<OST: Winter Flower - Younha ft. RM>
"Eh?"
As Jennie stood in front of the elevator, about to go home from work after a long day, she spotted a guy next to her, wearing the same black outfit - black bucket hat and black mask included - she had seen 105 wearing a couple days ago. And even though Jennie felt terrible, she mustered up enough energy to put on a smile and tap him on the shoulder.
But the moment she locked eyes with the guy, she realised at once that it wasn't him. The eyes... they were different. In fact, the supposed guy... was actually a girl.
"Oh, sorry-" Jennie laughed it off and stepped back quickly. "I thought you were someone I knew, I'm sorry."
The girl looked away at once, not uttering a word. Jennie frowned as she watched her from behind. She had never seen her before, throughout the entire time she had lived here of around five years... but then again, she hadn't seen 105 before either. It was a giant apartment complex after all. For sure, there were some people she would have never met before.
Come to think of it, she wasn't 105, but she sure dressed like him and behaved like him. Even their statures was similar. Was it the fashion these days? To wear a full black outfit and hide their faces? Under this sweltering hot summer day? Jennie shrugged as she stepped into the lift with the girl.
Jennie quickly hit the '8' button habitually. The girl hesitated for a bit before hitting the '11' button. Then, the lift began rising slowly.
Jennie glanced at the box in the girl's hands momentarily, wondering what was inside. But being the reclusive person she was, Jennie ignored her curiosity and looked down at her phone instead. Jimin had told her to stop reading comments, and so did Jungkook... but to Jennie, reading the comments was like a drug. She knew it would harm her, but yet she couldn't stop herself from reading it.
"So, this is where you live."
Jennie froze, as she looked up at the girl, who stood facing the lift doors, looking like she hadn't just spoken at all.
"Sorry... what?" Jennie clutched onto her phone nervously. "I didn't hear you."
"So you stay here, Jennie Kim."
Jennie's eyes widened and heart began pounding hard and fast against her chest as all her red flags went off inside her head. She frantically glanced up at the floor number - it was still at Level 3... Jennie hurriedly unpressed the '8' button and pressed the '10' button instead, knowing that there were CCTVs on that floor.
"W- Who are you?" Jennie stammered, as her hand slid into her bag, ready to grab hold of her pepper spray any time. "W- What do you want from me?"
"I've followed you for a long time..." the girl continued, turning around and stepping towards Jennie a little by little. "Jennie Kim."
Jennie wanted to yell, but nothing came out. She stared straight at the girl, her hand on her pepper spray in her bag, but her body was way too frozen to even move. Jennie felt so helpless in that moment that tears began forming in her eyes - she felt like she was about to die and yet, she could do nothing about it.
The girl took a step towards her, opening the box with a penknife she retrieved from her pocket. Jennie's eyes slammed shut immediately, a single tear sliding down her cheek as she prayed to God that she was going to be alright. She held up her arms, bracing herself for an impact of some sort - which never came.
Jennie opened her eyes slowly, and there the girl stood in front of her, smiling widely with her mask off. She held out the box towards Jennie - a box full of cute animal mugs.
"I've followed you on Instagram for a long time, Jennie Kim!" The girl said chirpily as she held out one mug towards Jennie. "I just moved here yesterday. I was so nervous earlier I didn't even sare to talk to you, I'm so sorry. Oh no, you look a little pale. Are you alright? Did I scare you-"
Ding!
Jennie was overwhelm with relief when the doors finally slid open. She shook her head vigorously as she dragged herself out of the lift, leaving the girl staring at her with a confused and hurt frown on her face. The lift doors slowly slid shut, as Jennie crawled her way towards Jungkook door, as if it was an oasis of water in the blistering hot Sahara desert.
She felt a panic attack coming. Her heart was palpitating at a million times per second, droplets of cold sweat had formed on her forehead as well as all over her hands, Jennie felt her body shaking vigorously and her legs gave way. She slid to the ground, her lungs closing up. Tears were running down her cheeks like a waterfall. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't breathe-
Jennie blacked out.
-•-•-
"Wah!" Doni hyped himself up as Jungkook finally finished performed his latest comeback song. He clapped his hands, walking to the centre of the screen once more with Coni and Taehyung by his side. "Wasn't that amazing? That's 'Still With You', performed by JK, everyone!"
Taehyung, Doni and Coni burst into a round of applause as Jungkook managed a smile.
"While we're filming right now, it's still 30 May..." Coni carried on, reading off the screen behind the cameras. "But by the time it is aired two weeks later on 10 June, JK's latest comeback album will be out! JK-ssi, when is the exact date your album is dropping?"
