“Jennie!”

“Hey Jisoo– what the hell!”

Though Jennie keeps her bedroom door closed most of the time to prevent the others from coming in unwelcomed, her best friend, Jisoo, never seems to take the hint.

Take now for example. Jisoo literally barged through Jennie’s bedroom door with this huge goofy grin on her face, jumped onto Jennie’s bed where Jennie was comfortably lying down with her dog Kuma quietly browsing through the internet on her phone, and wrapped her arms and legs around Jennie, squeezing her tightly.

A startled Kuma yelped and jumped off the bed, and Jennie dropped her phone on her face. Jennie couldn’t even rub the sore spot where the phone landed on her forehead given how tightly Jisoo was holding on to her.

“I’m giving you exactly 5 seconds to either let me go or to explain yourself before I literally kick you out of my room.”

Jisoo let Jennie go and sat up on the bed, then pulled Jennie by the arms so that she was sitting down, too, facing her. The older girl bit back another goofy grin while bouncing on the spot where she was sitting, while the younger just raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for Jisoo to continue. Being best friends with her for years, Jennie knew the look Jisoo was giving– it was her I-have-news-to-share-but-I’m-too-excited-and-don’t-know-where-to-begin look.

“Well? What is it?”

Jisoo took a deep breath. Jennie found herself doing the same thing for no particular reason.

“I just got a call. They just told me that I got the part!”

“No way. The Lee Min Hee drama you auditioned for?”

“YES!”

“The lead role?”

Jisoo just nodded her head spiritedly.

“AHHHHH! My best friend is gonna be a leading lady!”

In her excitement, Jennie leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Jisoo’s shoulders like the proud stage-best friend she is.

Weeks ago, Jisoo decided to try her luck when someone recommended that she audition for writer Lee Min Hee’s new drama that was currently casting. Though notorious for having a preference for high-profile actors and actors that she has worked with in the past, every now and then Lee Min Hee ends up casting a couple of people that do not meet any of those criteria, even though the chance is rare.

Kim Jisoo had taken that chance.

Jisoo had debuted as an actress about 2 years ago, and while she was thankful for every opportunity she got, the fact that she was being rejected for so many acting jobs and that she wasn’t landing big roles made her confidence in her acting skills wane a little. She wasn’t trained to be an actress, and she knew that there was a big prejudice against idol-actors, but she didn’t think she was a bad actress. But the roles she had been casted in so far were usually background roles, or roles appearing only on a few episodes, or as cameos where she plays herself… making her think that maybe she was that bad.

Just last year she had managed to be casted in her first film and had a relatively major role as the lead male’s younger sister. Playing that role, she had received positive reviews for her performance, even though the movie itself did not hit it too big at the box office.

But the timing of that casting just when she was losing heart and the positive reviews on her acting were enough to keep Jisoo holding on to her actress dreams, and to return some of the confidence she lost throughout the years. It was that confidence that made her walk into that audition and take that chance.

And that chance paid off.

Jisoo still couldn’t believe it.