"We gotta dance in the rain, dance in the pain. Even though we crashing now, we gonna dance in the plane. For us, more than anyone else, we need the night sky. Only you, and not anyone else, can comfort me."

0:00 |───────── 3:26

|◁              II             ▷|

The blue glass of the Bighit building looked like an ocean, reflecting rays of the sun. Her heart felt like a thousand drums playing at the same time, and while she welcomed this anxiety right before a performance, this felt like she was suffocating while oxygen hung in the air right in front of her.

Ms. Cho squeezed her hand.

"This is it," she whispered excitedly. Rein breathed out a shaky breath and laughed.

"Yeah. Guess it is." Her chest felt tight as they walked in together. They were so close to getting everything they wanted. As they took the elevator to the top floor, she tapped her foot the whole way, earning some glances from Ms. Cho.

You got this. They wanted you, not the other way around.

Rein thought she would explode when the elevator doors opened to reveal three men, one of which was Namjoon. He was in the midst of securing his dark blue tie, giving her a warm gaze that made her want to melt into the floor.

She had never wanted to die and freak out at the same time until that moment. He looked like a genuine person in real life, not the plastic she so thoroughly observed. Standing next to Namjoon were Managers Hobeom and Sejin, and the CEO of Bighit Entertainment, Mr. Bang.

Ms. Cho and Rein stepped out of the elevator as they started walking towards the conference room.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kim," Rein said, holding out her hand.

"Please, call me Namjoon," he replied, shaking her hand firmly.

As he introduced himself to Ms. Cho and the managers started talking business already, she couldn't help but notice how everyone looked so sharp.

And how she was the only American. Surely she couldn't have been more out of place.

Upon entering the conference room, everyone took their respective seats on either side of the long, glass table.

"Now, to start this meeting," Mr. Bang began, "I would like to establish expectations of this contract. We've drafted one using information from our previous conversation." He held up a thick packet of paper, one he set down on the table. Ms. Cho nodded.

"I agree. Let's go over that before we let the artists discuss other matters in a separate room." When everyone gave the affirmative, Mr. Bang continued.

"The first thing is the schedule," he said. "Every day except for Sunday is mandatory for meetings and recording. The ideal window of time in which a song should be completely finished and recorded is about ten days. Everyone is expected to come at 8:00 AM and leave at 4:00 PM, but that is subject to change depending on deadline changes. Two hours is devoted to the recording process, three is devoted to training and choreography, and there is a recess for about thirty minutes."

Rein's jaw almost dropped. She looked at Namjoon, who was looking at Mr. Bang thoughtfully. They were all mad. Absolutely bonkers. Bighit worked them like dogs. She wondered how they didn't burn out the minute they finished an album.

She heard of artists burning out like that so "suddenly", when in reality, they were overworked behind the scenes for years on end until the pressure made them burst.

"We would like Rein to stay with us for those ten days for every step of the way, as she will be helping the members with the writing process. Ah, and speaking of the writing process..." Manager Sejin looked at Namjoon, who in turn cleared his throat.

"We thought it would be a good idea if you collaborated with us further lyric-wise. For example, you get one song, but you also get to stay on board for a lot of the other songs for the album," he said. Rein breathed out.

"Ah..."

"The band wanted a more inclusive album, so more English in the songs for our international ARMYs, and we're even considering a full English song, but we're not sure about that one, yet. What do you think?"

He sounded earnest, and that alone was tempting. And maybe Ms. Cho's encouraging yet off-putting stare was helping to persuade her a bit.

But if what she felt at that moment was any indication of how the rest of her time here would be...

She didn't want to think about it.

It was like walls coming down on her from all sides, crushing her. She didn't feel prepared for any of this. This side deal was obviously a new addition to the contract, which meant she could still sign the contract without having to deliberate on it.

Eventually, Rein spoke.

"I... Would be open to further discussion." Ms. Cho shot her a grateful smile, then quickly translated what she said. Manager Sejin beamed, then motioned to Namjoon, who turned to Rein.

"They'd like us to go socialize with the other members and discuss some lyrics," he said, getting up from the table. She rose as well, and she let him lead the way out of the room and into another, which had a more casual vibe to it. There were three sofas and a small coffee table in the middle. On the table was a teapot and two cups. They sat down on separate seats, facing each other.

"Was there anything you were confused about? I know there wasn't any translation for what Manager Sejin was saying," he said, pouring them both some tea.

"No, I got everything." She realized that there was no reason for him to know that she understood and spoke Korean. She wondered why Ms. Cho didn't tell them, but she guessed it just wasn't relevant to what they were discussing before.

"Oh... Okay," he said, a confused look growing on his face. "Er, how are you adjusting to Korean life?"

"Pretty well," she said, "I've been in my hotel room almost the whole time, except for my mini-concert..." Namjoon's eyes lit up.

"How was that? It was, like, ten days ago, right?" he asked eagerly. She furrowed her brows.

"Yeah... How did you know that?" He gave her an abashed smile, one that she was happy to take.

"I've been following your music for a while now." She laughed.

"Really? I had no idea. You know, Manager Hobeom is the one-"

"I know. I..." She swore his ears were going red. "Couldn't make it to the club that night. I asked him to go for me so that he could see what you were about... He thought you were pretty dope, too."

She twiddled her thumbs, now a little flustered. Here was an international superstar telling her she was dope.

She resisted the urge to pinch herself.

