<OST: Start - Gaho>
"Look-" Jennie jumped up from the bed quickly. "That was a lie. I always lie when I'm drunk, you know? That was a complete lie - me and Jungkook-ie... we really are an actual thing."
"It's okay-" Yoongi scoffed as he turned to leave. "I already told you I'll keep your secret, you don't have to freak out so much."
She was dead meat.
"No, no, no-" Jennie charged forward and grabbed Yoongi by his arm, spinning him around to face her. "I love him and he loves me - we're happy together, okay? Let's get that right."
"Alright, alright."
"You still don't believe me!" Jennie gasped dramatically. "Yoongi-ssi, tell me what makes you unable to trust what I'm telling you right now? I was completely wasted then, but now I'm sober so I'm telling you the truth - we're an actual thing!"
"It's not like I care that much... but your actions speak otherwise."
"How? What did I do?"
"Allowing another guy to sleep in your house, getting wasted and falling asleep at another guy's house, coming up with all kinds of excuses to show up at my door-" Yoongi raised his eyebrows. "I'm not the best at understanding a normal human's emotions, Jennie-ssi - but if I were your boyfriend, I'm pretty sure he'd have showed up here by now. But he left you alone - never checked on you once, never showed up since he moved out either. What am I supposed to think?"
"Well..." Jennie still pushed her luck. "Maybe... we're like in an... open relationship... or something... I don't know..."
Yoongi pursed his lips. "Really, now?"
"Urgh, fine, you win-" Jennie groaned as she walked over to the bed and took a seat once more. "You're right, I was stupid, I gave myself away by accident. But trust me, Yoongi-ssi - no, oppa - I really have a good reason to conceal this fact from the public, so you really have to promise not to tell anyone, at all costs. Not a single soul can hear about this, you understand? Not even my manager-oppa, or even Jungkook-ie himself. For real, they'll murder me if they find out someone else knows about it."
Yoongi shrugged nonchalantly. "I already said I wasn't gonna tell anyone."
"Good, and I trust you-" Jennie heaved a sigh of relief. "I have always trusted you, and I trust you on this, oppa. Thank you. Also, about last night..."
"Not telling a single soul about that either," Yoongi said automatically. "Honestly, you really have nothing to fear. Like I said, I don't know anyone, and I hardly even leave my apartment, so I have no one to tell this stuff to. I'm also not a gossipy kind of guy, so yeah."
"You're right, you barely even leave your home..." Now that her crisis was averted, Jennie was back to scanning Yoongi from head to toe. "But then why are you wearing a rather nice outfit today? It's still full black, but it's way more presentable than you usual fits."
"About this..." Yoongi bit his lower lip as he turned towards the door. "I have you to thank."
"Huh?" Jennie frowned as she hopped out of bed once more, chasing Yoongi down the hall. "Wait, where are you going? I don't understand."
"It's not confirmed yet-" Yoongi stopped and turned around abruptly, causing Jennie to brake right before she crashed right into him. "But if I do pass the interview, I'll let you know."
Jennie paused for a while to think as Yoongi headed towards the door.
"Remember to lock the door when you leave my house later on."
"Wait!" Jennie called after Yoongi. "You still haven't told me what interview you're going for!"
"You'll know later!"
"At least tell me where it is?"
"KBS Building!"
Jennie grinned as she leaned against the door frame, watching Yoongi board the lift.
KBS Building, here I come.
-•-•-
"You must be happy, huh."
"Hm?" Chungha wiped her mouth quickly and looked up at Hoseok. "What?"
"Tsk, you still got sauce here-" Hoseok muttered irritatedly as he shoved a piece of tissue towards Chungha's mouth. "You must be happy you found a loophole to the promise we made, hm? No more milk tea now, but tteoobokki instead? This is ridiculous."
Chungha pursed her lips, grinning a little as she wiped her lips once more and pushed the empty tteokbokki plate to one side. "It's free, why not?"
"I'm telling you, you better stop eating it if you don't have feelings for that guy-" Hoseok bit his lower lip uncertainly. "He's gonna get hurt one day."
"When did I say I didn't like him?" Chungha raised her eyebrows. "He's a nice guy, he has a good house and a good car, a stable job, super kind to me and at least, he has been treating me consistently well since the day we first met. Not like you, you only know how to neglect me."
"I treated you well at the beginning too," Hoseok said with a pout. "You never know how men are going to turn out."
"Yeah, exactly-" Chungha nodded. "I don't know how he's gonna turn out, but I know how you'll turn out - I've already seen how you turned out."
"So what?" Hoseok narrowed his eyes. "You like him now?"
"What do you think?"
All Hoseok could do was sulk. "But you're supposed to like me."
Chungha shrugged.
"And that's why you agreed to go on that date with him?" Hoseok furrowed his eyebrows, getting more and more upset by the second. "Because you've decided to give him a shot?"
"Well-" Chungha shrugged again, raising her eyebrows too. "Bujang wanted to treat me to dinner, so why not? I won't know how things will turn out from there though."
