Meals and memories
meals and memories writing challenge
I still remember the noons when Umaima used to tell Mama and us about BTS. She used to like RM. She was not ARMY, and she still isn’t, but every summer noon during lunch, she used to tell us about BTS.
At that time, we used to think BTS looked like girls, and we thought all Koreans looked the same. So, a long time ago, BTS were first introduced to us by Umaima.
Umaima got to know them from the Permission to Dance dance challenge. She used to show us the videos, and we used to watch them with her. I think we were only 8 years old when BTS were first introduced to us.
It took my twin and me about one year to start watching them properly. Then my twin continued watching them even after Umaima stopped, because Umaima only watched them casually and wasn’t deeply into them.
My twin learned their stage names first, but it took me a lot of time to learn them. The first stage name I learned was V, because it was easy to remember.
The first video I remember watching was the Bad Boy video, where I saw Jungkook. After that, I watched a Go Go concert performance, but I didn’t watch the full concert. I stopped at RM’s part before they started singing.
We really started watching BTS on our own when we were 9. As the days passed, we kept searching for their lives, their real names, and learning more and more about them.
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We have now spent 5 years with them, and this is our 6th year. We started in 2021.
In 2023, I got sick for a long time, about one and a half months. I was so sick that we couldn’t even celebrate our birthday. After I got better, my twin got sick with the same illness and stayed sick for one month.
My twin already knew her bias was V. When she was sick, we used to play edits of V. She says she doesn’t know which video she saw first or which song she listened to first. Maybe 2023 was the year she realized that she really liked BTS and V.
For me, I realized it in 2024. That was when I realized I had already spent three years with them, and I was so happy. It was New Year's, and we were so excited that it was going to be our 5th year with them. Now it’s our 6th year.
That’s how we became part of the ARMY.
The member I first started liking, even before knowing their stage names, was J‑Hope. I used to love, and still love, J-Hope’s smile so much.
When my twin learned their stage names, I used to ask her, “Who is the one who smiles so much?” Sometimes she would say Jungkook or Jimin, but I would say, “No, not them. There is another one.”
Then she would say J‑Hope, and I would say, “Yes, him!”
I didn’t even know their names at that time, but I still liked him.
Later, after knowing them better, I started liking Suga’s personality a lot too. And after learning everything about them, here I am now — OT7.
