A Thousand Purple Stars (JinJi)

Even Better

Jisoo stared down hard at her notes, trying not to look up and risk getting caught in the crossfire of Julie and Dara's argument. The two women had been yelling at each other for all of five minutes, but the energy in the room got so tense that Jisoo felt like it had gone on for ages.

It all started when Dara laid down her three picks for the short feature, which included a draft that she'd written herself. Jisoo had read it before. She was still a bit sore about Dara humiliating her in front of the staff, so she had read Dara's draft begrudgingly, but she was thoroughly impressed by the quality of her writing. She had written a short, dark romance that would've made Emily Bronte blush with embarrassment. But it was still a far cry from what Kiyoko wanted.

Julie said that she wanted a short feature that was going to match the new, light, simple vibe of the redesign. She had even brought out a mock-up of what the cover would look like. Jisoo was used to nodding her head and agreeing with what Julie said, but this time around, she had to side with Dara, who called the new design infantile.

Then the yelling started.

Julie insisted that change and adaptation were necessary to attract new readers and stay afloat in an industry that was going increasingly digital and to rebrand the romance genre and make it more appealing.

Dara agreed with all that, but she felt it was more important to keep the journal's original integrity by staying committed to championing high-quality writing, writing that embodied all the best that the romance genre had to offer and all that it could be.

Julie said that championing good writing didn't mean that the magazine had to be boring.

Dara countered saying that the bubbly font and bright colors put too much emphasis on the design and took attention away from the words themselves.

Then Julie called Dara a stifling traditionalist with no sense for what today's audience wanted. So then Dara called Julie a sell-out who'd lost touch with Embrace's original vision.

And the yelling sort of just went from there, and Jisoo had stopped paying attention, opting instead to devote all her interest to the ink drying on her notepad. She was beyond relieved when Seungri walked in, needing the conference room for a Skype call with Jeon & Sky's editor-in-chief.

Dara and Julie exited the room, still stiff with tension and Jisoo hurried to her desk, wanting to get out of that toxic atmosphere as fast as she could. She was no stranger to Dara's ire, but Julie Kiyoko's explosive outburst seemed to have come straight out of left field. The two women had never been anything but professional to each other. Only today did Jisoo realize that there must be more tension between them than they let on.

Jisoo didn't know what to make of the scene she just witnessed. Nor did she really know whose side she was on. As little as she cared for Dara, Jisoo didn't deny that she had made some valid points. Jisoo had been supportive of the redesign in general, being a firm believer that change could be a good thing and that it was important to woo new readers. But Dara was also right about preserving the integrity of Embrace's vision of legitimizing the romance genre. It was, after all, what had made her start reading it in the first place.

Dara came storming out of her office again, and Jisoo bristled. Ever since Dara's outburst, Jisoo had been walking on eggshells around her all week. But Dara ignored her completely and instead went to grab a cup of coffee from the break room. Jisoo relaxed her shoulders. On her desk, her computer screen was open to an email to a potential new writer. Dara had tasked her with replying to all new inquiries, pretending to be Dara, and telling them that unfortunately their submission box was closed until the next cycle.

That was when Jisoo noticed Julie Kiyoko walk into Dara's office.

"Ms. Kiyoko?" Jisoo asked, taking her hands from the keyboard and standing up. Julie whipped around and stared at Jisoo through the open door of Dara's empty office. She looked slightly alarmed.