<OST: Winter Flower - Younha ft. RM>
"Jieun-ah, did you see this?"
Jieun looked up from her laptop, where she was busy watching makeup tutorials. "Hm? See what?"
"Seeing how you are right now, you probably didn't," Byulyi said quietly as she hopped onto the bed next to Jieun and passed her the phone in her hands. "Your boyfriend... he just posted a story on Instagram 20 minutes ago. I just happened to see it when I was checking my feed... and I thought you might wanna read it."
Jieun had already been feeling anxious all morning when Jungkook hadn't contacted her after the release of Jennie's video. And she didn't know why, but she felt like something was wrong the moment she felt Byulyi patting her on the back gently. Mustering up all the courage she had left in her, she looked down into the phone and began to read.
"What?"
"He's leaving the k-pop industry, Jieun-ah," Byulyi said softly. "Did he discuss about this with you before he made this decision?"
"No?" Jieun exclaimed as she replayed the story over and over again, reading each paragraph multiple times to make sure that she had gotten him right. "What the hell?"
"Jieun-ah, calm down-" Byulyi pursed her lips. "Take a deep breath, come on. It's not something to be upset over, it's okay-"
"How is this okay?" Jieun looked at Byulyi with tears already welled up in her eyes. "How is any of this okay, unnie? He didn't even tell me before deciding about this, he didn't even-"
"Maybe he didn't want to burden you," Byulyi tried to explain. "Maybe he knew that you've been stressed over his issue as well, and didn't want to worry you some more-"
"Worry me? I'm his girlfriend!" Jieun exclaimed, as tears poured down her cheeks. "I'm his freaking girlfriend, Byulyi-unnie. Such a big decision like this... how could he not have discussed it with me..."
Byulyi pouted as she pulled Jieun into her arms and hugged her tightly. "It's okay..."
"He's not retiring from the industry because of this..." Jieun sobbed. "He's retiring because of me..."
"What?" Byulyi frowned as she pulled away. "What do you mean? No, I'm sure that's not the case-"
"Read it again, unnie-" Jieun held up Byulyi's phone in her face, sniffling non-stop. "He says that recent events made him realise that he doesn't like having his life out there... That's me, isn't it? I made him give up on his dreams, I-"
"Hey, don't jump to conclusions so soon-" Byulyi wiped away Jieun's tears with a piece of tissue. "Why don't you give him a call? Maybe you should talk it out."
"I wanna go look for him, unnie." Jieun burst into tears as she jumped up from her bed. "I haven't seen him for two days now... I miss him..."
"It's not safe for you to go to him right now, Jieun-ah-" Byulyi followed after her out into the living room. "Reporters still have their eyes on his every move, just wait a little longer when things die down-"
"I'll disguise myself well-" Jieun sniffed as she wiped away her tears and put on her sunglasses, bucket hat and mask. "I need to see him right now, unnie - or I might go crazy."
"Jieun-ah, take it easy-" Byulyi tried to persuade Jieun, grabbing her by the arm as she made her way towards the door. "Just give him a call first, trust me-"
"Unnie, let me go-" Jieun tried to wriggle free from Byulyi's grip as she pulled open the door. "I really need to see him-"
"Jieun-ah."
Jungkook was standing right at the door - in full black, his face completely covered - but his eyes, his physique and his voice gave him away. It took Jieun three whole seconds to register exactly who it was, before she flung Byulyi's hand aside and ran into his arms.
-•-•-
Jennie rushed home after the meeting with CEO Yang, excited to meet one person and one person only. Lo and behold, just as she stepped out of the lift, he was standing outside his door, as if waiting for her to return. Seeing him made Jennie's heart skip a little beat as she remembered what had happened earlier that morning.
"Oh-" Yoongi turned around and waved at her awkwardly. "Hey, you're back."
He looked specially cute when he was in a fluster.
"Oh, hey-" Jennie smiled as he walked towards him slowly, though her insides were twisting and turning as she did so. "You..."
"I..." Yoongi thought for a while, before looking up at Jennie. "Oh, right - I was about to take the rubbish downstairs."
Jennie looked around for said rubbish, but there was not a single trash bag in sight.
"Ah, silly me-" Yoongi slapped his hands against his pants and then against his forehead like a true actor. "I forgot to bring it out."
Jennie stared at him.
Yoongi stared back.
"Um, well-" Yoongi gestured randomly in all directions before leaning against his door. "I guess- I'll just-"
"Give me a second-" Jennie hesitated for a while before continuing. "I'll go get my trash too - let's empty them together."
