Kingdom: Legendary Love || 2min

<十三>

Listening to: *Hug* - seventeen

00:37 ━━━━●───── 02:01

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ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯

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~

"Hyung..." Jeongin burst into tears the moment the older pulled him in for a tight hug.

At that moment, there in his arms, he felt safe.

Safe to let out his emotions and safe to let out his pain. His comforting embrace was the warm blanket he needed to survive this harsh winter.

A few seconds passed as Jeongin reluctantly pulled back. "Hyung," Chan looked down at him gently, "I fucked up. I'm so sorry, it's all my fault-"

Suddenly, Jeongin was yanked closer to Chan and he kissed him, shutting him up. The younger gasped in surprise and went frozen. Chan's eyes flutter open and his lips curl up in a soft smile. Jeongin, still flabbergasted at the suddenness, finally responded with a shy smile as his whole face went tomato red. And then Chan's head tilts down again, his lips aiming straight at his with determination. It was gentle and soft compared to the previous one. And it was perfect, almost too perfect, too "happily ever after". This can't be true.

I don't deserve this happiness.

~

|| Flashback ||

Each group sat in their respective waiting rooms in a dreaded silence. The anxious wait finally came to an end when MC Changmin appeared on the screen. He did a brief introduction and moved on to the long-waited performances.

SF9 went first, performing an impactive storyline and choreography of The Boyz's song The Stealer. The boyz, who went after them also performed SF9's song O Sole Mio but with their own flair. Performing third and fourth was iKon and Ateez who rearranged each other's songs. Then, there came BTOB, who chose Back Door to recreate.

Once the clapping died down after BTOB's performance, Seungmin couldn't help but admire the other's work. As Stray Kids left the waiting room for the rehearsal, the vocalists started to panic. Why? Out of all the songs? Seungmin sobbed inwardly.

~

The rehearsal actually went pretty smoothly. There were no mistakes made, and even the filming crew was impressed. Even so, certain members could not control their racing hearts.

It was time. Seungmin kneeled down on the hard ground in front of the tree. The blue hue of light shined above him as cameras start shooting. He acts with all his heart, a defeated, pained man who grieves for the young boy. His voice rumbles through the studio, clear and thunderous. Soon, another voice overlaps, twists, and replaces his. Jisung sings his lines, and then Changbin raps his, acting along with a child actor. The camera then pans to Jeongin, who lies on the ground, whipping out each and every high note. Jisung belts out his, and BTOB's shock and pride could be clearly imagined. Each member does their own parts until the end where the detailed group choreography comes in. Seungmin and Jisung successfully harmonize with Changbin rapping in the background. That sent goosebumps up every audience's arms. The finish up the end of the chorus, Jeongin sings it.

But his voice cracked. He choked. No-!

Jeongin held back the threatening tears until the final shot where Chan is on his knees, and the child actor creeps up from behind and hugs him.

When the cameras cut, everyone cheered at their hard work except for the youngest. He was disappointed in himself was an understatement. What the heck did I do... He grimaced as they returned to the waiting room.

~

The groups enter the set one by one, each accompanied by a booming sound announcing their arrival. It was finally time to announce the scores.

The atmosphere in the room was tense as everyone sat, Jeongin's eyes were nervously fixed on the screen. He could only think how in the midst of their seemingly perfect performance, hid a speck of imperfection... His voice cracks.

"Please reveal it now." The MC's voice interrupted his train of negative thoughts. "In 6th place with 919,540 votes... The Boyz!"

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Jeongin looked around as glances filled with shock and hints of sympathy were exchanged. How could The Boyz come last? They did so well in the expert evaluations.

"It means we didn't even get one vote," Sunwoo murmured to Hyunjae while the latter just looked down sadly.

The MC gave The Boyz a few moments to recover and gather their thoughts before continuing, "Next, in 5th place with 1072.797 points we have... Stray kids!"

Jeongin's heart sank and before he knew it, his eyes were filled with tears once again. All the members went silent, except for Chan who softly clapped a couple of times. "This is all because of me," Jeongin thought and bit his lips in anguish, "I let them down..."

"This is too shocking." Jeongin heard Changbin say to Minho. His tone was icy with a hint of bitterness, he couldn't even bear to turn around to look at their glum faces. The guilt was slowly eating away at the back of his head, he couldn't think straight anymore, and all the 'it's okay' skimmed over his head as meaningless words.

The rest of the presentation went by in a blur with iKON in 4th place, BTOB in 3rd, SF9 in 2nd and as expected, ATEEZ in first. Jeongin winced in jealousy when he recalled ATEEZ's epic performance. I have always envied their maknae Jongho, his golden voice and powerful stage presence were always the perfect finale to their performances, and then there's me. He thought.

The moment the cameras cut off and the groups started making their way back through the corridor, Jeongin left the group and hid in an empty storage room. He was just about to break down crying when somebody gently knocks on the door. Jeongin cautiously opens the door to greet a worried Chan.

|| End Of Flashback ||

~

Chan trotted into their dorm followed by his depressed members. No one said a word and sluggishly went into their own respective rooms. As Seungmin opened the door, he saw Hyunjin sitting on his bed with a frown. Hyunjin stood up slowly and patted the younger on the shoulder trying to comfort him. He sighed in reply and before he could say anything, Chan asked for the members to gather in the living room.

Once everyone was present, Chan announced that JYP has bought them tickets to a theme park as a "reward for their effort" and also claimed to be very proud of his members. Thank god I bought these before, at least this can cheer them up. Chan looked up to meet Minho's knowing eyes. He knows. Chan then glanced at a smiling Jeongin. It's all definitely worth it.

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╰┈➤ ❝ damn, he's sitting so close ❞