JISOO'S POV
This was Seo Jun's fault entirely.
I had a plan. Go home, eat something, and sleep at a reasonable hour. That was the whole plan. A good plan. A plan that required zero effort and zero risk and I had been fully committed to doing just that until Jun appeared at my elbow after schedules wrapped with that specific expression he wore when he had already decided something and needed me to do something with him. Usually something stupid.
"You need to get out," he said, trailing after me with a puppy look on his face.
Yeah, no.
"I'm going home." I brushed him off.
"You've gone home every night for two weeks. You're going to disappear into yourself."
"I like my apartment." I shrugged, taking a swig of my water from my bottle while I used my towel to wipe sweat off my face.
I had spent the last four hours in the practice room training. Made sure I hit every mark. Taemin always seemed to want to find a mistake and I was determined not to be his scapegoat this time. Especially not when everyone was now paying a lot more attention to me.
"Jisoo." He looked at me. "You've been running on empty since before any of this started and it's getting really hard to see you do this. C'mon, you need one night of just relaxing. Just two of us. We'll have fun, be back in the morning without a hangover, and go for the awards too."
For a long second, I stopped to stare at him. I should have said no. I knew how to say no. I had said no to Jun many times over the years and meant it and held firm and he had respected it every single time.
But my head ached from the constant practice and my resolve wavered.
Damn it.
"One hour," I said.
He smiled immediately and slapped me on my shoulder. "I'll pick you up."
*********************
The club was in Itaewon. A small and cozy space that had music thrumming through my veins as soon as we walked in.
Jun had been here before — he knew the back entrance, knew which booth gave enough cover, and knew the bartender by name which I didn't ask about. We got in without incident and booked a private booth so we wouldn't be seen by anyone unimportant.
I leaned back and let myself actually…let go.
This was… fine. Actually fine. The music was good and nobody was looking at us and for the first time in two weeks, I wasn't in a managed setting with a coordinator watching my expressions and giving me orders.
"See," Jun said, nudging me.
"Don't even think about it."
He laughed. "I knew you'd like it." He drank his drink, still smiling.
I looked at the room and felt something in my chest loosen and thought that maybe— maybe— this had been a reasonable idea.
Then the door of the adjacent booth opened and I looked up.
I saw Seojin first. Then the person behind him.
My brain processed it in stages. What the fuck?
Kang Minjae.
I stared blankly and Jun made a sound beside me that was very small and very strangled.
Minjae hadn't seen us yet. He slid into the booth next to ours, said something to Seojin, picked up a glass that was already waiting, and took a drink.
Fuck my luck.
I picked up my glass, my heart pounding. He wasn't going to see us and even if he did, nothing would happen.
Then he looked up and our eyes met.
For a full second, neither of us moved. His expression did something — not surprise exactly, more like the specific look of a man who was as shocked as I was.
Then, slowly, a smile curled his lips. And that bothered me. The low dangerous glint in his eyes.
He said something to Seojin and Seojin looked over, saw Jun and me, and his eyebrows went up. Then Minjae stood up and I watched him do it with the particular dread of someone watching something inevitable approach.
He slid into our booth. Not the seat across from me. The one right next to me.
Bastard.
"What are you doing?" I said.
"Sitting." He shrugged.
"There's an entire booth right there—"
"This one's closer." He signaled the bartender without looking at me. "Funny place to run into you."
"Get out of my booth." I hissed.
"It's not your booth, you're renting it by the hour same as me." He glanced over and gave me a smirk. "Relax. I'm just sitting."
Jun and Seojin were doing that thing where two people who don't know each other well suddenly have to occupy the same space and fill it with conversation to make it less awkward. Jun introduced himself and Seojin responded warmly.
Within thirty seconds they were talking and I was left with Minjae two inches away from me which was, I noted, becoming a recurring theme in my life that I had not agreed to.
I just wanted a normal day of peace. Was that too hard?
"You look less tense than usual," Minjae said.
"I was less tense than usual." I dragged my glass to myself.
"Why is that past tense?" He raised a brow, his gaze unwavering.
"Because you sat down."
He almost smiled but instead, he picked up his drink. "The awards are tomorrow." He pointed out.
My heart skipped a beat. "I know when the awards are."
