Andante

Written by justonce_ismile

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prologue: underneath this vast sky, you and I

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Dream Concert, June 2015

(—of eye contacts and chance encounters)

“I need you girl, wae, honja saranghago honjaseoman ibyeolhae…”

Seulgi glances at Joy from the corner of her eyes and suppresses the urge to giggle at the younger girl’s excited face. Yeri, who is standing on her other side also seems to be immersed in her dancing as they watch BTS-sunbaenims rehearse for their performance later that night. Seulgi turns her gaze back to the stage and feels her body naturally following the beat of the music, completely immersed in the powerful performance.

“This song is really good, isn’t it, unnie?” Yeri quips from beside her, raising her voice due to the loud music.

Seulgi can only nod her reply, still transfixed at the sight in front of her.

“I really like the colour of their voices,” Yeri pauses. “Um, wait, who is the main vocal in BTS again?”

Joy turns towards the maknae and raises a brow. “You don’t know? It’s Jungkook-ssi.”

That one remark finally pulls Seulgi’s previously undivided attention away from the boy group and she swivels her head around to look at Joy with unmasked surprise.

“Eh? Jinjja?” She blinks, opening slightly to form a small ‘o’. “I thought for sure that Jimin-sunbaenim is also the main vocal.”

“Jimin-sunbaenim?” Yeri knits her brows together.

Seulgi bobs her head up and down, her eyes following one particular figure on the stage. “Un…I thought he is the main dancer and vocalist.” She laughs sheepishly. “His voice is really nice.”

All of a sudden, as if the person in question heard what they were talking about, Jimin raises his head and Seulgi almost jumps in her seat when her eyes meet his.

“Omo, goosebumps.” Joy whispers, nudging Seulgi. “Unnie, did he just look in our direction?”

“Wasn’t he looking at Seulgi-unnie?” Yeri sits down and shoots Seulgi a teasing look, the corner of the mouth tilting upwards. “Seolma, is there something going on between the two of you?”

Joy snorts, waving her hand flippantly. “Something? What something? This is Seulgi-unnie we are talking about,” she links arms with the older girl and sends her a cheeky smile. “What makes you think there is something going on between Jimin-sunbaenim and our no-jam unnie?”

Yeri flattens visibly at Joy’s words, her shoulders drooping in disappointment. “Che. That’s true. She’s never even experienced love yet.” She sighs, wiping the non-existent tears from her eyes dramatically. “I think she might be as bad as Joohyun-unnie.”

Seulgi puffs her cheeks slightly. “I can be fun too when I try, you know.”

Joy laughs. “See, we were just talking about a potential love line between you and another boy, but you brushed it off like it’s nothing and instead focus on the irrelevant stuff.”

“This is why you’re no fun, unnie!” Yeri chirps, her eyes crinkling in amusement.

The oldest between the three pouts harder and feels the sudden urge to pinch the cheeks of the currently laughing maknaes. “Park Sooyoung, Kim Yerim! I will tell you guys on Joohyun-unnie!”

“Ooh…Yerim-ah, did you hear that?” Joy cackles. “So scary~”

“Even her threats are no fun!”

Seulgi reddens. “Ya!”

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“Unnie, hurry up! Manager-oppa told us to gather at the waiting room after our performance, remember?”

“O-oh! Tell him I’ll be there soon! I just need to go to the washroom really quickly—ack!”

Seulgi bumps her nose into something – or rather, into someone, she remarks inwardly while wincing – and immediately bows in apology. “I am so sorry, I should have been more careful—ouch!”

Jinjja, what now? She grimaces, her hand reaching out to touch the part of head that suddenly throbs in pain. Her eyes trail upwards to look at the person she has just run into and she immediately freezes in her spot. The person – man – has both of his hands on her arms, probably to help her from falling flat on her face when they collided moments ago. Seulgi swallows down her nerves and wonders whether all of this is part of a hidden camera. But judging by the surprised look on his face, and Joy’s pathetic attempts at trying to divert the crowd from the hallway, Seulgi is sure that the person currently holding her in his arms is indeed Park Jimin-sunbaenim.

“…Seulgi-ssi. I am sorry too for not being more aware of my surrounding.” His voice reverberates above her head, and although Jimin wouldn’t be considered as a giant, Seulgi without her heels barely manages to reach his chin. She can see his throat moving as he speaks, and the unfamiliar scent of a man drifting to her nose causes her to clear in embarrassment and lift her chin.

…Only to find her eyes once again caught in his inquisitive gaze, so she instinctively bows her head down, forgetting that a few strands of her hair is still caught in his shirt, resulting in the return of that painful tugging on her head.

