Jia dragged the plastic chair to a far less crowded corner of the house and sat there, staring blankly at the array of noisy teenagers. Most of them were drunk and they danced away like it was their last night on earth. The dimmed down lights were giving her a headache and the loud music hurt her ears. This was not how she had imagined the day to go. It was supposed to be perfect. And a lot of things that had happened that day had been far from perfect.

-

"Almost there." She texted Mina. The hall that hosted the competition was over 40 minutes away on bus from Mina's place.

Jia's parents were to spend a night in Seoul and return back by Sunday afternoon. It was mainly so that her dad could take care of some urgent document related issues (most of which Jia didn't understand a word of). While her mom decided to use that as the perfect opportunity to visit her old high school friends in the city. Jia was happy for them. She knew how long it had been since they'd spent some free time without having her around to annoy them. Of course, all of these ultimately turned out well for her as she could finally have her sleepover with Mina and a peaceful date with Yoongi.

She shut her old hand-me-down flip phone and got ready to board off the bus. It was hard to miss the huge hall that stood grandly amidst the bustle of the city. The bus stopped right in front of it and she stood for a moment, taking in the grand architecture of the building. It had rustic granite walls that panned widely with an elegant dome structure in the centre. A few food stalls and advertising kiosks were set up near the building and there was a steady stream of people going into the hall. She was over 15 minutes early and dreaded the thought of having to wait for him. She walked over to one of the kiosks from where she got a clear view of the bus stop and decided to give him a call. It rang for a while before his deep voice answered from the other end. She told him that she was already there but for some reason, he didn't seem surprised. The line abruptly went blank and she frowned at the screen.

Suddenly, she was startled as the same deep voice spoke right next to her; tickling her ears.

"Hi! Looking for me?"

Jia turned around sharply, clutching her chest as she tried to calm her beating heart. He looked at her, an amused smile playing on his lips.

"I'm sorry, did I startle you?" He asked innocently.

Jia put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. "You're not sorry at all, look at that smile."

Yoongi took in her posture and laughed. He paused suddenly and looked at his watch.

"Has it started already?" Jia asked, concerned.

"No. I was just wondering how it's only been a minute and you're already melting my heart with all this cuteness." He said seriously.

It took a moment for Jia to register what he had said and when it did, her ears turned beet red. "Oh come on!" She said exasperatedly. She was in awe at how confidently cheesy he was. And as usual, he continued to laugh at her.

"We still have time before this starts and I've already reported to the main register. How about we go for a little walk?" He asked.

Jia was a little hesitant. "Won't professor Han be here soon?"

"Nope. He had some emergency to take care of. And besides, he isn't too concerned about this competition. He'll be there for the next one. So, it's just the two of us today." He smiled.

Jia marvelled the confidence that he exuded when it came to this. She wondered how it was to be so self-assured in one's own talent and to be least concerned about a large-scale competition.

"That's great." She smiled back.

To her surprise, he took her hand in his and lead the way. They walked through the front lawn, all the way to the back where there was a small garden with pretty flowers. The sides were adorned with fancy shaped hedges and they stopped by to admire it, even naming a few. They took a few rounds around the large ground, walking hand-in-hand. Jia smiled, taking in the pleasant moment. He joked and made her laugh and it seemed like they were in their own little world. She had never imagined herself to get a boyfriend in the near future, let alone someone she'd been crushing on. It felt nice. She knew that this was something she'd remember way into the future: first date with her first boyfriend. She remembered being lost when a giggling Mina talked about her dates; but now, she understood what all the fuss about.

A while later, they decided to grab a bite from the food stalls before heading in. She stood patiently by a food truck as he bought them their snacks. Her eyes scanned the merry cluster of people around each stall and for some reason, she felt uneasy. A few rounds into their walk, she had had the weird feeling that they were being followed. She had tried to dismiss it off as part of her paranoia. Jia had never been good at sneaking out and on the rare occasions that she did, her mind would usually be disturbed by the dreadful possibility of being confronted. She had hoped that today would be different. With her parents out of town, she had convinced herself to relax and stay calm. That was until she noticed a certain girl. She was absolutely sure of catching the girl staring and even following them multiple times. Her wandering eyes stopped at a particularly bright red ice cream truck and she saw it again: the stalker girl.

The girl was dressed in all yellow, holding an equally yellow cone of ice cream in hand. Jia looked at her uncertainly and sure enough, the girl was staring right back at her. Jia suddenly felt self-conscious. She looked at herself and then at Yoongi; she didn't find anything unnatural. Her next guess was their PDA. She was new to this and so, she wasn't familiar with the accepted boundaries in public. But if that was the case, there were plenty of couples around who did more than just hold hands. She decided that wasn't it either.

