"It's just 5 days before your surgery! You can't participate in Art Festival!" Jimin crossed his arms.
"No matter what you say! I will perform in festival! I don't need permission to dance!" I stubbornly pouted.
"Yoomi... Please understand.. You can't dance when your surgery is near! And those painkillers are not that effective now a days, you are getting often head aches!"
"I can manage.. Please.. Jimin.." I made puppy eyes.
"Why are you so stubborn, Yoomi?! Why are you doing like this?"
"Taehyung will be the honoured guest as he will be the next CEO.. The Grand Prize will be presented by himself to the winners... I.. I need to take that from his.. hands.." I stuttered at the end lowering my head.
"Don't you feel you are doing the biggest mistake by hiding this matter from him? You know how bad will he feel if he gets to know about your situation? It's not too late, Yoomi.. Let's disclose this matter to him.. I'm sure he will take care of you."
"NO!!! Please.. He won't take that.. it will ruin his whole life.. I know how he would suffer! It was too hard for him when his Mom separated from him by ill fate.. He won't even share the pain and he suffers all alone! I know him very well! And now he finally got along with his family and I don't want to ruin it!.." I sighed. "I told you the same thing about a hundred times Jimin!!!! Ahh why don't you understand?!!!!" I clenched my hair.
"Ahh Ok Ok.. Fine.... Do as you wish.. Now don't be mad.." Jimin held my wrist.
"Then, we are participating in the festival ... Right?" I showed my all teeth.
He sighed with a nod. "But!! You have to be very careful while dancing.. We can't ruin it once we are on the stage.. I hope we get the grand prize....... I - I mean, you get the grand prize by his hands.."
I nudged his nose, "Thank you.." I smiled, scrunching my nose.
~~~~
The head ache was at the regular intervals and I managed somehow with the temporary pain killers and some other tablets along with that. Days rolled and the day of Art Festival has finally arrived. The first day it was just fun performances and there were no competitions.
I was seated in the front row at the stage auditorium. As Jimin's solo performance was there on the first day, I wanted to attend it even though the hoots, crowd making me feel uneasy.
The stage program just began and Jimin was sitting right next to me.
"When is your performance? I can't wait .. I'll go home after your performance. It's too noisy here.." I said covering my ears with palms.
"Yoomi.. If you can't take this, we'll go home now itself.. I don't want you to stress yourself! My performance is bit later.. May be after 2 hours or so.." He said placing his hand on my forehead to check my temperature.
"No no.. I'm fine.. I can wait for 2 hours."
"You can watch records of my performance later.. So please don't hide if you are not feeling good. Remember, you have duet tomorrow?" Jimin raised his brows.
"Y-yes, I do.. rem-member... I will let you know if I feel uneasy, don't worry." I smiled accordingly.
The performances continued and my eyes started to explore every corner of auditorium slowly. I did not see Taehyung from that day. So my brooding eyes were just wanting to see him even at least from the far.
"Whom are you searching, Yoomi?" Jimin asked observing me.
I flinched from his sudden question.
"Ah.. that..-"
"Taehyung? Isn't it?" He softly asked.
"Hmm.." I lowered my head.
Suddenly whole auditorium went dark.
The stage was merely visible. The curtain of the stage glided away. And the mild lights lit the first half of the audience, slowly. There was a person, on the stage. We couldn't see who was it properly because the stage was still dark.
The music slowly started in the slow beats as the gleam fell on the mic revealing the hand which was holding it. Even before he could start singing, the loud hoots were coming all around the auditorium.
The slow verse started revealing the deep voice. It gave me goosebumps all over and I was more than dumbfounded to hear the voice which I have been craving to hear almost everyday - every night.
Yes- It was Tae.. The limelight fell on him when he started to sing the song ~
[It's better to hear this than reading the lyrics alone. So just play the song and go on reading and imagine Tae is singing this on Art Festival. - You will feel the situation better. - A small tip from writer :) ]
Lately I've been thinking, thinking 'bout what we had
I know it was hard, it was all that we knew, yeah
Have you been drinking to take all the pain away?
I wish that I could give you what you deserve
Cause nothing can ever, ever replace you
Nothing can make me feel like you do
You know there's no one, I can relate to
And know we won't find a love that's so true
There's nothing like us, there's nothing like you and me
Together through the storm
There's nothing like us, there's nothing like you and me
Together
I gave you everything, baby, everything I had to give
Girl, why would you push me away? yeah
Lost in confusion, like an illusion
You know I'm used to making your day
But that is the past now, we didn't last now
I guess that this is meant to be, yeah
Tell me was it worth it? We were so perfect
But baby I just want you to see
There's nothing like us, there's nothing like you and me
Together through the storm
There's nothing like us, there's nothing like you and me
Together
There's nothing like us, there's nothing like you and me
Together through the storm
There's nothing like us, there's nothing like you and me
Together
The ocean of applause flooded after the performance.
His eyes were just on me throughout the performance and I was unknowingly on tears. The each and every line was just like, it was made for us. How did it match so perfect? I wanted to hug him tight - till my last breath.
I was gripping Jimin's hand without my conscious. I held back my emotions, coming to my senses as the screen decided to block the eye contact between us. Tae was eyeing me till the last vision before the screen covered fully.
"I can't be here.. I can't-" I held my head as it throbbed.
