euphoria | knj √

30: love is not over.

"I can't go on if you're not here. Love me, love me, come back to my arms."

0:00 |───────── 3:42

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Rein's last day in Seoul didn't feel real. Everything was too slow or too fast. She was a lost comet in a field of planets, drifting with no purpose, or rather, without a good purpose. Nothing around her registered, almost like she was on auto-pilot.

To keep it easy, the day was mostly spent writing disjointed lyrics, moping, and packing. Though she tried to remain cheerful around the other members, she tried her hardest to avoid Namjoon, as she wanted to leave on anything other than a bad note.

Rein knew she could not keep up the facade around him. He knew her too well for that.

At the end of her workday, she got an email from Ms. Cho. Expecting it to contain her schedule for the next day, she opened it, finding only two sentences.

Ms. Jones,

Report to the conference room. Urgent.

Rein read over the email again, wondering if it was meant for her. (and also wondered why Ms. Cho couldn't have just sent a text) However, she knew Ms. Cho to be a tedious perfectionist, not making a mistake in the six years she knew her, and especially not with something as simple as this.

She sighed and asked for directions to the conference room, then took the elevator up, anticipation creeping up her body.

What could be so important that it can't wait until tomorrow? she thought, irritated. Ms. Cho had no way of knowing she was going through a crisis right now, but she would've appreciated a little space in her time of need.

As the elevator doors opened, her converse clacked against the polished, marble floors. The familiar blue glass greeted her, sending a wave of warm sentiments, yet a certain feeling of grief, so potent it almost made her porcelain mask she so carefully constructed over her face crack.

Never again would she see that glass.

Never again would she see him.

She opened the door to the conference room as quietly as possible, relieved when she found Ms. Cho facing her. Turning their back to her was a man in a suit who she recognized to be Manager Sejin and another man with...

Magenta hair.

He turned around and looked at her, a knowing smile on his face.

"What's... what's going on?" Rein asked, suddenly embarrassed of her disheveled state, as she wore a pair of sweatpants and a shirt with two grease stains on it the last time she checked. Nope. Three now.

"Please sit down," Ms. Cho said, obviously noticing how underdressed she was, but saying nothing. Sensing the impatience in her voice, Rein did as she was told, still confused.

"Mr. Kim, along with Bighit, has drafted a contract that you might want to consider," Ms. Cho continued, sliding a five-page document to her. It was obviously done in haste, as most of the fine print was not included within the pages. She took it and scanned the papers briefly before putting it back down.

"I take it that this is a proposal for my continued service here?" Rein asked, squinting her eyes in suspicion. Whose idea was this?

Namjoon cleared his throat to draw attention himself.

"I'll be producing a new album very soon, and I was thinking, since you're here already, you could be a feature on one of my songs," he said. He brushed his hair back then drummed his hand against the table as if he were anxious about something.