,” Jen confirmed.

“What you mean?”

“You’re smiling so widely, it’s cute.”

“Hush.”

“So...”

“What? Stop staring!”

“I want the tea, sis.”

She chuckled nervously. “Well...we’re gonna have a little studio date soon.”

Jennie fist pumped. “All right! Namjoon is a sweetheart and a gentleman. I know you will have a great time. I’m just happy to see you happy. I really hope that maybe you two can date. Despite him being an idol and you being in America as a rapper, I’m sure it will all work out.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you. I really like him. Are you sure you’re cool with me dating your leader?”

“Um, that’s not my decision. Do whatever you want. If that is what Namjoon wants, then I will support him. You two look so happy with each other, I highly encourage you two to date.” 

“Okay. I’ll keep you posted on how things go.”

“Good.”

“Ooh girl, I have some very exciting news to tell you.”

“What happened?”

“Guess who I will be collaborating with, pretty soon?”

“Who?

“The Weeknd!”

“Ahhhhh! What!? Holy shit, are you for real?!”

“Yes!”

“That’s huge! You’re going to blow up even more after this!”

“Ah, you really think so? This is such a dream come true, collaborating with my favorite artists. It’s such a blessing. There is just so much stuff I want to do. I hope I can do it.”

“You can and you will. I’ll be right there to support you. I’ll always have your back. No matter what.”

“This is why I love you.”

------

Finally, after a year hiatus, Jennie had her singing exhibit again. She underestimated the number of people who wanted to attend. It was much bigger and she’ll have to think about bigger venues or even other areas to have it since it was such a high demand.

But although a lot of BTS fans came, she really wanted those who simply love to sing and want to sing or learn to sing. That was her goal when she first started the event back during her Amity days. She’ll have to make a future announcement about that. Despite a large number of people, things remained under control and she stayed until she met every single person and bonded over their passion for singing.

Once the event ended, she stayed to clean up with the staff members and Sejin stayed with her until she was ready to go back to the dorm.

“Wait, please, I know it’s over but can I please see her?” a desperate male voice called out.

Jen stopped cleaning up and saw a black male, who looked exhausted.

“Hey, you can let him in,” she reassured the security.

The boy sighed out of relief and walked in. “This was not how I wanted to meet you. I’m a hot mess, right now. I had no time to prepare, I’m sweaty, I’m tired, but I’m here.”

“Why were you in such a rush? And where are my manners, hi!”

“Hi!” he laughed. “I had to stay late for a college class due to a big project. It was so frustrating. I really wanted to be here on time. I never was able to attend any of your events.”

“Hey, education comes first. Sit down, chill with me.”

“A-are you serious?”

“Yeah. Yoongi can wait a little bit.”

“Ah, that’s right, you’re still learning how to rap from him?”

“Yep, loving every session with him.”

“Oh well, I don’t want to hold you up.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Come on and Yoongi is probably working on music, anyway.”

They sat down and Jen smiled. The guy was shocked that he didn’t feel nervous around her. It was like talking to an old friend.

“Thank you. I can’t believe I’m sitting with THE Miss Bangtan. You always slay my life when you’re on stage!”

“Aw, thank you. How was your project? What was it for?”

“An art project. I believe I passed.”

“Good. I’m thrilled to hear that. What’s your major?”

“Art. I’m studying abroad for all of my college years.”

“Wow! What do you want to do with that?

“A lot of things actually. One thing I’d love to do is be a graphic designer.”

“Wow, keep doing what you’re doing. You have my full support.”

“I will. I also sing too. I’m doing both.”

“Sing for me.”

He sang a few notes of Oui by Jeremih, which blew her away. She enthusiastically complimented him on his skills.

“Really? That means so much coming from you.” he grinned. “Hey, do you want to go to college when you graduate SOPA?”

“Most definitely. I’d like to go to a college in America but I’m not sure yet since I’m here in Korea, as a member of BTS. We’ll see.”

“Do you have any idea what you want to do?”

“To be honest, I have no idea what I want my major to be or what I want to do in college. But I still have time. You said you’re an artist, can I see what you have drawn?”

“Yeah, of course!” he showed her some of his work from his portfolio in his school bag.

“Damn, this is phenomenal! Very aesthetic!”

“I also have an art show coming up.”

“You do? When? Where?”

“This Saturday evening.” he showed her the location.

“I’m free that day. I’d like to come if you don’t mind.”

“W-what? Are you for real?”

“Yeah, why not? I just love supporting anyone that’s black. Everyone wants to bring us down but we will continue to do what we can to prosper. And with what you’re doing, I don’t see a lot of black artists that often, even though I know there are a lot of talented ones out there that should get a lot of recognition. You have a gift. Heck, I might just buy something from you. Can I get your Instagram?”

“Deadass?”

“Deadass, let’s keep in touch by DMing each other. I want to see how your journey progresses.”

“Yo, you are like...pure girlfriend material. I love you so much. Your support is everything. Whoever is the man you date, will remain grounded and able because of your constant support. Don’t ever change, Jennie. Thank you for this.”

“You are very welcome.”

Afterward, they took a selfie and he posted it on his social media with the caption, ‘It was a blessing to come here late. Thank you for everything!’

Once Jen arrived back in her dorm, she was exhausted from the event and then from her rap lessons with Yoongi. All she wanted to do was sleep. Heading to her room, she saw Angelina on her bed, not looking too happy. She heard her sniffing, and she realized that she had been crying.

“Whoa, whoa, what’s wrong with you?” Jennie quickly rushed over to her as Angelina wiped her tears.

“It’s the collab...”

“What about the collab?”

“I’m not collabing with him, anymore.”

“What do you mean you’re not doing the collab with him, anymore?”

“I don’t know! Apparently, it got scrapped and there’s some dirt on me for being problematic. There are rumors that I’m not the best person to work with. It’s all bullshit.”

“Are you serious...?” Jen frowned.

“Look, I know I have a little bit of a mouth, but I’ve matured. Like damn, I love The Weeknd. I busted my butt to get that collab and now it’s gone...it’s so unfair man, I worked so hard to earn that spot...they're going to give the spot to someone else but I'm not sure who...”

Jennie pulled her in for a hug. A lot of questions were on her mind. She thought about who would want to ruin something like that for Angelina and who got the spot instead.

‘This just doesn’t make any sense...’ Jen thought to herself. 

How could they confirm their collab and then change their mind so suddenly?

-----

Saturday rolled around quickly as she attended the boy’s art show. His paintings were stunning and he even surprised her with a drawing of BTS for Big Hit to hang in one of their studios. She was glad she came and took a bunch of photos, posting them on her Twitter, asking ARMY to support his work.

Yoongi had also tagged along with her, admiring the work that the college students put out. The boy’s parents even came to Seoul to see their son, and Jennie happily introduced herself, telling them how talented their son was.

“This is for you. To support all your artistic needs and other opportunities.” Jen presented him with a gift basket. 

Along with it was an envelope that had a nice sum of cash for him to help with his future. While she and Yoongi signed the back of his artwork for him, writing some encouraging messages, some artists were fans of BTS and asked for photos.

Once Yoongi excused himself to use the bathroom, Jennie continued to look at the other artwork.

“Wow! This looks amazing. This is yours?”

She heard a familiar voice.

It couldn’t be...

Not here of all places...

Not now...

Jennie feared for the worst and slowly turned around to see Hailey talking to one of the artists, who seemed starstruck because she was an Amity fan. Jen had remembered that Amity would be having their world tour in Seoul, and it looked like they were already here. At least Hailey was. But it didn’t make any sense.

Why was she here? She had no business here whatsoever.

Jen frowned as she watched Hailey have her manager film her giving the girl a big sum of cash to help with school. The girl began to get emotional and kept thanking her for everything. Taking a selfie, Hailey immediately posted it on social media as her fans would comment on how much of a ‘generous queen’ she was and that she was an ‘amazing leader’.

Once everyone left to go to the other room for some refreshments and other activities, Hailey and Jen were left alone in the room. Jen’s eyes closed in dissatisfaction as she heard the dreaded voice of the person she wanted to avoid forever. 

This was not the time nor place for any of this.

“Quitter! Long time no see!” Hailey beamed, watching her open her eyes, looking at her unamused. “I missed you! Wow, your hair looks nice. Did you gain a little weight, too? I guess that Korean food is making you a little thick. Nice. You look wonderful. How’s BTS? I heard about your little comeback that’s coming up. Let’s see if you’ll finally get an award this time. And let us see if the song is actually good. The others...eh...not so much. I bet those first wins for I Need U were pity awards.”

Jennie clenched her jaw, continuing to look annoyed by her presence.

‘Not worth it...bite your tongue.’ she told herself.

Just why of all places did she have to come here and pull that half-assed publicity stunt during her moment with a fan?

“I get it, I get it.” Hailey chuckled, understanding her reaction. “You are so happy to see me that you’re speechless!”

Jen slowly shook her head in disappointment. “Why do you always feel the need to one-up me...? Everyone? You never let anyone have their time to shine or have their moment. You always make it about you. Always...”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Everything I do, you try your darndest to do it extra.”

“Where are your receipts?”

“I learned Korean because I love the culture and wanted to communicate with everyone if I ever got the opportunity to come to Seoul and be a K-Pop idol. And now I’m here, blessed. But with you, you learned it out of spite to get back at me. You said it was a waste of time and that you hated it, years ago.”

“Okay, and?”

“My songs in my notebook which you took? I wrote what I was feeling. What was on my mind. And then Songstress changed it into unmeaningful lyrics for a single.”

“We made the songs better.”

“And then here at this art show. What I did with my fan was from the heart, not for attention. I don’t need the media to know when I give someone money or whatever. I just do it from the heart. You, on the other hand, do it for publicity, posting everything on social media, lying to the public about who you really are.”

“Do I now?”

“You’re fake and you’re a phony.”

“Ouch....”

“It won’t be too long before everyone knows what Songstress is doing to screw Angelina and me over to make you guys look better. They won’t let it go, huh? That we left? That we found a better home to showcase our talent with music? That we are more successful without the company? That we’re happy? Even if you guys are more popular now, Amity is not how it used to be. It’s not a group. It’s just Hailey and the backups.”

“Wow! I can just feel the animosity you have towards me and I just want to know if you’re going to do something about it. Because Angelina retaliated over the years. Got on my bad side and now she’s in the state that she’s in, losing that collab with The Weeknd and now Trinity has it.”

Jennie quickly got in her face, narrowing her eyes. She had a feeling Songstress had something to do with it. How heartbroken her best friend was when she found out she lost that collab with him is an image that will never leave her head.

