BEHIND THE SCENES

chapter 122: something's fishy

<OST: Sleepless Night - Crush ft. Punch>

"JK, you know about that idea you had-"

"SHH!" Jieun hissed, turning around and pressing a finger to her lips as she glanced at Seokjin who stood frozen at the door. She gestured towards Jungkook who was fast asleep, like a little baby. "He's sleeping."

"Damn, Lee Jieun, you're really something-" Seokjin whispered as he handed Jieun the blanket in his hands. "He hasn't had much sleep over the past few days, since you weren't around."

"I know," Jieun said with a small sigh as she draped the blanket over Jungkook and tucked him in. She brushed his hair out of the way and stared down at his pale face with a sad expression. "He had such a long day hanging around, helping me out too. Ah... how I wish I could help him more too, but he wants to recover on his own. I really want to respect his decision, but at the same time, seeing him in such a state everyday makes my heart ache..."

Seokjin shrugged as he hopped onto the driver's seat. "Well... that's between you both. I have no say in this."

"Yeah-" Jieun sighed loudly as she glanced at Seokjin. "But do me a favour, will you? Help me try to convince him to let me move back in and help - don't forget that it's to your advantage as well."

Seokjin glanced furtively at Jieun through the mirror. "Ya, it's not like I haven't tried. I'm not even doing it for myself, I want him to get better too - but no matter how many times I've tried convincing him, he seems to have his mind pretty made up."

Jieun let out a deep sigh as she glanced at Jungkook who lay fast asleep right next to her. "He's really stubborn sometimes, isn't he?"

"Not just sometimes."

Click.

The front door opened at that moment and Byulyi peeked into the car. Seokjin was clearly the most surprised one of all.

"Oh-" Seokjin swallowed hard, his eyes shifting nervously like he had done something wrong. "Byulyi-ya."

"There's space for me, isn't there?" Byulyi asked while hopping into the passenger seat next to Seokjin. "You're dropping Jieun-ie off... so do you mind giving me a lift too?"

"Huh? Um-" Seokjin was slightly fidgety, knowing that the topic of how he seemed to know so much about her stories was definitely going to come up in their conversation. "Well, yeah, there's space but... um... you mean you're done? Aren't you the scriptwriter? Don't you have to stay to discuss the details for the next shoot or something?"

"No, I'm done-" Byulyi shook her head as she buckled her seatbelt and glanced at Seokjin. "You can give me a lift, can't you? Or do you have a problem, or something you're trying to hide...?"

Jieun shifted uncomfortably in her seat behind and squeezed her eyes shut at once, wanting to give the pair some time alone to sort things out.

"Huh? What?" Seokjin spluttered, letting out an awkward chuckle as he hurriedly reached for the handbrake. "Of course not. I was just confirming, you know? Let's go, it's getting late."

The car ride proceeded mostly in silence.

"You know-" Byulyi finally spoke up. "About just now..."

"Ah, just now?" Seokjin let out a nervous laugh as he glanced at Byulyi. "Well, I already said I knew all that not because I read your books but because I-"

"Actually-" Byulyi pursed her lips. "I was just going to thank you for helping me out with the curtains earlier."

Now the atmosphere had become awkward because of Seokjin. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he struggled to keep his eyes on the road. "Ah."