gossip girl

“You know….I don’t know whether to be offended or flattered,” Chobin muttered. She’d been on a variety show (which was something she usually tried to stay away from, admittedly), and when asked about her life before MK, Velocity had come up. And when she pointed herself out–a tiny eleven year old–on the screen, the MCs had commented on how she looked exactly the same. “Like….is my style the same? Do I rap like an eleven year old? Do I look like an eleven year old? It’d be kinda fucked up if I did, wouldn’t it?”

“OOoh, I’d be flattered, Chobin-ah! I think they’re complimenting you. Like.....you’ve been a natural beauty since day one, and there’s no trace of you ever getting--or needing--surgery!” Aeri grinned. “I’m sure the MC was just teasing you.” She sighed. “Let’s just forget about that, okay? I owe you a coffee, right! Let’s go get a coffee. And we can talk about whatever you want.”

“No, I’m okay. Really. Just give me a second.” Choyeon was okay. Or, he was now. He’d been hit with a panic attack for no reason, out of nowhere, and it’d been hard to pull himself together without his sister there, but he was long since used to getting it under control in public. He wasn’t sure what had triggered it, but he didn’t quite care–he was just glad it was over with. “I’m sorry. I completely interrupted you. Um…I’m listening now, though.”

“Oh! I was just rambling, sweetie--don’t worry about it. I’m more worried about you...” Aeri mumbled, rubbing his back softly. He was a legend--he’d been an idol forever. Almost a decade. He was one of her original celebrity crushes. It was hard keeping herself together. “Are you sure you’re okay? DId you eat something bad? Are you sick? I can get you to the doctor if you need?”

He was admittedly a little uncomfortable, seeing as she was hovering nearby and refusing to leave. It was weird. He loved his fans, but when they loved him back on this level? It was weird. “Um, not it’s fine. I’ll see him tonight anyway. It’s okay.”

“Oh! Oh, alright. Yeah, I’m sure that’s a better plan and everything. Talking. Face to face and all....” Aeri said, smiling and trailing off awkwardly. She was admittedly quite starstruck and wasn’t sure how to handle any of this. 

He was spinning idly in the stylist’s chair, waiting for Yejin to get back and finish doing his hair when Aeri appeared out of nowhere. He jumped a little, but it seemed like Sora hadn’t been exaggerating about the secretary being all over him. He took the papers from her, reading over the memo from the CEO and nodded. “Right, thank you.”

In theory, she was done now. He had the memo, he was reading it, and she had messages to take, but she was right next to Lee Kyuyeol. She couldn’t make her feet move. So she just smiled at him, watching him read. “Um...I can take a message back to him for you? If you want.”

“’scuse me?” He turned is attention to her with a frown. It wasn’t like he was denying it was a shitty shirt for him, but as rookies they weren’t in a position to argue with stylists just yet about what they were wearing. “First, don’t call me sweetie. Second, it’s not mine, it’s the stylists. I have enough shirts that suit me, you don’t need to take me shopping– why would you even want to do that?”

“...Excuse you for what? You haven’t done anything wrong!” Aeri said daftly, smiling and shaking her head a little, clearly oblivious to his tone. “Oh, alright! Am I allowed to call you Kaili, or do you prefer Kai?” she asked sweetly, cocking her head to the side. “Why? Because I love shopping. And you’re petty popular--the netizens are going to be pretty harsh if they see this sort of thing. Better to keep something like that from happening.”

Minjung looked up from her paperwork with reluctance, the chipper attitude doing nothing but exhausting her already worn out, coffee deprived self. Of course she’d heard things about the intern– she was the type of person that listened more than she spoke, plus her line of work led to her knowing plenty of secrets, but she wanted to give the female the benefit of the doubt and a chance at redemption before writing her off as a no-good gossip. Clearly, she was proven wrong for doing so. Humming to herself, Minjung put on her best interested expression (thank you, eight years of acting training), and eagerly waved her hand towards the younger female. “Yeah, come here. Closer. I have something good for you.”

Aeri had grown up with the industry her whole life, but not apart of it. No, she was just another fangirl, raised on flashy dance routines and soul-shattering vocals. And when the tabloid she had worked for prior to this had gotten into legal trouble, a lot of people questioned how she had gotten a job at an entertainment label, but Aeri knew it was fate. She deserved to spend time right up close to the idols she loved more than anything, even if she was just secretary and didn’t really get to talk to them all that much. She clapped her hands excitedly, coming closer and resting her chin on her hands. She had no reason to know any of this anymore-she didn’t have to write about it--but she liked being in the know. “Ooh, tell me! You’re really good at leaving a girl in suspense, you know.”