"There you go." Yoongi handed her a stick of steaming hot fishcake, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Thanks!" She said, momentarily forgetting all about the creepy stalker girl. She took a bite and chewed on it, burning her tongue in the process.

Jia took her time with the food while he finished his in a surprisingly quick amount of time. She fed him her last bite and they entered the large hall. He had told her about his previous visits and how the elegant interiors were even more captivating. He was right. The place reminded Jia of large ball rooms with the exception of the elevated stage. The place had a huge crowd of audience and a large number of nervous contestants. He asked her to wait and vanished into the sea of people while she stood waiting patiently by one of the many doors that adorned the sides.

"Excuse me?" Jia had been waiting for over five minutes when an unfamiliar voice called out to her. She was astonished to see the yellow dressed girl standing right next to her. Jia looked at her with wide eyes.

"I'm assuming you're Min Yoongi's new girlfriend." She said, her stare unwavering.

'Oh.' Jia thought to herself. 'The girl knows Yoongi.' she gulped, not knowing what to say. Uncertainly, she nodded her head.

The girl scoffed in reply. She had choppy brown hair which for some reason, made her look intimidating; although, her piercing eyes were definitely the catchiest feature. "Yoongi and I used to date. We broke up a few months ago." She said sharply.

'Great.' Jia thought. She wasn't an expert on dates but as far as first dates went, she was pretty sure that meeting your boyfriend's ex was a bad sign. Jia wasn't sure why the girl was talking to her in the first place. 'Maybe she still likes Yoongi and wants me to back off?' Jia mused to herself.

"Stay away from him as far as you can." She said suddenly.

"Excuse me?" Jia asked, taken aback.

"I know he's all sweet and cute now but believe me, that's not the real him. It's all just an act, he's a completely different person..." She paused, clutching her fists. She took a deep breath and continued again. "Just the thought of him makes me sick. When the time comes, he's just going to hurt you. He-"

"Soo-Yeon?" She was suddenly cut off by an approaching Yoongi. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Oh look, it's the asshole." She said, looking straight into his eyes.

Jia watched intently, feeling caught up between the two.

Yoongi took a deep breath and clenched his fists. "Leave my girlfriend alone." he deadpanned.

"Girlfriend." She scoffed again. "You're not capable of liking anyone you filthy-"

Jia did not hear the rest of that sentence. Before she knew it, the two of them were out the door, yelling at each other. She turned around, peeking through the door as they shouted aggressively. Thankfully, most of the people were inside, blissfully ignorant to the spat while the few people who were still outside, looked at them oddly. At that moment, Jia wanted to vanish into thin air. A few seconds later, a fuming Yoongi walked back in. He straightened out his shirt, caught hold of Jia's wrist and dragged her all the way to the other side. She caught a glimpse of a red-faced Soo-Yeon glaring at them.

He led her to one of the empty chairs on front row and made her sit.

"I am sorry you had to see that and I wish I could explain, but I have to go now. I'll see you after the performance, okay?" He asked, looking at her intently.

Jia nodded, still trying to wrap her head around whatever it was that just happened. Honestly, she didn't know what to think about it. The girl seemed really serious when she warned her and their choice of words suggested more than just an unhappy breakup. Something serious must have gone down for it to go that bad. She kept repeating the scenario in her head and each time she thought of it, it only got worse. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't imagine Yoongi being as bad as the girl suggested. Yes, people are unpredictable. You think you know someone but the next thing you know, things are spiralling out of control. It happens. But as naïve as it sounded, she didn't want to believe it would happen to her.

She'd been too zoned out to notice that Soo-Yeon was up on the stage. Like most of the contestants, she was good and she concentrated hard on the keys in front of her. But Jia knew that she wasn't good enough. She'd heard Yoongi play enough to know to that he was more graceful. The girl completed her piece and Jia watched as a confident Yoongi got on stage. He was much more relaxed and composed as his fingers glided over the keys. He made it look effortless but Jia knew how much effort he had put into it. And watching him play calmly on the piano, it was harder to believe he could be the monster that the girl described him to be. Jia sighed, applauding with the rest of the crowd as he politely took a bow.

There were a few more contestants after him and Jia watched, zoning out in her thoughts once again. There was an excited buzz from the crowd as the judges took time to make their decision. The winners of this competition would go onto the next one, where they competed with similar zone 1 winners. It didn't come out as a surprise when the announcer called out his name among the rest of the winners. He got on stage yet again to happily receive the certificate.

