Chapter Text
Soft moonlight spills through a second floor window, brushing against K-pop posters taped lovingly to the walls. Photocards are arranged carefully on a corkboard. A string of fairy lights buzzes faintly. The air smells like melon face mist and old concert wristbands.
Sori, hair in a loose bun, sits cross-legged on her bed, sketchpad balanced on her knees. Her pencil drifts lazily over the paper, a half-finished sketch of Rumi, in the middle of a dramatic scene from the new "Golden" MV.
A gentle summer breeze rolls through the open window, rustling the corner of a poster, the one where HUNTR/X is backlit by lightning, expressions fierce and defiant.
Sori glances up at it. Smiles. Then looks down at her drawing again.
Sori, mumbling under her voice, “You’d laugh if you saw how many times I redrew your eyes.”
She adds a curl to Rumi’s hair in the sketch, shading in the shadows just below her collarbone. The street outside is quiet except for the occasional hum of a car, a distant bark, the metallic wheeze of a bike chain.
And then-
A voice.
A single, crystalline melody floating in the air.
Not a performance. Not amplified. Not mixed.
Just sung.
Sori freezes. Her pencil stops mid-stroke. She tilts her head toward the window, heart suddenly thudding against her ribs.
The voice rises again, so soft, unguarded, and achingly familiar.
“But here with you, I can finally breathe”
It’s raw but unmistakable.
Sori whispers quietly to herself, “…Rumi?”
She leaps to her feet, nearly stepping on her sketchpad. Fumbling for her phone, she grabs it from the charger, messes up her passcode once, then finally opens the camera. She hits record.
The voice continues.
“...You say you're no good, but you're good for me.”
Sori’s eyes widen. She scans the street below.
Nothing.
She presses her phone to the window ledge, careful not to knock anything over. The camera is angled wide, just in case.
Breathing heavily, Sora looks around, “That’s her. That’s really her. But where…”
She leans out slightly, gripping the window frame. The voice echoes again… a little louder now, and closer.
Then another voice joins in.
A male voice.
Sori’s breath catches.
Rumi’s singing a duet. With a guy?!
And then she sees them, silhouetted on a neighboring rooftop. Two figures, side by side, harmonizing effortlessly. Staring into each other’s eyes.
The guy…
It’s JINU.
Sori almost drops her phone in shock but catches it just in time, her hands trembling.
“Why does it feel right every time I let you in? Why does it feel like I can tell you anything?”
It’s a love song.
Rujinu is real.
Sori screams it in her heart, but her lips stay shut. She doesn’t want to break the moment.
The beautiful duet continues, and Sori silently vows to cherish every second like its her last.
“So take my hand, it's open!”
Rumi and Jinu are holding hands now! My poor heart is going to burst!
Then... heartbreak. They start walking down the other side of the rooftop, disappearing from view.
“No, no, no-”
Sori stretches her arm out the window as far as she can, phone dangling dangerously, trying to catch a final glimpse. The voices are fading, slipping into the night.
In a burst of desperation, she bolts downstairs, still wearing her cat slippers, throws open the front door, and sprints onto the street, phone held out in front of her like a divining rod.
She turns the corner...
Gone.
She looks around. Nothing. The voices are gone. The rooftop is empty. Only the hush of the neighborhood remains, heavy and reverent- like something holy has just passed through.
She looks down at her screen, rewinding the treasure she just captured.
The footage is a little grainy, but unmistakable.
Rumi and Jinu. Singing together. Holding hands. Smiling like the world didn’t exist.
She watches it again, this time not as a fan, but as a witness. The harmonies, the way their voices met midair like hands reaching out. The way Jinu looked at Rumi when she hit that final note.
The way Rumi smiled just for him.
Her heart pounds louder than the audio. Her hand hovers over the screen.
She thinks of the fans. The theories. The questions.
She thinks of how many people would kill to see something real.
And before the fear can catch up to her...
She taps “post.”
It’s done in a breath. The video begins to upload. No filters. No captions.
Just:
From my window.
No idea what I just saw.
#Rumi #Jinu #Rujinu #Duet #Free