JISOO'S POV
The company wasted no time.
The post was up at 9am the next day.
My manager sent it to me five minutes early. I took one look at it and put my phone down, taking a deep breath before I picked it up and looked at it again.
We looked like two people in the middle of something. Fucking concept, my foot. It had worked too well ㅡ made it look like it was something more. Something real.
With a deep sigh, I clicked post, aware that I had to put it up on my personal account for more traction.
Almost immediately, likes started pouring in, the numbers climbing fast.
Minjae's comment came five minutes later.
"You dropped something."
I stared at it for a few minutes. Three words. An inside reference. One he knew would get the people wondering. To be fair, it got me wondering too because what the fuck did that mean? But it didn't matter, it blew up and everyone went crazy, throwing up posts stating that Minjae had commented on my post about the two of us and we were in love.
I went through the posts. Big mistake. People were making full analyses and losing their minds trying to piece everything together ㅡ the lengths fans would go to make sure the narrative they wanted was right. And the things we had to do to keep them excited.
My fingers trembled as I dropped my phone on my nightstand.
How long would I keep up the lie?
It didn't seem too hard for Kang Minjae. It was so effortless, the way he got into character in public. He thought he was funny. That was the thing about Kang Minjae, he thought everything he did was effortlessly clever, and the worst part? He wasn't entirely wrong about it and he knew it and that made it worse.
I could reply. I could say something vague that played into what he said, something the companies would approve of, something that would give the fans exactly what they wanted.
But not.
Instead, I put my phone down and leaned back against the headboard. He could sit there with this three-word response and color-coded chart fanbase.
But I was going to sleep.
I had a full day ahead.
************
Less than an hour later, unfortunately, I found myself at the company. We had a 10am call and then a press photo for an upcoming music show, then a team lunch that management forced us to have periodically because it looked good and kept the group from fracturing visibly.
When I arrived, I was immediately ushered into the styling room where I was dressed and took my position in the lineup. The photos were simple and straightforward. The photographer kept moving us around like furniture until the compositions worked.
Smile. Pose. Reset.
Taemin was the center of most setups which made sense. He was magnetic in a way that was difficult to manufacture ㅡ I guess that's what eight years of training with a camera did. Fans called it natural. But I had watched him for three years to know it wasn't. It was years of deliberate work, which I respected. I respected a lot of things about Taemin.
But these days, I started paying attention to other things about him too. Nothing I could name yet. Just patterns…
The way he was quieter in the group settings. The way he checked his phone occasionally. Small things that probably meant nothing but I was reading into because I was tired and sensitive and Seo Jun had planted something in my head I couldn't fully dislodge.
We broke for lunch shortly after and we ordered food, sitting around the group table to eat.
Hyunsuk was talking about the music show staging while Wonjae kept complaining about the early call time next week. Jun was eating quietly and occasionally adding a few funny comments.
All of it made sense.
Thenㅡ Hyunsuk looked up from his phone. "The post is still doing numbers. Minjae-ssi's comment is still trending. There are even a few new hashtags."
"Which comment?" Wonjae asked.
"The three-word one."
"You dropped something?" Wonjae made a sound. "What does that even mean?
Hyunsuk shrugged. "Nobody knows. That's why it's trending."
"It means something to someone," Jun said without looking up from his food.
I poked at my food, refusing to say anything.
"Jisoo," Taemin called my name and I looked up. He was looking at me with the expression of someone who was concerned. "Are you getting enough rest? With all the extra schedules you've been getting apart from everything we already have?"
A tired smile tugged at my lips. "I'm fine."
"You look tired."
"I said I'm fine, Taemin."
"I'm just asking." He smiled. "We're in a heavy period. It's a lot of management on top of ㅡ" a small gesture, easy, like he was indicating something obvious. "ㅡ everything else going on."
"He said he's fine, Taemin." Jun sighed.
Taemin glanced at him. "I heard him."
"Thenㅡ"
"I'm just checking in, Jun. Is that not allowed?" His smile stayed perfectly in place. "We're a team. We should check in on each other."
Jun held his gaze for a moment and then looked back at his food with a grunt.
The table moved on after a few tense seconds.
Thank fuck for that.
We were nearly at the end of the meal when Taemin picked up his phone, scrolled through with a blank look, and then set it back down, looking over at me.
"You know what I keep thinking?" His tone was blank. "That photo. The close one. It's a good shot, Jisoo. Really good and I think you both look good together."
A pause. Then he continued. "Funny how these things happen, isn't it? One night and suddenly, everything changes." He picked up his glass. "I've been working in this group for eight years for that kind of attention."
He said it so lightly that I would have brushed it off but I couldn't.
The table went silent again.
Hyunsuk set his chopsticks down and Wonjae looked at his plate. Jun looked at Taemin with an expression that was very still and deliberate.
And me? I just stared at Taemin, my smile faltering. "Eight years is indeed a long time."
He nodded solemnly. "It is."
"You've worked hard."
"We all did, Jisoo." He nodded.
Right.
"We have…" My voice was sharp now. Low but rough around the edges. "Funny how these things happen."
Something in his expression shifted but he didn't say anything, he looked away instead. "Exactly."
He set his glass down and turned to Hyunsuk, asking stuff about staging and the moment closed as if nothing had happened.
Under the table, Jun's knee pressed against mine briefly. I looked at my plate and finished my food.
I was fine. I was always fine.
I thought about Taemin's face when I had said 'Funny how these things happen'. That small thing behind his eyes that came and went.
I'd seen it. He knew I'd seen it. That's why he looked away.
Good.