Jungkook sighed in relief. When he had decided that his health was worth more effort than he had been putting in for the last couple of weeks, he hadn´t anticipated all the externalities that came with eating more consciously. Namely, the excess fiber and water in the fruits and vegetables that he had been including in his diet so diligently, made him use the restroom on much more regular basis. As he sat in the stall and finally gave way to the pressure built up in his lower body over the last couple of hours of vigorous dance practice, he was flooded with feelings of happiness and gratitude for that very day and his life in general. He examined the random scribbling on the stall door in front of him. It was in English so it took him a while to decipher the meaning.

Why doesn't Chuck Norris have to flush the toilet? He scares the shit out of it!

Jungkook snickered under his breath. Living healthy had its bright side after all. He was just finishing his business when the door to the restroom opened and somebody walked in.

"Hey, I have been trying to reach you!" sounded a deep voice full of excitement that Jungkook immediately recognized as Taehyung´s. "I just wanted to ask when you´re flying in. I thought maybe I could meet you somewhere for a bit before the show tomorrow," There was a moment of silence. "What do you mean? Why?" Another pause. Jungkook got up and was about to flush and leave the stall but his hand stayed hovering above the flusher when Taehyung´s voice rose in volume. "What other plans? This was supposed to be our romantic weekend, we´ve been planning it for weeks!" he exclaimed in accusation. Suddenly Jungkook felt like he was intruding. Taehyung didn´t talk much about his current relationship, he mostly just brushed of the teasing of the other Bangtan members when he zoned out for long whiles, texting back and forth with his boyfriend with a goofy smile stretched across his face. "I know, I'm sorry," Taehyung was muttering now, obviously ashamed of his strong reaction. "Can you at least try? Please! … Okay. … Okay, if they do, call me, alright? … Right. Well, bye then," he said sounding hurt. Jungkook felt sad for him. He waited until the other boy exited the restroom and then followed when the sound of footsteps in the hallway died down.

When he entered the practice studio a couple of minutes later, the other boy was sitting next to Jimin and JHope and seemed to be listening intently on what the boys were discussing. He looked over to the door to see who came in and their eyes met for a second before Jungkook looked away, heading to the center of the room to resume practicing his dance moves.

He wasn´t sure if he should offer Taehyung some words of consolation later. He didn´t consider himself to be particularly talented at any communication requiring empathy and tactfulness. His hyungs were good at that sort of thing. When his fellow BTS members were experiencing difficulties or having personal problems, he always settled for offering consoling hugs, a non-verbal reminder that he was there for them in case they wanted to share, but he usually didn´t take it any further than that. He could never quite think of anything to say anyway; all things that came to his mind were either jokingly dismissive or unhelpfully cliché, neither of which he deemed very helpful.

The showcase took place at an ice-hockey stadium converted into a concert hall. Taehyung deemed the choice of venue to be a little peculiar but then again, perhaps it was just another manifestation of how much the Czech loved their national sport. The ice was gone, replaced with a wooden floor and there was a stage set up at one end of the playing field. He walked around it a couple of times to get a feeling of the space that they would have to work with. He thought that the lights were perhaps more intense than at their other performances because he could hardly see anything beyond the edge of the stage. He didn´t mind for the performance itself, if anything, it would take the edge off his nerves if he felt like was just in the studio practicing with the others and didn´t see the audience, but he hoped the lights would be dimmed a little when they talked to their fans. He loved seeing the excitement on their faces, some grinning madly, some crying overwhelmed by their emotions. It was his favorite part of their shows when they got to see the impact their work had on their fans and it always made all the hard work worthwhile.

On his way back to their changing room Taehyung fished around in his pocket and pulled out his phone. Against his better judgement, he still hoped Ivan would reach out and say that he managed to get around whatever was holding him back from coming to the showcase. After all, it would be ironic as hell that even though Ivan had happened to go on a business trip to the Czech Republic for exactly the same weekend that BTS were performing there for the first time ever, he wouldn't make it to what was supposed to be his first BTS concert. Taehyung suspected that all this is just a part of some bigger surprise that his boyfriend had planned for him. It would make sense, he loved surprises.

He lit up his phone to find supportive messages from his family wishing him good luck at the showcase. No messages from Ivan. He was doing a good job making sense of their phone conversation the day before, how indifferent Ivan´s voice sounded when he told him he would miss the showcase. That was what had given away the act. If Ivan really couldn't come he surely would have sounded more stressed about it.

Satisfied with his conclusion, Taehyung rounded the last corner and saw the door labeled 'Satna 2' where their changing area had been set up. He heard the unusually frantic buzz of voices inside even before he reached for the door handle.

Inside, everybody was crouched around something on the floor. After a short inspection, that something turned out to be Jungkook, sitting on the floor clutching his ankle, his face twisted in pain.

"What happened?" Taehyung asked Yoongi who was standing next to him.

"Jungkook accidentally bumped shoulders with a foreign female and almost killed himself trying to get away from her," the older boy dragged out sarcastically.

Taehyung looked around the circle and immediately identified the foreign female who was now frantically apologizing to Jungkook, a worried expression on her face. With the little insight, it seemed like that contributed to his teammate's pained expression to a way larger degree than the injury.

"I-It's okay, I'm fine," Jungkook was stammering, not knowing where to look. He made a move to get up but the lady's hand on his shoulder made him freeze in the spot quickly enough. Taehyung tried his best to wipe the smile from his lips and look concerned, but it was hard - the situation was just too comical.

"No, Jungkook ssi, I heard it crack, you stay right where you are," the woman said resolutely and straightened up, dialing quickly on her cell phone. "My friend is a doctor in a hospital nearby, we should have it x-rayed. I have a car, I will drive you there. Shihyuk ssi, you will kindly come too, right?" she addressed the manager. "Oh god, if I have just ruined your dancing career, I will never forgive myself!" she exclaimed and turned around, pacing back and forth across the room, the phone pressed to her ear. If somebody in the room had a different idea about the preferred solution, they didn't dare to protest in face of the energetic female.

"Who is that?" Taehyung inquired. The woman was obviously Czech, speaking the harsh sounding language at a rapid speed into the phone now.

"She is our translator and one of the event managers. Nobody could pronounce her last name so she told us just to call her Eva. She popped in to introduce herself and I guess our maknae couldn't handle it like a normal person," explained Yoongi and then he disinterestedly walked back to his mirror since Jungkook was now ensuring everyone that he was truly fine. (Yet he didn't dare to stand up for obvious reasons.)

"All right, he said we could come right away. If you were so kind and helped me get him into the car…?" by the time the translator nodded to the boys, JHope and Jimin were already helping Jungkook to his feet. "Take him to the main entrance, I will be right there," she instructed them and turned to her phone again to dial another number. That´s when she spotted Taehyung staring at her. "Ah, Taehyung ssi, I don´t believe we have met," she extended her hand for a handshake and smiled pleasantly. "My name is Eva Brouzdalovicka, I am the event manager and I will be translating for you during the show. It is very nice to meet you."

Taehyung accepted her hand. Her grip was warm and firm, just like he had expected. "Nice to meet you too," he replied.

"I´m sorry, I need to take care of this mess. Perhaps we will get to talk later," she flashed him another smile before she turned away, walking briskly out of the room speaking foreign again. Taehyung felt like a train had just sped by him.