cigarette ;; DISCONTINUED

fourty-two

42: The reveal

Lisa pov
"Yah, Park Chaeyoung!"

Jisoo's voice filled our apartment. She was mad, the reason for it had yet to be revealed.

I stepped out of my room, my eyes meeting Chaeyoung's. Panic flooded her face as we walked into the living room together.

Jennie and Jisoo were waiting for us. The brunette was sitting on the couch, her head in her hands so we couldn't see her face.

Jisoo on the other side was tapping her foot on the ground impatiently.
She had been moody lately, raising her voice at us even at the tiniest things.

Something must've happened in her life, something she did not want to tell us about.

"Care to explain?"

She handed Chaeyoung her phone that was constantly buzzing.

I peeked over her shoulder to see what was on the screen. Just by reading the headline, my whole body froze, not believing what I had just read.

Chaeyoung's hand started to shake.
"H-how?", her voice was only a whisper.

She scrolled down the article and saw pictures. Pictures, taken of her when she left Jimin's car.

That whole scene was familiar. It was the same thing as the article about Jennie and Jongin. Even the angles from where these photos were taken looked familiar.

The only difference was that one couldn't identify Jimin.

They had blurred his face. Of course, they had, BigHit Entertainment and Dispatch had a contract that forbids Dispatch to reveal anything about the boys' private life.

To our bad, our company had no such thing.

Chaeyoung was thrown under the bus. At the moment, there was nothing else for her to do.

The drama had already started to run its course.

"As if one dating scandal wasn't enough for this year", Jisoo started, throwing her hands frustratedly into the air, "I thought we had learned to be more cautious since Jennie's incident."

"Unnie, I- I'm sorry."

Chaeyoung's breath was shaky as she handed back Jisoo's phone. My hand wrapped around hers, assuring her that she wasn't going to go through this alone.

"You should feel sorry! You should've been more careful, you-"

"Unnie, enough! Don't put the blame on her", I cut her off.

I was tired of her acting all-mighty as if she had never done something wrong.

Her attitude had been pissing me off for the past few days but I never worded my annoyance.

Until now.

Seeing my best friend on the verge of tears, saddened and shocked because a part of her life, that she wanted to keep a secret to the public, had been just revealed, made me want to punch a wall.

It was Jennie's situation all over again.

"Yes, maybe she was less cautious in that very moment but don't forget what sneaky little bitches work for Dispatch. They are everywhere and sometimes you just don't notice them."

I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I hadn't planned on reacting like that but something inside of myself told me that these words needed to be said.

Things happened and we couldn't turn back time. So instead of freaking out like we did when Jennie got exposed, we had a chance to handle everything better this time.

My eyes wandered to Chaeyoung, who hadn't said one word since she saw that article.

Silent tears were rolling down her face. I could tell how she felt but I didn't exactly know since I had never experienced such a thing.

Jennie stood up and pulled the blonde into her arms. She patted her back as she whispered things in her ear, assuring her that everything's going to be alright.

The two of them left into her room and I knew Jennie would try to calm her down. She was the best person to do so as she knew what feelings Chaeyoung must be going through at that very moment.

"I cannot believe this", Jisoo mumbled, ruffling her hair.

I knew she was frustrated. As the oldest she was carrying around a burden and especially since we had no official leader that would normally guide us through a crisis like this, we had no one to turn to.

"I know that this is all madness but don't be so hard on her. This could've happened to anyone-"

"No, it could not! We all should know the risks of dating and the way she behaved was just reckless. She could've at least try and hide her face while getting out of the car", Jisoo interrupted me.

Her face was slowly turning red, something that only happened when she was really furious.

I couldn't understand her reaction. Even though it wasn't me, whom the words were aimed at, they still hurt listening to.

I didn't even want to imagine how Chaeyoung must feel. If she was lucky, she didn't hear Jisoo's words.

"Damn, why are you getting this worked up? It's nothing we or the company couldn't fix, is it?"

Jisoo scoffed and walked towards her room. She was trying to walk away from her, from our, problem. That's what she always did.

"Tsk, talk about fixing it."

"What's your fucking problem, unnie?!", I shouted after her.

Her moodiness made me want to throw something after her. I hated that she acted like that.

"My fucking problem?! You're asking what my fucking problem is?!", she turned around, clenching her jaw.

She took a few steps forward until she stood right in front of me. Her finger poked into my chest right between my collarbones as she worded her thoughts.

"Are you really asking what my fucking problem is?", she asked with gritted teeth, accentuating the fucking yet again.

"Yes, that's what I'm asking!"

The air was tense.
Never had a fight between us escalated to this extent. Never had we shouted at each other so loud that our neighbors could probably listen to every word we had said.

Jisoo took a deep breath, her clenched fists shaking. Her voice was quiet, yet so steady.

"Do you think I didn't see the pregnancy test?"