<OST: Start - Gaho>
Hyejin, who was still holding her camera, looked around her for some sign of Chungha. She had been gone for ten minutes now, where on earth was she? A whole scene was unfolding before her very eyes right now, as Jungkook collapsed to the ground, surrounded by first-aiders. If she didn't act fast, such a good story was about to slip through her very fingers.
"Ah, screw it-"
Hyejin muttered to herself as she shoved the camera on a nearby chair, hoping that camera was recording what she wanted it to record. She adjusted her hair a little, put on a serious expression and held the mic up to her lips.
"Good morning, viewers of KNJ News. I am reporting from the annual ISAC held at Jamsil Stadium right now. As you can see, in my background, a man is lying motionless on the ground and currently being attended to by first-aiders. He is 24-year-old Jeon Jungkook - otherwise known fondly by his fans as JK - a k-pop solo artist that debuted just five years ago. In precedence, the men 800m heats had just concluded and JK-ssi had come in first place - earning him a gold medal in the competition. However, what was the price of this? Did he push himself too much and overexert in the process? We do not know. Live from Jamsil Stadium, Ahn Hyejin gija speaking. Stay tuned for more updates."
Hyejin concluded her news segment as Jungkook was being lifted in a stretcher and carried out of the stadium, still unconscious. As she picked up her camera and checked the footage, she could hear the fans crying and screaming in the background, hoping that Jungkook was okay. Hyejin slumped onto the chair, hugging the camera in her arms.
She just did it. Just like that, with no preparation - she had done it. Though the content was grim and Hyejin was worried about how Jungkook was doing, she also felt a small warmth in her heart at the same time. She, a barely six-month-old news reporter, had finally recorded her first ever news segment ever. She didn't even care if they were going to air it - she felt like she was floating in the air, and that was exactly how happy she was.
"Hyejin-ssi!" Chungha came running towards her amidst the frenzy. "What's all this commotion about? What happened?"
"S- Sun- Sunbae-nim..." Hyejin looked up at Chungha, stuttering because she was so nervous yet excited at the same time. "I- You weren't back so I-"
"Everyone, remain calm!" Leeteuk's voice filled the stadium once more. "Jungkook-ssi will be thoroughly checked and monitored by our medical professionals, so you all have nothing to fear. We will definitely keep you updated about his condition as the updates come in. But in the meantime, we hope that all of you can cooperate with us by taking your seats and staying calm, so that our subsequent events may proceed. Thank you!"
"Jungkook-ssi? Medical professionals?" Chungha looked around her at Jungkook's fans who were sobbing. "What exactly happened here, Hyejin-ssi?"
"Sunbae-nim..." Hyejin bit her lower lip, now finally thinking about the consequences of her rash actions. Will she get scolded? Fired, maybe? "Earlier when you went to the toilet... the men 800m heats started..."
"And what?"
"They finished running and JK-ssi collapsed-" Hyejin hesitated. "Without even thinking, I put the camera on the chair and started filming myself, as I described the scene in the background. I don't think I did a good job at all, and I'm really sorry for not asking you before I did so - it was just the only thing I could think of in the moment, so I recorded it without any hesitation..."
Chungha pursed her lips. "So... where's the footage now?"
"Well..." Hyejin hesitantly handed the camera over to Chungha. "I'm not sure if I managed to get a good angle or not... but regardless, it should have been casted to the office live-"
Ring! Ring!
"Oh-" Chungha looked down into her phone. "It's Hoseok-oppa."
"Oh-" Hyejin bit her lower lip and lowered her head. "They must have seen the footage back at the office, sunbae-nim. You better pick up."
Chungha eyed Hyejin with an unreadable expression as she accepted the phone call and held her phone up to her ear. "Hello?"
Hyejin held her breath as she watched Chungha nod a few times and say "mm" and "got it" a few times in response. Then finally, she put down the phone and looked up at Hyejin.
"What did they say, sunbae-nin?" Hyejin furrowed her eyebrows nervously. "Was it really bad? Did I do a bad job? They can't use it, can they?"
Chungha stared at her, her lips pursed tight.
"Sunbae-nim!" Hyejin was getting anxious as she grabbed onto Chungha's sleeve. "Can you at least say something? I'm getting nervous. I'm not fired, am I? Even if I did a bad job, can't you at least say so-"
"Hyejin-ssi-" Chungha had a poker face as she continued. "They received the footage and they liked it, so they used it right away in their 8am news segment."
Hyejin was so stunned she couldn't even speak.