“Good, good. Get angrier," Hailey provoked. "I’m just waiting for you to snap too, that’s all. Your mind is just a ticking time bomb. I’m just patiently waiting. You know, I really like it when you guys get so pressed when it comes to me. Angelina always has my name in her mouth. You, you’re better. You never talk about me like she does but the fact that when you look at me and you get so mad, even a little intimidated, just makes this entire scenario more entertaining.”

Jen scoffed and shook her head. “I knew it. I knew there was a pattern. First, her losing out on winning an award at the MTV Video Music Awards when you knew Angelina was getting higher votes than the other nominees and you knew damn well she deserved it. And now losing the song to collaborate with The Weeknd. Suddenly Trinity has it now. Did Songstress pay to decrease her votes or something for the award? What did you guys do?”

“Who knows, maybe she has a lot of enemies. Or the competition is just too much and she’s not as good as she thinks she is. Maybe Trinity was a better fit for the collab.”

“Un-believable...you and Songstress have got to be the shadiest people ever.”

“And are you planning on doing something? Do you want to end up like Angelina? I mean, after showing how problematic she is, I’m sure everyone was pretty convinced to not work with her, anymore. I’d try to stay on my good side if I were you. And hey, don’t get mad at me. It’s just business.”

“No. It’s just spiteful. You’re garbage.”

“Yeah, Angelina tells me that all the time.” she shrugged. “Oh, and before I forget...your belated birthday gift. A VIP pass to see how great we are.” Hailey presented a ticket to Amity’s upcoming concert in Seoul.

“Not interested.”

“That’s a VIP ticket, you know there are a lot of people that would kill for a VIP ticket to an Amity concert. But why am I not surprised? You were always ungrateful.”

“Do me a favor and stay away from me.”

“Wow, I came all the way here and you gonna treat your old leader like this?”

Something told Jennie that the Lord was testing her and she could only hope that she had the strength to not do anything she would regret in the future during Amity’s stay in Korea.

“I am not joking. Stay away from me. Leave Angelina alone and back off of anyone from Big Hit. I don’t care if it’s a stylist, stay away. I am not in the mood, I am in a good place and I am not letting you fuck it up.”

“Ma’am, yes ma’am! Just tell Angelina that Trinity will let her know how the collab goes! See you around, quitter.”

Once Jennie watched her walk away, she took her phone out of her pocket and ended the voice recording, saving it. Something told her to record and she was glad that she listened to her gut feeling. She was going to do whatever she could to get that collab back to Angelina and clear her name from all those lies Songstress said. She didn’t deserve any of this and Jen couldn’t stand back and watch it happen anymore.

It was time to clap back. She had enough of Amity’s foolery and it was going to end very soon.

As Hailey walked out of the room, she noticed Yoongi and called him out. 

“Well! If it isn’t boyfriend number six!”

“I thought you were leaving.” Jen met up with Yoongi, narrowing her eyes at her.

“I was but you didn’t tell me boyfriend number six was here. Suga, was it? Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Hailey.”

Yoongi ignored her. “Jennifer.”

Every time Yoongi said her full name, she knew he was dead serious.

“Yeah?” she asked, watching him turn his head to her.

“Is this the person that’s been causing you trouble over the years...?”

Hailey scoffed. “Me? First of all, she is the one that’s been causing-“

“Was I talking to you?” Yoongi bluntly interrupted.

“I don’t appreciate that attitude you’re giving me. But the music that you make for BTS is a failure, so...I can see why you’re so bitter.”

“We didn’t ask about your music. We know your music is a disappointment.”

“Excuse me-“

“You’re excused. I can literally see the shit coming out of your mouth from all these lies you’ve said. You lost a dime. Took Jennifer for granted and now you try so hard to ruin the success that she has because you know that she is better than you. She is better than you as a person and better than you as a performer. She earned everything. You were handed everything and you keep coming back, popping up where you are irrelevant to whatever is going on. This stunt won’t make your phony ass relevant.”

“Are you friggin kidding me? I was not handed everything and how dare you say to my face that this ignorant stupid bitch is better than me!?”

Jen was about to open up her mouth, bothered that she name called her but halted once Yoongi raised his hand, signaling her to stop.

“A stupid bitch? If I remember correctly, I’m looking at one, right now. And the woman standing next to me is nowhere near what you described. So if I were you, I’d choose my words wisely.”

Jen let out a chuckle at his comment. He wasn’t wrong, that’s for sure, and Hailey’s agape reaction made it even funnier.

“You really going to insult me of all people like this?”

“I’m not insulting you, I’m just describing how pathetic you are. Are you done embarrassing yourself? If so, you can get the fuck out of here. And I highly suggest you leave Jennifer alone. Don’t piss me off.” he said in a harsh tone. 

A tone that surprised Jennie. She had never seen Yoongi like this before. Hailey was so stunned, that she couldn’t even say anything as she felt intimidated by him and took a step back. 

“S-so you have little boyfriend fight your battles for you?” she turned her attention to Jennie.

“Nah, Jennifer can handle herself pretty well. I just want you to shut the fuck up. So, why are you still standing here, looking stupid? Get the fuck out of here and go back to your group. And if I see you around Jennifer again or cause her any more problems, we will have a problem. So, think wisely.” 

Flustered and angry, Hailey stormed out while they watched her leave.

"Wow...thank you," Jen said.

"Always...let's get out of here." he grabbed her hand and walked her out of the building.

--------

“I knew it was that bitch! I’m gonna fuck her up!” Angelina yelled, pacing around the studio after Jennie played the recording for everyone. 

Her sudden outburst scared a few of the members, who had no idea what she was yelling in English.

“No, Ang!” Jen exclaimed.

“What do you mean no!? You gonna let this bitch do this to me!?” she snapped. “I am going to kill her-“

“Do not let her have that power over you.” she snapped back. “I know it’s difficult, I want to hit her as much as you do but we cannot go that route. It is not worth it. I need you to listen to me because I have a plan and I want this to work. But you need to calm down for this to go well, okay? I got you, I always got you.”

She exhaled and sat back down, meanwhile, Jen had translated everything that was going on to the members and they were not too happy about the situation.

“It’s time to clap back,” Jen announced. “I want to end this once and for all.”

"Yeah, this needs to end. How much you want to bet that they turned on Layla?" Angelina asked.

“No need, I already know they did. First me, then you, now her. She got dragged into being one of her goons and now it seems like she’s opening her eyes and wants a way out just like us. Well, hopefully, that’ll end very soon.”

“She is such a manipulator, thank God you recorded her. But no really, thank you for recording her. I don’t know what I would do if you didn’t. I just might get that collab back because of you. If I do, I need to pay you back, big time.”

“Don’t. I don’t want to be repaid. I really don’t care about getting anything back from you. It’s no need. You’re my best friend, I always got your back. And besides, I’ve been trying to think of a way to end this mess and this recording will do the trick.”

“I can make a big video of the audio on my YouTube channel. But maybe she’s hiding more secrets. If there is a way that we can video record her for even more proof, that’ll be even better.”

“We’ll think about that. In the meantime, I want some frozen yogurt. Let’s hang, my treat.” 

“You really not gonna let a girl pay anything while she’s here, huh?”

“Nope.”

----

Since BTS were performing some more concerts, they stayed in a hotel in Seoul. And ironically, Amity stayed at the same hotel after finishing up their tour dates there. Since they were done, they had a few more days to stay in the country and decided to check out everything. But from Amity’s Instagram page, it seemed to just be Trinity and Hailey hanging out, with Layla nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, Hailey, Trinity, and Layla were shopping in Seoul. Mostly just Trinity and Hailey as Layla dragged herself along, disinterested. She felt left out of everything ever since she had questioned why they were still trying to dwell on the drama with Jennie and Angelina. Layla began to question the way she’s been acting over the years and felt like things weren’t right.

She felt like a follower and as soon as she began to not do what Hailey wanted her to do, that’s when she saw a change in her friendships with her and Trinity. She began to feel exactly how Angelina and Jen felt.

She honestly felt miserable and was planning on leaving the group after the tour was over. She was over everything. The final straw was when Hailey had wanted to give the Weeknd collab to her but it was actually for Angelina. And once Layla had said no, Hailey had given it to Trinity instead.

She was over the manipulation. Hurting others for her personal gain. This was not who she was and she didn’t want to be a part of this type of lifestyle, anymore. If only she could bump into Jennie and apologize for everything. But she probably doesn’t want anything to do with her and will blow her off as soon as she sees her. Sorry, wouldn’t even be enough anyway.

“Uh, I actually don’t feel like shopping. I just want to go check out one of the museums, can you come with me?” Layla asked.

“Seriously? Absolutely not.” Trinity rolled her eyes.

“Really? I always do everything you guys want to do. For once, just take an interest in what I want to do.” she frowned.

“Shop for once, not stand and look at paintings or whatever. I don’t feel like going to no boring museum.” Hailey added.

“Wow.” Layla shook her head. “Of course, you guys don’t. But when it comes to what you want to do, you’re all energetic. You’re fake for that.”

“After all Songstress has done for you? After all, I’ve done for you, you want to call me fake?” Hailey called her out. “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be here today, so I’d watch what I say. You want to end up like Jen and Angelina? But I'm the bad guy, right? Blame me for everything if it makes you feel better,"

Layla walked past them, outside the store. All this gaslighting had to stop. She had to leave as soon as this tour was over. She couldn’t take much more of this type of treatment. Trying to guilt trip her and all.

“She is annoying as hell,” Trinity murmured.

“Well, it’s Layla, what do you expect?” Hailey turned and saw Jimin, Jin, and Taehyung walking inside the store with masks on. “Oh, what do you know? Boyfriends number seven, three and two are here.”

-----

With Layla, on her way to the museum, she made a quick stop at a coffee shop. Getting her drink and muffin, she noticed a familiar figure and decided to approach them.

“...Rap Monster...?” she timidly called out. Once he turned around, it was him. “I’m uh, I’m Layla. A member of Amity. I’m sorry for disturbing you but I uh...I really need to tell Jennie something. I know she probably wants nothing to do with me but please when you see her, just tell her that I have something to give her. Please.”

Back at the hotel, Hailey with her shopping bags made her way inside the elevator. Her plan for the rest of the day was to go to a spa, but once she saw a hooded and masked Jungkook walk in, it automatically felt like Christmas for her as she constantly kept bumping into the BTS members.

She already ruined Jin's, Jimin's, and Taehyung’s day, so why not cause more chaos before she leaves Seoul?

“Well, if it isn’t boyfriend number one...Jungkook, right? I’m Hailey. But I guess Jen already talked about me so I’m sure you know who I am.”

