“Unnie, were you lying to me?” There are worries in her voice.

“Lying? About what?”

“About Jinyoung,” whispers Jisoo. “He’s here Unnie. He’s attending.” Jisoo sounds so weak without her realizing it.

“Ah… Really? I guess he changed his mind.” Sang Won answers innocently.

“No, Unnie. He never canceled. You lied to me.” Jisoo sounds devastated. “I want to go home.”

Sang Won freezes.

“You can’t. I won’t allow you to get away from here before the event ends.” For once, Sang Won raises her tone. “It’s Jinyoung for God sake. You know him, he knows you. You guys never fight neither hate each other. Avoiding him is not a solution to any of your fears.

“Stop making this hard Jisoo. It’s Park Jinyoung. We both know he cares about you more than any-“

“Stop!” Jisoo cut Sang Won with a shaking voice. “Don’t make it even more difficult Unnie. Don’t make it as if my feeling is a joke. Do you know how hard I try to keep myself away from him?”

Sang Won tries to catch a breath in between Jisoo’s rage. She’s been trying to create some sort of shield since that day. Avoiding men. Avoiding dinners. Avoiding dates. Avoiding Park Jinyoung.

“Please Jisoo,” now Sang Won is pleading. “This event is really important. To all of us. To you especially. Park Jinyoung won’t do anything to you.

“Please, Jisoo. This is my only wish to you. And you know I never ask anything from you.”

Jisoo is inhaling as much oxygen she can gather in the stone-marbled restroom. She tries to rewind the very first moment when she got informed about the award announcement. It was from Critic’s Choice Award. She’s happy, but the look from the people around her was the one which awakens her conscience. There’re tears from her manager’s eyes. Bright smiles, loud cheers, all of the joy this world can muster happened in YG’s lounge that morning. Everyone is happy.

As much as she wanted to keep her cool and calm, she’s indeed excited. She’s been working her off for movies and dramas this whole time. Sometimes, the results weren't turned out to be what she was expecting, but other times was just pure bliss. She enjoys the hard work and the sleepless nights. She never expected awards out of her struggles. Therefore, it’s natural for her to be surprised yet thankful about receiving these awards.

“Okay,” Jisoo speaks after a while. “I will stay. Just because I don’t want to make you feel sad, Unnie. Or everyone in the company.”

Sang Won releases a breath of relieves. “Thank you, sweetheart. I know I can’t count on you. And, please, be happy as well. It’s your present, not ours.”

“I know Unnie,” Jisoo smiles a bit. “I’m happy. Trust me.”

The phone call ends with a sigh from Jisoo. She’s happy. She’ll  trust her heart for tonight. For whatever reason, she’ll keep smiling.

Jisoo washes her hand and exits the restroom. As she opens the door and turns her head away, she meets Jinyoung standing across the hall.

“What took you so long?” Jinyoung asks Jisoo as she finds his eyes.

Jisoo stands still, freezes on her spot.

“Hurry up, the show about to start.”

Jinyoung steps away from the wall to get closer to Jisoo.

He’s still the same, she thought. His hair is still in the shade of black and dark brown. His white skin. His clean-shaved face.

He smells like citrus, Jisoo wonders.

Jinyoung is now standing 2 feet away from Jisoo, waiting for her to move.

“Why are you here?” Jisoo asks with an annoying tone. Or so she tries.

“You suddenly left when I just about to say something to you and Suzy-sunbae. So I followed you here.”

“How rude of you. You do know women need their privacy sometimes, right?” her voice starts to shake a moment there.

“It is also rude to leave a conversation like that, Jisoo.”

Stop saying my name. Jisoo loudly screams in her mind.

“My apology,” Jisoo clears throats. “Even though, that wasn’t a strong enough reason for you to follow me to the restroom. You can just wait there until I come back.”

“Well I changed my mind,” Jinyoung pierces his eyes to Jisoo’s fidgeting hands. “I want to talk in private with you.” He looks up and meets Jisoo’s eyes.

Jisoo’s heart pounds faster than it supposed to be. She wasn’t supposed to meet him here. She’s not ready.

“I can’t,” she stammers. “I need to get back to my seat.”

Jisoo walks away from Jinyoung as fast as she could. After 6 great steps, she stumbles as Jinyoung reaches her middle and ring finger.

It was raining that day, Jinyoung remembers. He and Jisoo spend the night in a hotel room, bantering about something stupid.

“You look so cool with your hair up though,” Jisoo mumbled between her attempt to finish the lasagna.

“But fans love me more when I get a little childish in fanmeetings,” Jinyoung replied. “This hair doesn’t suit me for the childish act.”

“Then, do what your fans love,” Jisoo giggled cutely at him.

Jinyoung looked at Jisoo with judging eyes. They’ve been conversing about Jinyoung’s hairdo from last Inkigayo for almost 15 minutes.

“I didn’t know you care about this so much?” Jisoo stood up. “And stop looking at me like that.”

She then joined him on the bed.

“You’re handsome for goodness sake,” Jisoo stared at Jinyoung’s eyes. “Even I can’t choose which hairstyle is best for you.”

Jinyoung stared back at Jisoo with his phone in front of his chest. He’s been scrolling through the Instagram, searching for his appearances in Inkigayo. It was not his thing. It was not what Jinyoung usually do in his spare time. It’s all because of Jackson’s idea the other day, that he agreed to come up with stupid excuses like hairstyle to bring up tonight.

Jisoo is beautiful. And men literally hit on her. The producers, the other singers, the composers who sometimes come to music shows. And God knows how much other time she got hit when Jinyoung was not around.

And Jinyoung being Jinyoung, he needed to underestimate his self in front of Jackson. He wasn’t sure if Jisoo was content about him. Those men coming in to woo her probably got more game than what he got. He’s not sure whether Jisoo really likes him the way he is. Nevertheless, Jackson being Jackson, persuaded him to believe in himself more. That she definitely likes him. And If it’s still not working, Jackson recommended him to undergo a test.

So here he was, testing her about his not-so-important-hair.

“Are you sure I look fine with any hairstyles?”

“Positive,” she grinned.

“Even when I get bald?”

“Bald?” she scrunched her forehead. Her middle and ring finger touched his hair slightly. “I think you’ll look even cuter. Hence, you will always look so handsome to me.”

“Yyah!” She startles from the sudden touch she feels on her hand.

She almost trip on her dress. She squeals and let out an actual scream. She’s furious.

“What do you want?” She turns her body to Jinyoung.

Jinyoung still holds her fingers. His upper body leans a little bit to her. His eyes are unreadable for her.

“I just want to tell you,” his eyes are still on her, piercing. “You look beautiful tonight.”

-

Hi again guys! Happy weekend to everyone who is celebrating weekend.

I need to let anyone know, I changed the first and second chapter because of grammar errors. It doesn't change the story, but the story's phase and wording are better. These changes were actually made by the wonderful Tasseophile. She really helps me polish my story and I'm very thankful for that.

To anyone who never heard of her, I recommend you guys visit her here https://www.asianfanfics.com/profile/view/298324 and read her works.

I really recommend 'A Thousand Purple Stars' to anyone who loves Jinji. It's still the best Jinji story in the entire world of AFF. Or if you have read them, thank her once again.

And thank you for for telling me the name of Blackpink's manager. I'll use it wisely