a/n: okay, this is the last part and i certainly hope you won't kill me for the ending. anyway, thanks again to @maelody98 for the request/ideas, i hope you like how it turns out. sorry can't make it longer.
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Award show
However, the table was turned again. Aside from the daily texts, the letters subsided. No flowers showing up randomly from Jackson again. It was as if it was just in your head. The collaboration went as scheduled and the recording has finished. You only needed to film the MV but his schedule was tight so the company decided to postpone the MV filming until Jackson's schedule allowed him to stay longer in Korean, instead of rushing the filming in such a tight schedule.
"Girls, you're going to appear in the award show. This will be your first performance in an award show, so you're going to sing two songs back to back, the shortened version of course," your manager informed you. Your manager told you that the company let you choose the second song. Your title song would be the first song, but they gave you freedom to choose the second song. After few minutes of discussion, your group had decided on the second song and the choreographer started to work right away.
Since both songs were upbeat and the concept was similar, there was no need to change the costume in between the songs. However, the choreographer still needed to tie the two songs together, making the transition as smooth as possible. Inserting a dance break in between the song was a wise option, so you decided to do that. You were practicing with the rest of your members until late at night so you were exhausted. You didn't think twice when you received Jackson's text, miss me? Apparently you were too exhausted that you forgot to reply him, but the next morning, you couldn't decide what was considered as polite but not leading him on. It wasn't like you didn't like him, but still.. You felt something was off.
You were just arrived at the venue when you found out that Jackson was one of the performers at the show as well. But his room was far from your group's room. That didn't stop him from visiting though. He dropped by, greeted all of you and brought coffee for the whole crew and bubble drink for you. Your leader expressed your gratitude for his attention and resumed prepping for the show while he vanished into his own room. His performance was at the beginning of the show, so when you were about to go up on the stage, you found that he was seated in between other idols, talking with them occasionally. His attention was back on the stage when he heard the MC called out your group's name.
Your group performed well on the stage, earning another roar from the crowd. They liked the dance break that your group did in between the songs. From the side of your eyes, you noticed there was another screen on the side of the stage that sometimes changed to capture the audience as well. You managed to see other idols stared at your performance, some were just staring, some were smiling and gave their thumbs up to the cameraman when they realized they were captured by the camera, some were just waving to the camera. However, when your performance was about to end, the cameraman captured something interesting. Jackson.
He was paying attention to your group. In fact, his gaze was steady, following your members throughout the performance. He seemed to be deep in thought as he watched your performance that he didn't realize he bit his bottom lips, rubbing his jaw slightly while focusing his attention to your group performance. Not until Bambam, who was sitting on his side, nudged him and pointed to him that he was being captured on camera. He then looked sheepish and smiled at the camera, waving slightly until the camera moved from him. You didn't think much about it until you got off stage.
As the screen in your waiting room replayed your performance as well as bits and clips from the audience including the one that captured Jackson earlier, you saw that Jackson was too focused on something. Or someone? Did he do that to scrutinize your group's performance? Did he do it for the sake of collaboration? So he could pinpoint your flaws during the next meeting and improve it? But there was something strange in his gaze that you were not sure about. When you finished changing out of your costume, you mingled with the rest of the idols at the award. Exchanging greetings and pleasantries with them. Just the usual chit-chating for the sake of appearance.