Jungkook was shooked and didn’t respond. How could he? He pretended to ignore her like he had headphones in his ears. He was also bothered by her presence.

“So, you’re the one in love with her, right? Maybe I should tell her for you,” she pondered, causing him to immediately turn his head, tensing up. “Wow, that certainly caught your attention. But honestly? What difference does it make? She’s going to say no. Doesn’t her family want her to date within her race? Do you honestly think she’ll date a Korean guy like you? Come on, you’re cute but that’s not the ideal type she wants.”

That, unfortunately, bothered Jungkook as he felt himself getting angry at her presence.

Hailey, however, appeared satisfied with his reaction and assumed he was feeling discouraged. She wanted to see if she could spark an argument between Jen and Jungkook if she got into his head enough. He seemed to easily become jealous so perhaps she could use that in her favor.

“I mean, you never know, she just might be dating Kevin on the low. Ever thought about that? You know all those times she goes to America, do you think she goes to see him?” she faked a concerned voice. “Man, it must hurt. Having the girl you like kissing another guy? Knowing that you were too late? They're probably sleeping with each other. That must sting to the core.”

Although he was upset, Jungkook continued to ignore her. Jen said it countless times that they were friends and he trusted her word. He knew what was going on here. Hailey was trying to get in his head by telling lies. 

She laughed, “Whatever, I really don’t care about your dumb puppy love. Although, I have to ask, why are you forcing yourself to wait for someone like her? Don’t you see all those other girls that are head over heels for you? But you choose Jennie of all people? I think you’re too loyal to someone that’s extremely oblivious to your feelings. Don’t waste your time. She’ll only hurt you in the end. Being in the friend zone is not a pleasant place to be. Date someone a little older, too. It’ll save you a lot of time and heartache. I’m sure there are a lot of other women that’ll be a better candidate than her. She is not worth it-"

Getting angry, Jungkook shot her a glare which made her stop rambling and take a step back. She was not expecting that kind of reaction as her stomach dropped.

"Enough," he spoke in a stern voice, startling her. "You do not know anything about what we have. It's in your best interest to stop talking bad about her. Especially in front of me. She is worth everything and someone like you can never compare. I am going to tell you this, one time...Stay away from her and leave her alone,"

Once the stop on his floor came, he stormed off, leaving her taken aback.

-------

Jennie could not understand how one person could cause so much chaos in one day. It began to stress her out as she went to comfort the members. She should’ve known better as her body tensed up when she found out that Hailey had bumped into Jimin, Jin, and Taehyung. Hailey even made Jimin cry when she spoke about his weight.

Of all things...and as hard as Jen tried to boost Jimin’s confidence, it was like all the positive things she said to him over the years were nowhere compared to the comments Hailey had told him, today. And what irritated her, even more, was that Hailey was still around the members when Jen and even Yoongi had told her to stay away from everyone in Big Hit.

“She fuckin’ lucky she didn’t see me, today.” Yoongi spat, pacing around angrily. “She is fucking lucky...if I were you, Jennifer, I’d beat the shit out of her, tonight. I can’t put my hands on her but you can. Just do me one fucking favor and give her one clean hit to the face.”

“Violence is not the answer,” Namjoon warned.

“Fuck that!” he snapped. “Clearly words aren’t enough, Namjoon!”

“Maybe after this video, Angelina creates, it will be,” he added. 

During his encounter with Layla, she had agreed to let him video record her spilling all sorts of tea about Hailey to add to what Jen recorded.

“Doesn’t matter, it’s not enough.” Yoongi turned to Jen. “What are you going to do? It’s your call. Years of frustration, end this shit tonight.”

Jennie exhaled while she had Jimin in her arms, holding him tightly after comforting him and stopping him from crying. It took a while to even get him to eat dinner as he questioned his weight. She hoped and prayed it wouldn’t trigger him to begin an unhealthy diet to try to lose weight. Sometimes she felt like all this drama was her fault. This was just between her and Hailey. But then Hailey wanted to get the members involved, stressing them out.

“Although we spoke to Big Hit about what is going on...just...look...just don’t hit her first. If she hits you, you have every right to defend yourself.” Namjoon asserted. “But use it as a last resort.”

“Use it as a first resort,” Yoongi growled

Moments later, Angelina had finished with the YouTube video to expose Hailey & Songstress and posted it on her channel. Now it wouldn’t be too long before the entire world finds out the shadiness. But to Jen, it wasn’t enough and Angelina had agreed.

“There you are, where you been?” Hobi called out, seeing Jungkook walk in.

The Golden Maknae was still agitated about his encounter earlier today. Jennie had noticed Jungkook looking fidgety and decided to call him out on it instead of leaving the situation alone. And for the most part, she was glad that she did, realizing that he had probably been approached by Hailey.

“What did she say?” she demanded, causing him to widen his eyes.

“How did you know?” 

“Because you’re not the only member she approached. And it’s your body language,” she responded and translated what was going on to Angelina.

Angelina scoffed and shook her head. “Of course, she did. As if the first confrontation wasn’t enough. Wasn’t Suga’s diss enough for her to not associate herself with Bangtan? She must want to be embarrassed again.”

“I’m sure she just sees Jungkook as an easy target like she did with Jimin.” Jennie sighed.

“She’s just trying to get under your skin.”

“I know...it worked,” Jennie admitted.

“What do you want to do?”

“Let’s go to her room."

“And pay her a visit? Count me in!”

Jennie turned back to Jungkook, “Did she bother you or make you uncomfortable in any way?” 

Miss Bangtan waited for his answer. Watching him slowly nod in response, she nodded a couple of times, clenching her jaw.

First coming unannounced at the art show. 

Then making Jimin cry. 

Then making Jin and Taehyung uncomfortable. 

And now making Jungkook uncomfortable. 

No more of this.

“I swear,” Angelina complained, “She’s like an annoying fly that you want to kill so badly.” 

Jennie closed her eyes and inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to keep her emotions in check. She opened her eyes, released Jimin and went to grab her sneakers, putting them on. She then puts her hair in a high bun.

“We’ll be back,” Jen announced.

“Good. Thank you. Ruin her fucking life, tonight.” Yoongi grumbled as she started walking to the door.

Jungkook stopped her by grabbing her hand, “Are you sure about this?” he asked

"Jungkook, if someone messes with you or anyone in Bangtan, I have a problem with them," Jennie said, standing in front of him. "I specifically told her to stay away from every one of you. To not bother any of you or give anybody in Bangtan or Big Hit a hard time. But what does she do? Bother you guys and I don’t appreciate that. Clearly, she didn’t get the message so... she and I are going to have a little chat. Stay here. I'll be back," she smiled and began to walk past him with Angelina to the door. 

“Munchkin,” Hobi called out, causing her to turn around to face him.

“Yeah?”

“Right hook, left hook then right, again.”

“I’ll keep that into consideration.” she nodded and left the room with Angelina.

Next Forced To Believe Chapters!

Sister Abigail- Morgan begins to start getting headaches which doesn't look like a coincidence as The Wyatts begin to get in The Shield's way

-------

I Lost Her- Having enough, Morgan ends things with Ambrose and suddenly goes MIA while The Wyatts continue to taunt The Shield. Melanie visits Celeste

------

She Belongs To Us Now- Morgan returns but things seem to be off about her

-----

I See What You Want- Morgan's willpower remains strong as she tries to fight against Sister Abigail's advances while The Shield are persistent to not give up on her

----

Armageddon- Morgan and The Wyatts take on The Shield

----

Armageddon Part 2- The Shield continue to take on The Wyatts

-----

That Supernatural Stuff Don't Work- Morgan is freed from Sister Abigail as she reunites with The Shield

-----

What are you doing!?- The Shield take on The Wyatts but tensions run high when Seth Rollins leaves his team high and dry

-----

Things Got Personal- The Shield resolve their issues. Ambrose and Morgan slowly start to get closer again. The Shield attack Kane. Orton tries to sweet talk Morgan but she doesn't buy it. The New Age Outlaws shock the world when they put their hands on Chyna's cousin

Posting one more chapter of The Bangtan Gal today then I’ll be back focusing on the Forced to Believe Chapters! Stay tuned!! 😁❤️ thanks again for reading!!

I love collaborating with others! It’ll be so fun! 😁💜💜

So, who would be interested and down?

For me collaborating with @smolwritingchick in the same universe with my character and her character colliding this story would be about my character Kiara Monique. And BTS J-Hope in the same universe with miss Bangtan herself Miss Jennie

The Bangtan Gal Chapter 62- Protection Squad

Chapter Summary: Bam Bam gets bold on Instagram about Jennie. When an anti calls Jen a thot at the airport, the members, especially Jungkook, are quick to lose their cool. Jennie saves Jungkook from fangirls bombarding him at the airport

Words: 10,000+

Author's Note: I hope I'm not spammy with updates. This was done so I was like why not?

--------

September 1st came by quickly as today was Jungkook’s birthday. He was 19 in Korean age and the members were proud to see the Golden Maknae grow right before their eyes. The members had created a birthday V-Live for Jungkook once the clock turned 12 in honor of his birthday and presented him with a cake as he blew out the candles.

With Jennie, she, unfortunately, missed it due to traffic after a small accident occurred a few blocks down. While in the car with Seijin, she already had an Iron Man themed birthday box made specifically for him.

Starting a tradition, Jennie had decided that from now on she’ll post funny derp photos of the members on their birthdays and chose to start with Jungkook.

Posting a funny photo, she tweets, ‘Our Golden Maknae everyone! What a handsome photo ahahaha. Happy birthday, Kook! Can’t wait for those birthday punches #Jen’

She wasn’t expecting him to reply so quickly, assuming that he wouldn’t be on his phone while celebrating with the guys. She read his reply and started to laugh, ‘I am going to kill you one of these days, #JK’

With Jungkook, he had been on his phone the entire time, texting Jennie, hoping that she was safe after she told him what was going on and why she wasn’t there at the moment.

“You look like you’re waiting for someone.” Jimin teased.

“I’m not...” Jungkook lied, continuing to patiently wait for her reply.

“Don’t lie. I know you want to see Jennie. She’ll be here soon, don’t worry.”

“I-I know that!”

As time went by, the members were cooking their meat on the grill and Jimin was filming Jungkook to resume teasing him. “Jungkookie is still on his phone. Still waiting for Jennie to text back, hehehehehe!”

“Ahahahahaha.” he laughed sarcastically, eyes still on his phone.

“Yes, Tae?” they heard Jennie’s calm voice on Taehyung’s phone while they noticed him facetiming with her. 

