BEHIND THE SCENES

chapter 40: the big telepathy fail

<OST: eight - IU PROD. & ft. SUGA>

"Cinderella!" Joy yelled. "Bring me my shoes!"

"Cinderella!" Yeri shouted. "Where's my dress?"

"Cinderella!" Joy called. "Get me my perfume!"

"Cinderella!" Yeri ordered. "My necklace!"

"Cinderella!"

Jennie collapsed in the corner of the room, sobbing quietly. "I want to go to the ball, I don't want to do this anymore..."

"Cut!"

Jennie wiped away her tears and got to her feet at once, bowing repeatedly. "Thank you, gamdong-nim! Thank you, everyone!"

"Nice work, Jennie-ssi!" The director came towards Jennie and patted her on the shoulder. "You took a one week break, but came back in better condition than ever. How's your ankle? You feel better now?"

"A lot better, gamdong-nim!" Jennie beamed. "Go ahead and make me run, or jump, or climb, I can do anything at this point! I'm fully charged with energy right now."

"Good job, I'm glad you feel better now."

"Gamdong-nim~!" The familiar voice filled Jennie's ears as Joy and Yeri approached them with pretentious smiles on their faces. "Don't just praise Jennie-unnie - how did we do...?"

"Still alright, up to standard-" The director said distractedly. "Work hard, girls."

"We will, gamdong-nim! Thank you!"

The smiles on Joy and Yeri's faces faded as the director walked off. They turned to Jennie with their arms folded and their chins high up in the air.

"You sure know how to pull strings, don't you?" Joy scoffed as she looked down at Jennie's ankle. "Were you even hurt in the first place? Was it even that bad that you needed a whole week to rest? Did you know how badly our schedules were affected?"

"I-" Jennie pursed her lips. "I'm sorry-"

"Sorry? Yeah, you definitely should be-" Yeri shook her head. "We saw what you did throughout this whole one week, Jennie Kim-ssi. I thought you already were distracted enough with that male idol boyfriend of yours but turns out you were two-timing as well...? What was his name again, Kim Taehyun? Kim Taehoon?"

"Kim Taehyung-" Joy answered her, as she stared at Jennie. "I heard he's your boyfriend's friend or something. How? Did you seduce him or something? Jennie-ssi, you're barely five years into your career and you do this? Do you have no shame?"

Jennie sealed her lips, letting their words sink in. These accusations, these words of slander, were not new to her. In fact, she saw them everyday - all over the Internet. But this whole week, Jennie had made extra effort to keep away from reading the comments section and she did indeed feel a little better. Never did she think that she would hear them again today.

"Jennie-ya!"

Jennie turned and saw Jimin walking towards her from a distance.

"You better be on your toes from now-" Joy warned. "We're the ones who put in the effort - we're the ones who deserve to succeed - not you, Jennie Kim. We won't let you succeed so easily. Yeri, let's go."

Yeri gave Jennie one last glare, before they walked off, arm in arm.

"Jennie-ya!" Jimin held up a plastic bag in his hands with a huge smile. "I got some drinks for you! You must be thirsty, aren't you?"

"I'm okay, oppa-" Jennie sighed as she took a seat and whipped out her phone. "You can drink it."

"Eh... I bought it for you!" Jimin frowned as he took a can of iced coffee and cracked it open for Jennie. "Here you go, this will perk you up."