Green.

The color of envy.

The color she was never too comfortable using. Jieun hasn’t had much experience painting with green. Really, she was never one to be ambitious, competitive, insecure- she was far from being a must-have-all type of person.

Sure, even she had her moments.

Just two days ago, she was plenty jealous when she saw trainees come out of the training room carrying an armful of sugary junk and processed snacks. She’d been on a strict detox diet, and they were supposed to be starving with her. She had been so tempted to rat them out.

Quite literally. Her fingers were fidgeting against the home button of her cell phone in her front jean pocket.

She was being childish, but would you cut her some slack? Hunger easily sparks agitation.

Thinking better of the scenario, she decided to cheat the diet herself. She went straight home to prepare ramen, and ate the sodium packed noodles to all her heart’s content. Not a single drop of soup went wasted. Of course, she arrived to her photo shoot the next morning with chipmunk cheeks and swollen eyes and received an earful from her manager and director, but it had been well worth it.

Even now, she could almost taste the salt on her taste buds. She looked disdainfully at the cucumber she bit into.

All that aside. Jieun felt like she could just be the modern woman Buddha. Inner peace and all that, despite all the crazy rollercoaster up hills and slides that structured her life.

“Green is for cucumbers.”

And all the other vegetables she would have to consume until the last day of her mega photo shoot project.

“Jieun, did you hear?”

Her makeup artist was busy, dabbing on a cluster of delicate shimmer flakes across Jieun’s eyelids, and applying a careful sheen of clear gloss over the velvet lipstick, but then again, she had a thing for multi tasking.

“Hear what, unnie?” Jieun mindlessly scrolls through her phone for new emails.

“About GD, of course. And his supposedly new trainee girlfriend.”

Jieun’s head snaps up immediately, eyes fixed into a sharp stare. She tried not to look too interested. “What?”

“Some photos were dispatched just a few hours ago,” her makeup artist replied, taking off the hair clips that held the bangs away from Jieun’s face, “you’d think it’s strange that he’d get involved in a relationship now, when he’s-“

“-Jieun, you’re called in.”

“… just been enlisted to serve for the army next year. Talk about bad timing.”

But Jieun had already left the room by then.

The makeup artist shrugged, and pulled the hairdresser to her side. “What’s wrong with Jieun today?”

“Nothing, why do you ask?”

“No particular reason. I thought she looked a bit greenish just then, but maybe it’s just me. Anyway, did you hear about GD and his supposedly new trainee girlfriend?”

“What?”

“Yeah, some photos were dispatched a few hours ago. You’d think it’s strange that he’d get involved in a relationship now, when he’s….”

Hi all, it's me again. 

Haven't updated in a long while, and I came up with a milion excuses, but I think I'll save you the time. 

Truth be told, I was supposed to finish 'Palette' a long while ago. All the chapters were meant to be short, each less than a thousand words, and the final chapter is- as you could've guessed- purple.

Good news is, we're more than halfway through and done! Bear with me, as you always have, and I promise I won't leave you unsatisfied (with a discontinued fic).

Thanks for being so awesome, and thanks for being interested.

Much love, 

J.C.