Bound by touch

Wistfulness

//

"What is it?" Taehyung asked his manager-nim grumpily.

"I wanted to talk to you regarding Meera and her paperwork." The manager answered and Taehyung raised his eyebrows.

"This.. You know we are going to travel to so many countries for the world tour and season 3 of that travel show. Getting her visa for so many countries for no apparent reason other than she is your soulmate and needs to go with you is a bit difficult. Also, there's gonna be tons of temporary staff who'll sign only the generic NDA and could sell your info anonymously if it's worth enough. I- the upper management and the legal departments, we had a discussion regarding this and we think it'll be convenient to just have Meera-shi on our payroll as a staff. We can explain her presence without having to lie too much and it'll make paperwork a lot easier. What do you think about this?"

"She already has a job. How will she manage working two jobs at a time?"

"No, I mean- we can just put up an appearance. She doesn't need to work too much. We'll put her up as BTS's personal staff, assistant or something like that. That way, it's on you guys to decide what tasks you assign to her and you can just assign something easy that she'll be able to do without a lot of effort. Or assign some tasks that I already do, that way it'll look like she's working without actually having to do the work."

"Well, it's a good idea, but I don't know if she'll agree to just get a salary without doing any work. I'll talk to her and let you know."

//

That night as Meera climbed into bed, she waited for Taehyung to shower and come to bed. She had sensed that he wanted to talk to her on the way back home but had stayed quiet because of the driver.

"Are you still up?" He asked as he laid down beside her and pulled her into his arms. It had taken him more than half an hour to complete his shower and skincare routine and he was surprised to see Meera awake after the exhausting day she had had.

"I.. nothing. Just waiting for you." She smiled at him and he froze.

"Okay. Well, I had something to talk to you about. Sejin hyung. He says it'll be easier to sort your paperwork and visa if you are on the company's payroll as BTS's staff. It'll also be convenient for security and privacy, as in it'll be easier to explain your constant presence around us if you are employed under the company. What do you think?"

Meera took a moment to process this.

"I.. have a job. I could do it, work two jobs, I mean. After my training is done, my work hours are going to be pretty flexible. But.. I have no knowledge, no experience of the entertainment industry. What would I even do?"

"No, no, don't worry about the actual work. It's only for the sake of show, you know, you don't really have to work aside from a few small tasks to keep up with the appearance. Your job is going to be along the lines of our, or rather, my personal staff so you have to do whatever I ask you to do or help me with my personal daily life. Most of it is taken care of by Sejin hyung or our other managers. So you don't have to do much. Just a small task here and there so the actual staff doesn't get suspicious."

"But won't that be unfair? To the actual staff I mean? I don't.. I can't just take money for doing nothing."

"But you are doing so much already.."

"I told you, you can't try to pay me for just existing and being your soulm..."

"..And I am telling you that you are doing much more than that. You are following me around all the time, you are going to follow me around the entire world just because of my work. And it's unfair to you to have to sacrifice so much. You can't even sleep properly because I have to drag you around for my recharge and before you say it's not my fault, I know it's not. But it's not your fault either. It's not your responsibility to drop everything for me and yet you have done a lot and are still doing it. Now shut up and accept this thing. It's not even paying much. Just a minimum amount to make your paperwork easier, so deal with it." Taehyung told her sternly with his no-nonsense tone and it shut Meera up. She wanted to argue, wanted to refuse the actual money or return it to the company somehow, but Taehyung's poker face told her that he wasn't going to listen to her on this and she sighed.

"Okay."

//a few days later

Meera was trying hard to control her laughter as Jimin and Jungkook were trying on the BT21 costumes. They were at the venue and it was the final stage rehearsal for the festa prom party.

Jungkook and Jimin were dressed in the Chimmy and Cooky outfits and both of them looked really cute. Meera almost melted from the cuteness as Jungkook peeked from behind the shimmery silver curtain in his pink bunny outfit while Seokjin and Taehyung were practising for their unit performance. Ever the troublemaker, Jungkook suddenly decided to play around and jumped out on the stage, imitating a sword warrior as the song Seokjin was belting out belonged to a period drama that Taehyung had acted in. Jungkook slashed around with his imaginary sword dramatically. Seokjin who was immersed in hitting those high notes didn't even notice him and got startled like a scaredy cat as soon as Jungkook appeared out of nowhere near him and stabbed him. He screamed in fright, just in time as he ended his verse and it was time for Taehyung's verse. Taehyung made a valiant effort to keep his laughter in check as he sang the song in that magical voice of his which never failed to melt Meera in a puddle. A giggle or two escaped Taehyung as Jungkook moved to his next target, slashing Taehyung with the sword. Taehyung played along and pretended to drop dead on the stage after completing his verse.

The rehearsal continued with more pranks and giggles after that for the rest of the day. Meera worked non-stop too, assisting Sejin, members, coordis and makeup artists with whatever they needed. Her tasks included learning to use a camera to help make a bangtan bomb or behind-the-scenes episode, helping members with translation, helping makeup artists and coordis with simple tasks which she gladly learned.

//21 june

Days passed with Meera and Taehyung being extremely busy with their work. It was one of those busy days that Meera got a chance to check her phone only late at night while she and Taehyung were on their way back to the dorms. She gasped as soon as she opened her messages.

There were quite a few missed calls and about 26 messages waiting for her.

"Taehyung," she breathed out, "Avni gave birth, it's a girl. I am an aunt now. Oh my god,I am so excited right now." She squealed out, unable to contain her glee.

"Waah, give her my congratulations. I hope she is well."

"Yes, she and the baby are completely fine, the baby was born this evening, ugh.. Why didn't I check my messages earlier? Ohh, look." Meera leaned over to his seat and showed him the pictures of the baby Varun had sent. She was so tiny, swaddled up in a bundle of blankets and looked completely pink. It was the cutest thing ever. Meera wanted to call and talk to Avni so badly, but she knew she couldn't. It was past 1 AM in Korean time, so even though it wouldn't be too late in India, Meera was sure Avni must be exhausted after the painful and long labour. She decided the call could wait until tomorrow as she had had a hectic day too. 

She had had a long day at her training and aside from that she had a few small tasks per day for her job of an assistant. They included checking the members' mail, deleting the spam and marking important mail for the managers to review later, keeping track of gifts or physical mail they received, ordering food for them and occasionally taking pictures for them if a cameraperson wasn't available, which Meera knew was unlikely as the members were being continuously filmed for the DVD and film based on behind the stage happenings.

"Ahh, I wish I could meet them. I want to hold that little bean in my arms and scold her for the kicks she gave me whenever I touched her mom's belly." She said wistfully, falling back into her seat and staring at the baby on the screen. She had never imagined she wouldn't be there for her niece's birth and it sucked so bad. She wished she could be there to comfort Avni, to help her with all the sleepless nights she was going to have, to play with the little munchkin. Taehyung stared at her as the waves of longing washed through the bond again, clenching his fists.

//Author note: I need to set up a better routine for myself. //