ꜱᴄᴀɴᴅᴀʟᴏᴜꜱ - ʜᴇᴇᴊᴀᴋᴇᴋɪ

✦ ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴᴛᴇᴇɴ ✦

Niki - March 12th, 2026

"Niki, you need to put out that cigarette so I can finish your makeup."

I rolled my eyes at my short-statured makeup artist, but I ended up following her order and smashing the half-finished cigarette into the ashtray.

"Thank you," she faked a smile as she covered my lips in a dark gloss.

As usual, Jay and Sunghoon arrived late. The quiet, peaceful room seemed to erupt when they entered. "Hey, what's up?" Sunghoon smiled at me as he took his seat.

I waited for the woman to stop brushing my lips to reply. "Whatever, I guess," I shrugged and turned my head towards Jay. Before I could ask about him, my makeup artist spoke again.

"You're all done, so I'll be leaving," she bowed to me, her long blonde locks nearly touching the floor.

"Alright," I mumbled and rose from my chair. She looked just over half my height when I stood. "Have a good day."

She slightly blushed at the tiny statement but hid her embarrassment well. "You too," she replied meekly as she rushed out of the door.

Finally, I could ask Jay about his breakup. We hadn't really talked about it yet, even though he's been staying at my place. I've been extremely busy with interviews this week, so this was finally my chance to talk to him about it. "Jay. How have you been?" I raised a brow as I leaned my hand against the armrest of his chair.

"Fine."

"That's all? Just 'fine?' What about Jungwon?" I pried, and the intrusion seemed to anger him.

He grit his teeth and shot me a glare. "What about him?"

"You still haven't explained this breakup to me," I sighed.

"He's been acting bitchy. I'm sick of him right now," Jay explained, his eyes fixed up at the ceiling as his artist attended to his under-eyes.

"Are you gonna get back with him?"

Jay exhaled shortly, his jaw flexed a few times with a clear frustration. "I don't know. Heeseung called me this fucking morning about it. Apparently, he's been acting way better and he apologized, but...I don't know if he's faking it."

"I have a simple solution for you," I offered, which seemed to pique his interest. He gazed up at me with curiosity as I explained my strategy. "Give him a second chance. If he starts acting up again, you know he didn't mean it, so break up with him for good. If he's chill, then stay. It's easy."

"Hm..." he hummed lowly. "I guess I could do that."

"Great. So you'll leave my apartment tonight?" I grinned.

Jay sighed dramatically, but he couldn't hold back his smirk. "Fuck off."

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