the 1 | chaennie

54. I Did Something Bad

With a scoffing laugh, Rosie's eyes flashed with irritation even as she smiled good- naturedly, taking the scepticism with an air of indifference even as it needled beneath her skin. She knew it was a common belief that she'd lied; her life had been made a living hell based on that lie. Rosie had come to terms with the fact that people would never believe her unless the full footage dropped. It didn't bother her so much anymore.

"No," she murmured, curt and brittle as her face turned stony, the smile a little too forced, "I was telling the truth. But no one cared when they finally had a valid reason to take me down. It wouldn't have hurt so much if I was lying, but the way everyone just piled on ... it was awful. All because of one misconstrued phone call by someone who wanted revenge."

-

"Hello?"

"Rosie! Hi, it's Jaehyun."

Pausing slightly, her fingers still resting against the strings of her guitar, Rosie slowly shifted it aside and sat up, her eyebrows rising in mild surprise. "Jaehyun, hi," she slowly continued.

"Look, I just wanted to call and make sure that things between us are still cool."

Cocking her head to the side as her brow furrowed, Rosie picked up her glass of wine and settled back with it, a spark of wary caution in her stomach as she swilled the rosé around. "Sure it's grand," she lightly replied, taking a measured sip as she waited.

Rosie knew he wouldn't have just called to make sure the air between them was clear after the abrupt termination of their contract. They hadn't technically been on good terms even while dating, so an out of the blue phone call set her slightly on edge.

"Good, good. Listen, I just wanted to run some lines by you. I'm working on a new song and I wanted to get your permission first. It's not finished yet, but I'll play it for you when it is."

"Is it mean?"

She could hear his smile on the other end as he replied. "No, of course not. It's maybe a little controversial. I mean- I think it's cool. I think they'll love it."

"Okay, well, what is it?"

"There's a lot before it but the line about you in the first verse is 'I feel like me and Rosie might still have sex.' You know? Like even though we're not a thing anymore, it's sort of a nod to that. How there still could be something between us."

With a quiet chuckle, Rosie arched an eyebrow as she smiled slightly, "I thought you were just going to call me a bitch."

"No, no," Jaehyun laughed, "of course not!"

"I mean, I get it," Rosie hedged, "it's ... edgy. Controversial. Especially with our history. Go with whatever line you think is best."

"Yeah, I just thought I'd run it by you first. Maybe you could help promote it, you know, send a message that there's still love between us. No hurt feelings."

Chewing on her lip, she was silent for a moment, "I mean, I don't know ... I'd need to think about it. I think promoting a song with a message like this ... I mean ... my fans are young so ..."

"Of course. Well, you think about it."

The phone call went on for the better part of an hour, samples of the song played for her, some light banter as they skirted around the PR stunt. She was reluctant to bring it up out of the stab of guilt at cutting it short, and Jaehyun didn't mention it beyond vague suggestions of them that almost gave off the insinuation that they'd actually been a couple. He was pleasant throughout the whole conversation and Rosie reciprocated, no need to be surly after getting what she'd wanted. She would gladly give him the lyrics in exchange for parting ways, but she still asked for time to think about it before they both hung up.