<OST: It's You - Chungha>
Yoongi stayed in that position for a while, completely unmoving, until Jennie finally pulled away and shoved the phone into his hands. Even after she had released him from her embrace, Yoongi's heart was still acting unusually and he couldn't look down at her phone immediately.
This was why.
This was precisely why Yoongi was starting to be afraid of Jennie, afraid of hanging out with her alone. He was falling for her, fast - and he himself was aware of his own feelings. That girl... she was way more charming than she herself knew. He had never felt this way in a long time... She had promised to remain by his side as his friend for as long as he needed, but at the rate it was going, it wouldn't be long before his resolve crumbled...
"Oppa-" Jennie waved her hands in front of Yoongi's face, peering into his line of sight. "Hello...? Is anyone there...?"
Yoongi finally snapped back to attention. "Huh?"
"Read the message, oppa-" Jennie grinned as she pointed at her phone excitedly. "Read it!"
Yoongi stared at her blankly, stunned for a few seconds, before he finally looked down into her phone and began to read the message on the screen.
- - -
9637 xxxx
Good evening, Jen-ssi. My name is
Moon Byulyi, or Moon author-nim,
as most people address me by. I
received your email well and have
noted its contents. Your proposal
has highly intrigued me, and I will
be keen to arrange a meet up with
you any time this week to go over
the details of you and your friend's
business proposal. Do let me know
when will be a good time and day.
- - -
Yoongi looked up at Jennie's excited face, looking thoroughly confused. "What... is... this...?"
"Just now I sent an email to the author I told you about," Jennie said with a proud smile as she grabbed the phone from Yoongi's hands. "You know, the one who wrote the popular online novels? Who knew she'd reply so fast! I barely even sent out the email an hour ago..."
"An hour ago...?" Yoongi raised his eyebrows. "So that's what you were doing on the train earlier...?"
"Yeah-" Jennie giggled. "Are you proud of me...?"
Yoongi stared at Jennie in silence for a few moments, at a loss for what to say. She really meant it when she said she wanted to repay him for the things he'd done for her. But to him, the things he had done for her was nothing compared to what she had done and was doing for him... Nothing. If not for her, he wouldn't even have left his home. If not for her, he would never have been able to eat out at a restaurant ever again. If not for her, he would never have had the motivation to chase after his dreams again. If not for her, he would never have crawled out of his shell and learned to face his past and get over it, slowly but surely.
Meeting her had completely changed his life.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Jennie cupped her face, looking away bashfully before stealing a quick glance in Yoongi's direction. "If you stare at me any longer, I think my heart is gonna explode."
Yoongi looked down at the floor briefly, before looking up at her once more. "I just... don't know what to say."
"If you don't know what to say, you don't have to say anything," Jennie said with a small smile. "After all, I already know how you feel."
Yoongi had a knowing smile and a twinkle in his eye as he shook his head, reaching out and ruffling Jennie's hair a little. "I don't think you ever will."
-•-•-
Jungkook was determined to get better.
But determination alone couldn't make anything a reality. As he lay in bed that night, tossing and turning and unable to get any sleep, Jungkook found himself thinking over his life decisions. How difficult it was getting over her, how easy it was to just pick up the phone and tell her, 'I don't care if you used me, I'll let you use me all over again.' That's what his heart told him to do, anyway. But his mind said no - and listening to his mind was his only way of protecting himself.
Frustrated, Jungkook kicked the blankets off him and roamed out into his dimly lit living room. He found himself subconsciously wandering towards the room on his left, carefully twisting the doorknob and opening the door to what used to be Jieun's room.
Loud snoring greeted Jungkook's ears. In the dark, Jungkook saw Seokjin's lanky figure sprawled across the bed, in deep slumber. As Jungkook carefully crept closer, Seokjin stirred a little in his sleep, scratching his neck and mumbling something incomprehensible that really sounded like 'cheeseburgers', before everything was still once again. Jungkook took a seat by Seokjin's bed, watching the older sleeping peacefully like a baby.
Jungkook reached out, pulling the blanket over Seokjin and tucking him in snugly. Seokjin stirred again, muttering something inaudible this time. Jungkook sat by the bed for a few moments, not saying a word, not doing anything. It was nice, having company.
Seokjin had moved into his home very naturally, without any hiccups, without any permission - after Jieun had left. Jungkook wasn't complaining though - he hadn't realised it, but living with Jieun for over a month had made Jungkook accustomed to having someone else around at home all the time. Jungkook had always been used to living alone. At first, living together with someone else had been hard to get used to. But over time, he had slowly developed a liking for it.
