Park Soomi

"What took you so long, sweetheart? I've been waiting here for ages," Hoseok greeted me outside the recording studio.

"How many times do I have to tell you to quit it with the nicknames?"

"I heard you went wild at the bar last night," he continued, ignoring my complaints. "Where was my invite? I would've been the life of the party."

"It wasn't a party, you jerk—" I stopped myself, remembering how Hoseok had no idea what happened with Taehyung, and I wasn't about to spill it to him now. "Don't expect an invite next time either. Let's just go inside," I grumbled.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before Seokjin arrived as well. His eyes immediately locked onto Hoseok's as he entered the door. I watched in confusion as Hoseok's lips curled into an amused smirk as the two stared at each other.

"Kim Seokjin."

My eyes widened as Hoseok called out Seokjin's name.

"Wait, do you two know each other?"

"I know everything about him," Hoseok remarked, his smirk now shifting to a humorous grin, though I didn't understand what was so funny. "Well, sure, it was from a background check, but gosh, feels like I personally know him."

Is this guy actually being serious?

"Hoseok, what the hell. He didn't need to know that," I mumbled to him.

"What's the big deal? Just wanted to let Seokjin know he's in the clear since I found nothing suspicious. Isn't that great to hear?" Seokjin didn't respond, staring at Hoseok with squinted eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me. I'm Jung Hoseok."

Hoseok lifted his arm in front of him. Though only a few seconds passed, it felt like a very uncomfortable eternity before Seokjin shook his hand.

"Nice to...meet you, Hoseok."

"We should get to work," I hastily spoke, trying to move past what might have been the most unusual exchange I had ever witnessed.

"Right, we can start recording a rough cut of 'Rainy Day.'"

"Rainy day?"

"Yeah, the love song you wrote? It's great, by the way."

"B-but I never finished the song."

"What do you mean? You emailed me the finished lyrics this morning." The puzzled expression never left my face as Seokjin handed me a sheet of paper. I skimmed through the unfamiliar lyrics until a certain verse caught my eye.

Together we'll weather any storm
And forget all the tears and pain
'Cause what we have, it's like a movie
I'll always love you like I do on this rainy day

It reminded me of what I told Yoongi the night at the bar.

Despite all the pain and all the reasons to hate him, I still love Taehyung.

It dawned on me that Yoongi must have finished the song.

And for someone who had never been in love, the lyrics he managed to write were beautiful.

Beautifully painful.

I found myself in a trance reading the chorus.

They're about that magical day in the rain.

I couldn't stop myself from replaying that day all over again. Only now, it left a dull ache in my heart and wistful tears in my eyes.

"Soomi? So we can start with this, right?"

"Huh? Yeah, yeah of course." I handed him back the paper, blinking rapidly to repress the tears. I inhaled sharply as Seokjin settled himself into the recording booth.

"We can start at the chorus first."

My breathing quickened, but I tried to distract myself as I got the instrumental ready.

Seokjin's angelic voice soon surrounded me. But no matter how hard I tried to focus on the music playing in my ears, I just couldn't.

Because, for me, it wasn't music. It was a painful reminder.

His soft lips melting into mine.

His wet locks of hair in between my fingers.

Everything was perfect.

We were perfect.

I miss him.

I love him.

"Soomi? Did you hear me?" Seokjin's voice abruptly interrupted my thoughts.

"What? I'm sorry did you say something?"

"I asked if you could stop the recording."

"Shoot, sorry." My hands quickly moved to pause the recording.

"Are you alright? You seem distracted."

"It's nothing."

"Come on, what's wrong?" he asked once again. My eyes wandered over to Hoseok sitting at the side of the room, who appeared to be awaiting my answer as well.

I really didn't want Hoseok to know about Taehyung.

So instead, I blurted out the first excuse that popped up in my head.

"Well, you know how you encouraged me to send demos to a bunch of music companies? It's been a while and I haven't heard anything back, so I guess I'm just stressed, that's all."

"There's a reason I suggested that you send your demos. It's because they're really good," Seokjin said with a reassuring smile, "so stop worrying about it. I have a feeling you'll hear from them really soon."

I returned his smile with a doubtful one. Sure, the demos weren't the real reason I was distracted, but it was still preoccupying my mind.

"Let's start from the top, and remember, stop worrying." I gave Seokjin a slight nod before starting the recording, trying even harder this time to stay focused.

Stop thinking about Taehyung.

Slowly but surely, I started focusing on the music, observing every little detail as the recording session continued.

But just when I thought I had fully gotten my mind off of Taehyung, I noticed my phone screen light up from the corner of my eye.

My heart skipped a beat, the possibility of getting a text from Taehyung suddenly entering my mind.

What if he texts me saying he made a mistake? Or that he wants to see me again?

At this point, Seokjin was singing the chorus once more.

We were so in love once. We were the couple in that song. That doesn't just disappear.

Blinded by these thoughts, I began inching the device closer to me.

Just a quick look—

I mentally scolded myself. Have I really learned nothing? There was no way in hell Taehyung would message me.

I sighed, realizing the song was fuelling my delusional wishful thinking.

My finger moved towards the power button. But just before the screen faded to black, I accidentally caught a glimpse of the notification.

I abruptly stood up, my mind barely registering that the chair had collapsed to the ground behind me. But it didn't matter though. Nothing in the world mattered at this moment as I frantically powered my phone back on, rapidly skimming the notification in disbelief.

"Soomi! What happened?" Seokjin shouted, running out of the recording booth. The moment my eyes locked onto his, I leaped towards him and pulled him into a hug, surprising the both of us.

"Seokjin, oh my gosh, you won't believe it! I just got an email from a JYP producer! He loved my demos and wants to meet with me!" I exclaimed. Seokjin smiled at my excitement.

"See? What did I tell you?"

I turned towards where Hoseok was sitting, realizing that he had been awfully quiet through all of this. I was surprised to see that the chair was empty.

Huh, that's strange. Where did he go?

"Congrats, sweetheart." I was caught off guard by Hoseok's voice suddenly coming from behind me. I turned to see him leaning against the doorframe. "We should celebrate. How about we go grab dinner? Anything you want, my treat."

I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling a bit skeptical.

"Seokjin, you should join us too," I suggested.

"You want me to come?" he stammered.

"Well, yeah. None of this would've happened if it wasn't for you." That, and I don't exactly want to be alone with Hoseok.

"Yeah, Seokjin, you should join us." Hoseok smiled, though I couldn't help but notice the hint of mischief still present.

"Okay, sure, I'd be happy to."

I continued smiling at Seokjin and Hoseok, but the moment their gazes were no longer on me, the smile faltered slightly.

Now that I had recovered from the initial shock and excitement of the news, I couldn't help the doubts beginning to creep in.

It was all too surreal, from the timing of it all to the whole situation itself.

I wasn't sure if these doubts were legitimate, or if it was just the skeptic within me trying to ensure I didn't have my hopes too high.

Regardless of the reason, I suddenly couldn't shake off this feeling.

This dreadful feeling that all of this was a little too good to be true.

——
{a/n}

Just a heads up, updates might only be once a week now that my fall classes are starting soon!

But anyways, hope y'all will look forward to the next update! Shit is about to hit the fan 😉