His Reaction Is One That She Does Not Expect. Her Eyes Slow To The Sigh That She Pulls From Him — A

VALENTINE INTERLUDE     ୨୧     @lgcjunyi     /     her throat was dying, after belting out to wicked’s naughty high note — broken glasses withstanding — she needed to rest. she had just given the room the best they’ve ever heard — to lili’s standards — and what she wanted was a reward for her efforts.

beelining to junyi’s side, she sits next to the younger girl, reaching for an empty glass to fill with the pink punch that was going around. the reward she wished to be collected lay at the other’s tongue: “i’m parched — how’d your white day go?” cut to the chase; lili wanted details! “some guy gave me the grossest flower arrangements, yellow daisies! do i look like a yellow daisy type of person?” 

FLY WITH ME. wanna fly with you in my arms ; hangang citizen’s park, seoul — @lgcminkyu

lili hadn’t thought much about the date lottery when the option had been placed on the table. it had been more or less a throw-away decision, sign her up there, hear about it later — sort of thing. 

however, when news came of her actually participating — and worse, having to be the one to plan the whole date — lili had her reservations. 

she had never been one to care about such things but what if her date sucked? and what if her date hated what she planned — what if netizens thought it was boring? ugh, this was the type of stress that imprinted permanent wrinkles to the forehead.

said wrinkles are ironed out as she eases herself into a sense of zen ; rolling her mystery date’s hint between her fingertips —  an adorable kuromi plushie that makes her wish she had chosen a my melody counterpart rather than the jellycat snake she had been eyeing for ages — as she waits at the corner of the entrance of hangang citizen’s park. all the cherry blossoms had finally departed from their blooms and all was left were their fallen petals, skirting around her heels.

she tries hard to keep her face from falling into a look of anxiousness as she pretends the camera currently zooming into her face from several steps away isn’t there, nor is the producer whispering into his headset isn’t inducing an annoying buzz in her ears. from afar, she can already spy the dozen or so kites taking flight ; vibrant colors painting the afternoon sky in their illustrious rainbow. "i hope they like it," she whispers to herself, taking another breath to calm herself.

lili speaks with an ease of someone who didn’t care of the eyes on her — then again, when had people looking at her ever mattered?

in fact, for lili, it was always the more — the merrier. 

she basked in the idea of eyes on her, whether or not, it was deserved. lili was vain, ambitious and had the cut-shit guts to get what she wanted— this she knew. and it was this same thirst and vanity that she saw in spades in jieun — maybe that was why it bit into the very envious tremble that she kept at bay beneath her smile. 

“oh but of course — we all know how some actress can be so, so high and mighty. primadonnas.” the words dance along a line of dismissiveness but her smile speaks otherwise, directed to jieun in a way only lili knew the other would recognize. like a snake as it slithered up to your throat, coiling tight in between words that could have been passed off as nothing. 

( except coming from lili — it was never really nothing ) 

“you guys have that saying right — the more a diva fusses, the more they try to compensate for their … shortcomings, is it?” she feigns the slightest uncertainty — as if her lack of korean fluency would tangle her words. “but you don’t have that problem, though — you’re always so well taken care of.” 

old vices are hard to relinquish, even when she has become a better person and is on her best behavior on the set. it's that same space that makes her wary of the friendly grins that would easily pull the rug out from under her.

it doesn't help she is there too, in a habitat that jieun judged natural only to her and her fellow actors, staff and production team, mingling around the people she tried so hard to impress and to make see her in a good light. especially now.

so even if the conversation a few steps from her is irrelevant and she's busy reading the script by herself as she waits for the next scene, jieun is somewhat alert. enough for the scoffs and good samaritan masquerade not to go unnoticed, but she doesn't look up to check who they are talking about. she doesn't even need to, because it only takes a couple of seconds for one of the managers to kindly offer her a cup of iced coffee.

