Chapter Eleven:

Business colleagues

That is all Chaeyoung and Jennie was now. 

How bizarre is it to once know a person from the back of your hand and now barely know them at all?

Chaeyoung did not know anything about this grown up version of Jennie. The girl who she once knew was not as sophisticated with her words. Jennie always spoke with sheer confidence, but the power which she holds within her own voice on other people really says something.

Jennie is like a god in this little industry – people bow down to her.

Why… out of all of the people in the world… to prepare for her successful career, she has to work with her ex girlfriend?

After that awkward meal which could not have ended quicker – work started to commence in preparation. Loren had finished recording his solo EP and they stood there in the warehouse on that sunny Friday to shoot the first scenes of the music video to ‘Empty Trash.’ Everything was going fine, directors were happy with the cuts, Loren was having the time of his life, and most of all… Chaeyoung felt that adrenaline inside of her which got her blood absolutely pumping.

This is the life she wanted to live. All of her many years of hard work was finally starting to pay off.

“Chipmunk…!” a familiar voice called from behind. “Looking amazing today, gorgeous.”

Chaeyoung turned around and saw the tall figure of the one and only, Lalisa Manoban. “Don’t flatter me. Are you trying to make me fall for you?” she teased before nudging her shoulder.

Lisa raised her eyebrow, “You want Jisoo to kill you, yah? She is like a raging pit bull when she is angry, trust me.”

Putting her arms up to surrender, the blonde could only laugh. “Let’s call it a truce… don’t let Jisoo know about our secret love affair.”

“Totally best to keep it a secret. What brings you here, anyway?”

The younger held up the two iced coffees in her hand. “I thought you could do with one of these… I just finished d a shoot in the city and thought I’d pop in to see how the music video is going.”

“It’s going amazing… I’m so overjoyed it’s insane, Lis.” Chaeyoung took a sip of the iced beverage before taking a deep breathe in, embracing the whole buzzing atmosphere of the music video set. “I feel like this is all starting to come together. Like when I paint for example… at the end of the portrait and you are adding the final touches and you feel nothing but pride. I feel that way right now.”

Lisa rested her elbow on the blonde’s shoulder. “You have worked your of for this,” she said. “It is just the beginning though, Chaeng.”

“Sooner or later you will be in Loren’s place – shooting your own video.”

Everything felt too good to be true – like she was living in a fairy-tale and it was all on her. Her dreams were coming true and engaged to the most charming man in the entirety of existence. The prayers which she would pray every morning and every night before she drifted into deep slumber worked.

God had her back.

Park Chaeyoung could not be happier.

“Cut that scene!”

… that was until the voice of Jennie Kim peered through the whole studio causing everybody to stop whatever they were doing. “You can’t possibly have the camera that close to him. He’s practically eating the lens up.”

The clanking of her high heels shook the warehouse. Everybody watched her in awe.

Chaeyoung watched her sternly, noticing how she took the Jentle Home sunglasses off from her face to reveal those familiar eyes. “How is the shoot going… Loren, right?”

“Uh… it’s going perfect.” Loren sat there on the stool. “Could not be better.”

“I listened to your EP – it’s great. Few minor tweaks that I would add to it, other than that it is perfect.”

“T-Thank you, Miss. Kim.”

The brunette leaned closer to the musician and whispered “You can call me Jennie~” into his ear, so low that nobody around them could hear. Chaeyoung knew exactly what come out of that delicate mouth of hers – just by her high skill of lip reading. What the hell was Jennie thinking in the first place?

“Alright, you can all resume now.” Jennie clapped her hands together like it was an order.

Once the CEO clicked her fingers the production resumed as normal. Jennie stayed for a hot moment, speaking with a few of the many famous producers who took part in the production of Loren’s debut. Everybody looked at Jennie in awe – like she was some god gifted from the heavens.

“Have you spoken to her?” Lisa asked, noticing how her best friend was obviously giving the brunette the death glare.

Jennie then bid her goodbyes to the studio, picking up her Chanel clutch bag and putting on her sunglasses. Chaeyoung saw how she stopped for a slight second to catch her eyes through those dark lenses – time felt like it stopped completely. “Not really,” she shook her head. “Not any reason to.”

“I think you should maybe… be a bit more lenient on her?” the elder muttered under her breathe, loud enough for Chaeyoung to vividly hear.

“Why should I? That woman knows what she is up to. The damage she did to me. She does not care.”

