Forever Young 영원히 젊은 Park Jimin

Chapter 42: (VLive) Thank You BLINKs~

8:53 PM

Thank You BLINKs~ has just started!

Five girls appear on camera. From left to right, they were seated on the couch from the youngest to the eldest. All of them were wearing comfortable clothes and were smiling widely, however the one in the middle looked like she had just been crying, her eyes puffy. Luckily, it was difficult to see because of the distance of the camera.

"Annyeong BLINKs~" They all greeted, waving to the camera.

"All of us are complete today!" Jennie announced. "We just got home from the fan meeting event with Sprite, and we'd like to thank everyone who attended. We had fun meeting you guys."

While Jennie was talking, Gale's mind was elsewhere. Yes, she was grateful for the BLINKs who came to meet them, but the last thing she wanted to do now was to go on camera and pretend like she was happy when her relationship was falling apart.

- - -

As soon as the event ended and BLACKPINK got off the stage, Gale rushed back to their tent to get her phone and immediately tried calling Jimin, but he wouldn't pick up. She sent him texts, but he didn't reply. Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa could only look at her with worry, not knowing what to do given the situation. Their manager, who became worried for her the moment Nam Joohyuk made the announcement on stage, approached her.

"Gale-ah." He called. Gale only quickly glanced at him before turning her attention back to her phone.

"Gale-ah, I'm sorry. It was Yang-sajangnim who made the decision. The director called him directly, so he asked me why you haven't accepted the offer yet. I couldn't tell him the real reason, so I just said your schedule was full." He explained. Even though Gale still hadn't looked up from her phone, he knew she was listening because he saw her eyebrows furrow. "He said that it wasn't a problem and that we could cancel other things instead. He insisted that I immediately confirm with the director."

"I'm sorry." He repeated. Gale sighed, but put a hand on their manager's arm comfortingly.

"It's okay. It's not your fault. Thank you, manager." She said. Actually, she felt bad. She had asked her manager to keep her secret. It would have been easier for him to either just tell Yang Hyunsuk about her dating Park Jimin, or to force her to end the relationship, but he did neither. Instead, he protected her secrets and helped her, even if it endangered his own job.

Gale bowed and excused herself, walking out of the tent to get some air and clear her head.

"Come on, pick up." She muttered to herself. Suddenly, someone touched her arm, giving her a small shock. She looked up from her phone and saw the one person she didn't want to see.

"Gale-ah." Joohyuk said. Before he could even continue, Gale yanked her arm out of his grasp.

"Why did you do that? You knew Jimin-oppa was there!" She exclaimed, her eyes looking at him accusingly. The other members of BLACKPINK and their manager rushed out to see what the commotion was about.

No one had ever heard Gale raise her voice before. No one had ever even seen her angry.

"I-I'm sorry." Joohyuk apologized. "I wasn't going to kiss you. I wouldn't do that without your permission."

"It wasn't just about the kiss! You know that everybody wants us to be together! Can you imagine how that makes him feel?" The tears were freely flowing down Gale's cheeks as she talked. Jennie moved to go to her and comfort her, but Jisoo held her back. She knew that Gale had to let it out. Their friend had a tendency to always keep her negative feelings inside, and that wasn't healthy for anyone. Besides, she was also a bit miffed at Joohyuk. She thought that he deserved to at least get yelled at for what he had done.