Hoseok hesitated. "You're really going?"
Chungha glanced at Hoseok, before looking away almost immediately and settling with twirling a pen around in one hand. "Do you want me to?"
"How do I even have a say in this?" Hoseok swallowed hard, refusing to make eye contact with Chungha. "If you wanna go, there's no stopping you."
"I asked if you wanted me to go or not."
"It doesn't matter."
"But it does."
"If it really does-" Hoseok looked up at Chungha, his voice trembling. "If my opinion really did matter to you, you'd know my answer. You wouldn't have even agreed to go on the date in the first place. It shows that my opinion really means nothing to you... or maybe, I no longer mean anything to you after all."
Chungha was taken aback. "Ya-"
"Do whatever you want, Kim Chungha-" Hoseok grabbed his water flask and got up from his seat. "I don't wanna care any longer. Whether you go or not, it doesn't bother me."
And Hoseok stormed off, leaving Chungha completely baffled.
-•-•-
"Wah-" Yuqi nudged Jieun in her side with a cheeky grin when she came to work later that afternoon. "Unnie, I noticed that you and Jungkook-ssi came in together this morning. I was so shocked I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. What's going on?"
Jieun froze. The secret that they were living was meant to be kept between Seokjin, Jungkook, Jennie and her - that's all. She had to keep it from Yuqi no matter what, despite how much of a social butterfly she was.
"Ah, it's nothing-" Jieun lied, as she let out a nervous chuckle. "It's nothing at all. We met outside the building, on the way here."
Yuqi frowned. "I'm pretty sure I saw you alighting from the same car though? It was clearly the car Seokjin-oppa always uses to drive JK around in..."
"Ah, yeah!" Jieun laughed loudly. "Of course, that's what I meant! I took the bus here, and Seokjin-oppa saw me from a distance outside the building and decided to pick me up to drive in. That's exactly what I was saying."
"That's weird." Yuqi furrowed her eyebrows as she let out a confused laugh. "That must have been a pretty short distance...?"
"Yeah, it was!" Jieun was breaking out in cold sweat - she really should have been more careful earlier today. "But Seokjin-oppa insisted, so there's no way I could refuse. You know how it is sometimes, right?"
Jieun stared intently at Yuqi, begging her to accept her excuse. Yuqi frowned and thought for a while, before Jieun saw the puzzlement disappear from her face and an understanding smile spread across her face instead.
"That's true, Seokjin-oppa is a nice guy, after all."
"Exactly!" Jieun let out a huge sigh of relief as she turned around and focused on cleaning the make up brushes. "There's nothing between us, Yuqi-ya. Nothing more than what you and him share, anyway. You don't have to read too much into it."
"That's true-" Yuqi said with a shrug as she joined Jieun by her side and helped her arrange the brushes nicely. "What could there possibly be between the two of you, anyway? We know how him and Jennie-ssi are a thing, and a really close one in fact."
Jieun knew all this, but she still felt her heart drop nevertheless.
"Oh, is that so?" Jieun struggled to maintain a smile. "They're really close? How do you know?"
"How do I know?" Yuqi flashed her a confused frown. "I don't know, it just seemed to me like they were the type that were slow-paced but would last a long, long time together..."
The smile faded from Jieun's face. "Right..."
"What are the two of you doing?" Jungkook entered the waiting room with Seokjin at that moment and spotted Jieun and Yuqi chit-chattering near the mirror tables. "Why is it that every time the both of you are on duty together, y'all always seem to be talking?"
"Jungkook-ssi!" Yuqi smiled brightly as she spun around and bowed a few times. "I'm gonna go get your favourite perfume ready - remember how it has been out of stock for the longest time? We managed to get our hands on it this week, heh. You're gonna love it, so I better hurry off now. Goodbye."
Yuqi dashed past Jungkook, bowed slightly at Seokjin and sped out of the waiting room.
Jungkook shook his head as he turned back towards Jieun. "This girl... always running from the scene whenever she gets into trouble. She's so hard to grasp, isn't she?"
"Aren't you exactly the same?" Jieun grumbled under her breath as she busied herself with the brushes once more. "Always so hard to read..."
Jungkook frowned. "What did you say?"
"I said, 'Hurry up and sit down, Jungkook-ssi.'"
"Why do you always do that?" Jungkook muttered as he took his seat. "When you and I both know damn well that's not what you said-"
"What makeup style do you want today?" Jieun interrupted him abruptly.
"You should know by now that I don't usually give you any specific orders-"
"Can you just give them to me this time?" Jieun said curtly. "You give orders to the rest, but you don't give them to me. Why can't you just treat me like everyone else?"
Jungkook froze as he stared blankly at Jieun through the mirror. "I was being nice to you because you were new, and I appreciated your talent-"
"Did you do that to the rest when they first came in too?" Jieun questioned. "Didn't you realise that they're talented too?"
