between the spolight - purinz ✧

losing control.

giselle's pov —

watching the news break, i felt a white-hot rush of frustration coil in my chest, twisting tighter with every headline that flashed on my screen: "yunjin and chaewon go public!" "the couple bravely faces backlash in the industry." everywhere i looked, they were being framed as brave, as strong. it was infuriating. my careful plans, the whispers i'd spread, the subtle doubts i'd sown to pull them apart—it was all unraveling because of this one bold, reckless decision of theirs.

i scrolled through the comments, my fingers gripping the phone so tightly i could feel my nails biting into my palms. there were fans who were angry, yes, but a surprising number of them were supportive. the audacity of it. they were supposed to be struggling, isolated. but now, they'd managed to turn the narrative, claiming back the power i'd so carefully held over them.

when i'd first seen the post, i thought it was a joke. i'd checked it twice, even three times, to be sure. there they were, side by side, openly admitting everything i'd tried to twist against them. it felt like a slap to the face. i'd counted on their secrecy, on the fear that had kept them from going public for so long. the private messages i'd strategically leaked, the half-truths i'd whispered—it was all built on that one foundation. and now, with a single post, they'd shattered it.

this wasn't how it was supposed to go. yunjin and chaewon were supposed to drift apart, strained under the weight of rumors, unable to trust each other. i'd had it all lined up perfectly—until they went and upended everything.

i closed my phone and sank down on my bed, the glow of the city lights outside spilling in through the window. it should have been easy. yunjin had always been headstrong but naive, believing in loyalty without seeing the betrayal right in front of her. and chaewon—she was so proud, so certain. i'd figured it would only take a few whispers to make her doubt. but they hadn't doubted each other, not the way i needed them to. instead, they'd dug in, braving it all together.

i stared at the screen in my hands, wondering where i'd gone wrong. i'd been there from the start, watching their relationship bloom, seeing all the little flaws i could exploit. i knew their secrets, the moments yunjin had shared with me in confidence, the looks chaewon thought no one noticed. but they'd shut me out the moment they saw through me, cast me aside like i was nothing. they'd left me in the shadows, assuming i'd simply fade away. but i wasn't done yet.

taking a deep breath, i forced myself to think. there was still a way to turn this around. the company wasn't happy, and they'd hinted at isolating chaewon and yunjin from future opportunities. i could still work with that, still push them further until they'd burned too many bridges to hold their place. this public confession of theirs might have been bold, but it was risky, too. now the stakes were higher, and if i played my cards right, the fall would be that much harder.

i wouldn't just disappear from their lives like some minor setback. no, i'd let this storm of their own making swirl around them, knowing i was the one who'd put it all in motion. and when they finally began to feel the weight of it, when they realized how few people were left willing to stand by them, maybe then they'd understand just how big of a mistake they'd made turning their backs on me.

they thought they'd won—thought they'd taken control of their story. but i wasn't done yet. not by a long shot.