Prepared To Hate You

The Unexpected

Meeting the boys was nothing like she expected.

Jungkook would run away whenever she was near.

Taehyung and Jimin were overly flirty, and she had started to wonder if they were purposely trying to make her uncomfortable.

Hoseok's sunshine smile had yet to make an appearance in her presence, while Yoongi had yet to even acknowledge her existence, and every joke Jin made seemed to be at her expense.

The only one who treated her tolerably was Namjoon, which was probably because he was the leader. Even so, he was strictly business, and he refused to talk to her about anything that wasn't work-related. In conclusion, it was a far cry from their on-screen personas.

Yet, she grinned and bared it. Every time she was ignored, she worked a little bit harder. Every time a not so nice comment was muttered just loud enough for her to hear, she stayed late to practice a little longer. Every time they snickered at the tiniest mistake she made, she locked herself in a practice room until she could sing a song perfectly. Every day she ate dinner alone, she cried herself to sleep.

The only person she could call a friend was her manager. She felt lucky that, other than the boys, the person who spent the most time with her was kind to her. Sometimes she thought she wouldn't have been able to get through the day if it hadn't been for her manager's encouraging words.

The teachers, choreographers, and producers they worked with were professional. They told her when she did well, and when she did badly. Although she had let to dance in the previous competition she had taken part in, she still hadn't been dancing very long.

One particular problem she had was her facial expressions. She could never get them right.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? This is supposed to be a sexy dance. Why do you look as though you're in pain?"

She didn't respond to Jimin's words. She wasn't doing it on purpose. She found acting sexy particularly difficult and uncomfortable, but she was working on it.

"Yah, don't ignore him!"

Unable to ignore the older member, at Jin's insistence, she answered Jimin's question.

"I know. I'm working on it."

"Well work harder! We don't need you ruining our performance."

She had to bite her lip to keep her emotions in check. If there was one thing she refused to do, it was to let them see her cry.

"Forget her. Let's go again!"

With Hoseok's command, the others turned away from her and finished the rehearsal.

That night she stayed late practising her expressions in the mirror whilst dancing, over and over again. It wasn't until she was shaken awake that she realised she had fallen asleep whilst practising. Her manager was crouched beside her looking at her with pity.

"Let's get you home."

Her manager kept a hold of her arm until she was steady on her feet again. The hours of extra dance practice had left her legs feeling weak like jelly. She was exhausted but somehow managed to get home and into bed where she was out before her head hit the pillow.