Chapter 2: The Weird Donsaeng, Who Keeps Ignoring Jaebum (No reason).

Everyone noticed that Youngjae has been strangely quiet all morning. He wouldn't talk to anyone, and even if he did, he shortened his replies to simple stuff like: ‘okay’, ‘yeah’ and ‘no’. It wasn't usual for Choi Youngjae to be quiet. Even his whispering voice was louder than most people’s normal taking voices. So of course everyone noticed how reserved the loudest and the most hyper member was being all morning. Plus, it was the morning of the first M-net Asian Music Awards that Got7 was officially attending and Got7 was even up for an award, so nothing really explained Youngjae’s sudden decision to mute and isolate himself from the world.

Jaebum, as a concerned leader and a guy who had the hugest crush on Youngjae, was trying to find a way, more like a reason, to interact with Youngjae all morning, but he just couldn't find one. Because every single time he would at least try to talk to the youngster, Youngjae would start to avoid Jaebum. Also Jaebum’s sudden awkwardness while trying to come with a topic to bicker over with Youngjae needed to be mentioned. Jaebum himself didn’t even know why he felt so uncomfortable all of a sudden.

But needless to mention, Youngjae was most likely ignoring Jaebum. But what was Youngjae’s reason for ‘overlooking’ the leader he loved so much? Didn’t they make up yesterday after Youngjae hugged Jaebum and apologized about a hundred thousand times afterwards? So what was up now?

"What's his deal?" - Jaebum wondered out loud, following Youngjae who was quietly going over the few new dance moves in addition to ‘If You Do’ for Got7’s upcoming performance with Yugyeom. For an odd reason Jaebum couldn’t stop looking at Youngjae, who was trying his best and hardest not to mess up the performance that would decide Got7’s future achievements in their career.

"I don't know. Did something happen between you two?" – Jinyoung, who was standing close by, asked.

"What could possibly happen between us?" - Jaebum thought. And it was true; there really wasn’t anything that could go wrong with Youngjae and Jaebum’s simple loving friendship.

"Not really" - he replied coolly, trying not to show anyone any signs of worry and distress Youngjae was causing.

"Kids, gather around me, please?" – Got7’s main manager shouted, catching everyone’s attention, including Youngjae’s, that Jaebum was striving to get ever since he got up this morning.

 "Okay, we are now going to head to the award show, and let me remind you your schedule again..." - their manager went on to explain the details as seven boys circled him.

"Are you okay?" - Jaebum without anyone noticing asked Youngjae while trying to grab his soft hands. Youngjae sensing Jaebum next to him quickly put his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah" - Youngjae replied and left Jaebum's side to stand next to Mark and Jackson. As soon as Youngjae approached him, Mark's arms were wrapped around Youngjae. The two were joking around and Mark was making Youngjae laugh harder than ever. Mark and Youngjae were way too into their own world that they were unable to listen to their manager’s long list of things to do.

"What is wrong with this kid?" - Jaebum thought to himself, kind of wanting to be there next to Youngjae and laugh with him instead of Mark. He wanted to be there with Youngjae listening to his loud laugh that immediately made you want to laugh with him no matter you wanted to or not.

"Mark's not even that funny" - Jaebum thought, feeling a bit guilty right after. But it was true, ninety percent of all Mark’s jokes were so stupid that people couldn’t even laugh at them. Nonetheless, Mark’s unfunny self seemed to be attracting Youngjae for a stupid reason today.

"Okay, now let's get dressed up and please let the make-up artists make your faces less scary” – the seven boys’ manager mocked the boys laughing along with a few staff members after finishing reading Got7’s schedule for the day.

***

"Damn, I look good" - Bambam praised himself, looking in a mirror. Although Jackson made a strange sound with his mouth, calling out Bambam’s high level of self love, no one could blame him as he actually looked pretty great.

"You look amazing as well, hyung" - Bambam said after seeing Youngjae's simple but sophisticated and tasteful outfit. Bambam was right, Youngjae really did look amazing.

