attraction.

Only Pretend. 4/9

Park Chaeyoung feels paralysed, as though she were frozen in time.

She'd imagine this day quite a lot, to be honest. There were nights where she'd muse about how she'd react if they'd ever bumped into each other and in fact, she admits that at her lowest, she purposely went to places he'd frequented—grocery store, restaurants and even his favourite cafes.

Funnily enough, she'd even dreamed of the day where she'd make a name for herself and bump into him at a show and she'd prepared, in her head, lengthy dialogue about how she's well and doesn't need him anymore. She promised herself that no matter how much her heart ache, she'd get her own revenge—by showing him that she was happy without him, even if she wasn't.

Park Chaeyoung admits that for a brief moment in time, seeing him made her feel a sense of longing.

How long had it been since she'd seen him? She can't quite recall.

A part of her was beginning to slowly forget him, with work piling up and her knew "marriage" with her fake-husband, but for a brief moment, it was like muscle memory that misses him. She misses the good times they'd shared.

"Chaeyoung, it's good to see you," his voice is lower than she remembers and it's hard for her not to be mesmerised by the way his eyes are looking at her, staring into her soul, "... I was surprised when I got a call from my agency about this last-minute shoot, I came right away."

She wonders, if he's proud of her.

Was she finally enough in his eyes?

Park Chaeyoung opens her mouth to speak, but not a single word comes out, still obviously shocked at meeting her first love after all that has happened.

She hears Jeon Jungkook clearing his throat from beside her, which makes her realise how selfish she was in the first place to drag him along. Her eyes turn to him, seeing the way he's looking at her, as though he's trying to make sense of her strange behaviour.

"I'm so sorry to pull you into this," she pouts slightly, feeling guilty knowing that he had his own schedule and had to drive all the way to the shooting location and suffer through the mental trauma of thinking he'd have to model.

A part of her expects him to dismiss her, the way she'd been dismissed before—by clients, her boss and even by Kim Taehyung.

But Jeon Jungkook doesn't do that.

Instead, he surprises her by rubbing her back in confort, "... it's okay, I'm actually quite relieved."

Before anyone else could speak, one of the directors come and sees both men.

"Well, since we have two models, we could try shooting with both. Individual and duo shots could work well for the concept," he suggests, "... what do you think?"

-

Park Chaeyoung's heart flutters as she watches from behind the camera, occasionally rushing over to the set to drape the garment a certain way to create the concept she had in mind. He was a real natural, and in fact, she feels annoyed not realising his potential early on. But her heart wasn't racing because of how cool he seemed on camera, but rather because of what had happened as they were preparing for the shoot.

As the veteran, Kim Taehyung did his solo shoots first, giving Jeon Jungkook time to prepare in the dressing room with the help of makeup and hair. They had a few minutes to spare alone as they waited to be called, and he turns to her and asks, "... it's him, isn't it? Your ex?"

Her eyes widen in surprise.

Was she really that obvious?

"Of course I know my wife better than that," he responds as though he read her mind, "... you seemed tense, and well—I remember you telling me he was a model so I put the two together. He's very attractive, isn't he?"