Lost & Found

7 Years Earlier

7 Years Earlier
15-Years-Old

"Have you been asked by anyone yet?"

Yoongi looked up from his book to give Aera a confused look.

"Asked for what?"

"To go to the dance," Aera replied exasperatedly. "Remember, the school dance I've told you about a hundred times already?"

"Oh, yeah."

"So...has anyone asked you?"

Yoongi snorted. "No, of course not. And even if they had, what makes you think I'd want to go?"

"It's our first school dance," Aera replied. "It's like a practice run for prom!"

"Who said I wanted to go to prom?"

Aera sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "You have to go to prom, Yoongs! It's like a rite of passage!"

Yoongi shook his head. "Dancing's not really my thing."

"You don't even have to actually dance! It's the experience of it that matters!"

"Well, considering I haven't been asked to this dance, I highly doubt I'll be asked to prom either."

"You are such a buzzkill, Yoongs."

"Sorry?"

Aera rolled her eyes. "I have an idea," she said.

Yoongi sighed. "What is it?"

"If you promise to go to prom in a couple years, I'll drop it about this dance."

Yoongi side-eyed her. "But you want to go to this dance, don't you?"

"Obviously. But I won't push you."

Yoongi thought it over. "Okay. If I can get a date to prom, I'll go."

"No," Aera replied. "That wasn't the deal. You have to go whether you have a date or not."

"But I'll look like a loser if I go by myself!"

"Then I'll go with you!"

Yoongi blinked. "What?"

"If you're so dead set on having a date, I'll go with you."

Yoongi wrinkled his nose. "No offense, but I don't want to go on a date with you."

Aera sighed, as though her next words should've been obvious. "It wouldn't be a date, Yoongs. It would be as friends."

"Fine," Yoongi conceded. "If you leave me alone about this dance, I'll go to prom."

Aera grinned as she squealed. "Yay!"

Yoongi shook his head again. "You're relentless."

"You love me!"

"So, what's the catch here?"

"What do you mean?" Aera asked innocently.

"You would never give up on this dance – our first school dance – so easily. There has to be some catch that I just inadvertently agreed to."

Aera smiled slyly. "I still want to have the experience of getting ready. So, you're going to do that with me."

Yoongi furrowed his brow. "What does that mean?"

"You'll see on the day of the dance."

Yoongi sighed. "Am I going to regret all of this?"

"Nah," Aera said, still smiling. "It'll be fun, I promise!"