Behind The Scenes ༻ Park Jisung

༻ 15

maybe i will never be
all the things that i wanna be
now is not the time to cry
now's the time to find out why

༻

Aruna let the chord of the wired earphones dangle out of her pocket that she just stuffed it in. Eliana probably noticed but didn't say anything.

"How's the dance going? There's only a week until we have to perform it and I wanted to check up on everyone," she sat next to Aruna.
"I'm doing good," she lied. Eliana stayed quiet. She had a concerned expression on her face but just nodded.
"Okay. Go eat lunch Runa, we gotta stay healthy."

Aruna agreed even though she would rather have five extra hours of dance practice than eat. "You too Eli."
"Don't worry about me. That's my job," Eliana lightly shoved her. "And besides, I just had a sandwich. I have to help Minju because Ciela wanted to go out."

Aruna felt bad. Maybe she should've stayed back and do something but she didn't. Eliana would find a way to make her leave anyways. She always did.

As she approached the elevator, she couldn't help but feel a sense of relief wash over her. It had been a challenging practice. Her thoughts, however, were interrupted when she saw Jisung already standing there, waiting for the elevator.

Remembering his headphones, she gathered her courage and softly cleared her throat, catching his attention.

"Um, excuse me," Aruna began, her voice barely more than a whisper. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the buds. "I found a pair of wired headphones outside the practice room door. Are they yours? I mean- you're the only person I know who uses them but like not saying they're not cool because they totally are."

Jisung's eyes widened in surprise, and he flushed slightly, clearly caught off guard. Had she caught him eavesdropping? More importantly- she knew what type of headphones he used?

"Oh, uh, yeah. Those are mine. I must have dropped them," he mumbled, reaching out to take the headphones from her. "Thanks."

Aruna nodded, a small smile playing on her lips. She was about to say something else when the elevator chimed, announcing its descent. The doors slid open to reveal Sungchan inside, who looked both surprised and concerned at the sight.

"Aruna, are you okay?" Sungchan exclaimed, looking genuinely worried. "I called out to you yesterday to hold the door open for me but I don't think you heard me. Unless...something else was up?"

Aruna felt a blush creep onto her cheeks as she stammered, "Oh, uh, sorry, Sungchan. I must not have heard you. You know how loud I like my music." It wasn't a lie.

She laughed it off, trying to hide her embarrassment, but Jisung noticed. He couldn't help but glance back and forth between Aruna and Sungchan, sensing that something more was going on beneath the surface.

Sungchan, oblivious to the unspoken tension, just shrugged and said, "That's fine. I guess I'll just have to yell louder next time. But oh my gosh let me tell you what happened with Wonbin and Sohee today."

As they stepped into the elevator, Aruna couldn't shake the feeling that Jisung knew more than he let on. She stole a glance at him, their eyes briefly meeting, and a silent understanding passed between them.

He knew something about her she didn't know herself.

Jisung leaned back against the elevator wall, pretending to be engrossed in his own thoughts, but his attention was fixed on Aruna and Sungchan as they chatted.

He wasn't particularly close to Aruna, but he'd observed her from a distance enough times to notice certain patterns. There was something about her demeanour that didn't sit right with him.