Chapter Eleven- The Downside To Idol Life

~Erin POV~

I trudged down the snow-covered sidewalk, leaving light indents in the freshly fallen snow as I walked. It seemed as if I was walking alone on the deserted sidewalk, but I could hear the crunch of snow from someone following me. Every time I would act casually and stop to pull my phone out of my pocket, I wouldn't see anyone behind me except for the shoe prints I left.

But as I turned this time, the light from a streetlight a few feet behind me allowed my eyes to catch sight of another pair of shoe prints, way larger than mine as they suddenly jumped to the side as if they lunged out of my line of sight. I was really regretting staying in the practice room instead of leaving with the girls when they headed back to the dorm, now I was on my way home alone.

A chill went down my spine, the icy fingers of fear gripping me tightly in their grasp as I inhaled a deep shaky breath. Why would someone hide if they were merely walking home? The question I really didn't want to know the answer to ran through my head before the answer whispered from somewhere in my brain. They are following me. I'm wary of everyone I come across that I don't know, I don't trust easily so it is understandable that my mind would immediately go paranoid. Turning on my heel I began to walk faster, cursing under my breath.

Crunch. Crunch. My breath caught in my throat when the footsteps began trailing after me once more. I shoved my hands into my pockets gripping my phone in my right hand, pulling it out as I increased my speed a little more, scrolling through my contacts finally stopping on the number I wanted. Chewing the inside of my cheek in anxiety I was about to dial the number when the footsteps began to run and it was only then that I realized they were closer to me than I had originally thought.

I clicked the call button for the number as I began running, the dial tone causing my anxiety to only increase. My father had taught me how to fight off an attacker when I was younger and I knew I could take care of myself, but even that left me with little reassurance as my mind began going into all the worst possible scenarios.

Suddenly an arm yanked me back, a gloved hand coming up to cover my mouth, as I started squirming, trying to get away. My phone fell into the snow, the dial tone ending as a deep voice answered the call. "Hey Erin, what's up?" I slammed my head back into the person holding me causing them to let out a grunt and loosen their grip enough for me to shove them away. I grabbed my phone and began at a dead sprint, the heavy footsteps behind me. "N-Namjoon! I'm scared as hell! He, he is right behind me!" I yelled into the phone, panting slightly from sprinting. Taking a quick glance back I saw the man was closing in on me.

"WHAT! Erin what's going on?!" I took a gulp of air. "There was a man following me *pant* And he is trying to kidnap me *pant* He is right behind me Namjoon I'm scared!" I said trying to keep my voice even, although the lack of air in my lungs made it hard. "Where are you Erin?! Are you okay, has he hurt you?!" Turning and crossing an empty street, the pursuer still hot on my heels.

"Namjoon help me!" I pleaded, my voice cracking as more of my fear bled into my words. "I'm coming, where are you?! Erin I will find you I promise!" I bit into my lip before my phone beeped, I ripped it away from my ear to see it flash a red battery on the screen before it went dead.

"DAMNIT!" I roared in frustration, pushing my already tired legs to run faster, adrenaline pumping rapidly through my veins.

I turned onto another road that I had taken to go to Bangtan's dorm before, and kept running harder. I heard my name and saw Namjoon running in jeans, a black sweater and a long pea coat. I wanted to cry at the sight of him, but it was cut short as the man caught hold of my hair and yanked me back. I unintentionally let out a curse as he did so. Namjoon froze about ten feet in front of the man who was suddenly holding a blade to my neck.

Namjoon's eyes flickered between me and my captor, worry swirling in his brown irises.

"Let her go, she did nothing to deserve a knife to her throat." Namjoon said calmly, his hands raised in a surrendering motion trying to show the man he meant him no harm. I was still out of breath from running so I remained mute, only the sound of my lungs greedily filling with air and my heart pounding in my chest filled my ears as the whole night seemed to freeze.

Then everything began to move in slow motion as the man raised the knife only to begin to bring it down towards me, with Namjoon lunging towards me at the same time. Which will get to me first I wondered, most likely the knife, but there's always a little room for hope, right?

Somehow Namjoon managed to slap the knife away, cutting the back of his hand in the process. He didn't seem to notice the blood running down his arm as he tugged me into his chest and kicked the man away, the man turning and running back the way we had come. I was in a temporary shock as I buried my face in Namjoon's neck, he tucked me in his coat as I shivered against him. But not from the cold, from the adrenaline still coursing through my body. I pulled away to grab his injured hand to inspect it. Frowning at the cut I gave Namjoon a small pout. But he ignored it as he pressed his lips softly to mine, only pulling away to whisper "You're safe now."

