Jimin
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Sejin had wordlessly entered the dorm, counted us off, commanded Jin to call Jungkook, and made us file into the company van back to BigHit. I kept glancing at him, but he largely avoided eye contact.
It was right before we went into the building that he pulled me aside quietly and waited until we were alone before yelling. "Jimin! How could you keep this from us?! I thought maybe there was something between you and that camera girl always with you. I wasn't expecting you to keep a secret like this! 4Ever?"
I opened my mouth to answer but he cut me off.
"I don't want to hear excuses. You know you have to break up with her now, right? You need to be ready for that."
I groaned, "Sejin we're not together anymore! I broke it off last week! And even before that I'd barely interacted with her for a month or two."
He furrowed his eyebrows. "Then why...? Actually, you know what, it doesn't matter. When you walk in there, things are going to be stressful. I need you to be completely honest from now onwards. The CEO is angry. The Director is angry. The other managers are angry. It won't last. It'll pass. Stay strong, don't hide anything, and don't do anything stupid."
I nodded. Jungkook has just arrived from nearby with his manager, and the four of us walked in together. Jungkook looked pained and searched my face for my thoughts. What was I even thinking? I knew that I was brimming with silent rage but I knew that I had no right to show it when I was the center of the whole problem. I just felt numb, I was scared of what would happen.
I walked to a conference room outside which the boys were standing. Namjoon whispered, "He only wants you and Sejin in there."
I braced myself and walked in. Inside, Bang PD, our marketing and PR heads, the company director, and my manager were huddled around the large table, staring at me with varying degrees of disappointment, anger, pity, and sadness.
Everyone waited with baited breath for Bang PD, who looked up at me with rage in his eyes. He threw a folder in my direction. "Is this how we've raised you at this company?! Is this what you do to pay us back for supporting you?! Look at that folder! Sejin, look at what he's been lying to us about!"
Sejin opened it for both of us to see. Inside was a whole collection of photos of me and Baek Hee, either very obviously on dates, or our selfies together, and one photo of us kissing. I looked away in frustration. I heard Sejin breathe a sigh of relief.
"Sir, at least they're not... compromising photos." My manager piped up from his seat. One glance from Bang PD shut him up though.
"Do you understand how ungrateful this is, Jimin? We expected you to tell us! More than that, I expected you to be more careful! You don't know how disappointed I feel right now." The director of BigHit said.
Something ticked in my head and the anger I'd been pressing down and holding back was slowly bubbling. I kept my eyes lowered because I didn't want to scowl at the director.
"Jimin, despite where you are or how popular you are, I can't believe you'd do this. You're making me regret accepting you all those years ago if you were just planning to throw it away!" Bang PD said.
That's it, I couldn't hold it back. "Then you shouldn't have accepted me. Don't hold it against me if I just wanted my own life, sir."
The room went to a pin drop silence as people were processing the fact that I'd talked back.
"Are... you disregarding everything I've done for you?!" He yelled.
"Those sacrifices were also mine! The starving, the lack of sleep, the fatigue— those were mine! You can't write that off because I wanted to be a normal human being for once!" I couldn't believe I was taking this out right now in front of everyone, and I could see Bang PD's shock in his face.
The Director jumped in, "Don't you remember what happened to Hyuna and Edawn earlier this year?"
My voice shook. "What happened was that their company let them go. If you're going to do that, just tell me now so I can gather myself and go."
The staff looked at each other, and the PR head spoke. "We're not letting anyone go. Bang PD is just a little angry but he doesn't speak for all of us or why we're here right now." He looked pointedly at the Director and Bang PD. "We're a team. And we need to figure out what's going on together. Like we
always do." Bang PD breathed in slowly and looked at me. "Everything we've sacrificed might be on the line, Jimin. So tell us everything. Honestly."
I sat down and did just that. I left out Riti, of course, but told them about how I'd met Baek Hee, how we'd started going out, how I saw her cheating but didn't do anything about it, how we'd not interacted much these last couple of months, how I'd told Bangtan, and how I'd discovered her cheating and dumped her at the party last week. I made sure to mention that the only people who knew were Bangtan, Baek Hee, Jihun, and Gunho.
Everyone looked at each other awkwardly when I was done. My manager looked almost confused. When we made eye contact, he asked, "Why?"
The marketing director interjected. "I understand why. Thank you, Jimin." She nodded to the PR head, who started explaining the situation.
"We received communication this morning from her company's directing manager asking us to officially reveal the fact that Jimin is in a relationship with Baek Hee, or by the end of next week their own archive of photographs will be leaked to Dispatch. They sent us these images and Dispatch released this article," he pulled up a slide on the screen behind him, showing the vague article I'd seen earlier that day. "So we don't know whether they've already contacted media outlets."
Sejin asked, "Why now? They're not together anymore."
The director responded, "Isn't it obvious? She's been a puppet to the company. Jimin broke up and they felt the pressure to make it public sooner. Any publicity is good publicity when you're attached to BTS these days."
No way... Was it all an act? This whole time? Is this why even after our spark died she continued going out with me?
I pulled out my phone. "This is ridiculous. I need to talk to her about this."
The PR head stood up abruptly. "Absolutely not. You don't know what plans they may have to release screenshots or record phone calls. You cannot say anything in anger. I'm actually glad you never lashed out to her online about the cheating issue. They could twist any show of anger to stories of abuse or anything."
I gasped in realization. He addressed my manager. "In fact, we don't even want him tempted. Take his phone and make sure someone is watching him until this issue blows over, however long that may be."
My manager took my phone from me. The PR head continued. "And Jimin, you will not be going anywhere other than the BigHit building, your dorm, or other scheduled activities either. We will restrict the rest of the members too, but disregarding this order could be disastrous so please obey it." My chest tightened and I felt my throat burn.
"H-How about... how about after two weeks? Can I please go about for two weeks? And then I can stay inside." I pleaded.
The marketing director looked at me and spoke firmly. "Jimin, no. You know we can't let you do that."
"Please. Just two weeks. I won't go anywhere near the media or Baek Hee's company. I'll listen to everything you have to say. I'm ready for any punishments. Just two weeks!" I begged.
The director jumped in. "Absolutely not. Sejin, please... debrief the others and keep a close eye on them. He's not thinking clearly right now. Jimin, trust me, we'll keep you updated and do our best to make sure they can't take advantage of us. Who do they think they are?"
People around the table muttered in agreement.
My manager pulled me out, where it was clear everyone had been eavesdropping to the best of their ability. He took my phone and all but locked me and the boys into a recording studio. He stood outside to make sure we stayed in there, along with a couple of other managers. Jin checked. Once we were alone, Yoongi broke the awkward silence. "She cheated on you? And you knew?"
I nodded. "Yeah... I mean it's not that important right now."
"But, that must have been a lot to go through."
"It wasn't so bad. I was distracted for most of it." I smiled. And then it hit me again. I'm under house arrest, and we only had two weeks left. I groaned and rubbed my eyes. To be overly precautious, one of the managers came in to take all of our phones, and Jungkook furiously typed away at his phone before his phone got taken at the end. He looked my way and nodded once the managers left. "I let her know."
Now... things were out of our control.