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Tae cleared his throat.  Loudly.  Enough to distract Jungkook from gazing into my eyes.  Reluctantly, we both looked across the table at Tae.  His eyes met Jungkook’s and he spoke, “I think these two girls are lost.”  His gaze shifted to a point behind me.

Immediately, my heart rising in my chest, I spun around in my chair before jumping up and running across the room to meet the two young women who had just stepped through the doorway, closing the door behind them.  I had alerted the hostess that we were expecting them.  

The older woman was about 5’7”.  Her younger sister was about three inches shorter.  The taller one had darker skin than her fair sister.  Both shared the same gorgeous, long, black hair and big, brown eyes.  The younger woman’s hair fell just past her shoulders.  Her mouth lifted to form a boxy smile that was reminiscent of Tae.

“Sarah!” I exclaimed as I rushed towards the younger girl.  “Sandra!” I glanced at the older one.  Then I addressed them both, “You really made it!”  

I engulfed them both in a hug, despite this being the first time I had ever seen them in person.  But their pictures were in my phone. I knew exactly what they looked like.

Their arms came up around me as the three of us embraced in an odd sort of group hug, each of us encircling the other two girls with our arms.  I found myself in the middle, taller than Sarah, yet shorter than Sandra.

“Grace?” Sarah asked, having never seen even a picture of me.

“Yes!” I laughed as she stepped back to take in my dark blond hair and blue eyes.  

She didn’t mention my glasses as she exclaimed, “You’re beautiful!”

I returned her smile.  “So are you two!” My smile encompassed them both as I looked from one dark-haired girl to the other.  “You really traveled all the way from the Philippines to come to this concert?  And you didn’t even tell me you were coming?!”

Sarah’s mouth stretched into a wide smile.  “We wanted to surprise you.”

“Well, you managed to do just that!” I couldn’t stop grinning.  

Sarah and I had also met on Weverse and become Twitter buddies.  We’d been talking to each other for a whole year online.  And now here she was standing in front of me.  We had always wanted to meet each other in person.  I shook my head.  “I just can hardly believe it.  It’s all so amazing!”

Sanduni.  Sarah.  Sandra.  Jungkook. Tae.  Jimin.  It blew my mind.  Three girls I’d met online.  Three boys I’d met on YouTube.  And seen once in concert.  And now we were all in the same room in a pizza parlor in downtown Chicago.  Where none of us lived.  Baffling.

“Sarah.  Sandra, I’d like to introduce you.”  I turned towards the boys and Sanduni.  “Tae, I promised to introduce you to my friend.  Only thing is…I didn’t know she was coming to meet you in person.  Tae, this is Sarah and her sister, Sandra.” Then I looked at the others as I continued, “Jungkook, Jimin, Sanduni, these are my friends from the Philippines.  Sara,” I gestured towards her before stretching my hand towards her sister and finishing, “and Sandra.”  Then I looked around.  “When will Hobi be here?”

“Oh, any minute,” Jimin responded.

I looked reassuringly towards Sandra.  I knew she was nuts about Hobi.  How would he feel about meeting an older woman today?  I would just have to wait and find out.

Tae gave Sarah his boxy grin.  “Here, apparently I saved a seat for you right here next to me.”  Then he turned towards Jungkook and then me, staring pointedly at us as if to say, “Is this why you didn’t sit near me?”

“Sandra, we saved you a seat next to Sarah too,” I included the older woman in the invitation to sit at the table.  I also noticed there was a seat open to the right of her chair.  Hobi would be able to sit with her.

The girls walked around the table, Sarah sliding into the chair next to Tae, and Sandra sitting on the far side of Sarah.  I was now seated directly across the table from Sarah.  I grinned at her.  She smiled faintly at me.  I could tell she was nervous.  She was sitting next to her bias, but what on earth should she say to him?

“Sarah, it’s nice to meet you,” Tae welcomed her.  

He had turned his seat a little so that he was half-facing her now.  He towered over her.  As he gazed down at her, he smiled out of those exotic, dark eyes of his.  I imagined she was fainting on the inside.  The boy was truly beautiful when he directed all his attention at one person.  Those intense, chocolate eyes of his were studying her, taking in every detail of her countenance.  I waited with bated breath to see what he said next.  Then it came.  And he didn’t disappoint me.

—

Sherry had awoken from her nap to find her best friend, May, gone.  She had mentioned wanting to stop at a bookstore down the block.  Perhaps she’d gone in pursuit of a book.  Surely, she’d be back soon.  They needed to figure out what they were going to do for dinner tonight.  

They’d come all the way from India for this BTS concert.  They had both always wanted to visit America.  And they saw this concert as their chance to have the best of both worlds.  BTS World and the United States of America.  

They were making a grand trip out of it.  They had been able to secure tickets to both the Saturday and Sunday night concerts in Chicago.  In between, they had plans to tour Chicago and then spend a couple days afterward in New York City before they flew home.  They only wished they’d had more time to stay.  It would have been wonderful to attend one of the concerts in New York too.

Sherry picked up her phone, debating calling May.  Then she decided against it.  She’d give her friend a few more minutes while she took a shower.  Surely half an hour would be long enough.  It was after six already.

—

Yoongi waited patiently in line to order his coffee.  It was easy.  He was completely fascinated by the beautiful Indian girl sitting in the corner window of the Starbucks.   These concert trips were usually a whirlwind of activity.  But suddenly, Yoongi felt as if time had stopped.  This lovely lady was radiating a peace that was drawing him into her orbit.  He didn’t even care that he was going to be late for dinner with the guys.  Let them wait.  The view was seldom this impressive.

His eyes slid over her dark hair that was falling in soft waves past her shoulders.  Her head was bent over her book again, the curtain of raven tresses obscuring her pretty face.  But there was something captivating about the curve of that bent head.  What could she possibly be reading that was so engrossing?

As he stared at her, he recalled the dimples that had suddenly planted two deep wells into her cheeks when she had grinned at him.  He had a sudden vision of himself kissing one of those dimples.  He smiled at the thought.  He was the only member of BTS who was without so much as a single dimple.  She had two of those adorable features that he coveted.  He blinked and saw himself kiss the other dimple too.

Finally, the line moved one more time. He ordered and handed the clerk his credit card.  Yoongi glanced over his shoulder at the girl, curious to see if she was sneaking a peek at him.  She wasn’t.  How disappointing.  The truth was he’d become accustomed to girls whispering behind his back or outright chasing after him.  He wasn’t quite sure what to do with one who seemed oblivious to him.  

The clerk handed Yoongi his credit card and his Americano.  He smiled faintly at the young girl and turned towards the door.  

May was watching him out of the corner of her eye.  He’d turned around once as he waited for his order.  Her eyes had snapped to attention, focusing on the white paper of the page she’d been staring blankly at for ten minutes.  Staring at, but not comprehending one word of.  Finally, she had sneaked another peek at him.  She’d seen him receive his cup of coffee and spin around, headed for the door.  

Her heart sank.  He was leaving.  So much for meeting him.  So much for a romantic interlude along a beach or under a full moon.   She watched as he walked three steps.  Then he suddenly stopped.  Next, his head spun towards her, and his eyes collided with her own again.  Her heart leapt!  She tore her eyes away from his and glanced down at her book for the umpteenth time.  But it was too late.  Yoongi had caught her watching him…