My eyes snapped opened as I sat up in my bed, my heart pounding from the nightmare. It felt so real and yet here I was in my pjs, which consisted of a t shirt and basketball shorts. Taking a deep breath to calm myself I laid back down, hoping that if sleep did claim me again it would be merciful and give me happy dreams rather than nightmares. Glancing at the alarm clock on my nightstand, I realized it wouldn't really be worth it to fall back asleep if I was only going to get ten minutes until the others get up.

Groaning in annoyance I got up and decided to get dressed so I can work on writing the lyrics I had been writing the night before. Throwing on a pair of ripped black skinny jeans, black ankle boots, and a maroon turtleneck, I headed into the living area of our dorm. Listening to some music I closed my eyes, allowing my mind a break. Sadly the break was cut short when someone tapped on my shoulder. I chose to ignore them until they ripped my ear buds out, earning a glare as I opened my eyes.

Euna stood with my ear buds in her hand, watching me. Alex was a few steps behind her, shaking her head. "I told you Euna, Erin hates when people pull her ear buds out!" Alex scolded. Euna only shook her head, crossing her arms. "I'm older than both of you, so you should listen when I call your name." Both Alex and I groaned in annoyance, even though we knew it was true. "We have to get breakfast and then head to a fan meet. So get up!"

After scarfing our breakfast down and laughing at Euna getting pinched and hit with a pillow when waking Aeri, we got into the van and went to the fan meet. We all high fived each other shouting "LIT M Fighting!" Before going in to take our seats, the cheers from fans greeting us as we entered.

We sat in this order from left to right, or first to last greeting fans: Euna, Alex, Me, and Aeri. We waved, held hands, accepted fan gifts, and talked to many fans, before one in particular walked up.

He seemed normal, he spoke with a lot of enthusiasm and seemed like a genuine fan. "I'm so happy to finally see how beautiful you all are up close!" He shouted as soon as he stood before Euna, who gave him a sweet smile.

He spoke about random things, pretty much babbling the whole time, until he had to move to Alex. Again he spoke excitedly about his life and how through our music he was saved. Alex thanked him, but I could feel her growing uncomfortable as he grabbed both of her hands in his and kept saying how she was so beautiful that she was his biggest bias wrecker.

I almost wanted to bolt once it was my turn to talk to him. He had black hair and dark brown eyes that sparkled as he spoke. "You know it's kind of funny Erin, because I'm practically your ideal type!" I smiled at him, putting my hidden acting skills to use. "Oh really?" I said as I began to sign the poster and album he had. He nodded his head like a bobble head as he answered. "Yes! I watched your interview when all of LIT M said their ideal types and you like tall guys, with a deep voice and you have a soft spot for dimples, plus you like him to be funny! I'm all of those things except I don't have a dimple, but you said in the interview it really didn't matter what he looked like!"

I merely smiled, not wanting to cause an outburst by turning him down or saying something that might upset him. He didn't seem to be in his right mind at the moment. I could see Aeri watching us from the corner of my eye, a frown pulling at the corners of her lips. Even the fan that was talking to Aeri was watching the man I was talking with. "Um, what's your name?" I asked hoping to try and divert the subject away from the previous topic. "Oh of course! If you want to date me of course you'd need to know my name!" He shouted as if it only just dawned on him.

"My name is Choi Young-Soo, do you want my phone number too? All of you girls can text and call me whenever you want we can all be best friends and maybe I could be your boyfriend!" I ran a hand through my hair, not really wanting to deal with this guy anymore, he was creeping me out. "Oh, that would be awesome, but the thing is we aren't allowed to date or have fan phone numbers, sorry." His face fell and the light from his eyes seemed to dim as his eyes darkened a shade. "Oh, that's too bad then." He mumbled under his breath. He set a present bag on the table, pushing it close to me before moving to be in front of Aeri as a new fan came in front of me.

Alex leaned over and whispered in my ear. "I'm pretty sure he is a little crazy in the head." I nodded before I began talking to the young fan in front of me, a young girl probably early teens and super shy. I could see the crazy fan talking to Aeri as he droned on about how idols should be able to do what they want and date who they want, Aeri barely nodding as she signed his things. Soon it was break time and we sat at our table opening some of the fan presents. I noticed the one that crazy make fan had given me and pulled it into my lap looking inside, Alex eating some sour candy peeking over my shoulder.

Inside was a photo album and a small box with a letter sized envelope. I hesitated, a little nervous about what would be inside when Aeri tapped my shoulder and took the bag, setting it on the floor by our seat. "Wait till we get back to the dorm so we can all open it together, who knows what he put in there he didn't seem right." Euna and Alex nodded firmly in agreement. I sighed and went back to eating some cheese puffs a fan had gifted me.

