What was going on?

Jieun was sure—she was a hundred percent sure—that she had told her company that she was just "friends" with Yoongi. She was sure to tell her company that there wasn't anything going on in order to preserve his popularity and her career.

So why the did the news outlet say that she dating Jimin?

"I don't understand," she murmured.

"What do you not understand?" her manager asked.

"Why am I 'dating' Jimin?" she asked.

"Consider yourself lucky. If you had gotten into a scandal with Suga, your career would've been over."

"But why couldn't both sides say that I'm not dating Yoongi at all? Why did we have to say that I'm 'dating' Jimin? It's not true!" she pointed out.

"Look, if news got out that you're hooked up with Suga, then both sides suffer. You wouldn't even have a career and Suga would be suffering financially—BTS as a whole would suffer. Suga isn't like you, Jieun. He has a group to consider. If he messes up, then fans will consider the group as a whole messing up. You can't just selfishly claim or disclaim that you're dating Suga," the manager tried to explain.

"So what's the deal with Jimin?"

"Jimin is one of the less popular members of BTS, and arguably the most unpopular member. It looks like Big Hit Entertainment is planning to use him as a pawn to lift BTS's name up. Sure, they'll lose a few fangirls here and there, but they'll get an overall positive response from the public because they'll think that Big Hit 'supports' their idols dating other people," said the manager. He made a right turn and continued to drive towards Big Hit Entertainment.

"Is Jimin aware of the fact that he's being used?" Jieun cried out.

"Probably, since he's already involved in this mess."

"This is terrible," she said, groaning. She slumped in her seat. "After all, Jimin hates Yoongi."

"Terrible or not, this is how it is now. You just need to deal with it."

"I can't believe this."

"Be grateful towards Big Hit. They could've watched us sink and disappear, but instead, they decided to help us out by using Jimin," the manager told her in a stern voice. "Also, be thankful that they're allowing you to work on your writing skills with the BTS member."

Jieun smiled a little. She was still glad that even though she was in this drama, she would be able to see Yoongi later today.

At least I can look forward to something, she thought.

"We're here."

Jieun was about to jump out of the car, but her manager grabbed her arm. Before she had the chance to say anything, her vision got dimmer and was covered with a mask that covered her lower face. She frowned as the manager quickly placed a cap on top of her head.

"Manager, what's all this?" she asked in a muffled voice.

"A disguise," the manager said. "I can't let you go in with a bare face. You're a huge topic, Jieun. People are going to follow you and try to find some secret, juicy news."

"But I don't have anything," she said.

"I can't trust you. I let you run around too much, and now I'm heavily responsible for you," the manager said. He waved his hand. "Go. I'll pick you up later."

"I thought you don't trust me?"

"I don't, but I trust the person who's going to help you make music today."

"You don't trust me, but you trust Yoongi?"

"Who said that Suga was coming today?"

Jieun stared. "Are you serious…?"

"Go find out for yourself," the manager said, getting ready to move to the car. Jieun quickly ran out of the car and charged straight ahead for the company. 

After getting passed through the company's tight security, she got on the elevator. She anxiously waited for the door to open once it closed behind her and started to go up. She played with her fingers and stared at the number grow bigger. Finally, after a short ding! the door opened. She bolted out the elevator and headed to the same recording room.

Without knocking, she opened the door, panting. She stared at two boys—Namjoon and Hoseok—who stared at her with slightly wide eyes. Hoseok, acting like everything was okay, smiled and greeted her, while Namjoon gave her an indifferent look.

"W-Where's Yoongi?" Jieun stuttered, breathless.

Hoseok and Namjoon looked at each other with slightly sad eyes. Then, Namjoon took a deep breath and looked at Jieun seriously.

"We're his substitutes," Namjoon said.

"Yoongi isn't allowed to make any contact with you," Hoseok said. Namjoon elbowed him, as if Hoseok wasn't supposed to say such a thing. "Ow! That hurts!"

"Let me do all the talking," Namjoon whispered.

"W-What do you mean? W-Why isn't he allowed to make any contact with me?" she asked, still confused.

"Well, you two aren't exactly in a situation where you can make contact," said Namjoon. In a more gentle tone, he said, "Please understand, Jieun."

She slowly shook his head. "No way… No! I didn't—Why?"

"It's only for now," Hoseok said, trying to liven up the atmosphere. "I mean, it's only until the scandal dies down. Until then, you two can't contact each other. After all, we don't want any misunderstandings to happen."

"Did he leave a note? Anything?" Jieun asked frantically.

"Even if he did, we were told to rip it up and make sure it doesn't get to you," Namjoon said. 

"No way…"

"On the other hand, congratulations on dating Jimin and not getting eaten up by our fan girls!" Hoseok exclaimed, smiling. "At least you can see Jimin and the rest of us!"

Jieun dropped to her knees. The boys stared down at her as she tried to take in everything that was going on.

One news.

One ing news was all that it took to crush her life again.

• • •

After a long day of learning to write better music with Namjoon and Hoseok, Jieun returned to her dorm. She was strictly told to not leave her room unless her manager came over to pick her up. With all the scandal going on, there was no way that she would be allowed to roam around freely as she did before.

She dropped her body on her bed and looked at her phone. She wanted to text Yoongi, and had been meaning to text her, but she was afraid that he wouldn't be able to respond. There was a chance that his phone might've been confiscated or that people around him would have to look at his phone before handing it over.

This isn't fair, she thought, hiding her face in her pillow. 

At that moment, she heard the door bell ring. She looked up and got up from her bed. She looked through the monitor, then frowned when she saw Jimin at the other end of the screen. She was contemplating on whether or not to ignore him. After all, the media was thinking that she and Jimin were dating.

