Dear Heart | Yoongi

19

"I hope you're all prepared to enjoy your evening tonight, because starting tomorrow it's time to get back to work. We've got an album to record." I inform everyone as we wander our way into the dressing room. My brother's band is hanging out with us despite the fact that they'll be performing their new title track tonight as well, but I try not to pay them too much mind, knowing I need to focus on what all is happening tonight. It's Monday night, all five bands plus myself having yet another performance as we try to start making ourselves visible to the public again in preparation for the release of albums.

We're three weeks away from releasing our new album at this point, and with coming up on deadlines I'd given us to Sihyun quickly approaching, life is about to get extremely chaotic and busy. I'm scheduled to release my own album at the end of this week, Comet has their comeback in three weeks, Ateez just a week after them, Dreamcatcher a week later, and then two weeks after will be Stray Kids and then BlackPink. I'll be lucky if I'm not asked to release a mini album at the end of that line up, something Sihyun has sprung on me before, and I have a feeling I'm due for him to do it again.

I try not to dwell on the idea of just how insane life is about to become, especially with knowing that I still need to file the lawsuit against Mr. Kwon, something that I'm beginning to worry won't happen nearly as quickly as I'd like due to how few people have stepped forward to agree to stand as witness. I know I won't have a case against the man no matter how much proof I have if I can't get anyone else to stand as such, and I don't want to dig into it prematurely and end up fucked in the end.

Raking a hand through my hair, I let out a small sigh as I watch Minnie finally emerge from the bathroom, the last of us to get dressed for our performance with the exception of myself. Eunha, Nari, and Dohyun are all sat in chairs for stylists to make up, but luckily I've always been the one to do my own makeup and hair which means I won't have to worry about anything being shown to both bands that are hanging around this evening. My brother and Jin are both stood over by their girls getting their makeup done, chatting with them contently while Minnie heads off to curl up with Jimin while she waits for her turn to have makeup done, Soojin sat and having conversation with Namjoon while she too waits.

Nodding contently to myself, I head towards the bathroom with my first set of clothes for the night in my bag, content that no one's attention is actually on me, noting that Yoongi's actually preoccupied in conversation with Jungkook and Hoseok tonight. I quickly get changed into the outfit Minnie had picked out for me, something she always does to help me make sure I'm not accidentally dressing myself like a fool since I don't always do the best with deciphering colors.

I do very simple makeup on top of what I'm already wearing, not bothering to do anything fancier than normal before I'm heading back out into the dressing room where everyone else is. I don't miss sight of Minnie standing up when she sees me, always tagging along so that I don't have to go through the rigamarole alone every time.

"What's up, baby?"

I hardly here Jimin's question to Minnie, not really paying anyone in general at the moment too much mind. I just walk right out, knowing Minnie will be hot on my heels soon as I begin to head in the direction of the warmup room.

"Ji?"

I freeze in my tracks at the sound, twisting my upper body around to look back towards the door to find Yoongi leaned halfway out it. I just tilt my head, spinning my body around fully to look at him in curiosity, wondering what he could possibly want at the moment.

"Mind some company?" Yoongi mumbles shyly, rubbing the back of his neck in the process. I frown at the question, though seconds later, Minnie's walking out hand in hand with Jimin. I huff at the sight, rolling my eyes as I spin back around and begin walking once more.

"Apparently I've got a crowd." I mutter. I don't miss the sound of footsteps from all three of them, pursing my lips at the idea of having so many people. It's one thing for it to just be Minnie, but now I've got her plus two members of my brother's band? I may know that the two of them appear to be trustworthy, but that doesn't make me any more comfortable with the idea. I don't like being made into a spectacle. That never ends well.

"We've got a crowd today, Ji?" Siyeon questions as soon as I enter the warmup room that Dreamcatcher is already in, everyone watching the three tagging along go find their spots along a wall.

"Don't focus on them. We've got a performance to get the group of you ready for. Everyone's stretched already?" I counter, looking around at the seven of them. Their attention quickly returns to me, all heads nodding in confirmation.

"Good. Let's get PIRI ready to go then." I huff before starting the music. It's not their most recent release, but we're trying to switch things up from performance to performance without overdoing it too much, rotating between three different songs so that they don't have to perform the same song within a single week.

We don't get more than halfway through the song before I'm stopping us, pausing the music as I turn towards the wall where Minnie and the other two are sat.

"Minnie, you know my rules. I don't want to hear another peep from the three of you otherwise you'll all be sent back to the dressing room until it's your turns in here." I instruct, trying not to be too harsh. Performance nights are when I'm at my strongest mentally, used to the chaos and multitude of people that I have to deal with, used to being fully in charge and being able to take control. I'm grateful for that fact, appreciative to myself for having developed such a nature so that having Yoongi and Jimin in the room doesn't throw me too far off my game.

I receive a sheepish smile from Minnie, apologetic hue in her eyes as she nods in answer. I merely huff, turning back to start the music over again and running through the song and dance with Dreamcatcher in full.

The rest of the night goes on without a hitch, everything going surprisingly smooth. Comet's the last performer of the night, though despite warmup going impressively well for us, Eunha manages to fuck up the performance again. Moving on the wrong count and heading for the completely wrong side of the stage, she runs right into me, and I have no ability to save myself as I fall. I squeeze my eyes shut at the pain pulsating throughout my body, still ungodly sore from Mr. Kwon's shit from early, and it takes everything in me to get myself moving swiftly again so as not to hold up the performance.

By the time the song is over, the music ending, Eunha doesn't even wait for the lights to go off before she's storming in my direction. I don't even have enough time to get my mic off, lights going out on us just in time for her to smack me across the face. The sound echoes through both of our mics, but she doesn't say anything, just storms off the stage and back towards the dressing room. I purse my lips so as to refrain from muttering with my mic on, tugging it off as I drag myself off stage and over to where the other four girls are waiting on me.

"Ji, are you okay?"

I'm surprised when it's none of the girls who speak up first, having to look past them to find Yoongi and Jungkook both stood behind the four girls. There's worry in Yoongi's eyes, but Jungkook's entire aura drowns in concern, and I hate that he's as freaked out as he is. I know he has every reason to be, he knows just what all hides underneath the makeup I'm wearing, but I worry someone's going to eventually catch on that there's bigger problems that I'm facing than just Eunha's shit if he keeps this up.

"I'm fine, guys. Really. I just fell. That's all. No injury to worry about tonight." I answer, giving a small smile as I look around at everyone still stood in the wing with me. Jungkook frowns, everyone else seeming just a little bit relieved.

"She smacked you. She smacked you across the face. We heard it echo through the mic, Ji." Jungkook argues, and I know exactly why it worries him. I tug a small smile back on, turning my face so that he can see there's no damage.

"No blood. I'm all good. Eunha doesn't know how to workout to save her life in order for that smack to even hurt." I reassure him. He doesn't seem to feel much better about it, but let's it go for now, accepting the fact that I'm really not bleeding and deciding to take it as good enough for now.

"Come on. Let's get going. It's late and we all have busy weeks ahead." I suggest, motioning for us to head back towards the dressing room. Thankfully, Eunha isn't there when we return, and we're all able to gather our things peacefully so that we can get heading back to the house.