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“I still don’t get why you have to go to rehearsal,” Jimin says for the hundredth time.
Minjeong sighs patiently. “Jagi, it’s only for a few hours. It’s not like I’m leaving you forever.”
Jimin pouts. “‘A few hours.’ That’s much too much. You can’t just go off and leave me alone here.”
“Why are you so clingy?” Minjeong pauses in packing her electric guitar and looks over at her girlfriend, sulking on the sofa.
“You can practice at home. With me,” Jimin adds, ignoring Minjeong’s remark.
“It’s gonna be my first time performing with an electric guitar. I have to practice with the band. I can’t mess this up,” Minjeong explains.
Jimin is silent for a moment. “…Fine.”
Minjeong zips up the guitar case and moves to sit on the sofa next to Jimin, who immediately pulls her closer, wrapping her arms around her and resting her chin on her head.
“My guitarist girlfriend,” she murmurs lovingly into Minjeong’s hair, who laughs. She indulges the taller girl for a moment, leaning back into her hold, then pulls free.
Jimin whines as she gets up from the sofa and grabs the guitar case.
“Bye, jagi. I’ll be back soon,” Minjeong says as she pulls open the door.
“Wait!”
She turns, a little impatient. “Jiminie, I can’t stall any longer,” she starts to say, but Jimin talks over her. “I’m coming with you. Give me one minute,” she says as she grabs her phone.
“You’re coming with me? To the rehearsal?”
“Isn’t that okay?”
“Well… I don’t know if you can—“ she says honestly.
“I’ll be the audience. You need an audience to rehearse properly, right?” Jimin says.
“Okay, okay, come on, then.”
When they reach the back door of the stadium, a security guard appears to block their way.
Minjeong pulls out her rehearsal pass and flashes it at the guard, who steps aside but gives Jimin a look through narrowed eyes.
“She’s with me,” Minjeong quickly says, and the guard shrugs and nods.
Backstage is dark, with only a few slants of light filtering through gaps in the curtains from the stage. They can hear the sounds of the rest of the band setting up and doing warmups on stage. Minjeong shifts her guitar case and runs a hand along the wall to flip a light switch.
She points to a stack of chairs in the corner. “You can sit over there,” she tells Jimin as she slides the case onto the ground and kneels to unzip it.
Jimin pouts. “I’m the audience. You can’t just shove me backstage,” she reminds Minjeong.
“Right, right. I don’t know if… Oh, whatever. The stairs are over there,” she points as she lifts out the electric guitar.
Jimin drops down behind her and plants a kiss on Minjeong’s cheek. “Good luck, jagi!” she says, then disappears through the curtains in the direction Minjeong pointed.
Minjeong quickly grabs the electric guitar and its cables and brushes through the side stage curtains.
She squints in the bright stage lighting. “Hey, guys. Sorry I’m late.”
“Was it Jimin again?” the drummer teases, pausing for a second in his warmup.
“Yeah, she was extra clingy today. Speaking of Jimin…” Minjeong breaks off, squinting through the haze of white light into the audience.
There’s no movement.
“Huh? She said she’d sit in the audience.”
“You brought her to rehearsal?” The keyboardist asks.
Minjeong hums in agreement, still scanning the stadium. “There she is.” She grins as Jimin’s head pops up from between the rows of seats.
“Whee! Go Minjeong! Go everyone! Fighting!” Jimin shrieks in the audience, waving her phone enthusiastically.
Minjeong blushes at the extravagent display, and the other band members break out in laughter.
“Okay, let’s start,” she says quickly, plugging her guitar into the amp.
She plays a couple of notes and makes some adjustments, then nods.
They’re first rehearsing one of their biggest hits, a heavy metal single titled Now and Forever, widely loved and well received. Minjeong can play her part in her sleep, but for this stage she’s switching it up with her on an electric guitar instead. It’s set to be even heavier and hard-hitting than the original, which is really saying something.
As the lights dim and the smoke machines start working, she can still hear Jimin’s enthusiastic cheering from the audience.
The drummer starts off the beat, and Minjeong waits, tensely in the dark, for the moment where a single spotlight will illuminate her, and she will, theoretically, strum the opening chords dramatically.
The spotlight buzzes to life and splashes Minjeong with brilliant white light, almost blinding, and in the audience, Jimin screams with delight, playing the role of a diehard fan. “Minjeong! Kim Minjeong! Marry me! I love you!”
The words distract Minjeong more than the noise itself, and her hands go sweaty and she misses her cue completely. The rest of the members pause too, confused, and Minjeong cringes in embarrassment in the awkwardness.
She glares out into the audience in Jimin’s direction. “Hey!” But she’s laughing as well.
“Sorry!” They hear a faint call from the seats.
When they start over, Jimin doesn’t scream quite as loud, but she’s never still, continually filming with her phone and yelling her support for both Minjeong and the band.
Their scheduled acts are quite long, and Minjeong is hot and sweaty by the time they’ve run through the entire thing. She knows Jimin must be even more tired, with her nonstop screaming and jumping in the audience, but she shows no sign of fatigue.
They finally call it a day, an hour over their usual rehearsal time, and start packing up their stuff. Minjeong looks out in the audience and doesn’t see Jimin, and she figures her girlfriend’s gone backstage to wait for her.
“See you guys next week,” she says as she disconnects the guitar and grabs the cable, and ducks back through the curtains into the wings.
Jimin is there waiting, and Minjeong can see she’s glowing, even in the darkness of the backstage. She immediately pounces on Minjeong and hugs her, so the guitar’s sharp edges are digging painfully into both of them.
“Jagi, you were so amazing,” Jimin says proudly as she lets go.
Minjeong laughs, kneeling and putting the guitar back into the case. “If you don’t count the beginning, it was a pretty good rehearsal, all in all.“
“I was being your fan,” Jimin defends herself.
“I wasn’t expecting you to scream your love for me in front of everyone.”
“Of course I had to! I had to outdo all your actual fans,” Jimin protests indignantly.
“Oh, so that’s why you were acting like a kid on a sugar high? You were ‘outdoing my fans’?” Minjeong teases.
“I’m your biggest fan,” Jimin tells her earnestly. “Nobody’s love can compare to mine. And you love me back, so all those fangirls can suck it.”
Her completely serious expression makes Minjeong crack up. “Someone’s a little possessive right now.”
“That’s me,” Jimin agrees proudly. “Kim Minjeong, best girlfriend ever, guitarist of band Screaming Vengeance, is mine all mine,” she sings, pulling Minjeong into another tight hug.
Minjeong smiles to herself.
“Remember that when you go on stage next month, and all those fangirls are screaming to take your hand in marriage,” Jimin tells her.
“I know, I know,” Minjeong says.
“Now say you’re mine,” Jimin suddenly demands, grabbing Minjeong’s shoulders, who has to laugh at her girlfriend’s overly possessive behavior.
“Don’t worry, baby. I’m yours, now and forever.”