When Jeongguk asked Lalisa to meet with him, he definitely did not expect the rockstar to send her apartment address.

Don't get him wrong, he likes going to other people's apartments just so he can get free food, but he thinks it's too early in their relationship. Yet hours later, he finds himself outside her door, typing in her security code that she oh-so-willingly gave.

(Jeongguk doesn't know why she trusts him that much when they've only met like, three times, but whatever.)

He hears a small beep and the door easily opens with a hiss. Careful as to not mess up her carpets, he removes his shoes and places them neatly next to her shoe rack.

"Hello?" He asks as he pads towards the living area. "Manoban! I'm here! Where are you?"

There's no reply.

Jeongguk huffs. Maybe she's in her bedroom, he thinks, heading to one of the hallways when something catches his attention.

Before you go to Lisa's room, you'd have to pass by the kitchen. It's an open space after all, and several steps is all it takes to reach the counter and the stove from the hallway. Jeongguk stands with one of his feet inside the hallway when he sees her.

Lisa, lying on the ground behind the counter, unconscious and unmoving.

Immediately, panic shoots through his body. He rushes over to her with a nervous heart and instantly checks her breathing and her heart beats. They're steady. She's still alive.

Thank God.

Jeongguk scoops her into his arms and brushes away the stray hairs from her forehead. "Lis? Lis? Can you hear me?" He asks in a rush, pulling his eyebrows in concern. "Hey, can you hear me? Lis? Fuck!"

She isn't responding.

Jeongguk has no idea what to fucking do now. He's never taken a health class before or whatever it is they call it, so he has no choice but to grab his phone and dial the hospital.

Fucking hell!

Just as he's about to press call, a snort comes from right beside him.

He drops the phone in surprise, staring at his soulmate who is now looking back at him with a shit-eating grin on her face.

"I'm sorry," Lisa says with a slight tremble in her voice--obviously holding back her laughter. "I can't take it anymore, you were so--" she wheezes, "...fuck, I'm sorry, Jeon. It wasn't real."

"What the fuck," Jeongguk says flatly and snatches his hands away from her body that she drops back on the ground. "I thought you had a concussion or something!"

Lisa sits on her ass and rubs her elbow while laughing. "I was bored, okay?"

"And you decided to cure your boredom by pretending to be unconscious?" He couldn't believe it. This girl is a fucking menace! "God, I was panicking for a second! I was going to call an ambulance!"

"Aww, were you scared you were going to lose me?"

Yes, his inner voice says, but he knows its just his soulmate instincts talking. "No."

"It was funny, though." Lisa stands up and cracks her neck like nothing just happened. "Are you hungry? Do you want to eat something? I have left over cat food in my room. Leo didn't want it."

Jeongguk gives her a glare and marches out of the kitchen. She is so... God, there's no word he could describe her.

"No? So no cat food then? Too bad. I made boiled chicken," Lisa continues to call out loudly. He ignores her and plops on the couch to play with his phone.

By the time Lisa sits next to him, his mild annoyance has simmered down to a quiet calm. He registers her faint perfume and moves his gaze to the bowl of curly fries she's placed on the coffee table, almost as if it's a bait to get him to talk.

Of course, Jeongguk is just human after all, so he couldn't help it when his mouth waters at the sight.

Damn it.

"Here. I airfried this," she says and pushes the bowl towards his direction.

No one asked, he wants to retort and yet--

And yet as what any mature person would do (emphasis on the mature), he doesn't get one. He doesn't acknowledge Lisa, either. Jeongguk continues to sit there and pretends to type something on his phone when in actuality, he's just typing random numbers in his calculator.

Lisa munches on her fries and purposely nudges her feet on his leg.

"Hey," she tries. Jeongguk feels her staring at him, but he doesn't talk to her. "Are you mad?"

He keeps quiet.

She raises her feet higher until it reaches his bicep and nudges again.

"Was that too much?"

Now, Jeongguk is a person of pride. He's confident with himself. He knows he's good in everything that he does, he knows his limits and his potential. He's proud. But then another nudge from Lalisa and he finally breaks out from his 2-minute long silent treatment by letting out a long exhale.

(Again, maybe it's a soulmate thing.)

He closes his phone and turns his head towards the rock star, ready to give her a piece of his mind but as soon as their eyes meet, it's as if everything falls into place and they suddenly laugh like drunk idiots.