"Huh? Oh-" Yoongi shrugged as he rubbed the back of his neck, not knowing where to look. "Oh, okay, sure. Sure... then."
Jennie hurriedly put down her things before grabbing one tiny trash bag by her door and heading out once more, not wanting to keep Yoongi waiting. Yoongi must have felt the same too, because he was already was waiting for her when she came outside.
"Just one bag?" Yoongi asked softly as he pointed at Jennie's palm-sized bag of rubbish in her hands.
"Yeah, um-" Jennie hid the bag to her right, out of Yoongi's view, embarrassed that she was literally pretending to throw rubbish just so she could spend time with Yoongi. Truly embarrassing. "I took my trash out last night, actually. This is what's left - oh, but I really needed to get rid of it as well. I just like to keep my house spick-and-span, you know what I mean? And since you were doing it as well, I just thought I might as well do it now in case I get lazy later on tonight, or maybe I-"
Darn it, Jennie. Why do you always have to speak so much when you're nervous?
"Ah." Yoongi's short response made Jennie even more self-conscious about her awkwardly long and TMI-laden reply. "Yeah, me too."
But then Jennie's eyes drifted down onto the single trash bag in Yoongi's hands that was only slightly bigger than hers and she couldn't help but smile a little to herself.
"Come, let me help you-"
"No, it's fine-" Jennie said as she opened her own trash bag and placed the beer can in the recycling can for metal items. "I don't have much stuff, I can do it myself."
"Okay then," Yoongi said before working on his own. "How's everything?"
"Hm?" Jennie turned around, caught by surprise by Yoongi's swift change in topic. "Oh, um."
"It went well?"
"Well..." Jennie shrugged. "I can't say it went well, but I can say that the meeting made me even surer of my decision."
"To quit?"
"Mmhmm, to quit." Jennie nodded slowly, happy to unload all this to someone - even if the someone was the person who gave her butterflies in her stomach all the time, especially when he smiled. "And I guess... it made others make up their minds too."
Yoongi raised his eyebrows curiously. "Oh...?"
"JK decided to quit as well-" Jennie said simply. "And his manager is quitting with him. So is Jimin-oppa... Ah, those two loyal manager-oppas of ours... they deserve an award for their dedication, truly. Jimin-oppa gave me a call after I left to tell me that he and Seokjin-ssi gave it to Yang sajang-nim as well. They unleashed seven years of frustration on him and just left... Yang sajang-nim is probably fuming mad right now, and that makes me real happy."
"You must have done amazing back there," Yoongi said with a smile. "You managed to tell him how you felt?"
"Mm-" Jennie beamed as she turned to look at Yoongi. "You know something? Ever since I've met you, I've always felt like I've been getting braver and braver when it comes to stepping out of my comfort zone. It's wonderful, I love it."
"Well-" Yoongi shrugged. "Have you ever seen me come out of my house before you entered my life? You've done the exact same thing for me."
Jennie stared at Yoongi for a while, completely mesmerised, before shaking herself out of it and looking away once more, focusing her attention back on recycling once more.
-•-•-
"What are you doing here?"
"There are people outside, let's go in and talk," Jungkook whispered as he carried Jieun by her waist into the house and shut the door behind them. Then he finally pulled away, took off his disguise and looked down into Jieun's face. "Where were you even intending to go?"
"To go look for you-" Byulyi sighed loudly as she leaned against the cupboard. "Talk some sense into her head for me will you, Jungkook-ssi? She saw your Instagram story and burst into tears. She needs a lot of comforting right now."
Byulyi said her piece and headed to her room, making way for the couple to have their own space. Jungkook's eyes shifted slowly from Byulyi's shut door onto Jieun, who was still in complete disguise.
"You cried?" Jungkook asked softly as he removed Jieun's bucket hat and put it on the shelf next to him. "Because of me?"
Jieun didn't respond, but her grip around Jungkook's waist tightened a little.
"Why?" Jungkook pouted as he gently combed her hair through his fingers. "Are you upset with the decision I made?"
Jieun sniffled softly and Jungkook pulled her sunglasses off at once, only to see tears falling down her cheeks.
"Ya!" Jungkook frowned as he hugged Jieun tightly, resting his cheek against her head. "What's wrong? Why are you crying so much? Jieun-ah!"