"No, but-"
"Then why me?" Jieun swallowed hard. "Why do you have to treat me different? Why do you have to confuse me? Why do you have to- have to-"
Why do you have to make me feel... special?
"Have to what?" Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows as he turned around to look at Jieun. "Treat you different? Confuse you? How on earth did I even confuse you, Lee Jieun-ssi? When I was mean to you, you used to scream at me to be nice to you all the time. Now that I'm making an effort, you're still not happy? What am I supposed to do? Why is it so hard for the both of us to get along?"
I don't know, Jieun thought as she put down her tools and looked away. I'm confused about what to do with you and how to act around you, too. She knew she had absolutely no right to get mad at him, but why couldn't she help it?
Jieun swallowed hard as she forced herself to apologise. "Okay, look - I'm sorry-"
"Forget it-" Jungkook turned back around to face the mirror. "You don't have to do my makeup today. Just go and sit in one corner and sulk all you want, okay?"
"Look-" Jieun bit her lower lip as she tried to get Jungkook's attention once more. "Jeon Jungkook, I didn't mean to-"
"Hyung-" Jungkook completely ignored Jieun as he turned around and called Seokjin who was seated across the room. "Help me find out why Yuqi-ssi is taking so long and get her to come back as soon as she can. I need her to do my makeup today instead."
"Huh?" Seokjin frowned as he hurriedly got up from his seat. But after observing the body language of body Jieun and Jungkook, he nodded and headed out of the room immediately.
"Do you really have to do this?" Jieun poked Jungkook in the shoulder. "I said I'm sorry."
Jungkook busied himself with his phone. "I'm not talking to someone who yelled at me for completely no reason."
"That's what you do to me too, like all the time."
"And you were mad for me for doing that, weren't you?" Jungkook looked up at Jieun through the mirror, a hurt look etched across his face. "Why can't I do the same?"
"Look, I have a reason-"
"I had a reason too-" Jungkook picked up a magazine and began flipping through it nonchalantly. "Doesn't justify anything."
"Ya-" Jieun folded her arms. "Jeon Jungkook-"
Click!
The door opened and Yuqi walked in together with Seokjin. She hurried to Jungkook's side, flashing Jieun a 'what happened' look. But as Jieun shook her head quietly, Yuqi got the idea. She smiled brightly as she looked at Jungkook's face in the mirror.
"Jungkook-ssi!" Yuqi chirped, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere. "What makeup style would you like today?"
Jungkook glanced briefly at Jieun who was still standing next to Yuqi, before turning back to Yuqi. "You can do whatever you like today, Yuqi-ssi. According to someone, I've been giving unfair treatment all this while. So, let me give you an opportunity to blow my mind."
"Um-" Yuqi fidgeted uncomfortably, as she sensed the evident tension between Jieun and Jungkook. "Did something happen-"
"Yeah-" Jieun rubbed it in, speaking loudly for Jungkook to hear. "Yuqi-ya, do whatever you like today. I think he has been limiting your potential way too much. Go crazy this time."
"I-"
Jungkook glared at Jieun, but smiled politely as he turned to Yuqi. "Do just that, Yuqi-ssi."
Seokjin watched the three quietly from afar, but pretended not to notice.
"Um-" Yuqi laughed loudly, trying to loosen the tension once more. "Alright, alright, I'll do just that. But before I start on your makeup, look what I brought you, JK-ssi!"
Jungkook groaned in response as Yuqi held up a small dial in her hands, shaking it a little. "Your favourite scent. I worked so hard to get my hands on it... Went to at least 15 shops to find one that sold this. At every single shop, they told me it ran out because your fans rushed to buy the same perfume as you after finding out you used it in the VLive last month. Crazy, if you ask me. But the 15th shop managed to have this one last leftover sample, so I grabbed it and brought it over. I did a good job, didn't I?"
"Mm, good job-" Jungkook grunted, before he looked up at Jieun nonchalantly. "Do you have anything else? Why are you just standing around doing nothing useful?"
"Tsk-" Jieun sneered at him. "I was just about to go, okay? Gosh. I really can't stand you."
"Neither can I."
Jieun gave Jungkook one last dirty look, before joining Seokjin on the couch. Jungkook eyed her with narrowed eyes, his eyebrows furrowed and a perpetual scowl across his face.
"You said Jieun-unnie and I are always talking when you see us together, but the two of you are even worse-" Yuqi muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Jungkook to hear. "Every time I see the two of you, it seems like you both are quarrelling or about to quarrel."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing-" Yuqi batted her eyelids and beamed. "I said you looked handsome today."
"Cut the crap, you both are the same-" Jungkook scoffed as he looked down at the magazine on his lap. "Do a good job today, Song Yuqi. I'm already in a bad mood, don't give me a reason to scold you."
"I won't, JK-ssi-" Yuqi hummed as she carefully sprayed Jungkook's wrists with the perfume. "I'll do a good job, don't you worry. So you should let this perfume cheer you up and do a good job today as well."
"Mm."
Jieun watched from afar, swearing profusely at Jungkook with her eyes.