GIRL GROUP | jjk

Chapter 29

We have ten minutes before the van is set to take us all back to the dorm.

I sneak away from the group. If anyone asks, I'll pretend that I'm constipated and badly needing the nearest toilet. Fortunately, the nicest bathroom in the company is only a floor away, on the same level as the HYBE gym. Using the stairs, I'm only barely conscious of how I float up the steps. It's like I'm having an out-of-body experience, watching myself in the wake of the message that might just change everything.

The bathroom smells like a mixture of tulips and cherries. Thankfully, there's no one else here. I don't spare myself a glance in the mirror, knowing that there will only be panic on my face. I need to gather myself, finding out what's wrong. Then, when I'm back outside, I'll be the reliable leader that I need to be.

In the bathroom stall, I sit on the toilet seat and close my eyes for a few seconds, focusing only on the ache of my eyeballs.

When the sweetness of the bathroom fragrance turns nauseating, I open my eyes and direct all my attention on my phone. The luxurious tiled floor and spotless gray stall door fades into an amalgam of blank matter.

No matter how much Kristine tells us to stay away from social media, I still have my private accounts. I open Twitter and search the latest trends. Jungkook is number three on the worldwide trends.

"STOP USING HIM" is the mantra I see multiple times, at least from a dozen different accounts while scrolling for ten seconds. Nabi, Jesstina, and my name are cursed in a thousand different ways.

These girls are leeches. Look at what they've done to our baby Jungkook!

it was fake from the beginning. srsly. #savejungkook

#STOPUSINGHIM and stay away forever, Moonscape and the Fates.

The more graphic messages, I can barely read. I glimpse over them even though the language and veiled threats will scar my memory. But the message is clear. Something was released online, and now the Fates is a danger to Jungkook.

I don't have much time, so I keep scrolling for the root of these tweets. I find it after refreshing my feed—it's soaring over twenty thousand likes and five thousand retweets so far.

It's a video of me, the girls, and Jungkook. We're heading to dance practice, and I can tell by Jungkook's hair that it's the first or second week that he joined us. As we walk through the hall, he draws near to me and leans in to say something.

I instinctively flinch away, then mutter under my breath—but still loud enough for the camera to pick it up—"Please don't get so close to me."

It's not much to spin into a wild story, but my tone is far from friendly, and commenters are picking out my glare that flashes across the screen for half a second. I panic. Why was this video released?

Then I remember Jungkook's cameraman that has been following him around since he joined the group. Of course, Moonscape wants to use some of the footage for a reality segment on Jungkook and the Fates. Now that it's being released episodically, the fans are picking apart every scene and testing it—seeing whether the girls and I are genuine or just trying to take advantage of his fame.

The source account has multiple retweets from the variety segment, each coming from a different Jungkook stan account. There are little clips, the longest one being fifteen seconds. I hold my breath while clicking through each one, listening to the constant dripping of the toilet—and the faint sounds of the gym equipment squeaking and groaning.

It's mostly me. I turn a cold shoulder to Jungkook, ignoring him as he asks me whether I ate yet. At the dorm, I refuse when he offers me a custard tart. At the dance studio, I purposely don't give him a wide enough gap to complete our formations. During vocal practice, I send him a withering look when he aces a complex run. And then, I ask the girls what they want from the convenient store but leave him out. As he smiles at me during our van ride, I ignore him and ask Nabi whether she misplaced one of my novels.

All of this happened during the first month—when we were still trainees.

It's not the full picture, but the fans are right. I did have a personal vendetta against Jungkook joining the Fates.

I shut my eyes, leaning back against the tank. I think only about the ache in my back, the pressure of the ceramic against my black tank top. I expect someone to barge into the bathroom, asking for me and bringing me in for questioning from CEO Kimmy. Instead, all there is, is the squealing gym equipment and the constant dripping. I let it act like a metronome, lulling me away from reality.

Instead, my phone is right here, and I'm drawn in right away. The clips fill my mind, the audio playing aloud since I was too flustered to put on my earbuds. Even if someone were listening, it's public information now. Every instance when I showed unkindness to Jungkook—that's been captured by the cameraman. There are at least ten camera managers that cycle through Jungkook's days with the Fates, and they couldn't have known that they were gathering data for our destruction. They were just doing their job.

It's all my fault.

After reading another slew of hate comments, I finally lock my phone and lean even farther back. My head touches the wall, made from a pearly gray colored tile. I groan.

Then, someone texts me. My phone buzzes, vibrating against my hand like a phantom bee. I almost fling it over my head in shock, like one of the commenters on Twitter will show up in the bathroom in a sort of summoning ritual.

It's Kristine, telling me the van has arrived. There's nothing off about her message. Maybe she didn't receive the text?

As I unlock the bathroom door, I shiver from the metal skimming my fingertips. I close my eyes, willing my emotions to steady. Even though it's a lot, and the whole world seems like it could crumble apart just from one more opinion online, I need to hold it together. I need to be a good leader.

It's time to face my members.

A/N: Currently hiding in the bathroom.

Even though I'm kind of salty toward Karma for treating Jungkook badly at first, the hate is just way too much. What do you think?