BEHIND THE SCENES

chapter 31: a girl who returns favours

"Well-" Jungkook shrugged. "You won't know unless you actually tell me."

"If you promise not to laugh, I'll tell you."

"I mean-" Jungkook grinned, his eyes still closed this whole time. "If it's funny, you can't stop me from laughing."

"It isn't funny-" Jieun pouted. "Also, since when did you like laughing so much?"

"I don't know, since I met you?" Jungkook sniggered. "You do ridiculous things that actually  make me wanna laugh."

Jieun pursed her lips and took a step back, the smile fading from her face as she saw Jungkook with a cheeky grin stretched across his face. In that moment, she felt a pang of guilt. Was she doing the right thing after all? She came here with the purpose of finding out more about him, but what if she accidentally hurt him in the process-

No, it didn't matter to her.

Talking to him now was just a means of gaining his trust, smiling and laughing with him was just a way to get him to loosen up around her, and helping him out with his makeup or his sleep... was just her way of making herself feel less bad when she eventually betrayed him. That was it. And seeing him smile so brightly because of her...

It didn't matter to her at all, not one single bit.

She was a reporter, she was supposed to report the truth. Even if it was information he wanted to hide, she had to report the truth. That was the only way she could excel. She wanted to become the best reporter, the best of the best.

"Okay, I promise I won't laugh-" Jungkook said after some time, pursing his lips shut. "Go ahead."

"Well..." Jieun thought for a while, trying to organise the thoughts in her messy head. "Firstly, I have to say that Miyeon-ssi and the rest who do eye shadow the last are simply following the standard protocol of applying makeup. Foundation, contour, highlight, eyes, brows, lips, blusher. That's the order they learnt in school, and that's what I learnt too."

"So..." Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows. "You're telling me... you changed the order on your own accord?"

"Mmhmm."

"You're quite the rebel, huh."

"Shh-" Jieun put her hand on Jungkook's head and forced his head down a little. "That's not the main point."

A small smile played at Jungkook's lips.

"I changed the order for a reason," Jieun said slowly. "After I graduated from university, I told you I did many part-time makeup jobs, didn't I? During that time, I was extremely clumsy. There was once I missed out the eye shadow by accident and ended up doing it the last. I put in extra effort that time to perfect my customer's look using eye shadow alone because I felt so bad. But to my surprise, when she opened her eyes, she was greeted by her complete makeup look and the look on her face that time was unforgettable."

"So..." Jungkook thought for a while. "From then on, you realised that presenting your customer or the person you're doing makeup for with their completed makeup look once they open their eyes is the way to go?"

"Mmhmm," Jieun hummed as she added the finishing touches of glitter to Jungkook's eyes. "I believe that eyes are the window to the soul. You may probably find that corny, or even cringey, but there's something so magical about it for me, seeing the person's entire face light up every time they are presented with a transformed image of themselves in the mirror once they open their eyes."