<OST: Sleepless Night - Crush ft. Punch>
"Yoongi-ssi, are you asleep?"
Silence.
"Yoongi-ssi...?"
Jennie stood by her room door, watching Yoongi's dark figure in the dark living room. She let out a deep sigh. It was still early, she didn't want to sleep just yet-
"No."
A smile spread across Jennie's face as she headed into the living room and lay down on the sofa opposite Yoongi. "I can't sleep, let's talk."
Yoongi groaned. "I'm trying to sleep."
"But you're not asleep yet, so let's talk."
"How do you have so much to talk about?" Yoongi grumbled. "It's night time - go to sleep."
"How is it night time?" Jennie frowned as she looked down at her phone. "It's only 1am - the night has barely just begun. If you don't wanna talk, just listen to me then."
Yoongi let out an annoyed grunt.
Jennie hesitated before she began. "You know, as a celebrity, I have a lot of problems many people don't know about."
Silence.
"People who see me on TV think that I'm doing well, I'm just a girl who barely even did anything to achieve my dreams. Some people know me as a rich chaebol's daughter, some people know me as a lazy girl with subpar acting, some people know me as the actress who joined the industry for her family background and looks and rose to fame because of her idol boyfriend and numerous scandals.
"But all this - all this isn't me, all this isn't Jennie Kim as a person. I, more than anyone else, know how hard I worked to get to the position I am right now. I, more than anyone else, know all the struggles I went through, all the countless number of diets I went on to maintain a good image on camera. I, more than anyone else, know that the only dream I ever had was to show everyone a good image of myself.
"It came to a point I was so hated that every little small action I did onscreen earned me the most negative responses online. I would go for my schedule and on the way home, I'd read all the comments and break down. I soon became terrified of going on camera.
"I developed social anxiety, I was so afraid of what people thought of me I couldn't even leave the house. I feared what people would think of me, what people said about me behind my back - it wasn't an overnight thing, but I eventually lost all confidence in myself. The anxiety attacks come and go, but they're there. I joined the industry not with the purpose of wanting to be judged, all I wanted was to be loved for doing the thing I loved most - is that too much to ask for?"
Yoongi didn't respond, and Jennie simply hoped that he was still listening in.
"Anyway," Jennie concluded. "I don't know why I'm telling you all this- but seeing those antis of mind standing down there with those hateful signboards really set me thinking and I simply had to get it off my chest. I shan't disturb you anymore, Yoongi-ssi. Goodnight."
Jennie got up from her seat.
"Actually-" Yoongi said quietly, just as Jennie got to her feet. "You don't have to bother so much about what others think."
Jennie froze in her spot and glanced in Yoongi's direction. "What?"
"You don't have to care about what others think," Yoongi continued after some hesitation. "As long as you know you're not doing anything that goes against your conscience, you have nothing to fear. Just trust in yourself."
"Not doing anything that goes against my conscience..." Jennie hesitated. "What if I am?"
"Hm?"
"Nothing-" Jennie got up abruptly. "Goodnight, Yoongi-ssi."
-•-•-
"You're guilty, aren't you?" Hoseok narrowed his eyes as he pointed at Chungha when she arrived at work the next morning. "That's your guilty face right there - tell me, did you break the rules or not?"
Chungha frowned. "Come on, that's stupid. I'm not you, why would I break rules?"
"You sure?"
"Mmhmm."
"Ever entertained the thought of it?"
"Thinking and doing are two different things."
Hoseok gasped. "You thought of it?"
"Nope-" Chungha lied through her teeth as she recalled offering Jieun to buy her coffee last night. "Besides, I don't think Jieun-ssi needs any of my help. She's way ahead of Hyejin-ssi at the moment, oppa."
Hoseok frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Let me give you some advice as a fellow colleague, Jung Hoseok-ssi-" Chungha beckoned for Hoseok to lean in. "Lee Jieun-ssi has gotten the chance to move in with JK-ssi. I told her to take it up. You're done."
Hoseok gasped loudly as he jumped to his feet. "How-"
"Shh-" Chungha pulled him back down into his seat as their colleagues turned to look at them. "Keep it down, you dummy."
"No, but-" Hoseok furrowed his eyebrows. "How did she do that? Did she beg? That's awfully obvious-"
"He was the one who asked," Chungha whispered. "Apparently she helped him with some insomnia issue of his and now they're looking into it. But if she really moves in with him, it's pretty much over. She's gonna get her hands on some wonderful scoop and bujang will probably let her report about it in person-"
"Oh- bujang-nim!"
Chungha shoved Hoseok away from her, and the both of them scrambled to their feet at once, at the announcement of Namjoon's arrival. But as they turned towards the door, he wasn't there.