“Ah, this is bad,” Jimin murmurs as he gently traces the strands of hair that are tangled haphazardly around the second button of his shirt. He eyes the other Red Velvet member at the end of the hallway who is currently trying her best to prevent anybody from witnessing the scene with no little gratitude. Imagine the rumours that would swirl around should anybody see the two of them in this position. Granted, they are not doing anything indecent, but from far away, he and Seulgi-ssi would very much look like a couple embracing.

…Not that he is against the idea of being in a rumour with Red Velvet’s main dancer, but really, at this point in their career, any sort of rumour with anyone would just prove to be disastrous.

Jimin catches the sign that says ‘storage’ on one of the doors and swiftly directs the two of them to the room, all the while cradling Seulgi’s head gently near his chest. He can feel the girl in his embrace slowly curling her fingers on his shirt, and for some reason, his heart starts to pound faster – not because of his fear that the door might be locked, because when he pulls down on the handle and the door creaks open that fear should dissipate almost immediately – but because her small action signifies that she trusts him; at least, enough to follow his actions without making a scene, and also because Jimin feels though as if he is holding something really fragile in his arms.

As the door closes behind them, Jimin notices that the room is shrouded in complete darkness and not nearly as cramped as he thought it would be. His free hand skims across the wall to look for the switch, but to no avail.

“Oomph!” Seulgi stumbles on her feet and almost causes the two of them to topple to the ground, if not for Jimin’s tight grip on her waist and her quickly regaining her balance. He slides down against the wall and Seulgi follows suit, a relieved sigh escaping their lips at the same time.

Seulgi glances at Jimin in surprise, and Jimin looks at her too, before the two of them erupt into a small fit of laughter.

Still giggling, she remarks, “Ah, jinjja, this is so funny…”

Jimin chuckles. “Because it’s so unbelievable that it’s funny?”

At that, Seulgi immediately sobers up and peers at Jimin with apparent nervousness painted on her face. “Again, I’m so sorry, sunbaenim…because of me—“

Jimin shakes his head, giving her a reassuring smile though he doubts she can see his expression the darkness. Placing a hand above her head, he pats her head to convince her that he really didn’t blame her for this situation they are in, but he hears her startled breath and immediately retracts his hand as if burned.

He berates himself inside for his lack of tact and looks at the younger – no, she is a noona, isn’t she? – older girl, who now has her head ducked down again.

Probably because she’s uncomfortable with what I just did, Jimin bites his lips with no little contrite. He can already imagine Taehyung’s teasing voice ringing in his mind. Way to go, Chimchim.

“Uh, that is…” Jimin scratches the back of his neck, pausing a few seconds before deciding to break the awkwardness by delving into a new topic. “Umm, I can’t seem to find the switch. Do you happen to have your phone with you, Seulgi-ssi?”

Seulgi shifts slightly and turns to reply but freezes for the nth time that day when she realizes that her eyes are a mere hair’s breadth away from his lips. She can feel his breath brushing gently against her skin and an unfamiliar warmth blooms on her cheeks. If the light were on, Seulgi is sure he could see her blushing like a lobster.

“I-I don’t have a phone…” She replies timidly, at a loss for words. The atmosphere is filled with another awkward pause before a thought suddenly enters her mind. “Ah, wait, but I do have my smart watch with me!”

Ruffling the pocket of her skirt, Seulgi pulls out an orange watch and grins widely when she manages to turn on the flashlight tool, her eyes crinkling into happy crescents.

She turns to look at him and points at her watch excitedly. “Look, look, sunbaenim! We can look for the switch now!”

Jimin glances down and his heart rises to his throat as he finally catches on their proximity. This is the first time he looks at her smiling face, and the sight of it, especially at such a close distance, almost causes his heart to stop beating. The stark contrast between her fierce charisma on stage that he’s used to seeing, and the innocent smiling face which he is a subject to right now – that somehow reminds him of a…teddy bear, he notes in amusement – brings an onslaught of something unfamiliar fluttering in the pit of his stomach.

His finger twitches unconsciously and he has to rein in the temptation to reach out a hand and pinch her cheeks silly.

He tenses; appalled at the shameless thoughts his mind is currently conjuring.

Clearing his throat and trying to divert his mind from being any more inappropriate, Jimin tries to look away but ends up finding himself lost in her eyes. At the end of their rehearsal of I Need U today, Jimin sensed someone – besides the usual crowd of staffs and fans – watching him, and when he followed his instinct, he found himself locking eyes with her who was cheering for him from the audience’s seat.

He thought he was only imagining things, but maybe they truly did make eye contact back then.

And she… Jimin muses, oblivious to the way her face gradually contorts in puzzlement. She has really pretty eyes.

He wonders what they would look like under the sun, whether or not her brown eyes would glitter in t