"NOVA's won best group four years running." He said it conversationally like he was discussing the weather. "Just thought I'd mention it."
There it was. That quiet bragging.
I looked at him. "Congratulations."
"Thank you." He took a sip. "AURORA had a strong showing last year though. Third place. Good for you."
Third place.
He said it with such perfect pleasantness that someone watching from a distance would have thought it was a compliment. Jun had gone very still beside me which meant he'd heard it too. Third place. After everything — after every 5am call time and stress fracture trained through and year of trying to be more than the reason I was hired — third place said like it was something to be proud of.
I picked up my drink, careful not to let my fingers tremble. I had almost forgotten how much I hated him. Good thing he reminded me how much of a prick he was.
"Four years is a long run," I said evenly. "Things change."
"They do," he agreed. "Though some things are pretty consistent."
I wanted to bite back but instead, I took a swig of my drink again.
He wouldn't leave. Calling the manager would draw attention to myself and I didn't need that.
Seojin cleared his throat and the conversation shifted to something lighter. Jun occasionally added a few things and for a while, it felt like things had become lighter.
But Minjae kept doing it ㅡ Making small casual comments that would have meant nothing if they weren't precisely aimed — a small thing about NOVA's upcoming album rollout, a reference to a collaboration offer he'd turned down that I recognized as one AURORA had pursued unsuccessfully, a mention of their concert venue upgrade said so offhandedly that it barely registered as anything at all.
Every single one landed exactly where he intended it to.
Anger. Irritation.
Fuck this.
I drank another glass. Ordered another. And another. Anything to drown him out before I lost my mind.
"You should slow down," Minjae said quietly.
"I'm fine."
"That's your fifth." He reminded me.
"Shut up, I'm aware."
"The awards are tomorrow."
"I said I'm fine." I looked at him. "Can you just — for one hour, in one room that has nothing to do with any of this — can you not just remind me how perfect you are?!"
The room went so still that you could hear a pin drop.
Minjae's expression changed and he stared at me quietly.
I let out a shaky exhale, my head spinning as I dragged myself to my feet. "I need to use the bathroom."
Before Seo Jun could say a word, I stumbled away, eager to get into the bathroom.
I gripped the sink and breathed and told myself firmly that I was not going to throw up in a club bathroom in Itaewon the night before the biggest awards ceremony of the year. I was not. I was a professional.
The door creaked open behind me and I looked up in the mirror.
Minjae.
Oh good God.
"Get out," I said.
He ignored that completely and came to stand beside me, looking at my reflection with an expression that was blank in a way that was somehow more tolerable than concern would have been.
"Breathe," he said.
"Does it make you happy?" I laughed bitterly, the alcohol making my head spin. "Are you mad about the arrangement? You know it's hell for me too!"
"I know what you mean." He handed me a paper towel without being asked. "Eat something when you get home. Drink water before you sleep."
Of course, he wouldn't answer me.
I looked at him in the mirror and he looked back. Like this was an unremarkable thing, standing in a club bathroom in Itaewon at midnight talking to someone about not being sick.
"Why are you so fucking unpredictable?" I whispered.
He considered that for a moment. "I'm always the same," he said.
"You spent the last hour taking shots at me."
"That was different, Jisoo." He sighed.
My brow raised.
He pushed off the sink. "Because that was out there." He gestured vaguely toward the door. "This is in here."
I stared at him and he sighed before moving toward the door.
"Minjae," I called out.
He stopped but didn't turn around.
"The awards tomorrow." I didn't know exactly why I was saying it. "If NOVA wins again—"
"We will," he said simply.
"If you do." I held his gaze in the mirror. "Don't."
He looked at me for a moment. Something moved behind his eyes that I couldn't fully understand.
"Don't what?" He muttered.
"Do not make fun of me. You do it every year. Don't. I think I got the message pretty clear. You're better than me. You're more important. Happy?"
I should shut up. Stop telling him about how much he bothered me. How I wished to be like him. But the alcohol seemed to have full control over me.
His expression didn't change but he looked away. "You shouldn't wish for things like that, Jisoo."
"What?"
"Good night, Jisoo. Don't try to drive. See you tomorrow, Jisoo. Another day, another lie." He muttered more to himself than me.
His gaze lasted a second too long and he turned around, walking out of the bathroom and leaving me with a swirling mind.