75 It’s You.

Stage cleaners leisurely swept the floor free of shiny confetti with expert, efficient strokes. The piles that they gathered were playfully yet carefully tossed by Yena, Hitomi, Yuri, and Sakura. They were giggling and having too much silly fun with the tiny, bright blue, pink, green, gold, and silver plastic squares.

Even group leader Eunbi couldn't help surreptitiously snatching a few to mess around with a goofy grin.

She turned to Chaeyeon with one on her nose, and the other girl couldn't help snorting at the sight. So, Eunbi stuck a couple on Chaeyeon's cheeks for good measure before grabbing her wrist to find some other members to view her handiwork.

Seeing her 'girlfriend' Chaeyeon being led away by Eunbi, Sakura jumped up and tagged along with cute, hurried scuffles and a handful of confetti.

The first person Eunbi found was none other than Iris who was currently chugging on water. IZ*ONE had just wrapped up their last Japanese concert. So with these final Japanese comeback promotions, her solo and group debut ongoing preparations, and even some side composing and producing work for BTS and TXT, Iris was beyond exhausted.

After she had securely capped her water bottle, Iris was met with a flurry of confetti thrown over her.

"Yay to a successful last concert and upcoming Iris-unnie album~!!" The three girls cheered with quick, light claps and waving arms.

"You girls..." Iris's surprised expression bloomed into a merry one. She laughed and wiped away a few confettis from herself. "So silly, but thank you. We've had a great year together as IZ*ONE."

"Uwah! Unnie! Don't say it like that!" whined Eunbi. "It sounds like we're disbanding when we still have over half a year left! Are you that ready to leave us?!" She stamped and tapped her foot in mock displeasure with her hands on her hips.

Iris's eyes widened in alarm even while knowing that her leader was just teasing in a good natured way, not trying to hint at something deeper. But she couldn't help feel guilty that yes, technically she was ready to move on to fashion her own music career at Big Hit.

So she smiled sheepishly and jumped onto Eunbi in a warm hug, saying, "Eh? You know I just meant for 2020, silly love!"

"Uh-huh," uttered Eunbi with an eye closed in a feigned look of indifference before returning the hug which then Chaeyeon and Sakura eagerly joined too.

"Oh. By the way, did you see BTS Jin yet?" asked Chaeyeon suddenly.

Iris whipped her head around at the girl. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Chaeyeon furrowed her brows. "Didn't you see Jin in the audience? I know he's wearing a mask and disguise, but still, I thought you'd recognize him if I did! Well... actually, I only realized it was him when he visited backstage—"

"He was here?!?!" Iris almost screeched. "When?! Why?! I didn't see him at all! Did he leave?!"

Chaeyeon was taken aback by Iris's alarm. "Not too long ago, he—"

But Iris had already sped off to catch Jin before he left the premises, so she didn't get to hear the other girl continue commenting, "It was hard recognizing him, but if it was so easy, then some of our fans would've probably screamed at realizing it was him."

"Haha, yeah! It would've made the news! BTS Jin goes to an IZ*ONE Japanese concert," giggled Eunbi.

"Hm, there are lots of BTS fans in Japan." Sakura nodded in agreement.

"That was him, right?" Chaeyeon second guessed, hoping that she was right and didn't send Iris off and have her get lost trying to find Jin.

However, getting lost was the last thing on Iris's mind as she ran through the empty corridors and auditorium waiting spaces.

'Please, tell me that was actually you. But then why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell me you were coming? Why didn't you contact me at all since we last spoke? Did we land on the wrong foot or something since that conversation? You're not avoiding me, right?'

Iris's mind flurried with turbulent questions. She had no idea why her chat with Jin was silent, but the BTS one was as active as usual. And none of the other members acted any different. They still texted her once in a while to see how their hoobae, composer-collaborator, and friend was doing.

Thinking that Jin was busy or caught up with formal procedures and plans with the end of the year, she didn't dare bother him. But as the days dragged on, Iris suddenly realized his stark silence.

However now, it felt awkward to reach out to him since hadn't she basically ignored him too? But she couldn't help hesitating when she opened up their chat to randomly say something about her day. From at what point did she start feeling so self-conscious?

Iris was troubled, but life demanded constant attention from her. She couldn't get caught up in "little things," so she just waited for Jin to say something first.

And that's why, after his long silence, Iris jumped at the possibility of him coming to her IZ*ONE Japanese concert.

'Did he really remember? He actually meant that he'd come to my concert? He was being serious? But I didn't get to give you any ticket!!'

Something warm started welling up in her eyes and made her chest feel tight. She slowed her steps and took a breather to calm down and think straight.

But as she lifted her eyes from the ground, she spotted a figure leaning against the glass on the other side of the wall. That figure. She'd recognized those broad shoulders and long legs anywhere.

"Jin!" She half-yelled, half-whispered through the thick glass with a gentle knock.

The man with his back facing turned around and looked down at the tired and yet still bright faced and hopeful looking girl.

"Jin..." She murmured again, crinkling her brows and biting her lip in nervousness.

The man was silent and stared at her with deep brown eyes. Iris couldn't make out his expression clearly underneath his half mask that Koreans often wore in the streets.

She moved from the glass wall to the doors in order to exit and meet him outside, but Jin made his way to her before she did. Iris didn't even know that he had left right after she did, so she nearly collided into him as they met in the middle, the small entrance space between two sets of doors.

Iris had skidded to a stop when she saw a black clothed figure suddenly fill her vision, but instead of successful stopping and stepping back to look up at him, she found herself wrapped within strong, familiar arms.

'Those darn long legs of his! So it was him!' She huffed in fake annoyance inside her head which was also sighing in relief at his meeting.

"Iris." Jin softly called as he held the silent girl. He bent his head down to peer at her, but she stubbornly didn't lift her gaze up to meet his.

So he called her name again, bending down slightly to whisper it directly in her ear, causing her to squeak cutely in shock.

"What was that fo—!" Iris began to protest at his blatant tease but then cut short as her amber colored contact eyes latched onto Jin's much too close brown ones.

He lifted a hand and threaded his fingers into her slightly tousled side fringe, retrieving a shining silver confetti.

"You missed one." He chuckled softly, his voice faintly hoarse. Jin gently smiled with a torn expression.

"I missed you."