"And that concludes our meeting." He dismissed them. "I'll need the selected members for the campaign to stay behind along with the modeling team."
"I thought she never smiled. Isn't she literally known for that?"
"Don't ask me. I've only seen this happen in our office."
Jennie ignored the whispers around her. Her full focus was on the Aphrodite in the office attire across from her.
"Wipe the drool, it's going to touch the desk." Rosé teased.
"Shhh. Go away. I'm looking at my future wife." She waved her off.
"She doesn't even know you exist."
"Yes she does! We talked before."
"Asking you to move out of the way so she can get her coffee isn't talking." Rosé chuckled.
"Okay!" Their manager clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention back on him. "Now that we've got our people together. Let's start the meeting."
"As you all know, we've chosen our new representative for the Calvin Klein ad who I will be revealing in a few minutes."
"We will simultaneously work on our solo artist profiles." He shot someone a look, making them stand up.
"Lisa will be the head of this project as usual." The standing woman greeted them with a polite smile."
"Our very own Jennie has been chosen for the CK ad!"
As expected, she received claps and a few cheers from the men in the room.
"Told you." Rosé whispered in her ear.
Jennie's eyes landed on Jisoo who was giving tired claps with the crowd. It brought her mood down a little.
The rest of the meeting went with them being informed of the concept choices and schedules.
"Before I forget, I would like to introduce the Calvin Klein project leader...."
Please be Jisoo. Please be Jisoo. Please be Ji-
"...Kim Jongin!"
Jennie's mood dropped to the floor. She was no longer too excited to work on the ad.
"The full team list must be posted up on our board by now."
"We'll set up both of these projects next week. Treat this week as your holiday before the busy week. Have a good day, folks!"
The voices quietly rose, falling into individual conversations on their way out.
Jennie was still moping in their van as everyone was chatting, excited for the free week.
"What's wrong with her?" Sana asked, seeing Jennie so down.
"Jisoo won't be her project leader for her ad."
"But Jisoo's still working with her though?"
"What?!" Jennie perked up, interested in the conversation.
"Did you not see the list?" Sana pulled out her phone. Sure enough, Jisoo's name was at the end of the CK ad members list.
"Anddd she's grinning again." Rosé poked Jennie's puffed out cheeks.
"Gums out as well." Sana giggled.
Jennie ignored their comments and checked who else she would be working with. Other than Jisoo and Jongin, she only noticed one other name. Song Mino.
A headache approached her. Hoping he won't bother her and not letting it bring her mood down, Jennie decided to nap it off.
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"Shoot's in a few minutes." Nayeon informed her. "Please only focus on the shoot, Jen."
Jennie nodded, excitedly looking around for Jisoo. She has been giddy all week. They'll be together the whole day.
Looking everywhere, she still hasn't seen Jisoo yet. Her attention was quickly moved from finding Jisop to getting their leader when Jongin had stepped in front of herm
"Good morning, Jennie." Jongin beamed at her.
"Good morning, director." She politely greeted him.
"You should call me Kai from now. We're coworkers after all." Kai let his hand fall on Jennie's shoulder.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Jennie shrugged it off. Kai backed up, a bit offended but not wanting to cause a scene, he moved past.
"This shoot will be a bit more close and personal, even slightly provocative as expected of Calvin Klein" He paused to see her reaction but was met with a blank stare. "A bit rough even. But I'm sure you would like that." Kai's grin made her slightly uncomfortable.
"Excuse me?" Nayeon stepped in, not liking his tone. "What are you implying?"
"Don't misunderstand me. I'm just saying a bold girl like Jennie would definitely love this concept." Kai gave her a smug smile. "Call me if you are interested in doing something similar to this in the future."
"We'll see after the shoot." Nayeon grumbled.
"Jennie and I will. Managers aren't allowed to be here in the first place." He retorted. "If you can't find your way out, I can let security escort you."
"Excu-"
"Mr.Kim, we'll be ready in five."
Jennie almost broke neck by looking up at the owner of the husky voice. She immediately smiled when she saw who she was waiting for all week.
This didn't go unnoticed by Kai who wasn't enjoying her sudden change in attitude.
"What is your role for today?"
"I'm behind the cameras along with Jeongyeon."
Jisoo will be behind the cameras for me. Jennie could feel her stomach churning.
She felt an anxiety attack coming on. How was she supposed to act in line with Jisoo so close to her?
What if I mess up? What if I grab onto her?
Clearing her unfortunate thoughts, Jennie took in Jisoo's casual outfit. A pair of dark grey sweats and a t-shirt to match and it still managed to get Jennie dizzy.
"Let's go, Jen." Kai reached his hand out for Jennie who ignored it to walk behind an oblivious Jisoo. He cleared his throat and walked forward.
As soon as Jennie's body came into view, silence took over the set. She could hear the whispers around her, good and bad. Everyone's attention was on her except the one person she wanted.
What is wrong with her?? I'm literally right here! Am I not hot enough or something?
Jisoo was busy cleaning the lenses. Jennie had to physically stop herself from throwing one of the props at Jisoo to get her attention.
Soon, they were ready to start the shoot. Kai's uncomfortable stares and Jisoo's inability to give her a reaction made the first few minutes miserable for Jennie.
"BREAK!"
Right now? It has barely been five minutes.
Jennie was confused as to why they had suddenly stopped. She didn't care enough when she noticed Jisoo standing right beside her, fixing the lights.
Picking up her courage, she decided to greet her.
"Hi."
The older gave her a nod, acknowledging her greeting. Unexpectedly, she looked at Jennie from head to toe.
Is she checking me out? Jennie didn't know if she was excited or disappointed.
"You should cover yourself. It's too cold to be walking around in underwear." Jisoo's colder voice informed her before leaving. Jennie stood there unable to respond, a frown etched on her face.
As if he had been waiting, Kai walked over to Jennie and offered his jacket. Jennie refused and stood there in the cold, listening to Kai's conversation filled with his bragging. Her eyes wandered around, looking for Jisoo the whole time.
Kai, who had heard the earlier encounter and couldn't help but notice Jennie's clear liking for Jisoo, was getting a bit irritated.
As soon as the shooting started up again, there was a clear difference in the atmosphere. And it was all caused by Kai.
"Can you not do your job properly?!" Jisoo silently apologized and repositioned herself.
Every second Jisoo was getting yelled at by Kai for the littlest things. Jeongyeon had to refrain from hitting him with the camera stand.
Everyone could see Kai was treating Jisoo horribly on purpose, especially when Jennie was in view. It was obvious he liked her a little more than as a model.
They didn't understand if it was a misguided attempt to impress her or take out his anger on seeing Jennie search for Jisoo every time they got a break, which was very often due to Kai.
Jennie was losing her temper. Jisoo had done nothing wrong and Kai was nitpicking at everything. She was the only one on set who didn't understand why he was acting this way.
As soon as the shoot was over, Jennie ran to her trailer to change and look for Jisoo. As she was changing, she heard multiple knocks on her door and even a few rattles on the knob.
The moment she stepped out, she was met with Kai waiting by the door. His frown quickly switched to a flirty smile.
"It was nice working with you today."
Wish I could say the same. Jennie nodded with a lack of a smile.
"I was thinking, maybe if you're free...would you like to have dinner with me?"
Jennie didn't have the energy or will to sit through a dinner with Kai. Seeing she was about to reject him, he quickly covered himself up.
"We're having a crew dinner tonight. I would like you to join as my plus one."
The model stopped listening after "crew". She immediately agreed and skipped to Nayeon so she could drive home and plan her outfit for Jisoo.
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Let's hope I finish the next part by tonight