"Why must you make me laugh so much? It's bad enough we get along so well" Goodnight n go by Ariana Grande
I don't think there's gonna be any warning for this chapter, but first a little disclaimer: the girl group Everglow gets mentioned in this chapter, please know I have no problem with them! (their group gets used to insult Evermore in a very hypothetical scenario) I used them bc my sister once said Evermore sounds really similar to Everglow. Anyways enjoy the chapter!
Talking with their managers about the song ended up being more uncomfortable than they thought, but her manager was happy that Jaeyun was able to finish the song.
The article about the collab between their groups had already come out, so Jaeyun was staring at her phone screen while scrolling through the comments under the tweet their company had posted. Most of their fans (forever) were also engenes, so she saw a lot of excited comments about the collab. A lot of them were also excited over Jaeyun's tattoos being shown during the photoshoot, even if it was only a bit. She was glad people were liking the idea, but there was always someone who didn't.
Ugh, who are these again???
Enhypen doing a collab with the Everglow wannabes??? No thank you.
Those girls probably begged Be:lift for the collab to hang on Enhypen's fame
Jaeyun rolled her eyes and saved her phone in the back pocket of her jeans. It was funny in a way, she knew some of the members from Everglow, but their group concepts were so different? Antis always say nonsense, she knew that, and she hated that she couldn't stop thinking about the comments. Did it actually look like they were trying to hang onto the fame Enhypen had?
"Hey" someone touched her shoulder to get her attention as she walked towards the dance practice room, next week they had the Fever performance, so their choreographer was making them practice more and film the dance practice video.
She turned around and saw Jay, instantly smiling at him "Hey" she said back to him "wait, were you calling me and I didn't hear-?"
"No, no, it's fine" Jay chuckled, moving his bag from one side to the other and walking next to her "what were you doing on your phone? You looked serious"
"Oh, I just... reading some of the comments under the article" she said, already knowing how he was going to react.
"Jaeyun-ah, you know you're not supposed to-"
"Yes, I know" she cut him off "I was only reading the good ones" she explained "I did see some bad ones, but" she raised one finger in front of his face before he could say anything else "they don't make sense, so I'm ignoring them"
"Good"
"There were some comments that said-"
"No!"
"Let me talk" she smacked his arm. He wasn't wearing a shoulder sling anymore, which was good. "There were some people saying 'we want to hang onto your fame' whatever that means" she chuckled.
Jay huffed in response "there were some people saying stuff about us too" he said.
"And then you tell me I shouldn't check the comments" Jaeyun teased him.
"It happens to the best of us" he shrugged his shoulders "some comments said the only reason we're collabing is because our group needed visuals"
This time Jaeyun laughed "Oh my god that makes no sense!" she said "you guys are really attractive"
As soon as she said that, she could feel his teasing coming.
"Oh, so you think I'm handsome" he said, making sure to wiggle his eyebrows while looking at her. Even though he wanted to keep a serious expression, as soon as they made eye contact, he smiled and his dimple showed.
"Don't be so full of yourself Park" Jaeyun teased back "I was trying to make you feel better about the hate comments, but you decided to ruin it" she dramatically turned her head around with her eyes closed while holding her open palm in front of him.
Hearing him laugh made her laugh.
As her lips stretched in a smile, she could feel how dry they were.
"Ah shit"
"What?"
"My lips are chapped" she said. I should stop biting them too much.
"You can borrow my chapstick if you want" Jay offered.
Jaeyun eyes widen "What?"
"I said you can borrow my chapstick, I always have some in my bag"
"You want me to borrow your chapstick? That has been in your lips?"
"Why are you suddenly so interested in my lips? Have you thought about them before?"
Jaeyun rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the heat going up her cheeks and how her heart started beating faster on her chest "Shut up" she playfully smacked his arm again "You are not that important in my life, you know?" she joked. Her smile faded as she saw Jay's eyes turning away from her, a sad expression on his face.
