Lies | Jenbum & Jaegi

one

Of course love is real

Reporters start to push each other around when they saw Jennie walking out from the press conference hall -their voices overlapped with each other as their shouts and urges echoed inside the grand building and bounced off the soundproof wall.

Each of them demand attention from her, as time slowly ticks down, they are becoming more restless, more desperate. Even if there's a slight tilt of her her head in their way, they'll start throwing questions and shoved their recorders into her way. All the cacophony of sounds is almost muffled by the non-stop clicks clicks of shutters and blinding flashlights. From the window of the opposite building, a sniper is hunched over the barrier while her gaze trained precisely on the target. The corner of her mouth tugged slightly upwards, pleased to know that it takes only one easy shot to finish her job.

Should I play around first? Just to make it more interesting.

Jennie grits her teeth and keep walking past them without offering any answers to their questions -she doesn't have anything to say at all. They already knew what needed to be known and she's not planning to tell more than that. Anger boiled inside her and linger just underneath her skin like a prickling heat that she had to take a deep breath to stop herself from growling at all the people who showed no respect towards her family's privacy and dared to block her way to the exit.

"Jennie-ssi, is the rumour circulating around your late mother a truth?"

"She passed away because of a car accident but why did your family kept it as a secret until now?"

"Did your family really--"

The question was cut short when a bullet had shattered the window and lodged straight into the nosy reporter's head. Jennie's eyes widened when the blood had splattered on her face. The body slumped down nearby her feet and her legs almost give up on her. Around them people had started screaming and running away from the hall.

Seulgi aimed it again when everyone is pushing to get away and save themselves. She pulled the trigger without any hesitation after counting silently under her breath. But when Jaebum appeared out of nowhere and pushed Jennie out of the way the bullet had hit his upper shoulder slightly and she was taken aback.

She should've finish her job and kill Jennie when her bodyguards is down by one but seeing Jaebum clutching onto his shoulder while grimacing in pain had froze her finger on the trigger. Because of a spilt second of hesitation, she lost to him. Jaebum had caught her movement from the corner of his eye but did nothing to stop her. He let her go.

***

There's a warm hand on the small of her back that guided her safely all the way to her ride where the authorities had taken over to control the situation. Two more bodyguards clad in black suits trails behind them quietly, always on alert to the surrounding. Jaebum opened the door of the back seat for her but Jennie refused to enter. The parking lot for VVIP is empty and the other two bodyguards turns their body away from the two of them.

Jennie stands next to him with an unreadable expression on her face. Her hands balled into fists and she painfully dug her fingernails into her palms.

"Where did you go, Jaebum?" Jennie said quietly. Unshed tears started to burn behind her eyes as the shock fades away when she moved her gaze to look into his face. Her face is sickly pale, the adrenaline rush of the killing attempt had worn her down to the bone. This is not the first time this had happened and honestly, Jennie is no longer afraid of death like she used to. All she asked for is to not die a lonely death just like her mother. She only wants that.

"You were supposed to be by my side during the press just like you promised!"

"I was there. I was watching over you from the second floor." Jaebum replied without looking at her face. The bandaged wound on his left shoulder throbbed and it makes him uncomfortable but other than that, his own face is wiped clean from any visible emotion.

"No, you don't understand, Jaebum. How much time do I need to tell you? I don't need you to protect me, I don't need you to watch over me from afar, I just need you to stay by my side, because no one else can. My mother is dead now so you're all I have. Is that so hard to do?" Her voice was raised a pitch higher unconsciously as indignance crept into her like a lurking shadows. Jennie step forward and glared into his face with a blurry vision.

"Is that so hard to do?" She punched his chest once, twice and then repeatedly but Jaebum still doesn't budge an inch from his place. He just pulled her into his embrace and let her cry into his shoulders. And they stood there like that for quite sometime.

"Do you want to go away from me that badly you can't stand me even for one second?", her voice betrayed her when it cracked pathetically at the end. Jennie hates crying and she rarely cried before, not even when she found out about her mother's sudden death. At the funeral, she didn't shed a single tears as the pain and resentment just keep piling up inside her. She feels empty and hollow. And nothing.

She feels nothing.

Jaebum gripped her wrist loosely and guided her into the car without saying another word. Jennie soon fell asleep and Jaebum let her head to rest on his shoulder. It doesn't matter if it hurts, he is sure that she is hurting much more.

***

"I didn't know you would be so heartless. Why did you kill innocent people? They had done nothing wrong to you. You're much better than this."

"You're getting better at lying, Jaebum." Seulgi scoffed mockingly, finally shading off her malevolent and unforgiving nature. She could've easily pull out her knife and stab him in the moment he cornered her into the room but Jaebum had already held her hands tightly and pinned her to the wall before she could do anything. Suddenly, the air around her feels too stiff and its suffocating to be this near to him. Jaebum is a danger you can't take your eyes off, he's too alluring to resist. He beckoned you closer, like a moth to flame, like icarus to sun. You'll burn away even before you know it.

"I love you." She hear his whisper very close to her ear but all she can focus is to shove him away harshly as soon as his grip loosened.

"Stop it! Don't do this to me..." She cupped her ears to block his voice but Jaebum removed her hands away and lift her head up.

Seulgi gasped when he touch their forehead together, the tip of their nose barely touching and she can felt his breath fanning her face. Seulgi breathes in deeply, trying to bask in his minty scent and the coldness of his skin that had unconciously put her at ease. When Jaebum start to speak again, she hated herself for noticing the way that he had softened down his tone. It's gentler but still holds a heavy weight to it nonetheless as he gazed into her eyes unwaveringly.

"If you keep wanting to kill the person I was assigned to protect, you'll become my enemy, Seulgi. Can't you see that? Not even a star crossed lovers, but a chosen enemy.

They stay in the dark room in silence for a moment, relishing their forbidden togetherness until Jaebum slipped away from the room quietly. As he twists open the door knob, he turn around quickly to embrace her in a warm hug. The moonlight glinting of his side casted a faint shadow which Seulgi keep on staring. Her thoughts and resolve is all over the place.

tell me which pair are you rooting for? jenniexjaebum or seugixjaebum :)