ISTTIMI

CHAPTER 61: I PROMISE YOU

AFTER 4 YEARS

"Jisoo, we'll go out in 10." Manager Jang said as I scrolled through my cellphone, looking for updates on who's already at the venue.

Tonight is the 61st Baeksang Arts Awards, an annual award ceremony where artists in film, theater, and television gather and get recognized for their excellency. This year, I'm nominated under the Best New Actress for Film after I finally landed a lead role and got acknowledged by the audience.

Dressed in a black backless gown, I stood up and checked how I looked in front of the mirror inside the makeup room. In 10 minutes, I'm going to ride on a limousine with my brother, Kim Seokjin. Along with my first nomination as best new actress, we planned in revealing that the two of us are siblings.

For years, I worked hard in auditioning for dramas and films. I broke into the mainstream after having a strong impression with my performance in a political television drama, and finally won the Best Supporting Actress award. All those years, even after Seokjin already bagged his own Best Supporting Actor Awards, Best New Actor award, Best Couple Award with his movie couple, and Most Popular Actor awards after 2 years since his debut as an actor, we still kept our family background a secret to the public. We even debuted under different labels just to make sure.

Of course, there are still people who were suspicious of our relationship, especially because we looked a lot like each other - some even shipped us and wanted us to be a couple in Jin's next film offer - YUCK. But speculations like that subside after a few days because we have our own entertainment agencies to protect us.

Before debuting, our social media accounts were deleted. The photos, videos, or other stuff posted about us were asked to be deleted as well. Even our friends deleted theirs and were saved in a private folder for our own access only. That's how we all wanted to start - with no connections with each other.

Of course, my friends and I still see each other every year. Every birthdays, we were all present. Every holidays, our group chat becomes more alive than ever. The only thing we didn't do was to post group photos in our public social media accounts. At least, not until all of us finally get recognized individually.

On Jimin and Jennie's 6th year together, they announced their relationship in the public after the two of them won Best Supporting Actor and Actress on the same night. Fate, I thought that time. That's when we got the courage to announce our friendship as well.

Taehyung, Jimin, Jennie, and I took a photo together on Jennie's birthday and our fans were all surprised with the interaction, most especially mine and Taehyung's. Funny enough, a lot of people wanted me and Taehyung to be in the same film or series too, but the two of us always joked about our conversation on our graduation day. That if we win those awards, we'll finally be in one movie. Whenever we talk about that, we'll just laugh it off and tease each other for not getting those specific awards for that year.

The other days after our graduation, we focused on work and rarely visited each other in our own places. When we do, we just talk about the current dramas we were filming or just snitch about our co-actors and directors, and giving each other tips on how to work with these people. The longest we've been together alone was probably two hours then we're back to reality again.

If this night goes the way I wanted it to be - if I win this award - I'll accept whatever offer I get with Taehyung (if there is, anyway). I've never been in a romance film or series before, neither is Taehyung. He starred in action movies/dramas, I accepted heavy drama offers.

Seokjin greeted me at the hotel lobby I went to for my preparation for the night. He looked extra dashing tonight since he's the chosen MC of the event, which also makes this award ceremony a really big deal for us.