Amore||Jake Shim

twenty-five

"what?" ava asked.

jake smiled and stepped even closer to ava, taking both her hands in his.

"i like you too," jake chuckled, "even if you're not sure about your feelings, i am."

everyone backstage became quiet after noticing what was going on. ms. park began gathering the girls to head into the audience to watch the other performances, leaving ava and jake to talk backstage.

"i didn't expect any of this to happen, but i don't think my feelings ever went away. i convinced myself to think that they did, but here we are," jake smiled.

"you still like me?.." ava questioned with a smile.

"i still like you," jake nodded, "always have and always will."

ava became too shy to make eye contact with jake, so she looked elsewhere, trying to bite back a smile.

jake's face followed ava's, allowing them to make eye contact, which was ava's breaking point. she smiled brighter than the stars and used her hands to cover her face.

"don't do that," jake chuckled, gently removing her hands from her face, "i want to see your pretty face."

ava couldn't help, but let out a giggle, "stop that."

"what?" jake laughed.

ava pouted slightly and mumbled, "you're making me shy."

jake smile became wider and he replied, "i know and it's adorable."

"no it's not," ava snickered.

"c'mon," jake laughed, swinging an arm around ava's shoulders, "we're going to miss the awards."

ava let her body softly lean on jake's as they walked their way into the audience. she intertwined her right hand with jake's hand that was hanging off her shoulder, making jake unknowingly smile to himself.

"woah woah what do we have going on where?" someone whistled from behind.

the two turned around to see a big group of boys, some who ava knew.

"i didn't think all of you were coming," jake spoke, putting emphasis on the 'all'.

"and i didn't think you two were going to get together this soon," one of the boys replied, still shocked at the sight.

"well hello to you too, k," ava smiled, pulling away from jake.

k smiled back and walked over to ava, putting his arm around her shoulders to pat her head.
he smiled down and replied, "hi baby sis."

ava smiled at how daniel had to clear up that she wasn't k's real sister to the other boys before bringing her attention back to jake.

jake had his arms folded, while his tongue was poking his inner cheek.

"what?" ava asked.

"hands off," jake replied, directing it to k.

k immediately reacted by stepping away from ava with a teasing look.

"why?" ava complained.

"we're not even dating," she mumbled, making jake's eyebrows lift.

"i'm kidding i'm kidding," ava smiled nervously, running over to jake to wrap her arms around jake.

"i'm sorry," she whispered as jake put his arms around her too.

ava was standing on the side of jake with her arms around his waist and part of her head against his chest as the boys began teasing with  a mixture of 'aww' and 'eww'.

"uh ava," jake began, "meet the rest of the boys. i didn't expect all of them to come, but they came to support."

"then i hope you guys enjoyed the performance," ava smiled.

"oh all of us were completely shocked when you began dancing. you're an amazing dancer," heeseung complimented.

ava shyly chuckled, "thank you."

"awards are about to start," rosie announced, running towards the big group of people.

ava and jake led the way back into the competition arena as they took their seats behind the rest of their studio.

"do you want us to be dating?" jake asked.

"w-what?" ava stuttered at jake's straightforwardness, making him smile.

"earlier .." jake began, "you said we weren't even dating. do you want us to be dating?"

ava stayed silent for a few seconds before turning to gently slap jake's arm, "don't ask me that."

"well then let me tell you this.."

"if you're okay with it, i am ready to give my all into making this relationship work out," jake smiled.

ava smiled to herself before looking into jake's eyes and replying, "so am i."

the two of them intertwined their hands as ava rested her head on his shoulder. jake gently placed his head on hers before letting out a sigh and whispering, "i missed this so much, princess."

ava immediately smiled at the familiar nickname and looked back at jake, "and i missed hearing you call me that so much."

all of a sudden, there were screams and applauses everywhere.

"WE WON FIRST PLACE!" rosie yelled, hugging ava and jake.

jake and ava looked at each other with widened eyes before congratulating the rest of the girls.

"i'm so proud of you. i wouldn't have wanted to do this with anyone else," ava smiled, hugging jake.

jake wrapped his arms around ava and began swaying back and forth, placing his chin on top of her head.

"i'm proud of you too. i'm proud of us. i'm glad i didn't listen to you," jake replied, "if i listened to you and went to rest instead, i would not be able to call you my girlfriend right now."

with her arms still wrapped around jake, she tilted her head back to get a view of his face and said, "i'm glad you didn't listen to me either."

ava placed her head against jake's chest once again to feel him place a soft kiss on her forehead, making her completely melt.

whether it was destiny or not, the two were ready to hold onto each other until time ends.