ch. 29

"raise your hand and scream for a bursting start."

-say my name

"eunbi-ah, are you sure you don't want us to come and watch?"

the girl looks away from the window and meets the gazes of the four youngest relatives in the car, all of them staring at her with a regretful expression. the remaining cousins are in the vehicle behind them, listening through the walkie-talkie in jungkook's hand.

"it's okay," she replies, a sad smile pulling on her lips. "i think the performances will be posted online sometime later, so we can watch it together whenever it's uploaded."

taehyung, who is seated beside her, wraps his arms around her in a solemn manner.

"we're sorry!" he wails as he nuzzles his face into his cousin's black t-shirt. "if it wasn't on a friday night-"

being annoyed with her immature relative, the little one shoves him away from her, causing him to bump into her brother. "for the love of jesus christ, stop being over dramatic. you guys have a bunch of fans waiting for you at daehango."

"we do apologize for the inconvenience though," namjoon says through the portable device as a chorus of hums from the rest of the boys blends in the background. "it's your first performance of the school year and we won't be there in person to support you."

"it's okay," she sighs. "stuff like this happens sometimes."

when they arrive at her school, eunbi opens the door of the vehicle and steps out onto the sidewalk with her bag on her arm. she turns around to face her relatives in the two cars and shows them a thumbs-up with a weird squatting pose as a sign of good luck for their performance tonight. returning the encouragement, the group of males stick their heads out of the windows and cheer for her before they depart to their designated location.

entering the campus, she takes her time to walk to the theater until a fairly large shadow towers over her petite figure. the sun is setting, the lampposts are still off, and no one unknowingly is around them, making her tremble in fear. slowly, she turns herself around to face the person behind her with her hands balled in fists.

once she recognizes them, she lets out a breath she has been unconsciously holding. "jesus christ, you scared me."

standing before her is yeosang, who is oblivious of her presence since his eyes are on his phone, and bumps into her. he is about to glare at whoever he collided into, but the gaze changes immediately when his eyes meet hers.

"hey eunbi," he greets with a small smile.

"hi." seeing him alone is quite unexpected, so she leans to the side to check something from behind. "where is the rest of the group?"

hearing the question, he sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. "i was sleeping and they forgot to wake me up."

"why am i not surprised?" she chuckles as she checks her wristwatch. "oh shoot, we have ten more minutes before the showcase starts!"

their eyes widening at the amount of time left, the both of them sprint to the theater as they laugh at their stupidity along the way. they evade the walking pedestrians, who were blocking their path, and teasingly push each other to get one of them to trip.

eventually, the pair arrives at their designated location and spots the remaining members waiting for yeosang in the front. eunbi waves at them while racing the blond male, not paying attention to her surroundings and only facing forward. noticing her lack of focus, her competitor pushes her to the side with a smirk.

the girl loses her footing and stumbles forward, her heartbeat banging against her chest in fear. she closes her eyes shut at the anticipation of colliding into the hard concrete pavement and shoots her hands in front of her to protect her.

but then, someone swoops in and catches her in an embrace.

she bumps into the person's chest and instinctively wraps her arms around their waist as the both of them tumble to the floor. groans escape from their throats while they sit up, lifting their heads to meet each other's gaze. everyone else runs over to them with worried faces to check for injuries.

"i didn't know you were falling for me, princess."

wooyoung rubs the back of his neck and flashes her a cheeky grin, earning an eye roll from the girl.

"you wish," she scoffs, brushing off the nonexistent dust from her shoulders. "but thank you for... saving me?"

they both laugh when they recall the raven boy's poor attempt at preventing the fall, which resulted in him joining her.

suddenly, a pair of arms go underneath eunbi's shoulders and hoist her body from the floor. she is taken back at the action and her unstable legs stumble backward into someone behind her. looking up, she makes eye contact with the person.

"san?"

although the male was holding a fierce gaze, she notices a small blush arise onto the surface of his cheeks.

"let's head inside," he simply says as he lets go of her and slowly departs from the group. "the showcase is starting soon."

returning his focus forward, he enters the building while ignoring the group's shouts. wooyoung, jongho, and mingi look at each other and the shrug at his peculiar behavior before the red-haired male lifts his friend off the ground. hongjoong and seonghwa assume that he was in one of his moods, so they ignore him and examine their female friend for any scratches.

however, the girl's gaze never leaves his figure.

it was that same reaction last time, she notices. that same reaction when she and jongho were teasing one another.

she tilts her head as she continues pondering about her friend's odd actions. was he... jea-

before she could finish her thought, yeosang grabs her hands and shake them frantically. "i'm so sorry for pushing you too hard. i didn't think you would fall."

"don't apologize," she flashes him a reassuring smile. "we were just playing around, that's all."

"but you almost got hurt-"

a finger is placed on his lips.

"i'm fine, yeosang-ah." eunbi averts her gaze from him and locks onto the auditorium. "we should head into the theater before they stop letting anyone in."

eventually, everyone heads into the building after the incident, chattering their way through the crowded entrance. they can feel the excitement of the audience when they open the doors, the lights sparkling above them.

unfortunately, they had to part ways since performers and viewers have different areas of seating in the theater, so they bid goodbye to one another before approaching their appointed seating. distinguishing a white piece of paper on a chair, the girl recalls wooyoung telling her about a spot among the audience reserved for her. she decides to approach it, seeing her name written on it.

settling herself down, she takes off her small bag and places it onto her lap as a sigh slips from her lips.

"eunbi?"

she turns her head to the side when she hears her name and smiles at the sight of her seat neighbor. "oh, hi hana. how are you?"

"i'm good. how about you?"

"same here."

still a bit awkward after their first encounter, they exchange a few words with one another to pass time since people were still entering. hana eagerly points out the performances she is looking forward to in a brochure and eunbi nods in agreement, not really paying attention to her words but on the list of performers.

the lights then dim down and the announcer appears on stage to greet everyone, reminding them the basic manners of watching the showcase, before proceeding with the program. all the conversations die down and everyone relaxes themselves to enjoy the first performance of the evening.

as eunbi watches the show, she recalls a name she recognized on the performance list and she bites her lips to stifle a grin, exhilaration now flowing through her veins.

#23: the masked singer (vocal-class f)