Untitled, 2018

Chapter 58: A Night of Secrets Revealed

Jimin
______

I turned and immediately stood up in surprise. Clearly visible through the open door was Baek Hee, drunkenly making out with another blond man, his hands gripping her everywhere, his face barely visible through her hair. Humiliating.

Gunho stood up right after me, and choked out a little "Oh my god" before storming up to the door and banging on it to get their attention. It startled the couple, and Baek Hee pushed her hair out of her face to see what the ruckus was. We made eye contact right away, and I saw a swirl of her drunken lust, recognition of the situation, and panic in her eyes. My expression remained stone cold, but her face quickly turned red. She immediately grabbed her forehead and made an act of being more drunk than she was, shoving her lover away from her chest and stumbling down the hallway, which quickly turned into a guilt-ridden sprint.

"T-that— That— I... I was helping her t-to..." My attention snapped back to the young man. Gunho walked up to him. "What? You were what, Jihun?"
Jihun looked a little cornered. I tried to remember where I recognized the man from. Ah. His bandmate.
"I was helping her get to a bedroom to rest. She's a little drunk."
Ah. Ahh. Now that I thought about it, the blond man easily fit the description of the man I'd seen Baek Hee hug, the first time I'd met Riti at the lab, months ago. Aha. Now I remembered where that dress looked familiar from. The day I'd run into Jihun at the dry-cleaners— he was carrying a sequined fabric just like the dress; so it was a present from her lover. Ahah. I see. So this was the man.

I stared him up and down, and his gaze shifted between me and Gunho. He was a delicate pretty boy type, and looked nervous as hell, but the conviction in his eyes as he was defending Baek Hee was real. Yup, I had nothing to say to him.
I turned back around and sat down, but Gunho walked up to Jihun and picked up his phone. "She's drunk and you're taking care of her? Okay then. I guess I'll just call her manager and let her know that she needs assistance. Why don't we go talk, huh?"
And that's how Gunho knew about the situation, I'm guessing.

Once the two men had left the room and walked down the hallway, I laughed a mirthless laugh while staring at the ceiling. Riti said nothing but the tension was heavy.
"Did you know it was him?"
She sighed. I cringed and groaned, rubbing my eyes.
"So that's how you met Gunho?"
Riti mumbled, "No... but we found out that we both knew a while ago..."
I started sinking into the chair and looked at her; she was looking all worried and tense.
"So... I'm a laughingstock."
Riti's eyes widened and she shook her head. "Jimin, as far as I know we're the only ones that know, and we've been stressed beyond belief about it. You're not a laughingstock. I should've told you."
I pouted, "You did tell me."
...
Riti thought for a moment, shrugged her shoulders at that and raised her eyebrows, "I mean, okay yeah, I definitely did. More than once."
I covered my face with my hand, "Ouch..."
"Am I lying? It's literally one of the first things I said to you. Don't even deny it."
I groaned and stared at Riti for a second before bursting into laughter, clearly confusing her. I just closed my eyes and settled into my seat comfortably. Slowly, I felt a tentative hand touch my forearm. When I didn't react, it crept up and I felt a big warm hug wrap around me. The smile on my face wavered and I felt my eyes get moist.
"There there," Riti said in English. "It's okay. It's o-kay."
I sniffled a little but I was fine after. Riti just kept me enveloped in the hug for several minutes, before she giggled, "Okay, my foot kind of hurts, I need to let go."
I chuckled at that and hugged her back, refusing to let go.
"Jimin!"
"No, stay like this."
"You silly kid."
"Kid? Also, this is punishment for whatever the heck that was earlier. I saw you and Gunho sticking so close on your way here."
"Excuse me? He's my friend, mister."
"Sure, but I'm mad you didn't just ask me to help."
"Well, you weren't talking to me."

I slowly released her from my hug and she sat down next to me.
"I'm sorry." I whispered.
"Why didn't you just tell me?" She said softly.
I looked up at her into her eyes, searching them for something, I don't know what, but she just looked at me innocently.
"I don't know. It's complicated, I think."
She rolled her eyes at that. "Damn, not again. Why are we so complicated?"
I smiled. "By the way, you still haven't explained that." I pointed to the TV, still playing videos that Director Jeong was chuckling at.

She hid her face with her hands, embarrassed. "Oh. Oh dear." She turned to glance at the screen, and a wistful smile slowly spread across her face. "That... is my baby." Her smile faded. "But I abandoned it not too long ago."
I laughed with surprise, "Abandoned? Hah why? You're on your way to fame!"
Her big eyes trembled and she frowned at me. "Hey, just because you've been famous since forever doesn't mean you can make fun of my projects. I used to spend all my time and energy making those."
"Sorry sorry I didn't mean it that way. It's just cute."
"Well anyway, I'd started making a little bit of money on the side because of it too. I've posted a bunch of stuff with you guys in it too, you know?"
"Really? Then why'd you stop?"
"I mean, it's not a lot of money. And... um, it's hard to explain in Korean haha."
I shook my head, "Then use English too, please."

"It's dumb; you won't want to hear me complaining about my life."
I leaned forward and grinned, "I'm all ears."