parallel ; {p.jaehyung}

sixteen ;

second performance, i was feeling more pumped than usual. maybe it's because of the lack of sleep and instead adrenaline rushing through me. i couldn't sleep last night, no matter how hard i tried. the makeup artist had to cover my dark eye bags. i counted the minutes on the clock mounted on the wall and my eyes drifted to jae and brian sitting on the couch on opposite ends. it was tense between the three of us, but the other three didn't feel a thing.

"ready for our second performance?" wonpil asked, tapping the top of my head. i grunted in response. "sort of. it's a good distraction, that's for sure."

he followed my gaze and clicked his tongue when he saw who i was staring at. "jae thinks you're with brian, and he doesn't seem too happy about it." i gulped at wonpil's revelation. was he really jealous, or was it some kind of bro-thing? i didn't think jae had it in him to be jealous. and besides, jealous of what? i bit my lip. there was nothing between brian and i. i made it clear.

as if he read my mind, wonpil said, "maybe you made it clear to brian, but what about to jae?"

right. well, it's too late now. they waved their hand to call us and we exited to the stage.

the performance passed by in a blur. though, i swear that i saw carlos in the crowd.

we walked back to the dressing room, and i was about to enter, but brian pushed me back. i caught jae's eye and he looked as confused as i did.

"someone's here," he said, smiling at me. "turn around, but slowly and don't scream."

oh jeez i'm scared.

"i'm scared."

brian laughed. "don't be. just do as i tell you."

i glared at him, but turned around anyway.

"carlos!" i screamed and jumped onto him. "what are you doing here?"

he fondly poked my cheeks. "i came to support you, of course." he pulled me in for a hug. "i had to see how my best friend was doing."

i smiled widely at him, hugging him tighter. "thank you so much. it means so much to me."

we pulled away and he said, "can we go out for dinner?" i looked behind me to see brian chatting with a tall girl who had the same eyes as him. i coughed and brian stopped to look at me.

"oh, right. who's hungry?"

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we went out for korean barbecue because carlos wanted to try "authentic korean barbecue." i know. stupid.

so, carlos brought ane along and i was able to meet her. immediately, we hit it off. before, i was a little bit intimidated because of her height and bold eyes, but after i saw past her confident structure, she really was the sweet girl both carlos and brian told me about. her straight black hair was in a bob with silver clips on the side and a matching silver rose necklace. her outfit consisted of a denim skirt and dark blue long sleeve with black accents. what was even more impressive was that she was a hard working student at ucla. damn, how badly i wanted to be her friend.

i whispered to brian, "how did carlos land your sister? your sister's amazing." brian choked on a piece of meat and laughed obnoxiously loud. "quit it," i hissed, shooting a sheepish smile at the couple in front of me.

brian collected himself and said in korean what i told him. i blushed with embarrassment when ane looked at me and laughed rather beautifully. "carlos is amazing as well. you should see him trying to catch our loose dog. it's amusing."

carlos looked confused when his name came up. "can we speak english please?"

i snickered. "you should learn korean. it's useful, you know, for when you're in korea." i winked at ane and she did the same. i already love her.