SEOUL, SK
KOOK & CHAE
—
"So, when are you seeing him next?" her hairstylist asked giddily.
Chaeyoung was currently getting her hair lightly retouched to finally get her pictures finished. Since her album photoshoot was unexpectedly cut short, they had to reschedule it to another date.
A few days had already passed since the news first broke out, and now, Jungkook and her were on the front of every tabloid. The whole world wanted to know more details about their new relationship and see more photos of them together. They were already being referred to as the couple of the year (it was only April).
Chayoung stood under the professional lights thinking of an answer. Just a few hours ago, she made the mistake of almost admitting to her driver that it was all fake because she assumed he knew from how close they were. She didn't want that to repeat so has to remind herself that only select people knew and to think before she speaks now.
"Maybe some time this weekend?" she replied with a giggle, giving into the head-over-heels narrative they had to convince people they were really together.
Of course, she could not say exact details as she did not want to be followed if ever or have any rumours spread around (although she had the utmost trust in her hairstylist, especially with the amount of times she has bleached her dead hair). It wasn't completely a lie either.
After sending his calendar, Jungkook and her were able to formulate a schedule for the next three months. If everything went according to plan, they would have exactly one meeting every other week. They thought that was enough and that the public would understand considering how busy they both were with their professions. And so, their first date is scheduled on Sunday night — a simple dinner at Chaeyoung's favourite restaurant.
Talking with Jungkook felt like she was talking with a business partner. Every word she said was calculated and intentional, all in attempt to make it known that she was not there to have fun or enjoy herself. It was an agreement that neither one of them wanted, but will have to live with.
But their planning was all done over text and calls, and once they were finished discussing, Chaeyoung would immediately end the call, leaving no room for small chit chat or unnecessary comments. Jungkook did not seem like he was complaining about this arrangement either.
But what she was really anxious about was their "dates." She wondered what they would even talk about. She was already struggling putting up this cold and rude exterior that was very unlike her. Sure she had always acted like she hated him, but that was only because he initiated it first.
She was scared that one minute alone with Jeon Jungkook would soften her and she would revert back to the vulnerable girl in Madrid, or the innocent girl who just debuted.
"Ooh are you excited?" her hairstylist asked further.
Chaeyoung knew she had good intentions. It did not seem like she was trying to pry, but just genuinely curious. Though, it was getting a bit hard to differentiate as questions about her relationship were all people said to her now. Even when walking through the YG building and pass by individuals, especially trainees and staff, she could see their yearn to approach her. Even if she could not see, she could hear. There was always people whispering and they weren't even being discreet about it.
Chaeyoung just nodded with a bright smile in response. She fought the strong urge to shake her head no. Thank the heavens that it was her last outfit and set change of the day. She had already been there for hours, which was typical, but it felt so much longer knowing that no one really wanted to take pictures of her, they just wanted to know more. And it would not have so much bothered her if she didn't have to lie every single time. Only thirty more minutes, she thought to herself.
She took one last look at herself in the mirror that her stylist had out. She took one step back onto the set when the whole building erupted into squealing and cheering. Her eyes immediately tried to look for the source of the all the ruckus. It was hard to see as everyone was crowded around.
"What's going on?" she asked her manager who appeared beside her. She seemed like she was at a loss for words, which caused Chaeyoung to become even more confused.
"Turn around," her manager whispered.
Chaeyoung did as told and she wanted to scream at the sight. It was like a scene from a movie. For most, especially the people working her photoshoot, it would be of a romantic drama genre. But for Chaeyoung, it was complete and utter horror.
The man she could not hear enough of was standing right in front of her. He was wearing casual and baggy clothing and his hair was the right kind of messy that added to his charm. But to top it all off, Jeon Jungkook was holding a bouquet of flowers.
"Hey," he greeted with a flirtatious smirk.
Chaeyoung was frozen in shock. She could not believe this was happening. She knew they needed to truly sell their relationship to the public, but this was doing too much. She was not scheduled to see him for another four days, nor was she expecting any gift of some kind. Her mind knew this was all an act, but she couldn't stop her heart from beating uncontrollably.
A small and exasperated "What?" was all she could say.
Jungkook leaned forward towards her where his face was right next to her ear. Chaeyoung couldn't help but feel enticed by the feeling of his breath on her neck. She grew red at how close he was and with the amount of eyes that were currently on them.
"Calm your tits, I was forced to do this," he whispered obnoxiously. This sentence caused Chaeyoung's mood to drastically plummet. She absolutely despised him. She resisted the urge to smack him in the face right then and there. "So put on a smile and accept the flowers."
He stepped away from her and held out the bouquet which she gladly accepted with an award winning smile. The room erupted into applause. Jungkook smiled at the crowd before pulling her into an embrace and kissing the top of her head. Again, Chaeyoung didn't know how to react. They spent so much time planning when they were going to date, but not exactly how they were going to be boyfriend and girlfriend. She was not used to this type of affection or skinship.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of a camera shutter. Her photographer had his camera in his hand and had just snapped a picture of the scene. Much like the original photo that started this all, this new one would probably be on the first page of every website or on the cover of every article by tomorrow morning. Chaeyoung cringed at the thought.
