Run to You | Xu Minghao ; THE 8

XV

┍━━━•☽°•°❀°•°☾•━━━┑
If there are two earths
두 개의 지구가 있다면
┕━━━•☽°•°❀°•°☾•━━━┙

Jia's POV:

The day had finally come. My debut day.

The album had already been released earlier, and now I was here on Music Bank to perform. I was quite nervous, but Seokmin was there with me, so it wasn't quite bad.

Seventeen was here too since they had also had a comeback. I had never met or seen them, so Seokmin thought it was a good opportunity for me to meet them.

Both Seventeen and I were in the same waiting room since we were from the same company. I know, it sounds absurd that I haven't even met the artists in the same company as me. But well, as I said, Pledis hadn't been easy on me during my trainee years.

Seokmin introduced me to the members, and I respectfully bowed to them.

"Oh, didn't you say there were 13 members? There are only...11 right now," I said to Seokmin as i quickly did a headcount.

"Ah, two of our members have gone out for a while. They'll be back soon," Seungkwan said.

"Right! Do you know, those two members are from China too! Cool, right?" Seokmin exclaimed and I slowly nodded. "They're brothers too!"

"Oh...really?" I said, my voice trailing off.

"You must be nervous since it's your first stage," Seungcheol said, and I lightly laughed. "I guess you can say that, but I have performed before, in a contest," I said as I scratched my nape. "Really? What contest?"

"Ah, it was in China, when I...when I was attending the dance school. The National China Dance Competition."

"Oh really? That's so cool!! One of our members participated in that too, and his team won first place!" Seokmin said.

"That's- that's really cool!" I stuttered. What is going on...Moon Jia, you really need to come to your senses. You have a performance soon!

"Moon Jia! You're up in 2 minutes!" The staff called out for me.

"Fighting Jia! You'll ace this!" Seokmin hugged me and the rest of the members cheered for me as well. I smiled and went up the stage.

It was a sight I had not seen since...almost 3 years now, come to think of it.

I was so nervous, I hadn't checked any social media or the album reviews after the release. But there were so many fans here...all of them cheering for me...

The lights went off, and the spotlight glowed on me. The music began.

And once again, I let it take control of my body.

══════ ☽ • ☾ ══════

My heart was rapidly pumping. I had done it. I had finally done it.

I smiled widely as I waved to the fans, all of whom were cheering and recording videos or taking pictures, some even crying. I really didn't want to leave the stage and wished I could stay longer and interact with the fans.

But I was grateful enough for the fact that I could be here and see my fans. The fact that I already had fans who had been waiting for my debut, was astonishing itself. I was so grateful that I didn't give up.

Unfortunately, I had to get off the stage because Seventeen were to perform right after me. I was going down the stairs backstage, when suddenly...it felt as if my whole world shook. Seventeen were going up just as I was coming down, when I saw one of the members from the corner of my eye. 

That...that face...looked so familiar...and that scent...

I stopped in my tracks and whipped my head back...

But they had already gone up.

I shook my head. "The hell is wrong with you? Why are you suddenly thinking about him after 2 years? We already settled it, do not think about him!" I scolded myself as I continued down the stairs and flopped on the sofa, accepting the bottle of water from the staff while watching Seventeen's stage on the screen in front of me. They were performing that song...Run to You. I intently watched, mumbling some lyrics along as well.

But then when the camera turned to one of the members...I dropped the bottle of water in my hand as my eyes gaped at the screen in utter shock. The staff immediately rushed to me as they cleaned up and tried to dry my clothes which were now drenched in water.

"Jia? What's the matter?" One of the staff asked.

"H-him," I pointed to the screen. "Who is he?"

The staff frowned. "Him? That's THE 8. His real name is Xu Minghao. But why do you-"

And before I knew it, I was running out of there, into the streets, with the rain pouring. I didn't know where I was going, but I let my feet take me wherever I would end up.

I don't even know why I was running, but I ran. I ran.

And I did not stop.

══════ ☽ • ☾ ══════

word count: 797