2018

Namjoon woke up a few minutes before his alarm went off. He groaned as he looked at the watch knowing that he only managed to get in three hours of sleep after they touched down in Vegas. He knew he didn't have much time to indulge more in his siesta or he would be late. He needed to make sure the other members woke up too. They need to work through the jet lag and go through rehearsal for one of the biggest musical events in America.

The Billboard Music Award.

Time flew and BTS grew from being a group in a company no one knew to be recognised worldwide. It wasn't a sign that they should stay back, relax and bask in the limelight. It was the opposite. They knew they have to work harder now that they have all eyes on them.

Namjoon checked on his messages as he lay on his bed. His face broke into a smile as he opened a message that went in while he was out.

Hana: Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack

Namjoon couldn't help but laugh out loud at her message. He replied straight away.

Namjoon: Is that your way of saying 'good luck' by quoting Sun Tzu?

He started to grin as he saw she was typing. She was online.

Hana: You don't need luck when I know you're going to win. I have a strong feeling about it. Anyway, I was referring to your performance at the award. You're going to slay all of them

Namjoon: I'm not so sure about that.

Hana: Trust me on this. My intuition never failed me so far.

Namjoon: Are you going to watch the show later?

Hana: Wouldn't miss it for the world. Gtg, bye.

Namjoon put his phone down as he closed his eyes again feeling light-hearted.

Hana sent him a message as promised after she reached California years back and they were still in touch with each other. She didn't say anything about her feelings for him when she got home and neither did he. It went unspoken as they returned to their daily lives. Namjoon then started to get busy as his group debuted and Hana was caught up with her life as a college student. They occasionally sent each other messages and e-mail when they could. The time difference made it difficult for them to call each other but they would still leave a video message on each other's birthday.

Like him, she was busy all the time. He knew her work was based in California but she tended to travel a lot. He didn't know where she was at that very moment, only that she told him she boarded a plane a few days before he went to Las Vegas. Sometimes she was in Europe, and much to his consternation, she was in Korea a few times on the days he went overseas. He knew he would make an effort to see her even if it's only for a cup of coffee if he was at the same place with her at the same time.

The thought made him pause. Was he still having that crush on her even after all these years? He shook his head. He liked her then back when he was 19, and he knew having a relationship at that very moment seemed a bit hopeless with his busy schedule. He barely had enough time to spend on himself, much less spend it with someone else. Having a date was definitely out of the question. The media was on the look for anything to dish out on him and his other fellow members and they had to be careful.

Namjoon sighed and swung his legs off the bed and headed for the bathroom to freshen up. His self-contemplating time was up. He had to go around and make sure everyone was up and ready for the day. It wasn't his task to do that. They had managers to round up the members, but he knew the younger ones would sometimes fall back to sleep once the managers left. He can't blame them. They had been working around the clock and none of them was a slacker. They were just dead tired and he had to double-check on them.

He went to each member's room, ringing their doorbell. "Jin hyung, are you up?" asked Namjoon as the door creaked open.

"Getting ready," Jin, the eldest in the group greeted him with his towel on his wet head, showing that he just left the shower.

"Okay. See you later," Namjoon said as he went to the next door. Namjoon was about to ring the doorbell but the door was opened before he could.

"I'm all set," said Yoongi, the second eldest in the group looking ready for the day.

"Did you even sleep, hyung?" Namjoon asked worriedly. He knew this particular member wouldn't be able to once he had some ideas that he needed to work with. Then, he would just doze off anywhere just to catch up with his sleep.

"I could nap later when they're getting us ready. I'm working on something," Yoongi said as he swiped his hair back. The stylist would be working on that later.

"Okay, see you at the dressing room," Namjoon said to him before going to the next room. He rang the bell but there was no answer. Then he started to knock on the door. "Jimin-ah, wake up," called Namjoon.

"Let me help you with Jimin. I already checked on Jungkook as he was just next door to me. I made sure he got up. Go ahead to Taehyung's room," offered Hoseok, also known as J-hope, another member of the group. He stayed in a room further away from Namjoon.

"Thanks, Hope-ah," Namjoon headed straight for Taehyung's room. He was the second youngest in the group and his room was located in another part of the hallway. He was also quite well-known for his habit to fall back asleep.

"Taehyung-ah, get up and get ready," said Namjoon after he rang the doorbell and knocked on Taehyung's door. Much to his surprise, Taehyung opened his door right after and he was all geared up for the day.

"I'm all set, hyung," Taehyung grinned widely.

Namjoon just blinked at him in wonder. "I didn't expect you to be ready this early."

"It's Billboard Day, hyung. Come on, let's go. Chop chop," Taehyung said as he went out of his room.