Jungkook’s attention went away from his phone, hearing her voice, prompting a smile to come across his face.

“You sure smiled quickly,” Hobi called out with a chuckle.

“You’re missed! Where are you?” Taehyung whined on the phone.

“There was an accident and traffic backed up ‘cause people don’t know how to DRIVE!” Jen yelled on purpose out the window, making sure the drivers ahead heard her. 

The members heard Seijin laugh in the background, telling her to relax and that they were almost there.

“As long as you are safe, that is what matters. We’ll have food waiting for you.” Namjoon mentioned.

“No, we won’t. I might just eat her plate, this meat looks tastier than ever.” Jin interrupted.

“Ennie, I think Jungkookie wants to talk to you,” Jimin added with a sly smile. “He keeps staring at Tae Tae impatiently and-“

“Ahahahaha, that’s enough. Jimin.” Jungkook cut him off.

It wasn’t too long later when Jennie finally came back and ate with everyone. Afterward, Jungkook had gone into his room to see an Iron Man themed box on his bed. His interest peaked once he saw the designs of his favorite superhero. He sat on the bed and examined it.

Happy Birthday to the most golden NERRRRRRD I know! From your Golden, Captain America is better than Iron Man, Best Friend

A soft chuckle escaped him as he read the front of the card. Opening the card that was sitting on top of the box, he realized it was a written note.

Okay...I have written this note so many darn times. This might be even a little corny but I shouldn’t kill any more trees like I already have. First and foremost, happy birthday Kookie! You really grew up right before my eyes. Ugh, they grow up so fast...I am so proud of you and how much you’ve grown as a person. When we met, I already knew there was going to be something special between us. You are a big inspiration to many, especially to me. I have to thank you for guiding me because when I feel like I can’t do anything here, I look up to you because you remind me of myself.

Leaving our parents at a young age, it’s a scary thing. But we went on and did it, and here we are. You turned out quite well and if you can still keep going, then I know I can too. Your hard work for this group is always appreciated. And can we talk about your voice? How sweet it is and how many people melt because of your vocals? Actually, I kinda highkey want you to sing me to sleep tonight, please, lol. 

I’ll continue to cherish you like you cherish me. And I hope for many more blessed birthdays to come. I should stop using so many ands in these sentences, haha. One year older, but still the same bunny. I wish you nothing but happiness.

Before he had a chance to open the box, he heard a knock on his door and turned to see Jennie with a small cupcake in her hands. The cupcake had a candle lit on top as she made her way over and sat with him on the bed.

“Happy birthday.” she smiled and presented it to him.

Jungkook looked at the cupcake in awe before looking into her eyes. “The box...the cupcake...all of this is for me?”

“No, it’s for Rapmon.” she teased. “Of course, this is all for you, silly.”

The Golden Maknae felt himself tear up as he quickly wiped his tears with his sleeve which caused her to look in alarm. 

“A-are you okay? Was this too much?” she asked

“N-no, no, I love this,” he responded softly with a sniff. “This is really special. I’m overwhelmed with joy.”

“I’m glad.” she watched him stare at the cupcake. “This is where you make a wish, Kook.” 

“I’m thinking.”

He looked at the candle and then back up at her.

'I wish...for us to be together soon.' he thought with a smile.

Once he blew out the candle, Jen let out a cheer. “So, what did you wish for?”

“If I tell you, it won’t come true.”

“Touche. I didn’t have time to bake so I bought this for you. But I promise to bake for you once we have more free time.” she took out the candle from the cupcake.

“Can’t wait.”

“Sorry if the note wasn’t as great. I guess writing isn’t enough to tell my golden best friend how lucky I am to know him and that I appreciate him. All the members.”

“I loved it. Don’t apologize,” 

“Good.” 

She aimed to push the cupcake in his face but his reflexes were better than she expected as he grabbed her wrists. She started laughing nervously when he took the cupcake out of her hands and set it down on the nightstand.

“Okay, I didn’t think that one through!” she yelled as she tried to escape his strong grip.

“I had a hunch you were going to try to do that.” he tried to pin her down and tickle her. 

She managed to grab a pillow and cleanly strike him with it, but his grip wouldn’t let up. After a while of struggling, she succeeded in getting him to release her and ran out of the room, with him chasing after her.

After keeping a safe distance, she announced, “Now!” as Taehyung and Jimin attacked Jungkook by spraying cans of silly string at him, halting him. 

A chorus of laughter was heard from the three of them while Jungkook stood there, chuckling as he started taking off the strings. After laughing with them, Jungkook dropped his smile. 

“You have ten seconds.” he bluntly called out.

Hearing the threat, Jen scurried away while Tae and Jimin widened their eyes. Once the 95 Liners comprehended his words after watching Jen run, they dropped their cans and dashed away to avoid their fate.

-------

School had recently started again as Jennie and Jungkook were in the car, in their uniforms on the way to SOPA. She was lowkey happy the school year was here again because she was one step closer to graduating and her brain needed some education.

Once the van pulled up to the school, she let out a sigh as she noticed the K-Pop news sites and paparazzi taking photos of the idols that were headed to school.

“Really?” she frowned.

“Yeah, we have to go through this again,” Jungkook responded. “Don’t worry, stay close to me and we’ll try to get inside quickly.”

It was a bit tiring to hear loud cameras and flashes so early in the morning but there were bound to be various photographers to capture idols. Students ask for photos and autographs. Some even film and photograph without them knowing. It was like she had to watch her every step in school and she felt a bit smothered by it.

The week was mainly an introduction to the school year and giving students a heads up of what was to come and what they would be learning for the school year. JenKook managed to snag a few classes together. One was a dance class that focused on synchronization and partner dancing. The teacher implicated that sometimes you can pick who you want to dance with and then other times you will be paired up with the teacher’s choice.

Gym was also a class they had together, and the two couldn’t stop chuckling to themselves at how much chaos they were going to deal with since they were stubborn when it came to competition. Hayoon and CLC’s Yeeun were also a part of the class. The last class they had together was a Korean literature class, which had given Jen a little bit of a culture shock.

“Finish the book by Monday and there will be a 7 page assignment due next week on Thursday after we have a discussion.” the teacher informed.

‘Well damn, already?? We just got here! I can’t quite read Korean that well. I should talk to Namjoon about this.’ Jen thought.

One teacher was so evil that he gave the class a pop quiz on what they remembered where they left off in history which drove Jen up the wall. She still was trying to remember and learn more about the history of Korea. Jen wanted to smack herself when she went to her Algebra class because she had forgotten a lot about what happened in the previous algebra class she took. It freaked her out to see her peers get started on the work but she sat there, trying to get her memory back.

‘I changed my mind, I’m not excited to be back.’ she thought to herself as she mentally prepared for the math.

She had another dance class for more up to date dances. For the first few weeks, she would learn how to dance with various props. Her mood was boosted when she found out that they would learn how to dance with a cane first, making her think about J-Lo’s Get Right choreography. As always, there were vocal classes to help improve her singing as well as singing live. She was also gifted with working with some other peers for help on rapping. Getting aid in a class for rapping and then from Yoongi, she appreciated the double help despite it being a tiring process. As she received constructive criticism on her work and guidance on what to improve, she would let Yoongi know and would work on it whenever they had their studio rap lessons. 

If J-Hope could get help from Yoongi and Rapmon on rapping and be as good as he is now, then she can do it too. 

At least she still had her guitar class at the end of the day to boost her mood if she had a rough time in the other classes.

-----

Since BTS was traveling around for various fan meetings, Jen felt a little claustrophobic from all the bodies swarming around the group as they tried to make their way through the airport safely and together. 

She heard a male voice. She didn’t think it was directed at her, so she kept her head forward, with her sunglasses on her face.

“Oh, there she is! Finally, I caught up with you. Jennie! Can you sign this?”

She heard the English speaking voice again as she turned to see a male fan, with one of many BTS posters in his hands. She would have liked to sign, but the members needed to get to their destination quickly and had no time to waste.

“No, sorry.” She responded politely.

“Are you friggin kidding me? I waited here for hours and you can’t even give a loyal fan an autograph?” the guy snapped angrily, catching the attention of the screaming fans and members around them. “This is one of many reasons why I prefer light skins. You dark skins are so undesirable. Maybe you’d act nicer and look prettier if you were a few shades lighter. And these fans were right about you, you are an entitled thot.”

That made her stop walking.

The hell just happened? 

He switched on her real quick, and what she thought was hurtful the most was that the guy was black as well.

Just because she said no to an autograph, you want to call her that?

Meanwhile, the Golden Maknae, who understood a majority of what was said, had heard the insult loud and clear as he stopped walking as well. The guy who had said the insult had taken a step back, startled by Jungkook's lethal state.

“You wanna run that by me again?” Jungkook asked with a growl. 

Yoongi and Jimin were near Jungkook when they heard the guy call Jen the disgusting comment. They both gave him dirty looks. They were offended and irritated by the guy’s poor choice of words. Yoongi even started cursing in Korean about the guy, losing his cool.

ARMY, catching on with what was going on, was surprised at the facial expressions of the members, but was angry as well at the insults thrown at their female member.

Taking off her sunglasses, Jen looked at the guy in the eyes, feeling her body shake. “You’re a black man and you really going to put down a black woman like this? Try to put women against women due to your preference for skin color? Who raised you? Cause your mother is the same color as I, and I wonder how she would react if you told that to her face. We can be so much better than this. We should support our black queens, not bring them down, like this.” her voice was unsteady as her throat tightened. 

Before she could get a chance to speak more, Seijin and security had escorted her to the car. Once the members got in the car, Yoongi informed Namjoon and everyone else about what just happened. Jennie, on the other hand, kept bouncing her leg, with her eyes closed as tears went down her cheeks. Jimin grabbed her hand for comfort while Taehyung pulled her in for a hug, sitting next to her.

Once Jennie got settled in, in the hotel room she shared with Yoongi, she invited Namjoon into her room to talk.

“I just came from speaking to Jungkook,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

She was so fixated on the guy, that she hadn’t even noticed Jungkook coming to her aid as she deeply appreciated that, as well as the rest of the members.

“Better,” she responded.

“I’m not going to sit here and say that I understand how you feel because I don’t. I am not you. I am not your ethnicity. But what I can say is that I understand the frustration when spoken negatively about. I’ve dealt with it for years and I still will. I know it’s frustrating, but we must try our best to control our emotions in public. I thought you handled it quite well. I’m glad you didn’t curse at him. There are people just waiting for one of us to screw up. To act up and have all the media on us, giving us a bad name. I don’t want that to happen to you. I don’t want that to happen to Jungkook or anyone in this group.”

