BTS's Proposal

[ NOTICE: I did a stupid boo-boo and forgot that Korean characters lock a novel's Power Stone Vote button. I removed the characters, but yup, until the admin fixes it, you can't vote on this story anymore... Hopefully it's fixed soon but... T_T *crawls into a hole to bury this stupid goldfish brain* ]

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"Hey Cinds, how does this sound?" Iris held up an earbud for her cousin to listen.

The dark brunette eagerly took the earbud and focused intently as the song began to play. After a few minutes, she spoke up.

"It sounds great Iris! You're really getting better at this composition thing!" Cindy's eyes and mouth beamed at the ebony-haired girl. This was the third song since 'Neverland' that Iris had made.

Since the day three weeks ago that Rap Monster showed her song to the world, Iris decided to not let his efforts go to waste. Although she got her fair share of silly threats and hate, she received an equal amount of interest and support for the songs she composed.

Additionally, Iris tried to cover more songs and improve her Korean. Considering that she met the group personally twice, and she interacted on two occasions with Rap Monster and BTS on twitter, it was high time she buffed up her language skills.

Luckily, the college semester was now over, so she had the time to focus on improving her music and Korean. At times, she felt it was all surreal. Iris would've never imagined that she would actually give music a serious shot.

But even if she didn't continue past this the summer, then at least she did something….pretty cool for once. For once, she had done something for herself and not to uphold the expectations of her family and peers. Her blood burned with a blissful thrill that she had never felt before.

"Whew, I'm glad. I tried layering the synths, guitar, and drums into something a little fuller than the previous ones. It was a bit of a challenge, but studying up on music theory and song composition really helped." Iris breathed a sigh of relief.

Although it wasn't quite finished—she was still debating on the arrangement and lyrics—she was pretty proud of this new piece called "Chronos." The darkly climatic but ephemerally ethereal tone of the instrumental was exactly on point.

Her cousin plopped back on her bed to continue reading Webtoons, and Iris returned to her computer to fiddle with the song more. Just as she was about to experiment with different arrangements, a notification popped up in the top right of her computer screen.

[@BTS_twt: Hi Iris, this is Rap Monster. We talked to our Bang PD-nim and agreed that we would like to possibly work with you as a composer for our next album. We really liked your songs and felt that you understood our style of music. Let us know if you are open to collaborating. ]

After hitting the end of the message, Iris reread it, and then again, and again. Her eyes popped out, trying to decipher whether what it was seeing was real. When she tried to read it once again, the notification disappeared underneath her cursor.

Iris rushed to open up Twitter to her direct messages, and sure enough, it was really BTS that had contacted her. She jolted in her seat and smacked the table while leaning forward. The sound startled Cindy who was lounging on the edge of the bed.

"Ooof!" Cindy tipped over onto the carpet. Rubbing her head, she glanced up at her cousin who was inches away from the screen.

"Girl, what is it this time? I nearly broke my neck because of you!"

Iris momentarily flicked her eyes to Cindy and replied, "That's your fault for hanging over the edge of my bed with your head like that."

"Ay ay, okay." Cindy droned lazily and sauntered over to Iris. Nudging her cousin away from the screen, Cindy bent down to look at it.

"HOLY SHIT!" The brunette's eyes bulged.

"Cindy!" Iris clicked her tongue at her cousin for shouting so close to her ear.

"Sorry sorry! I'm just flabbergasted! Is this a joke?! For real?! BTS actually wants you to be one of their composers! Damn! What nation did you save in your last life?"

Iris rolled her eyes at her cousin. "Haha, very funny. Anyway, what do you think I should do?"

"What you should do??!" Cindy looked at her cousin incredulously. "Are you seriously asking me that question? Of course you accept it! This is a once in life-no, thousand of lives opportunity! You'd be crazy not to!"

Iris sweat-dropped and chuckled. "I know, I'm just worried I guess. I mean, will I be good enough? This is BTS after all. What if the song I make gets a terrible reception? I don't want to let them down…" She furrowed her brows, seriously concerned.

She was truly flattered that BTS and Bang PD liked her songs so much as to offer a collaboration, but the rising dread of failing expectations was hindering her excitement. This was all escalating faster than she could've ever foreseen.

But a spark of determination flared in her core. If BTS and Bang PD disliked the song she made, then they simply wouldn't use it, and she could gain from the experience of working with them. As a fan of their music, of course she would be psyched to see them create it firsthand.

However, that was if they meant for her to work with them physically in South Korea. Since an ocean separated them, it was possible that they meant for her to send demos of her ideas. And then they'd exchange ideas and current feedback and progress of the song.

Iris shot up from her chair. "OK! I can do this!" She cheered and pumped her fist. Since she came this far, she might as well go all the way if the opportunity presented itself. And with all her spare time for the summer, she saw no reason to reject their proposal.

"That's the spirit!" Cindy clapped her cousin's shoulder approvingly. This girl was beginning to gain confidence in her artistic abilities. Since they grew up together, Cindy knew that Iris would often feel burdened and set aside what she wanted to do for the sake of others. So she was glad that Iris was finally chasing after her hidden aspiration.

With a determined nod, Iris answered the direct message and agreed to their offer. A few minutes later, she received a response.

[@BTS_twt: Great! We are happy that you can work with us! Are you able to travel to South Korea in a week? We can handle the trip cost, and it would be better to work on the song together in person.]

A whimper escaped out of Iris as she suddenly felt like crying. 'I really must have saved a country in my previous life!'