BEHIND THE SCENES

chapter 16: the melting block of ice

<OST: It's You - Chungha>

Jieun's mind wandered as she walked.

Jeon Jungkook... Kim Taehyung... Gold Entertainment... Jennie Kim... Pills... Scapeg-

"Ah-!"

Jieun bumped her head into something hard and looked up. It was a tall man's back - she hadn't been watching her way. She began bowing profusely.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry..." Jieun's voice trailed off as the guy turned around and Jieun finally realised who it was. "Oh-"

"Wake up your idea, Lee Jieun-ssi-" Jungkook said condescendingly as he walked into the dressing room, not bothering to hold the door open for Jieun behind him. "It's still early in the morning, you can't already be making mistakes this early-"

"Ya!" Jieun gasped as the door almost slammed on her face, but she still managed to push it open thanks to her quick reflexes. "You promised to be nice to me, is this your definition of being nice?"

"Based on what I recall..." Jungkook shook his head, furrowing his eyebrows as he threw down his bag and took a seat on one of the chairs. "I don't remember wrongly - which I never do - the bet was to stop finding fault with you, not be nice to you. So I agree - I lost the bet that day, I underestimated you. So... as long as you don't get on my nerves, I won't give you any trouble."

"So, you're admitting you used to do so before this?"

"No comment. Get to work, Lee Jieun-ssi."

Jieun gritted her teeth and mumbled under her breath as she began arranging the makeup palettes on the table. "You jerk-"

Jungkook raised his eyebrows as he looked up from his phone at Jieun through the mirror. "Excuse me? What did you just say, Lee Jieun-ssi? I don't think I heard you right-"

Jieun bit her lower lip. She'd better not get on his wrong side on her first official day at work. He could probably still fire her any time he wanted.

"I said, 'what style of makeup would you like today, JK-ssi?'" Jieun put on a fake smile as she batted her eyelids at Jungkook, helping him to clip up his hair the way she saw Miyeon do two days ago. "Chic? Pure? Sexy? Innocent?"

Jungkook glanced at Jieun with a look of complete disbelief on his face, but he eventually scoffed and looked away, deciding not to pursue the matter further. "Whatever you deem fit."

Jieun scanned the room. "Miyeon-ie is not here yet, I'll give her a call-"

"Miyeon-ssi isn't on duty today."

"Who's on duty, then?"

"Shuhua-ssi, Minnie-ssi, you."

"Oh-" Jieun nodded as she whipped out her phone. "I'll give Minnie a call-"

"Why? Just do it yourself."

"Huh?" Jieun widened her eyes in surprise. "Me? For your comeback showcase stage? How could I possibly-"

"The makeup is all here, you did a decent job on that guy that day, didn't you?" Jungkook put down his phone at one side and closed his eyes. "Just do it, I'll take responsibility for your actions."

Jieun gasped. "How can I- Shouldn't I at least get Seokjin-oppa's permission first or something...? It's already 3pm, where's everyone? I don't know, I don't wanna get fired-"

"Since when did you think so much before you do something?" Jungkook scoffed. "You never seemed to think much before you blurted out things to me before this. I already gave you permission, Lee Jieun - it's just makeup, if they come later and aren't happy with it, they can remove it and do it again. Besides, Seokjin-hyung's parking the car and the rest of them seem to be late."