Jungwon's POV
Today we are recording for the Mid year special episode of Music Bank so we are already dressed up and on our way there. We ended promotions a few weeks ago but that doesn't mean that we're getting more free time since we are currently preparing for our world tour.
Jake hyung is not feeling quite well so once we finish with our group performance they all will leave immediately so he can get some rest. On the other hand I'll have to stay to fulfill my duty as MC.
"You'll do great, hyung." I say to Jake hyung as I gently pat him on the back before going on stage.
"Thanks." He barely manages to give me a small smile.
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Once we were done, I had to run to my dressing room and prepare for the interview cams, when I arrived I realized that the clothing selection for today is very comfortable considering that the concept of this special episode is Summer Vacation. I quite like it!
"Was Jake feeling ill today?" Joowon asks me before starting the intro for today's program. Then we will record the interview cams and as for our last activity we will perform our special stage.
"Yes, I'm afraid he caught a cold." I tell her as I make sure that the hat I'm wearing is in its place. Then I turn to look at her and notice that her face looks worried. I really hope Jake hyung recovers soon.
"The camera will be on in five seconds, everyone get ready." I hear the camera supervisor telling us. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1. "Go" he finally mouthed.
"Ever-evolving K-pop! The hearth of the Korean wave!" I start with the intro.
"With the world watching..." Joowon continues.
"It's Music Bank live!" We both say in excitement.
"Hello, we are..."
"JooWON!"
"JungWON!"
"Biwon won!" It feels good to do our original MC greeting after months of not doing it. It was all thanks to the viewers since they had been asking for it through comments on past live broadcasts of the program, which caused the writers to add it to our scripts again.
"Woah Jungwon-ssi I can't believe it has already been six months of this year. Time is flying indeed!" she tells me as she waves a hand in the air.
"Yes it is... You know, since we are already dressed in summer outfits I think we should go on a real Holiday soon, don't you agree?"
"Totally! I want to dive in the ocean right now... but I can't." she starts looking excited but ends in a disappointing tone.
"Maybe after announcing today's lineup we can go!" I say to light up her mood. The introduction ended and then the interviews were filmed too, which means that our performance is next.
I still remember a few months ago, when we performed together for the first time, I didn't feel so confident and I was nervous about dancing with someone new but now things have changed. I still feel that nervousness but now for a different reason.
We will wear outfits inspired by the main characters of the drama 'Business proposal' considering that we are going to sing a song part of its OST. The outfit for me is a beige raincoat... I wonder what's Joowon's outfit.
"Hi..." she arrives a couple of minutes late. I can see that she is wearing a raincoat too but hers is yellow. "You look good!" she compliments me as if it's nothing, doesn't she realize how that makes me feel?
"Thank you... here." I give her the microphone she'll use for the performance. She got here late so a staff member told me to give it to her once she arrived. She takes it and a staff member approaches her to fix her in-ear monitor.
Then I heard her vocalizing so I started doing the same. We've rehearsed the song a lot of times but I'm still nervous about having to look at her while singing. She seems fine but her hands are fidgeting non stop meaning that she is feeling nervous too.
As we were about to go on stage I felt the need to do something to ease her mind but it definitely took everything in me to finally did it. In a flash I reach for her hand and I squeezed it which made her looked at me with widened eyes, I gave her an assuring smile, as if I was telling her "don't worry, we are going to do great." From the way she stared back at me I knew she had understood me.
The stage is characterized in a really contrasting way of a summer vacation, it is a street in a rainy night. Now I understand why everyone keeps saying that we are really unique MCs because we definitely do things differently, first we performed two special MC stages for our debut and now instead of doing something that has to do with summer, we'll sing in a rainy ambient.
When we were finally on stage, the music started playing as two lights appeared above us telling us to start. I was the one who sang first, I focused my eyes on the camera and then I closed them just to express more feeling to the song. I think I got fond of the song after practicing many times, the lyrics are nice and the melody is catchy.
