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"a friend to all
is a friend to none"
•••

⚠️warning: YG new CEO bashing.⚠️

•••

"Why can't Dispatch just mind their own fucking business, huh? And of all people, why do they keep dragging Lisa into this?"

Lisa just sat their quietly as Jennie ranted about the current scandal Dispatch released. It seems that someone taped Sehun getting into her apartment building that night he forced himself on her. She just can't catch a break, can she?

"Lisa and Sehun are members of two of the biggest groups in the industry. Not only that, they also belong to big 3 companies so the news of you two dating is like a nice big pay check for them," the new female CEO calmly explained. "It's a business. We cannot do anything about it."

"Can't? Or won't?" The brunette spat raising an eyebrow at the older woman. "Just so you know, sajangnim, we've been on the industry for a long time. We're not totally clueless with the transactions that happens between Dispatch and entertainment companies. It's funny 'coz Lisa and Sehun had been dating for three years and yet no news of them dating that time got out. But the moment you stepped in, this happens."

The woman—who seem to be in her late thirties, also raised an eyebrow calling Jennie's challenge.

"Are you insinuating something, Miss Kim?"

"I am not only insinuating. I am accusing you of cutting funding on feeding those mindless social piranhas." The girl crossed her legs and stared daggers at the woman. "We know Yang sajangnim was giving those press people—especially Dispatch, a monthly stipend for our protection. Now tell me, what happened? Why did they suddenly focused their energy into targeting Lisa?"

"You are indeed one clever girl, Miss Kim," the cunning woman gave them a smirk that just made them even more pissed than they already are. "Yes, we cut ties with Dispatch as of this quarter reason being that we can just keep continue, in your own words, feed those social piranhas. The company had been experiencing some financial difficulties and I think bribing the press due to the carelessness of our artists should not be our concern."

"What?!" The girls—excluding Lisa, all blurted out. The youngest just scoffed like she already knew what the evil woman in front of them was about to say.

"We are your artists! You should be protecting us!"

"You're not our only artists," the CEO countered. "Do keep that in mind."

Lisa had been in a meeting with the woman twice now due to the problems Dispatch had been stirring on social media. She already theorized that this might have been the case that's why she's been the center of all recent controversies involving idols. But today, she just confirmed it.

Wicked that woman may be, but what she said had a point. Half a point. It is true that they shouldn't give in to the demands of those so-called journalists because it's like they're just giving them the power over them. But the other half, she strongly disagreed.

Why wouldn't you protect your artists? The very ones who work hard just to put money inside their bank accounts? If they get ruined because of this, they are the ones who would lose millions out of this.

"Can't you girls see? It is not the company's fault why you get caught in these rumors. If you had been more careful, this wouldn't have happened."

"I was assaulted that night," she spat, gritting her teeth on the process.

"And I feel genuinely sorry for that, Miss Manoban," the CEO said. "But it isn't the company's fault."

Jennie was ready to pounce at the old woman. Jisoo, being the calm one, stopped her. But that didn't mean that the girl wasn't seething.

"Excuse me?" Chaeyoung then exclaimed. "Then whose fault is it being assaulted? Her? Are you fucking out of your mind?!"

"Careful, Miss Park. I am still your CEO. I can terminate your contract whenever I see fit."

The four girls wanted to fire back but they remembered their managers and staff. If ever their contracts get terminated, it will affect their employment too.

But as of the moment, they all clearly wanted out. Maybe this is why most of their sunbaenims left when the management changed. YG wasn't a family anymore. It was more of a slave house.

"For now, all I can offer you, like before is the use of our PR team. We can issue an official statement any time you want, Miss Manoban."

"No need," Lisa said earning looks from her eonnies. She just smiled at them saying to just let it slide. It was a lost cause, actually. Whatever she say now would just reflect badly on her and the girls. "We'll just head home and rest."

"Lisa—"

Jisoo stopped Jennie and followed her.

"Yeah, we'll just head home," the eldest grinned confusing the two other girls. Then the girl turned towards the CEO blankly. "You know, not all companies treat their artists this way. Makes you want to think twice right?"

Lisa smirked. Though she's not much of a reader, her mom always told her to be mindful of the contracts she signs. Good thing she listened.

"Before you treat us like trash, sajangnim, best you review your artists' contracts," she then turned to Chaeyoung who seem to be getting her point now. "Seven years went by a blur, right? Should we consider signing with a company that has better management?"

