It felt like landing on the moon only to be swept away into the unknown by the lack of gravity. Life was at that moment making less sense. She thought back on all the things she had done and the amount of work she had put into where she was. She was sure she had given everything she could, but why was everything turning out like this? There were no answers, no explanations. It seemed probable that perhaps being a singer just wasn’t for her.

She looked toward the streets they were driving by, avoiding the gaze of her mother who was steering the car. There were bags and boxes in the boot that spilled over to the backseat. Those were practically the eight years she had collected since coming back to Korea. She didn’t want to think about the could’ve-beens or the would’ve-beens, the should’ve-beens that weren’t ever going to happen. They couldn’t bring anything back or change it. In the passenger seat, she sat quietly and mulled over what she was going to do now that she was going home. Never did she imagine it would end like this, but it was happening. Her career felt as distant as the trees and the buildings now behind them. Soon enough it would only be something she’d remember.

“Technically, it’s not yet over,” Rosie said at the dorm earlier that day. “We still have our contracts, so–”

“It’s done.” Jennie interrupted. “This is them saying the situation’s gotten too big and they can’t take care of us anymore. The next time they’ll call us is when they’ve decided to just end our contracts and leave us to fend for ourselves. It’s done. We’re ing done.”

Their management had called for an emergency meeting first thing in the morning. The girls, especially Jennie, had a hunch in the back of their heads.

“They’re canceling everything,” said Lisa.

“Of course they are, all thanks to that prick.”

Jennie was not afraid to show how disappointed she was and how displeased she was that they were getting pulled into the drain together with everyone else who was involved. They weren’t in it in the first place. Why should they be paying the price? But the YG staff had come up with this half-brained solution. All of BLACKPINK’s activities listed for the rest of the year would be terminated. Coachella. US and European Tour. New EP. Everything. It had cost them millions to make the schedules go away, but, according to one of the senior heads, it was better than losing even more by appearing in front of an audience that was ready to burn them at the stakes.

What pushed Jennie off the cliff was that. She stood up from her seat and slammed her fist on the table, startling everyone in the room.

“We are not the enemy here. We didn’t do anything wrong. What do you think our fans are gonna say when they hear about this? You’re only making things worse by dragging us out of our jobs!”

“Jennie-ssi...”

“No!” She yelled. “This is not fair! Why are we the ones getting a time off? What did we ever do? Do you think that once we return from this hiatus you’re putting us in that we would still have people supporting us? And why do the boy groups get to have comebacks? Why aren’t they getting some sort of punishment just by being here?”

“