A Rose Between Thorns

Chapter 68: This Time For Africa!

One of our lovely readers had requested a visit from our lovely cast to her home country a while back, and so here we are! The character representing her is Imani, who you will meet later on. This chapter is for you, chain4u!! This is very heavy with visuals and song lyrics like the other concert chapters, but I will only post the ones Taylor is in.

A bit of time has passed since the party, and from what Gisselle told me she's been given special permission to move into TXT's dorm. This means that in the future she'll also be one of their stylists, but that's not until their debut so for now she is still my personal stylist.

So here we are at our next concert, and this time we aren't in Korea. We ended up traveling to South Africa, after our concerts here we will be heading straight to Dubai for the summer package.

This is one of the many countries my grandfather has visited, I really wish we could do more before we go but that's sadly not in our schedule. We'll be doing three concerts before leaving, so I hope I get to try some of the native food at least.

I'm dressed in a white leotard, and I'm going to be completely barefoot on stage. Gisselle styled my hair to fall in loose waves before heading off to help Choi with the boys since we are short staffed today.

My legs are killing me from my recent practices, and I continue to dab on make up to quickly hide the bruises I received from them. I couldn't do this before because I had so many, so I started as soon as I put the leotard on.

This was supposed to be a secret from the boys as well, but a certain mochi noticed as he came back into the changing room to grab something from his bag.

"Taylor what the hell?" Jimin says as he rushes over to me, causing me to freeze up in shock. "What happened to you?"

"N-nothing!" I stutter, giving a nervous laugh instinctively. Real smooth, Taylor. Good job.

"Taylor this isn't nothing," Jimin gestures to the bruises all over my thighs and legs. "Did you do kickboxing or something?"

"No, though I guess that would have been more badass. I just fell one too many times," I respond, causing Jimin to sigh and pick up a makeup pad to help.

"Yeah, sure. You really shouldn't overwork yourself with those silks, how many times did you go through that routine?"

"Uh... I lost count around fifty something," I reply honestly. I had taken some pain medication and gotten some topical cream for the bruises so I'd be able to perform just fine.

Jimin looks up at me in shock, setting the makeup pad down before wrapping his arms around my torso. "Woman, you are relaxing your ass off while we're in Dubai, got it?"

"Jiminie, I love you. But this happens when you combine hard work and being a dumb ass that trips over your own feet."

The man moves so he's kneeling in front of me, causing me to shift my legs to either side of him as he buries his face in my stomach.

"I don't care.." Jimin says in a muffled tone. "Can't you see the damage it caused? Please, for me? If not for me, then for the rest of the members." His words make my heart stop as I take in what he says, so I gently rest my hand on his head with a slight smile.

"Jimin, what makes you think I wouldn't do that for you? I know you and the others worry, I just have my personal reasons for working so hard. I can't promise anything, but I'll try to take it easy."

Jimin hugs me tighter before nodding, a bigger smile creeping up on my face as I pat his head. "Now come on, you don't want to mess up your makeup now do you?"