Lisa placed the camera down on the side deck and faced the blonde and shrugged her shoulders. “I know I am certainly not the person to defend Jennie Kim in the slightest but keeping everything so awkward will never help – both of you are adults now and are working together professionally…”

“Besides… don’t underestimate her. There is more to it than you think”

The look in the dancer’s eyes shook white as she realised she leaked some fragile information which she certainly should not have done. Chaeyoung knew her inside out – and that look of regret was all over her face. “What do you mean…’more than I think?’” she pondered, wanting to know more to this mysterious statement,

“N-Nothing!” Lisa shook her head and waved her hands, denying anything more. “Wow~ is that the time…?! I have to get going… I am teaching a trainee class in five.”

Lisa quickly grabbed her camera and bag and shot the blonde a wave before hurrying towards the exit of the studio, “See you around, Chipmunk~” she called out which was loud enough for everybody to hear.

“What did she mean…?” Chaeyoung asked herself, completely confused to what has just happened.

Lisa knows something. 

-

“Babe… I ed up-” Lisa called Jisoo as soon as she rushed out of the shooting studio.

“Eh? What did you do?” Jisoo’s voice echoed from the other line.

“Jennie walked into the recording studio for Loren’s music video, she looked at our direction and I asked Rosie if she spoken to her. Rosie being as stubborn as she is… she told me that she still does not want to have any formal conversation with her out of business. Then I slipped up and told her that there is more to it than she thinks… now she is going to root through everything to find out what I meant.”

“First of all… calm down, love.”

That was certainly not the reaction which the dancer expected.

“Them two are both as stubborn as another. No matter what… I know that the truth will come out some way along the way – its bound to happen.”

“They were kids… Jennie has been married to Kai for years now and Chaeng will marry Chanyeol and have the career of her dreams. Neither of them are stupid enough to throw away their perfectly shaped lives for some romance from when they were younger.”

“You’re so right.”

“I am Kim Jisoo, remember?”

“How could I forget?!”

“I do think that we should try and bring Jennie and Chaeyoung back together. Even them two having some sort of conversation… it is better than both of them trying to bite each other's heads off for sure.”

“Operation Chaennie?”

“Chaennie?”

“They used to call themselves that back in school… cringe I know. Believe it or not – it was in fact Jennie who came up with that name.”

Jisoo laughed down the phone line. “Seriously?! I never took THE Jennie Kim to be a master of total cringe. I like that name though… let’s make it happen.”

-

Jennie sighed and leaned back on her desk. This was most probably one of the most hectic days of her working year. Preparation for the JENTLE HOME 2021 WINTER SHOWCASE came into full swing and the pressure on herself was increasing rapidly. Even considering her own brand is coming towards the same level as Chanel (which she is the global ambassador for), and the demand was on the brink of explosion. If this was the year she was going to be gifted with her first ever grey hair or wrinkle due to stress… this year was totally going to be it.

“Ms Kim – you have a visitor.” Her personal assistant, Doyeon quietly knocked on the door.

Jennie was too into the excel spreadsheet on her MacBook to properly pay attention and let out a sigh. “Let them in whoever they are.” she ordered, keeping her eyes on the screen.

“R-Right away, Ms Kim.”

Being the big scary CEO always baffled Jennie. It was like her staff members was scared to breathe around the woman. She knew she could be absolutely terrifying at times but she didn’t consider herself the human form of the devil in any shape or form. Doyeon disappeared into the corridor for a brief amount of time before returning with a very familiar figure who was disguised in the latest DIOR collection and a face mask. “Hello stranger.”

“I will excuse you both now.” Doyeon bowed down before exiting the office once more, returning to her own given duties in her side office which was located down the corridor. Jennie’s eye twitched before looking up to find Jisoo sat on the guest chair located next to the main desk of the exclusive office.

“Working hard I see. How is the preparation going for the fashion showcase?”

“. My team are on the brink of getting fired and blacklisted from ever entering this building.”

Jisoo couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “You sound like you need a strong coffee. Luckily Kim Jisoo knows Jendeuk the best,” she then placed the iced beverage on her best friend’s desk.

“Iced Americano? No Sugar?” Jennie took a pleasing sip of the drink and let out a sigh of relief.

“You know it,” the dark haired girl nodded. “I think you’d hunt me down if I had it any other way.”

The CEO let out a laugh before cracking her fingers and yawning. “I don’t think I have had to work this hard in my entire life. Jisoo-yah, do you want to switch roles and I will become a world wide known actress instead?”

“It is not all dandy in my industry unfortunately,” Jisoo leaned back and took a sip of her drink. “I am getting stressed right now with one of the directors on set, he is a total .”

“… the guy I am paired up with is disgusting. Luckily he uses mouthwash before the kissing scenes.”

Jennie chuckled, observing the Dio