3 Hat Girl

[!!!] Note: Speech/text in Korean (not understood by Iris) will be marked in parentheses ().

"Ya neo!" Taehyung suddenly leaned forward to look at Iris better. "(Haven't I seen you before?) LA? American Hustle Life?" His eyes and mouth widened into excited smiles.

Iris's face similarly broke out into a shining grin. "You remember me? Your hat!" She gestured to her head, pretending a baseball cap got knocked off.

Taehyung immediately knew she was referring to the incident when his hat got knocked off by a passerby on the bike that he had tried to high-five. Iris had been walking nearby, and the hat had smacked into her face. Since they were looking for people to come to their concert, Taehyung invited her after they laughed together about the incident that just occurred. Although Iris knew nothing about Korean or K-Pop idols at that time, laughter and smiles were internationally understood.

"Ah! Hat girl!" Jimin's sweet voice rung out enthusiastically in the car. Jimin had also been with V at that time and witnessed the event. They had both recognized the teenager who was now nineteen. "How are you?"

Inside, Iris was squealing at hearing Jimin's dulcet voice and his friendly, cute attempt at an English greeting. 'I can't believe I'm talking to BTS like I'm meeting old friends! Who knew that the boys who were asking strangers to attend their concert would now be selling them out worldwide!'

Now was the perfect time to let them know she was a fan. "Jimin, V, J-Hope. BTS ara! Naneun Army, paen-idoeeossda, jigeum." This was the best she could express that she knew them and became a fan.

Fortunately, her pronunciation and structuring of the words she knew got across to the boys. They immediately brightened and remarked, "Ahh! Hangug-eo jalhasineyo!"

Iris understood what they said. They were saying her Korean was good. She laughed sunnily, shaking her head. "Ani ani."

They laughed and V asked, "(What songs of ours do you like?)"

Again, Iris could pick out some of the words. 'Songs, like. Joha! What songs do I like?' She thought for a moment before replying, "Save me! I Need You! Blood Sweat and Tears. Nae pi ttam nunmul~ Nae majimak chumeul da~ Gajyeoga ga~ ah ah ah~" She sang the words to the delighted surprise of the boys.

"Neo nolae jalhanda!" They complimented that her singing was good with wide eyes.

Cheered, Iris continued on, "Dasi Run Run Run nan meomchul suga eopseo! Bultaoreune! Fire-yahh~~ Whoa oh oh!" She swung her arms in a little circle to the choreography at this point and then pumped her fist, "Jjeoreo!"

The three thrilled BTS members chuckled and clapped their hands wildly. Their eye smiles were absolutely precious. Of course, Iris couldn't forget their solos, so she also sang them a little.

"Naege malhae~ Neoui dalkomhan misoro naege~!" Jimin's Lie.

"…Sumgyeowasseo geujeo mudeodugien~ Wae geuttaen mal mot haessneunji~~" V's Stimga.

"Hey Mama!! Ijen adeulnaemi mideumyeon dwae-! Useumyeon dwae! Hey mama!" J-Hope's Mama.

Her singing along with her little matching hand movements made the boys elated. And they too began to move along to the words. Seeing this, Iris's heart swelled. 'BTS really is amazing. They're so kind, friendly, fun, and down to earth!'

Just as this thought passed, Seijin stopped the car to pick up Rap Monster. Worried that a passerby might see her when the van door slid open, Iris ducked and huddled on the floor. Her action momentarily baffled the boys as Namjoon stepped into the car. Seeing as he was about to step on the girl's head, they all jumped up in panic.

"(Ahh!!! Joonie! There's a girl on the ground, don't step on her!)"

The bewildered Namjoon looked around at them before spotting the girl on the car floor.

"(What's a—!)" He began before thinking wisely and slipping into the van. "(Why is there a girl in the car?!)" Namjoon looked with alarmed eyes at his group members; his look bordered slightly on admonishing.

J-Hope spoke up and explained the situation. Namjoon calmly nodded and scratched his head. Turning to the girl who had peeked her head up after it quieted down, Namjoon addressed her.

"Hello. You got hurt? Are you okay?" Ever the polite and considerate leader, he made sure to check that she was okay as well as to reassure her.

Iris was so relieved hearing Rap Monster's words. 'Thank goodness there's finally someone who can understand me! Praise the 148 IQ genius who almost stepped on me! Ah he really does fits the image of being smart but accidentally breaking things.'

"I'm okay, thank you all so much! I'm so sorry for this whole situation!" Iris held her hands together in a bow. "Um, I also just want to say that I really respect and admire you guys! I was inspired to do music because of you! Thank you so much for all your hard work and continuing to think of us Armies."

Rap Monster wholeheartedly smiled. This was one of the reasons why he studied English so hard. It was these moments of connecting and communicating to fans that made all the studying and hours of watching Friends worth it.

"Thank you thank you. We love ARMY." He inclined his head in a slight, courteous bow. "I'm happy that you were inspired to do music because of us. You sing and dance? Compose?"

Iris vigorously nodded her head. "Yes! I sing and dance to K-Pop with my friends! We have a K-Pop dance group at my college!" She hastily opened up her phone to show their YouTube account.

The members leaned in to look at her phone that she stuck out with straight arms. 'Distance, distance. Must maintain distance or I swear I'll faint.' She internally sweated. Oddly enough, she was actually starting to feel hot in the van. With merrily impressed faces, they surfed through the videos of her dance covers.

"And I've tried composing some songs too, haha.. But I'm still learning." She sheepishly ruffled her head.

"Really! Good for you, that's great!" Rap Monster complimented with a thumbs up to which Iris humbly opposed, "Ani ani." He warmly replied, "It is! Be confident in your abilities."

'Rap Monster, you're too sweet and so cool! Why're you all so cool and so nice! I'm melting here!' Iris was starting to feel overwhelmed with joy. 'Ah my head is starting to feel..'

A trail of blood suddenly slipped from her head, and she fainted.