"oh? you're a lifesaver! thank you manager-nim," she smiles genuinely as she takes the coffee and the man runs somewhere else, probably after another actor he had to take care of ( he wasn't even her manager ). the actress turns to face lili and flashes a smile at the girl, sipping her drink.

the subtle implications that jieun is making his life hard or abusing her power hit a nerve — not that it was hard to rub her the wrong way. jieun was guilty of many sins, but she never mistreated her staff or co-stars as her work and everyone in it were important to her. but, right now, she can only swallow her annoyance and do what she does best: acting.

"oh yeah, he is always in a hurry but is very attentive... it's not easy to look after so many of us," she points out with a grin, keeping it safe in case anyone eavesdrops. "it's a relief to know there are so many people looking after them too. you know how rude some celebrities can be..."

@LGCENT just posted a photo!

fun fact! did you know that the year of the snake is my chinese zodiac? so, as my zodiac intends, and as the clock strikes on the last hour of my birthday, i declare that this will be my year of transformation, renewal and spiritual growth! 

#lgctrainees #lgcent #xulili

“hypothetically!” lili adds after the fact. though, despite herself, fiery temperament and all, lili did know how to be professional. and the last thing she wanted to do was embarrass herself — and sure, by extension jisoo, as well — in front of people she could very well work with again in the future. one could never know what the future had in store, building roots rather than burning bridges should be her main priority.

( even if lili was too good at burning bridges, today she’ll play nice )

“don’t worry, i’ll be good.”

if being good meant putting her pretty smile, only to complain to jisoo’s ear after the shoot, then yes — lili will be oh so good.

“the face is off limits but who said the ribs or the ankles couldn’t take a kick or two?” she’s joking, now, obviously. lili would rather admit defeat than risk breaking a nail, or worse, getting a scar on any part of her. 

call her surprised; a brow raising in expectation at his words. “is this really the han jisoo? or has some alien taken over your body? or maybe you’re a business-minded double?” anything she wanted? oh, where has this jisoo been all her life? willfully ignoring the 'within reason' addition, she smiles, “really — anything at all?”

if there's anyone that can provoke a reaction out of him, there's two people that up in his mind, and one of them is lili. for sure! headlining the main act : li yifei. congratutions. "now why would you be starting a fight in the middle of a shoot, if not on purpose." there's a finger at his temple, and jisoo allows her to have this sigh that escapes from his throat unwillingly.

there's some silence between them as jisoo simply stares at lili, unsure of how to even entertain or respond to this. comedic reply? or a stern reply? "i'll pull haru out of there myself if i have to, no black eyes allowed for anyone. some arguing back and forth? by all means, get into it emotionally if you have to. makes for better content. or something like that." of course, out of earshot of anyone else, who could hear him encouraging a disagreement. he's sure that neither of the starring parties would let it get that far.

"if there's something that will make you behave, speak it aloud and if i can make it happen, i will. do you want something on set? or off set? i can have it delivered if," emphasis on if, jisoo says with enunciation, "if its within reason."

lili’s face immediately morphs into one of disagreement, head shaking as her thoughts disappear from the task at hand. she was too pretty to be thinking so hard for whatever reason, “to you — maybe. you’ve got the type of face that could suit any hair color.” an unexpected compliment, but a truthful one nonetheless.

“like i can understand a member or two but a whole group is insane, especially with how nosy people can be.” there was a far chance that news of the changed birthdays wouldn’t have broken by morning, especially in today’s digital age. “that’s so weird though, birth years? that’s just asking for creeps to take advantage —“ she shudders, “i don’t even want to think about it, how gross.” 

Kyoka shrugs it off, her thoughts already elsewhere. She doesn't remember seeing anyone around with green hair so she guesses they're probably in another training group outside of the languages, where she's too focused on squinting at the material to notice the other people around anyways. "Green is a nice color," she adds, rather unhelpfully.

