It had been a good week before you finally see JB again,  as he practices by himself in the closed off practice room to the new comeback song. Unknowingly, you wander towards the door and the sound of pounding music, peeking your head in between the small square glass to watch him as he labors away at the new choreography. Even with the cold attitude and the uncomfortable first meeting you guys had, something about him had drawn you to be more curious about him. He had barely spoken at the few meetings you guys had and the emptiness in his eyes were definitely different to all the other people you’ve met. You could never figure out if it was over tiredness or complete disinterest but you wanted to know more.

The sudden stop of the music brings you out of your own thought as you observe JB’s exhausted frame approach the  door.

“Are you going to keep staring?” he pulls open the door to question you, an unimpressed expression plastered across his face.

Startled, you fumble back, “S..Sorry..” you stutter as you try to avoid his judgemental gaze,

“If you have nothing to say to me, I’d want to practice in private” he advises you before locking the door shut and resuming his practice.

You make your way to the staff room, embarrassed and regretful, smacking yourself on the back of the head as a punishment. You enter the room greeting the other staff members before placing yourself at your desk and finally dropping your head on the hard surface in a depressive state.

“What’s wrong Hari?” Anna plops her herself beside you

“..oh...It’s  just stress” You lie, “How’s the outfits going?”, you swiftly change the subject to avoid anymore thought on what had happened

“Still a headache, we can’t seem to find anything we agree on.” she explains

“Need ….my help?” you abruptly suggest against your own will. It wasn’t that you were eager to work but for some odd reason nothing else popped into your head but those words.

“Would you? Really?” Anna’s face suddenly lights up in sheer happiness at your suggestion

“Sure!”, you could feel your brain banging against your skull at your own stupidity

“Well, i’ll see you at 2, we have a fitting for some pieces then” she taps you encouragingly on the shoulder before returning to her space while you return to your state of depression, with your head pressed hard against the desk at the added stress you just got yourself in.  

By 2 o’clock you found yourself skipping lunch to be waiting on seven guys to try on clothes. You sat hunched up on the sofa at the end of the room, blankly staring into nothingness before the laughter and loud conversation makes it way into the small room. You straighten yourself up almost immediately to greet the boys as they do the same to you.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, we had another schedule” Jinyoung was the first to initiate the conversation as they all drifted into the room and onto the remaining seats at the sofa.

“It’s fine, I have no where else to be”, You gritted your teeth as you say those words, thinking about the burger you could be finishing by now.

“Should we get started?” Jackson suggests as if he also wanted this to be over and done with. You blink blankly at him, “I’m doing this by myself?” you point towards yourself, confused, “Where is Anna?”.

“Didn’t she tell you?.. She got called to be with Twice” Jinyoung explains, “It was sort of last minute..”

You scoff in shock before gathering your thoughts. One at a time, you told yourself, it’s just putting on clothes, what could be so hard?

One by one you called the boys to the separate changing room to organise what fit and what didn’t before finally reaching the last person to be fitted. JB.

You cough in nervousness before going out to call him into the room, the incident of this morning still causing you embarrassment. He stays unmoved, as if having done this too many times to care as he enters the room and begin taking his clothes off.

“This is the one Anna thought~”, JB suddenly takes the shirt from your hold before you could finish the sentence, swiftly chucking it over his shoulders and adjusting it to his body.

“I’ll just do the buttons…” You tried your best to ignore his actions as you reach forward to begin buttoning his shirt in vain as he moves quickly to push your hands away as if uncomfortable with the idea of having you touch him.  

“I can do it myself” he mutters.

You finish the rest of the fitting in silence, handing him the clothes for him to try and him returning it to you once he’s done.

“Everything’s done, you can leave” you gesture over to the door once all the pieces have been tested but JB refuses to budge. You observe as he stands frozen still, as if unable to hear your words and instead  walking over to lock the door.

“Is everything okay?” you give him a confused look, unable to figure him out.

“No. It’s not” He closes up the space between you two, “I need you to tell me where she is”, his face was full of determination as his eyes focused on yours.

“Who….? …..Haya?” you finally begin to piece together where he wanted the conversation to go as you place the clothes back on the desk to give him your full attention. “What do you want me to say?” you question him, partially annoyed at his distrust in you.

“You’re the only person who would know, they wouldn’t have replaced her so easily” he continues closing up towards you as you begin stepping back and towards the corners of the small room.

“I don’t know…..I’m only a replacement” you begin to feel a certain fear scratch at your skin. His eyes were unforgiving, as his large frame hovers over you.

“Stop acting innocent, she’s been here for seven years, she has no family where would she go?!” JB’s voice was becoming increasingly as loud as his anger as you continue walking backwards until your back finally scratches against the wall of the room..

“JB stop” you use both hands to hold onto either side of his shoulders to create whatever distance was left.

He ignores your plea as he leans his face towards yours as if to observe your facial expression in detail, “You’ll never replace her” he whispers beside your ears with a tone of both determination and annoyance, his balled-up fist rests angrily on the wall beside your head.

It was then that the sound of the change room door unlocking catches your attention, Anna revealing herself from behind it with a look of shock at the state you and JB were in, a thousand question racing through her mind as she enters slamming it shut behind her and pulling JB away from you.

“What are you two doing?!” she half whispers, half yells at you both.

“It’s not what it looks like” you begin the explanation before being stopped.

“Sorry, we should’ve been more careful” JB suddenly interrupts, the words coming out of his mouth causing you more shock than being caught by Anna.

“What are you talking about?” Anna curiously asks, unable to hide her disturbed look

“Nothing, there’s nothing going on!” you jump in between the two of them before JB could say any more damaging words.

“It’s whatever you think it is” he pulls you back by your hand, holding a tight grip as you struggle to set your hands free.

“Please...don’t tell me….you two ..” Anna stutters in utter shock as she begins to pace around the small room. “We can’t let people know….what are they going to think? Did i suggest my friend to work here so she can date one of the most important person in the company? People are going to start rumours! Your manager is going to hate me! Hari this isn’t like you! Has everyone lost their minds?!” she exclaims, “Please end it here before Hari ends up like Haya too” Anna begs and that’s when you realised it too. This is just a game to him. He wanted to get rid of you, to make you understand what his girlfriend had to go through. This was a cruel way of making you lose. All you could do was stare at him in complete shock at the realisation at the sort of person he truly is.

You knew it was only the start….