"You think I'd be afraid of your petty threats, young lady?" The CEO scoffed. "YG owns BLACKPINK. Even if you leave, you wouldn't be able to use it. And you four are nothing without YG."

"No," Jennie slammed her hand on the table. "You are nothing without us. Don't even bother talking to us about contract renewal, sajangnim. We're not interested."

"And just so you know," Lisa added. "YG doesn't own the name BLACKPINK. You only own the rights. So go ahead and check the law. You must've forgotten that in the events that all of us decide to leave the company, you are required to turn over all intellectual property that involves our group, to us."

That made the smirk on the CEO's face fade almost instantly.

"Not so cocky now, huh?" Jisoo spat. "Come on girls. We just have to wait for a year, right? I guess that's enough time for us to go and check some companies interested in signing us."

"Oh!" Chaeyoung exclaimed. "I think I know the perfect company."

•••

Jungkook was pacing back and forth inside his apartment. He was patiently waiting for his girlfriend to arrive since she was called in to her company earlier that day. The cats were all sitting on the couch—yes, they are all well-behaved now, watching him with confused gazes.

I'm on my way home.

That was the text message he received from Lisa ten minutes ago. He didn't know why but he sensed that something was off. Like something had just happened or something. Also he's been waiting for YG's statement regarding the rumors but there was none. Quite odd because even SM hasn't released anything too.

His ears perked up at the sound of the door's lock being opened. Even the cats turned towards the door almost at the same time as he did. So he hurriedly ran to the door and Lisa stepped right in.

"How was the meeting—"

Jungkook was caught by surprise when Lisa suddenly threw her arms over his shoulder and hugged him tightly. Of course he instantly embraced her back and even lifted her up.

"What's wrong?" He asked. But Lisa just shook her head that tucked on the crook of his neck. He figured that there was indeed something wrong.

He carefully walked towards the living room—still carrying Lisa but now her legs were wrapped around his waist, and sat on the couch together. The girl refused to let go of her boyfriend and just stayed wrapped around him while sitting on his lap.

"What do you want to eat?" Jungkook asked as he brushed his fingers through her hair. "Do you want to buy some chicken? Skewers? Pizza?"

Again, Lisa shook her head sideways—still refusing to let go. Her hug grew tighter too.

"How about we watch Goblin?"

Lisa said muttered a soft no.

"How about that Secretary Kim show? I know you liked watching that too."

It was still a no. He started to get worried. So he did what every good boyfriend would do.

He gently scooped her up and wade their way towards they kitchen. He placed her on the kitchen counter to sit while he rummaged through the fridge to find some ice cream.

Lisa silently took the spoon Jungkook had offered and dug in the tub of fresh vanilla ice cream.

"Is it yummy?" he asked and Lisa just silently nodded. He smiled and patted her head. "So are you going to tell me what's wrong now?"

Lisa stared at him before heaving a heavy sigh.

"I hate our new CEO," the girl muttered. "It's like we're not even part of her company anymore. Just cause she has new groups lined up for debut doesn't mean she can just cast us on the side as if we're nothing."

Jungkook's forehead creased. "What? Why did she do that?"

"Because she said the scandal was our problem, not the company's. So we should be the ones to deal with it and not them."

"Huh? But aren't you the ones responsible giving almost half the income of YG the past several years?" He was so confused. "No offense to the other groups but you were the ones who managed to pull YG back to being a blue-chip company after they fell. Not to mention the reasons why investors still trust that company."

"But that's not what that ungrateful witch thinks," she said under her breath. "Since our contract will expire soon, we're thinking of signing elsewhere. Somewhere we can be taken care of better."

"Well... I think Bang-PD would be happy to sign all four of you," Jungkook suggested. "I mean, you are BLACKPINK. Companies would be lining up just to sign the four of you."

"Kook, HYBE doesn't do girl groups," she argued. "And what they did to GFriend still gets on my nerves."

"Hey, that was SoulMu. Bang-PD was so angry after finding out what just happened."

"Isn't he the Founder-CEO?"

"Of BigHit. Not SoulMu. That company still has its own CEO."

"Well... We'll think about it. I still need to get my eonnies' opinion about this."

"Yeah, sure," he said and kissed her forehead. "You girls deserve better. You deserve better."

"That's why I'm with you," she said and smiled—genuinely. That made Jungkook blush so hard.

"S-So... what are you planning on doing with that scandal?"

"Nothing," she answered. "I'm not going to do anything. It's not like we got caught kissing or something. The news will just die down eventually."