“Yes. I know.”

“Keep your head up. Continue to prove those that doubt you wrong.” he lifted up her chin and smiled. “Miss Bangtan is bulletproof, remember?”

“Hahah, yeah. Always.”

After the pep talk, she went to go see Jungkook in his hotel room. Taehyung had opened the door, and when she walked in, she saw Jin and Jimin eating together. They had asked if she was feeling better and expressed their frustration over the guy. After reassuring them that she was much better, she asked where Jungkook was.

Walking out of the room, and into the balcony, she found him. His broad back to her as the late summer breeze blew past them. The members had decided to give him some space and left him alone ever since they checked in.

“Heh...like Malcolm X said...the most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.” she quoted.

She watched him tense up more. He seemed angrier than her about what had happened. 

“It can be hard because no matter what we do, there’s always something or someone to bring us down.” she went on. “It’s a damn shame. We really do be going through the most. It's sad to say but I’m starting to get used to this.”

"Well, you shouldn't be!” Jungkook exclaimed, slamming his hands down on the railing. “It should never be like that! What he called you, you aren’t like that. You never will be. I hate how you’re being disrespected. There is nothing wrong with your color. There is nothing wrong with you at all. Maybe I should’ve punched him...” his grip tightened.

“Hey. No, you shouldn’t have.” she walked up and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. 

Turning her head to the side, she rested her cheek on his back. Once he felt her arms around him, he calmed down and relaxed from her hug. 

“We are idols. Annoyingly, the smallest things can ruin an idol’s career. No matter how much we want to lash out, the media may do anything to twist it," she said. "After talking to Namjoon, we can’t let someone have that power over us. Punching him would’ve been a worse case scenario despite me feeling the same way, wanting to punch him and all. It’s hard but we have to pick and choose our battles and this battle is not worth the consequences, no matter what hurtful things he said to me.”

“Yeah. Hyung told me about that...”

Releasing him, she stood next to him, wrapping her arms around one of his arms, and leaning against his bicep. Jungkook’s eyes had softened when he looked down at her, listening to her talk as she looked on ahead at the view.

“As much crap as they give us dark skinned women, I won't be one to hate my natural self or change myself just because someone doesn’t like the way I look. Despite all this crap that happened today, thanks for having my back.” she looked up at him, meeting his gaze.

"Always..." he whispered.

Jungkook’s body started moving on its own as he slowly started leaning down as their faces inched closer.

“AHAHAHAHAH! HYUNG BUMPED INTO THE LAMP! AHAHAHA!” they heard Taehyung yell as a loud crash was heard.

“What the heck are they doing in there?” Jen pulled away, turning around. Headed back inside, she asked the guys, “What are y’all doin’!?”

Licking his lips, Jungkook exhaled sharply through his nose, gripping the railing. He pressed his lips together in annoyance because their moment was interrupted at the worst time possible. Letting out a deep sigh, he shook his head, looking up at the stars.

“Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy...” he murmured, thinking of ways to murder his hyungs.

But after thinking deeply, he didn’t want to kiss her while they were upset. He wanted to kiss her when they were both in a better mood than what they were feeling right now.

-----

Once Rapmon’s birthday came around, Jennie posted a goofy photo of him with the caption, ‘Happy birthday Nap Monster. We need to think of some remedies to make you stop snoring so loudly my friend. #Jen’

Yoongi had started a V-Live, talking to ARMY about preparing a cake for Rapmon, while Jimin and Jen sat on the floor, preparing the candles. With the cake in Jimin’s hands, Jennie lit a match to light the candles before blowing the match out. Getting up from the floor, they showed the cake on camera, next to Yoongi.

Once Rapmon had walked into the room with the other members, they started cheering as they sang happy birthday to him.

“What is this?” Rapmon happily asked with a bright smile on his face, showing off his dimples.

Yoongi had placed the camera to show off the rest of the members while they continued to sing, “Happy birthday dear Rapmon! Happy birthday to you!”

“I didn’t know about this at all,” Rapmon mentioned while Jin gestured for him to blow out the candles as they crowded around the cake.

“Yeah~!” the members cheered after he blew out the candles of the Doosan, a Korean baseball team bear mascot themed cake.

“It melted.” Jimin laughed, showing off one of the candles to the camera.

“Where’d you get the cake from?” Rapmon asked.

“I didn’t want anyone to buy a cake this time, so I decided to bake one for you,” Jen responded. “Jungkook and Tae helped decorate it.”

“Awe, really? This is great, thanks, everyone.”

“Come on, cut the cake!” she gestured excitedly.

“Cutting a bear...isn’t that a bit violent?” J-Hope giggled.

“It’s a cake. Cakes are meant to be cut,” Jen replied.

“Okay, stick it in his head.” Hobi placed a knife on top of the bear cake, prompting the members to laugh.

“Two years ago, I celebrated my birthday with fans because it was the first broadcast of N.O. But this year, since I’m not spending it with ARMYs, I feel really sad.” Rapmon spoke.

“It’s Rapmon’s birthday, what are all of you going to do for him?” J-hope asked.

“Birthday beating!” Jungkook yelled.

“You want to have a birthday beating?” J-hope laughed

“Just cut this first.” Suga pointed to the cake.

“Ahhhhhhhh~!” J-Hope made loud sound effects while Rapmon quickly cut the bear cake in half. “So cruel!”

“It looks like a cicada now that we’ve cut it. It looks like a ladybug.” Jimin pointed out.

“It reminds me of a milk dud,” Jen added.

“Thanks, guys. For this year’s birthday, let’s all be happier.” Rapmon mentioned.

“Jin, what are you going to do for Rapmon?” J-Hope asked.

“Fighting!” Jin punched the birthday boy on the chest

“What about V Hyung?” Jungkook asked

“I’ll buy him clothes,” V responded. “What about you Jennie-ah?”

“I have a Ryan themed box for you that I made.” she presented it to Rapmon with a sweet smile. 

“How come his looks bigger than mine?” Jungkook called out in jealousy, while the members laughed.

“Some of the Ryan themed items I bought were bigger than expected so I had to put it in a bigger box,” she responded while the members teased the Golden Maknae about his small birthday box.

“Ah...I was really looking forward to this.” Rapmon admitted with a soft laugh. “After seeing Jungkook’s and Suga’s, I was hoping you’d make one for me too.” 

After the V-Live video, Rapmon sat with Jennie to check out the box. Opening up the card first, was a written note.

You wanna know something? I hated those sunglasses you wore during our debut. I wanted to just see your face. I remember you talking about your insecurities and it always made me sad because what you described to me is nothing that I see. I could care less what these so-called fans say about you and your appearance. You’re not ugly. If anything, you are handsome. And I was so happy you finally took those sunglasses off so I could see you for who you are. 

Your passion for music is infectious and it’s rubbing off on me. Keep smiling, those dimples are adorable as usual. Oh, thanks for giving me all those photo creds on those KimDaily photos I have taken of you. I am a great photographer and everyone should know that, ahahaha. I developed a lot with your guidance. Those bike rides and walks around helped me appreciate the world around me like you said. Our deep conversations are always the best, too. 

I’ve become calmer thanks to you. Seriously, thank you for existing. You made my life so easy with your leadership here. Thank you for being a great leader and helping us members grow as a cohesive unit. I know how much you love Ryan so I brought you a bunch of things. Just...please...try not to break this Ryan box.

“I’ll be careful.” he chuckled.

“Let’s hope so,” she responded as she watched him open the box. 

Once they heard a loud tear, she regarded him halting his actions.

“Annnnnnd I broke it.” he chuckled nervously.

“You know what? I ain’t even mad.”

For the birthday dinner, the members sat around, eating. Deciding to film an Eat Jin special after he lost a rock, paper, scissors game to Jungkook, Jin had to eat all of the wasabi while some of the members started recording.

“Now, Eat Jin’s punishment is starting.” J-Hope happily announced.

“So glad that’s not me right now,” Jen responded, sitting next to Jin as she took a good look at the wasabi. 

It was a small portion but the smallest taste was deadly.

“Please start!” V said eagerly

“Dag, let the man prepare for his fate, first.” Miss Bangtan laughed. “You really like seeing him suffer huh?”

While Jimin, Taehyung and J-Hope MC for Jin preparing to eat the wasabi, Jin mentioned that they were MC-ing really well.

“Whoa, no way, are you really eating it?” Jimin asked while Jen cringed at Jin placing the wasabi on a big piece of meat. “It’s bigger than the meat.”

“It’s going, it’s going!” V anticipated once Jin picked up the meat with chopsticks.

“Oh!” They yelled once he placed it in his mouth.

“Oh my gosh, I know he suffering.” Jen pointed out.

“Oh man, holy shit!” Jungkook yelled out of nowhere.

Jin immediately started coughing and flopping his hands around due to the taste of the wasabi while the members started laughing. Once Jen had heard Jungkook speak, she busted out in laughter before coughing since she was eating. Jimin had to pat her back a couple of times as she finished coughing and continued laughing at what Jungkook had just said.

“What is he doing?” Rapmon called out, watching Jin fan himself with his mouth open.

Jin’s high laugh was heard while Jen pulled herself together and tried to help him calm down. 

“Spit it out and get hit by me twice!” Jungkook announced

“Have mercy on him, Kook!” Jen called out.

“He has to eat it, he has to,” Suga mentioned.

“A man has to eat it,” J-Hope added while Jin continued whining.

-----

After a fan meeting in Jakarta, the members were at the airport, planning to leave, and were swarmed with screaming fans. It was a scary sight to Jennie, watching all the cameras and various bodies surrounding her, yelling and screaming. All she wanted to do was get on the plane and relax. It didn’t help that she was constantly bumped around with security trying to keep the fans away.

An angry look was evident on her face as she tried to make her way through the crowd. Tonight was not the night for this. She didn’t feel like being surrounded by so many people, she just wanted peace and quiet. 

With Jungkook behind her, she turned around to notice fans grabbing him as security tried to stop them. 

“Don’t touch them!” she heard fans shout.

“UH! UH! No.” she quickly walked forward and grabbed a strong hold of him, pulling him away from the fans’ grasp, thanks to her strength. “Get in front of me.” she pushed the Golden Maknae forward and turned around.

“AYE YO!” her voice boomed loudly in the airport, gaining the attention of the fans. 

From the irritated look on her face, their excitement for BTS went down a bit. 

Every part of her wanted to cuss them out but she refrained and sternly replied, “Are you serious? Are you serious, right now? Why are you all up on him like that? Why? Would you want somebody to be grabbing and touching all up on you, all of a sudden? No. So don’t do it to him or anybody else. Respect our personal space. I know you’re excited to see us but you don’t need to be wildlin’ out like this. Just chill. Got damn.”

