Light A Flame || Hoshi

Chapter 21

Jang-mi marveled at how different he was on screen and in real life. Of course, he was still kind and caring, but his personality gained a layer of childishness she barely saw from him usually. She understood what he meant when he said he was confused as to who he really was.

Her phone quietly lit up, displaying a new text.

Mira
22:31 hey, is everything okay?
i just saw the news

i think it'll be fine 22:31
[Jang-mi shared a photo]
  they made him do a damage control live           .

22:31 bless his heart
chan told me about it

what'd he think? 22:31

22:32 let's just say he wasn't surprised
considering what happened before

that's good to hear? 22:32
but please don't remind me of the coffee thing            .
or the fast pace performance            .
or anything before we started dating, actually          . 

22:32 don't you worry
i'll pester you abt it another time

choi mira. 22:32

22:32 okay okay
but you know what i find weird?
if heejin was that obsessed with him, why would she pay out pledis for the performance?
if she couldn't stand him with another woman then why would she do just that

beats me 22:32
i don't have choi mira's 200 IQ so honestly, i don't know            .
but maniacal murder psychos usually don't have logical motives   .

22:32 that's true

i'm sorry mira i gtg 22:33
my man is currently horanghaeing for his life            .
well, his job but ygm            .
bye bye <3            . 

22:33 see you. stay safe <3

Jang-mi put her phone down, catching Hoshi mid-sentence about some practice session where half the members were drunk and/or sleep-deprived. She closed her eyes briefly, grateful that she didn't have to see them like that anywhere other than team dinners.

"This was right after dinner. They told us we'd have a song change for MAMA and had to come in for an emergency practice. So then Mingyu nearly broke the mirror, and it was a whole thing. After that, I think someone spilled water all over the floor so we had to clean that up as well," he recounted, smiling.

"'Hoshi say hello to Filipino Carats' - hi! Mahal kita!" he said, sipping some water.

Is this how lives usually go? she thought. Must be boring, doing all of that by yourself for however long the company desires.

"Hoshi do you have a girlfriend?" he read out. Without skipping a beat, he nodded. "Yes, of course I do!"

Jang-mi was somewhat far from the staff, yet she could see their muscles visibly tensing up. One of them frantically did a cutting gesture which she was sure Hoshi had caught in his peripheral vision, but he waved it off with the one hand that was far enough to be invisible off-camera, all without breaking eye contact with the shiny black of the webcam.

"Wow, you're all asking who," he smirked. Jang-mi's heart skipped a beat. Did he not learn anything from what had happened before?

"It's... Carat!" he announced, the room collectively letting out a sigh of relief. She couldn't properly see their faces but Jang-mi could discern a good few eyerolls courtesy of the staff.

"Yes, Carat is my girlfriend," Hoshi began a coordinated barrage of finger hearts at the screen, puffing up his cheeks as he did so. As funny as it was, Jang-mi still felt some embarrassment for him. This would be impossible for her to do as-is, let alone in front of 3 people monitoring her.

After another 30 minutes, the staff finally gave him the thumbs-up to end the live. Jang-mi watched as he blew an air kiss to the screen, horanghaed one more time and switched off the live. Immediately, his features dropped from the cheery smile he'd been holding into something much more tired. She walked over to him.

"Carat is your girlfriend, huh?" she feigned sadness. "You cheater!" she whined, hitting his arm.

He quickly pulled her, causing her to lose her balance and end up on his lap. Smiling, he kissed her on the forehead. "I might've said a few lies there,"

"A few? You practically constructed a whole new lore sub-section from that coffee spiel you went on for 20 minutes,"

"Well, no harm done there. Come, let's tell the manager it's done,"

**

"Manager-nim, I finished the live," the two walked up to the solemn-looking man in the bar.

"And?"

"They seem to be mostly satisfied. I really don't know how it'll turn out in the end but I'm hoping it's enough," he said.

The manager rose up from his table, slamming down the gin and tonic he was drinking as he did so. The man was somewhat shorter than Hoshi, making his attempt at a serious expression at the idol more comical than it should've been.

"Alright, listen. The live was just the beginning. And I know you might think it's enough, but trust me, it won't be. Not for a long time,"

"There's nothing more we can do. We take down the article, 5 more will pop up," Hoshi sighed.

"Which is why we leave the articles alone. Fine, what happened has happened. But I won't let the group's reputation fall because of your selfishness,"

"How is that fair? Most of the members are dating. Some have been going to clubs - routinely might I add - yet they don't garner this type of reaction?" Hoshi raised his voice. Jang-mi placed her hand on his shoulder to try to de-escalate the situation.

"Because they've been careful, and they've never gotten two scandals from their own actions," the manager snapped. "I was going to break the news to you more gently but it seems like nothing is going through that thick head of yours. I'll spell it out for you if that'll make you understand.

The company demands that the two of you immediately break up, and Jang-mi is fired from HYBE effective now."

a/n: remember when i said it wouldn't all be sunshine and rainbows? yeah.

i'm having so much fun writing this as time goes on, i feel like there's so many fun opportunities for plot twists (i have some more on the way, don't worry) and the general story direction too.

btw as i was writing i thought of a good song that represents this story: ima (the jp release). it's upbeat but also has this bittersweetness and sense of urgency in it which i think reflects the book pretty well.

and no, it's not the end for jang-shi (is the ship name good? idk lmk what you think, it's better than ho-mi (homie?)) but things might start being a little different now for them.

as always, see you next monday!