Untitled, 2018

Chapter 69: Unlikely Allies

A/N: 69 heh. Also forgot to post but it's okay I'm here now.

___________________
Three Days Later, Monday, New Year's Eve, Jimin

I miss her. I realized that she would be leaving in a couple of days and I had desperately wanted to spend time with her on New Year's. The other members weren't allowed to use their phones around me, so I couldn't even sneak in a call to Riti.

BigHit had refused to relent and announce the relationship. We had just decided on a waiting game, and Baek Hee's company had not bothered to respond. We weren't sure why, until we saw another Dispatch article online. "New celebrity couple to be revealed on December 31st."

The whole company had been watching with bated breath, and a collective disappointment filled the air when we'd seen the news. Nobody was angry or upset with anyone anymore. We simply waited. The PR managers were getting ready with counterplans and ways to contain the damage. In some corner of my head I was hoping that instead of "Baek Hee and Jimin", the couple reveal would be "Baek Hee and Jihun", especially since her company had not even reached out to us once we'd missed the deadline they had set us... but there was little time to ponder.

The members and I, instead of sitting around for the calamity to hit, were practically ordered to go have New Year's Eve "celebrations" outside. We'd driven to a location we had rented out just for us and our managers, and catered some good Korean food we ate in silence.

As the day wore on, we tried to play games, sing songs, film some Bangtan bombs, but the mood was terrible. And then, it began.

First, Sejin's phone rang, and then the marketing director's, who was present as well. And then, surprisingly, Taehyung's phone rang, and the three of them listened to the other side carefully. I groaned and buried my head into Hobi's shoulder, who patted my head to comfort me. Almost theatrically, all three of them stood up at once in shock. "What? What did you say?" The other managers who had phones and were checking the news cycle immediately let out little gasps, sighs, and I definitely heard one of the interns shriek. But the whole room fell silent once more, until Taehyung hung up his phone and burst into laughter, which the management joined in on slowly.

"What? What what?" Hobi murmured, mirroring our confusion. His manager stood up and read the headline: "Dispatch confirms Jennie from BLACKPINK and Kai from Exo to be dating."

I shot up straight in my seat. "Kai?!"

"And that's it! We're in the clear!" Sejin roared with laughter. Hoseok hugged me, and all the other members followed suite until we were a big pile of giggles in around me.
"Wait but why? Why didn't they keep their word about releasing the pictures?" Namjoon asked.
The marketing director shrugged. "The time to do it would have been today. They've missed the most publicity they could have gotten out of it."

I stood up and walked up to her. "Director... I need to call Kai, right? He's my friend and I need my phone."
She sighed. "You can get it back once we're at the company."
I shook my head. "No, now. Can I borrow one of your phones to call him?" She pushed me away.

Sejin walked up to me and handed me his phone with a laugh. "Here, call your Kai. Go hurry."

"Manager..." I said, my eyes moist. He could tell about my feelings for Riti?
"Apparently you're good at hiding relationships from me, but not feelings." He whispered to me.

I took his phone and ran out of the room as the noisier of the members cheered me on. I laughed and dialed a number I'd memorized now. Sorry Kai, I'll definitely call you next. But first...

Riti's voice answered, "H-Hello?"

_____________________
Two Days Ago, Saturday, Baek Hee