The Lonely God (Rosekook)

20

SBS Gayo Daejun, 2016

It was the voice that ensnared him first, like siren song.

He had been messing around with his V-hyung, who insisted that for such events they drop his real name (Taehyung) to use his stage name and "don't you dare embarrass me you little brat", with Jungkook deciding to do so right away at the next given opportunity.

"Boys, please, the collab stage is about to start," Namjoon called, "settle down for a bit?"

Jungkook didn't pay his leader much attention although he did quieten down—after all, he didn't want to feed the antis and their trash talk about him and his hyungs being called snobs and elitist. But he couldn't resist sending Taehyung the odd text here and there on their Kakaotalk chat, just to see his hyung snort and type something back and then it would be his turn to laugh.

The collab stage was nice—there was 10cm and Chanyeol from Exo and Jihyo from Twice and—

It was as though a shock wave rolled upon him as soon as her voice broke on his ear, ringing clear and so achingly familiar. He looked up immediately, blinking in confusion as he sought the owner of the heavenly voice.

Jungkook managed to hold his composure but for some reason, despite his endless media training, he couldn't help the smirk breaking across his face as the angel in white with amber curls sang. Her voice was pure and so undeniably attractive.

He had heard it before, he was sure.

He enjoyed the rest of the performance, paying closer attention then before to the amber-haired girl. She had a certain aura about her when she sang, with her eyes closed—it was clear that music was something she cherished very much, like her very own brand of oxygen that she couldn't live without.

"Hyung that was Rosé of Blackpink right?" Jungkook asked later in their dressing room.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, the one you were ogling? Yeah, Rosé."

"I wasn't ogling, I was admiring," Jungkook protested righteously. In reality, he had been wracking his brain, certain that he had heard that voice before, somewhere....

"Of course you've heard her, we watched their MV's non-stop," Taehyung said casually. Jungkook bit his lip, realising he had spoken out loud.

"Hyung but...it's like...deja vu...I think..."

Taehyung stopped his furious texting and tilted his head at Jungkook. "You mean...like past lives and that jazz?"

Jungkook shrugged. "I don't know...maybe? Do you believe in reincarnation and all that stuff?"

Taehyug threw his hands up. "I believe in the multiverse theory," he said seriously, "I believe alternate versions of us exist simultaneously in parallel dimensions. Who's to say that reincarnation doesn't exist? I believe in it too."

He studied his dongsaeng, a smile playing about his lips. "Ooohhh I see little Jungkookie has a crush huh?"

To his surprise, Jungkook did not deny: he simply looked thoughtful and it took the wind out of Taehyung's sails.

This brat is serious.

"Kook hey, what's bothering you?" Taehyung asked, genuinely concerned. The maknae was known to be shy around the fairer sex, even acting downright reluctant when their female fans called him oppa.

And yet there he was, musing about a rookie artist with admittedly strong game: she had the visuals of a goddess, with powerful vocals to boot.

"I don't know hyung it's just...that feeling of deja vu...I don't know why it appeared now, when I heard her singing acoustically but it's like...I've heard her sing like that before...it's so familiar...."