~Namjoon POV~

We got off the plane, glad to be back in Seoul. Getting our bags and making sure we were all together we headed through the airport to the exit. Of course we were greeted with lots of ARMYS, but sadly all the good ARMY couldn't stop the sasaengs from coming and trying to touch us. I frowned as Jungkook and Taehyung were being shoved around. "Please no shoving." I said trying to keep my voice calm. But the fans wouldn't stop following us and shoving us around trying to get to their bias.

"Jungkook! I love you!" "Oh my gosh Jimin you're so handsome!" "I love your smile V!" "Min Yoongi!" "Jin! Look over here!" "Hoseok can you smile for me?!" "Namjoon I wanna marry you!" Of course we were all used to the screaming and most of the time we appreciate the fans screaming their support, but today was not one of those times. Our manager was starting to get angry as he had repeatedly asked the fans to stop. We were all tired as well so this was only fraying our last nerves.

"Please just let us get home and sleep!" Yoongi said, his voice filled with annoyance. Some of the fans backed off but a couple still followed us calling out for us to say their names and things like that. We finally made it to the van and got in as fast as we could, happy for the reprieve from the crazy fans. I swiped through Twitter, when something caught my eye. Someone had videotaped some fan at the LIT M fan meet today. I frowned slightly before clicking on the video to watch.

It was a man who was speaking really loud and just seemed to be excited until he got to Erin, when he got to Erin he got louder, yelling about him being her ideal type and trying to give her his number. She turned him down sweetly but he seemed angry as he shoved a gift at her and moved to Aeri still yelling about idols dating whoever they want. The video ended and my frown remained, I mean I knew they would have to deal with those kinds of fans too, but I still wish I could have shielded Erin from that guy.

I could tell each of the girls were uncomfortable, Aeri seemed to handle him best as she just nodded along with him. I was about to scroll through the comments when I got a text from Erin. The corners of my lips lifted into a small smile just seeing her name. I was a little surprised when I read the text though. "Are you all busy right now?" I told her we were only going back to the dorm to rest. "Can you guys come to our dorm before you all sleep, there's something you need to see."

My eyebrows furrowed but I told her I would ask the others. "Hey! Erin said there is something we need to see, who wants to come to their dorm with me?" All arms raised in the air and I let out a chuckle. I let her know we would be there soon. I wonder what it was she needed us to see.

~Erin POV~

We finally got back to the dorm and began opening the gifts from our fans that we received from the fan meet. We saved the gift from the crazy fan for last, all of us gathered in a circle around the bag, wondering what it was. I pulled out all of the contents, the box, letter, and photo album. The front of the photo album read "Erin" and before I opened it, Alex urged me to open the box, more curious about it's contents rather than the album.

Inside the box was a silver locket hanging from a matching chain. Opening the locket we all gasped as I stared, a creeping feeling filling my gut. Inside was a picture cutout of me, but it wasn't a professional picture that you could buy or cut out of a magazine, no it was one where my face looked unaware of the photo being taken, my face slightly looking to the left as I was laughing, most likely when I was coming out of training with the girls. Red and black hair near my face in the picture telling me I was definitely with Aeri and the other girls.

The other picture in the locket was a shirtless pic of the fan who gave me the present. I snapped the locket closed throwing it back in the box. Aeri looked repulsed as her face narrowed into a disgusted glare aimed at the locket. Euna held both hands over her mouth, her eyes wide. Alex was staring at the photo album and letter with a worried face. "Let's just call Bangtan and let them open the other stuff!" Euna squeaked, looking like she would faint. Aeri scowled at her shaking her head defiantly. "Hell no, what do you think all of us are crybabies who need men to do everything that seems a little scary? We're opening it." They both looked at me and Alex to see which sides we would take.

"I agree with Aeri, let's open it." I said as Alex nodded, scooting closer to me to watch. Aeri also now sat right against me waiting as Euna still remained in front of me, hands over he mouth as her brown eyes watched on with worry. Taking a deep breath I opened the photo album as Aeri began to open the envelope.

I wanted to puke. Inside were many pictures of me and the other LIT M girls taken from behind bushes, trees and other random things. Most of them were of us leaving stores, the Big Hit building and our dorm, but a few of them caused my blood to run cold. One was us on a picnic with BTS, another was when I was talking to some girl trainees before we debuted, and another one was of me and Mina eating lunch together.