"Look here!" her photographer called for their attention.
The two had no choice but to turn their heads toward the camera and smile for the picture. Jungkook had his arm around her shoulders, and Chaeyoung was leaning into his chest. They certainly looked the part of a happy couple.
The photographer took a couple more before Jungkook stepped away and stopped him, in a polite manner of course. "I'm sorry, as much as I love being pictured with my Chaeyoung, I'm sure the main focus of the day is her," he said.
Everyone swooned at him calling Chaeyoung his, except for the girl actually mentioned. She wanted to vomit. It just didn't sound right coming from her enemy's mouth.
"Ah yes of course, I'm sorry Chaeyoung-sshi, we just all love seeing you together. Nevertheless, let's continue?" he asked, as to which Chaeyoung replied with a simple nod.
Before she knew it, her manager approached her and she handed the flowers to her before she was thrusted back into the limelight, while Jungkook went to stand beside the photographer and watched. She desperately wished she begged him to leave before she started posing again. Even without her asking, she wondered why he didn't, his job was over.
His presence made everything worse as she was more self conscious and aware now. Until now, to a certain extent, she cared of what Jungkook thought of her. Who wouldn't? She started struggling behind the camera, not knowing what to do with her arms or legs. This man always had to make everything so difficult for her. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice her internal battle. She took a deep breath to compose herself and thought of a method to keep her nerves down.
She pretended he was not there (the brightness of the lights helped with this) and channeled all her energy into bringing forth her feelings, especially the ones she had been concealing about everything that has happened the past few weeks. She hoped this helped bring more emotion into her expressions, causing more confidence in her movements. She certainly felt better.
Even though he hated her and swore on his life to revert back to how it was before the trip, Jungkook would be lying if he said he didn't find her so attractive posing sultry in front of the camera. She was undeniably beautiful. And he knew his sudden appearance must have shaken her performance, but he was glad to see how well she did despite that. They were able to complete the last part of the shoot in only fifteen minutes.
But as she stepped off of the set, Jungkook quickly pushed these thoughts away and convinced himself that it was just a temporary lapse of judgment (the same excuse he used for five days straight). She said her thank yous and goodbyes to the photographer and staff before approaching him.
"Kaja?" she said as she laced her hand into his, leading him away. Many people took pictures of this as well.
As they walked, Jungkook was just focused on how soft her hand was. He was still surprised at her unsubtle action. But the trance was broken when she suddenly turned around to face him and gave him a sly smirk. Jungkook knew what it meant. She was giving him a taste of his own medicine. This put him back into his senses and he wanted nothing more but to snatch his hand away but there were too many eyes on them. He wondered where she got this new found courage from in the short amount of time.
Eventually they reached a small hallway where her dressing room was located. At this point, there were no more people around and they entered the private room just the two of them.
"Turn around," Chaeyoung said the moment the door closed. Her tone immediately changed from sweet to serious. "I'm changing."
Jungkook rolled his eyes and did as told. "Nothing I haven't seen before," he joked. He got a smack behind his head for that one.
"Yah, Park Chaeyoung, you suck at acting," Jungkook retorted. "You looked like you saw a ghost when I arrived."
"You caught me off guard! This wasn't part of the plan. Who forced you to do this anyway?" she asked with much frustration in her voice, while tapping his shoulder to signal that he could turn back around. She was wearing more comfortable clothes now, a hoodie and sweatpants.
"First of all, a simple thank you would be nice," he said (he seemed to say this phrase a lot around her) while plopping down on the sofa. "And second of all, it was your beloved Sooyoung."
Chaeyoung swallowed hard. She had completely forgotten about her. More than anyone else, Sooyoung had the most questions because the scandal involved both her best friend and her brother. She felt guilty for not replying to her messages, but if she was being honest, Chaeyoung was avoiding talking to her because of that same fact.
"Why would she do that?" she asked.
"Because she knows,"
She became confused. The rules had strictly stated that their fake relationship must stay confidential within the people that were in the meeting and their members. "How did she find out?" Chaeyoung questioned.
"She couldn't believe that we were together and blackmailed me into telling her," Jungkook admitted.
Chaeyoung was surprised he didn't lie and cover up his fault. It made sense why Sooyoung would have been harder to convince, their group mates would have been the same way if they weren't allowed to know either. They all knew how much these two were at each other's throats for years. No way in hell did they just spend one week in another country, suddenly fall in love, and out came a fairytale love story.
"And she made me do this out of spite saying she's gonna blackmail me again if I didn't," Jungkook explained, shuddering at the series of threats he received from her that morning.
She wanted to see them both suffer for keeping the truth away from her, and she thought that a cheesy romantic gesture that she knew they'd both hate would do the trick (plus the pictures of it happening that would have been released everywhere).
This led Chaeyoung to wonder what kinds of deep secrets Sooyoung knew about Jungkook that he would do anything for her to stay quiet.
"Oh okay," she said, not knowing how to respond. "Well what's your plan now?"