Getting grabbed by security, she was escorted out of the airport while the rest of the security managed to tame the crowd and keep them away from the members so they could get to their destination. 

Catching up with Jungkook, Jen grabbed onto him and made him walk faster. The Golden Maknae felt a pang of joy at how quickly she pulled him away from all those fans. He appreciated her getting him out of that situation. It frightened him a bit.

“Having their hands all over you like that, get the hell outta here with that. Who do they think you are? You’re a human being, not a doll.” he heard her grumble as she kept a strong grip on him.

He fought the urge to smile under his mask at how protective she was of him. If she was like this now, he pondered how she’d be when women get a little too close for comfort when they start dating. And vice versa.

When they start dating...

Always a thought on his mind.

Once ARMY posted tweets and videos on the incident, some criticized the way Jen spoke to the fans, thinking that she was mean in person, but the majority expressed their anger at the fans behaving towards Bangtan and appreciated Jen for protecting Jungkook, calling out the fans.

‘I know Jennie wanted to drag those girls like a bunch of rag dolls.’

‘JENKOOK is real!’

‘She a real one. We need a Jennie in our lives.’

‘I’m really happy that she calls out people on their BS.’

‘This all happened in a span of a week! First Jungkook protecting her, now Jennie protecting him? Please just date! This is too cute.’

‘People don’t know their boundaries...smh...”

‘Shout out to Jen protecting Kookie’

‘I love protective Jennie. 97 Liners for life’

‘Golden Best Friends protecting each other is a MOOD’

’97 Liners’ friendship is the best’

‘I’m so upset at these fans. Don’t mob him!’

‘Get the fuck off of him!’

‘How could they do that to Kookie!?’

‘I know Jennie wanted to lash out. Kudos to her for keeping her cool. She’s so protective of Jungkook’

‘Some Armys need to chill tf out;

‘Bless the fans that said don’t touch him’

‘Bless Jennie for grabbing him away from them’

‘Respect for Jennie! I would’ve cussed them out, but I like how she handled it maturely.’

‘They’re insane!’

‘So rude!’

‘Poor Jungkook’

‘If you’re a real army you should respect their privacy and personal space’

‘At least some of these girls in this world got some sense’

Once they made it onto the plane, Jungkook took off his mask and sat with Jennie. She grabbed his chin and turned his head to make him look at her. 

“Are you all right?” 

Still a little shocked at being grabbed, he nodded in response.

“You sure?” she asked

He nodded frequently.

“Speak, Kookie.”

“Yeah, I’m all right. Thank you for that.”

-------

When September 30th came, and Ailee’s album was released, Jen was quick to express her excitement on Twitter, fangirling over all the songs and music video.

Posting a screenshot of the album, she tweets, ‘SCREAMING! #Jen’

She then proceeded to post another series of tweets, expressing her fangirling.

‘YELLING #Jen’

‘IM HOLLERING #Jen’

‘STILL HOLLERING #Jen’

‘MY THROAT HURTS BUT STILL SCREAMING #Jen’

‘LOSING MY VOICE BUT STILL SCREAMING #Jen’

‘LOST MY VOICE. #Jen’

‘DEAD #Jen’

When GOT7’s If You Do comeback show came about on October 1st, she surprised them by visiting them backstage on M Countdown with a box of cupcakes she made.

“Hey, hey!” she walked into their dressing room, catching the members by surprise as big smiles appeared on their faces.

“Jennie!” they yelled, rushing up to hug her as she laughed over their yells of excitement.

“I can’t breathe!” she exclaimed and they released her.

“What are you doing here?” BamBam beamed.

“I wanted to congratulate you on a successful comeback. And I decided to bake a little something for you guys.”

“I am so happy right now.” JB happily took the box out of her hands. 

Eating cupcakes with them, Jen had brought up that she had been baking a lot lately and was starting to enjoy it as a new hobby.

“She baked for us, you do not understand how happy I am. I have heard so much about her baking from BTS and now here she is.” Youngjae said.

“Were my cupcakes good?” Jen asked.

“Of course they were! Was that even a question?” Yugyeom laughed.

“We missed you. We should plan to do something.” Mark suggested.

“We really need to. Maybe once we’re done promoting comebacks. We should all go out to eat or something instead of hanging around backstage all the time.” she responded.

“I tried to call you!” Jackson called out

“Boy, you call me early in the morning at like 2 am! I’m asleep!”

“Was it during a day off?”

“Yeah!”

“Go to bed later then so you can hang with me.”

“Wow,”

“I’m really happy that you came along to see us.” Junior smiled.

“Me too, I truly missed you guys.” 

“Guys, just know that Jennie likes me the most. Ain’t that right?” Jackson grinned.

“Who said that?” she raised a brow, causing everyone to burst out in laughter while Jackson held his heart.

After catching up, Jen took some photos with the members. Yugyeom put up a finger heart in the photo while Jen was in the background sticking her tongue out and winking with a peace sign. He posted the photo on his Instagram with the caption, ‘Thanks for everything hamster girl.’

BamBam had posted a happy photo of himself hugging her behind as they had derp expressions on their faces. ‘I missed her!’

Jackson had picked Jennie up over his shoulder, turning sideways so they could take a photo of themselves smiling goofily at the camera. ‘My great friend, Miss Bangtan is here. You were missed! Thanks for coming to support us. Next time answer my calls you munchkin!’

And with Mark, he posted a selfie of the two of them sitting down on the couch, putting a thumbs up. ‘I haven’t seen this special lady friend in a while. Surprising us today with a visit, made the day better.’

After they posted their photos, fans from both IGOT7 and ARMY commented on how people need a Jennie in their lives since she was so supportive of friends.

------

On an episode of 2 O’Clock Date with Park Kyung Lim Radio Show, BamBam mentioned her, which caused shippers to have a field day. When her name was mentioned during the show his eyes lit up and he tried not to smile when he heard, “You have a very close friendship with BTS’ Jennie. Which member is the closest to her?”

“BamBam,” JB called out.

“He always talks about her.” Jackson put him on blast.

“Really guys?” BamBam chuckled nervously.

“He always likes her Instagram posts.” Mark teased. “Isn’t she your ideal type since you always rave about her smile?”

BamBam planned to kill his friends after this because he could feel a blush beginning to appear on his face as they talked about her. 

“Y-yeah...she’s amazing,” BamBam responded. “Days before the comeback she facetimed me and encouraged me when I was feeling worried about the comeback.”

And then, when GOT7 received their first win on October 9th, BamBam mentioned her again backstage after the show when the members were filmed with their reactions over their first win. He thanked her for being there for GOT7 and encouraging them to never give up.

For Jimin’s birthday, Jen tweeted a goofy photo of him and said, ‘Happy birthday my beloved Jimin!! Stay sweet like you always do. Don’t take my smarties for posting this please #Jen’

In the practice room, the members recorded a V-Live just for Jimin’s birthday, discussing that they all weren’t wearing makeup and embraced their natural looks while pointing out growing beards and acne. 

The members sang happy birthday for Jimin, presenting him with a cake as a bright smile came across his face.

“It looks just like you, Jimin, exactly the same.” J-Hope pointed out at the cartoon looking cake that looked like Jimin from the dope era.

“Tell us how you feel,” Rapmon said

“Another year has passed. Thank you for your birthday wishes. Could you guys say something for me?” Jimin asked. “How do you feel on my birthday?”

“You got tons of birthday gifts, so I don't need to give you one,”

“Tell us your birthday wish. Do you want something from anyone?” J-Hope asked

“There’s one thing. I want to drop the honorifics with J-Hope.” he requested

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“Hoseok.”

“Yeah, it’s your birthday, so you can say it.”

“Hoseok.”

“You won’t get away with this.” he giggled with him.

“I want to drop honorifics with Yoongi, too,” Jimin added. “Cute Yoongi.”

“Time really has flown,” Yoongi replied.

The members teased him that he may be crying and that he was too overwhelmed with joy.

“Thank you so much,” Jimin said to the camera for ARMY and the members said goodbye. 

In the dorm, Jimin had noticed the Hulk-themed box from Jennie on his bed and opened up the note, holding back the tears as he felt loved and appreciated with the amount of attention he received from the birthday box.

Happy birthday Jimin! You are improving so much. Your growth here has truly shown. You are the most caring in Bangtan. Whenever I was sad or mad, you always were there to comfort me with your famous hugs. You are one of the most talented dancers I know and your vocals are on a whole ‘nother level. I get chills when I hear those high notes. No joke. Your high notes are totally higher than my grade in History class at the moment. I really need to get on that, lol. 

I can list a bunch of things that I love about you. Your eye smile, your tiny hands (Still baffled that my hands are bigger, ahaha), that habit of you flipping your hair, you just never fail to make me smile no matter how upset I may be. I hope you remain happy and continue being the cute koala bear that you are. And yes, JenMin is still going strong.

Jimin had gone straight to her room and jumped on top of her, on her bed as she let out a groan.

“Ow...Jimin...get off!” she complained, trying to play her game on her phone.

Ignoring her complaints, he wrapped his arms and legs around her, hugging her tightly as he repeatedly thanked her for the gift, making her smile.

----

When GOT7 was on Weekly Idol, BamBam brought up Jennie yet again because Doni had said, “What is it about a certain member’s fascination with Miss Bangtan? What’s the scoop on this?”

The members glanced at each other knowingly, with amused smirks as they turnedto BamBam once they heard her name.

“Your ideal type, right?” Coni asked.

“Yes, she’s very pretty when she smiles and I love watching her perform,” BamBam replied with a smile.

“What do you think of her dancing? I remember when BTS was here, she had a random dance of various boy group songs. GOT7’s A came on.”

“Oh yeah, I remember. She looked cute dancing to our song.”

“Yeah, I agree. I think she looked cute, too.” Jinyoung spoke up, which caused BamBam to turn and stare at him, narrowing his eyes.

The members started laughing as Jinyoung put his hands up in defense. 

“The death glare! Ahahahaha!” Jackson laughed.

Checking out her notifications, Jennie found out that BamBam wore a Captain America costume and geeked out, commenting about it on a fan page that tagged her.

‘OMG my superhero! Love!’

A fan comments, ‘Who do you think is cuter? Captain America or Captain BamBam?'

Jen replied, making the shippers happy, ‘Captain BamBam of course.’