"Hey, you're not so bad yourself. I've listened to a lot of y'all's songs, and they're really catchy." He scratched his head with a chuckle.

"Well, I'm glad you're going to be working with us for the writing because it's kind of hard being the only English speaker around." The only thing she could do was laugh. Again. Like an imbecile.

They sat for a few seconds, unmoving. The silence seemed loud somehow. She started to twiddle with her thumbs once more.

Wow. This is unbelievably awkward.

Finally, Namjoon cleared his throat.

"So, I had some ideas about some songs. Do you wanna get started?"

"Yeah, absolutely." She patted the file in her lap and opened it, revealing a few pages of lyrics. He whistled.

"Oh, you came prepared? Thought it'd be a little more casual than that." Rein blushed and closed her file.

Well, shit. She didn't know being over-prepared could be so horrifyingly embarrassing.

Ignoring the heat flooding her cheeks, she took out one of the sheets and passed it to him, careful not to touch his hand. He took a look at it, eyes scanning the page. As he got lower and lower, his smile grew.

Rein noticed he had dimples.

"This... This is good. This is really good, actually," he said, casting his eyes cast towards her now.

"I didn't know what angle to take on-"

"You got the essence of what we wanted to make the album about-"

"-So sorry if I didn't really make it to certain specifications-"

"-Vulerable and desperate and lonely-"

"It's really only the skeleton of a song!" Rein said raising her voice, stopping the stream of compliments.

"I mean, of course, I'll have to add to it, but I'm just really surprised," Namjoon said, a look of comical disbelief on his face.

"Why?"

"We usually can't add almost all of a song in one go. I just need to add some parts..." He took out a pen and started scribbling on the paper, undoubtedly writing in an impromptu note about the rappers' verses. He handed the page back to Rein, which now had his handwriting all over it.

you know
feeling makes things
so much harder
harder for us to cope with this
it makes me think of things i shouldn't think
let's just forget how we came here now
and soar.

↫ Yoongi

remember
when dull colors
hurt your eyes?
you sit on a throne of lies
you're just waiting for that next high
let time forget how we came here now
and soar.

why do i care
so much about you
a shadow on the back ↫ good
of my hand

if you really loved me like you
love yourself
your words might mean the things
you planned

so i'll ask you just this time
let me go
just let me go ↫ music interlude

↫ Me

a living ghost
without its shell
i've locked my mind
inside its cell ↫ "clank"
being sad is
such a mood ↫ fix!
how did I ever get like this
get this way with you?

why do i care
so much about you
a shadow on the back
of my hand

if you really loved me like you
love yourself
your words might mean the things
you planned

so i'll ask you just this time
let me go
just let me go

↫ Hoseok

let me soar into the sky
let me soar
so i won't need you
anymore. ↫ music fade-out. acoustic

His handwriting was neater than hers by a mile. Rein put away the page and began pulling out another page when Namjoon cut in.

"Actually, let's review your work a bit later. I was hoping you could see the other members and, you know, spend some time with them to build some chemistry," he said, looking at her expectantly.

More people...

"Um, sure. We can go over this once we start tomorrow," she replied, holding back a sigh.

"Cool, cool. I'm pretty sure they're three floors below us in the lounge room. That's what Yoongi said, I think..." He shrugged, stood up and held the door open for Rein to walk through.

As they stood in the elevator on opposite ends, Rein had the strangest feeling. She would be spending almost every waking moment with these people for weeks, maybe even months. The question was, how did they stand each other? They lived in the same house, trained together, toured together, ate together...

Rein shivered. She'd get cabin fever real quick.

It was a wonder how they weren't jumping down each other's throats every five seconds. She looked over at Namjoon, who was staring straight ahead at the doors. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought he wasn't breathing, like a life-sized doll. She looked down at his outfit and his shoes, raising her eyebrows. Prada.

Nice.

The elevator doors opened, and she snapped her head back to the front. Namjoon glanced at her, then stepped out in one fluid motion, bouncing on his heels.

She saw the blue-tinted buildings through the windows passing by her as she walked. The clouds made sleepy patterns in the sky above. The people below looked like insignificant ants, shopping their money away in Gangnam's infamous luxury stores, and she was just as insignificant to them.

But she wouldn't be insignificant any longer. Rein promised herself that, soon enough, her face would be on every building, billboard, and sign she could possibly think of. She would play with and entertain her new idol friends, maybe even like them at one point, but it was all a stepping stool to become Korea's next heartthrob.

I won't get attached. It was a tired, ragged promise she had evoked many times, but Rein knew how these things went. It was almost cliche.

Seven, very attractive men hanging around her for extended periods of time, working with her in just about every opportune moment. It was a recipe for disaster.

But then again, she was good at being detached, and she had collaborated with other artists before. As long as she was completely detached, saw them as partners, objects she used to boost her own career, (wasn't that what a partnership was? A way to climb up The Ladder?) it would be smooth sailing from there.

They arrived at a glass door. Namjoon opened it carefully, and they both stepped in. There were many shoes on the wooden floor, all belonging to men. Her sneakers were stark against the rest of them, bright, technicolor blue contrasted to browns and blacks.

Namjoon beckoned her to follow him. She heard laughter erupt from inside, and the further she got, the louder it grew.

"Hey, hey, I think he's way better looking this way!"

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A/N: Lol sorry for the abrupt ending... thank you for reading! <3