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Jennie POV
21st July, 8:45 pm
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The moment he recognized me, he bolted. I was really confused maybe a tad disturbed. What kind of behaviour was that? He could at least say 'Hello' to me. That's a primary etiquette that he seems to lack. How immature.

"Now I understand why they ship him with Lisa...." I sigh when I say this to myself, the night and the cigarette butts on the ground.

My eyes scan the ground before me. A cigarette packet and plenty of cigarette butts are lying there nonchalantly. As if, they weren't just on Jeon Jungkook's mouth damaging his lungs and his voice. Each one of the cigarette butts might have been smashed with his foot. Serves them right. I count them and it's nine, including one a little far away which he probably dropped that one in the rush of escaping embarrassment. I pick the golden pack which has a black stripe in the middle of it. Looks expensive. It says "Esse" in the largest letter and "Special Gold" with golden Serif fonts on the black stripe.

Whatever. Cigarettes are nothing better than any drug. But he can't just abandon an expensive-looking pack like this, what a waste of money.

I gape at the packet, holding it against my palm.

I keep staring at it.

And I realize that It's been way too long since I've been looking at it.

By this time, I probably got two-three photos taken of me, who knows? Another scandal is maybe inching towards me. If I really don't want that coming, I should drop this or quickly shove it inside my pocket. No time for indecision, I stuff the packet in the pocket of my jean and cram my hands deeper into the denim jacket I was wearing.

I don't know if I should go to the pharmacy where I originally intended to go or if should I just go back inside. Maybe the latter one is a better choice because the fresh air that I came out for, has turned into the lethal smoke of cigarettes, embarrassment and something new.

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Jungkook POV
21st July, 8:44 pm
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"K-Kim J-Jennie?"

"J-jeon Jungkook?"

Moment of pin-drop silence. We both were just looking at each other with our eyes shocked and jaw dropped. But in just that moment, my heart skipped a beat.

And then the beat was rapid. Firing. Burning.
And speeding up.

The woman I'm looking at through my hair strands is none other than Kim Jennie.

Kim freaking Jennie.

Without having any other thoughts, I whisk out of there. Stumbling to wear my mask out of my pocket and covering the upper half of my face by pulling down the hood, using my long hair as a privilege. I don't remember what happened for the rest two minutes because I was just running aimlessly. My feet went ahead haphazardly, leaving everything behind and fogging everything ahead of my vision. The few seconds before that two minutes that I devoured with her were simply unexpected.

Precisely unexpected.

I slow down and break off in huffing. Now that I'm standing in the middle of nowhere and trying to get back my breath, I use this time -undoubtedly not the best time- to contemplate what had arisen.

Hundreds and thousands of questions run around inside my head and get intertwined with each other. I forcefully pull the thoughts away to sort them out but they knot even more. I'm out of breath and my heart still hasn't relaxed. Damn, I shouldn't have run this much without doing any warm-up. Where did all that banana milk go, anyway?

I ultimately sort the questions out and this is what I have come up with- what just happened? Was it really her? Why did I run? Wait, why was I even smoking outside? What if she leaks me? She has nothing to gain with it but still. Was running a good choice? Of course, not. Should I go back? And many more. One thing is for sure, running away like this was a bad choice.

A mistake.

I turn around and look back. I'm in an unknown alley. I see the road over there. Street lights, an almost empty road that goes diagonally, few cars driving fast, unknown faces of people looking down on their phones, stray dogs searching for food in the trashcan. The yellow light of the moon is abated by the bright streetlights of Seoul. Calmness. Breathless. Sweats from my forehead run down my cheeks.

I throw a fist on the wall of the building beside me. I punch the wall a few more times.

How embarrassing!

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Jisoo POV
24th July, 5:54 pm
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The first time doing something new is always hard, they say. But the excitement embedded within the beginning was something they didn't tell me about. The sorrow hanging with the end was something that I never knew about.

Today was the last day of the shoot. We just finished our final shoot in the cafe. Months of diets, twisted schedules, sleepless nights to memorize the script and uncomfortable situations just to get here, to have finally completed all of the 16 episodes of the drama Snowdrop. Only to sit here, edging on our seats in fear of it not being able to air.

