Bright by Jessica Jung

Author:Jessica Jung
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: 2022-05-10T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

On the flight home, I make a plan. I might have flubbed the Lane Crawford meeting, but I can’t let myself dwell on it. Going forward, I’m just going to have to make sure I’m nothing less than 100 percent prepared, 100 percent professional. And as for whether or not I’m technically Alex’s girlfriend, and what it all means… well, I can’t dwell on that either. I can’t. There’s too much on the line for me to let myself get distracted.

Back in Seoul, I throw myself into all my commitments. With our performance for the multigroup concert now just a month away, Girls Forever rehearsals have kicked back into high gear. It turns out Sunhee is going to miss the event because it conflicts with a radio awards show she’s attending, so we have to rework all the dance formations for eight girls instead of nine. Choreo combinations play on a loop in my brain. Hip pop. Hair toss. Shoulder shimmy. Hip pop, other side. During reality-show shooting with Leah, I try to just relax and enjoy myself, knowing that our authentic sister relationship is what they’re trying to capture on film, but even then I have a constant stream of thoughts running through my mind: ignore the camera, but make sure you’re in frame. Don’t order risotto for lunch again; last time you had the garnish stuck in your teeth, and the netizens had a field day. Don’t look tired. Don’t look stressed. Don’t, don’t, DON’T mention Alex on camera.

I have alarms set on my phone to make sure I get to everything five minutes early. I don’t miss a single practice. I’m not late for a single phone call with Lotte, the Korean retailer carrying my line. I throw back three espresso shots before each twelve-hour-shoot day with Leah. I can’t let anything slip. I need to be on my game 24/7. I have to reassure DB that I’m keeping all my commitments on track, that I can do it all. And maybe, more than anything, I have to reassure myself.

“Unni, are you doing okay?” Leah asks me when we meet at the studio to record for our album. “You look really tired.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I say.

She frowns like she doesn’t believe me, but she doesn’t push it. Instead, she holds up a tray of iced coffees, passing one to me. “Here. I got this for you.”

I could weep on the spot. “You’re a lifesaver,” I say, ripping the wrapper off the straw and downing half the coffee in one sip. The brain freeze kills, but I don’t have the option of drinking cold liquids at a normal pace. No time for luxuries like that.

Finally, we wrap our recording session and I race back to the villa to prep for tonight. We’ve been invited to the premiere of When I Loved You, and the hair and makeup team DB arranged for us has already been at the villa for two hours. We usually only go

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