__TEN__

"What are you doing?"

Jungkook raises his brows at Seokjin, his bowl of ramyun quite on evidence in his hands, with a string of noodles dangling from his mouth.

"Eating?" he still answers after slurping.

The older male slumps down on the couch next to him with an aggravated sigh. "I mean, with the BLACKPINK girl."

His eyes go wide with shock but it's too late to backtrack and hide his surprise, Seokjin already noticed it. He slouches deeper in the couch, morose. "How did you know?"

"I saw you trying to sneak her out once in the middle of the night while I was eating a snack in the kitchen. You never saw me, you blind man. You should be more careful with your surroundings if you don't want to get caught."

Jungkook grumbles in answer. At least he wasn't caught by Namjoon or Yoongi. But yes, he should be more careful. It's not like he doesn't know of Seokjin's habits of eating snacks at 3am. But it's not his fault if his brain short-circuits when he spends time with Park Chaeyoung though.  

"You should've brought her to your own apartment if you didn't want anyone to find out."

Jungkook shakes his head. "I don't... I don't like bringing people I'm not close with over there. You know that. Maybe..." Maybe later, he almost adds. But will there be a 'later'? There isn't supposed to be one, but he can't deny that the possibility is starting to sneakily take root in his head.

"So... what are you doing? Playing around with her?" Seokjin asks once more, relentless.

"Why all these questions? That's not like you at all," Jungkook throws back with a growl, on the defensive under the judging stare of . Seokjin always means well, holding s' happiness close to his heart, but he's not usually this intrusive about Jungkook's whereabouts.

"I just worry about you, that's all! I don't mean to be noisy... We might be older than we were when we started, but you're still the youngest, and I care. And no matter how old you get, I'll still care," Seokjin defends, both hands raised.

Jungkook smirks. "Admit it, I'm your favorite, that's why. "Seokjin whines at his answer and Jungkook chuckles. "I know it, don't even try to argue about it! I should tell -"

He stops short.

No, he can't tell him. He's not speaking to him anymore.

He still has these moments where he forgets and gets the urge to share something with him, but then he remembers.

He clears his throat, continuing like he hasn't spoken before. Pretending he forgot what he wanted to say. "We're just having fun," he answers Seokjin's question instead, knowing it'll distract the oldest from what he was about to say. "We're two adults who both know what we got into, so I'm not leading her on if that's what you're worried about."

"I know you wouldn't, but I still worry. She's that vocalist whose voice you really like, and you still bear the scars from your last relationship, no matter what you say. I know you, I've been raising you for more than a decade! Ungrateful youth!"

Jungkook scoffs, but doesn't argue his point. He has no intention of letting a girl close to his heart again, not even Park Chaeyoung. Sure, he never thought that after two months, they'd still have regularly. And sure, they might talk a little before and after, inquire about each other's health, and share some songs suggestions, but that's it. It barely makes them friends.

But maybe...

"You have nothing to worry about," Jungkook reassures him again. "We'll just be more careful when she comes over next time."

Seokjin only hums in answer and Jungkook knows he's unconvinced, but he leaves him alone and Jungkook takes the opportunity to go hide away in his room, desperate for some alone time.

He hates talking about the past. It always brings painful memories to him, even months later. He still hasn't moved past it, and parts of him despise that he hasn't, but he's better now than he was, even if he still feels miles away from the person he used to be.

But lately, he feels more at peace, ever since he started sleeping with Chaeyoung. Like she's cleansing him slowly.

He falls on his desk chair, opening his computer, and watches the screen lightening up, blankly staring at the display.

He's not in the mood.

He glances at his phone, but with Seokjin's warning still fresh, maybe it's not the best idea for her to come over today, especially since she was just over yesterday.

He sighs, unsure what to do with himself.

How funny.

His libido has risen up to the roof these days, but he's blaming it on stress.

Which is why, he reasons, their meetings are more and more frequent. It started with once or twice a month, and now he sometimes texts her twice a week, and unless she's busy, she always agrees.

He's still surprised every time he receives a positive answer, always expecting her to put an end to this, but she still hasn't.

And neither has he.

At least he's reassured that they're on the same wavelength. She's never initiated a meeting though. He's always attributed to her shyness, but they've known each other for some time now, she should feel comfortable enough with him.