A few counted months back, Blue House gave an official statement against the petition for the cancellation of Snowdrop. However, Koreaboo dragged the topic back into their recent article. Why? Because unprofessionals such as them wouldn't know the labour it takes to create an original work. But they for sure knew how to get the attention of the public. After all, they need to make a living too.

But would they pay the price if this gets cancelled? They don't and won't. I do. With all of the things that are dear to me and all the precious time I spent on this, I do pay the price.

I stop fidgeting with my fingers, bringing my gaze up to this huge mirror of the makeup room I'm in. It's still Eun Yeongro. She's that bright girl of her own fantasy. Her teary eyes are lost in a daydream -unrealistic like all the other daydreams- of the late Im Sooho singing a serenade for her. Inside that coffee place close to their heart. Where everything is soft and smooth. No crowd, the scent of roasted coffee in the cosy air, morning sunlight coming through the windows and Sooho's nice voice.

In her daydream, everything is fine. In her reality, she lost everything. Every precious thing to her has been snatched away right from her hands. Needless to say, she clutched those things as hard as she could do, but fate being unfortunate towards her, all the precious things slipped off from her hands. The hands of mere a nineteen years old. It is hard for her to believe that all of her happy moments are nothing but a fallacy.

"What are you doing?" A voice draws my attention to the door. I turn my head so fast that my neck hurts, just to find Haein oppa standing there. He smiles genuinely which shouldn't makes me smile back.

Smiles are contagious.

"Uh. Nothing" I reply with a big awkward grin that has probably created crow's feet around my eyes.

"Ok then" he sounds like he didn't care about anything at all and started organizing his stuff. I guess he's about to leave too.

"Heain oppa" comes out of my parted lips.

"Yeah?" He stops whatever he was doing and looks at me, successfully, his attention is caught by me even though I only mumbled his name.

I pick up my hand-phone and rashly go to SNS, in search of that article.

"Can you look at this?" I say, handing my phone to him. That's the only thing I can think about right now. The re-post of the Blue House statement for the drama.

He leans forward and starts reading the screen of the phone staying still in my hand. A frown appears on his forehead. I notice that he has already changed his outfit to casual wear.

I stop chewing my inside cheek and speak again to the cut, "This incident happened months ago. It's not new. Why did they post it again? It's not like they copied the old link but they made a brand new post about an old thing."

After gazing at it a bit longer, he eventually averts his gaze from the phone. While simultaneously folding his T-shirt for packing, he remarks, "It's certainly a significant problem." Pausing briefly, he adds, "Although I'm unsure if they hold any grudge against us, they've been attempting to deceive not only Korean netizens but also fans worldwide. The media's self-serving nature can be quite harsh. Our producer is aware and will be reaching out to the PR team shortly."

I give him nothing but a hopeful nod.

"This edit looks real tho..." He says taking a glance at the phone screen again, an edited photo of me an him that they used for the article since we haven't released any official photo yet.

"Yeah, blinks are well-skilled actually," I say without hesitating.

"How do you if it's a blink or if it's my fan?" He shoots me a questioning look, flashing a friendly-curious smile.

"Well, you know, I'm more popular than you...I'm BLACKPINK" I joke too, which may have come out kind of in a savage way but we both break out in laughter.

"And yeah, Jisoo-sshi, we're gonna be late! Let's go" He suddenly shifts from smiling to sliding the clothes into his bags.

"Er..to where?" I am clueless. Is there something they didn't inform me or I didn't notice?

"You don't know? We are having a team dinner tonight. Today was the last day of the shoot so we're going out for grilled pork and soju. I forgot what chicken place they told me about..." he replied.

"Ok, I'm in. Chicken Place sounds good. We're having chicken too, right?" I ask delightfully.

"You have to be in. You're the lead actress. And yeah we can have chicken, it's on the director tonight" he says when he gives another smile.

"Okay!" I shout in excitement, "Wait right there for me." I walk out to get my comfortable shoes at the shooting spot where I had left. We are having chicken!

