Chapter Ten

"So let me get this straight," Jang Mi frowned, "You're doing the showcase because this random girl and guy convinced you?" She raised her eyebrows in disbelief as Junhong nodded.

They had been packing up after a biology lab (they were partners) and she had asked him if he wanted to get lunch after but he had turned her down because he had to practise for his audition. She was surprised to say the least as her and Junhong had been partners and friends for a while yet she never realised that he was interested in performing.

She lifted her bag on her shoulder as they made their way out and she asked, "Okay, you're going to need to elaborate more."

Junhong chuckled, "You know Director GD of the MAP department?"

She nodded, "Who doesn't? He accidentally set fire to the auditorium that one time and his excuse was that it was 'all in the name of art'." Junhong laughed as they walked through the hallways, passing other students on their way to lectures or lessons.

"Yeah well apparently he has a list," he explained, "And it's got ten students that he wants to audition for the showcase that probably won't."

"And you're on that list?"

"I was. But my friend Namjoon and this girl, they both convinced me to audition," he told her.

Jang Mi raised her eyebrows. She knew Namjoon but only through Taehyung as he was friends with him; she guessed he was probably helping because he had a thing for the girl – at least, from what she'd heard about him from Taehyung.

"I think her name was Yunji," Junhong continued, looking as if he was really thinking hard.

"What are you going to audition with?"

"Dance and rap," he said, then paused, "I'm not sure if I remember correctly but I peeked at the list when they were talking to me and I swear your name was on it."

Jang Mi halted, causing Junhong to stop along with her. He looked over her in concern, waving his hand in front of her face. She stared at nothing in particular as she mumbled, "Me?"

He nodded, "Yeah – at least I think."

She shook her head in disbelief; she didn't want to audition at all. Not just because of her father but also because she was terrified to perform in front of people. She'd had a terrible experience when she was younger – which wasn't necessarily made better by her father's intervention – and now she just really couldn't. Jang Mi ignored Junhong's calls to get her attention as her thoughts ran around in her head.

She quickly snapped out of it as she heard him say, "Oh, there they are now."

Looking up, she spotted a pretty girl and a boy with bright red hair coming towards them. "Ah, Namjoon dyed his hair red since I last saw him," Junhong told her. Jang Mi appraised them, noticing that the girl was carrying a black notebook and looking between it and Jang Mi as if comparing something. Is there a picture of me there? They were slowly getting closer and she really wasn't ready to face off with them yet.

"Um… I just remembered I left something behind in the lab," she blurted before turning around and practically running in the opposite direction. Looking back, she saw Junhong's confused expression as she wasn't heading in the direction of their biology lab at all – if anything, she was heading more towards the MAP department. Namjoon and the girl – Yunji – looked surprised, speeding their pace up to catch up with her.

As quickly as she could, Jang Mi turned several corners in an attempt to lose them. It wasn't working as they were still hot on her trail and she considered ditching her speed walking in order to literally run. At this point in time, her reputation was the last thing on her mind as she was bumping into people and accidentally knocking them.

"Sorry," she called over her shoulder, not slowing down at all. They were gaining on her as Namjoon was much taller than her so had longer legs. She turned a corner, just about to start running when someone grabbed her forearm and pulled her into a room. Her yelp was covered by the slamming of the door; it took the other person's help and all her coordination not to fall over.

The person put their other hand on her other forearm, steadying her. She looked up, her eyes meeting Jungkook. "Thanks," she breathed, trying to catch her breath. He nodded as she pulled away to peek outside. Yunji and Namjoon had already passed and seemed to just be following their instincts on which direction she went in. Deciding that it was best not to risk getting spotted by them, she stepped away from the door, looking up to see Jungkook watching her.

"What're you doing running from Namjoon and that girl?" he raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

She shook her head, opening only to close it again. To be honest, she had no idea what compelled her to flee as she could have easily just said 'no' when they asked her. For some reason, she felt the need to run which was probably ridiculous because she looked stupid and they would still be looking for her now.

"It's a long story," she sighed, settling for not explaining the situation; she was kind of embarrassed now she was thinking about it.

Jungkook didn't seem satisfied with her answer but to her relief nodded anyway. Finally calm, Jang Mi looked around the room they were in. It seemed that she had speed walked all the way to the MAP department in her haste to escape as they were in a piano practise room. It was mostly empty apart from a bookcase with music sheets and books, some random chairs and of course the grand piano in the centre.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked.

He shrugged, looking back at the piano, "I was just playing a bit. I was about to leave when I spotted you."

"Oh," she paused, "You play the piano?"

Jungkook didn't respond for a while as he looked at the piano for a long time. Slowly, he dragged his eyes away from it, meeting Jang Mi's. "I dabble," he replied after a while.

She nodded, looking away from his eyes; she wanted to ask him if he would play for her but knew that he may not want to – after all, she never wanted to sing for most people. There were a few exceptions to that but she still knew that sometimes people didn't like displaying their abilities to people.

