We're Not Married | m.yg

wgm ep. 8

told from aoi's point of view

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"Can you help with the zipper?" Risa asks, sweeping her hair out of the way to reveal her bare back.

I nod and dutifully zip up the scarlet dress. Risa turns around and thanks me. I accept the gratitude. I had been Risa's manager for so long that I forgot how it had been before.

I often wonder as I watch Risa get all of the attention how it was like back in high school. Before I became accustomed with taking the backseat, how was our friendship?

Risa always treated me normal and I was okay with it. I never wanted to become famous, but I always felt a pang of envy whenever a childhood idol would come up to Risa and completely ignore me.

Risa moves on set, cameras flashing as a test. The photographers call out that they're ready and the shoot begins.

I watch for a few minutes and once I'm sure that there are no problems regarding the cameras or the set, I turn back and settle in a chair.

I pull out my phone and open a browser. No free wi-fi. I didn't feel like asking anyone for the password of the private network. I wasn't well-known and famous like Risa, I wouldn't get special treatment.

Instead, I turn on my cellular data. I was paid enough to blow off the charges.

I click into the newest WGM episode and tilt my screen to watch.

There were translations in korean since it was a korean-based show, but the lack of Japanese subtitles was very inconvenient for somebody like me.

I sigh, recalling the last episode. The production crew had edited the footage beautifully, and there was no trace of the thick tension that was in the room while filming that painting scene.

I was in the room, watching from behind the cameras and I was there as Risa's face fell when Yoongi explained that he had to do it for the viewers.

Poor Risa looked crestfallen and I realized that she forgot it was all an act and that Yoongi had a girlfriend.

And I realized from her disappointment— that Yoongi was luckily too distracted to see— was because she was beginning to like Yoongi.

The new revelation hit me like a bullet and ripped me apart. No, not Risa. And not Yoongi out of all people. I knew that once Risa became aware of her feelings, she wouldn't stop until she got Yoongi. That was her personality and that was what made her so appealing to the entire nation of Japan.

Did she even know who Yoongi's girlfriend was?

This episode was a lot more mellow compared to last week's. They were just going to be picking out furniture and decor for the empty room.

Yoongi picked most of it, as I remembered. Though I always knew what was going to happen in these episodes, I still watched them just to see the editing. I often wonder if I would have become a producer if I wasn't Risa's manager.

I was a digital media and film major back in college. Risa had insisted that although she was taking community college and courses online, that I still go to a proper college.

And what Risa wanted, Risa got.

The footage of the two picking out furniture and decor was summed up quickly. The video segued into them at the music store, revisiting instruments that they played around with when they were first filming.

This time, there was less tension and awkwardness. Instead, they laughed and joked about almost everything. Or maybe it was the music they had in the background.

"Wasn't this the same piano as the one we played at last time?" Risa asks, pointing to the brown piano that was at the corner of the room.

Yoongi nods, heading towards it and playing a note.

"Do you want to get it?" Yoongi asks.

Risa nods and that was the end of the episode. I let out a sigh. Wow. The episode was pretty boring.

But at the same time, I couldn't help but watch it. That was how it was always like when a new episode came out every week.

The viewers were complaining about how everything was uninteresting. The show had become the two of them just talking to each other and joking. Apparently, that wasn't enough to satisfy them.

Last episode had broken that. The intimate gesture and the almost hug finally put the two back on track and reminded viewers what the purpose of the show was— of two people getting virtually married and acting like a couple.

The cameras continue flashing and I turn off my phone, my gaze back on the shoot but my mind elsewhere.

How would Risa react after realizing who Yoongi's girlfriend was?

I didn't want to know.

And it hit me that I was doubting Risa. I was doubting whether or not she was a nice person or not. I didn't want to admit it, but I realized that Risa— all naive and used to getting what she wanted— would flip. I spent the past few years avoiding getting Risa mad for I didn't know what she would do if she threw a tantrum.

I don't think even she knows what she would do if she gets angry.