Yumi took a deep breath, trying to calm her pounding heart. It was finally Thursday evening, and almost performance time on Music Core. Yumi had arrived about five hours ago, where she’d met up with everyone else. They had one last run-through practice, and all the technical kinks and little things were sorted out. Yumi then was forcefully pushed into a makeup chair and found herself surrounded by three unnis. Two of them were makeup artists, and one was in charge of her hair.

‘Is this what it’ll be like all the time after I debut?’ Yumi wondered worriedly. If it took this many people to make her up even when she was just a backup dancer, how many would she have to put up with after her debut?

After hair and makeup, Yumi had an hour to warm up her body. Because she was so nervous, Yumi decided to take deep breathes and basic warm ups. Doing some slow head rolls, she listened to her ipod. Bopping her head to the beat, Yumi felt a little calmer, when she felt the warm touch of a strong hand. Smiling she turned to Nichkhun, who was looking quite handsome with his hair styled and with the touch of makeup. The only thing that looked off was his expression.

“Hey,” he said a tad stiffly.

“Hey,” Yumi replied, surprised. “What’s wrong, you look a little…well, irritated or something.”

“Nah, I’m just nervous,” Nichkhun gave a tiny smile.

“Really? The super beast-idol who has done numerous performances is nervous?”

“Hey, are you saying I can’t be nervous?” Nichkhun teased back. He laughed when he saw Yumi’s cute pouty face. “Okay, okay,” He raised his hands in surrender. “I’m nervous because I’m dancing with my girlfriend on stage.”

Yumi blushed and gave a giggle. “It’s my first time on stage ever. And to be with my boyfriend, it’s special.”

“Well, it looks like we need to go and put on our stage outfits on now.” Nichkhun cocked his head to the side.

“Ah, we do! I’ll catch you later!” Yumi waved to Nichkhun as he walked down the narrow hallway and then disappeared around the corner. Sighing, she went back to the trainee’s dressing room.

‘Eh? Sunah’s not back?’ Yumi wondered as she looked around the empty room.

“Yumi?” The coordinator poked her head out from behind the rack of costumes. “Ah, it is you. Come, let’s get you dressed.”

“Of course,” Yumi smiled. Slipping into the short dress made out of soft silk, Yumi could feel the cool fabric slither down her body. Coming out from behind the screen, she was greeted by the wide smile of the coordinator.

“Wow,” The coordinator nodded, “This was definitely made for you.” Gently turning Yumi’s shoulders towards the mirror, Yumi was shocked to see her reflection. She looked pretty. No, she looked gorgeous. The loose waves and soft smoky makeup suggested innocence, yet the dress, which was short and accented her curves, suggested iness. The whole picture put together was breathtaking.

Delighted, Yumi couldn’t help but throw her arms around the coordinator.
“Thank you so much, Unni!”

Patting her back the coordinator told Yumi once more that she looked pretty, then sent Yumi off towards the stage door.

Skipping through the door, Yumi bumped into Junsu. She couldn’t help laughing when she noticed this expression. His jaw literally fell out, and his eyes bugged out.
“My gosh,” Junsu began, “You look great Yumi. I wish you were my partner!”

“Too bad!” Yumi , “See you out there!” And leaving Junsu to gape at her, Yumi ran off to find Nichkhun.

Finding him, Yumi realized Nichkhun was warming up his vocals. She laughed again, as he turned to look at her, and had the same reaction as Junsu.

“You look gorgeous, darling,” He drawled and pulled her close to him. Giggling, Yumi gave him a quick kiss then drew away.

“No one knows yet, except for Sunah and the 2PM members. We shouldn’t make this too obvious for other people.”

“Yeah, well, actually another person knows.” Nichkhun’s off expression came back. “I told JYP right before I saw you earlier. He wasn’t happy about it.”

Yumi’s eyes dilated. “Oh,” was all she could muster out.

“Don’t worry though,” Nichkhun quickly responded. “I won’t let us be torn apart!”

Smiling up at him, Yumi brought her hand up to Nickhun’s face and gently caressed it. “Okay.” Yumi was putting her faith in him.

“Shall we go and kick ?” Nichkhun held out his arm.

“Absolutely,” Yumi smiled, as Nichkhun had used the term ‘kick .’ “Let’s do it!”

Nichkhun’s side of the story:

“Absolutely, NO!” JYP’s hand slapped the table in front of him.

“C’mon, we both have feelings for each other. Why can’t we just date?” Nichkhun tired reasoning for the 3rd time.

“No, no, no, and no!”

