they were told to wear their performance clothing, and seulgi is dressed entirely out of her usual sweatpants and oversized shirt—rather, the fabric of the black tube top she's wearing hugs her figure snugly, and the bomber jacket which covers her shoulders is sparkling under the stage lights.

yugyeom compliments her as she walks by, as does jongin, and even jimin murmurs a "you look amazing, seulgi." when she walks past him.

seulgi only dips her head in embarrassment, knowing that one voice out of the three affects her more than the others.

as taemin begins the rehearsal, seulgi watches jimin beside her, who curves and follows the music effortlessly, and finds herself struggling to keep up. more and more as the song continues, her limbs seem apparent to acting sluggish, and suddenly as they reach the ending, seulgi can't quite recall each move precisely.

she's in the middle of scolding herself after the rehearsal ends when she sees a pair of feet shuffle on the ground in front of her (where she was previously burning holes through with her frustrated gaze).

"seulgi?" jimin says, his gentle voice rough on the edges from exertion.

she lifts her chin, met with her own reflection in his eyes. "jimin?"

his cheeks flare with a rosy hue—perhaps from the demanding routine, seulgi thinks, definitely not because he was talking to her—as he stutters, "i saw you were having trouble with the choreo?"

"yeah." seulgi nods, running a hand through her hair, her feet scuffling awkwardly on the stage floor.

"want me to go over it with you?" jimin grins shyly to her surprise, mussing his own golden locks as his hand rubs the back of his neck.

seulgi tries not to stare at the way his silky black shirt flows against his form as she blinks, "you'd really do that?"

jimin chuckles softly, reaching out a hand to lift seulgi up from where she is sitting on the floor.

she takes it, and when she's fully risen and lets go, she feels the warmth of his fingers tingle on her palm.

now's not the time, kang seulgi, she chastises herself as jimin leads her to a dim-lit practice room backstage of the venue. the room is empty, and as seulgi steps with jimin onto the hardwood floor, a hollow sound echoes faintly.

he turns to look at her, the radiance of a single bulb of light accenting the features of his face, though it only seems to emphasize the shadows more.

"for the chorus, the most important part is the hand movement, right?" he begins, holding up his hands and running through the choreography slowly, singing the lyrics softly as he goes.

seulgi watches him silently, mesmerized. when he turns back to look at her after finishing a turn, she's blinking cluelessly again, though not because of the choreography this time.

kang seulgi was never really a complicated person from the start. her emotions were almost always written in thick marker across her forehead, (which was ironically hidden with the choppy locks of her bangs) no matter how hard she tried to conceal them.

but seulgi is sick of being that boring, goody-two-shoes, small-town girl with her emotions stamped blatantly and predictably all over her face. she wants to be surprising, interesting, and noticeable. the type of girl that park jimin would like.

so seulgi musters the entirety of her courage and does something bold, something so un-kang-seulgi-like that it even takes her by surprise.

"jimin?" she piques, and he nods intently to show that he is listening.

"sometimes i'm confused." she says, a sudden burst of impulse rising within her, "i don't know whether i want to avoid you or try to get closer to you. maybe it's because i never really knew what i wanted my whole life. i always let my friends or my teachers or my parents make my choices for me."

she's trembling slightly, but she doesn't break her gaze from his.

"i know you only talked to me because of yugyeom. i know you probably think of me as some average, every day girl who isn't the smartest or the prettiest you've seen." she bites her lower lip, her brow slanting downward as her expression creases in concentration. "but i...i've dated before. i know my feelings, i know that i like it when you talk to me and i like it when you smile or dance or sing. i feel nervous and excited around you. i felt happy when you visited me at the coffee shop."

she pauses, a split second of regret running through her mind. perhaps she would be better off not confessing. why would jimin care how she feels anyways?

but seulgi thinks it is unfair, unfair that he makes her happy and that he'll never know. so she continues to spill the contents of her candied heart onto the ground, and the regret vanishes almost immediately after it comes, replaced by an odd sense of purpose.

"i remember you said a lot, that you didn't like your eyes because they disappeared when you laughed, but i think they're pretty like that. you say you aren't a good person, but you always make me laugh when i'm feeling down, and even now you're helping me with the choreo. even though i didn't ask, you saw that i had trouble with it."

"and you said once that you didn't think anyone could love you. but i—" she shakes her head, "i think i do love you."

jimin simply stares at her for a moment, his lips parted slightly.

she thinks he's probably gawking at her audacity, but in truth he's lost, lost hopelessly in the eyes of the girl in front of him as she says, "i don't even know why i'm telling you this. but i just want you to know. and i guess it's for myself, too. i just wanted to say it before i regret it."

seulgi pauses right then to take a breath. but she can't quite breathe when jimin is suddenly so close to her that she can see the tiny mole on his cheek, and a thousand emotions seem to morph across her face when, before she knows it, his arms find their way around her waist and she's pulled softly against the fabric of his shirt.

