Ten Million Fireflies (Adopted by BTS)

Reflection (반사)

"Nari, what's your favorite BTS song?"

The girl shrugged, "I don't know. I don't really listen to their music."

A week passed and nothing had changed. The same group of girls surrounded her at every chance they got and asked questions until her head began to spin. There wasn't much that Nari missed from her life before the boys, but a sense of privacy was one of them. She missed feeling invisible as she walked down the halls, she missed eating her lunch by herself while reading a book, and she missed being alone to her thoughts most of all.

Nari never had many friends and she was okay with that. People drained her energy faster than the battery on an iPhone, and besides, she was used to being alone. Not having friends made Nari's life simple. Making friends was so difficult anyway, and the fear of abandonment lurking in the back of her mind didn't help either. The best choice was to just stay to herself.

"You don't know any of their songs?" The girl sitting across from Nari persisted, snapping her back to reality, "Not even one?"

Nari shook her head, "I don't think so. They don't sing that much when they're not working, and when they do, it's not songs that are already released." She didn't mention how Taehyung would sing her to sleep when she was sad, or how when he was in a good mood he made up silly songs to whatever it was that he was doing. Those moments were special. It wouldn't feel right sharing them.

The bell rang and Nari had never felt more relieved. She shoved the rest of her lunch into her backpack and hastily said goodbye as she headed out the door. The next two periods were study halls, which meant she could spend them wherever she wanted, and what better place to go than to the library?

"Hey there!" Ms. Bradley waved to the girl from the front desk as soon as she opened the doors, "I have a job for you today."

Nari nodded excitedly as she dropped her backpack on the floor, "What is it?"

"We're getting some new books in, so it's time to get rid of the old ones." The woman pushed a thick stack of dusty books across the counter, "I need you to take the check out cards out of them and use the discard stamp on the first and last pages."

The girl eagerly accepted and opened the first one, "Sounds good." She took them to a small table next to the front desk and quickly got to work. Nothing made her happier than books.

"So, how are you?" The librarian slid into the seat across from her, "Did you eat today?"

"Uh huh."

"How are your parents?"

"Good."

"And the boys?"

"Also good," Nari paused for a second before continuing, "Jimin sent me a picture of Las Vegas this morning and he said that they might be able to make it for my birthday."

Ms. Bradley grinned, "Hey that's awesome! It's in like two weeks right?"

"Yep. I'll be twelve." The girl sighed and put down the book she was holding, "I really hope that they can come. I miss them so much."

"I see," Her older companion answered sympathetically, "You don't really have many friends here, do you?"

Nari swallowed the lump in her throat and looked to the ground, "No, not really."

"Do you want friends?"

"I don't know." She shrugged, "No one wants to be friends with me, you know? They just want to get to BTS."

Ms. Bradley nodded understandingly, "Yeah. I know. But I can help you make some friends, if you want."

She looked up at the woman in surprise. From their interaction on the first day of school, Nari had attached herself to Ms. Bradley like glue. Out of everyone, she was the easiest to talk to because she treated her as just Nari. Not Nari from BTS, but just Nari.