"Ya!" Hoseok folded his arms and turned around. "Who was the one who-"
"Me, sunbae-nim-" Hyejin said with a grin. "I'm sorry, I must have seen wrongly-"
"Oh, no, no, no-" The frown on Hoseok's face disappeared the moment he realised who it was. "Hyejin-ssi, it's fine. Go back to work, don't worry about it. Work hard!"
Hoseok and Chungha took their seats once more.
"Any updates about Hyejin-ssi?" Chungha asked Hoseok. "You seem kinda scared of her."
"She doesn't tell me anything, she doesn't ask me anything-" Hoseok groaned. "To be quite frank with you, I'm afraid I'm gonna lose the bet again."
Chungha let out a victorious chuckle as she punched her fists into the air. "Aha!"
Hoseok groaned. "Oh, shut up."
"Oh- bujang-nim!"
Hoseok and Chungha scrambled to their feet once more and bowed towards the door, expecting Namjoon to walk through the doors. But yet again, there was no Namjoon in sight - it was Minhyun.
Hoseok sighed. "Hyejin-ssi!"
"Oh-" Hyejin sniggered. "Sorry."
"She keeps on pranking us, I swear-" Hoseok groaned as he sat back down in her seat. "Maybe she has an intuition about what we're up to and isn't happy about it."
"Why wouldn't she be?"
"She's a goody-to-shoes," Hoseok said. "Can't you tell? She's so capable, and is on good terms with Namjoon. Frankly, we shouldn't even be betting on who gets on TV first. If we're not careful, she's gonna end up stealing our jobs."
Chungha's eyes widened. "Hurry up and start working then. Don't wanna lose our jobs, do we?"
"Nah-uh-" Hoseok shook his head as he turned towards his desk quickly, flipping through the files on his desk. "Not to a 6-month-old reporter."
Silence fell over them as they were serious for roughly five whole seconds.
"Chungha-ya, tell me honestly-" Hoseok leaned towards Chungha and whispered with a grin. "You secretly want me to win, don't you?"
Chungha glanced at him and frowned. "I wonder what gave you that impression."
"Just a gut feeling-" Hoseok joked. "You won the last time, and I've been diligently cleaning up your desk for you. Let me win this one time."
"Unfortunately, it's not within my control, oppa-" Chungha shrugged. "Why don't you spend more time on your work to ensure you keep your job when one of them gets promoted?"
"Ah-" Hoseok nodded. "That's true, bujang-nim can be a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes..."
"Oh- bujang-nim!"
Hoseok laughed as Hyejin got to her feet behind him. "I'm not getting fooled this time. It's true isn't it? Sometimes, Kim Namjoon annoys me both as a boss and as a rival, but what can I do? I-"
"Oh-" Chungha eyes widened and she rose to her feet abruptly as well. "Bujang-nim."
"You too? I swear-" Hoseok chuckled as he looked up, his jaws dropping as he scrambled to his feet quickly. "Bujang-nim."
"I'm a pain in the ass?" Namjoon narrowed his eyes as he glanced at Hoseok. "And Kim Namjoon annoys you...?"
Hoseok let out a nervous laugh. "Um... bujang! Listen-"
Namjoon frowned as he turned to Chungha. "Chungha-ssi, you as well-"
"Yeah, Hoseok-ssi!" Chungha sided with Namjoon after stifling a laugh. "I told you to stop talking about bujang-nim like this behind his back, didn't I?"
Hoseok's jaw dropped.
"Sorry, bujang-nim," Chungha bowed a few times. "I apologise for my partner's horrible behaviour. He has constantly been rude to you again and again, but you don't have to worry - I will discipline him well from now.
Hoseok glared at Chungha. "You incorrigible-"
Namjoon's eyes shifted from Chungha to Hoseok, then back onto Chungha. A small smile spread across his face as he handed the cup of milk tea in his hands to her. "Anyway, this is for you, Chungha-ssi. I happened to-"
"You happened to pick it up on the way to work," Chungha completed his sentence for him as she accepted the milk tea from him. "Thank you, bujang-nim. Let's work hard today!"
"Mm-" Namjoon smiled shyly as he rubbed the back of his neck, before turning to the rest of the office. "Everyone, start work!"
"Yes, bujang-nim!"
Hoseok lowered his head as Namjoon gave him one last killer stare, before heading into his office.
"Kim Chungha-" Hoseok flared his eyes at her. "What on earth was that? Since when have you become this sly and why do I smell betrayal?"
"What?" Chungha grinned as she sipped on her milk tea from Namjoon. "I just did what I had to do. You need to work harder, Jung Hoseok - if not I'll have to continue drinking this milk tea for a long, long time."
Hoseok clenched his fists at his sides as he glanced at Hyejin. "Just you wait, I'm gonna do all I can to get Hyejin-ssi to the top."
-•-•-
Jieun walked down the corridor, her mind filled to the brim with thoughts.
