between the spolight - purinz ✧

the one who sees her.

giselle's pov —

the line clicked dead, and i held my phone tightly, feeling the faint warmth where yunjin's voice had echoed only moments before. my lips curled into a small, private smile as her final words played on repeat in my mind. "stay away from me, giselle." her voice had cracked, the tiniest tremble of fear slipping through her attempt at control.

she was scared.

good.

i set my phone down slowly, careful not to disturb the stillness of my room, where a wall of photos stared back at me. yunjin's smile, her laugh, her gaze fixed in fleeting, stolen moments i'd captured without her knowing. some were from a distance—rehearsals, crowded events where i could slip into the background, watching her every move. others, though, were more intimate: a photo from her social media, where she smiled but her eyes looked lost; a blurry image i'd taken one night after a show when she'd fallen asleep, unaware of the shadow that hovered nearby.

she didn't understand yet. she thought i was a problem, something to be shut out, brushed aside, like i was disposable. but yunjin... yunjin was everything. the one person who saw me as more than a reflection of someone else, who actually noticed when i was around. her smile, her laugh, the way she could make everyone in a room lean in just to hear her speak—it was as if she was meant for me. and if she couldn't see that yet, i would have to make her.

when she said she cared about chaewon, a flicker of rage had sparked within me, but i'd kept my voice even, holding it back. i knew chaewon was just a distraction, a shadow clinging to yunjin, trying to draw her attention away from where it belonged. but yunjin would come to realize that chaewon wasn't good for her—she was only good at breaking hearts. i'd seen it all unfold, watched as yunjin fell apart, and it had made me ache to reach out, to fix her in a way chaewon never could.

i turned to my wall, trailing a finger over one of the photos, a candid shot where she was laughing with her head thrown back, her face softened by the glow of a stage light. she was beautiful—too beautiful to be wasted on someone who would throw her aside the first chance she got. i leaned in closer, my fingers tracing the edges of her face in the photo, lingering on her eyes.

every image of yunjin telling a different story. But in each one, i saw it—something she might not even know herself yet. yunjin was searching, reaching out in ways that no one else could understand. chaewon thought she could have her, could hold that light in her hands, but she didn't know yunjin like i did. she didn't understand what yunjin really needed.

chaewon didn't see the depths of her, didn't see beyond the obvious charms, the easy smiles, the laughter that drew people to her. but i did. i saw the quiet moments, the way her face would fall when she thought no one was watching, the hint of sadness in her smile that even she couldn't hide. i knew those little cracks, those secrets she buried behind her eyes. i was the only one who truly saw her. i was the one meant for her.

she might not realize it yet, but one day she'd understand. one day she'd look at me, really look at me, and she'd finally see that the person she'd been searching for had been here all along. i was the one who cared about her, who stayed when everyone else drifted away.

yunjin didn't need someone like chaewon, who only wanted her when it was convenient, who'd throw her aside when things got hard. no, yunjin needed someone who would be there through everything—someone who would never let her go, no matter how complicated things became. she needed someone who understood her down to her very core. and that someone... was me.

i let out a slow breath, feeling the tightness in my chest begin to ease. the more i thought about it, the clearer it became: yunjin would come to realize we belonged together. i'd just have to be patient, to make sure she saw that, no matter how long it took. because i was willing to wait, willing to do whatever it took, until yunjin finally accepted that she was mine.

one day, when all this was over, she'd understand i was the only one who'd never leave. and that i was the only one she'd ever need. i'd told her chaewon would hurt her again. she would. i'd make sure of it.

and when she did, yunjin would have no one left but me. the comforting presence she'd learn to turn to. i could picture it already: the warmth of her hand in mine, the look in her eyes as she finally understood what i'd been trying to tell her. that no one else would ever love her like i did.

—

i wasn't supposed to make a pov of another character other than yunjin and chaewon but it's interesting to see giselle's pov tbh😭 and it's killing me to make her as a mean girl in this story but i wanted to say that she's my bias of aespa! i'm not a hater or anything haha