Seokmin steals a glance at Sujeong as he’s putting on his earpiece. She’s practicing a line over and over again, and Seokmin wants to come to her side and tell her that she’s doing great, that her pitch is perfect. But it’s hectic backstage and he’s got two stylists around him, silently adding more hairspray to his hair and fixing his outfit. They leave him alone a minute before he has to go on stage so he grabs the chance to slide his way past several staff and stands next to Sujeong.

“You’ll do great,” Seokmin says into her ear, and he laughs at how she jumps in surprise. “We will.”

“Of course we will,” Sujeong jokingly replies. She runs her fingers through her hair resting on her shoulder and Seokmin suddenly wants to do the same. “Don’t forget to turn towards me after the first chorus.”

Even if she didn’t remind him, he would still remember. Honestly if he could, he’d turn and look at Sujeong all throughout the song. He’d sing the song to her, and a million other love songs he could sing. But, he realizes with a sigh, that this is just a performance, and he’s not about to confess to Sujeong in front of hundreds of people. So just keep it down.

Sujeong, despite all the noises, still hears him sighing. “What, you don’t want to see me?”

Seokmin widens his eyes and shakes his head. “No, no!” He lowers his head and wiggles his eyebrows, meaning to tease Sujeong. “On the contrary,” he adds. He laughs again as he avoids Sujeong’s slap to his shoulder.

Sujeong walks up the stage first, Seokmin after her. Rather than about the blocking, he thinks of it as him guarding Sujeong in case she falls, since she’s wearing heels and all. She safely takes her position on the stage, and he does the same on her right.

When the song starts and he hears the melody of the piano through his earpiece, he’s suddenly overcome with an exhilarating feeling. He’s actually standing on stage and is about to perform a duet with the girl he has a crush on. He had imagined this, but he couldn’t quite believe that it’s actually happening. And now it’s making him nervous. There are lots of things to be nervous about right now, mainly about the girl next to him who has begun singing the first line. He smiles at the audience to hide his immense nervousness.

Seokmin enters after Sujeong sings the first chorus, and it’s his cue to turn and look at her. He focuses on singing, remembering the lyrics, and he finds looking at Sujeong makes it all easy. They smile at each other, voices blending, and Seokmin suddenly remembers Woozi telling him that their voices match. At that thought, Seokmin’s smile grows bigger.

They face each other during the last note and Seokmin suddenly feels butterflies in his tummy as he looks at how Sujeong’s eyes soften, and she smiles at him before looking down and facing the audience. Seokmin just wants to stand there and register everything that just happened but he has to be professional so he faces the audience too and bows at them.

When they’re off the stage, the first thing they do is to laugh. They laugh at themselves, at each other, at the embarrassment and the excitement. Sujeong is the first to calm down, wiping a tear off the side of her eye. “You’re right,” she starts. “We did great, don’t you think?”

Seokmin’s laughter dies down and he, too, makes the act of wiping his tears. “I told you.”

She grins. “We should do another duet some time.”

Seokmin feels fireworks going off in his head and his inner self rejoices. He doesn’t care how eager he sounds by how quickly he replies, “We really should.”