sim.jaeyun → reality show

45

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I had made it back to my old apartment, and to say the least, the feeling was absolutely horrendous.

I had to prepare for the new comeback, and on top of that, deal with the heartache from leaving Jake.

Neither of us wanted this, which was what was painful.

I watched Yeong walk around the apartment, probably confused as to why we were back in this apartment. Even my cat knew this wasn't right.

I flung myself onto my sofa, just sat there, deflated and flailed as I was in a daze of uncertainty.

→ THREE WEEKS LATER

Preparing for the new comeback was more helpful than anything possibly. I was so consumed every single day, that I had barely any time to spare thought for my relationship that never had worked out.

We were performing our new song at an award show tomorrow, so that was something to look forward to, maybe we'd even win an award or two.

Currently, we were doing photoshoots for the album.

Mingho stood beside the photographer, looking and scrolling through his phone. There were already a few album pictures published, but the full thing wasn't quite finished.

"Haerin! Haerin! Pause, stop!" Mingho cut the photographer off, approaching us with his phone.

"What is it?" I inquired, wondering what I did wrong.

He scrolled through the comments under the album concept photos, and throughout the comment sections were comments about me and Jake again.

'Haerin looks so sad after breaking up with Jake'

'I hope Haerin is okay'

'She looks tired, I prefer it better when she was with Jake'

I didn't think I looked sad, I thought that I covet my emotions pretty well, but clearly fans know everything the most.

"Haerin, we need more of that Sparkling Haerin energy, the comments are saying that you look sad and tired, come on, your career depends on this." Mingho tried to give me words of motivation, but I just glared at him as he spoke to me.

So instead of allowing me happiness and seeing Jake again, I just should fake everything ever because that's clearly the best way to do things?

Fuck you Mingho, seriously.

He walked back to the photographer, and the girls looked at me, we all shared the exact same hatred gaze for Mingho.

"He's unbelievable." Hana muttered under her breath as I nodded lightly.

"Seriously, has he got nothing running through his head?" Hyera added too, we were all conversing quietly and unsuspectedly just so Mingho wouldn't catch on we were talking shit about him.

"READY, 3, 2, 1, POSE!" Mingho snapped us out of our conversation, we all immediately got into position and began to snap more photos.

This time I tried to make an effort into looking more 'happy' I suppose, and give the Sparkling Haerin energy I was known for.

I didn't certainly feel the Sparkling energy, but my face said otherwise.

"YES! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT!!" Mingho clapped his hands, looking at the previews of the photos appearing on the computer, "GREAT JOB HAERIN!"

And with that, a few more photos were snapped, up until we were getting ready for personal photos.

Hyera went first, and after her photoshoot, it was me.

The other girls went to get some drinks and to rest for a little bit, touch up their makeup and hair and whatnot. 

Mingho went to his office for a short period of time, which left only me and the photographer.

We sat and waited for a bit, she needed to process the files on her computer, and they were taking a bit of a long time loading.

She looked over to me, and gave a small smile.

"It must be hard." She suddenly broke the silence between us, and I looked at her, confused.

"Sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean.." I blankly stared at her face, she seemed quite young.

"You and Jake. I mean, what the internet did to you guys was totally unjust and unfair. You're only young." She was referring to me and Jake dating and then having to break up, I gave an awkward chuckle, not really wanting to talk about this.

She turned to look at me again, and this time, I wondered what she was gonna pull up now.

"You know, I empathise with you, when the articles came out. I used to date an idol too, he was the sweetest man - but pictures caught us on multiple occasions, and his management forced him to break it off with me." She suddenly exposed, and I looked at her, widening my eyes.

"What? Really? How come??" I began to grow intrigued with this woman, who would've knew?

"I was a photographer for one of his concept shoots, we sparked conversation, and you know - things turned out better than I expected. His management didn't like how I was basically a 'nobody' and dating such a high star like him. So, he had no other choice but to break it off." She seemed to have the same sullen expression as I had when I had to break up with Jake, "You know, I see myself in you sometimes."

I gave a light smile, looking to the ground.

"Do you still talk to him, or not anymore?" I decided to ask, maybe if she still spoke to him today, I'd have a chance back with Jake.

"No, unfortunately not. You know, after so many days pass with not speaking, you kind of just - I don't know - forget about them?" Her words crushed me inside, and although I knew it was the truth, I wanted to deny that it would happen to me and Jake so bad.

"ALRIGHT, BACK WITH THE PHOTOSHOOT, HAERIN, YOU'RE UP!" Mingho came back into the room, holding a cold bottle of water in his hand.