"Fuck!" He curses loudly, clutching his stomach mid-laughter. Jeongguk has got to admit, that prank was pretty funny though (or maybe his humor is just broken, but whatever). "You are so stupid, oh my God."

Lisa lightly kicks his knee. "Hey, but you fell for it!"

In spite of himself, he laughs even more. "I did, didn't I?"

Alll the previous tension and the awkwardness dissipated and soon Jeongguk finally settles into a much more comfortable position on the couch, Lisa sitting next to him. Not too close, but not too far.

"What, no cat food?" He asks sarcastically while grabbing a piece of fry.

Lisa rolls her eyes at him. "So." She shifts again, crossing her legs as she stares at him. Jeongguk hadn't noticed it earlier, but he's never realized how soft she looks when she's bare faced. Her chubby cheeks, big eyes, plush lips. It's so different than what he usually sees in magazines. "What's up?"

In this setting, the rockstar seems to be more chill. Calmer. The air-condition is on, the entire apartment smells like air freshener and cats combined, there's music instruments scattered all around. She's dressed in nothing fancy but a tshirt that has a hole on the side and a pair of sweats that has several cat hairs. Somehow, all of this makes him feel like he's home.

Anyway, it's probably just part of the soulmate shit. He dismisses it as something irrelevant.

"Nothing interesting," he answers honestly bevause there really is none. Just the usual idol schedule and nothing more. "There's MAMA in two days so, that's that."

Now this makes her eyes sparkle in delight. "Oh, you're going too?" He nods and pops another fry to his mouth. "We'll see you there, then!"

Ah. How could he forget. Queen of Disaster and Piece of Peace against each other in all of the daesang categories. It's tough competition, he has to admit, but he hopes that at least they win one.

Speaking of Piece of Peace, his mind drifts to his and Namjoon's conversation the other day. He realizes he's never really asked Lalisa about her personal life, so he doesn't know the current standing of her relationship status.

(Which is idiotic of him, since it's basically mandatory to get to know a person before you get into any kind of relationship with them.)

"Noobs," he calls out absentmindedly.

This time, Lisa's head snaps around so fast he thinks she's broken her neck. "What did you just call me?"

Oh. Shit. Is that wrong? "Noobs, as in, shortcut for Manoban," he explains, but the longer he sees Lisa's perplexed face, the more he wants to take back what he said. "It just slipped out--"

"Ooh, we're in the nickname stage now, huh?"

Oh no. Here she goes again... "Please, don't even--"

Lisa promptly ignores him and beams widely. "Yes, my sugarplum honey bunch?"

He inhales deeply. "I'm just going to pretend you didn't call me that." She sticks her tongue out at him--yeah, real mature. "Anyway, I've never asked you this before but... you know, are you... single?"

"Me?"

"No, your cat."

"I mean, yeah, I am. Why'd you ask?"

Okay. Alright. "Prior to this, were you also single?"

Lisa looks puzzled, but she answers, "Of course."

"So, say, let's make a scenario." He doesn't know where he's going with this, but he hopes he gets his point across.

"Oh, you're good at making shit up, you should do that!" She suggests so enthusiastically that if Jeongguk doesn't know any better, he wouldn't have even picked up on the shade there.

"For example: you're single and you have a soulmate." Lisa nods, focused. "However, your soulmate is in love with someone else and they don't want you to be a part of their life. What would you do?"

"Um," she frowns. "Accept it, I guess? I mean, I don't want my soulmate to feel like they have to choose between me or their significant other. I'll settle with what they'd give me and that's it."

That's a surprise.

"Even if they fight off the bond? Even if they let you go through so much pain?"

"Of course."

"So, you're saying... it's perfectly fine if you don't end up together?"

She shrugs. "Not all soulmates need to end up together."

"But society says--"

"Society can suck my ass for all I care. This is my life, I live by my own terms," Lisa interrupts. "If they want to say shit about me, fine. As long as my soulmate and I are okay, then I'm good. That's it."

Jeongguk blinks. He didn't expect her to be so... open about this. She has the same beliefs as Namjoon. "That's... that's nice. Yeah, I think I'd do the same thing too." The last sentence isn't exactly the truth, but it isn't a lie either.

The rock star finally narrows her eyes at him. "What's with the questions, Jeon? I'm not dumb, but is it your way of telling me that you don't want me?"