While it was Joowon's turn I tried to be concentrated as much as possible because I knew that in any moment we were going to be making eye contact. Once our eyes met a cheery grin formed in her face while her sparkling eyes showed every emotion the song was meant to transmit. As she kept singing the only thing I could think of was how captivating her silvery voice was.
The song went on and just as we were about to finish a light rain started to fall on us, I grabbed the umbrella that was behind me and started walking towards her because we were supposed to sing the last verses together. We didn't get that close but it was enough for the umbrella to cover us both.
When the music stopped, everyone started cheering and clapping as the camera focused on me first for the ending fairy and then it did the same to Joowon. Meanwhile, I just looked down at my microphone because I didn't want to be seen looking at her. That would have definitely given away how I was feeling in that moment.
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"We did it!" she puts her hand up for a high five after we monitored our performance.
"Yes. I think it went out pretty well." I say looking at her. Her eyes are shining... I see that she keeps getting over excited for succeeding in a performance just like when we used to rehearse for our debut.
"Let me buy you a drink of the vending machine to celebrate, can I?" suddenly she takes my hand and drags me out to the hallway. It was safe to do that since everyone of the staff team was busy with their own work so they didn't notice us leaving by the hand.
There are time laps in which the hallways are empty and that usually happens when all idols have finished with their recordings because they are in their respective dressing rooms getting their make up and accessories remove.
"What drink do you want?" she asks me once we are in front of a vending machine.
"This one, please." I point out the drink I like. Once we both have our drinks we go and sit in the closest place we could find, which was the stairs.
"Let me open yours." I say taking her orange flavored soda. It's weird that she didn't chose the grape flavored one.
"Thank you sunbaenim." she keeps calling me that. I know it's out of respect, but now that I've heard how naturally she and Jake hyung talk, it makes me want her to talk to me like that too.
"You know, you can just call me by name... if you like." I suggest giving her the soda once I have opened it.
"I... is that okay with you?" she grabs it and asks me looking dubious. I just nod. Now that I think of it I don't ever say her name out loud when we are off camera. The only time I did call her name was when I gave her her birthday presents.
"Probably they are wondering where are we, don't you think?" I suddenly change the topic of the conversation.
"Maybe but honestly I don't think so, at least not for a while." She says as she sips her drink.
Then we talked about our pets. I told her all about Maeum and she told me all about Sugar Cloud. We even agreed that it would be a good idea for them to play together one day.
She adopted her too and is living with her grandmother here in Seoul so she can see her often. Her grandmother calls her 봉주 Bongju which means "light of joy" because she is always in a good mood. I found it funny and cute that her dog has an English and a Korean name. I even joked telling her: "she's such an idol!" Joowon laughed agreeing with what I said.
"Can I be honest with you?" She puts her drink down after almost finishing it.
"Sure. Tell me."
"I'm really going to miss you and Jake when you go on tour." I didn't expect her to mention this, but I'm glad she said it. I'm not quite sure about being mentioned alongside Jake hyung in that "I'll miss you" statement, but in the end he's her friend, so it made sense. What was I expecting? For her to only miss me? Maybe... why not?
"Are you going to miss me? Why?" I smirk at her. "Do you like me that much Joowon?" I say in a teasing tone. What just happened? I really question myself in my mind about where I got the confidence to tell her that.
"Don't flatter yourself Jungwon!" Joowon tells me while carefully touching my cheek. I can't even know which surprised me the most: the fact that she finally said my name or that she touched my face. For an instant I just stood there processing the situation. "Come on, we should go." She stands up and then gives me her hand to help me up.
Once we were about to turn to the hallway that would take us to our respective dressing rooms we saw her manager coming directly towards us. It had already been some time since we finished recording so we thought it wouldn't be a good idea to be seen together, my fast reflex was to hide. Joowon chuckled at my sudden reaction and then went to join Nicole.
While I was hiding I could feel that my cheeks were warm, I was feeling flustered. I assume it was because I couldn't stop thinking of the way she touched my face. She made sure to not make me uncomfortable but still make the touch noticeable.
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A/N: About the Korean name of the dog please know that I don't know Korean so some of the Korean names I mention are from the internet. I'm sorry if there are names that are not correct.