The sides of Chungha's lips curled upwards as she grabbed Hyejin by her shoulders, shaking her slightly. "Hyejin-ssi, you're on TV."
-•-•-
"He's just extremely dehydrated and sleep-deprived. With the combination of exhaustion and excessive heat, he fainted. He'll be fine once he wakes up, but I strongly recommend him to go home and rest after this. He is definitely overworked."
"Thank you, paksa-nim - I'll definitely take note of that." Seokjin nodded as he glanced over at Jungkook with a worried frown on his face. "Let's go out and talk. Jieun-ah, can you watch over him in the time-being?"
"I don't want to-"
"Tsk-" Seokjin frowned. "He's already in this state right now, can't you just put your arguments aside for the time-being...?"
Jieun sat down in the chair next to Jungkook's bed unwillingly, as Seokjin left the room with the doctor.
"Why did you run so hard?" Jieun frowned as she reached out and pushed a strand of hair out of Jungkook's gorgeous face. "You barely even had any sleep... must you really be that competitive? And all because of what? Because it's Kim Taehyung that is your competitor? Is that it?"
To her surprise, Jungkook stirred and his eyes fluttered open slowly. She had intended to leave before he woke up because she was still kinda angry with him, but it was way too late. He was already awake, and he was staring directly at her. She had no where to run.
"Um-" Jieun swallowed hard as she looked away. "You feeling better...?"
"What am I doing here...?" Jungkook asked, clearly still in a daze as he tried to sit up in bed. "What happened?"
"You fainted from exhaustion-" Jieun said as she helped him sit up. "The first-aiders brought you here to rest. That's why... who asked you to push yourself so much..."
"What are you doing here?" Jungkook gave Jieun a cold look, before pushing her hands away from him. "If it's exhaustion, aren't you responsible for it? I couldn't sleep last night because of you."
Jieun frowned. "Who are you blaming right now? If you hadn't met me at all, wouldn't it be the same thing? Besides, you're the one that pissed me off - it's not like I didn't want to help you because I was being mean or something."
"Forget it-" Jungkook groaned as he closed his eyes. "You know what? I don't even have energy to argue with you right now. Just get out."
Jieun's jaw dropped. "Excuse me, I was taking care of you when you were unconscious-"
"And I'm awake now-" Jungkook said agitatedly, barely looking at Jieun. "So you can go."
"You think I wanna be here?" Jieun's eyes flared as she took her seat once more. "I'm still angry with you too, you know? But unlike you, I'm a person who keeps my private and work life separate. So just shut up and let me take care of you - you're still unwell."
Jungkook was quiet as he turned his back to face Jieun instead.
"The doctor says you're overworked and highly recommended you to go home and rest after this," Jieun explained. "So you probably don't have to stay for the rest of the events."
Jungkook let out a soft "yes!" under his breath.
Jieun rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I know you don't want me here and neither do I, but like I said, right now I'm a makeup artist, can you let me touch up your makeup right now?"
"You said that I'm going home...?" Jungkook turned around to face Jieun with a frown. "In that case, why would you even need to touch up my makeup? It's not like I'm appearing on camera again-"
"Orders from Seokjin-oppa-" Jieun shrugged as she took out her makeup tools. "If you want, go complain to him. I already told you - I'm just here to work today."
"In that case..." Jungkook pursed his lips. "Get Soojin-ssi here. I want her to do my makeup instead."
"She's busy."
"Bring Yuqi-ssi here then-" Jungkook clucked his tongue agitatedly. "Or Shuhua-ssi, or someone else - just not you."
"They're all busy attending to your hoobaes, JK-ssi-" Jieun rolled her eyes as she opened her eye shadow palette. "You're not the only one from BG Entertainment here today. So can you stop being so childish and demanding and just let me touch up your makeup already?"
"No, I don't want to."
"Oh, well, too bad-" Jieun forcefully grabbed Jungkook by his shoulder and pushed him against his bed frame, while using one hand to try to brush some eye shadow onto his upper eyelid.
Jungkook tried his best to fend off her attacks. "I said, I didn't want it!"
"Stop struggling!" Jieun insisted as Jungkook grabbed both her hands and pushed them away. "Just- let- me- finish-"
"I don't want to!" Jungkook struggled and through the chaos, Jieun's accidentally slashed one big line of blue eye shadow across his face. "Ya!"
"Omo-" Jieun gasped as she took a step back, surprised by what had just happened. But then she caught glimpse of Jungkook's comical face and couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Wait-"
"You're laughing? You still have the nerve to laugh at me?" Jungkook seethed with anger as he looked himself in the mirror by his bed side. "I already told you I didn't want you to do my makeup! Why did you have to insist on doing so?"
