parallel ; {p.jaehyung}

eighteen ;

with stray kids' bracelet wrapped around my wrist, my happiness was soaring when i performed on stage. the smile i had was soft and i swear, i was getting even more emotional than i did the past few days. then again, i'm here in korea, doing the thing i love most with the people i've dreamed about my whole life.

i'm here and now i realize that i did deserve to be here. i was worth every breath to get here and i'm still worth it now. nothing could change that.

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"riah! you looked amazing!" chan yelled as we entered the dressing room. "congratulations!" felix added.

jisung came around and looped an arm around my shoulder, poking my forearm. "love the bracelet. where'd you get it from?" he asked, winking.

i smiled at the nine boys who crowded the space. "we'll catch up later. i'm dying to get out of these stockings," i told them, shooing them out one by one. "see ya!"

they all waved and i immediately got back into my regular clothes, which consisted of shorts, a thin purple long sleeve, and black combat boots.

outside the building, i maneuvered around the cameras and met brian waiting for me near the black van.

"get in," he said and was already pushing me towards the open doors before i even responded.

"hey, wait," i protested, trying to push him back. "i said i would catch up with chan and them."

brian nodded, "we already said we would borrow you and they agreed. now get in, we want some time with riah lee."

i guess i was busy being flustered that i didn't even notice that he took the opportunity to push me inside the car. having no choice, i was set between jae and wonpil and i awkwardly shot a smile at jae. although we shared a moment last night, i still feel uneasy about the whole thing with jae and brian.

wait, was there even anything going on between us? i'm not so sure myself.

"what was the point of bringing me out here? why are we all here?" i asked in complete confusion as they dropped us off at the outlet. "you do realize that all six of us here will definitely attract attention?"

sungjin nodded. "we're aware."

"basically, long story short," brian said, "we're jealous of the bracelet chan and them gave you, and now we want to get cute gifts from each other." he adjusted his hat and smiled at me as he jumped off a bench.

"so, three teams of two and we split up and we come back with gifts for everyone except for you two," sungjin explained. "jae and brian are together, dowoon and wonpil, and riah with me?" he asked around, checking if we were okay with the teams.

i looked uncertainly at jae, but he only smiled at me.

"perfect! see you in two hours for lunch!" sungjin grabbed my forearm and started leading me to a random store with a bunch of tourist goods.

"what's going on, y/n?" sungjin said my name so suddenly that in nearly dropped the mug i was holding.

"i'm the leader. you don't think i know your real name? i'm also not stupid. what's been going on with brian and jae?" he asked.

all i could do was stare at him in fear and shock.

"riah?" he said, coming closer to me. "we can sit down if you want."

i sat down on the floor of the store without thinking and sungjin yelped, trying to get me up.

then he led us to a bench near the outside of the store and guided me to sit. "we can talk about it. i'm not just your leader. i'm also your friend," he said, handing me a water bottle.