He opened a pocket inside his bag as they arrived to the dance practice room door and handed her a small tube of chapstick.
"Here you go" he said, no tone could be heard on his voice. Even though Jaeyun took it from him, she wanted to ask about his reaction, was he okay?
But as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, he started walking away, adjusting his bag on the side it was before he started walking with her.
[***]
As they were wrapping up the dance practice filming, Jaeyun started to save some stuff on her bag, she couldn't stop thinking about Jay.
"Hey" Yua called her, trying to get her attention "eonni said we should get udon, you cool with that?"
"What?" Jaeyun said, her mind taking time to doze back "yeah sure, whatever" she finally answered as she shrugged her shoulders, and looked down at her bag again.
Yua turned around and nodded at Raon before motioning them to get out.
After they were alone, she grabbed Jaeyun's shoulder.
"Are you okay?" Yua asked, her voice sounding softer.
Jaeyun narrowed her eyes towards her "What? I'm fine" she answered.
"Like hell you're fine" Yua said "you barely talked during practice and now you keep zoning out, but you look like you're thinking too much" she crossed her arms over her chest "are you worried about the performance?"
The truth was that she wasn't, but as soon as Yua brought it up her eyes widen.
"What?" she almost yelled "you're saying I should be worried?"
"That's a whole new sentence!" Yua yelled back while waving her arms "I was trying to guess what is going with you, just tell me!"
"Well, it's not that, but thanks" Jaeyun adjusted the bag hanging over her shoulder, staying quiet for a second, debating if she should tell Yua or not "It's about... Jay"
Yua's smile grew on her face "go on" she instructed.
Jaeyun rolled her eyes "Oh my god it's not like that!" Jaeyun sighed in annoyance, but she quickly told her friend what happened before practice.
Yua pinched the bridge of her nose and looked at her.
"Oh my god you are stupid when you want to"
"What?"
Yua smacked her forehead "of course he's hurt, you dumb dumb"
"Fuck"
[***]
Today was the day. They were performing the cover.
She was anxiously looking at herself in the mirror, touching her hair and staring at her make-up to see if she had to fix anything. No, she didn't have to.
They were all wearing neon outfits for the performance, considering that Enhypen had those types of outfits while they were promoting it. She was wearing an orange-neon blouse on top of a sleeveless black turtleneck shirt and black leather pants, also with a neon belt. Of course, it had to be orange.
She had worn outfits that she didn't entirely like in the past, but this was different.
She didn't like neon colours. In fact, she hated them. Maybe hate is a really strong word, but so were these colours.
She looked at herself in the mirror for the millionth time, realizing how her outfit mirrored Sunghoon's outfit during their first Fever performance, she saw some movement from the corner of her eye.
As she turned around, she saw Jay leaning against the wall next to the mirror. His white suit and gold accessories made him look like a prince, especially with the way his hair was hair styled, pushed back to show off his forehead.
"What is it?" he asked out of nowhere "you seem really nervous"
"That's because I am" Jaeyun answered, not even bothering to think of a funny comeback while she fixed her pink hair again "And... I don't really like this colour, that's it" she quickly explained before looking at him.
"You don't like neon colours?"
"I mean, neon lights are fine, but not neon colours"
"Why?"
"It feels like my eyes are being attacked by traffic cones OH MY GOD I LOOK LIKE A TRAFFIC CONE" she exclaimed the last part, a disgusted expression on her face as she looked back at the mirror.
"No, you don't-"
"Evermore you're going out in five" one of the staff members cut him off "Does anyone know where Raon is? Or Heeseung?" she asked, looking around the room.
Jaeyun was about to answer that she didn't, but another voice cut her off.
"I'm here! I'm here!" Raon came running from one of the hallways "sorry, I'm sorry" she apologized "I was... in the bathroom, I really needed to pee" Raon quickly explained herself.
