BEHIND THE SCENES

chapter 51: falling fast

<OST: Orbit - Hwasa>

Jieun lay on her bed, deep in thought.

Last night, Jungkook had poured out his secrets to her about his past with Taehyung. And Jieun was glad he was opening up to her, but at the same time she felt so afraid. As she looked down at the gold medal in her hands, she was secretly thankful she hadn't tried to force it on him. He clearly still needed time to heal, and she was alright with that. The only problem was deciding what she was going to do from now.

Ring! Ring!

Jieun picked up her phone after five complete rings - longer than she usually would, on a good day. "Hello?"

"Jieun-ssi!" Chungha's voice chirped on the other end of the line. "Good morning!"

It wasn't a very good morning for Jieun at all.

"Good morning, sunbae-nim," Jieun managed. "What made you call this morning?"

"I need updates."

Jieun swallowed hard. "About what?"

"You know what I'm talking about..." Chungha chuckled. "Any new updates on JK-ssi and Jennie-ssi? Did you manage to find out what that document was about?"

"No, I didn't."

"Are you planning to go look for it then?"

Now was her chance. Jungkook was out of the house and she was all alone... but somehow Jieun no longer felt the urge to snoop around.

"Today's not a good time, sunbae-nim-" Jieun lied. "He's at home today, so I most likely won't be able to do anything much."

"O-Oh..." Chungha pursed her lips. "I see... In that case, can I ask you something else?"

"Sure, sunbae-nim."

"Is there anything else you happened to find out about JK-ssi while you were there?" Chungha asked carefully. "You know, yesterday, I was there at the Jamsil Stadium with Hyejin-ssi... I went to the toilet but when I came back, she told me JK-ssi and V-ssi seemed to have some beef going on... Do you happen to know anything about that?"

She did. Jieun looked down at the gold medal in her hand, recalling the information Jungkook had entrusted her with last night.

"No, I don't, actually-" Jieun lied through her teeth. "He doesn't tell me much... I guess I haven't gained his trust yet. So yeah, I know nothing as of now."

"Ah... is that so?" Chungha sounded slightly disappointed. "Hm... Jieun-ssi, I'm not so sure if I should say what I'm about to say but..."

"Go ahead, sunbae-nim."

"I don't have much time, so I'll keep it short," Chungha began. "I don't know if you've seen it, but Hyejin-ssi has made it onto TV."

Jieun felt her heart drop. Hyejin had joined the company around the same time as she did, so in her heart, there always had been some sort of rivalry between them. She had tried her best to come out and find a good scoop just to get on TV, but Hyejin did so without even trying as hard as her. Jieun felt upset, and like her efforts had all just gone down the drain.

"Oh, is that so? I'm happy for her!" Jieun chuckled softly as she lied for her third time in the short span of five minutes. "Help me congratulate her."

"Mm, I will..." Chungha hesitated. "Don't be stressed by her achievement, alright? Keep your eyes on the prize and keep working your way towards it. You'll be there in no time, Jieun-ssi."