in which jeon jungkook believes that lee jieun has fallen for him, when she is actually just doing her job as an undercover news reporter. what happens when he finds himself falling for her?
Jieun looked up from her laptop, where she was busy watching makeup tutorials. "Hm? See what?"
"Seeing how you are right now, you probably didn't," Byulyi said quietly as she hopped onto the bed next to Jieun and passed her the phone in her hands. "Your boyfriend... he just posted a story on Instagram 20 minutes ago. I just happened to see it when I was checking my feed... and I thought you might wanna read it."
Jieun had already been feeling anxious all morning when Jungkook hadn't contacted her after the release of Jennie's video. And she didn't know why, but she felt like something was wrong the moment she felt Byulyi patting her on the back gently. Mustering up all the courage she had left in her, she looked down into the phone and began to read.
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"What?"
"He's leaving the k-pop industry, Jieun-ah," Byulyi said softly. "Did he discuss about this with you before he made this decision?"
"No?" Jieun exclaimed as she replayed the story over and over again, reading each paragraph multiple times to make sure that she had gotten him right. "What the hell?"
"Jieun-ah, calm down-" Byulyi pursed her lips. "Take a deep breath, come on. It's not something to be upset over, it's okay-"
"How is this okay?" Jieun looked at Byulyi with tears already welled up in her eyes. "How is any of this okay, unnie? He didn't even tell me before deciding about this, he didn't even-"
"Maybe he didn't want to burden you," Byulyi tried to explain. "Maybe he knew that you've been stressed over his issue as well, and didn't want to worry you some more-"
"Worry me? I'm his girlfriend!" Jieun exclaimed, as tears poured down her cheeks. "I'm his freaking girlfriend, Byulyi-unnie. Such a big decision like this... how could he not have discussed it with me..."
Byulyi pouted as she pulled Jieun into her arms and hugged her tightly. "It's okay..."
"He's not retiring from the industry because of this..." Jieun sobbed. "He's retiring because of me..."
"What?" Byulyi frowned as she pulled away. "What do you mean? No, I'm sure that's not the case-"
"Read it again, unnie-" Jieun held up Byulyi's phone in her face, sniffling non-stop. "He says that recent events made him realise that he doesn't like having his life out there... That's me, isn't it? I made him give up on his dreams, I-"
"Hey, don't jump to conclusions so soon-" Byulyi wiped away Jieun's tears with a piece of tissue. "Why don't you give him a call? Maybe you should talk it out."
"I wanna go look for him, unnie." Jieun burst into tears as she jumped up from her bed. "I haven't seen him for two days now... I miss him..."
"It's not safe for you to go to him right now, Jieun-ah-" Byulyi followed after her out into the living room. "Reporters still have their eyes on his every move, just wait a little longer when things die down-"