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Jungkook's POV
24th July, 6:00 pm
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Three days have passed since that incident. Although there hasn't been any problem related to that at this time but my heart still can't be at peace. I try to convince myself that there hasn't been any problem and my heart tells me "yet". So I decided that maybe I should talk to her. But I'll need help in that case.

I'm kind of nervous -and scared as well- to talk to my manager but I have to. I've braced myself for a storm. Praying that he won't throw a fist. It's just a do-or-die for me.

"Excuse me, hyung, can you spare me some time?" I ask him with a sinking feeling. I don't really feel good about it. The manager was talking with someone on the phone and it looked like a personal call.

"Hold a minute please" he takes the phone away from his face covering the bottom microphone and says to me, "Yeah, sure. Wait in the lobby. I'll be there in five minutes."

"I need to talk to you somewhere empty," I say and the statement hangs in the air between us like a question. I bite my dry lips to dampen them with saliva and ask again, "Can you meet me inside the studio?"

"Yeah. OK" he nods skeptically and quickly gets back on the phone. It's apparent that he didn't want to raise any more words since the person on the other side of the phone was waiting for him.

I reverse my way to the studio.

I've been here for more than the five minutes he told me about but he's still not here. It's a relief in one way that Namjoon hyung was here just a moment ago. He left, thank god.

In the meantime, I have been stalking jennierubyjane on Instagram and I realized that you can know nothing about a person by just looking at her social media. Because I certainly failed to know anything about Jennie except knowing that she wears sunglasses a lot.

I bring my vision to the open door as I hear someone knocking. It's manager, he swiftly moves towards my direction after fulfilling the door-knocking courtesy. I slide my phone into the back pocket of my jeans and straighten my back.

"Hyung, you look so handsome today!" I say with a strained smile while he gives me a lip-quivering moue at my behaviour. Okay, let's just try being more generous. Maybe it'll work.

"Why? You don't like my compliment?" I try hard to keep my flattery face. He disgusts even more, I know he can see through me. He has always been.

"What? Should I say I'm touched? You look weird, stop it" he clicks his tongue, "And I know you have a reason behind this sudden sweet-talk. What is it? What do you need this time?"

"Okay. You know me well. But the compliment was genuine" I heave a sigh and lean comfortably on the chair. I see a bunch of navy blue files in his hands. Is it the approval of our next comeback? If it is, we are going to be busy again soon.

"Enough of buttering me and tell me what's this fuss about? About meeting me privately I mean" He says locking his eyes with mine and taking a sit in front of me. I start feeling like I'm getting interrogated for some crime.

"Actually..." I mute, my mind goes blank. A couple of words is all it'll take. The air leaves my lungs. I can't keep the eye contact with him, he's scary.

Manager waits for more. When it doesn't come, he asks, "Actually what?"

Jeon Jungkook, get a grip. Don't be a coward. Be a real man!

"Actually" I stammer and then continue again, "Urgh okay! let's get it clearly. I need you to find an idol's personal contact" God, I have run out of filler words.

"It's a piece of cake for me. Who is it?" His face looks relieved.

"Jennie Kim...of BLACKPINK" I stutter, real man my foot.

He doesn't say anything for an uncomfortably long time and I can't read his expression during that time. Then he laughs, a relieved kind of guffaw. "God, Jungkook. You had me going through a minute. Seriously, what's up?"

"I'm not joking" I grit the words through my teeth.

"Course you are" He says, still laughing lowering his head. I look at his face, he isn't looking at me now. He's looking at somewhere on the ground or maybe his small eyes are closed because of that wide smile. "Right?" His eyes slide over to mine, casually. But when he sees my face, his smile dims. "Right, Kook?"

"Wrong" I tell him.

He freezes like something just hit him across the chest. The navy blue files he was holding, slip out of his hands. He mostly looks like he doesn't know what to do. I'm struck silent because his face now is the worst thing I've ever seen and I want, so badly, for this not to be happening.

"BLACKPINK Jennie?" His voice is calmer than I expected. Maybe because he's too much shocked or something. He leans down like to robot to sort the files and pick them up.

"Yes," I casually nod and help with picking them up. I assume he still can believe but he doesn't show it.