---------

The next day, while in his Golden Closet, Jungkook was in his own little world, with his headphones in, listening to various songs that he had been getting into. A while ago he had tweeted about a hotline bling cover by Kehlani and Charlie Puth. He loved it so much that he wanted to create a cover for it. The instrumental was recreated but now he wanted someone to sing with him.

His mind had wandered to Jennie.

He really wanted to sing with her. Especially with a song like this but would she want to sing with him?

Putting the thoughts aside, he decided to take a screenshot of the Youtube video of the cover and post it on Twitter, tweeting, ‘Hey Jennie, sing with me. You up for this? #JK’

His tweet instantly got replies from ARMY all over the world.

'DUET!'

'DO IT'

‘OMG Jennie say yes!’

'YES JENKOOK'

‘Omg do it!’

‘SAY YES JENNIE!’

‘Golden Duo duet?! DO IT!’

‘We are in for a treat if she says yes’

Jungkook noticed a new tweet from their Twitter account and a smile came across his face once he read her reply, ‘Hell yeah, I’m down! I love me some Charlie and Kehlani #Jen’

Once ARMY saw the tweet they went haywire.

‘AGAHFHFHSGSHDGSHSH’

‘AHHHHHHH’

‘QUEEN AND KING!’

‘FUCK THIS IS GONNA BE GOOD’

‘IM DEAD FINALLY THEYRE COVERING A SKNG TKGETHER ‘

‘THABK YOU THABK YOU’

‘SHE SAID YES’

‘GOALS!’

‘When will your ship ever!?’

Before he knew it, Jennie had entered the Golden Closet and expressed her excitement since she is a big Kehlani fan. The two quickly went to work, sorting out who would sing what after warming up their voices. She began to admire Jungkook as she watched him sing. The way he looked so passionate, made her feel a little giddy inside.

“Late night when you need my love. I know when that hotline bling.” Jungkook sang but stopped, shaking his head. “Ah...I know I pronounced that wrong.”

His pronunciation of the words in English still needed some work and he felt discouraged. He wanted to get this right but even though they just started working on the song, he felt like he was slowing them down.

“It’s okay, just sing, I’ll help you with the pronunciation later.” he heard her respond softly, which made him feel a little better.

Jungkook remained dedicated, singing out the first verse as she listened to him and his sound.

“Reputation.” she kindly corrected him. 

He repeated the word wrong and she repeated it for him. 

“Reputation,” he said correctly.

“There you go. You got it.” 

“You sure this isn’t too much for you? Helping me with the English?”

“Trust me, as many times as I asked Namjoon how to pronounce some Korean words, I know firsthand how it feels to mispronounce words in another language. Don’t sweat it. What other word did you have trouble with pronouncing?”

As she continued to listen carefully to his singing, she helped him with any words he had problems with.

“...started wearing less and goin' out more. Glasses of champagne out on the dance floor.” He sang softly. He sighed and shook his head again, feeling his frustration build. He didn’t think he was singing the song like he wanted to. “Sorry, Jennie.”

“Relax, Kook.” she patted his arm. “Come on, let’s take a break and eat. I’m hungry.” she gestured for him to follow her into the kitchen. 

After fixing both plates of sandwiches, they sat and ate.

“I thought this would be easy but I can’t seem to sing like I want to.”

“Jungkook, it’s okay to take breaks. It’s okay to not get things right the first time. We will get this right. Let’s take our time, have fun and enjoy this cover. We got this.”

He smiled, feeling reassured. “Thanks, Jennie.”

After their break, they got back to work, singing the chorus together,

You used to call me on my cell phone. 

Late night when you need my love. 

Call me on my cell phone. 

Late night when you need my love. 

I know when that hotline bling

“Hm...sing that again, this time by yourself,” Jen called out. She listened to him sing and then sang with him again before nodding. “Yep, I know what’s wrong. All right, you’re doing great, continue that pitch, I’m going to sing lower this time.”

They sang the verse again and this time, their voices harmonized. Jungkook turned to her with a big smile appearing on his face. 

“Wow, that sounded great,” he responded, amazed.

“That’s the sound we’re looking for. Harmony on clutch.” she high fived him.

Although Jungkook hadn’t told her yet since they were so engrossed with their singing, he appreciated how patient she was with him. Finally getting things together, they sang the song in one take while recording with Jungkook pronouncing the English words with ease thanks to her help.

“Ever since I left the city, you~! You got exactly what you asked for.” she sang. “Running out of pages in your passport. Hanging with some girls I've never seen before.”

He joined in as they sang softly,

You used to call me on my cell phone

Late night when you need~ my love

Call me on my cell phone

Late night when you need my love

I know when that hotline bling

That can only mean one thing

I know when that hotline bling

That can only mean one thing

Call me on my~

They finished in harmony.

“Outstanding! Ahhhhh, we did it! You did amazing!” she lightly shook him and placed various kisses on his cheek as he laughed.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah! You are improving a lot. I am so proud of you! Where’d you get those English skills?”

He grinned sheepishly and shrugged. “I learned from the best.”

Jennie placed a hand over her heart. “Aw, thank you.”

“I meant Namjoon Hyung.” he teased

“Wow! Really? Goodbye!” she playfully shoved him and left his room as he laughed out loud.

---------

The next day, Jennie had chilled in the living room after another early rap session with Yoongi. In just a couple of hours, she planned to prepare to visit Hyuna at CUBE Entertainment.

“Jennie, did you notice something weird in all of our toothpaste this morning?” Jin asked, walking into the room.

On her phone, she suppressed her amusement because she had pranked the entire dorm by numbing their toothpaste with tooth and gum pain relief gel.

“Yeah! My entire mouth was numb! What happened?” she played along.

“I dunno but someone pranked us. Whoever it is, they got us good. I couldn’t even taste anything because my mouth was so numb. It was horrible! But the numbing is going away slowly but surely.”

“I hope we find out who it is soon. Someone better confess because I couldn’t even eat my smarties! And you know how I feel about my smarties!”

“Yes, dear, I know.” he chuckled.

Once she walked into her room, she stood there, stunned when she found photos of Jin all over her entire room. “What the hell is this!?”

“For numbing my mouth with whatever you put in the toothpaste!” Jin responded victoriously

“It wasn’t even me!”

“Sweetie, I know when you lie to me. Enjoy my photos.” he laughed.

“Aye! Clean this up! I’m not cleaning this!” she yelled, kicking some of the scattered photos from her feet.

At CUBE Entertainment, Hyuna had offered to teach Jen methods to enhance her sex appeal on stage, as well as her charisma. They decided to spend the day dancing around in one of the practice rooms.

Wearing a red cropped hoodie and skinny white pants with her hair down, Jen rested with Hyuna, discussing her Roll Deep comeback.

“Girl, who do you think you are with that comeback? You slayed my life! I loved it.”

Hyuna giggled and felt shy, covering her face. “Thank you. You know I’ve been thinking, when I have my next solo comeback, I want you a part of it. We can be sexy together.”

“I’d love to but sexy is not me, though.”

“Come on, you have a great, healthy body, great hips, and so much more.”

“Ah, I dunno...I don’t feel sexy though.” Jen shrugged, laying her back on the dance floor to look up at the ceiling. “I just don’t think I can pull it off. I try but I never felt sexy.”

“Seriously? With the way you look?” Hyuna playfully kicked her.

“I always faked it. I never in my life felt sexy.”

“I know plenty of men and women that think you are. Even if you don’t portray yourself as it. Relax and loosen up. You’re sexy, now show that you’re the girl that people like. Go Jennie!” she cheered while watching Miss Bangtan stand to her feet.

Migrating to the sound system, Hyuna connected Jen’s phone to the speaker and scrolled through her songs.

“All right, what are we doing, now?”

“I want you to dance sexy to partition.”

“What!?” Jen exclaimed, widening her eyes.

Hyuna turned on a V-Live and when ARMY started getting on, they were surprised to see her. She waved and spoke to the fans before pointing out that she was helping Jennie with her charisma and facial expressions when performing. She panned the camera to her. “Say hello Jennie!”

“Wait you’re on V-Live!?” she stumbled back and turned away.

“Mm hm~”

After getting herself together, Jen turned back around to meet her reflection in the mirror.

‘Get it together, girl. You got this.’ she encouraged herself.

Soon as the beat dropped, she began to move her body.

Boy, this all for you, just walk my way

She strutted forward, motioning her finger to come here.

High like treble, puffin' on them mids

The man ain't ever seen a booty like this

Facing her back to the camera, she moved her hips and shook her ass, as it bounced up and down, while Hyuna cheered in the background. She was so proud to see her looking more comfortable. It looked like Jen needed that extra push because as Hyuna watched her, she noticed that the stiffness went away and Miss Bangtan believed that she truly felt sexy. Hyuna knew she was hiding that sexy side deep down. It was a force to be reckoned with and she was doing quite well.

She looked at the comments rolling in,

‘Mmpf I think she’s about to be my ultimate bias. Sorry Jimin’

‘Jennie! Sthapppp that outfit, those hips’

‘Oh my gawd Jennie’

‘I can see why Bam Bam loves her so much! The way she moves her body when she dances is unreal’

‘Okay Jennie!’

‘I’m here for her dancing like this!’

‘She can dance bruh’

‘Damn girl’

‘Bro, this is fire!’

‘This is too much to take in, why did you do this!? Ahhhhh’

‘Jennie, jennie, jennie stop, I can’t take this!’

‘Wow....wow...WOW!’

‘I love this woman’

‘Got damnnnnnn’

The beat switched and her gaze turned into an enticing expression. Hyuna nodded in approval when she noticed that Jen didn’t break eye contact as she would nervously do a few practices ago.

Drop!

She snapped her fingers to the beat and started to move again.

Now my mascara runnin', red lipstick smudged

Strutting to the front, she began to dance hard as her hair bounced.

Take all of me

I just wanna be the girl you like (girl you like)

Caressing her body, she slowly moved her hips, swaying to the beat. 

She felt so comfortable that she was having so much fun dancing to this song. The way her body rolls were, caused Hyuna to stare at her in awe.

Meanwhile, ARMY proceeded to comment relentlessly on V-Live.

‘She killin’ it!’

‘I need to drink a gallon of water after this’

‘Looking like a snack today!’

‘She’s sexy as hell’

Get it girl! Okay!’

I want her so badly, she’s too fine’

‘When she started shaking dem hips, I died’

‘Yassssss’

Over there I swear I saw them cameras flash

Handprints and footprints on my glass

Handprints and good grips all on my ass

Turning around, she placed her hands on her ass before swinging her hair to the side, dancing harder.

Take all of me

I just wanna be the girl you like (girl you like)

The kinda girl you like is right here with me

Seductively running her thumb over her bottom lip, she turned her back to the camera and walked away.