"I don't know, I had a free day today," he replied back blankly. "I'll probably go back to the dorms and lie low. Those new pictures of us are gonna go viral and I do not want to be outside for that."
Chaeyoung just simply nodded. That was probably a good idea. Her schedule was done for the day as well. A night of relaxing after tirelessly working sounded nice. Although, her messages would probably be blowing up again, and her members would endlessly pester her with questions about what happened. On second thought, maybe going home was not the best idea.
"What about you?" he asked.
Chaeyoung was surprised that he cared enough to ask, adding on to the list of shocking things he had done that day. Even he was a bit confused that those words left his mouth.
As if on command, her stomach grumbled. She swore she saw him give a slight grin from the corner of her eye, but it wasn't likely. "Probably get something to eat," she chuckled rubbing her stomach.
Jungkook nodded in response. There was an awkward silence between them after that. Chaeyoung wondered when her manager would come and get her. Seconds were starting to feel like hours in that room.
"Well, I'll get going now," Jungkook announced while standing up.
He didn't wait for a response from Chaeyoung and just walked out the door. He wondered why he did not do that sooner. That was probably rude of him, but he reached his limit of her that day. He was starting to do things he wouldn't normally do. He was scared he would say something rash, like ask her to go eat with him, if he spent any more time with her.
Chaeyoung was left dumbfounded at Jungkook's abrupt departure. He could have at least waited until her manager came back, but she guessed that would only be in an ideal world where Jungkook actually cared about her.
She sighed in her seat and closed her eyes, exhausted from all the happenings of that day. These next two months will be excruciatingly long.
Jungkook put on his baseball cap and went through the way he came in as it was closest to his car. There weren't people on the street so he could not have been spotted. Not like it mattered as everyone knew he was there anyways. The ride back to his dorm was a peaceful one with only the soft sounds of the road and music coming from his stereo.
When he arrived back to his home, he was surprised to see that no one was there to greet him. They must have gone out too. Though he loved his members dearly, they were always quite lively and he was starting to get accustomed to the serenity of being in his car. He finally had some time alone.
He turned the lights on in his room and sighed upon seeing a suitcase he had yet to unpack lying on the middle of his floor.
Though it had been more than a week already, he couldn't bring himself to do it. It made it all the more confusing because he did not know if he put off unpacking because he did not want to see anything that reminded him of his trip, or because he was clinging on to a version of him that was there.
Either way, he had to do it sooner rather than later. Maybe now was the time. He plopped down beside the suitcase and slowly unzipped it. Even his belongings smelled like Madrid.
To avoid any reminiscing, he quickly shoved his clothes in a plastic bag and tied it shut. He would laundry them after. All of the souvenirs and trinkets he bought for his members went on his bedside table to give to them when they came back. His toiletries and miscellaneous items went to their respective places. He was surprised at how fast he did all of that. But mostly, he was proud of himself.
Jungkook was about to close his luggage when something fell out. Picking it up was a mistake but he couldn't look away. It was a picture of Chaeyoung and him that they took at a random photo booth on the street. The first film was of them smiling at the camera and they progressed to looking at each other affectionately.
He looked happy.
The whole world would be shocked to hear that these two idols had done more than that one kiss in Madrid. He couldn't help but chuckle at the thought.
His mind replayed the moment they took this picture and the seconds leading up to it. It was funny to think that there was a time where it seemed like the two were an actual couple. That whole country was their escape, but now they were back into their harsh realities. And it pains him, but despising her was an act he must continue to put up with.
Suddenly, he heard some noise from outside his room. He immediately put away the picture in a random drawer before heading out to see who was home.
"Hey, Taehyung-hyung!" he greeted. The tall maknae was taking off his shoes at the door. He had a plastic bag in his hand which looked to have a ramen bowl inside. "Where'd you go?"
Taehyung took a few seconds to respond, as if he was hesitant. "I.. I went to go eat," he cleared his throat. He set his bag down on the kitchen table and took off his jacket. "I guess I don't have to ask where you've been. Your pictures are everywhere."
Jungkook chuckled awkwardly. He was expecting for that to happen but he didn't seem to be able to form words. His hyung had been acting weird, especially around him, for the past week or so, more specifically since Chaeyoung and him were caught together. He did not want to assume it was because of that, but all evidence pointed to it.
He had been meaning to ask what was wrong, and it seemed like the perfect time as it was just the two of them.
"I know this might seem out of nowhere, but is everything okay?" he asked.
Taehyung looked up with a blank face. He had an expression that Jungkook could not read.
"Yeah," he responded simply with a tight-lipped grin. "If you don't mind, I'm gonna go to my room. Let me know if you need anything."
Jungkook knew he was lying but he left before he could even get the chance to protest. He was usually a people pleaser and so, he could not stand that Taehyung had a problem with him.
He stood under the dim kitchen light in the deafening silence, wondering what he could have done wrong to one of his best friends.
—
author's note: one last thing to mention— the way this story will be formatted is that chapters set in madrid/the past will be sprinkled randomly (sometimes intentionally) all throughout the book. it won't be a set back and forth. so in order to avoid confusion, please take note of the place stated at the beginning of every chapter.
thank you so much for reading!