"How long has he been taking pictures of us?" Euna asked in a voice barely above a whisper. I flipped to the last page and frowned deeper, noticing that Aeri looked absolutely pissed. The last two pages were pictures of me and various other men that I had talked to before. Each picture had curses written in hangul with arrows pointing to the males. One pic had me and a trainee who I got along with, we had gotten lunch together a lot when Alex had more practice and ditched me. Another was a picture of when I was laughing at Jackson teasing Bam Bam and JB when I met them outside our vans.

And a few were of me and Namjoon all of which we were both smiling or laughing. There were a few of me with other members of BTS but most were me and Namjoon. I snapped the album closed and tossed it on top of the locket. Aeri pulled the letter out of the envelope, luckily it was pretty short, sadly that was the only good thing about it.

Dear Erin,

I think you and I could be good friends, possibly even more. I hope you will realize that I know you better then those other guys. I am your biggest fan after all, I have been watching you all before you even debuted. I've dreamt of the day I could finally touch you, make you mine completely, body and soul and I cannot wait for you to realize how perfect we are for each other. One day you will see how I can take good care of you, and you can sing for me while I make you laugh and we could even get married and have kids! I already picked out names for three girls and three boys, because I know you will love to give me lots of children. Wouldn't that be perfect? I promise to love you always. I am your soulmate.

-Signed your one true love, Choi Young-Soo

We all stared at the letter completely disgusted. Euna looked like she was actually going to puke while Aeri looked like she wanted to beat the shit out of someone. I looked at Alex as she seemed angry too, that protective shine in her eyes. After texting Namjoon we all sat in silence waiting for Bangtan to come and see what they think of the mess.

Soon there was a knock on the door. The abrupt sound caused Euna to jump and blush in embarrassment as we all smirked at her in amusement. She let them in and they all came in smiling until they saw our faces. Jungkook sat beside Alex asking her what was wrong as Namjoon came to my side, his eyes asking the silent question.

The rest followed suit and soon we were all in a big circle around my "gift", if that's what you would call it. After Alex explained what had happened at the fan meet the boys seemed pretty eager to see what the gifts were. Namjoon and Yoongi were reading the letter, Jungkook and Tae were looking at the locket and Jimin, Jin, and Hoseok were all looking through the photo album. "What is this!?" Jimin and Hopie yelled in unison horror as Jin wore a deep frown, a mother-like worry shone in his soft eyes.

Tae and Jungkook both looked mortified as they looked between the locket and album, while Namjoon and Yoongi wore matching scowls. "What the Hell?!" Yoongi grumbled. "Sasaengs are already attacking you girls, why can't they stop and act like normal human beings?!" Namjoon all but growled as he was now seeing the photo album as well.

"Why would he do this, doesn't he know it's creepy?" Tae asked, flinching slightly when he noticed a picture of him and I laughing together, curses written in hangul along the top of the photo, an arrow pointing to Tae along with x's drawn over his eyes.

"I hope I won't have to see that guy again.​​​​​​" I mumbled as Namjoon moved closer to me, pulling me into his side. "You should definitely tell your manager and PD Nim. They will think of something." Jin spoke up, the others nodding in agreement. "But seriously, this is super creepy. Looks like I'm having nightmares tonight." Jimin groaned pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yeah I won't be having dreams of frolicking in open fields with the other wild horses tonight, not after this." Hopie said crossing his arms and shaking his head firmly.

"Just be careful next time you leave the dorm okay? We don't know if that guy watches your dorm all the time." Namjoon said gently as he squeezed me in his arms for reassurance. Yoongi nodded. "Yeah, that bastard could be out there right now waiting for you to leave by yourself to kidnap you." I shivered at the thought. "All of you need to be careful, didn't Erin turn him down? He could just decide to go after any of you to get to Erin or just to get a girlfriend." Jungkook shrugged, biting his bottom lip slightly, his eyes flickering worriedly towards Alex.

We all nodded in agreement as Bangtan got up to leave. "Lock the doors and windows!" Namjoon said as he stepped out. "Don't answer the door without checking who it is first." Jin added. "Hey shouldn't you guys be careful too? I mean he knows you guys hang out with us so what if he goes after Namjoon or something for laughing with Erin?" Aeri said crossing her arms over her chest, titling her head with an eyebrow raised. Bangtan laughed and nodded. "But we're men so we can take care of ourselves." Jimin said with a teasing smile, flexing his arms.

"Sure sure, if that's what you believe." Aeri rolled her eyes as they left. I took a deep breath, dialing our manager's number as Aeri and Alex took pictures of the stuff. We just got our first taste of the idol dark side and I am definitely not enjoying it.