"1 June," Jungkook said quietly, forcing a smile. "In two days time."
"Wah... you must be so excited," Doni exclaimed enthusiastically as he glanced down at his cue cards. "I heard this is the very first album you produced single-handedly by yourself, am I right? Would you like to talk a bit more about that?"
"This album talks a lot about my inner struggles so it's actually very sensitive to me," Jungkook said with a small shrug. "I just hope that everyone can listen to it without any prior prejudice of me. I hope that my fans will also enjoy the title track 'Still With You', which was actually written with them in mind. Thank you."
Jieun watched Jungkook quietly from behind the cameras, realising at once why a script was needed for a variety show. Before today, she thought that variety shows were all unscripted as they claimed, but she only just realised that scripts were required in order for them to maintain some form of order on set. Especially for Jungkook with his scandal, he would receive all kinds of questions regarding his dating life if he were to be interviewed by the media. But on variety shows, artists were allowed to vet through the scripts before filming. And that was exactly what Seokjin was doing when he disappeared earlier on.
Jieun furtively pulled out her brown notebook, jotting down the things she had noticed from earlier.
Kim Taehyung
Scapegoat?
Jieun felt a tap on her shoulders and froze, quickly shoving her brown notebook back into her pocket before anyone could see it.
"Jieun-unnie?" Miyeon said with a smile. "Could you go back to the dressing room to clean up? I need to be here on standby to touchup Jungkook-ssi's makeup."
"Okay, sure!"
Jieun went back to the dressing room to help out with organising the makeup and cleaning up the dressing room.
"Do you think Lee Jieun passed JK's test?"
"I think she did! Did you see V's eye shadow? Insane, I've never seen an eye shadow so well-blended. And the wing...? Crazy, it went so well with his outfit."
"Like real... you think JK really meant what he said when he said he'd be honest? He's the most tyrannic person I have ever met, and he seems to dislike Lee Jieun quite a bit... I bet he'll kick her out."
"I want her to stay though... To be honest, she has amazing potential... With more practice, she can potentially become one of the best in the industry-"
"Ahem-" Jieun cleared her throat loudly as she walked into the room, shocking Taehyung's makeup artists. "I heard you needed me here?"
"Oh- Oh-" The girls cleared their throats and got to their feet. "Jieun-ssi, we cleared our side, so all you need to do is clear yours too."
Jieun nodded with a smile. "Alright, thank you."
"All the best, we all think you did great with V's makeup. We hope you manage to stay on, Jieun-ssi."
"Ah-" Jieun let out a shy smile, her heart swelling as she had never received compliments for someone's makeup before. "Thank you."
The group of Taehyung's makeup artists turned to leave, but Jieun decided to seize her chance then and there before it was too late.
Jieun spun around. "Um... may I ask you girls a question?"
The girls turned around in surprise.
"Do any of you happen to know what's the beef between V-ssi and JK-ssi?" Jieun let out an awkward laugh. "You see... I've only been here for a day, so I was wondering why they seem to be on bad terms..."
"Ah-" One of the girls stepped forward. "We've been wondering about that too, actually. You see, we've all only been here for around 2-3 years, and the two have never had a single overlapping schedule. Based on what we observed today, it seems like JK is the one who's one-sidedly upset with our V..."
"Oh-" Jieun nodded slowly, noting the similarities in their observations with hers. "I see, thanks so much."
"No worries," the girl continued. "There's another that might be related though, but I'm not too sure either-"
Jieun's eyes lit up. "What is it?"
"I heard from some seniors that JK used to be a trainee at our company... maybe they had some beef back then that carried on till now."
"Oh-" Jieun suddenly recalled one fact from Jungkook's profile she had been memorising all night. Ex-Gold Entertainment trainee... "Taehyung-ssi is from Gold Entertainment?"
"Yeah, we all are-" The girl chuckled. "You didn't know?"
"When did V-ssi debut?"
"Mm... around 7 years ago, was it?" The girl turned to her friends and they nodded their heads to confirm her fact. "Yeah, his 7-year anniversary is coming soon."
"Oh, I see. Thank you so much."
"No problem, Jieun-ssi."
Jieun inhaled sharply. It all added up. Jungkook used to be an ex-trainee at Gold Entertainment 8 years ago... Meanwhile, Taehyung had debuted 7 years ago, so their training periods probably overlapped. They probably knew each other, even if they weren't friends. They could potentially have even trained with each other... What could possibly have happened that made Jungkook hate him so much? He had mentioned something about scapegoats earlier too, what was that supposed to mean?