"Jieun? You there? Can we talk?" Jimin asked. "There's no one out here except for me."

Jieun kept quiet for a few more seconds. Then, with a deep breath, she walked over to the door and opened it. She stared at Jimin, who looked a little surprised to see her.

"Yes?" she asked.

"O-Oh. I didn't think that you'd open the door," Jimin murmured.

"Why would I?" Jieun asked. "I mean, you didn't do anything wrong. It's our company's fault that they decided to say that we're dating, right?"

Jimin felt a sharp pain through his chest. "Yeah, true. True…"

"So why are you here today?" she asked. "You could've called or texted."

"I wasn't sure if they took away your phone, so I came personally," Jimin explained. "I just wanted to see how you're doing."

"Oh. Well, I'm doing just fine. It's a little difficult to move around because people are keeping a close eye on me, but other than that, I'm fine," she said, smiling.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything wrong," she repeated.

She doesn't know that I insisted upon this news, Jimin thought. "Yeah… Jieun?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," she said, blinking her eyes.

"I need you to give me the truth, okay?"

"O…kay?" she said slowly, frowning a bit. Jimin is acting a bit weird. I wonder what hap—

"Do you like Suga?" Jimin blurted. He held his breath and waited for Jieun's answer.

For the longest time, Jieun stared at him. At first, she had a pure look of shock on her face. Then, slowly, her cheeks began to turn pinker until her whole face turned bright red. She nervously bit her bottom lip and looked away from Jimin's serious gaze. She started acting incredibly shy—so shy to the point where any fool could realize how in love she was.

The sharp, painful throbbing didn't stop for Jimin, and he hated himself for that.

"Is…Is it obvious?" she asked softly.

He was crushed. Feelings of betrayal and hate boiled in his blood.

Since when? Why? How come she didn't tell me? Was it all to trick me? He wondered and pondered, but he couldn't come up with an answer.

"Jimin?" She called him in a soft, sweet voice. He flinched. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," he stammered. "I'm fine."

"Oh, right!" She stepped aside a little and opened the door. "Would you like to come in?"

He quickly shook his head. "No. In fact, I'm going to head back now."

"Already?"

"Yeah. I just came to check up on you," Jimin said. He slipped on his hat. "I'll see you later."

"Oh. Um, okay?"

She watched him turn and walk away. She stared at his back before closing the door behind her. Frowning, she made her way back to her bed, planning on getting some sleep.

Right when she was climbing onto her bed, she heard the doorbell ring. She made a small groan before getting up to see who was waiting at the door.

Is it Jimin? she wondered. She the monitor, but widened her eyes when she recognized the covered figure. With her heart racing, she ran to the door and opened it, breathless.

"Yoongi?"

"Sh!" Yoongi exclaimed, putting his finger on her lips. Her heart skipped a beat. "Don't be so loud!"

She blushed. "S-Sorry!" She looked around before looking back at him. "Why are you here?"

"I snuck out," Yoongi whispered. "But forget about me. Are you okay?"

"Me? Y-Yeah, I'm fine," she said, stuttering over her words.

"Are you sure? I mean, the whole world thinks that you're dating Jimin," Yoongi pointed out.

"I know." Then, in a gentle tone, she mumbled, "I miss you."

Yoongi gave her a faint smile. "I miss you, too."

"And I'm sorry," she said.

"Sorry? What for?" He frowned. "If anything, I should be sorry."

"I probably caused a lot of problems for you back at your company due to my carelessness," Jieun said.

Yoongi made a small scoff. "Idiot. Don't be sorry for that. If you hadn't caused a lot of problems for me, then we probably wouldn't have made up in the first place."

She nodded. "True. I won't deny that."

They stared at each other before chuckling. A second later, Yoongi dived in for a quick hug. Jieun froze, startled.

"Y-Yoongi?" She gasped. "Yoongi, let go! What if there's a paparazzi here? Someone might see us!"

"It's a short hug," he said. "Come on. I won't be able to see you for a long time. I'd rather hug now than wait for a hug later."

Blushing, Jieun slowly wrapped her arms around his waist. The two continued to embrace each other, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Then, Yoongi gave her a quick peck on her forehead before smiling down at her. She giggled and smiled back, sharing a loving gaze with the mint-haired boy.

"I should go," Yoongi finally said. He released his grip around her. She clutched onto the sleeves of his jacket before letting go.

"I hope I can see you soon," she muttered. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Yoongi said. The two exchanged a passionate kiss before Yoongi left. Jieun watched him disappear at the corner of the apartment halls before she retreated back into her room.

Jimin, who had hid behind a wall, trembled. He stared down at his phone and at the picture he had just taken moments ago—a clear piece of evidence that Yoongi and Jieun were in love. He had a solid photo of the two kissing with their face uncovered.

What's wrong with me? he wondered. He was about to delete the picture, but stopped himself when his fingers hovered over Yoongi's face. The couple looked so in love and so desperate for each other. They seemed so content and happy just embracing each other. 

Wait a minute. Jimin canceled deleting the photo. He stared at the picture for a long time. I can ruin Suga with this. He narrowed his eyes at the picture of Jieun. I can ruin hers for betraying me, too. He glanced over his shoulders and contemplated on the photo. Sorry Jieun…but at the same time, I guess I'm not sorry at all.

He looked through the internet with his phone before arriving at a specific contact information. He quickly dialed in the number and waited patiently for the person on the other hand to take his call. When he heard a click at the end, he cleared his throat.

"Hello? Is this Dispatch? Yes, I have some exclusive information about two idols—BTS's Suga and IU—and even have a photo of them in action…"