Rivals | Jungkook

CHAPTER TWO

"Leaving the last two groups, we have BTS, doing Ateez' Bouncy!" All the groups applauded while they got into position on stage. Hari was still looking at Jungkook – God, he pissed her off. Hari had spaced out for a second—but when she snapped back to reality she realized she was making eye contact with him. He gave her a wink and she felt shivers going all over her. She gagged, covering her mouth and going over to Yunjin whining.

Backstage, DIOR marked their choreography and quietly practised their vocal parts. Hari tried to focus on singing, knowing that as main dancer and rapper, she was less confident in her vocals than the other girls. But it was hard to keep her eyes off BTS. Their sharp moves, Namjoon, Hoseok and Yoongi's powerful rap, and Taehyung's honey-like vocals. She could, however, beat Jungkook (definitely not biased). Hari even clapped when they were finished.

Eunbi escorted the girls onstage, stumbling slightly over their song choice, still adjusting to the last-minute change Hari had relayed to her. They all got into their positions and waited for the music to start. Their hearts were beating so loud you could probably mistake it for the background track... Hari squeezed her hand mic and let the rage at what ENHYPEN had done empower her to deliver her best performance. Danielle started the song, her voice a bit shaky, probably from crying earlier or simply, nerves. But she soon got back into the flow of the song, and Dosie took it from there. Yunjin and especially Hari had great flow during the rap, and Miyeon's high note was effortless. Even Eunbi looked enthused when she returned to the stage. Hari smiled into the camera, giving her best ending fairy. She would be the one everyone was talking about when the first episode aired.

"Did we literally just do that?" Yunjin said, exhausted after the complicated dance. The group exited and mingled for about an hour, until they were given a queue to return to the stage, and awaited the final results along with the other groups. The tension in the room was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. As soon as Eunbi entered the room, you could hear everyone go dead silent.

"Welcome back to O2EAN, all 6 of our teams have finished their performances. Deciding was so difficult as they were all unique and amazing in their own way." Eunbi cleared her throat, "now, without stalling anymore. The team in last place is..."

The beginning was the worst. The waiting was very nerve-racking, but finding out you were in last place was absolutely horrid.

Eunbi looked around the room and then back to her note cards, "IVE. You had an amazing performance, but you could have used more practice, especially with the end."

Everyone started clapping, with the occasional "you did amazing." She hushed down every one beforing announcing the next people. "In fifth and fourth place we have ENHYPEN and SKZ," She let out a small clap. "You guys did amazing, the choreography was very unique, especially ENHYPEN. That's an extremely hard song, especially for your vocals." Claps went around, with Miyeon being the only member of DIOR to look convincingly happy for ENHYPEN. Hari smirked, knowing they'd at least beaten those traitors. But that meant BTS was still in the running, and she'd be damned if they took first place.

"In third place, we have NMIXX! Fantastic performance, ladies. Your vocals, like always, are out of this world!"

Hari held her breath, unable to stop herself from sneaking a glance at Jungkook. Apparently, he'd been thinking the same, as he was already looking at her. He gave her what was probably supposed to be a charismatic smile—she looked away, trying to ignore the heart flutter it gave her.

"Drumroll please..." Everyone began to drum on their legs at Eunbi's request. "In second place we have..." she pulls out the second place note card, "BTS!"

Hari had to contain herself. She felt like she was going to explode, realising this meant DIOR had won, but she had to just stand there and clap like everyone else. "Your rap and dance were extremely powerful," Eunbi said, "and we enjoyed every second. Now, that means, DIOR, you have won first place! Your charisma and vocals completely won us over. Congratulations!"

Hari looked over to Jungkook, kind of in a way to taunt him. Her vocals were good enough to beat him – for this round. When she looked at him, he once again, was making direct eye contact with her; smiling and clapping. A soft, sweet smile. What was his problem? He just had to taunt her even more? Not him trying to act like he let her win.

She tried to snarl at him as obviously as she could without the camera picking it up as she clapped halfheartedly for BTS; wholeheartedly for herself. Once Eunbi had concluded the segment, the director announced there would be drinks in the lobby to celebrate the team's performances. Hari, personally, was parched, so she immediately went down to the lobby, and most of the other contestants went too.

Including the one face she didn't want to see.