"seulgi..." he sighs wistfully into her ear, but she is far too shocked to register much.

"jimin?" she manages to respond with a gulp, her chin sinking slowly onto his shoulder before she abruptly pulls away, bewildered, "y-yah, it's okay, you don't have to feel sorry for me--"

but she's cut off by the intensity of his unreadable gaze that sends a shiver down her spine.

"kang seulgi." he says again, this time stronger—then his lips meld perfectly with hers, and the world around them comes to a standpoint.

there is nothing but the sound of their shallow breathing in the area, but when her eyes open and jimin is still in front of her, his emotions reflecting her own in his bright, mirror-like eyes, all seulgi hears is music, music, music—

music so beautiful that even the universe would be jealous.

—

"i already told you not to come," seokjin's eyebrows furrow when he sees joy sitting outside his office. "i still have a two hour surgery left for the day."

"but i missed you." joy simply huffs in return, and it's the truth. "it's miserable to date a doctor." she complains as she stands when seokjin scoffs jokingly beneath his breath.

"but anyways, i brought you lunch." she hums, lifting the plastic bag at her side. "i know you don't eat lunch most days."

seokjin grins meekly, perhaps sheepishly as he takes the bag from her hands and relents when she moves to hug him.

"how did you find time out of things at the company?" he chides, albeit gratefully, while rocking her gently in his embrace.

"how else will i compete against the cute little nurses who follow you around in circles?" joy teases, still refusing to release him when he moves to pull away.

seokjin frowns, but he soon chuckles, standing still, "i guess you're right."

joy's hands curl the fabric of his pristine white doctor's coat into her fists as she sighs, "i don't want you to go back to work. you're always busy."

"i don't want to either, love." seokjin presses a quick kiss to her forehead as joy finally pries her arms off him reluctantly.

seokjin watches her walk—no, saunter—off, a stupid smile lingering on his lips. he recalls the conversation after that one meal he had owed her, the one where he had promised to her so easily that it had surprised him.

she'd come back to their table laughing hysterically with the entirety of the restaurant staring at her, yet seokjin hadn't felt even remotely embarrassed. instead, he asked, "what's so funny?"

and joy told him. "i promised myself that whenever i saw people like that," she had said, "i'd teach them a lesson. as long as they show a little bit of their fox tail, you can bet that i, park sooyoung, will sniff it out."

"but why?" seokjin had simply questioned in return after pondering upon this for a moment, curiosity getting the better of him like it always had.

"how do you think my mom is still married to my dad?" joy took a sip of her iced tea before responding, "my mom, she really isn't the bright type when it comes to these things, you know. over the years, there have been plenty of these women looking to seduce my dad for his money. i was always the one sending them off running for their lives."

"but is this really the best way?" seokjin would later ask when driving joy home.

she had frowned from her seat in the shotgun, her sharp eyebrows slanting before answering, "no, it's not. but there's really not a best way to anything, is there?"

shaking his head, seokjin turns to prepare for his surgery session. kim seokjin had been searching for a logical procession of things his whole life—even his profession was based on the understanding of the simplest cell to the complex body. but perhaps because park sooyoung is something unexplainable and without reason, he finds that his love for her is just as simple.

—

seungwan feels the tears stream down her face when she reads the police report in her hands.

human trafficking.

that was what dongwoon had done, landing him in jail and leaving her to deal with the loan sharks.

it was, like everything to do with her family, despicable.

seungwan feels irene pat her back soothingly, and the younger of the two turns to elicit a grateful nod at the older. after that night's drunk incident, irene had invited seungwan to her apartment to review the case details rather than having seungwan hole herself up in her room to cope.

it was a wise decision on the former's part, as usual.

"i'm a mess, aren't i?" seungwan laughs dryly, blowing her nose when irene hands her a tissue.

"it's not your fault." irene says softly, moving to sit next to her. she takes seungwan's hand, patting it at regular intervals as the scarlet-haired pours her grievances into ugly sobs.

"i just, don't understand. i've worked so hard. to be where i am. but they only care for my brother, my parents. i paid for his house. i send money home as soon as i can. i'm paying for my father's medical bills. and for my nephew's education. i-"

irene stands abruptly, however, when there is an unusual, hollow knock at the door. a look through the security camera monitor, and irene deciphers immediately who the newcomer is—min yoongi.

—

a/n: as this is published on aff, i will not include the two special episodes published on wattpad. hope you guys are liking the story <3