"Why? What have you done- no no, did she do anything? Did she blackmail you or offered you a sponsor?" He grabs my cheeks with his hands and yells, making me flinch. I open my eyes when he stops. He still has disbelief in his eyes. He starts breathing heavily, groaning and running a hand through his hair. It's a mess.

"No- What the hell are you talking about? Why would she? Why would you even think about her like that?" I ask heavy objection -like a real man this time- because whatever he had said previously still didn't get through to me. What did I just hear?

He gets back to his seat and rubs his with face his hands.

I don't know what to do. I start picking my nails and concentrating on them to calm my mind.

"You're such a troublemaker kid" He breaks the silence with an extremely shrewd look on his face.

"I know" I state flatly. He grimaces.

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Later at 9:05 pm

I'm thirsty, but not for water. I need banana milk. I don't remember having it this week and also I don't know if there is any on the fridge. Jimin has been drinking them a lot recently. I go to the refrigerator and luckily find one left of banana milk. The rest of the drinks are water, sprite and beer. These drinks are mandatory in our dorm.

I pop the top of the package and take a gulp straight from it. Straw sucks. No, I don't mean straw-sucking in literal. I meant straw the tool is lame and it sucks as in being unpleasant.

My eyes dart around the room to find something interesting to do but end up on Yoongi hyung. He is crumbled up on the couch with that off-white blanket on, sleeping peacefully. Even just looking at him gives me a cosy feeling.

My phone -the one that I use for my personal matter- startles me with a jangly text tone. Who would text me at this hour? I go to the other side to pick up my phone from the kitchen island and check the screen while taking steady, small sips the milk. It's the kind and mighty manager- Sejin hyung. He texted me a number and still typing something. I wait for him to finish and it says-

Manager hyung
This is Jennie's number.
You had me go through many troubles to get this. Use this well and make sure to apologize to her nicely.

An "okay" as reply would be more than enough for him. Cool, he got it in a few hours. That's way faster than I thought. I copy the number to add it to my contact. But then I pause seeing the blank space for "name". What should I save her contact as?

Kim Jennie, it is. The classic.

Gathering up all of my courage, I text her.

Me
Kim Jennie-shhi?
Can we talk for a moment?
I'm Jungkook. From BTS.

Unease nips at my stomach and my eyes continuously flick up and down on the screen. This happens when I'm impatient about something.

I suck down half of the banana milk with another big gulp, trudge toward the couch where hyung is sleeping and collapse on the couch dropping the phone there. Yoongi hyung has his bed, his room and has the habit to sleep anywhere. I finish the rest of the milk with multiple big gulps and make loud noises to disturb him. He just shifts a little in his place and nothing more. If he was the female lead in Sleeping Beauty, the prince could never-ever wake him up even after thousand kisses.

My phone suddenly chimes with a text notification and I get startled by the sound. My eyes go through the seat cushion to get the phone back. Hyung groans mildly. I look down at the screen.

Kim Jennie
And the proof is?

I bite my lips. How should I prove myself?

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Jennie's POV
24th July, 9:17 pm
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"What are you doing?" Rosé asks knocking on the door softly and enters without waiting for an invitation. Curling up on the couch next to me, she shakes the plastic cup of her iced green tea. She just got it in delivery.

"Nothing. Just doing a captcha check on someone" I say, looking at my phone screen. I raise my vision to her and watch the questioning look she was giving me all along. Dropping the phone, I curl up on the couch.

"What do you mean?" She asks furrowing her brows and sipping the tea from the straw at the same time.

"You don't need to know-" I get a call before I can finish. It is the unknown number that was messaging me and it's registered with the name Jeon Jungkook. Ok, that was clever of him.

"Jeon Jungkook?" Rosé asks from over my shoulder, "As in the member of BTS?"

"Yes," I reply. Her question and my reply were strangely calm. "I'll explain later. Let me just take this call first" I add.

I glance at the screen and jog toward the balcony for privacy. Rosé watches me go I slide the green icon and hold the phone to my ear.

"Hey, this is Jeon Jungkook. Let's meet in person", a voice comes out from the other side of the phone.