"I-" Jieun sobbed. "I- I'm not- You- Why- You-"
"Hey, okay, calm down-" Jungkook pulled away, removing Jieun's face mask and dabbing away her tears with a piece of tissue he got from the shelf next to him. "Jieun-ah, let's calm down and tell me exactly what's wrong, shall we?"
"Jungkook-ah..." Jieun looked up at Jungkook with teary eyes. "Tell me... did you give up on your dreams completely because of me?"
Jungkook stared at Jieun for a few seconds, before bursting into laughter. "Wait, what?"
"Don't laugh, I'm asking you a question!" Jieun hit Jungkook in the chest lightly. "Your Instagram post... I saw it. The part that you said you didn't want your life to be put out there for the public to see... You also said that it was due to recent events, didn't you? Isn't that because of me? Because you want to protect me? Is this what you meant when you told me to trust you...? Because if it is, Jeon Jungkook, I swear-"
"Hey, hey, hey- shh-" Jungkook grabbed Jieun by her shoulders and shook her gently. "Hey, look at me."
Jieun blinked away her tears and finally looked into Jungkook's eyes.
"No, it wasn't because of you," Jungkook said firmly, still holding her gently by her shoulders. "I made this decision for myself, Jieun-ah. I know I said I'd protect you, and yes - in a way, quitting my job will indirectly help to steer you away from harm... but that's just a bonus. I made this decision for me, Jieun-ah. So stop crying... and please, don't feel bad."
"Really?" Jieun sniffled loudly. "It wasn't because of me? But you said- you said- I- I thought-"
"I know how it may have come across that way..." Jungkook spoke gently as he wiped away some more tears from Jieun's face. "But by past events, it wasn't referring to what happened with you. I was talking about the industry at large - about how toxic our environment really is... with what happened between Taehyung-hyung and I... and then with what happened between Jennie Kim and I... the number of horrible experiences I've experienced while being a k-pop idol is too many for me to count. These few months have been such a time of self-reflection for me... and I think I need to put it to an end once and for all. I may think Yang sajang-nim is bad... buy every other company is just the same - just maybe a little better, or a little worse. I don't want to produce music under such a stressful environment anymore... I want to enjoy myself, and be able to just... be me."
Jieun calmed down a little. "You really mean it...?"
"Yeah, of course!" Jungkook chuckled softly as he fondly patted her on the head. "Ya- why would I lie to you?"
"But then..." Jieun frowned. "Why didn't you discuss it with me before making a decision?"
"I know I should have, and I'm sorry-" Jungkook took Jieun's hands in his. "Earlier on I was really pretty worked up, and that's why I posted that story on impulse. I'll remember to consult you next time especially when it's regarding big life decisions like this, alright?"
Jieun nodded.
"Oh, come here-" Jungkook pouted as he cupped Jieun's face in his hands and looked into her face. "Look at your eyes, they're all swollen."
"Ya-" Jieun looked away, letting out a small chuckle. "Don't look at me right now."
"Why? You're still pretty-" Jungkook smiled as he kept looking. "You're always pretty in my eyes."
"I'm sorry, JK-" Jieun wiped away her tears with the back of her hand before looking up to meet Jungkook's eyes. "I should be stronger. I promised you that I'd be strong, but all I know how to do is cry. There are people out there with girlfriends who actually know how to do something to help, whereas I'm just uselessly staying at home, reading articles about you and crying. I'm sorry for being this type of me."
"Shh-" Jungkook frowned as he pressed a finger to Jieun's lips. "Ya- don't say such things. Have you forgotten all the times you stood by my side, encouraging me, helping me to get over my past? Who says you're not strong? You're literally my pillar of strength, Lee Jieun. Just because you cry now and then... or cry more than a normal person does... that doesn't mean you're not strong. Just because I cry less than you doesn't mean I'm stronger too. That's just how we deal with things. For a fact, you're one of the strongest people I have ever met. You are my strength, Lee Jieun. You give me strength all the time, so don't ever say that again, you hear me?"
Her eyes gleaming with tears, Jieun smiled a little and nodded, before giving her boyfriend a tight hug. "But then... what's gonna happen to you now?"
"We'll have to see how it goes..." Jungkook pursed his lips as he thought. "Probably will have to take on some part-time jobs to pay off my debt."
"Ah."
"Wait, Lee Jieun-" Jungkook pulled away abruptly, looking down at Jieun with his eyes twinkling from a new idea that had just struck him like lightning. "Do you happen to be looking for a make-up assistant?"
Jieun just stared at him, completely amused.