“Ahhhh that was amazing!” Hyuna shouted, pausing the song. She stood up and walked over to her while Jen laughed and covered her face.

“ARMY, how’d I do?” Jen asked, checking out the frequent comments that were coming in, and started laughing at their reactions.

‘Who said Jennie couldn’t dance?!’

‘Currently pregnant by that dance’

‘QUEEN DID THAT!’

‘All right, it’s official. I want her.’

‘WHO IS THIS GIRLLLLLL!? IM DEAD’

‘Talk to me nice!’

‘I need some holy water, I should not be watching this goddess dance like this’

‘Watch all these guys slide in her DMs after this lmfaoooo’

‘I love you’

‘DECEASED’

‘Put Jennie on timeout! This was too much to handle!’

‘Yes hunny! Represent! Snatched tf outta my edges!’

‘SHOOKED’

On Instagram, Hyuna had filmed a small portion of her dancing on Jen’s Instagram, with the caption, ‘HACKED by Hyuna! Look at you go, I knew you were hiding your sexy side. You did an amazing job! Hard work is paying off. I’ll treat you to lunch the next time we hang out.’

BamBam, who had watched the entire V-Live was freaking out as he told Jackson, and once he saw the post, he had to comment. Meanwhile, Jackson had given him a pep talk about him starting to prepare to pursue the girl he was interested in.

BamBam posted a few comments on the video. First were a series of fire and heart eyed emojis and then he said, ‘DEAD!’

Once Jen got her phone back, she posted a throwback selfie that was saved in her photos, 'Part of the Smartie Archive. I miss summer and home...I’ll be back soon America.’

BamBam was quick to comment when saying, ‘DEAD again! So beautiful. Absolutely stunning.’

With fans noticing him in her comment section again, one fan had asked, ‘BamBam are you dating Jennie?? Are you hers?’

Boldly, he decided to reply, ‘I wish...only if she wants me to be.’

After a while, he deleted the comment but fans immediately began freaking out when he posted the sudden comment,

‘OMG BAMBAM’

‘HUH!?’

‘WAIT WHAT!?’

‘Ayoooooo wait a minute! What’s going on here!?’

‘Cuffing season starting early???’

‘AWWWWW’

‘GUYS! I WAS NOT PREPARED!’

‘Lol he didn’t say kill me this time like he did with Taeyeon in the comment section’

‘NOOOO he’s supposed to be mine!’

‘GOT7 better get him!’

‘I’m mad. Everyone gotta ruin my JenKook ship these days’

‘Nooooo Jennie is supposed to be with Jimin! Where are my JenMin shippers at?’

‘Noooooooo’

‘Chill!!’

‘My heart, I’m sad now, but if she makes him happy’

‘Stop, don’t do it! Leave her be, please!’

‘Jennie, BamBam really likes you! Date him!’

‘I hate this ship! I don’t want it to be real!’

‘Date him Jennie!’

‘Ahahah you really like her’

‘Shoot your shot my boi!!’

‘I’m lowkey pissed. I want her to be with Jungkook or Taehyung. I don’t want no other idols pursuing her.’

‘We ALL knew this was coming. This is no surprise’

‘What is it about Jennie and Tinashe that idols love so much? I need one of them to tell me their secret and help a sista out cause I gots to know!’

‘Personality is key. She’s a kind spirit. BamBam has excellent taste. Black girls are winning’

‘I don’t ship it but it’s kinda cute. Not as cute as JenKook tho! Any JenKook shippers?’

‘AHHHH’

‘He wants Miss Bangtan, I told you! He ain’t slick!’

‘BamBam is about to risk it all for Miss Bangtan and I am here for it!!’

‘BamBam about to score a W.’

‘But what about the dating ban??’

‘Finally an idol speaks up publicly about liking Jennie. I bet there are other idols that lowkey feel the same.’

‘The dating ban tho!? I’m sad!’

‘Now I have another ship. BamJen!’

‘I screamed!’

‘She belongs with the golden maknae!!!’

‘BTS are going to have a field day if they find out about BamBam gunning for Jennie’

‘I love when my fav is wanted by other guys. Especially idols, considering her position as a foreigner in South Korea’

‘Who said my boi can’t shoot his shot on Miss Bangtan?’

‘I ship it’

‘Go get her Bam Bam!’

-------

The next day, in the dance studio at Big Hit, Jennie worked on a dance to perform at SOPA while Taehyung, Hobi, Jin, and Jimin tagged along. She decided to participate in an extra credit assignment which was to teach one of the freshmen classes choreography on her own with a song of her choice. She had a few weeks to prepare and prepared something short and sweet. The dance was down packed and just needed some touch-ups.

Throughout her practice, the boys would dance goofily in the background, trying to distract her. After taking a break from the assignment, she asked, “Anyone want to freestyle with me?”

“Hey, actually, for a while now I’ve been curious about some dances that you do in America. Could you show me one since you’re taking a break?” Jin asked, standing up after stretching.

“Yeah! Sure! Hold on, I have just the song.” she went on her phone and scrolled through her music.

Putting on the edited version of Lean Back by Terror Squad, Fat Joe and Remy Ma, she walked back to Jin. “You know how to do the lean back?”

“Uh...no?”

“Hahaha, I’ll show you. Come on. First, let’s loosen up.” she started moving to the beat and he followed her, hesitant at first but soon got into it.

“Go Hyung!” Taehyung giggled, filming in the background. 

Jin decided to do his traffic dance to the song, which caused Jen to giggle and she encouraged him to keep dancing.

“It’s simple. Cross your arms like this and lean back side to side but do it with a rock.” she demonstrated. “Add your flavor to it. It’s coming up, follow me.”

Said, my don't dance

We just pull up our pants and do the Roc-away

Now, lean back, lean back, lean back, lean back

Jin and Jennie start leaning back while Jen looks on impressed. 

“Look at you, Jin! I see you! Let them know!” she cheered.

I said, my don't dance

We just pull up our pants and do the Roc-away

Now lean back, lean back, lean back, lean back

Jin proudly celebrated the fact that he danced correctly.

“Ennie! What about that dance called the milly rock?” Jimin asked.

“Yeah, I heard of that dance,” Hobi spoke.

“I don’t know how to do it.”

“Wait you guys don’t know how to do the milly rock? Let me show you!” Jen beamed. “The key is all about putting your own flavor into the dance. Make it your own style.” she demonstrated slowly as they followed her.

“How do you do the dance, Ennie?” Taehyung asked

“With me, I tend to go hard and be extra with it cause I get hype to this song.”

“Hard and extra, huh? Show me. I challenge you to a Milly Rock dance-off.” Hobi declared.

She turned to him with a serious expression. “...you sure?”

“Whoa, her eyes.” he held his heart and giggled. “But yes, let’s dance together.”

“All right, you asked for it,”

Once the song began she pushed her cap down to block her face as she got ready. When it came to songs like this, she turned into a whole different person.

Milly Rock

Haa

Let's get it!

As soon as that beat drops, she went hard.

I Milly Rock on any block

I Milly Rock on any block

The guys were mesmerized by both Hobi and Jen going in.

Once the verse came on, she rapped in front of him, continuing to dance. 

I Milly Rock on any block

In my Polo T and my Polo socks

On top of cars my face hot

I Milly Rock on that Gates block

They got me on their explore page

I've been Milly Rocking for four days

She put up four fingers before milly rocking again with more attitude and speed while Hobi looked on impressed and milly rocked with her.

Let’s get it!

She started milly rocking in slow motion as Hobi followed her, mirroring her movements.

“Jen milly rocks on any block! Hope milly rocks on any block! Jen Milly rocks on any block! Hope milly rocks on any block!” the guys said over the chorus, making the dancers laugh and high five each other.

“Remind me not to challenge you in that particular dance.” Hobi teased. “You did well, munchkin.”

“I want a dance battle with you!” Taehyung got in front of her.

“I got the music!” Jin went to pick a random song.

“You sure, Tae?” Jen warned.

“Yeah, let’s do this.” He responded.

The opening beats of Hello, Good Morning by Dirty Money filled the dance room.

“Okay...but fair warning...you don’t want this work,” she mentioned, walking up to him as they faced off competitively. 

Taehyung had his hands on his hips, struggling not to smile.

Hello...

Good morning...

She watched as Taehyung danced first while his charisma came into place. Tae’s dance skills were no joke and were extremely underrated. He could move. After he was done, he booped her nose, making her chuckle

Once it was her turn, she danced while rapping to the song

'Cause I been leanin on the bar

lookin cleaner than a star

All these broads won't give me my props

Twenty-five on the bag

I be stuntin on they ass and they mad cause the bitch won't stop

She adjusted her shirt and began dancing around him in a circle as he giggled. 

"You know, you know, you know we on that!" she booped his nose to get back at him.

Back at the dorm, Jennie was in her room, gathering her things to wash her hair.

“Jennie, I need to ask you something.” Namjoon suddenly walked in.

“Yo! Oh my God, knock first! What if I was undressed?” she scolded.

“Sorry! Sorry!” he apologized. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s cool, what you need?”

“I was wondering if I could use your shower. Everything else is occupied.”

“I was going to wash my hair but you know what? It’s fine. Go use it. I’ll use the sink.”

“The sink...?”

“Yeah,” she responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

She grabbed her things and headed to the kitchen. Namjoon’s curiosity got the better of him and he followed her, watching her take out the few dishes from the sink and place her items on the counter.

Turning around, she noticed his confused behavior and called him out, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re about to wash your hair in a sink. Why?”

“I do this back at home.”

“Really?”

“Yep.” she smiled.

“That’s...normal for you?”

“All the time. You look like you’re dealing with culture shock right now.” she teased.

“I’m intrigued. Could I watch?”

“How about I wash your hair in the sink first.”

“You serious?”

“Yeah, grab your stuff.”

Once he grabbed his shampoo and conditioner, she made him lean his head down in the sink. Running warm water on his head, she started washing his hair.

“My mom would do this to me and my sisters when we were kids,” she mentioned. “I’m so used to washing my hair in the sink, that I would sometimes prefer to do that instead of washing my hair in the shower. It just makes things go by quicker too,"

“Wow, and this is common in your culture?”

“Majority of the time, yes.”

“Fascinating.”

After she gave him a nice scalp scrub and conditioned his hair while combing it out, she rinsed his hair and dried it with a towel.

“You good, Namjoon?” she laughed at his amazed expression

“That...was exhilarating. C-can we do this again? I like this method.”

“Yes, now go shower.” she playfully pushed him away and prepared to wash her hair in the sink.