A glint in her eyes appear as Kyoka recognizes a fellow forum scavenger. "I've heard about that," she said with an impression of a blasé attitude. (It probably isn't very convincing.) "We used to hide our birth years, but it was easier to hide without social media. People were still able to guess, though, I wonder how that worked with the whole group.".

there are days when lili is a little too into her head — these days include the times she’s stressed before a monthly evaluation, chipping a nail, mascara running when the tears just can’t stop, the impending doom that her birthday is coming a little too soon, and right before a big date. 

she isn’t one to third wheel, but she is lili and selfishness was just something her friend and her latest boyfriend was going to have to deal with unless they’d rather spend the rest of their date watching her fall into a spiral of nerves ( because lili nervous was never a good sign ). what she didn’t expect was the consequence of such selfishness would lead them to dumping lili on the first ride they could find and running off to leave her to her demise.

lili: 0, disco pang pang: 1

it was safe to say that lili had no idea what she was in for as she was herded onto the contraption; feeling somewhat like cattle being wrangled onto the back of a truck. the unease from the structural integrity of the ride intensified the feeling tenfold especially when she heard the creaks and the whirrs as it started up — and suddenly she was being knocked from her seat; manicured hands reaching out for nothing but air as she feels her body afloat.

once this was over, she was going to murder her friend — that’s if she survives this.

while her screams were muffled by her mask, there was nothing that could hide the horror in her eyes as she finds herself jostled higher and higher with each rough jerk of the ride; hands scrambling to grab whatever she could as she feels herself fly from one part of the ride to another until fingertips brush against a shirt — from there she’s holding on for dear life, “don’t you dare let me go!” nearly crying into the stranger’s neck as she does so.

⸻ WHEN WE DISCO ( @lgclili )

Sunday - cheat day - was the one day of the week Byeongkwan could do whatever he wanted. Lounge around the trainee dorms in his underwear all morning? Check. Spend an hour at his favorite record store? Absolutely. Go on blind dates? If the stars aligned ( translation, if one of his friends made a very convincing powerpoint presentation and managed to successful send her buddies off to meet somewhere in Incheon - ). But most importantly, he could eat whatever the hell he wanted. This usually meant sampling every street food stall within arm's reach in the hour leading up to said... alignment.

Sure, he was supposed to be on some strict diet, dedicated to maximizing gym time or whatever. But what his personal trainer didn't know wouldn't hurt him...

See, the problem was his trainer did know ( How? Was he psychic? Have a sixth sense for Byeongkwan slacking off?! ), and he seemed to have made it his life mission to catch the trainee in the act - mid inhale of three odeng skewers shoved into one bite.

"Oh, shit."

The smart move would've been to accept his fate ( 500 push ups and stair sprints until he saw stars - ), but instead Byeongkwan made the executive decision to dodge. One day he might appreciate having someone so invested in his fitness, but today was not that day. So, he took off. Left, right, then a slide through a group of pedestrians, all while cursing his choice of sneakers. Somehow, he ended up in a line of college students waiting for a turn on the Disco Pang Pang ride. No one batted an eye at the random guy in a hoodie, mask, and oversized shades ( the pinnacle of subtlety ) sliding into their group as they filed onto the ride.

Settling into his seat, he nodded along to their small talk, murmuring something vaguely enthusiastic. His attention, though, was fixed on the man standing below, arms crossed and glaring. Byeongkwan lowered his shades, wiggling his eyebrows before leaning back smugly. He'd rather endure three hours spinning on this thing than -

"Woah. Is it always this fast?!" he sputtered, scrambling to grip one of the guardrails as the ride jerked to life, tossing its passengers like ragdolls.

PUBLIC ENEMY # 1 (KIDS: 1, LILI: 0). lili hates kids, that is fact, lili is stuck in a pile of stuffed animals because of her public enemy number one (kids), that is also fact — @lgcasami

just when lili was starting to think she had done enough volunteering to grant her an all-exclusive ticket to heaven, she’s implored to do more — and this time it was with her least favorite type of person: a child.

now, lili was no child-eating heathen a la hansel and gretel but she — for lack of better words — had an aversion to them; much like an allergy. the mere sight and/or thought of them seemed to prickle her skin in the same way a rash would. not only were they gross, saliva-slobbering cretins — they just annoyed the fuck out of her.

