before you love me | jjk

chapter fifty-seven

━━━༻ ˚✩‧₊ july 2021₊‧✩˚༺━━━

"Now why is this man wearing a full-on suit in the middle of summer?" Narae laughed as she looked over at Taehyung on the stage.

As she had pointed out, Taehyung was dressed to the nines for their soundcheck in a three-piece tailored brown pinstriped suit. He'd at least foregone the jacket and had rolled up his sleeves, but the outfit was not something that any of the others would choose to wear in the overwhelming heat.

The rest were more appropriately dressed in summer attire of shorts and t-shirts, moving around the stage as they did their second to last ever soundcheck for the tour.

It really had been a chaotic few months, but they had made it through and were nearing the end. It was their last stop before they returned to South Korea for the final concert in Seoul, and the energy around them was hyped, all of them determined to end their international leg on a high note.

The sun was beating down on them whilst they went through the setlist, the artists taking care not to exert too much energy as they wiped the sweat off their foreheads. Jungkook however, was still giving it his all, bouncing around the stage, interacting with fans and running through the choreography.

He wanted to do his very best right up until the end. He needed to be the best at all times, if not he'd be letting down the people that came to see him and opening himself up to criticism. There was no room for error. Anything less than perfection simply wasn't good enough.

Narae's eyes involuntarily trailed over to him, his focused pout making him look adorable as he marked the choreography. It served as a stark contrast to how his muscles flexed as he danced, his hand reaching up to push his hair off of his forehead to deal with the rising heat. She knew she was staring but she just couldn't help it. She knew she shouldn't, but once she looked at him, it was hard to look anywhere else.

But it was precisely because Narae was watching him that she saw the exact moment that he collapsed.

In the middle of a turn, he faltered, lost his balance and fell to the floor. Narae's heart leapt to her throat as she rushed over to him, her fear making her steps frantic and a lot faster than they usually would have been.

As she got closer to him, she noticed the quick rise and fall of his chest as he took rapid, shallow breaths. His forehead was damp with sweat, a lot more than she had been able to observe from afar, and his skin was paler than usual.

She arrived by his side first, Namjoon and Jimin seconds behind her as they had been the ones closest to him on stage, crouching down to observe his condition. She reached out in concern with a hand to his skin, but it was knocked away before it could make contact.

"Don't." Jungkook gasped out, casting a worried look towards the fans.

Stunned by the rejection, Narae's hand dropped to return to her side.

She didn't protest and dutifully moved to the side when the licensed first aider asked them all to make space for him as they performed the standard check-up.

She said nothing when they concurred that it was only dizziness caused by mild heat exhaustion and that he was safe to perform later as long as he kept himself cool and drank plenty of fluids to replenish what had been lost.

She kept quiet when the other members berated him for not taking proper care of himself, for overworking himself to the point of exhaustion, and not listening to them when they had told him to take it easy.