By the time Yoongi got back to her, she felt tired and simply wanted to go back home. "Congratulations." She said, trying hard to put on a smile. She must have looked weary, for he looked at her intently.

"What's wrong?" He asked, concerned.

"Nothing."

He sighed. "It's Soo-Yeon, isn't it? I should have thought of her before I dragged you in here. Believe me, it's not how I wanted today to go."

"It's fine. It's no big deal." She lied.

"It's not. Come on. Let's get out of here." He said, grabbing her wrists once again. They walked out of the hall and into the now raining outdoor. He pulled out his umbrella and they made their way to the bus stop, just in time to catch their bus. She hurried over to an empty seat and he sat next to her. They both remained silent, as she brushed droplets of water away from her face and clothes. They took their time settling in and sat, staring at the misty cold window. The floor of the bus was smeared with sticky mud from the shoes of various passengers and the entire bus smelled of damp clothes. Similar to the bus, she felt the atmosphere around them to be damp as well.

"Okay. So, I owe you some explanations." He began. "As you can see, things did not end well with us. Clearly." He pointed out.

Jia nodded sheepishly.

"Soo-Yeon and I only dated for about four months. She and I frequently bumped into each other for competitions and I was intrigued by her. Honestly speaking, I didn't know much about her when we started dating. She seemed nice but she was also very peculiar at times, you know? Like she was a completely different person." He continued.

Jia looked at him intently, wondering how he said almost the exact same sentence as the girl.

"But she- uh she..." He paused, taking a deep breath. "She was seeing someone else besides me."

"Oh my god." Jia gasped.

"Yeah." Yoongi looked away, sighing. "And in that anger, I did something bad." He said, looking at her directly in the eyes.

Jia frowned, slowly starting to get worried. She had spent the whole concert thinking the worst possible scenarios and his words weren't helping.

"You should know, I was heartbroken. I did it in the spur of the moment. Out of anger." He reasoned.

Jia was quite frankly terrified of what she might hear next but she beckoned him to continue.

"She was cheating on me with this guy who was much older than the two of us. He was unaware that she was cheating on him. And so, I... I told him."

Jia listened in closely, waiting for more. But Yoongi looked at her expectantly for a reply.

"Wait. That's it? The 'bad thing' that you did was let this other guy know that he was being cheated on?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Yoongi, I don't understand. How is that so bad?"

"He didn't take it well. He raged out on her and made her life a living hell. He was into some shady stuff and unlike me, messing with him was a bad idea."

"Oh." Jia thought over it for a while. "But again, how is that you fault? If she was cheating on him, he would have found out sooner or later. In fact, I'd say she had it coming. If you do bad stuff, it backfires. What she went through was just karma of her own actions." Jia pointed out.

"I don't know what to tell you." He shrugged. "She wanted to put the blame on someone and I guess she thought I was the best choice. She goes around telling people that I did stuff to her."

"But that's so bad! She's just playing the victim when she's clearly not!" Jia said indignantly.

"People do stuff you don't expect. Especially when they're vulnerable." He sighed. "Anyway, I don't care about her anymore. None of what she does affects me but when I saw her with you; I just lost it. I was finally happy that I was with you and you were the last person I wanted her to mess with." He said looking deep into her eyes. "I shouldn't have brought you here today." He sighed and looked away, covering his face with his hands. "I understand if you find it hard to believe me. I'd be sceptical too had I been in your shoes." He mumbled through his fingers.

Suddenly, Jia felt guilty for doubting him. Truthfully, a part of her was still unconvinced. But seeing him like this... she felt horrible. Her mind was a battlefield; trying to fight against itself with what to believe and what not to. But she had this indescribable urge to let him know that everything was okay. She decided to sort herself out later and focused on him. "Yoongi, look at me." She gently pulled his hand away, and he looked at her hesitantly. "Why wouldn't I believe you? I'm your girlfriend. What's the point in being one if I don't even trust you?" She didn't know where these words were coming from and she knew that she was lying. But all she knew was that she didn't want him to be sad. She wanted him to smile and be happy again.

"Are you sure?" He asked uncertainly.

Jia looked into his eyes for a while. Then, she leaned in and pressed her lips against his cheek ever so lightly. She pulled back, feigning a confident smile. "I'm sure."

It took a while for Yoongi to comprehend that unlike other times, it was her that had made the move. She watched as he smiled shyly and looked away yet again. His ears were bright red.

"You're so cute." Jia said this time, teasing him.

"Cut it out." He mumbled, blushing even harder.

Jia continued teasing him, taking every opportunity to see him smile; all the while ignoring her rational self.