tongue-tied ✦ l.jn | ✔

four

Over the course of a couple weeks, you'd spent a considerable amount of time with Jeno. According to his schedule that he had sent you, every free moment he got was taken up by your interview. Sometimes it would be more formal, like your first dinner meeting, and sometimes it was more casual, get-togethers in the lounge with the other VIP members or a riverside walk that felt more like two friends talking than a professional interview. And it all went in your notes, it would all go in your article. This was going to be a great article. The real Lee Jeno when he's relaxed, what he's like off the runway.

Today was very special, however, as you'd been invited to tag along to one of his photoshoots. You were just outside the building housed at the address you'd been given when you were met by a young man whose stern gaze never left you. It seemed as if he had been waiting for you.

"Are you the journalist?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, completely skipping any greetings.

"Ah yes, Y/L/N Y/N," you confirmed, nodding your head respectfully to him as you held out your VIP lounge card as proof. Jeno told you that would be your pass to get in.

The man only scrutinized the card for a moment before he pivoted on his heel, "Follow me."

You kept his hurried pace easily, ready to ask him questions as well, "So what's your job here?"

He took a moment to push open a door that then nearly closed on you before answering, "I'm Lee Jeno's PA."

"Oh, Song Eunseok!" The name easily came to your mind.

The PA's eyes widened in surprise, "Jeno's brought me up?"

"Of course he has! You're with him pretty much all the time, how could he not mention you?" You flipped through your notebook to where you'd taken previous notes about him, "Here, I asked him to walk me through his typical day, and he mentioned 'Seokkie' like seven times."

Eunseok physically grimaced at this, "I've requested that he not call me that."

"Why? I think it's a cute nickname."

"Really?" His eyes were now trained on his shoes as opposed to his previous laser focus on the end of the hallway. Your eyes could've been playing tricks on you, but you swore the tips of his ears were tinged pink, too.

There was another door, and this time you definitely couldn't miss the fact that he held it open for you this time.

"Really," you echoed.

The door had led to what you could really only imagine to be the set. Huge lightboxes, a couple cameras, and a multitude of people all set up with a single black sheet as the focal point. A white loveseat contrasted it starkly, but that wasn't where your eyes were drawn. They were drawn to the man seated elegantly atop it, dressed head-to-toe like the playboy prince of a small but filthy rich country. Lee Jeno.

"You can wait for him over here with me," Eunseok tapped your elbow with a feather-light touch, snapping you from your near-trance.

"Thanks." You walked with him towards a table lined with various food and drink.

Your focus was still on the PA as he got a bottle of water, opened it, took a lemon slice from a small bowl and squeezed it into the drink before plopping a blue straw in as well. Then didn't drink it. Instead, he turned back to you and held it in his hand patiently.

"The straw disturbs the makeup as little as possible," Eunseok explained to you, and it was then that you realized it wasn't for him, it was for Jeno. "Makes the makeup artists' lives a little bit easier."