“Actually from the first time I met you,
somewhere deep in my heart
you crashed in like a strong wave.”

— I'm in Love by Ra.D

**

2015

“2015 Melon Music Awards Best New Female Artist award goes to GFRIEND! Congratulations!” WINNER’s Nam Taehyun announced.

The girls stood up, in disbelief over their much deserved achievement. Each of their eyes welled up with tears as they went up on stage to receive the Rookie Award for the year 2015. They bowed to the senior groups around them, one of them being Bangtan, who were feeling immensely proud of the younger group. Yoongi, Seokjin and Hoseok couldn’t hide their smiles and congratulated the girls as they walked past them.

Reaching the stage, Jinwoo handed the award over to Sowon while the other members greeted and congratulated them. During the exchange of greetings and congratulations, two amongst the groups met eyes and got intrigued by each other’s aura.

“Thank you to all the staff…”

“– Jinhye unnie,” Eunha cutely cut Sowon in the middle of her speech. Eunbi laughed, unable to hide her affection towards the older girl. They held in their overwhelming emotions to keep their professional front.

The same goes for the other seven boys, who were trying to contain their gushing and happiness, watching Sowon give the acceptance speech. The two groups have known each other for a couple of years now through Eunha and Eunbi. They’ve secretly cheered each other on during debuts, comebacks, awards and birthdays together as friends – knowing each other a little from their CEOs – making it difficult for them to hold in their emotions as well.

“– Jinhye unnie…” Their cover was blown a little when they heard Eunha’s cute voice. Hoseok laughed while Seokjin, Taehyung and Jimin smiled wider. Namjoon and Yoongi did the same. And Jungkook sat at the corner, watching the whole thing, unable to deny the fluttering feeling that was beginning to envelope his whole being. Jung Eunha, so precious.

2016

“Chukahae!” The Bangtan boys congratulated the six girls when they met along the dressing rooms corridor after the end of Seoul Music Awards 2016. “Kumawo, sunbaenim!” Sowon thanked them and returned Seokjin’s and Namjoon’s high-five. “Chukahae to Bangtan sunbaenims too!” Eunha gleefully clapped as she returned their congratulations. Kiyowo.

“Kumawo Eunha-ssi,” Jungkook bravely spoke up with his sweet smile, making the other girl blush when he directly made eye-contact with her. The other members didn’t miss the sudden spark that had appeared between the two, making all of them smile teasingly.

“Well, see you girls around! Have loads of rest alright?” Namjoon lightly interrupted the moment and they all went into their separate rooms. Eunha didn’t miss the smile from Jungkook before his figure disappeared into the room.

//

“Remember girls, this collaboration will be with the Bangtan boys and almost every moment will be on camera. Keep the interactions minimal arasseo?” Junghyun reminded his girls when they were in the van on the way to the filming location. It was very early into the day, and they were heading to film a music video for the SMART uniform brand with Bangtan. It was a cute song that suited their image so they didn’t really feel that there was anything strange about it – only the fact that Yoongi produced it and that they kept on crossing paths with the boys.

“Okay everyone, the shoot will start in ten! Be ready,” the director announced to the groups and the crew. Both groups began heading out of their rooms, dressed in the SMART grey uniforms. When they entered the main set, they were intrigued and surprised when they found out that the backdrop had all of their different baby photos. “Kiyowo!” Sowon shrieked when they saw Eunha’s baby photo where she stood in between floral bushes with pigtails. Everyone went over to look at the photo and joined Sowon in gushing over Eunha’s cuteness.

“You look like you’re an adorable cult leader,” Jungkook commented with a laugh, his voice startling Eunha. She turned around and playfully hit his arm. “Cult leader?! Neomuhae,” she jokingly sulked and walked away to another set of photographs. “Cute isn’t she? So precious,” Hoseok teased Jungkook when he couldn’t stop smiling at Eunha’s reaction.

“That’s a wrap! Thank you so much to everyone, Bangtan and Yeojachingu too! Great work everyone!” The director announce the end of the shoot and everyone was exhausted as it was already three in the morning. The girls, however, were more energized than ever because they were hungry and desperately wanted to fill their tummies. “Kaja, yedura, let’s order in and eat in the practice room,” Sowon suggested, to which they all agreed. Just as they were about to leave, someone knocked on their door and opened it.

“Hi,” Jungkook nervously greeted, feeling bashful for randomly intruding. “We’ve ordered food to eat before we head home, and the hyungs were wondering if you girls would like to join us. We ordered a lot, heh,” his eyes naturally landed on Eunha while he was talking. And the other girls definitely did not overlook that.

“Yay! We’d love too! We were just about to order from our practice room as well, how timely!” Eunha happily cheered, momentarily forgetting the nerves she had when Jungkook stared at her while he was talking to them.

“Great! Our managers managed to find a large table at the end of the set outside,” he happily told them. “We’ll be there!” Sowon smiled back and teasingly looked at the two 97 liners in the room. When he left, the girls were ruthless with the teasing towards Eunha.

“He definitely likes you! And you like him too, don’t lie to me!”

“Unnie you both were literally just dripping hearteyes for each other!”

“Woah, uri Eunha and uri Jungkook are all grown up now, huh!”

“Stop it, you guys! We’re just friends,” Eunha shyly replied them. “We were closer when we trained together last time. But we were still kids, I barely remember anything anymore and I’m sure he doesn’t too! It’s a little awkward now that we’re meeting again as adults…”

“Eunha-ya, the sparks will still fly if it’s already there,” Yerin’s smile comforted Eunha’s doubts towards her emotions. Maybe.

The extremely late dinner lasted till 7am and the groups went by the new day with less than two hours of sleep. But none of them minded it. They managed to get to know more about each other, hearing each other’s struggle stories and happy moments, their sacrifices and achievements, and their love and passion towards their careers. The guys began to develop a sense of protectiveness and concern towards the girls, learning how innocent their views of the world and of life are. The girls began to see the boys as their caring and cool older brothers. It was all platonic and familial for all, except for two. The two who had their own conversation halfway through, learning a lot about each other and now unable to deny the growing spark that they’ve been feeling for a while.

“Eunha, text me,” Jungkook was breathless when he used the marker he found in his bag to write his number on the girl’s palm. “Text me, call me or anything. Talk to me.” Eunha blushed and nodded with an eung! before watching the boy run back to his van.

//

The sports hall was filled with the voices of all the fans of the different groups. Many cameras were filming every inch of the area and the fans are all on eagle-eye modes, watching every move of their idols.

To protect the girls, Bangtan unanimously agreed to interact minimally with GFRIEND. The hyungs reminded Jungkook to control his actions in the open, up till they were about to head to the main area of the event. The same goes for the girls, reminding Eunha to avoid looking at Jungkook for too long or interact in any way that would stir up trouble. Throughout the event, both groups acted like they were strangers, internally laughing at how the awkwardness would become a joke later in the changing rooms.

“Oh hyung!” Jungkook walked over to Hongbin when he saw the older one sitting somewhere near him. “How are you, Kookie?” Hongbin asked once the younger one came beside him and knelt down. “Healthy and happy,” he replied with a goofy grin while on his knees. Only when he looked properly to his front that he realised who was sitting directly in front of him. Ah,