( unless they were the ones who showered her in unnecessary compliments then maybe she would give them a pass but it still didn’t stop them from swiping their snot-ridden noses across their stubby fingers and dressing her cashmere sweaters in boogers — all from experience, all that she experienced that very day )

call her heartless — sure, she could be — but despite her smiles and her laughter, falling into a pile of plushies was not how lili wanted to spend her saturday; especially when after being pushed into said pile of plushies, she found herself adept from getting out of this germ-infested pool of stuffed animals. 

a groan escapes her, ready to accept her fate — perhaps, she’ll die here in this engorged display of fluffy opulence and they’ll name a wall after her — choosing to lay in the pit with a hand sticking out as she weakly yelps, “can anyone help me?”

BLACK WIDOW. lili makes a passing observation, unfortunately it's about jieun ; black banquet filming site — @lgcjieun

lili wasn’t a superstitious person — because coincidences could very well be just that — coincidences. and maybe it was just lili overthinking — or maybe, just maybe, it was the devil working her magic.

or worse yet — maybe it was jieun being in absolute close proximity that was driving lili up the wall.

( read: yes, it was 100%, absolutely, quadruply that )

like now for instance:

from a distance, lili had been fine. mingling with the other extras hadn’t been hard — they were friendly enough, seojin was here somewhere and then he wasn’t ( but this wasn’t about him ) — she was minding her own damn business, still sipping on the coffee she had gotten from hyunsoo’s coffee truck when from the corner of her eye she spots jieun’s manager running about like their head had been cut off.

enough that the sight had been picked up by not just she, but the others around her. each one, of note, murmuring their amusement while lili — while amused — couldn’t help but feel that aftertaste of envy under her iced americano. ugh, how unsightly. 

they weren’t too far from where jieun — a near shoulder or two apart, really — not that it mattered, as lili recounts her mere observation to any willing ear. 

“god, that poor manager, one paycheck away from being her slave.” she says to bumbling fools and nodding heads, a scattered agreement that turns to silence when the manager in question comes to a stop in front of them with jieun’s coffee and the realization of who they were gossiping about had been beside them all along. the quieted gasps turn to quickened steps as they make their escape, leaving jieun and lili to more than just rubbing shoulders and iced coffees.

“oh, jieun. didn’t see you there, seems like your manager was able to find you right away though. thank god, he was looking for you everywhere.” poor him, lili thinks.

໒꒱ . LGC FAMILY CONCERT # 2024  、

she needed this.

what better time of the year to get her mind off of the fact that she was practically an orphan around the holidays. and yes, that was exactly what legacy’s family concert turned out to be: the perfect distraction. 

there is no time for hell raising, no complaints to be said this time — they’ve all been done before and surprisingly, lili had no will to fight them this time around. it’s an oddity, sure, the girl who was so used to having poison for a tongue and fire in her eyes, willingly compliant and obedient to an event she, otherwise, wouldn’t have bat her eyes to. but she was there, day in and day out, practicing like she didn’t already know all the words, repeating each routine and step as if it hadn’t already been engrained into her muscle memory. 

it begs the question:

was something wrong?

it’s a tale she’d never tell. in fact, when questioned by some of her peers, all she does is laugh and reply back:

“what? is it so surprising that i might actually enjoy doing the family concert?”  

because yes — it was surprising.

and perhaps enjoy was too strong of a word.

it was a nice relieve to the mundane and her constant woe is me that came with the autumn holidays. it was just nice to think about something else, really.

when the day comes, lili finds herself lost in the bustle — the craziness of family concert that she doesn’t really have the time to think about how her grandmother had sent her away with a pamphlet of money and her well-wishes typed into a text message read by an assistant who cared enough to take the two hour flight from beijing. 

and with all things considered, as she’s mouthing to so hot, laughing against the crowd’s roars, arms linked with jiah, lili can only think — thank god, i get to do this all over again tomorrow.