"No!" He answers before he could even think. "It's just a scenario, like I said. "

She hums, still obviously unbelieving. "Scenario, my ass."

"No, seriously." He tries again. "It's just... I've been thinking. The soulmate system is fucked up, you know?"

To his shock, Lisa agrees.

"Yeah, it is."

Jeongguk must have known that his earlier questions would keep Lalisa awake, because at 3AM, while he's busy rehearsing his dance solo in the comfort of his bedroom, his phone beeps.

do u have a significant other

besides your soulmate

3:12AM

:

no

im single

3:12AM

are u lying

3:13AM

:

no

i do have a fuck

buddy though

but that doesn't

count

3:13AM

okay

3:13AM

The mere thought of award shows never fails to bring chills down Jeongguk's spine. The glitz and glamour that comes with it all, the certain moment of stillness before an MC announces the winner's name. Don't get him wrong, Jeongguk likes seeing their fans during these events, but the nerves eat him up all night long.

MAMA is no exception. It is, undoubtedly, the scariest award show that Jeongguk has ever been to. MMAs are good, although the main awards or the daesangs from MAMA have always the most anticipated awards of the year.

Piece of Peace has already won their own awards: best male dance performance, worldwide choice among all other categories. And so he sits there in the artist station with his hyungs, his poker face on yet his heart running in circles in his chest.

"Do you think we'll win?" Jimin asks from beside him, voice lowered down to a mutter. Jeongguk knows he's talking about the Song of the Year award, where their song Dynamite is nominated.

"I'm not sure," he tells him honestly, but then, "I do hope so."

Claps and cheers fill the stadium as the previous group finishes their speech. Now, Jeongguk's heart beats even faster then before, knowing damn well what the next award is.

"Song of the Year!" The female voice announces as a short VCR plays in the big screens. How You Like That play first, to which garners a loud applause, and then Freeze By Blue Orangeade, Alcohol Free by BDZ, Psycho by The Velvets, and then Dynamite by Piece of Peace.

As soon as the VCR ends, Jeongguk's mind become a blank slate.

"And the Song of the Year goes to..." Fuck. Fuck. The anticipation is too much. Everyone seems to hold their breaths, the stadium quiet at best, and then-- "How You Like That!"

And somehow, somewhere, his thoughts get lost as Lisa and her members go down from the artists zone and Jisoo starts delivering the speech. He barely registers them crying into the mics and the roar of the crowd.

Their best selling single in the history of their singles... lost.

Yeah, How You Like That is good... but Dynamite...

"Yah, Gguk, sit down," he hears Seokjin whisper harshly right next to him.

Ah, shit. He'd been distracted. Fuck this.

He obliges and shakes his head as he tries to get out of the haze his mind has concocted. Queen of Disaster return moments later, and Lisa takes him by surprise as she sits right next to him, the glistening SOTY trophy in hand.

The sight brings something bitter in his mouth.

"Oi, I didn't come here to brag," Lisa murmurs teasingly, not aware of his sour mood. "But a little congratulations would be nice."

Jeongguk scoffs and looks straight ahead. Great, it's Artist of the Year now. Yet another impossible award.

She notices his annoyed expression. "Are you okay?" She tries to ask as discreetly as possible. He doesn't answer. "Are you pissed off because... you lost?"

The VCR starts playing, but all the hope in his body seems to have left.

Suddenly, he feels something poking his pinky finger. "I know you said no touching, but here." Jeongguk looks down to see her intertwining her own pinky with his. The sight makes his eyes widen. "You'll do great, Jeon. Don't worry."

Somehow, the feeling of her skin against his feels so... right. Like it's always meant to be there and just-- just right.

And when he finally meets her eyes, he sees the sincerity in them... then, he catches a glimpse of the stars. "I..."

"The Artist of the Year goes to..." Her pinky tightens around his that he couldn't help but feel comforted, warm. "This group has done so well this year," the MC adds to further build up the tension. "And this group is none other than Piece of Peace!"

Wait.

What?

The last thing he sees before getting dragged on stage is Lisa's big smile, and then his members are all crying and laughing and screaming all the way to the mic.

Fuck. They won.

♡ did you know?

skin to skin contact

with your other half

increases your body's

need to be closer together.

what was that song again?

ah, everytime we touch,

i get this feeling! and

everytime we kiss, i feel

i could fly!

a/n: thank u so much to sofie for beta-reading this chapter! i owe u lots :* mention a user