A Thousand Purple Stars (JinJi)

Time Has a Funny Way

Jisoo sat back in her chair and turned her wrist, stretched her fingers.

It was a Saturday night, and she had been hunched over her desk all day, furiously copying words from a dusty old Embrace issue. Julie aimed to put the plan into action before the redesign unveiling meeting with the editor-in-chief of Embrace, which was coming up fast, but she wanted this portion of the scheme finished before Wednesday.

Jisoo looked down at the box of old issues that Julie had pulled for her from Archives. It was every issue from the past year that contained work that Dara had written, and some drafts from her days as a junior staffer. Julie was making her copy every single one, almost word-for-word into the notebook.

She grabbed a newspaper from her desk and tossed it over the box so that she didn't have to look at it. She already felt like enough of a crook without being reminded that she still had two issues' worth of Dara's work to steal.

Jisoo was in the eye of a moral hurricane. For the past two days, she had been copying words into a notebook and feeling more and more consumed by her own guilt. But what could she do? Julie Kiyoko was the managing editor, the highest ranking person at Embrace after Mr. Jeon himself. Her career was stake. Her dreams of touching the lives of millions of people with the written word were at stake if she didn't comply.

But complying made her feel like a dishonest crook. Made her feel like someone she didn't want to know, let alone be.

The doorknob turned, and Jisoo stood to hide the boxes and her work, but it was just Lisa who stuck her head in. She was wearing a sequined body-con dress and clutched a pair of strappy high heels in her hand. She had on a face full of makeup.

"What are you doing tonight?" Lisa asked.

"Working!" Jisoo snapped, moving in front of her desk.

"Still?" Lisa said. "You've been shut up in here literally all day. You never even changed out of your pajamas from this morning."

Jisoo was aware that she looked like a slob, but mostly because she felt like one. Her work was making her feel like one. She had tied her hair into a messy bun and still wore the cotton shorts and the worn, loose shirt that she had put on to sleep in the night before.

"I'm... writing," Jisoo said, putting her palm down on the notebook's open page to keep Lisa from being able to read her words. Her roommate crossed her arms.

"But it's Saturday night!" Lisa whined. "Rose and I are going to the Lambda Chi party, you should come with us! Or at least pre-game with us in the kitchen."

"I can't," Jisoo said, wishing the Lisa would just turn around and leave her to commit fraud in peace.

"But it's no fun with just the two of us," Lisa said. "Jennie is out with Jackson, and you never hang out with us anymore."

"I'm sorry," Jisoo said. Lisa stood there, pouting at Jisoo for another minute, but then seeing that she was fighting a hopeless battle, she sighed and then bid Jisoo goodnight as she left the room.

"Close the door, please," Jisoo said and Lisa did as she was told. Lisa walked back to the kitchen, where Rose was pouring herself another shot of coconut rum.

"So, is she coming?" Rose asked.

"No," Lisa said, crestfallen. Rose held the bottle of rum out of Lisa, and Lisa took it.

"Aww, but why?" Rose said. "She never hangs out with us anymore. She's always busy writing her novel or going to her job."

Lisa tipped the bottle and drank a little. "It's fine," she said. "There'll be other parties. Let's just go on our own this time."