Lisa was crushing the ice that was still whole, inside her shake as she stared at Jimin, watching the other performers do their thing on stage. She couldn't get it out of her head, the way he was close to getting mad at her earlier.

He scared her.

"You did great! That was amazing. Oh my- I'm running out of compliments here, help me." Jennie appeared out of the blue. She noticed how jumpy Lisa was when she didn't even hear her coming. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I was just thinking about something."

"You sure it doesn't have anything to do with him?" Jennie insists it has--with Jimin; even checking him from head to toe, wondering if these two ever fought.

"It's not him. Maybe we're just both stressed, that's all." Yeah, maybe that was it. Jimin could be just waiting for the announcement, then he'll return back to his normal self and everything will go smoothly like this didn't happen.

"Lisa, come on, we're on!" Jimin grabbed her by the wrist, leaving the shake in Jennie's hands, which, to Jennie's advantage, she decided to drink it all.

Meanwhile, up on stage, Lisa could only stare at their hands intertwined together. She couldn't feel the pressure anymore and just tightly held his in return. Jimin is a passionate dancer.

Jisoo stands up from her seat, going up on stage to tease each contestants whether they got picked or not. She held her clipboard in her arms and smiled at everyone she passed by, then said. "You have all equal chances of passing, unfortunately I could only pick around ten of you. Most without their group or their partners." She cleared her throat while she was opening the clipboard to start calling the chosen ones one by one.

"Park Chaewoon,," She starts off.

Jimin had immediately closed his eyes, Lisa copying him. She prayed they both could get in. The higher the name of persons became, the higher the intensity and the grip Jimin was projecting on her. She had to break the hand holding. "J-Jimin, you're hurting me.."

"Sorry," Jimin held on to his own hands, knowing it was the last call of who gets to be one of the members to get exposed.

"It's fine."

"Last but not the least, Jung Jimin."

Jimin screamed triumphantly when he heard his name, rushing over to lift Lisa up in the air. He clapped to himself, bowing in front of everyone as he got to Jisoo's side to say, "Thank you for choosing me."

Jisoo nods, looking over at Lisa with a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry, Lisa, there's a next time for everything."

All Lisa could do was smile and shrug at the same time. She didn't feel anything. Decided it was probably for the best, perhaps just focus on getting some paperwork done for the scholarship. Yeah. That ought to lose the tension of not getting picked.

"Come on, babe." Jimin held her hand in his as they went out of the auditorium, off to the rooftop where they did all their hardwork to achieve this and finish their piece. Jimin kept screaming at the top of his lungs, basking in his glory.

"I've never felt so happy." Lisa gave him a smile as he climbed down the raillings.

When he finally sat down beside her, only then did he realize she didn't get picked. "Oh, shit. I'm sorry," He kissed her forehead and caressed her on the shoulder and kept apologizing to her for being insensitive.

"Hey, don't worry about me. You get to expose yourself and that's good. Like Jisoo said, there's a next time. Plus, I have so much work to do to maintain my scholarship, anyway." She shrugs it all off, trying to shake the feeling of inferiority. She wanted to be a part of the team. Too bad this wasn't her time yet.

"Well, I guess. Cheer for me there, okay?"

She nods, "Of course I will."

Jimin taps on his phone, only to realize how late it was. He wanted to tell his parents about this and get ready to train again, despite the choreography still being planned. He stood up and pulled Lisa up as well to say, "Uh, it's getting dark here. I better get you to your dorm."

The moment Jimin's car left her dorm, she observed the streets and just saw the light coming from the lamp posts. She should ask some advice from Jennie. Maybe she can help.

lalisa: jenjen?

jenjen: any problems?

lalisa: jimin acted kind of..strange earlier

jenjen: wdym?
jenjen: did u two fight of smth?

lalisa: no we didn't. but he didn't seem satisfied with our performance earlier and was even gonna yell at me when i tried cheering him up. what do i do??

jenjen: uhm dump him.
jenjen: just kidding. sorry
jenjen: talk to him like a gf, ask him. im sure he can explain. besides u told me it must be the stress right?

lalisa: u're being terribly reasonable at this hour. why?

jenjen: u told me to trust you and i am.

lalisa: ok. i'll talk to him tmr.

•°•°•

Mrs. Jung was setting up the dining table for dinner. Jimin arrived barely breathing when he got ahold of the entrance door. Kate rolled her eyes at her brother as she sucked on her lollipop, turning her attention to their mom.

"Jiminie-oppa's acting all weird again."

"What did I tell you about those earphones in front of the table?" Mrs. Jung couldn't care less, assuming Kate was just messing with her brother again. Kate sighed frustratedly as she lied on the couch in the living room instead.

"Mom, guess what!"

"Jimin, spill the beans already for everyone." She told him.

"I get to be a part of the exposure team of Beyond the Scene!"

"Wait, by exposure, do you mean--" She held her breath, covering her mouth in shock. "My baby is gonna dance in front of the whole school? I'm so proud of you! Come here, you." She pulled her son into her arms, kissing his forehead to his cheeks as she couldn't resist doing it all to cheer and hype him up.

"Thanks. I knew I could do it."

"Wait a minute, weren't you partnered up with Lisa-unnie? What about her, did she get in?" Kate confronted.

Mrs. Jung looked at her son in anticipation. "I'm sure she got in, too. Lisa is a great dancer, I can feel it."

"No. She didn't. I'm the one who got picked from both of us."

"Must've been awkward for you." Kate snickered under her breath, finally getting to correct him.

"Why would that be awkward?"

"Jimin, Lisa's your girlfriend. I'm sure she was devastated. How did she hold up?"

"Well, she told me she'd keep herself busy and that she'd support me with the audience."

Kate pulled her earphones off in shock. "That's annoyingly perfect." She shook her head in disbelief, heading to her room. "You do know women have a different language than men, right? Like, they say they're fine but they're not."

"Lisa is not like any other girls. She's fine. There's a next time." Jimin chuckles to himself, getting himself an apple as a self reward. "Mom, I better go up and train. Wouldn't want to pull a muscle for practice tomorrow." He kissed her cheek and waved good night as he got inside his bedroom.

"Oh, Jimin. I just hope you don't see Lisa as your competition--again."

•°•°•

a/n: how we doing so far?

posted: dec. 18,'17