"Wanna hear me play?" he offered, gesturing to the piano. Obviously he was unlike her when it came to that. Hesitantly, she nodded, following him as he sat on the piano stool. She stood next to the stool, resting her arms on the piano. When he didn't start playing, she looked at him expectantly. He smiled at her as he tapped the stool he sat on. Raising her eyebrows, she shrugged, sitting next to him in the room he had made. She was conscious of the fact that their thighs were touching; she forced herself to not think about that.

"What do you want to hear?" he asked her, looking at her side profile.

Thinking carefully, Jang Mi turned to look at him. Their faces were surprisingly close but she tried not to let the fact that she noticed show. "Um… whatever you want," she replied, practically whispering.

He pursed his lips in thought, nodding, "Okay."

She watched as he turned to look at the piano, his fingers resting on what she assumed were chords. They pressed down and he began playing a nice tune. She'd never heard it before but she liked it. His fingers moved quickly and fluidly and she found herself smiling at it.

"I give it to you," his voice rang out in the room as he sang in English, surprising her. Jang Mi's eyes roamed up from his fingers to his face; she hadn't expected him to start singing. Her eyes scanned his face as he sang, watching the way his jaw opened and closed. He switched between English and Korean as he sang – she wanted to make a joke about how he said he at English but resisted the urge.

He didn't slow down his playing once; his singing and playing were equally amazing. She watched in awe as he finished playing, singing, "Good to you."

Once he was done, he removed his hands from the keys, placing them in his lap. He turned to her with his eyebrows raised, "So?"

"That was amazing," Jang Mi blurted, avoiding his eyes.

He chuckled sheepishly, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Thanks."

"Um… what song was that?" she asked.

"Oh, Yoongi wrote it a while back," he told her, "I helped him record the guide for it. It's called Propose."

"Well, it's really nice," Jang Mi smiled at him. He smiled back and they were silent for a while, the only noise being Jungkook's fingers occasionally pressing random notes on the keys. Jang Mi was slightly envious as she had always wanted to play an instrument but had never gotten around to it. Min knew how to play multiple instruments and Taehyung had started learning the saxophone when they were young – of course he'd gotten bored and given up but he still knew the basics.

Wanting to break the silence, Jang Mi joked, "So, do you always serenade girls like this?"

Chuckling, Jungkook shook his head, "Nope. You're the first girl I've ever actually played and sang for."

She gasped, "For real? I'm honoured… but I will admit, it's a waste. Imagine all the girls you could've seduced with this sort of thing."

He smirked, "Maybe you're the test group."

She laughed, gently shoving his shoulder with her own.

"Just let me know this, is it working?" he asked her.

Her eyebrows furrowed, "How would we know if it was?"

"One of two ways," he said, "You either suddenly feel the urge to sleep with me…" He drifted off as if waiting for confirmation.

She shook her head.

Raising an eyebrow, his eyes met hers, "Or you can't help but find yourself getting lost in my eyes."

Jang Mi wondered if that was the case as she looked into his eyes; she'd made it clear they were just friends but who was to say that would stop her from actually growing to like him as more. His eyes didn't budge from hers and after a few solid seconds of staring, she ended up blurting, "Yeah, it doesn't work."

He frowned as she laughed, tapping his back in consolation, "Sorry, Kookie."

His frown grew deeper as he raised both of his eyebrows, "Kookie?"

"Yeah, it's cute isn't it?" she grinned.

"Not at all. My friends only call me that when they're trying to irritate me," he replied.

She laughed, standing from the stool, "Well, I like it."

Jungkook pouted, unimpressed with her joke. He really didn't want her to start calling him 'Kookie' on a regular basis but something told him that he had no say in the matter at all. Before he could say anything, Jang Mi announced, "I'm going to grab some lunch. You can either come with or you can sit there and sulk. What's it gonna be, Kookie?"

She was okay with eating alone and had planned to after Junhong had said no but she found herself kind of wanting Jungkook's company. It was weird but she found him funny and enjoyed talking to him so she figured there was no real reason not to ask him along. She hoped he wouldn't get the wrong idea as she waited for his response.

"Sure," he shrugged, getting off the stool to follow her out.

As she opened the door, she sighed, "Finally. I could eat a cow right now."

Namjoon ticked another two names off the list as him and Yunji walked away from Lee Suhyun and Lee Chanhyuk. They had been surprisingly easy to convince – especially when compared with Joo Jang Mi who had made a run for it when she'd spotted them. He was still unsure as to how she knew that they were looking for her or why she chose to run but he hoped they'd find her soon. She hadn't actually ran, instead speed walking; at the pace she was going, she might as well have ran.

Heaving a sigh, he sat down in one of the booths to the ice cream parlour, shortly followed by Yunji sitting opposite him. He did his best not to stare at her as he didn't want to make her uncomfortable but he couldn't help but notice how her eyelashes swept her cheeks as she blinked.

"Five down, five to go," he smiled at her as he flipped through the book.

