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❝ ᴍs ᴋɪᴍ ❞
"Well, that's just wonderful," Seowoo sighs out, voice laced with sarcasm and a tinge of pity towards Jungkook and herself, who are caught in the midst of a great scandal. "Great. Splendid. Amazing," she lists out, each word becoming increasingly harder to say.
Scandals are early signs of impending danger or warnings to encourage those involved to be prepared for a shit load of inconveniences — blackmail, threats, extreme hate... But Seowoo isn't worried for herself. She's more concerned about the idol's wellbeing. His fans could despise him for even glancing in a girl's direction, could turn their backs on him and leave him stranded in a world where they once swore they would be by his side at all times, no matter what.
It's not that she doesn't care for herself. It's more of because she knows she has nothing to worry about. She has absolutely no social media presence, as requested by the entertainment she's under to reduce the chances of blowing her cover as a backstage singer. Furthermore, she doubts anyone would be able to identify her, considering the fact that she barely had any friends in the past.
Her phone buzzes beside her.
Seeing the message notification, she tucks herself under her weighted blanket and snuggles closer to her bolster. "Who does he think he is, texting me when his whole career is crumbling into bits?" She mumbles to herself, opening the chat anyway.
Call me, the most recent speech bubble reads.
Seowoo thinks, he's never informal unless it's an urgent matter. So she dials his number and presses her phone against her ear, body still laying across the bed. The idol answers the call but doesn't say a word.
Seconds pass yet he still refuses to speak. "Jungkookie?" Seowoo begins and she hears a yelp from the other side of the phone, "are you okay?"
Silence.
"Why did you want me to call you if you aren't gonna say anything?" She huffs, growing more annoyed as all she hears is laboured breathing. "Could you at least greet me?" She sweetly pleads, not wanting to scare the other away by raising her voice.
"N-n-noona," he stammers.
The backstage singer sighs out. This time in relief.
"I- just wanted to hear your voice one last time," he slurs, most likely due to his pout. "Sejin hyung is banning me from contacting you for the time being..."
"Because of the scandal?"
He hums in acknowledgment and Seowoo, not wanting to worry him even more, tries her best to sound unfazed. "Pretending is the best solution to the situation," she says, "stay active on all social media platforms — post selcas with cute captions, interact with your fans and avoid the haters." She stops to take a breath, "act like nothing happened and everyone else will too."
•••
Seowoo had never spent more than five minutes deciding on what to wear until after the scandal. Jimin advised her to cover up, in case anyone ever recognises her. Every time she puts an outfit on, she wonders if she's conservative enough but not too much that she looks a tad mad for wearing layers in the peak of summer.
She plops a cap on her head and takes a final look at herself in the mirror — all dull colours to avoid attention and nothing similar to what she wore when she was out with Jungkook the other day.
"Jungkook's doing well," she tells her reflection, "so you should too."
She sucks in a breath and leaves the comforts of her quaint apartment.
•••
"Kim Seowoo-ssi?"
Seowoo perks up at her name and raises her head to gaze upon a man she's seen on dozens of magazine covers and in top drama series. She can't help but let her mouth fall agape at the sight of the god-tiered man who goes by the humble name of Kim Seokjin.
"I'm guessing that's you," Seokjin chuckles after receiving complete silence in response.
"Well, Ms Kim," he politely bows, "I'm Kim Seokjin and I'm your new personal vocal coach."
Seowoo blinks, a steady flush brightening the expanse of her cheeks, "just Seowoo is fine! Since you're older than me and I'm not very fond of formalities."
"Sure, Seowoo," Seokjin grins as he glances around the practice room, "and you can call me Jin oppa."
A wheeze reverberates in Seowoo's throat, which she quickly smooths out into a hum to avoid embarrassing herself. "Alright," she forcefully laughs out, "we're off to an amazing start, aren't we?"
"I'd like to get to know you, Seowoo," Seokjin says, patting the spot next to him on the small couch in the practice room, "and in turn, you can ask me about myself."
Seowoo gulps in uncertainty. She's gnawing at the inner flesh of her left cheek and shifting where she stands as the latest addition to her list of vocal coaches sits waiting for her to have a seat. She's glad someone wants to know about her, really, but she knows she shouldn't trust people too easily — especially not after the incident with Taehyung, which left her emotionally scarred and afraid.
"Hey," Seokjin softly calls out in hurry, "I'm not trying to pry you open or anything. I just wanna know what your singing style is, what vocal range you're most comfortable with and you know, work stuff!"
Seowoo didn't realise she was holding her breath until she let it out, hammering heart slowing down to its usual ninety beats per minute. "Oh," she sheepishly laughs, "I'm sorry. I get really defensive at times."
She slips herself next to Seokjin and opens her mouth to speak. "I prefer singing ballads," she smiles, "I think slow and emotional songs suit me best."
"I think so too. Your voice is soft, smooth and simply perfect for slower songs. You're great at expressing emotions too and that's a must have when it comes to ballads," Seokjin lists, grin growing wider with every word.
"Could you sing the chords for me? Only sing what you can. We don't want your larynx suffering strenuous tensions."
Seowoo starts with the lowest note she can reach and slowly inches her way to ending with highest note she has ever attempted.
"Let's be honest, yeah?"
Seowoo gulps.
"Generally speaking, you're astonishingly stable. The only shakes I heard were in the first note you sang, which I think you have no trouble with but may want to avoid extending. Moving on to the last note, it was a tad bit shrill — kinda sounded like Mariah Carey trying to belt out a whistle note while giving birth, but with practice, you should be able to perfect it."
A lopsided smile spreads across Seowoo's face, "and maybe reach higher notes?"