"This kid keeps getting more and more handsome by day" - Jaebum thought to himself, taking in Youngjae’s ethereal beauty.

"I know, right" - Mark said, putting his arm around Jaebum's shoulders.

"What?" - Jaebum was confused. Was he stupid enough to admit that out loud?

"You said Youngjae hyung was handsome" - Yugyeom said still picking out the jacket he was going to wear at the red carpet.

"I didn't" - Jaebum tried to deny his embarrassing confession. It wasn’t exactly ‘embarrassing’ as Got7 occasionally threw compliments at each other and it wasn’t that strange to compliment your fellow member. Nevertheless, Jaebum felt his body heat raising and his cheeks getting redder by the second.

"You did, and honestly I hundred percent agree with you" - Mark said and smiled at the cute main vocalist, giving a small bit of confidence as Youngjae was self conscious of his body and looks most of the time.

“Thank you, hyung” - Youngjae said cheerfully half-hugging Mark.

"Since when are they so close?" - Jaebum bitterly murmured under his breath, turning to the mirror behind him and checking if his outfit was alright and if he looked at least half-presentable.

"Youngjae, what do you think?" - Jaebum asked as he caught eyes with Youngjae and smiled.

"You look alright" - Youngjae said without any emotions, he almost looked annoyed, which annoyed Jaebum.

"Ya, what is..." - Jaebum was about to start another possible argument but was quickly interrupted by Jackson’s loud weird laugh, which caught Youngjae's attention.

"Are all of you ready to go?" – Got7’s manager hyung shortly appeared again and started to check if everyone was ready to shine.

"I sincerely hope you guys remember the choreography and the songs" - manager said obviously worried.

"We're going to be fine, hyung. Have we ever messed up? We're perfect!" - Jackson said praising his own group as he was Got7’s number one fan.

"I hope your words aren't just empty words" - the manager said and laughed a bit. And with that Got7 was off to one of the biggest award ceremonies in the industry.

***

After arriving to the red carpet, Youngjae was the first one to get out and lead to group. Youngjae with his casual smart outfit that made him look chic naturally lead his team to the red carpet, looking like a rightful Got7’s leader.

"Okay guys, get ready for the performance!" - Jaebum announced turning on his leader mode, stepping on to the special stage before the real award show. They were going to perform their debut song "Girls Girls Girls" but with a small spin. It wasn't exactly like the previous version, as they have grown a lot since then; on top of that their voices have become deeper and better. It was more of a "Girls Girls Girls" version 2.0.

The performance went great and, fortunately, without any incidents. The boys were really breathtakingly good. But for Jaebum, Youngjae was especially good-looking, and his vocals were, as usual, stunning. He looked really mature and fashionable and just really handsome. But Jaebum, unfortunately, wasn't the only one who noticed the boy's startling look. Mark and Yugyeom started to shower the main vocal with compliments as soon as they got off the stage. Youngjae just smiled shyly and mumbled a thank you.

Jaebum was actually going to do the same, he even ran a little trying to catch up with the younger one, but they had to pose for another red carpet photo not letting the leader 'worship' his favorite member. But still they got to stand next to each other, which was already good.

While posing for the hundreds of cameras, Bambam said something stupid but funny, making all the other members laugh.

Laughing at Bambam's random stupidity, Jaebum habitually turned to look at Youngjae, wanting to see him laughing his off at Bambam’s random self confident comment, but Youngjae was standing next to him emotionless with the straightest face ever. And if you looked very closely, paying attention to every bit of his expressionless face, you could see he was angry at something or someone, or maybe annoyed. Whatever it was, it was obvious, Youngjae wasn't happy.

Seeing the frown on Youngjae's face, Jaebum immediately stopped laughing and whipped the smile off his face completely, looking serious than ever. There was something about Youngjae making a serious facial expression that made Jaebum mad and irritated.

