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twenty

the final showcase has reached its end. the venue is still occupied with lots of people, every each one of them is pouring out different emotions. jovial and forlorn are mixing, absently fulfilling the thin humid air.

after all of the greetings and small reunions, seungyoun and the others go to the back stage after the closing ceremony. the big room that is made for the preparation of the final trainees are packly occupied with many people.

"youn-ah, where are you going after this?" wooseok asks the taller one all of a sudden.

in the middle of packing his stuffs, seungyoun replies with a smile. "i am meeting my girlfriend, wooseokie..."

wooseok smiles sheepishly after that. he nudges the latter's shoulder as he teases, "seems like the progress is ongoing very well, i envy you!"

"well, you need to go get yourself one too!" seungyoun remarks, and wooseok laughs at his response.

seungyoun's answer is audible to yohan and hangyul nearby them and it attracts the 99's attention.

"that sounds so unusual coming out from your mouth, hyung!" yohan cringes, his lips quirks side to side revealing his cute bunny front teeth.

seungyoun giggles with him as well, hangyul and wooseok follow after. then, something crossed over seungyoun's mind that he immediately moves closer to yohan to start a conversation.

"yohan-ah, you know, my girlfriend's friend is a really huge fan of you. both of them come to every produce showcases since the third episode to cheer for us."

yohan feels captivated by the information. "really? i am her top pick? glad to know that!" he then lowers down his volume and whispers to seungyoun. "hyung, tell your girlfriend to send my regards to her friend, okay?"

"will do." seungyoun gives yohan a nod, at the same time he feels satisfied because that is what he exactly wants to do for yeoreum's friend.

every chances that a fan can get to interact with their idol, seungyoun will try to make their dream come true. cause he used to has a fan that now has become one of the people that he barely can live without.

« ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ »

on the other side, yeoreum and haerin are struggling to get out of the venue. even though the showcase has ended, some fans and audiences remain inside for awhile to help the staffs to clean up the surrounding.

it has become a culture in the korean fans' community to ensure the cleanliness of the environment in any concerts.

when they feel like that everything has settled down, yeoreum and haerin grab their things and slowly bring their way out of the huge arena. yeoreum is at the front while haerin holds onto the older one's sleeve, trailing her from behind as they are squeezing themselves through the vibrant people.

before even yeoreum can make it to the main entrance, she feels the edge of her shoulder has bumped onto someone, causing her stuff in her grip to fall to the ground.

yeoreum sighs in guilt as her face lits up, meeting her eyes with an elderly woman.

"i'm so sorry, ma'am!" yeoreum apologizes, bowing in front of the woman multiple times.

the woman returns with a faint smile on her face. "no, child, it's okay. see, you dropped your things. let me help you."

yeoreum doesn't say anything as she is too busy grabbing her stuffs on the floor. the woman helps her as what she intends to do, and she picks up a hand slogan with seungyoun's name inscribbed on it. it is made by yeoreum herself, with the help of haerin to design it with beautiful clip arts.

yeoreum feels embarrassed as she notices the hand slogan that the woman holds just now. but a dwell of strange grows inside her heart as she realises that the elderly woman looks at the seungyoun's slogan with full of affection, with the end of her lips crooks into a boastful smile.

"here you are," the woman softly says, as she hands the slogan to its rightful owner. yeoreum takes it with her cheeks as red as tomato.

"thank you so much, ma'am. and i'm so sorry-"

yeoreum cannot finish her sentence when the woman, out of sudden, shows her a shock and amused expression, as if she just sees a ghost or a weird creature for the first time in a life.

"han yeoreum?" the question she receives from the unknown woman makes yeoreum utterly suprised as well.

"uh... do you know each other?" yeoreum asks back, and the woman nods enthusiastically. yeoreum continues with a confused tone. "my apologies again, ma'am, but i think we have never met before..."

but she resembles the little girl i met many years ago! the woman said to herself.

the woman pauses for awhile, lips flatten into straight line, brain overwhelms with a flashback from more than a decade ago.

then, the woman immediately breaks the awkwardness shared between them. "oh, you're right. i must have mistaken you to this young girl i met many years ago." she states while holding both of yeoreum's hands. she adds, "please forgive me for the sudden acquaintance."

"it's okay, ma'am. i am the one who's at fault here. sorry for bumping onto you and made you grabbed my fallen stuff instead." yeoreum retorts with a smile full of politeness.

"it's not even a big deal." she winks. "i have to go now. goodbye, young lady." the woman ends the abrupt meeting, flashing a motherly grin to yeoreum before leaving the two girls and then steps out of the arena.

yeoreum can only stare at the strange woman until the slim figure disappeares from her sight.

"that was so unexpected," yeoreum exhales in relaxation. she sways her body to face haerin who has been muted since the very beginning of the incident. yeoreum starts to perceive a sense of uncomfortness as haerin indicated a wonderment peer at her.

"why are you looking at me like that?"

"yeoreum, you really do not recognize that woman?" haerin questions in awe.

yeoreum shakes her head side to side. "i don't..? seriously i have no idea who that woman is..."

"sweetie if i'm right about this i-"

yeoreum pokes the younger one's shoulder. "haerin, do you know her?"

"the recent woman that you're just bumped into just now," haerin takes a deep breathe before she continues with a monotonous voice.

"that is seungyoun's mom."

© younreumie