a little bit of black with a little bit of pink

Documentary

She wasn't allowed to see Jennie Kim until she'd signed so many papers that, if stacked together, would be taller than she was. She wasn't even allowed to touch her camera around Jennie Kim until the woman herself, CEO extraordinaire, had personally vetted Lisa out.

"You know," Lisa said as casually as she could, finding herself nervously adjusting her glasses when Jennie's cold gaze fell on her, "I usually have a whole team with me when I do this."

"And I agreed to this on the condition that only one nosy filmmaker follows me around, not a whole team." Jennie's reply was like everything else Lisa had learned about the CEO thus far: she was blunt, a little harsh, tone and eyes cold and emotionless. She gave nothing away, not in her walk, in her mannerisms, in the ridiculously healthy food she ate, in the way she spoke to her employees or board members. She was cool, detached, wickedly smart, and utterly composed. "And I must approve the final result," she added, gesturing to the mountain of paperwork Lisa signed.

(Lisa sighed internally, a tiny part of her sure Jennie was a robot.)

"But it's everything, right?" Lisa clarified. "A total look into your life, no holding back?"

"You may follow me around to your heart's content," Jennie said, leaning back in her desk chair, studying Lisa intently.

"May I ask, Ms. Kim, what made you agree to this, when you're usually so distrustful of the media?"

Jennie gave Lisa a smile that didn't touch her eyes. "What made you ask to do this when you know I distrust the media?"

Jennie hadn't answered, so Lisa knew she didn't have to either, but she felt it was important to establish some kind of rapport with the woman she'd be following around for the next few weeks. "I'm of the opinion that things are rarely as simple as they seem from the outside, that's all."

"Well," Jennie said, looking pleasantly surprised and offering Lisa a grin (a real one, one that touched her eyes and transformed her face), "perhaps that's why I agreed to you doing this."

-----

"You're one of Ms. Kim's closest friends, is that right?"

"Yes."

"Since before your daughter was born?"

"Yup."

"So would you say you know her quite well?"

"Sure."

"Do you plan on answering any of my questions with more than one word?"

"Nope."

"Okay. So, in one word I suppose, how would you describe Ms. Kim to a stranger?"

"Flawless."

-----

The rules of her arrangement with Jennie were rather simple. For the next several weeks, Jennie consented to having Lisa around from the moment she woke up to the moment she went to sleep. In return, Lisa was not allowed in certain meetings at the JK Company, was not allowed to bring her camera with her at all when Jennie went down to R&D, and if Jennie asked for her to stop filming at any point, Lisa was bound to immediately do so and erase any footage she may have inadvertently captured.

For the first two days of the arrangement, it was actually rather boring. Jennie was awake before the crack of dawn, she didn't acknowledge Lisa's presence as she made coffee and toast (though she did push a cup and a plate towards Lisa), and then spent the next fifteen or so hours in her office, sifting through papers, answering phone calls and responding to emails, and forgetting meals. It wasn't until the third day that Jennie's routine changed slightly.