Minjeong parked in front of her girlfriend's house.

It was last minute, but she was able to prepare to pick her up to work. She texted Jimin that she arrived before looking up to her rearview mirror and checking herself, she looks decent enough.

She hears the door of Yoo's house opening and sees Jimin hastily walking towards her car.

"Good morning, babe," Minjeong greeted happily as the raven-haired girl entered the car.

"Good morning," Jimin smiled and both of them hugged. "I'm sorry for this, babe. Unnie didn't tell me she would leave so early,"

The blonde-haired girl kisses her cheek in assurance, "it's okay. At least, I got to see you before you go to work."

Minjeong pulled away to start driving.

"Should I pick you up later, too? After work?" The other girl smiles at her, "that would be really nice."

Jimin then notices how Minjeong seems to have dressed up, "babe?"

"Hhmm?"

"You looked good today. Are you going somewhere?"

Minjeong nods, "remember that indie movie I participated in, soundtrack-wise?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, the music production team wants to meet me later,"

"Oh," Jimin was curious, "that's cool. But why would they want to meet you?"

"Well," Minjeong explains, "it seems one of Youngjae's friends is part of that team and I think they keep on talking about me and my work." She furrowed her brows, "I don't know what kind of talk they had, but because of it, they want to personally meet me."

"Oh, they must have showered you with a lot of compliments, babe, or else," she sees Jimin comically getting angry, "I will personally fight them."

"You would do that? Really?"

"Of course!" Minjeong could only chuckle.

"And besides," Minjeong glances at Jimin, "Youngjae likes you. He can't say bad things about you. For sure, he complimented you like you are a goddess and have a god-given talent."

Minjeong could only laugh in amusement, "only yesterday you were so jealous with Youngjae, and now,"

"I still am," Jimin sighs. She reaches out and caresses Minjeong's cheek. She sweetly says, "but I know I don't have anything to worry about."

Minjeong picks Jimin’s hand from her cheek and kisses it, "I'm only yours, Yooji."

-------------------------

After dropping her girlfriend at the store, Minjeong drove straight to the place where she would meet Youngjae and his friend. 

She’ll be honest, she’s really nervous. She won’t deny that she’s used to hearing good reviews and some constructive criticisms from the people she knows about her music, but this is the first time she will actually meet professional people, a music production team that used to be her client. 

She doesn’t know why they want to meet her personally. Her job was done weeks ago and she already got their feedback, so why? Minjeong thought. Maybe for small talk or something, she knows she’s not good at this, but she just needs to it up and push through.

As she parked in front of a cafe, she texted Youngjae that she had arrived. Turns out, they weren’t meeting at the cafe, but the one beside it. 

A random three-story building.

“O…kay,” she looked around, the building looked abandoned and full of graffiti. Minjeong doesn’t know if she’s in the right place or not. It’s not helping that there is no name plastered around. She decided to call her friend. “Hello. Yeah. I’m…here.” She looked around once again, “Uuhhh...Youngjae, are you sure this is the right building? I mean, it looks…”

Suddenly she heard someone calling her name, Minjeong looked above and saw Youngjae at a window, waving, “Yo, Minjeong!”

So this is the right place. Damn.

The moment she entered the building, she realized how real that saying was: don’t judge a book by its cover. The building was definitely not abandoned, but it’s the opposite. It’s really colorful and alive.

Pictures of different artists and music records were plastered on the walls, the blonde-haired girl couldn't help but be amazed as she looked around. Music can also be heard seeping through soundproof rooms which helped Minjeong realize where she was.

She's in a music studio.

A legit one.

A big one.

Don't get her wrong. She had seen or used a music studio before, but not as massive as this. It definitely made her feel intimidated.

The busy people passing by her didn't help at all. She doesn’t know where to look, until

“Hi, you must be Minjeong,” a tall guy suddenly spoke to her.

“Yeah, I am,” she awkwardly replies, "and you are?"

"I'm Minho."

“Ah. Is..Youngjae here?” The tall guy smiles, “yeah. He asked me to bring you upstairs. Follow me.”

-------------------------

Nothing much was happening on Jimin’s side. She was working hard on doing her duties at the store. It was the last day of her punishment, so she is making the most of it.

She’s also in touch with her girlfriend who’s clearly having a blast somewhere in the city next to their town. She chuckled reading the live messaging of her girlfriend as it was full of caps locks and emoticons, expressing how much she’s excited and amazed by the music studio. Jimin totally understands it, especially after seeing the pictures. 

The only thing that was bothering her a bit was the fact that her big sister, Jisoo, was nowhere to be found. 

Instead, a different store manager, Minseo, was handling the store with ease. If not for her, Jimin would have to step up and take charge of everything. She would be a mess and overly stressed. Good thing, Minseo doesn't give her much of a hard workload, so Jimin was able to take it easy.

It was during her lunchtime break when she read the text of her big sister.

Jisoo Unnie (10:49 am): Jiminie, I will be late. I need to do some errands for a bit. I asked Minseo to handle the manager duties for the time being. Be a good kid. I will be back soon.

Huh, Jimin thought, Unnie didn't share specific details of her errand. And it made Jimin curious. Maybe it’s related to school, she concludes.

