before you love me | jjk

chapter fifty-five

━━━༻ ˚✩‧₊ july 2021₊‧✩˚༺━━━

The days following the release of their statements were... interesting to say the least.

Some anonymous user had somehow found the full unedited clip of the interview and shared it online for everyone to see exactly what had happened. It was harder for Bryan to twist the narrative when the truth was available for everyone to watch.

Aside from that, various other small and big time female artists had come forward with stories of their own of mistreatment, racism and misogyny experienced whilst on his show. Previously, they had been pressured into silence by his production company and his vast social media influence, but Narae's revelation had sparked a conversation that enabled others to speak up.

It wasn't to say that suddenly everyone was on her side as there was still hate being directed towards her, but the vast majority had been reduced to just a very vocal minority. That was enough for Narae, as she never expected otherwise; she would always have haters – it was in the fine print of the job description. She was just content with the fact that she was able to make an impact in the industry, no matter how small it was.

On the other hand, the atmosphere between BTS and Narae could only best be described as awkward.

Narae had become subdued, retreating into herself more and was less bubbly, whilst the others didn't really know how to act around her, believing that they were the cause behind her slight shift in personality.

She'd revert back to her charismatic self for concerts and promotions, but aside from that, she mostly spent her time in Jungkook's room cuddled up with her plushies either reading or watching Netflix by herself, or in Yoongi's room with Asa who had joined them for the final few American concerts.

They were all worried about her, but didn't know how to approach her. Even Jungkook and Yoongi who she spent the most time with were clueless about what to do.

An opportunity to hang out with her however, presented itself a few days later. They had a scheduled day off coming up, but their management wanted to use that opportunity to film more content. They wouldn't have cameras and a film crew following them around, but they would be expected to vlog their activity to later upload on social media channels. They were currently in the midst of discussing where they should go to film.

"I want to go to an amusement park!" Jungkook said excitedly.

"I'm not going to an amusement park." Hoseok said immediately.

"Yeah, I'm not really in the mood for that." Namjoon agreed, "We could go on a hike?"

"No way am I doing that." Yoongi shot down, "Why can't we do something that doesn't involve going outside? Or walking around lots?"

"We could go to the cinema maybe?" Jimin offered.

"And what would we watch? We all like different genres." Jin disagreed, "Besides, that's not really something we can vlog."

Taehyung thought it was the perfect opportunity bring Narae into the discussion as she'd been quiet the entire time and they had yet to hear her opinion. "Narae what do you think? Where do you want to go?"

She fiddled with the ends of her shirt before speaking, "I quite liked the idea of the amusement park but you guys don't want to go so it's fine."

"We can go to the amusement park!" Namjoon instantly agreed.

"Yeah, that sounds like it could be fun!" Hoseok added with a wide grin, though his inner thoughts were in complete contrast.

"The weather has been nice as well, so it would be good to get some summer air." Yoongi said, internally dreading the heat.