“JINA?!” EunAe yelps from the side of the stage and quickly whips her head to her step-sister seated in front. The heads around her follow the same direction, and the wave travels across the entire crowd; then, every single head, every pair of eyes, are all on Jina.

“WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU LOOKING FOR JINA?!!” EunBi screams, and Jungkook audibly chuckles into the microphone.

“Jina,” Jungkook says into the microphone and approaches the side where she’s sitting. “Sing with me, please.”

“No.” Jina says flatly, and the people around her gasp in shock. “What do you think you’re doing? You really expected me to be some girl so head over heels for you that I’d do whatever you’d say? I’m not. I’m not singing with you.”

The gasps get louder this time.

“Please. You have the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard,” Jungkook answers.

“Jina.” Taemi nudges Jina on her side and whispers into her ear, “He didn’t do it. Haena and your devil step sisters devised that whole scheme to hurt you.”

Jina turns her head around to her friend’s direction, trying to understand the words. “What?”

“He’s a good guy,” Taemi simply says back.

Jina brings her attention back to the boy on stage. At this point, Jungkook has reached her end of the stage, and she brings her chin up to him. She catches sight of his facial expression, apologetic eyes but with a hopeful smile. She missed that smile so, so much.

“Please?” Jungkook says again, this time not in the mic, as they were close enough to just speak normally.

“Uhm,” Jina hesitates and awkwardly eyes the people around her. She didn’t know if she was ready to do this- this definitely wasn’t what she pictured her first performance to be like. There was too many people in the crowd, too many that she was uncomfortable with. “I.. I can’t.”

“OH COME ON! SING WITH HIM!” A random shout a few meters back is heard; it’s quite far away that Jina can’t even make out if it’s a male or female’s voice. “JINA! JINA!”

The person starts shouting her name, and Jina’s taken aback by the chant. Then, the sound doubles in volume… then triples.

“JINA, JINA, JINA!”

Jina turns her entire body around to get a look of the crowd. She stays there, in awe, that people are actually cheering her on, pushing her to go up there and sing.

“JINA, JINA, JINA!”

“They want to hear from you,” Jungkook says and flashes a smile at Jina, and the sight makes her swoon at once- so much for her little profession just minutes before.

“Okay,” Jina lets out, and the audience completely erupts in shouts and whistles. Jina gets up from her seat in the grass, and Taemi watches affectionately as her best friend makes her way to the stage.

Jungkook puts down his microphone to crouch down and assist the girl up on the stage, holding her by the waist and grabbing her up with him. When Jina settles on her feet, she takes a took at Jungkook. He’s smiling, with tender eyes and a dimple adorning the side of his cheeks that Jina literally cannot resist.

“You look beautiful.” Jungkook whispers, and the three words paint goosebumps of Jina’s skin. She’d never been called that before. “You ready to do this?”

“We haven’t practiced in so long, I’m not sure I’ll be able to. You’re not going to win that A with me.”

“Is that what you think I’m worried about? Winning this?” Jungkook asks, and Jina just nods her head. “I don’t care about that, or Haena and her little plan, or any of that. All I care, right now, is to sing with the most beautiful girl that has the most beautiful voice.”

“You mean that?”

“You helped me realize my love for singing again. Of course I mean it,” Jungkook answers.

“Alriiiiighty, event’s ending in about 20 minutes and that includes the judges’ deliberations! If your performance does not start soon, then you will have to forfeit - so let’s get this going, shall we?” The announcer shouts in his microphone, and it jolts both Jungkook and Jina back to reality.

“I know we haven’t practiced in a while, but it’s going to be perfect. Like how it always is with you.”

With that, Jina places her hand in Jungkook’s, and the pair walks in the middle of the stage. As the lights turn off momentarily to prepare for the performance, Jungkook separates his hand from Jina’s grasp to retrieve her guitar, which Jina takes happily.

The two sit back into the two chairs placed out for them, and then Jungkook grabs her hand once more.

“You’re going to do amazing,” Jungkook whispers to her as they sit in the moment of both silence and darkness.

“You’re going to do great, too.” Jina replies, and she feels his grip on her hand tighten. Then, right out of the blue, she feels his lips press a