"Ah- I-" Jieun bit her lower lip, trying not to laugh, but every time she caught sight of Jungkook's face, she burst into fits of laughter. "I'm sorry, I just-"
"You're not sorry-"
Jungkook inhaled sharply as he lunged forward without warning and grabbed a makeup brush from Jieun's pouch. He launched it towards her face and it hit her just before she could dodge. A huge patch of purple appeared on her face at once.
It was now Jungkook's turn to burst into laughter. "How's that?"
"Ya!"
Jieun grabbed the same makeup brush and hit Jungkook's nose with it, causing him to look like an overgrown smurf. Jieun burst into laughter as she hurriedly ran towards the door.
Jungkook jumped out of bed and grabbed her by her arm, pulling her back and locking her head with one arm. He grabbed a few brushes from her pouch at once and randomly brushed them across her face, causing her face to have an explosion of green, red and gold.
"Wah, you look much better like that!"
"Ya!" Jieun stared at Jungkook with a murderous look in her eyes as she chased him around the room. "You're supposed to be weak right now, how can you still run like this-"
"Come catch me-" Jungkook stuck out his tongue. "You can't even win a sick person..."
The two began chasing each other around the room, first yelling at each other in angry and revengeful tones, but as time passed, they became lighthearted and playful chuckled as they retaliated each other's eye shadow attacks. They never spoke about their conflict since yesterday, but their smiles were enough to let each other know that they were now willing to forgive and move on.
After all, some things simply need not be said.
-•-•-
"I'm so proud of you, Hyejin-ssi-" Chungha shook her head as she patted Hyejin on her back. "I still can't believe you actually did that."
"Thank you, sunbae-nim..." Hyejin let out a shy smile. "I'm glad you said that... I felt like you have been rather stand-offish towards me recently."
Chungha frowned. "Have I?"
Hyejin hesitated, before she nodded slightly. "Yeah, you used to be more concerned about my work and stuff... but lately, I'm not sure if it's because you're busy, you haven't been checking in on me so much."
"Ah..." Chungha pursed her lips guiltily. "And your Hoseok sunbae-nim has been taking special care f you lately, am I right?"
Hyejin nodded. "Yeah."
"Well, I know this may sound really weird-" Chungha chuckled softly. "But to be very honest with you, the two of us made a bet?"
Hyejin raised her eyebrows. "You and Hoseok sunbae-nim...?"
"Mm-" Chungha nodded. "We made a bet about you and Jieun-ssi, actually. It was about who we thought was gonna go on TV first. He picked you, so I landed Jieun-ssi. That's why, I guess - we've been paying extra attention to our picks."
Hyejin's jaw dropped. "And I went on TV today-"
"So Hoseok-oppa won-" Chungha shrugged. "And I lost. I had a feeling I was gonna lose, anyway."
"So what's your forfeit for losing, sunbae-nim?"
Chungha laughed. "No drinking milk tea from bujang-nim from now."
"What?"
Chungha shrugged. "He made that up himself."
"Rather than a forfeit for you..." Hyejin grinned knowingly. "That sounds more like a reward for Hoseok sunbae-nim."
Chungha laughed. "You're right."
"Sunbae-nim..." Hyejin hesitated for a while. "You didn't purposely leave me alone today just so that he'd win the bet, did you?"
Chungha let out a nervous laughter that gave her intentions away. "Nonsense. How could I possibly do that? My job is of utmost importance to me - I don't play such games, Hyejin-ssi."
Hyejin chuckled softly. "Just asking to be sure."
"It's not-" Chungha said vaguely. "Even if I really did leave you there on purpose, it's because I trust you enough to pull through. And see? You did. I may have betted against you, but I know how capable and talented you are, Hyejin-ssi. Once again, I want to applaud you for such a good job today. You really deserve your first TV appearance."
Hyejin beamed. "Thank you, sunbae-nim."
"According to Hoseok-oppa, bujang-nim is extremely pleased with what you did as well-" Chungha smiled. "Well, I'm gonna go back and get a huge scolding, but it's all worth it for you, Hyejin-ssi. I believe that there's a high possibility that you're gonna start reporting on live TV regularly from now."
Hyejin's jaw dropped. "No way!"
"You earned it," Chungha said with a smile. "I'm so happy for you."
Hyejin smiled. "Thanks, sunbae-nim. I only got this opportunity because you chose me to come with you."
"I really did it without preempting anything-" Chungha chuckled as she muttered under her breath. "I guess fate really is a funny little thing."