LA LA LOVE YOU | LIZKOOK

xxi. the view from here

BTS were one of the last to arrive at the rooftop bar. Jungkook blamed Namjoon who had to lose his mobile right before they were supposed to leave and it took all seven of them and over an hour to find it in Namjoon's jacket pocket.
Before they had even stepped out of the elevator, they could hear the thumping music already, some electro beats playing over several speakers scattered throughout the bar. The room was lit in dim blue lighting with the panoramic Seoul cityscape and its night lights glimmering in the background.
"Daebak, this place is insane!" J-Hope exclaimed. "And an open bar too!"
"This is way better than I expected," Jimin agreed, taking in all the entertainment that was set up around the room too. There was a karaoke stage in one corner, a large dancefloor that took up the center of the room, buffet tables for snacks and dessert, a balcony with outdoor heaters and fire pits and, as J-Hope mentioned, the bar, which was looking increasingly inviting.
The annual end-of-year award show after-party was an idol-only bonanza where idols could truly let their hair down without worrying what the public, the press or their managers had to say about it. They could interact freely with each other, get drunk, and dance like nobody was watching.
BTS hadn't always been invited though, and the list was pretty exclusive. Only in the last couple of years had they found their way onto the admittance list, and even then, they found the idea a little obnoxious, so hadn't attended. This was their first year after hearing that their friends in other idol groups were also attending.
Speaking of, Jungkook cast his eyes about the room, noticing familiar figures from Twice, GOT7, NCT, EXO and Mamamoo. But there was only one person he was looking out for, and he finally found her mingling on a comfortable set of sofas with a drink in her hand. Her hair was down but her bangs were lightly curled and she was wearing an off-the-shoulder little black dress. He didn't even take note of who she was talking to, as she was the only thing he could keep his focus on.
"JK, stop mooning over your ex and let's go get a drink," Taehyung declared, clapping him on the shoulder and forcefully steering him in the direction of the bar.
"I'm not mooning over her," he sulked stubbornly.
"Yeah, you definitely are. It's nothing to be ashamed of, all the girls here are looking..." He held up his hand with his thumb and pointer fingers touching, adding a little wink too to get his point across that all the ladies were serving their A game.
Jungkook chuckled. "You're not wrong, but you know there's still only one girl for me."
Taehyung rolled his eyes, probably exhausted of hearing about Jungkook's loyalty towards Lisa. The other members teased him a lot about it, especially about how they were now broken up but staying loyal to each other until the right timing came along, but in reality, they all admired him for making such a mature decision, especially as their youngest.
"Well, even though you can't be together tonight, I hope you can still loosen up a bit and have fun. We'll sing a duet on the karaoke!" Taehyung suggested with a large boxy grin.
"Only if it's a ballad!"
"Oh god, you and your ballads!"
They ordered their drinks, a whisky for Taehyung and a beer for Jungkook.
"Dude, look at Jimin!" Taehyung suddenly said as they were sipping their drinks quietly from the bar and looking out into the sea of people. "I'm telling you, there's definitely something going on between them!"
He was referring to the sight of Jimin zoning out on a group conversation with a couple of other people to gawk, starry-eyed, across the room to the karaoke stage, where Rosé from Blackpink was belting into the microphone a rendition of ABBA's 'Dancing Queen'. She was jumping around on stage and not taking herself too seriously, but still serving her killer vocals.
"No way, since when!?" Jungkook almost spat out his beer at the revelation.
"Maybe since last year? I don't know, I think she's the one he's been texting non-stop these days."
"Whoa, shippers would be going wild right now," Jungkook absently said.
Taehyung snorted. "Yeah, between you and Lisa, and Jimin and Rosé, those Bangpink fanatics would be having a field day."
"Don't tell me there's something going on between you and Jennie or Jisoo now?"
He laughed in reply. "Nuh-uh. And plus, the latest gossip is that Jennie is seeing Kai from EXO." He pointed across the room where the two idols in discussion were indeed looking fairly intimidate, locked in a conversation where each of them had their heads bowed to hear each other over the music.
"How do you know all of this?" Jungkook asked surprised.
Taehyung simply tapped his nose. "I have my ways," he replied back mysteriously, to which Jungkook just eye-rolled.
The night wore on with Taehyung and Jungkook doing their promised karaoke duet, a mock rap roast battle between Namjoon, Monsta X's Joohoney and Zico and a marshmallow challenge between members of Twice, Red Velvet and Blackpink.
Jungkook didn't think he would enjoy the night, thinking it would either be too stuffy and formal, or too crazy with idols finally getting a hint of freedom and going off the rails. However, the party wasn't what he had expected and it had turned out the night had been spent meeting new friends, having fun with old ones and feeling more relaxed and stress-free than he had in months.
There was only one thing he regretted - he hadn't spoken to Lisa once tonight. He had managed to take his mind off it thankfully, or he would have been mooning over her for the whole evening as Taehyung had said. Whenever he did chance a look at her, she seemed to be having fun too, hyping up her friends on the karaoke stage, or dancing crazily to a hip-hop song.
He knew he couldn't leave the bar without at least saying hi to her - though they knew what sort of trouble they could get themselves into, he couldn't torture himself any longer. With steely resolution, he took a deep breath and walked over to where she was presently making her way out onto the balcony.