"Yoomi.. Are you ok?" Jimin held my nape and hand giving me the strength to manage.
"Let me go home.. I will call my Dad.. He will be somewhere here in the institution.." I got up, "I'm sorry.. I can't see your performance.." I released my hand from his and I rushed outside the auditorium, calling my Dad.
~
I bumped into someone in the rush.
"I'm sorry.." I did not even see who was it and moved away from the person.
"Girl... You need to watch your way."
I froze wherever I was. It was familiar sentence, I have heard this before. My eyes widened as soon I recognized the voice.
Yoongi!!!!!! I screamed internally and turned.
"So, Congratulations! I have heard everything about the engagement. And it was you! I'm happy for you both."
"When did you come from the States?!!" I gulped, ignoring his wish.
"This morning." He smiled.
"When are you going back?" I asked.
He did not answer for few seconds as he was puzzled by my sudden question - which felt weird for him.
"Are you in the rush, sending me off already? Did I bother you that much?" He let a light giggle.
You are not bothering me.. You will dig the truth about me if you are here! I thought, internally facepalming myself.
"I was just asking-" I said nervously.
"Haha.. So tell me.. Where did Taehyung take you? You are happy with him, right? I hope you forgave him.. Isn't it?" Yoongi showered me the rain of questions.
He will definitely feel fishy if I say I broke up with Tae! What do I say now? God.. Please help me..
"Hello Sir, good to see you here." I heard my Dad's voice from behind before I could answer his question.
"Hello, Mr. Jung In." He shook his hand with a smile.
"You would have rested a bit.. What makes you rush here?" Dad asked him casually.
"I just wanted to see kids.. Taehyung, Nightingale, Jungkook, Yoomi-" He paused, "Did I say Nightingale? Hahaha.. I will forget her real identity sometimes.. Never-mind."
"Yeah- you have raised her in the way, so it happens.. And now I have to take her-" My Dad eyed me, "So if you don't mind-" And he shifted glance on Yoongi again and smiled.
"Yeah, sure." He took out something from his bag-pack, "I have something to give you, Yoomi. You will like this chocolates a lot." He handed me the chocolate box.
I took with awkward smile on my face, "Thanks." I said and left with Dad.
~~
Day 2- Art Festival:
I and Jimin were in the backstage as it is our next performance. We both dressed up as we planned before.
"Wow, you look so beautiful in this white gown!" Jimin's jaw dropped low.
"And you're too looking good in tux!" I appreciated him back. "And I saw your yesterday's performance.. It was mind blowing, I'm sorry. I missed it live."
"Aishhh, it's okay.. And thanks too!" He came to ruffle my hair.
"Hey no- You can't spoil my hairstyle!" I escaped.
"Sorry sorry.." He scrunched his nose. "So, all ready for the dance?"
"Yes.. I am." I took a long breath of confidence.
"Have you taken your tablets??"
"Yess Jiminaaaaa... I have taken itttt.." I whined, pouting.
"So you remember every dance move, isn't it?"
"Of-course I do!"
"Don't panic, if anything happens.. Just go on dancing.. Okay?" Jimin said patting my cheek.
"Yeah.. Why are you babying me? I'm fine and I can dance."
"Okay Miss. Perfect!" He twinkled his eyes, "Take this masquerade." Jimin handed me a beautiful eye mask, which would cover half of our face.
"Are we using this mask while dancing? But why? We didn't plan-" My words were cut off.
"Shhh! Isn't it cute? I have seen this in a movie, Fifty sh-" Jimin cleared his throat, "Ah, I mean some movie.." He rubbed his nape sheepishly.
"Darker? I see..." I giggled.
His face went scarlet in no time, "Actually, I meant.. if we wear masquerade, it will be more pertinent... It's not about the movie, it only gave me the idea of masquerade that's it."
"So, are we wearing it till the end of the dance? Or should I remove it in-between?" I asked.
"Okay, let me explain, listen carefully.... I will be standing on the stage before hand, wearing the mask. And after the song plays, you will be joining me on the stage wearing this mask. When the first verse 'You could hold, Moonlight in your hands ' plays, we both will be removing the mask. So don't panic and mess up.. Okay?"
"It's simple.. What is there to panic?.... Firstly, tell me why are you nervous? Are you okay?" I asked him.
"I'm.. I'm fine Yoomi.." He tried to smile but it didn't help him. I saw something hidden in his eyes.
We heard the announcement for our performance.
"Okay, I'll be going now.. You come after the song plays.. Remember the moves... all the best.." He walked away hurriedly saying those.
I left a sigh and wore the mask. I was ready to dance my last dance - Probably it is!
The song played and I entered the bright stage with a smile with a swift move, which Jimin taught me earlier. The audience were excitedly cheering us.
The song - Moonlight was playing and I started to move according to his move.
He held me through my waist and the slow duet started. I felt something different this time. The touch was different, felt more than comfortable.
Finally that verse came and it's the time to remove the mask. We both removed our mask accordingly - My eyes popped out and my heart skipped a beat to see who was holding me.
"You are, My Moonlight." He hummed as it synced with the song.
__________________________________
Guess who was holding Yoomi at the end? - Your guess is probably right.
Finally Yoongi came from the States - What do you think about it?
Share your all reviews, doubts here.. 👉
Have a good day My Tannies 💜