Chapter 6: Stuck This Way

Juliette pushed Jimin away from her while the other members stared in disbelief.

"Jimin! Why did you kiss me?" Juliette yelled at him.

"Because we're in love," he replied.

"Why on Earth did you think we're in love? We just met!"

"You said yesterday that you were in love with me in high school and still obsessed with me to this day. Then right now, you said you care about me and kissed my cheek."

"I care about you and love you as a fan! Not romantically! And you have to be in love with me too, you know?"

"And I am!"

"How? You know nothing about me?"

"I know you're an amazing artist, you love what I do and don't mind that I'm a celebrity, you're kind, responsible, and you were considerate of my feelings when leaving. Not to mention you're gorgeous too. How could I not be in love with you?"

"You know what this means right?"

"That we can control our talent switch and we don't have to worry about it anymore!"

"No Jimin! Because we weren't in love with each other, now I'm the dancer and you're the painter."

"I'm sure you love me and I love you, just watch. We can still do our own talent."

Jimin dragged her to the living room where he put on the chorus of "Airplane Pt. 2" so he could dance to it as the others gathered around and sat at the couches. Jimin attempted to dance the choreography but wasn't able to.

"We haven't performed this song in a long time. I just can't remember the choreography," Jimin commented.

Jimin switched the song to "Butter" which was slightly more recent and attempted to perform that too but failed yet again.

"I think I'm really nervous and can't perform because of the stress," he added.

"Jimin, enough!" Juliette yelled.

Jungkook, who was next to the speaker, paused the music and the room went dead silent. To break the silence, Taehyung spoke up.

"May I make a suggestion as to how we can be sure about a permanent switch?"

Juliette kindly smiled and nodded at Taehyung.

"If Juliette truly is the dancer now, she should know the choreographies to the new songs we've released but haven't performed or shown the choreos to yet."

Everyone nodded in agreement and Jimin played one of their songs they released earlier that year. Juliette closed her eyes and let the song speak to her and she was easily able to do the choreography to a song she had heard many times before but never saw performed live. All the members looked at Juliette in awe as Jimin's expression grew sadder by the second. After the first chorus, Jungkook paused the song.

"You see Jimin? I am the dancer now which means neither of us or only one of us was in love. Thanks to you, we're now permanently stuck this way."

"I'm sorry," is all Jimin could say.

"Sorry? You're sorry? That doesn't solve anything. I was going to be an amazing artist in France and you are expected to perform for millions of people in the future. You just doomed the both of us. I hope your kiss was worth it."

Juliette began to walk away from the living room back to the hallway where her suitcases were waiting for her. Before leaving through the front door, she directed her attention to Jimin who was still in the living room surrounded by the others.

"I'll be at my aunt's for a week and then I'm going back to Paris and figuring out what to do with my...dance talent. I wish you luck as the only painter in BTS."

She opened the door and headed out. Jimin stood up and went to follow her but Jin stopped him.

"Let her go Jimin, you've caused enough damage already."

Jimin's eyes filled with tears as he looked at the floor and silently walked back to his room. Jin however pulled on his shirt and dragged him back to the living room.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jin asked him, "You need to come up with a solution to the problem you just created."

"Why? She will never love me now. There's no point in getting love from millions of fans. It's not the same."

"Hey now," Namjoon said, "We need you, even if you can't dance. BTS is seven, not six."

"Can't I just fake an injury and not have to perform? It would be like when Yoongi hyung recovered from his surgery."

"That can only work for a short period of time," Yoongi pointed out, "You can't fake an injury for the rest of your life."

"What if we were just honest with everyone?" Jungkook suggested.

"We can't do that," J-Hope responded, "Everyone would get mad at Juliette and think she forced herself onto him even after Jimin tells the truth."

"Well...I have a crazy idea if you want to hear it," Namjoon commented.

*A Few Days Later*

Juliette was staying at her aunt's house as she had told everyone. While her aunt was at work, she tuned into BTS' live performance that they had planned for that week. She put on the channel and made herself some ramen while waiting for BTS' turn to be on stage. She had no idea why she even bothered to watch from how mad she was at Jimin for taking her painting talent away but her curiosity wanted to know how they would solve the issue.

Eventually, it was BTS' turn to perform and everyone got on stage as normal. They all began to sing and dance as if nothing had changed, all seven of them.

"That's not possible, Jimin can't dance!" Juliette thought to herself.

She thought that maybe something changed in the universe and she went to the small canvas and watercolor set she purchased while being with her aunt in the hopes that she would relearn how to paint but was too scared and sad to touch. Now, she had a reason to. She prepped her station and dipped her brush in the paint and held it above the canvas. The only thing she managed to get on it was a drop of paint that dripped from the brush.

"If I still can't paint, how can he dance? There's no way he picked up that much skill in a few days. I don't care how good the others are, it's not possible."

When they sat down to have their interview, Jimin answered the interviewer's questions as usual. Nothing seemed off, nobody was acting suspicious, and everyone seemed normal. After the performance, she grabbed the extra set of keys her aunt had made for her house and left.

*Later that evening*

The members gathered around the table to have dinner when they heard someone knock on the door. To everyone's surprise, it was Juliette. She gently pushed past Jungkook who had opened the door and went straight to Jimin at the dining table. She looked him dead in the eyes.

"Uh, hello?" Jimin said, shocked.

"How did you dance?" Juliette asked him.

"I...well..."

Jimin looked around at the others with fear in his eyes wondering if he should explain himself or not.

"How did you dance?" Juliette demanded.

Suddenly, someone from the hallway walked into the dining room and said they were ready for dinner. Juliette turned over to see who it was. The young man looked almost identical to Jimin other than his eye and nose shape being slightly different and wore the exact clothing Jimin was wearing during the performance. As she looked at him while everyone sat in silence, it all clicked in her head.

"You got a look-alike to take your place?"

Jimin nodded his head.

"We switched back after the performance so I could do the interview," Jimin added.

"Ha ha ha," she nervously laughed, "And here I was thinking you were lucky enough to get your dance talent back while I was stuck not being able to paint."

She sat down at the dining table and looked at everyone in silence.

"Well, is anyone going to explain?" she said, a little more relaxed.

All the members and Jimin's look-alike sat down to tell Juliette what happened.