BTS Eighth Member | The Life: Year 2017

Chapter 84- Birthday Gifts

October 25th, 2017:

We'd gotten back from Taipei a few days ago and had since been deep in meetings and rehearsals for the upcoming US trip, which included a performance at the AMAs, in early November.

Since Namjoon's outburst, we hadn't had any major arguments and had stayed mainly supportive. I couldn't help but feel like there was something underlying. It wasn't necessarily tension, but it just felt like we were all not being ourselves. There was something off. But no one was bringing it up because we were all trying our hardest to ignore it, and deal with our worries and stress.

I woke up early as usual for a meeting we had at 9am. I wanted to get a Pilates workout in beforehand, so I was up at 6am. When I woke up and checked my phone as usual, it was almost a surprise to see several messages wishing me a happy birthday. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten it was my birthday, we'd been so busy lately and no one had brought it up that it had completely slipped my mind. So, before going to start my workout, I thanked all the messages.

"Hey," I smiled, getting in the car. Sejin had come to pick me up today. "What's this?"

I picked up a bag from the seat I usually sat in in the van, diagonally from the driver.

"Happy birthday," he said smiling, twisting around to look at me, "just a little birthday present".

"Aw, thanks, didn't realise you were a gift giver," I say, never having received a gift from him in the past.

"Thought I'd finally start," he chuckles, moving away back onto the street.

I open the simple brown bag to see a simple brown box. I pick it up and open it. It was a small gold keychain with a few engraved sparkles and an image of a cute store, the sign on it reading "Magic Shop".

"Oh my gosh, it's so cute," I say surprised by the thoughtfulness of the gift, "thank you".

"You know, as managers, you might not think we always know what's going on between all of you, how you're all feeling individually," he says, looking from the road to me in the rear-view mirror, "but we know a lot more than you guys think we do. I know it's tough right now, but I hope that helps you remember who's always behind you".

"I'm not surprised you guys know everything," I chuckle, "thank you, this means a lot".

I grab my bag and clip it onto the main zipper. We get to the company and head straight into the meeting. Everyone I met wished me a happy birthday. The boys all clapped me on the back or hugged me when I got to the conference room doing the same. When the meeting ended an hour later, we all headed to the dance studio. I could see the boys quietly rushing, so I went to the bathroom, not really needing to, to give them more time on whatever they were planning.

I could see the lights were out when I walked back to join them. As soon as I stepped in, they were turned on and the boys started singing Happy Birthday. Jimin was holding what looked like a homemade cake with a candle in it.

"Make a wish!" Taehyung shouted, jumping behind me excitedly.