***

It was a few minutes until Got7 got on the huge MAMA stage. Got7 was in the backstage with BTS – another rising kpop idol group that was going to share the stage with Got7.

Youngjae was nervous. It was their first major awards show stage plus they were nominated for 2 awards for the first time after their debut and they were just too many things to worry and be nervous about. And because it was Got7’s first time at a major award show, Youngjae couldn’t mess all of it up. He had to try his best to keep up with his teammates’ dancing skills. Youngjae’s anxiety of going on the big stage that everyone’s eyes was going to be focused on explained why he had been nervous and stressed all morning, ignoring everyone and everything, especially Jaebum. Youngjae didn’t know why. It possibly was because Jaebum was the first person Youngjae saw after realizing how ty of a performer Youngjae was compared to his teammates.

As if sensing Youngjae's nervousness Bambam patted his back, warmly smiling at his anxious hyung.

Youngjae got ready to jump on the stage, trying to hear the right beat, waiting for his cue. After a few seconds, Youngjae was up on the stage shining brighter than a newly polished 20 carat diamond ring, plus he was really satisfied with his outfit for the performance. His jacket made him look amazing and it had Youngjae’s favorite quote on the back. As Youngjae got on the stage and focused on the dancing and performing well for everyone in the stadium, all of his worries went away and his anxiety was replaced with excitement and hype. Now the only thing Youngjae worried about was showing people that Got7 was worthy of the title ‘best boy group’.

During Got7’s "If You Do" performance, Jaebum slipped on something and almost fell, which caused Youngjae to worry and miss a note, which annoyed Youngjae to death, because Youngjae was one of those annoying people who aimed for perfection whilst on stage. So missing a note was one of Youngjae's worst nightmares, especially when Youngjae’s specialty was singing perfectly even when dancing. Youngjae also got worried while Jaebum was doing a flip during their surprise dance break in "If You Do". Thank God Jaebum's flip was successful. Youngjae couldn’t even start to imagine what would have happened if things didn’t go as planned and Jaebum didn’t land. Thinking about the alternate way the situation could’ve gone in made Youngjae feel bad for ignoring Jaebum and giving him an attitude.

"Are you okay, hyung?" - Youngjae quickly asked Jaebum as they got off stage.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" - Jaebum said and smiled. Jaebum felt happy about the performance, and now as Youngjae exchanged the first complete sentence with Jaebum since waking up Jaebum felt even happier and content with everything going on.

"Good" - Youngjae said, glad nothing went wrong and went on to rest after an exhausting performance.

***

Got7 was now in the van, heading back to their hotel to rest for the day.

"Youngjae, is there something you want to talk about?" - Jaebum asked sitting on the seat he had to fight with Mark for. Jaebum was really surprised when Mark started arguing over the seat next to Youngjae. The fact that Youngjae was cheering for team Mark even more shocked Jaebum. Eventually, Jinyoung showed up and took Mark away and Jaebum proudly sat next to Youngjae.

"Not really" – Youngjae answered, looking confused, as if he hadn’t been ignoring Jaebum for a whole day.

"So you’re going to pretend you haven’t been avoiding me?” – Jaebum asked, looking at Youngjae’s innocent face.

"Oh" - Youngjae said, finally remembering his child like act.

 "I didn't mean to. I’m sorry, hyung" – Youngjae apologized, smiling and turning his attention back to his music that he was listening to prior to Jaebum’s question.

“Cool” – Jaebum replied, feeling something not right about the situation. He felt weirdly empty as he didn’t think Youngjae wouldn’t apologize this easily. Jaebum, frankly, was expecting some type of drama.

After a few minutes, right when Jaebum was about to fall asleep, a soft hand grabbed his and intertwined its fingers with his. Jaebum, shock obvious on his face, opened his eyes and looked at his hands.

It was Youngjae's warm and soft hand that was intertwined with his. Youngjae himself was "sleeping", leaning his head against the glass window. Jaebum smiled to himself and put his head on Youngjae's shoulder, closing his eyes.