Nichkhun huffed in frustration. “Okay, okay. Why? Tell me why I can’t be with Yumi?” He challenged.

“First of all, I partnered you two up for this number because your heights are prefect for each other. I did not partner you two up so you could hook up! Second of all, do you know what this will do to your fan-base? They’ll be devastated. They’ll harm Yumi or something, you know how scary fans can be these days!” JYP shook his head.

“If they were really my fans, they’d get over the matter and accept us as a couple,” Nichkhun said under his breath.

“What?” JYP raised his eyebrow.

“Nothing…Let’s talk later. I gotta get ready.” Nichkhun decided to escape for now. ‘But it’s not over.’ He fiercely thought to himself. ‘I will protect Yumi’s and my relationship!’
As Nichkhun pondered the situation he found Yumi warming up. Just seeing her was enough for Nichkhun to wash away the angry feeling he had. He tapped her on the shoulder, and watched as she turned to him, her face beaming in the light.
‘She looks so pretty with makeup on.’ He thought, ‘Not that she wasn’t beautiful without it.’

“Hey,” He began.

“Hey. What’s wrong, you look a little…well, irritated or something.”

“Nah, I’m just nervous.”

“Really? The super beast-idol who has done numerous performances is nervous?”

“Hey, are you saying I can’t be nervous?” Nichkhun couldn’t suppress the laughter from Yumi’s expression. ‘She’s so cute!’
“Okay, okay. I’m nervous because I’m dancing with my girlfriend on stage.”

“It’s my first time on stage ever. And to be with my boyfriend, it’s special.”

‘Yes, super cute. This is why I love her.’ Nichkhun kept the ‘cool’ face, but inside, he was blushing too. “Well, it looks like we need to go and put on our stage outfits on now.”

“Ah, we do! I’ll catch you later!”

Nichkhun waved back to Yumi and returned to his dressing room, where s hoarded him.

“With Yumi again?” Chansung’s lip twitched, then his teeth ferociously bit into a chocolate cupcake.

“Yeah, why, you’re jealous?” Nichkhun gave a sly smile, loving that irritated look in the cute 2PM maknae’s face.

“I’m jealous, and mad at you,” Junho appeared giving a small slap to Nichkhun’s back. “You never told us you were into her. It’s not fair you had a head start!”

“Sorry…” Nichkhun gave a little apologetic smile to Junho, “but you know, you snooze, you lose!” He laughed as Junho’s face darkened. “Geez, lighten up!”

“How can we?” Junsu was eager to put in his two cents. “You stole the girl we were after. We’re bros man!”

“Yeah we’re bros,” Nichkhun repeated. “And therefore, you should accept the fact that Yumi is mine and be happy for me.”

Junsu rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I’m going to the stage to warm up.”

Nichkhun looked around. “Where’s Leadja?”

“Not here,” Wooyoung shook his head at all ’s foolish behaviors.

“He’s still doing all that ‘yo’ business.” Taeceyon made an ‘I’m dying’ face.

“Why?” Nichkhun wrinkled his nose, “His variety show ended at least 3 days ago.”

Shrugging, Taeceyon headed for the stage door. “Let’s go,” he urged.

Nichkhun looked around backstage, but didn’t see Yumi.
‘I’ll do some vocal exercises then!’

Nichkhun was about on his last scale, and was aiming to hit one last, high “do” when he saw Yumi’s figure coming towards him. As she entered into a more visible lighting, Nichkhun’s mouth fell open.

‘Woah. This cute girl turned into such a hottie!’ He thought gleefully.
“You look gorgeous, darling.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and gazed into her lovely caramel eyes. Bending his head down, Nichkhun closed his eyes, signaling for a kiss. He was rewarded with one and he stood back up straight, satisfied.

“No one knows yet, except for Sunah and the 2PM members. We shouldn’t make this too obvious for other people.”

“Yeah, well, actually another person knows. I told JYP right before I saw you earlier. He wasn’t happy about it.” Nickhun had decided to tell her. ‘She should know.’
“Oh.” That short response didn’t sound like a happy one.

“Don’t worry though. I won’t let us be torn apart!” ‘I love you too much,’ He completed in his mind.

“Okay.” Another short answer, but at least it was better than before. Nickhun felt Yumi’s small hand on his face, and he smiled. It was calming.

“Shall we go and kick ?” Nichkhun felt like abandoning his ‘prince-like’ concept and decided to throw in the ‘kick ’ part just for fun.

“Absolutely. Let’s do it!”

Giving her one of his famous winks, Nichkhun pulled Yumi onto the stage and both got in to position during the blackout.