To move in... or not to move in?
Like what Chungha told her the night before, this was indeed an opportunity of a lifetime - but like what Byulyi had advised her, if she was having doubts about it, it was better to quit as soon as possible. Jieun was starting to feel bad, to be quite honest - invading his privacy. And to move in with him, that was even worse.
And yet at the same time, it was a perfect opportunity for her to find out all she could about him. Was she gonna give up on it just like this and go back to her mundane, desk job consisting of organising paperwork, filing documents and proof-reading articles all day?
Jieun felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.
"Oh-" Seokjin smiled at her. "Jieun-ah, why aren't you going in?"
"Huh?" Jieun turned around and realised all of a sudden that she was already standing outside the waiting room. "Oh- Oh, I was just about to."
"I heard from JK about his request," Seokjin said carefully. "Have you thought it through?"
"Oh, so you know about it too-" Jieun sighed. "I'm still having a hard time making up my mind."
"Ah-" Seokjin nodded slowly as he pushed the door open and gestured for Jieun to enter first. "I think I know why. But Jieun-ah, hear me out - I think JK really needs you."
Jieun swallowed hard. "That's what he said as well."
"Because it's true." Seokjin let out a sigh as he took a seat in front of the mirrors. "You don't know how exhausted JK is on a daily basis. He rushes from one schedule to another all day and already, he barely gets any rest in the car. When he reaches home after a long day, all he wants to do is to lie down in bed and have a good long night of rest. But he can't. Do you know how that feels?"
"I don't, but I can try to imagine-" Jieun nodded slowly. "And it definitely sucks. You know, Seokjin-ssi, I actually really wanna help him, but-"
Seokjin raised his eyebrows. "But...?"
"But-" Jieun hesitated. "But I think I'm crossing the line."
Crossing the line as a reporter.
"Crossing the line?" Seokjin frowned. "Oh, you're considering Jennie-ssi's feelings, aren't you?"
That was one of the reasons, but definitely not the main reason.
"Well, yeah-" Jieun began. "I mean, I know Jennie-ssi and JK-ssi are a couple, I'm afraid- I- I-"
Click!
"You don't have to worry about that."
Jungkook and Jennie stepped into the waiting room, arm in arm. Jieun's jaw dropped.
"Hi, Jieun-ssi," Jennie said with a small smile as her grip around Jungkook's arm tightened. "We meet again."
Jieun couldn't take her eyes off their interlocked arms between them.
-•-•-
"Bujang-nim," Hyejin said softly as she placed a cup of coffee on Namjoon's table. "Here's your coffee."
"Ah- Hyejin-ssi," Namjoon said with a smile as he glanced up at her. "You're here. Thanks for the coffee."
Hyejin bowed a little.
"Actually..." Namjoon put down the document in his hands and focused all his attention on Hyejin. "I called you in not just for the coffee, but also - I have something very important to tell you."
"Oh?" Hyejin raised her eyebrows in surprise, before lowering her head slightly. "What is it, bujang? Please tell me."
"I have this interesting case I got a lead on a few days ago," Namjoon said carefully as he picked up a file on his table. "All of your senior colleagues are extra busy these days, I was just having a headache on who I should hand this case to."
Hyejin's eyes lit up.
"In terms of seniority..." Namjoon hesitated. "I should be giving this opportunity to Jieun-ssi first, since she did join us a week before you did. But as you know, she's already out on an undercover mission, so..."
Hyejin let out a small gasp. "You're giving the opportunity to me?"
"Mm-" Namjoon nodded as he held out the file towards Hyejin. "This file contains all the information you need to know about the case. It's actually a very trivial case, but not many other news companies have reported on it yet - if you take it up, I'm sure you might be able to get something good out of it."
Hyejin beamed as she took hold of the file. "Thank you, bujang!"
"Hold on, I'm not done yet-" Namjoon's grip on the file did not loosen as he glanced up at Hyejin. "I'm giving you this task because I see a lot of potential in you, especially after what you've shown me over the past few weeks. This case may be a little tricky, but if you get sufficient leads on it - I'll let you report on camera, for the very first time."
Hyejin's jaw dropped. "Bujang-nim!"
"Don't 'bujang-nim!' me just yet-" Namjoon chuckled. "I'm telling you, it's not as easy as it seems. Take it as a test, of some sort - like what Jieun-ssi is doing now, but much more challenging yet less risky. If you really manage to succeed, you have my recognition, and you would have earned your spot as a real reporter in our company. Can you do it, Hyejin-ssi?"
Hyejin nodded excitedly as she looked down at the file in her hands, then back up at Namjoon. "Yes, bujang!"
"Go back to work now."
"Yes!" Hyejin couldn't contain her excitement. "Yes, bujang!"
Namjoon smiled as Hyejin skipped out of his office happily.