BEHIND THE SCENES

chapter 96: realisations

Byulyi was right, and Jieun knew she was. It had been difficult for her, indeed, having to juggle to jobs at the same time, handling the stress of what to do about Jungkook, managing the fear of getting caught and so on. And maybe because of that, on every rare occasion that they spoke on the phone, Jieun would be the only one ranting to Byulyi about her life. Come to think of it, she had absolutely no idea what Byulyi had been up to for the past few weeks. How was her writing going? Why did Seokjin move out? So many unanswered questions... all because she didn't make the effort to ask.

"Unnie..." Jieun bit her lower lip. "I-"

But Byulyi was already headed towards the door.

"Sorry, I need some time alone."

-•-•-

"JK, your lunch is back-" Seokjin burst into the apartment later that day. "I really don't have time to cook for you today, so I ordered from a nearby restaurant but asked them not to add oil or salt-"

There was no response.

Seokjin, finally realising that his words were not being heard, turned around and scanned the house. "JK...?"

Click.

The door to Jungkook's room opened and out came Jungkook, looking like an absolute zombie.

"Oh, you're home! I thought..." Seokjin's voice faded away and his smile faded a little as he caught sight of Jungkook's gaunt-looking face. "Have you been crying again?"

Jungkook shook his head as he dragged himself to the table and plopped himself down at the table, looking at the bland food that Seokjin had bought him. Looking at this food, somehow, reminded him of her yet again. How she had convinced him to take start eating food that had a little grease and sodium in them, and made him think that it was complete alright to go easier on himself... She had seemed like such an angel to him, but as it turned out... She was just a devil in disguise after all...

Jungkook pushed the bowl of soup away from him and backed away from the table.

"What is it?" Seokjin asked, sounding concerned. "Is the food not to your liking? Shall I go buy something else for you? What do you wanna eat? No matter how far it is, I'll go get it for you-"

"Hyung."

"You want some porridge? Or-" Seokjin stopped short as he finally heard Jungkook. "Hm?"

Jungkook pursed his lips, the emotions on his face unreadable. Then he finally glanced up at Seokjin. "I'm gonna work really, really hard from now."

Seokjin stared at Jungkook for a few seconds, as if he didn't hear him properly, or rather, couldn't completely fathom what he was saying. "Huh?"

"I'm gonna work super hard from now," Jungkook repeated, looking down at his hands that rested on his lap. "I'm done with crying - it's way too exhausting. From now... I'm just going to pour all my energy into working hard and growing my career."

Seokjin hesitated for a while before patting Jungkook on the back gently. "Good decision, Jungkook-ah. Maybe that will take your mind off the unhappy things. I support your decision."

"Can you arrange more work for me?" Jungkook said softly. "I don't care what it is - be it CF shoots, dramas, variety show appearances, radio shows - whatever they offer... I'll take it."