She sighs. 

She has been noticing how weird her Unnie has been these past days. 

No.

Correction.

It's been a few weeks.

She had noticed it before. 

Not just Jisoo, but everyone in the house. From random whispering in the hallway in their house to random fights that stop whenever she is around. 

She’s aware of it.

Jimin might have been busy with her relationship with Minjeong and her past resurfacing, but she was paying attention.

She knows something was off but doesn't know what.

Maybe when Unnie is back, I should try and ask, she thought. Though she has a feeling Jisoo will not even try to tell her the truth. 

She was about to get her lunch from her bag only for her to realize she wasn't able to get lunch. Oh great. Jimin was in a hurry in the morning, she must have forgotten to bring her lunch.

She sighed heavily. So much for a home-cooked meal. She stood up and was about to go outside and maybe buy an instant food from their store when her mom suddenly entered the room.

"Umma?!?"

"Hi dear!" Both of them hugged tightly. It was Jimin who pulled away first, "what are you doing here?"

"Well," her mom took out a box from her eco-bag, "you forgot your lunch and I thought I should bring it to you, at the same time, visit the store. It has been a while."

Jimin couldn’t help but smile. She thanked and hugged her mom once again.

“Umma, do you want some?” Jimin offered some food to her Mom, which the latter declined, “I already ate before coming here.”

Her mom looked around and noticed Jisoo was still not here, “yeah, Unnie texted me she will be back soon.”

“Oh, hmm.” This made Jimin remember about the issue a while ago. “Umma,”

“Yes?”

“Jisoo Unnie’s acting weird.”

“Weird? What do you mean?”

“I just noticed this lately,” Jimin glances at her mom, “but it seems she’s hiding something from me. And it’s not just her,” Her mom avoids her glance, “but everyone in the house. It’s like…you guys are hiding something from me.”

Her mom sighs.

Jimin frowns, “so it’s true,”

“It’s not like that,” Her mom reaches out to her hand, “there is just some stuff your sisters and I had discussed that we don’t want you to worry much about.”

“But I’m not a kid anymore, Umma,” Jimin retorts, “whatever it is, I can handle it.” Her mom caresses her face, “I know, Jiminie. I know.”

“Is this about our business? The store? Or is it about-”

“Jimin,” her mom cupped her face, “Soon, you will know. But for now, don’t worry much about it. Okay?”

Jimin wants to argue more, but from the way her mom is looking at her, she couldn’t help but back down. They’ll eventually tell me about it, she thought to herself.

“Okay,” her mom gave her a small smile, “now finish your food. It’s almost time, you still need to go back to work.”

-------------------------

Minjeong couldn’t count how many times her jaw dropped today.

Not only did she meet the music production team of the indie film, but she also got a chance to see the studios and be able to play around with the equipment (while taking notes of the models as she plans to buy her own in the future). She also got a chance to get a lot of really good feedback about her works and advice in producing music.

“Minjeong!” Youngjae called out to her, “are you enjoying it so far?”

“Dude, this is so cool!” She exclaims, “thanks for bringing me here.” Her friend chuckles in satisfaction, “I knew you would like it here. When I first visited this place, I couldn’t stop spazzing around because of how cool everything is,” she felt a nudge from him, “for sure they’ll sign you soon.”

“Sign?” Minjeong was confused, “what are you talking about?”

“Oh, no one told you about it yet?”

“No?”

Youngjae faced her, “One of the reasons why they wanted to meet you is because one of the higher ups liked your work and wanted you to be part of the team.”

Minjeong was speechless, “Woah woah, part of the team? As in, on the same team as Minho?”

“Not his team,” Youngjae shook his head, “Minho and others focused on music production on movies. As they are still new, they were assigned to an indie movie. For you, on the other hand,” he went near and whispered, “I heard they plan on signing you up to their music company as part of their soon-to-be producers.”

Minjeong's eyes widened the moment she heard this. She knew there was something more to her visiting the studio, but this news? She doesn’t believe this at all. “Dude, don’t joke around.” She shakenly nudged Youngjae away, “I’m just a nobody, and I’m still a student. Sign? That’s too much.”

“What?!? It’s what Minho told me that’s why you’re here.”

“So there is still a chance that it’s not true?”

Youngjae tries to reason out but eventually closes . Minjeong sighs, “see? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Maybe they just want to meet me and that’s it.”

“Suit yourself, buddy.” Youngjae chuckles, “But wouldn’t that be cool though. You signed with their music company.”

“Maybe, but as I said, I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves and assume anything, only to be disappointed in the end.”

“That is true.” Youngjae pats her back, “whatever it is, we will support you, Minjeong-ah.”

Soon, Minho approached them. “Yo! Are you guys enjoying the studio so far?”

“Totally,” Youngjae replied, “oh, by the way. I have a question.”

“What’s up?”

Minjeong immediately realized what Youngjae was about to do, “Youngjae, don’t even try.”

“Bruh! What you said to me before was true, right? About Minjeong,” Youngjae inquires,

Minjeong sees Minho confused, “Don’t mind him, Minho. He’s just talking nonsense right now.”

“Yah! Minjeong. It’s not nonsense,” her friend retorts, “I