Coming home, stepping through the doors and seeing someone in the kitchen, whipping up a meal for you, or just sitting on the couch, looking up with a smile and asking you how was your day after a long day at work. It was something Jungkook hadn't had for years, ever since moving out from his parents' home almost a decade ago, and it was an unfamiliar yet pleasant feeling.
A feeling that Jungkook thought he would lose the moment he drove Jieun out of his life.
Jungkook watched a snoring Seokjin who lay in the bed Jieun used to sleep in. In a certain way, Seokjin had very conveniently taken the place of Jieun in his home, without much problem. Jieun's place in his life could very easily be replaced by other people - soon, new makeup artists would join the company and take over her role. But what about the place in his heart...?
That was, perhaps, the only thing no one would be able to fill, for a very long time.
Jungkook sighed as he crouched in the corner of Seokjin's room, hugging his legs tightly to his chest, squeezing his eyes shut and willing himself to fall asleep.
-•-•-
Byulyi hesitated for a long while before she spoke.
"Jieun-ah..." Byulyi looked across the living room at Jieun who lay on the couch the next morning. "Can I tell you something...?"
Jieun looked up, still munching on a chocolate bar, completely surrounded by a whole bunch of snack wrappers which she had consumed all morning. "What?"
"But before that-" Byulyi narrowed her eyes. "I thought you said you didn't have an appetite yesterday... Why are you-"
"Leave me alone, I'm sad-" Jieun groaned as she stuffed the whole chocolate bar into her mouth, aiming the empty wrapper at the trashcan 2 metres away and failing yet again. "I'm gonna eat all my feelings away today."
Byulyi shook her head, recalling the five stages of a breakup that included loss of appetite then binge-eating your feelings away. It seemed that Jieun's second stage had arrived rather quickly, quicker than a regular person.
"Sure, go ahead-" Byulyi sighed. "Just be careful - if you keep eating at this rate, you're gonna pack on the pounds... I'm fine with that, but just don't bother me with your whining or blame me when that happens."
"So what if I gain weight...?" Jieun sobbed as she opened another bag of chips. "It's not like anyone wants me anyway..."
Byulyi watched her miserable friend, not knowing what to do or say.
"So... what did you want to say to me, anyway?" Jieun asked, glancing up at Byulyi. "You said you had something to tell me...?"
"Ah, yeah, I did-" Byulyi hesitated, eyeing Jieun with a worried look on her face. "I did, but looking at you now, I'm not too sure if I should carry on..."
"Just go ahead..." Jieun groaned. "My life may be a mess, but yours still goes on... Why? Is it bad news? Or good news that you're afraid to share with me because of my bad state..."
"It's good news, so..."
"Ah, it's all good then," Jieun muttered. "I'm okay, so just go ahead and tell me, I'm listening."
"I..." Byulyi paused for a while, glancing at Jieun cautiously. "I... got offered a deal."
Jieun stopped munching at once. "What deal?"
"Well, to you it may not be anything much-" Byulyi admitted with an awkward chuckle. "But... well, last night, after you went to bed, I got an email."
"What email?"
Byulyi handed her phone to Jieun, who looked down and read quietly for the next few seconds under Byulyi's careful watch. Then finally, Jieun looked up, her mouth agape.
"Wait, I don't know if I'm getting this right-"
"You probably are, Jieun-ah-" Byulyi beamed from ear to ear. "I... I'm gonna become a drama scriptwriter."
Jieun's grip around her bag of chips loosened and her jaw remained hanging open. "Byulyi-unnie, that's huge-"
"I mean, if everything goes well-" Byulyi shrugged as she grabbed the phone from Jieun's hands, still unable to wipe off the smile from her face after sharing the news with her best friend. "I'll start writing the script as soon as possible."
"Unnie-" Jieun said sincerely, her swollen eyes sparkling as she looked at Byulyi. "I am truly so happy for you, really. When are you gonna meet the client?"
"Client-" Byulyi chuckled. "Daebak, you're making me sound like a businesswoman of some sort. When am I meeting her? In three days' time, on Thursday afternoon."
"Ah..." Jieun's face fell a little, but she tried to brush it off and put on a smile once again. "That's amazing. I'll be waiting for your good news, unnie."
"Why...?" Byulyi could sense that something was wrong. "What is it now?"
"It's nothing..."
Byulyi folded her arms, eyeing Jieun with narrowed eyes. "Come on, no secrets between us from now. Fess up."
Jieun shook her head. "Nah, I-"
Byulyi wasn't going to barge.
Jieun glanced up at Byulyi and let out a deep sigh. "I'd really want to go with you for support, but Thursday... happens to be the day I'm going back to the company to settle my resignation matters."
A brief silence fell over the room.
"Ah, I see..." Byulyi finally spoke up after a while, smiling and trying her best to keep the mood in the house positive. "That's fine, then. I'll change my appointment and accompany you to settle your stuff."
