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We all turned towards the short girl standing next to the tallest man in the room.  She was a raving beauty with curly, chestnut hair that cascaded halfway to her waist and the biggest chocolate eyes in her tan face.  I hadn’t noticed her at first because she’d been standing behind Namjoon.  But as she spoke, she moved forward slightly, and my eyes met hers.  

“Lydia!” I shouted, delighted to see her.  I jumped out of my chair and went flying across the room to hug her.  As I embraced her, I whispered in her ear, “How did you meet Namjoon?”

She pulled away from me a little, a twinkle in her eye, as she responded, “How did you meet Jungkook?”

I laughed.  “In the hallway at our hotel!”

She smiled.  “I took Namjoon’s picture.”

“What?” I asked, puzzled.

“Not on purpose.  He was in the background.  But it was a cool picture, so I showed it to him.”  She glanced back towards him before turning to me.  “The rest, as they say, is history.”  She was beaming as her eyes met Namjoon’s again.

I couldn’t help but notice that he looked a little intrigued by her.

Jungkook had followed me this time.  “Don’t tell me.  You know this girl too?”

“Yes!  Kookie,” I addressed him affectionately – why did it feel like I had known him forever?  “This is Lydia, my friend from New York City.”

Jungkook welcomed her before turning towards Yoongi.  “Yoongi, who is your friend?”

The quiet girl with the raven hair and the gorgeous, obsidian eyes smiled shyly at Jungkook.

“This is May,” Yoongi responded in an undertone.  But he became quite animated when he turned towards her.  “May, this is Jungkook and Namjoon, Tae and Hobi.  And…their friends?”  He was, of course, at a loss since he had yet to meet any of us.

“May, are you from India?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Do we know each other?”

“Do we?”  She was clearly puzzled, but I had an inkling…

I gave her my online name.  Her eyes grew wide.  “Grace!”

Shocked, Jungkook exclaimed, “You’ve got to be kidding me!  You know her too?  Are you more famous than BTS?”

I laughed.  “No, no!  Nothing like that!”  I turned back to May.  “I always wanted to meet you in person!”  

Then we embraced too, and I found myself happier than I had been in a long time.  How had I met so many of these girls online, and we had all, in turn, met various members of BTS here in Chicago?  All on the same day?  It was almost like we were characters in some brilliant story…

All of us settled in around the table as introductions were made.  Then I saw eleven pairs of eyes simultaneously glance at the two empty chairs.  Were we all wondering if Jin would show up alone?  But what were the chances that he, too, would meet someone?

–

A few moments later as we all perused the menu, my attention was suddenly drawn to Sarah by Tae’s laughter floating across the table to me and Jungkook.  We both glanced at Tae and Sarah.  

I heard her say, “Yeah.  My mom’s bias is Jungkook.  She loves him so much,” here Sarah glanced up into Jungkook’s eyes as she finished, “that she named our cat after him!”  Then she burst into laughter.

Kookie started cracking up.  He wrinkled up his cute nose, threw back his head, and roared with laughter as he clapped his hands together.

Tae was guffawing too.  Then he responded, “Here, kitty, kitty!  Come here, my little Jungkookie!  Here, little Jungkitty!!!”

At this last, Jungkook fell off his chair and lay on the ground rolling with laughter.  I gazed down at him, a stupid grin splitting my face, I’m sure.  The boy is so adorable when he’s happy.  Ah!  Who am I kidding?  Kookie is adorable all the time!  But especially when he’s laughing.  As I watched him, I felt my heart soaring with joy.  Being with him, being around his glee, made me so happy.

Just then the door opened, and a young woman with midnight hair and round, dark eyes stepped sheepishly into the room, gently closing the door behind her.  It hadn’t even been shut for a second when it suddenly went flying open as Jin came running in.  He ran straight into the girl.  As the door bumped her, she staggered forward.  Jin completed her fall by catapulting into her a second later and knocking her onto the floor.  He fell ungracefully on top of her.

My heart went out to her.  Her face was mashed into the carpet, and Jin’s extensive length was completely covering her.  He jumped up as quickly as he could, a string of apologies flowing from his mouth.  He bent over and offered her his hand.  She had rolled over and gotten up on her knees.  From that position, she gazed in wonder up at his concerned face.

“Are you all right?  I am so sorry!” Jin apologized as she took his hand.  He drew her to her feet.

They stood staring at one another.  Jin gazed down at the girl who was only about three inches shorter than he was.  She blinked, finally coming to herself.  

“I’m fine,” she dismissed his worry with a wave of her left hand.  Her right one was still held safely in his gentle grasp.  She smiled at him.  “I’m Sherry.”

“Hi.  I’m Jin.”

“Nice to meet you, Jin.”  Sherry spoke as though she didn’t already know exactly who he was!

Sherry?  Could it be?

I glanced over at her as May called out, “Sherry!  You found us!  Here, I saved you a seat next to me.”  

And what she didn’t say was just as painfully obvious.  She’d saved Sherry a seat in between her and the empty chair.  The one that had been reserved for Jin.  Sherry stared at the chair for a moment before looking back up at Jin.  He was still holding her hand.  She gazed down at it, fascinated by the tiny current of electricity that seemed to have found its way under her skin when his fingers had enclosed her own.  Its steady vibration was still with her.  Jin’s eyes followed her own and, embarrassed, he suddenly dropped her hand.  I didn’t miss the wave of disappointment that flashed across her face.

She sighed and turned towards the chair.  Jin rushed ahead of her and pulled it out for her.  She smiled up at him, surprised by his chivalry, and then sat in the chair.  She turned towards May and spoke quietly to her.  He grabbed the seat next to hers, a wide smile still on his face.  He was clearly smitten with those dark eyes.

I watched May and Sherry converse for a moment.  Then I interrupted, “May, Sherry is your friend?  You’re both from India?”

May glanced up at me.  “Yes, we are friends.  We traveled here together.”

I narrowed my eyes as I studied Sherry.  She felt my intense scrutiny, finally looking up at me.  

“Is something wrong?” she asked me.

I could tell that I was making her uncomfortable, which was the last thing that I wanted.  “No…I’m just wondering if we know each other too.”

Jungkook jumped in with, “Chances are, you do!”

I laughed and glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, feeling the zing of his eye contact, before I turned back towards Sherry. “I’m Grace.”

“Grace!” Her gorgeous, midnight eyes nearly popped out of her head.

Then she said my Weverse username, and I laughed.  I glanced at Jungkook.  By now, he was resigned.  He shook his head.

“Of course.  Of course, you know her too.”  He looked around the table at all the girls.  “Are you all coming to our concert tomorrow night?”

Sherry looked up at him, her face blank.  “And you are…?”

All the boys looked at each other, astounded.

“Do you know BTS?” Jin asked.  

When she just stared at him, he asked, “No?”

Suddenly, she grinned.  “Well, I’m very familiar with your worldwide handsome face.”  Then she laughed.  “Of course, I know BTS!  You’re why I’m here in America!”

Everyone laughed.  No one had expected this quiet newcomer to be pranking us all.  I, of course, knew she was a BTS fan since I had met her through Weverse too.  

We decided to all introduce ourselves one more time to catch everyone up.  Then it was time to order pizza.  A lot of pizza.  I was ok with that.  Until someone mentioned anchovies.