Maybe he could talk about it with her next time. It could give him some insight on how she views their arrangement since they never really talked about it. Maybe just to make sure they're both truly on the same page. He's not some who would want to let a woman think there's a chance for more when there isn't.

He isn't ready. He doesn't know when he'll ever be ready. But maybe it feels closer than before. Months ago, the idea of any sort of relationship almost disgusted him.

Now, he just wants to be careful.

Make sure to let the right person in.

He already made a mistake once.

A mistake that broke him down so bad, he had to fix himself back up. He butchered himself back together, unable to get the pieces all back like they used to be.

He's not happy, but somehow, as time passed by, his days got a little easier to go through.

Maybe 'later' isn't that far off into the future, not anymore.

Maybe.

<><><>

If someone asked Jennie whether she regrets the choice she made of becoming an idol, she would definitively say no. Sure there were all the uncertainties of whether she would debut or not, if she would get along with the other girls she was paired with, if the public would like them. If she had what it took to make it.

And survive.

Then she finally debuted, she loves the girls that are by her side, and the public likes their songs well enough too.

But her life is still far from perfect.

There are the haters, the rivalry, the jealousy.

Her yoga teacher that she can't run away from.

But Jennie holds her head high in front of all of them too.

There are also the crazy schedules, the long hiatuses, the eyes that are always focused on them, analyzing their every move, every word, and every picture they post, waiting for the tiniest thing to latch onto and tear them apart.

But Jennie learned with time to live with those annoyances and turn all the hatred and hard times into fuel to grow stronger, to become a better person.

This is the life she wants in the end, even with all the downsides.

One thing she'll never grow accustomed to, besides the flying around in different time zones in a short among of time and the lack of freedom, is the wait at music shows and festivals, or between shoots and recordings, where they can't do much of anything.

There's only so much they can do to entertain themselves, and it's even worst when she's by herself.

Tonight is one of those nights, and Jennie is once more bored out of her mind.

She has a recording for a solo variety show, but they're currently working on a segment where she doesn't appear, so she has time to kill until she needs to join back.

She's already in her outfit, with her hair and makeup done, currently wandering aimlessly in the corridor of MBC, with no destination in mind.

She knows it's not the best of ideas to walk alone, their manager wouldn't be too happy with her once she returns, would definitively stare at her with that exasperated look in his eyes he gets mostly when Jisoo and Lisa get loud.

But there's nothing to help relieve her of her boredom in her designated waiting room, and she grew tired of hearing about the love problems the older women of her team were currently discussing.

Not that there's much out here either as the corridors are rather empty in the evening, but at least she's enjoying the peaceful silence.

Until she turns a corner and bumps into a hard body.

The impact sends her flying on the ground, extracting out of her a soft whine at the sudden sting of pain as her takes most of the damage before her palms instinctively reach down behind her to prevent her from hitting her head.

Cursing under her breath, she raises her eyes to send her deadliest glare at the idiot who isn't looking where they're going, and sure, maybe she was lost in thought too, but that's a tiny detail she'll ignore.

But when her angry eyes meet Park Jimin's amused ones, she regrets not opting to stay in the boring room, wasting time away. That would've been so much more fun than this.

Why, among all the people she could've stumbled into, it had to be him?

Park Jimin.

This is the first time they meet alone, but they obviously know of each other. Jennie also knows all about his...reputation.

That alone makes her wary of him.

He extends his hand toward her, his body looming over her fallen one, but Jennie simply stares at it for so long it earns her two perfectly in sync raised brows.

"Last time I saw you, that hand was under the skirt of Cho Miyeon. Who knows where it's just been."

With one hand on the wall for support, Jennie gets back to her feet smoothly, but when she straightens up, she realizes with a startle that it only shortened the distance between them.

"Don't worry, it hasn't been anywhere...yet. But tell me, you sure like watching me, Jennie Kim."

She rolls her eyes. "You were in the kitchen. Both times. It's an open space where people are supposed to go grab drinks freely."

Seeing Park Jimin in a comprising position at both parties she got dragged to by BamBam hadn't turned her on like he's trying to imply.

It's like he wanted to get caught!

The first time, at that first party, she found him with that Gugudan member she forgets the name of, with her hands in his pants and his on her s. She'd made a small gasp at the unexpected moment she somehow stumbled on. Of course she had, one doesn't expect to see this kind