Shine like the Stars

06

[Jisoo's P.O.V]

For some reason the question the light red-haired girl asked us had caught us all off-guard. I looked over at the girl who had introduced herself as Jennie, still at the girl's back but looking oddly panicked. The other girl, Lisa, was staring at anything that wasn't the light-haired girl currently still hunched over on the floor. I decided to clear my throat, breaking the silence of the bathroom and grabbing their attention.

"Well, what's your name? We told you ours, but you never told us yours..." I asked, smoothing down my dress. The red-haired girl looked stunned for a moment, then shook her head. "Ah, how silly of me! I'm Park Chaeyoung, but since there's so many "Chaeyoung"'s, I just go by Rosé." "Well, it's nice to meet you, Rosé! And sorry about your...incident," Lisa said. Rosé only smiled warmly in response.

"Well, you did ask for our stories...so I suppose I'll start if that's okay?" I asked. The other three girls nodded and we all gathered in a small circle on the cold tile floor, Rosé moving away from the toilet. 

"If you're familiar with Kim Corp., then you'll know that it's run by a couple. I'm the daughter of that couple, and if you've also seen the news lately, then you'll also know that Kim Corp. is...struggling in the industry. I was called to my parents' office earlier today and told that I would be marrying the son of the CEO of Song Inc. to join the two businesses together so that the two companies would stay afloat. But I don't want to; I haven't even dated yet, and I'm just expected to marry some guy I don't even know for my parents' sake? I'm just 25! There's so much I wanted to do still!" I huffed, finishing my somewhat condensed story. The other girls looked just as bothered as I did.

"I hate arranged marriages," Lisa murmured, twisting her mouth into a frown. "Wait, so how'd you end up here?" Rosé asked, referring to the club. I rubbed my neck sheepishly. "About that..."

---

Jihyun, ever the gentleman, had treated me to dinner as promised and had taken me on a walk afterwards. We actually had gotten to know each other better, and were satisfied once we knew that the other wasn't a bad person. We had even begun to enjoy the night out.

Until Jihyun spotted the club.

Moon Club got it's name from being open when the sun sets into the early hours of the morning. During the day, it was a casual bar and grill. But at night...the music could be heard from three streets over, there was almost no room inside the small building itself, and everyone reeked of alcohol. 

"How about that?" Jihyun asked, nudging me towards the club. "Are you kidding me?" I asked, and he must have thought that I enjoyed partying like that, as he smirked and guided me inside. 

Within minutes, I was alone, seated at the bar awkwardly. Jihyun was just barely visible on the dance floor, girls surrounding him; I could only hope the news hadn't caught wind of the marriage, or this could turn into a real scandal.

Wait...If Jihyun got caught "alone" at the club...would it be enough to make a great scandal? Maybe, just maybe if that happened, would there be a chance my family would call off the marriage? I mean, it would look bad if their daughter was marrying the Song Inc. CEO's son, who turned out to be a party animal and not even have enough decency to stay away from girls, right?

And so, I snuck away, eventually getting lost in the sea of bodies. I soon spotted a door swinging, evident that someone had just gone in. I hoped that whoever was inside wasn't doing anything indecent before I ducked inside, finding three girls in the bathroom, one throwing up and the other two comforting her.

---

"...And that's how I got here," I finished, folding my hands and resting them in my lap. Now the girls shared a look of awe. "That's really smart," Jennie whispered, earning a blush from me and laughter from the others. "Yeah, I guess...I just don't wanna marry this dude!" I said, folding my arms across my chest.