They went to a bigger room on the same floor that served as their dressing room. The hairstylists and make-up artists did their best in making BTS ready for the red carpet. They were nominated for an award and going to perform on that day so the team had to make sure everything would stay in its place throughout the night – especially the hair and the buttons.

Namjoon checked on the members as they were groomed. He could hear Taehyung and Jimin going through their lines in English, and he corrected their pronunciation as they go. Being the only person in the group to speak the language fluently could be tiring sometimes but he didn't mind helping the other members. They were still learning and he helped them. He was delegated to the task of the group's interpreter during interviews and sometimes going through countless interviews on the same day could take a toll on him.

"The car's ready downstairs. Let's go, guys," announced their manager from the door.

The members stood up and looked at each other, acknowledging their task up ahead. Namjoon set his hand out, beckoning his other members to join it. Each one of them took their hands out and formed a circle.

"Whatever the outcome, win or lose, we're here to show everyone our best. Let's show them what we can do and let this be a night no one would forget," started Namjoon. "Bangtan, Bangtan, Bang Bangtan!"

They won that night and their performance nearly brought down the venue as their fans, ARMY were cheering and clamouring for them throughout their performance.

It was a memorable night that became the talk of the world.

**********************

Post-Billboard Award show.

"Manager Lee said they have a surprise for us tonight," Jin said after the live stream session with their fans ended. He was busy munching on the chips that were served.

The BTS members returned to their hotel earlier feeling high after winning the Top Social Artist for two years in a row. The scale of reception they received from ARMY was more significant than the year before and it was surprising to see how the fandom grew. They had stage shows and concerts lined up globally and they knew it was going to be a busy year. They had to work harder than they already were. They didn't go to the after-party knowing how that was going to take and they have more things waiting for them the next day while they were in Vegas. They need their rest and had to be at their best at all times.

"What kind of surprise, Jin hyung?" Taehyung asked curiously.

"I have no idea, but he did say something about one of us will have his load lesser when we're touring," Jin replied.

"Someone else is going to do our laundry? That's great!" Jungkook cheered.

"You must be kidding. Since when do you do your own laundry when you're touring?" Jimin asked.

"We're not doing Bon Voyage, Jungkook," said Hoseok.

"Oh, okay," Jungkook nodded thoughtfully.

"Then, what's the surprise all about?" Taehyung asked assistant manager Son, one of the staff in the room who was collecting the equipment they used for the live stream.

"I don't know either, Taehyung-ssi," he answered as he kept the tripod in its case.

Namjoon went to the back of the room to get his bag and his other belongings when the door was opened and some people went in.

"Good evening, everyone. Sorry, we were a bit late and kept you guys waiting," Manager Lee started. "We have new additions to the staff who will be with us for the tour. Namjoon-ssi, where are you?" he called, unable to see Namjoon who was crouching down behind the couch.

"Here!" Namjoon raised his hand as he was struggling to close his bag. The zipper was stuck and it was not budging.

"We know you never complained before, but we have interpreters who will be joining us," continued Manager Lee.

"That's good," Namjoon said distractedly as he stood with his bag in his hand. His attention was still on the zipper of his bag.

"Meet our new joiners to the entourage, the team of interpreters who will be with helping us throughout the tour. They're Mark Ames, James Quinn and Hannah Anderson."

"Why didn't they join us at the Billboard just now?" Yoongi was disgruntled. "It would be a lot of help for all of us for the red carpet and those interviews that followed through. Namjoon can't be doing that for us all the time and we are doing our best to help by learning English."

"I don't mind doing that, hyung," Namjoon called out with his eyes at the stubborn zipper. It wasn't even budging even after he rearranged his things in the bag. It was definitely stuck.

"It wasn't their fault. They were occupied with the meeting between the business liaisons and the technical team backstage during the show." Manager Lee explained. "They won't be exclusively attached to you. They will join you for interviews, and concerts. At the same time, they will join the stage team for communications, PR and accompany the big brass for meetings."

"Good. At least that's something to help Namjoon with. I'm Kim Seokjin. Pleased to meet every one of you, Mr Mark, Mr James and Miss Hannah," Jin finally said carefully in English, trying to diffuse the situation after Yoongi's terse question.

Jin was answered by a chorus of 'pleased to meet yous' and something caught Namjoon's ears.

"Pleased to meet you too Kim Seokjin-ssi. It's Ha-Na by the way," she said in Korean, pausing at each syllable. "Not Hannah," the voice was so familiar to Namjoon and that got his attention. He heard it all before when he asked her about her e-mail address years ago which was [email protected]. She told him she had to keep on correcting other people not to call her Hannah and that she chose that as her address. Namjoon finally looked up and the zipper snapped.

Hana Anderson and not Hana Joo?

When the heck did she got married?