Acts of Hate | Taennie

7.

Jennie slowly opened the door as she walked into the event room.

Immediately she noticed the reporters getting ready and setting up their cameras while the other actors were also getting their mics set.

This was a rather casual atmosphere in comparison to the press meeting from last week, as everyone was rid of heavy makeup and dressed in casual attire.

Of course, you could easily distinguish between the celebrity and the staff due to the occasional brandings on the items, a peek of coloured hair or just the aura they carry amongst themselves.

"Oh Jennie, you're here!" Soojin smiled as she spotted the girl entering, as Jennie smiled and bowed to everyone in the room in return, making her way over as a staff came to mix her as well.

"Wah, this is the first time I've seen you dressed casually amongst us." Hyejin laughed as Jennie smiled in response, to be polite.

Hyejin had done nothing against her. Jennie had no ill intentions towards the girl either, yet she couldn't seem to be nervous around the girl.

"Ah, trust me I dress pretty normal. It's only because the last few times we've seen each other it's always been at an event of sorts." Jennie sheepishly smiled as someone slung an arm around her.

"She says this despite wearing Chanel." Rowoon teased as Jennie rolled her eyes playfully and elbowed him, while he mocked pain.

The group chuckled at the playful interactions the two had as Director Song came over.

"Here are your scripts! This script reading better go well. Also your promo schedules will be given right after so we can discuss that later." He smiled distributing the scripts with annotations as Jennie smiled at the cover art.

"Wow I didn't expect our Director to be such an artist." She chuckled at the array of stickers on the cover.

"Blame my daughter. She saw your name and immediately made it her life mission to put a rainbow on that. I'll have it replaced if you want." He sighed at his daughters antics as Jennie shook her head with a smile.

"Of course not. How could I change a custom made gift from a fan. I'll treasure it." She mused as he only smiled at the girls nature and went ahead to distribute the rest.

"Let's go ahead and get seated. You're all good right?" Soojin asked Jennie who nodded in response as the four made their way over to the long table.

"Okay everyone, scene 1 only! We can't spoil too much!" The producer grinned as the cast nodded with smiles, everyone going to their designated seats.

Taehyung, who had been trying his best to ignore her since she walked in immediately flinched as his arm accidentally brushed against hers while he was sitting, as she also jolted due to the unexpected touch.

He excused himself for the sake of politeness and sat down once again, being more mindful of their distance as the other cast members just began to grow confused at the pair's peculiar behaviour.

Jennie cleared her throat awkwardly before she refocused on her own script, purposefully avoiding the looks thrown their way, as Taehyung opted to fiddle with a pen.

The distance between the pairs seats was obvious, as they instead chose to lean towards the actors that sat on their respective other sides, until a staff member came and not-so-discreetly made them move closer, a task she later deemed close to impossible.

"Alright. Scene 1. Let's start."

They all instantly switch into work mode, occasionally joking around as the cast laughed at matters between them, meanwhile Taehyung and Jennie unknowingly opted for awkward silence.

"Look who finally decided to show. Where'd you go, on a world tour?" Taehyung started the scene, sinking into his character, Jinho,

"That's the first thing you choose to say after 2 years of not seeing me?" Jennie, Aria responded, continuing the scene.

"Doesn't feel like it. You're still short."

"Shut it. Is anything you're the one who hasn't changed, still egotistic as ever." Aria scoffed as Jinho only shrugged.

"I call it self confidence."

"That, only you do."

"Yah-are you going to keep hogging Aria forever? Get her here, we wanna say hi too!" Rowoon spoke, in character as Leedo, a close friend of the pair.

"She was my friend first!" Soojin yelled as Hana, another close friend of the pair.

"Hana, you're literally going to be sharing a room with her for the next few years. I'm sure you can wait 5 minutes." Jinho spoke while Aria ran to Soojin instead, contradicting his words whilst he was assigned with strolling the suitcases over.

"Tell that to Nayeon, she would have a fit if she saw you so close to anyone but her."

"Nayeon?" Aria asked as she turned to look at Jinho for a further explanation, who only sighed in return.

"Hana, how often do I need to remind you that we're just friends?"
Jinho scoffed as Leedo laughed.

"Yeah tell her that. Come on, let's get you checked into your dorm first Aria." Leedo replied as he changed the topic swiftly, much to Jinho's pleasure.

"And cut! We can't spoil too much. Let's go over a couple smaller scenes where everyone is involved and call it a day!" Director song yelled as the cast moved on to more playful scenes, thankfully avoiding any romantic scenes between the two leads.

The distance between then had only regrown as they strayed away, much too noticeable to be ignored, sparking the directors curiosity as well as he tried to piece together the cause for such obvious dislike amongst the two.

Even more so as they were his leads for a romantic drama.

Romantic.

And they were currently anything but romantic.

He mentally prepared to have a chat with the two later, as the reading came to a halt in another hour.

After taking their mics off and thanking the reporters, the cast said heir goodbyes amongst themselves before deciding to leave, however Taehyung and Jennie were halted by the producer and director.

"Let's have a talk. In my office." He spoke, narrowing his eyes at the pair as the two had already guessed what this was about, and also estimated how awkward this would me.

Unknowingly, they turned to glance at each other at the same time before turning away immediately with a sigh.

This was going to be a long project.

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Chapter 7
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Acts of hate
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JJENINII
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