"Nah, unnie, you shouldn't-"
"No, I want to-" Byulyi insisted. "Remember how I complained about us not being involved in each other's lives for the past few weeks? I wanna fix this."
"I know..." Jieun bit her lower lip, fidgeting uncomfortably in her seat. "I wanna fix it too, that's why I wanted to accompany you to the meeting with the client... But... I don't think now's the time for this."
Byulyi furrowed her eyebrows. "Why...?"
"I feel like... I need to do this alone."
Byulyi stared at Jieun for a few seconds, before nodding slowly. "Ah... I get it."
"You do?"
"Mm-" Byulyi flashed her best friend a sad smile. "Some things just have to be settled on your own, and this is just one of them. Good luck, Jieun-ah."
"Thanks, unnie." Jieun pursed her lips, managing a small smile. "I'll need a lot of that."
-•-•-
A few days of alternating between holding in and letting go of tears later, it was d-day.
After Byulyi had wished her all the best, Jieun alighted from Byulyi's car right in front of the company, dressed neatly... but her mind wasn't neat for sure. Her mind was a mess and her heart was thumping like crazy. She was nervous to say the least - nervous, coming back to this place where she started her journey and was now coming back again to end it; nervous, because she didn't know how to face Seokjin after doing what she did when he had totally trusted her; nervous, because coming here meant she might meet Jungkook again.
Jieun was terrified, to be quite frank, and even three days of preparation was insufficient to help her release some of that tension built up inside of her. Jieun closed her eyes, took a deep breath and entered the doors of the company and was instantly greeted by the familiar scent of the lobby.
Please let me not meet anyone I know...
Please let me leave quietly...
Please...
Jieun charged through the lobby towards the lift, avoiding as much eye contact with anyone as possible.
"Unnie!"
Oh, crap.
Jieun halted in her tracks, put on a smile and turned around.
"Unnie, it's really you!" Yuqi beamed as she waved excitedly at Jieun. "Wah... I haven't seen you in such a long time! When was the last time we met? Was it a week ago? Two weeks ago? The last time we met was before the Love House filming, wasn't it? Daebak... Unnie, did you get even prettier? Who allowed you to do so?"
Got even prettier, my ass.
Jieun was barely getting enough sleep, alternating between starving and consuming the daily calorie recommendation of a 500-pound adult male everyday, had barely any energy or mood to put on any makeup or dress up well. She felt like crap, surely she looked just as bad.
"Thanks, Yuqi-ya," Jieun managed a smile. "You're too kind. You got prettier too, you seemed to have lost weight."
"Ah, have I?" Yuqi chuckled as she patted her cheeks a little. "My diet must be working then. Anyway, unnie! You must be here for JK-ssi's CF shoot today too, huh? I thought it was just Soojin-unnie and I on duty today, but turns out you're here too! That's great, we could definitely use some extra help-"
Jieun pursed her lips. "Yuqi-ya, actually, I-"
Ding!
"Ah!" Yuqi interrupted Jieun politely as she gestured towards the lift. "The lift is here, unnie. Let's go."
Jieun boarded the lift, wondering whether or not to tell Yuqi about the real reason why she was here today.
"Unnie, how was the trip?" Yuqi smiled. "I heard from Minnie-unnie that it was really fun. She took so many selfies on the trip and kept sending them to me while I was working overtime... I was so jealous! She told me she had such a good time. What about you?"
Jieun's face was blank. "Huh?"
Yuqi laughed. "The trip! How was the trip for you, unnie?"
"Ah, the trip-" Jieun bit her lower lip nervously. "It was okay. Yeah, pretty fun."
Ding!
"That's good-" Yuqi smiled, completely unaware about what was going on inside Jieun's mind. "Ah, we're here. Unnie, let's go."
Yuqi exited the lift at once, but Jieun didn't barge. Yuqi turned around, raising her eyebrows in a confused manner, as if questioning Jieun. Jieun stood there for a while, staring back, not knowing how exactly to put her thoughts across.
"Yuqi-ya," Jieun finally managed to utter, her lips trembling. "Thank you for being such a good colleague and senior to me all this while. Help me relay my thanks to the rest as well, as I am unfortunately unable to say goodbye to them in person."
"What-"
"Actually, the real reason why I'm here today is not because I'm on duty whatsoever-" Jieun paused for a little while, trying to hold in her tears. "I'm actually here today to complete my resignation. I'm thankful towards you and the rest for all this while, Yuqi-ssi. I sincerely hope we have the chance to meet again, someday."
Jieun managed to catch one last glimpse of Yuqi's shocked expression before the lift doors closed, separating them both.