My Muse [Jungkook x Reader]

CHAPTER 4 - THE PARTNERSHIP

CHAPTER 4 - THE PARTNERSHIP

That evening, Da-Eun introduced our group of, now eight, to the rest of the contestants from the other brackets. It was there that I learned who the other four famous musicians who were apart of the competition were. American popstar Ariana Grande, Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalia, Japanese metal band Babymetal, and English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. We had quite the international all-star line-up. We all exchanged brief introductions and had dinner together before we were ushered to our dorms.

Mina and I decided to share a room. I was relieved to be with a familiar face, and she seemed like a lovely, sweet person.

"Y/N, can I ask you something?" Mina suddenly turned to me while we were unpacking our bags and setting up our spaces.

"Sure, of course," I replied with a smile.

"If you could partner up with one of the members of BTS, who would you choose?" she asked, sitting down on my bed, and looking up at me with sparkling eyes. She was like a gossiping kid at a sleepover.

I pondered over her question for a minute, "I am not sure to be honest. I am a fan of their music, but I am not that familiar with them as people..."

"Hmm, I guess I will just give you someone random then!" she winked.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned; eyes widened.

"For getting the top spot in the first assessment I was given the power to choose which member of BTS each person will be partnering with for the next assessment!" she giggled. "And I wanted to give you someone that you would like." Mina explained that the member we were partnered with would help us and provide us guidance, but they wouldn't be performing with us.

"So, who are you choosing, Mina?" I laughed. It was very kind of her to consider my opinion, especially in a competition setting like this.

Mina clapped her hands together and looked up at the ceiling dreamily, "I am going with Hoseok, so he's off limits, sorry!" She looked over at me, "I need that kind of positivity in my life."

I thought again about who I would want to partner with. The next assessment, if it followed the paper's that Da-Eun had handed out at the airport, would be a singing and lyricism test. I assumed that meant that we would performing our own songs that we created back home- or even creating new songs from scratch. I mulled over my options, but honestly, all the boys were extremely talented, and each had their own strengths. I simply couldn't choose.

"Surprise me," I said. "Just don't pair me with another contestant?" I winked. Thinking back on the number of contestants, two individuals who would have to share the same mentor. This was an obvious disadvantage since you would have less time to have them critique and adjust your work.

Mina gasped and hung her head low, "Oh no...I didn't even think about that." She sighed, "whoever is paired up like that is going to hate me."

I patted her back to comfort her. The two of stayed up well into the night chatting about our lives back home. I learned that Mina was attending a music school in England and that she spent a lot of her time teaching piano to young kids. I told her about the work I'd done at the dance studio and the different classes I was attending for music. We slowly dozed off, still mumbling stories to each other until we couldn't stay awake any longer.

~

The following morning, after we all got ready with the assistance of the styling team, we were pulled into a large studio where BTS was lined up in a row. The rest of the contestants were filled in on Mina's special advantage, and she was instructed to start with the member she chose for herself.

"I am very honored to be working with this person," she began. "Please be my motivation and my hope, Hoseok!" she shouted out excitedly. He ran over to her enthusiastically with the same huge smile he always had splayed across his face.

With that, Mina continued, and I knew that she was going in order of the ranking of the last assessment. I swallowed in anticipation. "Y/N, you will be partnered with Jungkook!" she said motioning to him.

He slowly walked over to me and gave a slight bow before standing on my side. Just this small interaction was enough to make my heart beat a million miles a minute, and I cursed myself wondering what was wrong with me. I introduced myself, professionally, "My name is Y/N. It is a pleasure to be working with you."

"The pleasure is all mine," he spoke softly. He grabbed my hand and shook. I had to stop myself from holding on for too long, feeling heat rushing up to my cheeks. I quickly turned away and faced the rest of the room to finish watching Mina select the other pairings.

Once everyone was paired off with one of the members, we were directed to move into private studios and given our next assignment. We would have one week to compose and produce a song in any genre of our choosing. The only requirement was that it must have both a musical and a lyrical component. I started to run through different options in my head. My usual style was pop music with an emphasis on lyricism, captivating beats, and delicate vocals. I figured that it was best to stick with my style for this challenge- even if it was a bit different of a sound than BTS' music.

Jungkook entered the private studio, snapping me out of my thoughts. He sat down next to me and waited for me to take the lead.

"I am thinking that I will start with a simple and catchy beat," I spoke, mind completely focused on the task at hand. "Something light and ethereal. I want the attention to be on the lyrics and the vocals."

"Impressive," he smiled, looking into my eyes. "You already have a plan, but do you know what you want to write about?"

I looked back at him, for the first time taking his full image in. He was dressed in an oversized black shirt, slightly tucked in the front of his dark jeans. His hair was loose and long, strands hanging in front of his deep brown eyes. My eyes traveled down his face, where I noticed a cute freckle beneath his lips. He was truly beautiful. I coughed, choking, as I realized that I had been staring at him for an uncomfortable amount of time. I swear I saw him smirk, but I chose to ignore it for my own sake.

"Well, I mainly write romance songs," I managed to stutter out, awkwardly.

"So, something about you falling for someone?" he asked gently. "How you feel about them?" His eye contact never breaking. I needed to contain myself, because internally, I was screaming.

I took a quiet, deep breath to calm myself before speaking, "I was thinking more along the lines of how they feel about me."

Jungkook finally looked away, bringing his fingers to lips as he thought about the idea. "It's a good idea to swap the perspective- it shows confidence." His attention was back on me, "shall we start?"

I nodded and brought over a small portable keyboard so that I could start developing the melody. It felt strange having someone in the studio with me while I was creating. Normally, I was home alone in my apartment, never sharing my songs with anyone until they were at least in the very end stages. Now a song of mine was going to be broadcast to the globe- from start to finish. Yet what felt even more intimate, despite being surrounded by cameras, was just having Jungkook in the room with me- a part of my creative process.

Jungkook, perhaps sensing my hesitancy to begin, offered to go grab us drinks and snacks. "I will be right back, go ahead and get started!" he gave a charming smile and exited the room.

I placed my hands on the keyboard and began to play around with different notes. What feeling did I want to express? Normally I wrote about my own thoughts and emotions, but right now there was only one person stubbornly stuck in my head- and I wasn't sure that fantasizing about him was such a great idea. Was I seriously having a crush on this man I had just met?

"Oh, screw it..." I sighed rubbing my temples. "What's the worst that could happen?"

And so, I decided to use Jeon Jungkook as my muse.