D-5

Of course we went out shopping. But we had to keep it “lowkey” since there might have been fans. However, we didn’t care about any of it. We were human as well. The truth is…no one knew we were slowly falling in love with each other. And even we didn’t know it.

It was after walking inside one store that so many girls were swarming over us. I held on tight to Jake for dear life. And that was the most terrifying experience that I ever had.

We came home empty-handed and still traumatized that so many girls were following and running and chasing us around. I mean…it’s not all that bad…unless you have the characteristics of a sasaeng, a term that Koreans like to call crazy, not-so-innocent obsessed fans. Jake and I cuddled up on the couch. It was strange because ever since we were in I-LAND, we hadn’t been in touch and close with each other and were too busy training and reaching for our dream. And in five days, that dream was close to coming true.

“Y/N,” he said, gently, “I need you to promise me one thing. Just so that you would know after we debut.”

“Yes…?” I replied, looking up at him with smirking eyes.

“Please don’t change…I want to see the same girl that I once met before I-LAND. I want to tell my fans that I knew a girl named Y/N, and that she was a smart and funny girl that could do anything she set her mind to.”

“I don’t want you to change either,” I said, rubbing his cheeks, “I want to tell my fans that I knew a beautiful and happy boy named Jake. Someone that is gentle and kind and the one that speaks of life to younger audiences.”

Jake’s soft hand cupped my left cheek. He was about to pull me in for a kiss when we were suddenly interrupted by Heeseung.

“We have to go,” he said, panting and quickly putting on a blazer,“Our rehearsal is in an hour!”

We didn’t consider it. Jake pulled me a little closer. Sunoo then sighed lovingly, as if he was a lover of love. And that was acceptable for us. Only…I found that his fandom came from one of the girls: Lara.

As we were waiting in the lobby of HYBE Building, I noticed a black and tan pomeranian puppy staring at me at about four feet away. He tilted his head and then pranced towards me with his tiny paws. I didn’t notice, but he then jumped on my knee, making a light growl. I picked him up and held him high in the air. He was as light as a feather. As I cradled him, he laid his nose on my chest and kept nuzzling my nose.

By then, the rest of the girls were all drooling over him. We were giving him just enough attention for a little puppy. Suddenly, a young man entered and knelt down in front of me, softly smiling.

“This is Yeontan,” he said with a Korean accent.

It was expected, since not everyone can speak English. But this guy seemed to be speaking it perfectly. His face was as pretty as a girl, his jawline was right, and his eyes were bright and sparkly.

I then let him have Yeontan, the name of the puppy. It took us a bit…but we realized that it was Kim Taehyung of BTS.

“Oppa?” I whispered.

Taehyung then carressed my head and he walked away with his puppy in his arms. It seemed he had left all of us girls blushing and squealing. And that was a good thing.

 

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D-4

I rested in my bedroom. Holly, my best friend, walked in and sat down next to me.

“You and Jake have seemingly began to get along better now, haven’t you?” she asked.

“You have no idea,” I said, “He was so angry with us from before. I don’t know why he is being so nice to us now.”

“A change in his heart, maybe?”

“You could say that.”

Holly looked away and all around my room. There was no color. It was grey. And I was blue. But it wasn’t really depressing. It was emotional.

“You haven’t kissed him yet, right?” Holly asked, shooting her head towards me.

“What?! No!” I exclaimed, shooting my eyes towards her, “Why would I do that?! He is too fragile to kiss!”

“Funny,” said Holly, “Because I remember seeing you staring at him lovingly that you almost kissed. And that he was starting to give his affection towards you. There has to be some sort of chemistry going on here!”

“There is NO chemistry. Jake and I are just friends.”

“Do ‘just’ friends cuddle each other in the middle of the night, or each other’s cheeks, or hug each other constantly when they’ve done something wrong?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because I can tell that you have love in your eyes.”

“I had love in my eyes?”

I really didn’t know that I actually began to show my feelings for Jake. And I was thinking that Jake was being questioned like this too. But what if it was true? What if he and I have already fallen in love? Of course it wouldn’t be true to us, but it certainly would be to most of our friends.

At bedtime, I had trouble getting to sleep. The thought of Jake haunted me. And throughout the night, I kept hearing Jake’s voice everywhere. When he yelled, when he softly whispered in my ear, when he spoke to me like an adorable puppy, and so on and so forth.

And eventually, at one in the morning, they abruptly stopped. That’s when I heard violin music playing. I envisioned Jake playing so beautifully. I then realized he was playing the same piece I heard when we were in I-LAND.

As I was dreaming, I heard Hinata’s voice. It went black. That was when I clearly heard Hinata’s voice.

“Y/N?” she said, “Y/N! Wake up!”

I fluttered my eyelids open. I saw Hinata sitting at the side of my bed and frantically patting my back to wake me up.

“What happened?” I yawned, stretching out my arms.

“We have to go! We’ll be late for our debut show practise!”

With that, I sprung out of bed and got dressed and rushed over to HYBE Building.

 

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D-3

Hanging out at HYBE felt like training at Dream Life Entertainment. How should have been. No new dance teacher, no one yelling at you, and no more saying that we don’t have a chance to debut. Because we all know that there is a chance for everything.

We then practiced our choreography from our music video. And we were in perfect sync. Back then, we had so much trouble keeping up with each other. It was because of the way we were taught. But now that we were debuting under HYBE, there was a better chance for us to be idols, and cover artists too.

Rehearsals weren’t so bad. There was no extreme dieting and no one to tell you what to do maliciously. It was just us girls living our dream.

While we were taking a break, Jake called me on my phone…again.

I wonder why he seems so needy, I thought, Because… isn’t he a year older than me?

I answered anyway.

“Y/N,” said Jake, “I just wanted to call you and ask you how you were doing. Sorry for interrupting.”

“It’s fine,” I said, smiling, “Me and the girls were taking a break from our practise, so it’s fine. And how are you? Did you and the guys get your costumes yet?”

“We did! And they are so beautiful! We are totally going to have so much fun at our debut!”

“Yeah…” I said, softly becoming saddened, “So am I…”

“Are you all right?” Jake asked, “You seem to be a little depressed now.”

“I’m fine,” I said, “I have to go now, I hope to see you soon?”

“Yup!”

“Okay then…”

I hung up afterward. But I could feel tears in my eyes. I didn’t know why at first. Maybe it was because I felt a bit nervous about our debut. It wasn’t any of that. It was because my love for Jake was intensifying more. And I didn’t think that I would love him that much. And so, I tried to ignore my feelings. But even that wasn’t working either.

That night, Hinata visted my room.

“You know, Holly kept saying you were having trouble keeping your feelings,” she said, “And were they all about Jake?”

I shook my head.

“Why would it be about Jake