BEHIND THE SCENES

chapter 20: her softening heart

Jieun frowned as she watched Jungkook stifle a yawn and smile at the show host inside the studio, pretending like nothing had just happened to him at all. All this while, whenever she applied foundation to his face, she always wondered why he had such serious dark eye circles. Eventually she thought it was just genetic, but as it turned out... it was from the lack of sleep all this while. That reminded her about the pills...

"By the way, Jieun-ah-" Seokjin said after some time. "I'm only telling you this much because I hope you can understand why he's so grumpy. I know it's testing at times when it comes to interacting with him, but now that you know the reason, maybe you can try cutting him some slack."

Jieun laughed. "Why? Is he not grumpy with sleep?"

"You've only been here for a couple of days... but it looks like you already have a good idea of what goes on-" Seokjin chuckled. "You're right, he's a little better, but not much."

Jieun frowned as she watched Jungkook stifle another yawn away from the show hosts. "He must be so tired..."

"You saw how he was earlier..." Seokjin sighed. "Even when he lacks sleep, he still pushes himself to his limit. That's something I really admire about him - his passion for music and his grit to distinguish himself from the rest."

Jieun nodded slowly. "I'm starting to see that."

"Enough about our JK-" Seokjin turned to Jieun with a bright smile. "What about you, Jieun-ah? How's your job so far? Difficult?"

"Difficult is an understatement," Jieun admitted with a chuckle. "I'm sure it's nowhere as tiring as your job, oppa, but it's tiring. But at the same time... it's also extremely rewarding, and I'm enjoying every single bit of it."

Seokjin smiled. "I'm so glad to hear that. Yes, many behind-the-scenes jobs in the entertainment are be very tiring, but the reason why I managed to stay on for so many years is because it is extremely rewarding. For me, I feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment when I see JK performing on stage and am able to say, 'I took part in the creation of that.' I'm sure it's similar for you too, am I right?"

Jieun nodded and smiled. "Yeah, seeing the makeup on his face during the rehearsals earlier... I was so happy I thought I could fly."

"I noticed," Seokjin said as he glanced at Jieun briefly. "And I'm sorry for making a big fuss about you being the one to do JK's makeup earlier. You know, as a manager, when something goes wrong, we're always the first ones to be blamed. I was really impressed by what you did on his face, but I was just afraid that our sajang-nim might-"

"You don't need to explain any further, oppa-" Jieun let out a chortle. "I know you were just doing your duties as a manager. You looked really cool earlier, actually - when you were giving out all those orders."

"Did I really?" Seokjin laughed shyly, rubbing the back of his neck as his ears turned a little red. "Ah, thank you. Your makeup skills are amazing too, even coming from someone who doesn't know it too well. You have a lot of talent, Jieun-ah - even JK himself said so in the car earlier."

Jieun froze. "He did?"

"Mmhmm-" Seokjin smiled as he watched Jungkook singing his new song inside. "He said you have a talent for making makeup feel light yet still look good. Also, for matching it to the entire vibe of its purpose. That's a great talent, he said."

"He had so much good things to say about me?" Jieun was rather taken aback. "That's pretty... unbelievable."

"Yeah, he said all those things-" Seokjin smiled as he spotted Jieun's face filled with disbelief. "You can't believe it, can you? That's because you don't know our JK well enough. Other than apologising, he's actually pretty good at thanking and praising people. Though he doesn't look like it, he's really good at observing people and picking out their strengths - though he doesn't say it directly to them perhaps because he's shy, or embarrassed, I don't know. But remember that time when I messed up and left him alone outside the toilet and the both of you got stormed by his sasaengs? I thought I was gonna get fired for that, but it turned out that he put in a good word for me to our Yang sajang, and that's how I managed to stay on. He may be rude at times, but I've watched him grow up and I can safely say that he's a good guy - that Jeon Jungkook."