Yunji nodded slightly, "Do yo-you know th-the l-l-last five?"

After spending a few days with Yunji he'd realised that while yes, she was painfully shy, that wasn't the full reason she stuttered. It seemed to be something that had formed when she was young – he knew a whole lot about stutters. She kind of reminded him of himself as he had a stutter when he was younger, developed for different reasons of course. None of his friends knew about it; none of them really knew about his past in general.

"Well one of the last five is me," he grinned, looking at the list complied about him. He tried not to find it creepy but that was rather difficult, what with the way it had a list of all his favourite things and such. How did he even find this information?

Yunji gave him an expectant look as if silently asking him if he was going to join; he'd gotten pretty good at reading her looks. She must have sensed his reluctance because she gave him the puppy dog eyes, pouting her lips as her head tilted to left slightly. He had no way of resisting her – especially with that face he was giving her.

Sighing heavily, he shrugged, "Fine, I'll audition, meaning we have four people on the list."

She nodded, grinning at him. Namjoon had been planning on sulking but that grin she sent him made him smile back at her – his insides melting. He tried not to linger too long on the way her eyes crinkled as she smiled.

"Anyway, I know Jeon Jungkook and he's pretty stubborn so that might be a challenge," he said, frowning at his page. It had all of Jungkook's information but no stage name much to Namjoon's disappointment; he enjoyed reading what Director GD came up with. He flipped it over, looking at the next person. "I don't know Oh Sehun or Choi Youngjae," he told her, "But if they're anything like the others then it shouldn't be too bad – you know, not including Joo Jang Mi."

Yunji giggled quietly, "Ye-yeah. Wh-what are we g-g-gonna do about he-her?"

Namjoon shrugged, "I don’t know, we might have to ambush her."

She pursed her lips and he could tell she didn’t like that idea.

"You know, if worst comes to worst," he added then frowned, "Something tells me that we might not even get close enough to talk to her."

Her eyebrows raised as if discouraged then shook her head, "We'll g-get her."

"I hope so," Namjoon replied as he stood from his seat. He looked at her, asking, "What do you want?"

"Um… st-st-strawberry please," she smiled gratefully.

He nodded, heading to the counter. Namjoon hoped that they would be able to tick everyone off the list but he really wasn't sure how everything would go. Yunji was a sweet girl and he wanted to her to succeed and if that would mean chasing down random people then he would do that.

He was considering recommending his speech therapist from when he was young to her but that would mean revealing too much about himself; he also wasn't sure how she'd react. He didn’t want to scare her off but he also didn’t want to leave her to sort it out for herself. Namjoon had experienced what it was like to have a stutter and it was incredibly frustrating and discouraging – especially since she wanted to be a director.

He just wanted to help.

Sighing, Hoseok tried to ignore Jimin's stares. He hoped that if he ignored him then maybe he would leave him alone but unfortunately for him, that wasn't the case. They had been stood in the middle of a dance studio as they practised for their auditions but now Hoseok was sat on the floor, rubbing his right knee.

"What happened to you knee?" Jimin asked finally, handing him a bottle of water.

Hoseok took it, smiling gratefully at him. He took a large gulp before responding, "Nothing."

"The way you're clutching it right now begs to differ," he frowned.

Slowly, Hoseok removed his hands, ignoring the pain he felt as he rose to his feet. "Look, you need to relax. I'm perfectly fine," he said, as brightly as he could. Then, holding back a grimace, he jumped up and down, using all his strength not to fall down. "See."

Jimin didn’t look convinced in the slightest, his eyes still lingering on Hoseok's knee. "It's okay if you don't want to admit to me but you should at least get that looked at."

Hoseok felt as if he was a little kid being told off by his mother. Sure his knee hurt a bit, but it wasn't enough to go to the doctors about. The pain wasn't regular; it just showed up at times. He was too busy to go get it checked up anyway; he had a lot of reports and evaluations due in and now he had the showcase audition added onto that.

Of course he couldn't explain that to Jimin as he would probably end up getting dragged to a hospital if he did. In fact, any answer that wasn't agreeing with Jimin would most likely end up in him being forced to see the doctor. Even with that in mind, a small part of his mind worried it might be serious. Deciding that Jimin may be right, he thought answering honestly would be the best.

"Fine. I'll go sometime this week," he sighed. Jimin looked doubtful but Hoseok was being completely honest – he was planning on going sometime that week – at least, if nothing stopped him from doing so.

Author's Note: Howdy! (I type while internally cringing.) Here is chapter ten for you all and I'm praying to god there aren't any typos. I got the idea for Jungkook's little piano scene from the beginning of the danger music video - you all know the one. And not sure if you caught it but I've referenced idols from B.A.P, Akmu, Exo and Got7 in this chapter cause why not stuff as many idols in there as possible? Anyway, I better end this note now. I hope you liked the chapter, if so, you should totally subscribe and comment, thanks if you already have! See you next time! ^.^