"Next time let us know beforehand" the staff told her.
"Sure, sorry again"
Just as Raon started to fix her clothes, that probably moved from running back to the room, Heeseung appeared from a different hallway.
"Heeseung! Where were you?" a male staff member walked up to him.
"Oh sorry" he apologized and pointed behind him "I was... I was talking to a friend. I.N from Stray Kids" he explained.
"You have to let us know" the staff member said and started pushing him towards the room next to them, saying something about him needing to change into his outfit.
Jaeyun didn't miss how Heeseung eyes wondered towards Raon for a second, or how the girl looked at him through the mirror while fixing her hair.
"I should probably go" Jay said, separating himself from the wall he was leaning on and turning around to leave.
Jaeyun grabbed his hand.
"Hey, are we... cool?" she asked him, trying to not show how much that question had bothered her the past few days.
"Yeah, we're fine" he said, his eyes furrowed for a second.
"Oh, cool" Jaeyun sighed and let go of Jay's hand, brushing some of her hair away of her face "it's just, I thought you were mad about the comment I made the other day" she explained.
"I was mad, but I'm fine now" he lied. He wasn't mad, he was hurt.
"Oh my god Jay I'm so sorry, that's not what I meant-" she cut herself off and took a deep breath, she was talking too fast "I was just teasing but didn't realize I went too far, I'm sorry"
His eyes softened when she looked at him.
"It's okay, I realized" he smiled "but I do need to go, I'll see you later" he leaned towards her, so she expected a hug, but he didn't hug her.
He kissed her forehead and then left.
What was this feeling on her stomach?
She stood there, the tickling feeling on her forehead, right where his lips had touched the skin, leaving after a few seconds, making her blink repeatedly and focusing on what was important, the performance. Kicking those thoughts away, she looked at herself in the mirror again.
I can do this
[***]
"Oh my god I'm so tired" Jaeyun said as they exited the stage, starting to take off the neon blouse she was wearing, hoping that would help her body cool down.
As she plopped down onto the couch, she could hear the cheers from the audience as Enhypen got into the stage. The cover they were performing was also one of the most famous B-sides of Evermore. The track was called "Numb feeling" and it belonged to their second mini album.
While still laying on the couch and moving her legs to let Yua sit down too, Jaeyun turned her head around to have a clearer view of the tv in front of them, watching as Heeseung started to sing their song. Even though she knew Enhypen didn't have positions, she always thought he would fit well as a main vocalist.
Right when they were singing the bridge of the song, Jaeyun stood up and stretched a little bit, hoping her legs wouldn't hurt the day after, and stood closer to the tv, holding a small fan a staff member had given her in front of her face.
With the audience screaming, Enhypen exited the stage too just as the streaming of the event went on commercial break, so Jaeyun turned around to greet them.
As soon as she saw Jay, she ran up to him.
"You did great!" she yelled, jumping to hug him by the neck. He had to dance and sing her part of the song, which she knew he was nervous about.
"You did great too" he said against her ear, his arms wrapping around her waist as he lifted her up and spun them around.
While they were both laughing, they didn't realize all of the other members were staring at them, but when Jay finally put Jaeyun down, she turned to them with a questioning look on her face.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing" Yua answered, raising her eyebrows and acting all innocent. Jaeyun hated that she knew it wasn't nothing. Totally ignoring her daggered eyes, Yua grabbed Jaeyun by her shoulders "we should get changed, c'mon"
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Even though I was really excited to write this chapter I feel like it sucks? Or maybe it's just bc is currently 1:49 am (UPDATE: it's 6:37 pm and I still feel like this chapter is kinda bland) BUT I can't wait to see you guy's reaction for the next chapter! 😈
Anyways, I hope you guys liked this chapter, vote and comment if you want to and I'll see you next update! Bye!!!
Also, if anyone is interested, this is the outfit Jay was wearing (I wanted to describe it more but my brain can't do it)