He smiled. Lisa really is such a strong person. But unlike other people, she's not afraid to be vulnerable at times.

Jungkook noticed a bit of ice cream on the corner of her lips. He was about to wipe it of using his thumb but he thought of a better idea.

He leaned in and claimed Lisa's lips in a quick but deep kiss. Of course, that caught the girl off guard.

"Mmm..." he said as he leaned back. "Tastes good."

Lisa rolled her eyes.

"Just good?"

Jungkook grinned.

"I'll be needing more to compare."

•••

Lisa woke up in the middle of the night. Though she said that it was all good and that she's fine, she can't really deny the fact that she's feeling all sorts of anxiety due to the scandal.

Jennie strictly told her not to look on social media for a while but she can't help but take a quick peak at it.

And just as she expected, her name along with Sehun's is at the top of the trending lists. Be it Naver, Twitter or even Weibo.

Topics like "Slut Girl Lalisa" "Lalisa Homewrecker" and "Sea Monkey Lalisa" were only a few of the defamatory ones. But the top one was "We Are Always Here For You Lisa". She can't help but smile and be thankful that in a sea of hatred, her beloved lilies and blinks are always there ready to show their love and undying support.

Being hated on or called hurtful names are not new to her for the past years she's been an idol. She experienced a long of racism on all kinds of platform as well as disrespectful comments. But aside from her loved ones, the love of those who truly supports her is where she get the strength to face every hurtful thing they throw at her.

It doesn't matter if everyone hates her. As long as there is one person who believes in her and loves her, she will continue fighting and doing what she loves.

She turned to her side and saw Jungkook sleeping soundly. His tattooed arm was sprawled to the side that served as her pillow, and the hem of his shirt was slightly lifted—abs peaking.

Lisa just smiled and curled her legs close to her body. She watched him sleep as her arms hugged her legs and head resting on top of her knees.

Who would have thought, right? Jungkook and her, together. She used to think so lowly of him but in reality, he is such a great guy. Perfect, even. There's no way in hell would she let him slip away.

Maybe now that their groups on an indefinite hiatus, things won't spiral downwards like Sehun's, right? Blackpink won't be as busy as they were previously after that fight with the CEO so Jungkook won't cheat on her, right?

Right after that thought passed inside her head, she scolded herself. Jungkook's not like that. He would never hurt her like that. She trusts him and she should always do.

But can you really blame her? It sucks to get cheated on. Jungkook doesn't deserve being doubted on just because her previous boyfriend fucked it up.

Feeling her throat dry up a bit, she carefully hopped off the bed and made a beeline straight to the kitchen. She took one banana milk carton out of the fridge and decided to watch the stars by her balcony.

Sitting on the cold tiled floor, she smiled at how peaceful it was out there. Her cat—Lego, must've felt she was a bit lonely alone that's why the little one decided to join her.

"Hey, baby," she cooed as the kitten brushed his nose on her hand.

"I'm your baby too."

She almost screamed when she felt a pair of big arms wrap around her waist and his chin on her shoulder. She chuckled. Good old petty Jeon Jungkook.

"Did I wake you up? Sorry. I just can't sleep."

"Why? Are you still thinking about that news?" He remained in his position—back-hugging her while he's kneeling.

"Yes and no," she said and smiled. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure this banana milk can help me get back to sleep."

"Okay." Jungkook's arms around her grew tighter making her chuckle.

"Kook, go back to the room—"

"Okay."

Still, the guy didn't budge.

"Jeon Jungkook!"

"What?"

"I want to drink my milk!"

"And I want my girlfriend next to me when I sleep. Let. Me. Be."

Jungkook sat behind her without breaking the hug. All she could do was shake her head and sigh. As if she'd win against him when he's like this.

"Oh, and your phone kept buzzing a while ago," he sleepily said as he handed her the phone. "I didn't read the text but it's from a Junmyeon oppa. That's Exo's Suho, right?"

Her forehead creased. "Yes."

Curious, she immediately opened the lengthy message EXO's leader had sent.

Hey, Li. It's me Junmyeon. I just want to ask if you're available to meet with me and manager tomorrow? This is about the recent issue between you and Sehun. We tried contact YG about it but they did not respond so I was hoping to discuss things directly with you. Also, we would want to personally apologize for what our maknae had caused. Any place you are comfortable with is fine with us. I will personally guarantee that Sehun will not be around during our talk. Hoping for your positive response regarding this. God bless.

•••
"...chase two girls,
lose the one."
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06 - 06 - 2021

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