|sixty-two|

|Aera's POV|

"I'm worried. What if she messes up? What if she stumbles over her own feet? I mean she's good at dancing—but this is ridiculous! She's only had a few hours to learn it." I panic as SunMi hops out of the van confidently.

"Relax. It's going to be fine. I'm sure TaeHyung has it all figured out. He said that there are VIP tickets for us at the front door. He told them we'd be coming. So once we get in, I'll head backstage to give JiSu the outfits. You guys go get our seats and I'll meet you out there." SunMi explains as she hurries to the trunk to get the dresses.

"Come on." ChanHyuck guides us toward the line, clearly uneasy due to the massive number of fans waiting to get in.

"Who's that?" A voice can be heard over the chatty fans.

All eyes turn to us as we as head directly for the door. My heart races as I can overhear dozens of conversations. Some are positive while others are rumor filled.

"Candi." ChanHyuck mumbles as we stand in front of the security guard.

"Take the outfits around to the left of the stage. TaeHyung should be over there. They're getting in some last minute practice." The guard explains as he holds the door open for us.

We step inside and watch as SunMi heads toward the left of the building. I take a shaky breath as I look back out at the thousands maybe even hundreds of thousands of fans waiting to get inside. Our debut showcase isn't going to look anything like this. Last I knew, we only sold about eight hundred tickets and who knows how many of them are actually going to show up.

"Candi, right?" Another security guard questions as we approach the doorway into the audience section.

"Yes." ChanHyuck nods as he takes JuHee's hand in his. JuHee grabs ahold of SunMi and SunMi inturn grabs ahold of me.

"You guys are up front. Just in front of the barrier. You don't have actual seats, but we have some chairs for you." The guy explains as he motions into the barricaded area directly in front of the stage.

"This is more than perfect, thank you so much." ChanHyuck bows his head politely and we all follow after him.

"Thank you!" The three of us chirp as he waves goodbye and slips away.

"Oh god. I hope she's okay. She's probably so nervous right now. She's probably losing her mind." I mumble as I anxiously sit down in the folding chair.

JuHee and NaHee chitchat about how excited they are while ChanHyuck paces back and forth. He scratches at the back of his neck as he lowers his head.

"She looks amazing. Our JiSu looks like a goddess." SunMi hurries toward us. She pulls the three of us in for a hug.

"Does she really? Does she know what she's doing? Did they get a performance together?" I ask hurriedly as I try to pull away from SunMi to see her face.

"Relax, Aera. She's going to do amazing." SunMi takes my face in her hands and leans in to place a soft kiss on my forehead.

"Really?" I let out a sigh of relief as she nods reassuringly.

"Sit down guys, they're starting to bring everyone in. There's about fifteen minutes before it starts." ChanHyuck instructs as he delicately leads each one of us to a chair.

"I wonder what they're going to sing. I wonder when JiSu goes on." I slowly settle in, finally a little more at ease. If SunMi is so sure JiSu is going to be okay, I trust her.

"I heard them warming up back there. JiSu said it's going to be a great show. She got to watch their rehearsal." SunMi explains as the seats behind us begin to quickly fill with shouting excited fans.

"I'm jealous." I sigh as I slouch in my chair.

"You shouldn't be. I overheard NamJoon and SeokJin talking. I think we'll get a surprise toward the end of the show." SunMi smiles brightly as she pretends to zip her lips.

"Why? What'd they say? What did they plan? Are they going to sing one of our songs? Are they going to talk about us?" NaHee grabs ahold of SunMi's arm and begins interrogating her.

"I can't say." SunMi chuckles as she carefully pries NaHee's fingers off of her.

"SunMi!" TaeHyung calls from the side of the stage. He motions for us all to follow him.

ChanHyuk stays put, possibly well aware of what's going on. We hesitantly follow TaeHyung, clueless as to what he has planned.

"Get changed. You're costumes aren't in the back." TaeHyung motions us toward a back room.

"Wait—why? How'd our costumes get here?" NaHee asks clearly in shock.

"A little birdie told the boys where they were and they went and picked them up for you." TaeHyung explains as JiSu peeks out of the room at us.

"Why are you wearing your stage outfit for Black Licorice?" NaHee questions as JiSu slips out to join us.

"I'll tell you once you're dressed. Come on. We have to hurry." JiSu pushes us into the dressing room before waving TaeHyung goodbye.

We all quickly put on our costumes, still completely lost. JiSu opens the door and motions for some makeup artists to come in. They sit all four of us down and quickly do our makeup.

"Okay. We have like three minutes to get to the left side of the stage. We are on first." JiSu explains as she grabs onto my arm. The others grab onto each other as JiSu drags us out of the room.

"Wait—we're performing? Why are we performing? It's not our concert. Aren't the fans going to be mad? They came for BTS not us." JuHee mumbles as she holds onto me tightly.