Meant To Be

56- "Even if I tried stopping you, tell me honestly, would you have stopped?"

Chapter 56

"Remember," Namjoon holds my face gently, looking into my eyes. "This is your dream. This is what you worked for tirelessly. This is your time to show people you guys are worth supporting. You give your one hundred percent, you hear me?" 

I nod slowly. "Yeah," I mutter, looking down. "Louder," Namjoon demands. "Yeah," I look at him. "I'll do whatever it takes," I say, determined.

I crack my neck, getting ready for our first ever stage performance as a team. I nervously walk around the room, chanting 'you can do this'. 

The others are getting their makeup done, Amara and Mia are going through the dance one last time. 

I slowly breathe in and out, hoping it would calm my nerves. My heart beats quickly and my face gets all heated up. I crack my knuckles and tap my foot on the ground. I look up at the ceiling and close my eyes. 

"Hey," I turn my head, meeting Kook's gaze. "Hey," I smile. "You're a natural, you'll be fine," He punches my arm. 

"I don't know," I look down. He rubs my back and I feel at ease. "I'll let you be for some time," He says and I smile in return. 

I look around the room. Samara and Tae are hugging, Jimin's saying something to Mia, his thumb caressing her cheek, Suga and Jin are helping Zoe with her outfit. 

Namjoon's talking to Amara and Hobi and Sadie are giggling over something. How Sadie can be so chill is something I'll never understand.

"Nervous?" A deep voice comes from my left. "Yeah," I look at Tae. 

"Come here," He says and pulls me towards him, engulfing me in a warm hug. Surprisingly, this gesture somewhat makes me a little less worried. 

"It's a piece of cake," He says. "That's what they all say," I point out. "Because it's the truth," He grabs my shoulders and lifts my chin. 

"There's nothing to be afraid of. Just go up on stage, and do what you usually do during practice. Minus the messing around. It's that simple," I sigh. "Okay,"

"Five minutes girls, hurry up," Minjae yells, and my anxiety rises again. "Oh no," I whisper. "Hey," Tae giggles. "It's honestly not that big of a deal," He kisses my forehead and holds my hand. "Breathe," He orders and I follow. 

"Shit," I mutter looking down. "What is it?" He worriedly asks. "The shirt is coming out," He helps in tugging in the shirt into my skirt when his hands touch my waist. This simple touch sent chills down my spine like crazy. 

"I'll h-handle it," I stutter and move his hands away. He looks at me weirdly, to which I awkwardly smile. 

"I'm going to quickly brush," I walk away but he grips my wrist, pulling me close to him. "You've brushed twice in the last ten minutes, Ava," He whispers, his hot breath hitting my face. 

"Oh," I scrunch my nose. "It's not a sin to have good breath," I roll my eyes. "Ava," He flatly says. 

"Alright, alright," I quickly say and pull my hand from his grip. "I'll talk to the other girls," He shrugs slightly. 

I give a short hug to everybody. I needed it more than them, to be honest. Everybody else seemed so chill. Minjae tells us it's time to go and before I leave the room, Kook gave me a hug. "Fighting," He clunches his hand in a fist. "Fighting," I repeat after him with a smile.

___________

"That was a mind-blowing performance," The MC roars, the sound echoing in the huge auditorium, along with the cheers of thousands of fans who've come to see us for the first time.