A Thousand Purple Stars (JinJi)

Malice

When Jisoo walked into the Embrace offices the following day, she cleared off her work station and straightened out her computer monitor. Then, she smoothed out her blouse and skirt then sat and waited patiently for Julie to call her into her office. Whenever Dara or another coworker walked by, she would open up her email inbox and try to look busy, but she didn't want to start a task in case Julie suddenly asked her into her office.

After about an hour of this, she started to feel bad about sitting around and not doing any work, so she cautiously turned to the task list Dara had given her. It included more meaningless chores like going through her inbox and sending regretful replies to people emailing in their submissions and sending out a memo to staff that the parking lot on the east side of the building was going to be blocked off for construction next week.

Another hour passed, and Julie had even walked by to talk to someone working in the same office, but she didn't even so much as look at Jisoo. She started to wonder: had Julie forgotten that she wanted to discuss something with Jisoo? Or worse, what if she had changed her mind?

Jisoo tried to take her mind off of it by going back to her task list. She picked up the phone and arranged for a caterer to bring food to the upcoming redesign and summer issue lock-in meeting with the Jeon & Sky editor-in-chief. Apparently, this was going to be a big deal, as they would finalize which stories would be printed. Nothing ever saw the light of day at Jeon & Sky Publishers without the express approval of Editor Jeon himself.

In an uncharacteristic twist, Dara had given Jisoo free reign on which caterer would provide food at the meeting. Jisoo was torn between ordering Chinese food, which she thought was a pretty safe option, or something with a bit more class, like a catering company that did hors d'oeuvres and little finger sandwiches. She ended up choosing a classier option.

Lunch came around after what seemed like an eternity, and Julie Kiyoko still had not called Jisoo into her office. As she headed down to the employee cafeteria, Jisoo's phone lit up with a phone call from Jinyoung.

A phone call from my boyfriend?

She crinkled her brows. Not counting the fake dates she'd arranged to take pictures for their fake online account, the double-date with Jackson and Jennie, and not counting the gala or the publication party, she and Jinyoung had been on a grand total of one date. Two if you counted the walk they took on the hillside park which ended with a hot, breathless make-out session in front of her apartment.

That was over a week and a half ago. He had called her nearly every day since then, though, and they spent hours on the phone, talking about anything and everything. Somehow, though, they never managed to talk about what this all meant. They hadn't even managed to talk about their feelings for each other yet.

So, what now? Did this mean she was his girlfriend?

"Hello?" Jisoo said, answering his phone call.

"Hey," he said, gasping a little.

"Why are you out of breath?" Jisoo asked. She heard him scoff on the other end.

"I went for a run," he said. "I'm studying—or I was studying, but I started getting restless, so I took a couple laps around campus."

"When are your exams?" Jisoo asked, grabbing a tray at the cafeteria. "I feel like you're always studying."

"I have one later this afternoon," Jinyoung said. "Microbiology."

"I don't know the first thing about microbiology, but that sounds like a tough one," Jisoo said. "How do you feel?"

She couldn't see, but she was sure from his silence that he must have shrugged.

"I don't know," he said. "I've been studying all week, this is as prepared as I'll ever be. I figured I should do something to calm my nerves."