Jieun's mind was fuzzy as she mindlessly scooped up the makeup brushes and placed them on the tray at the corner of the room. For the next half an hour or so, she picked up empty water bottles, throwing them into garbage bags, and tidied up everything in her sight. But amidst all this, Jieun's mind wandered.
Something was definitely amiss-
Clack!
While Jieun was moving Jungkook's bag to a corner, a white opaque container fell out onto the ground. Jieun frowned as she bent down and picked up the container, squinting to read the label on the container as the pills inside rattled around-
Click!
Before Jieun knew it, the door opened and the container of pills were instantly ripped from her hands. In shock, Jieun looked up, only to see Jungkook standing before her, staring down at her with an unreadable expression.
"J- Jeon Jungkook-" Jieun stammered. "I was just-"
"Don't randomly touch people's things when they're not around," Jungkook said sternly. "It's not polite."
"Sorry, I didn't know-" Jieun bit her lower lip as she held out Jungkook's bag towards him. "Your bag was lying in the middle of nowhere so I wanted to make sure it didn't get lost or anything-"
Jungkook hesitated, then grabbed the bag from Jieun and slung it over his shoulder. "Thanks."
Jieun's eyes widened. Thanks...?
"Next time don't touch my things-" Jungkook said as he headed towards the door. "And don't be late for my comeback showcase on Monday."
"I won't." Jieun clucked her tongue agitatedly. "Also, I wasn't even late today, you don't have to-"
Jieun gasped, as she suddenly registered what Jungkook had just said. She could still come to work on Monday? That meant that she wasn't fired... she could stay! Jieun looked up at him with her eyes gleaming with joy, wanting to confirm this fact, but he had already left the room.
"Wait-" Jieun squealed, a smile stretching from ear to ear as she burst out of the room and spotted Jungkook walking away. "Jeon Jungkook! Thank you so much! I won't fail you for sure! I promise!"
Jungkook didn't respond and kept walking, but at that moment, Jieun felt an overwhelming sense of approval and joy spreading through every little corner of her heart. With those feelings in her heart, Jieun had a sudden realisation.
Had she ever been this happy before throughout her entire time working at KNJ News?
-•-•-
Jennie finally came to after some time.
Her head was still hurting and she still felt weak in her knees, but the suffocating feeling was finally gone. Jennie tried to get up from the floor, looking up and spotting the number 105 on the door she was leaning against. She was where she had last been but wait-
Why was there a blanket over her? Why was there a tissue box next to her? Why was there... a bottle of water by her side?
Jennie frowned as she got to her feet slowly, peeking into Jungkook's apartment through the doorhole. There was no way he could have come home and passed her, since she was practically leaning against his door in the same position which she had last remembered. Could it possibly be... 105?
Jennie glanced at Unit 105. There was no movement, not a single sound coming from his house. He was such a reserved person that he had completely ignored her back then in the lift. I mean, even if he couldn't talk or hear her, couldn't he have at least smiled? There's no way it could be him - no way. Then who could it be?
Ring! Ring!
Jennie reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. "Hello, oppa?"
"Kim Jennie!" Jimin yelled. "I was about to call the police, are you alright?! Why didn't you call me?! I told you to call me when you arrived back in your apartment, didn't I?! Why weren't you picking up my phone calls for the past half an hour?"
"It's been half an hour?" Jennie glanced down at her watch and let out a gasp. "I passed out and lost track of time-"
"You passed out?!" Jimin gasped dramatically. "I'm calling the ambulance over now, just wait for a bit-"
"No, no, no-" Jennie hated it when Jimin made such a big fuss over everything. But at the same time, it warmed her heart that someone actually cared this much about her. "I mean... I fell asleep, that's what I meant. Don't worry about me, oppa. You must be busy."
"What do you mean?!" Jimin yelled. "I'm already on my way back to my apartment to make sure you're alright-"
Jennie scrambled to her feet at once. "I'm fine, I'm fine! You don't need to come!"
"I just reached the carpark-" Jimin continued, as Jennie heard the sound of the car door slamming in the background. "I'm coming up to check on you."
Beep-
Jennie hung up at once, the adrenaline pumping through her veins as she dashed towards the lift and spam pressed the down button. She could already imagine the shock and terror on Jimin's face if he were to find out about her collapsing in the corridor. As she waited for the lift, Jennie couldn't help but turn back and glance at the blanket, tissues and water bottle on the floor once more.
Who could it possibly be?