Begin (JJK) BTS 2026 series Book 3 (COMPLETED)

Lost In Thought

She thought she had proven herself in her work in school, and her reel was excellent, but her brother always told her she had to be better than everyone else just to keep up. He always pushed her, from the time she was very young, to excel, academically and professionally. Often, she resented him for being so hard on her, so demanding, but, in the end, he was right. She knows now that no one will take her seriously unless she is ten times better than everyone else. She won't get opportunities handed to her, she has to do great work, and push herself forward, demand to be seen. It doesn't get easier as she gets older, but she's learned to focus on what she needs to do to get the job. It's what brought her to HYBE in the first place, and it's what will hopefully keep her at the company for many years to come.

She sighs as she checks the clock again. Maybe tomorrow she will reach out to Jungkook to schedule a meeting to screen his footage and talk about his ideas. It might be her best shot at getting more opportunity at HYBE, at moving up. That is, if she can find a way to work with him. Or, maybe, she will go right to the boss; Bang PD, and speak to him directly.

***

After Binna got out at her apartment, Jungkook told the driver to just take him home.  He had hoped to go to the company, but he wasn't planning on going back to the company alone. He expected her to agree to look at his footage. When she admitted that she was up for the Director job for the MV, he realized that he'd taken an opportunity away from her. It made sense to offer her a job working on it, working for him, as a sort of trade off. He didn't need to do that, he thought he was being pretty generous, particularly with someone he's never worked with before and whose work he hasn't really seen. He doesn't have to do this, but it felt like the right thing to do, and he trusts his intuition. He frowns as he thinks back on how little his offer seemed to impress her. She didn't seem to jump at the opportunity which is what surprised him. She seemed even a little suspicious, just like she was at the gym the day he accidentally threw his phone at her. He wasn't sure then that she wasn't playing a game with him, because a he's used to people being quite creative in trying to get his attention. But, there was something oddly genuine in her aloof attitude towards him. He saw a little more of that when they were in the car together. She knew who he was, but, she didn't care much about that. She might even have been slightly prejudice against him because of who he is, and that didn't seem fair to him. She may know who he is but she doesn't know him, not the real him.

There was that one moment though, when he recognized the look in her eye. She may not care who he is professionally, but there was definitely attraction. She likes something about him, he's sure of that. He's seen that look in the eyes of the majority of the women he's met since he was 17 years old. He knows she was interested, whether or not she wants to admit it.

He sits at his desk in the edit suite scanning over his footage as he thinks about why she wouldn't jump at the chance to work on the music video. Their videos are guaranteed to be played world wide, to get 100 million views in the very first day, and to garner a lot of media attention. At the very least, regardless of what she might think about him, it's a career boost he's offering. In the end, she won't say 'no', he thinks, laughing to himself. Tomorrow she will probably meet with him, go through the motions of watching his video, talking about his plans for the new footage, maybe give some opinions, share some ideas, and then, after pretending to think it over, she will agree to work on the video. Who wouldn't? He smiles broadly as he feels fairly certain he has her all worked out. Yes, he's definitely interested, and maybe she's peaking that interest by not throwing herself at him, but he knows how this ends, if he is just patient enough to let the game play out.

He lets the footage play as he gets up to get a glass of wine. He picked up a few interesting bottles of Brunello di Montalcino when they were in Europe on their last tour and he's got all night to savor the jammy taste, and remember the little village and the beautiful countryside around it. When the group was on tour, they were always closer to each other than at any other time. Despite the massive crew of people working with them, they really only had each other on tour, on all the long plane rides and long nights in the hotels. They always stayed on the same floor, alone, so they could run back and forth between each other's rooms without disturbing anyone. He remembers so many, many nights on past tours; bursting into Taehyung's room, disturbing him in the midst of a v-live or a selfie for Weverse, or joining Jimin and Jin in a long drinking session. Occasionally, he would bother Yoongi who always seemed to be making music, no mater how late at night it was. But it had been a while since they were on tour. He wonders if this next tour, the tour planned to begin in just a few months, will feel the same, now that Namjoon has a family, Jin will be a Father, and Jimin is engaged...and Taehyung...Taehyung is so smitten he's definitely the next one to get married and disappear from them. He frowns.

There is something really disturbing about the maknae line settling down. Jimin is engaged, yes, but that's been a while and he doesn't seem to be any closer to actually setting the date. Somehow that makes it seem less real. Taehyung, he's not going to wait, Jungkook knows that for certain after meeting her, and knowing Taehyung as well as he does. He knows that the moment he gets the chance, he will jump at marrying this girl. Maybe they will be lucky enough to plan for a big wedding so it can take months of preparation and happen after the tour wraps up, but,if not, if it's going to happen before the tour, it will change the tour experience for him, for them, for all of them. He wants his brothers to be happy, of course. He's always wanted them to be happy and he would never stand in the way of that. But, he wonders if it really all has to change so drastically, so quickly? Can't he just get use to the idea of one of them settling down and starting his own family, spend a few months figuring out how this new dynamic works with the group before another one of them does the same thing? Why do they all seem to be conspiring to do this almost in a race to see who will get married and have kids fastest?! He shakes his head at the idea of it, and he has to rewind the footage when he realizes he has paid attention to none of it. He sighs as he takes another sip off his glass, and starts the playback all over again.