Hye-won
The bus ride was quiet.
Too quiet.
Ji-an was in the front, earphones in, forehead pressed against the tinted glass like we couldn't all tell she was spiraling. Min-ji sat stiff as a rod next to her, watching her like a worried cat. Jisoo was flipping through TikTok, trying and failing to act like the air wasn't thick with tension.
And me?
I was lounging in the back, one leg kicked up over the other, flipping through my camera roll.
Because I knew something they didn't.
I knew exactly who Logan Carter was.
I'd recognized him the second he stepped into that security office on day one, all stoic eyes and forearms and no-nonsense everything. But it hadn't clicked until just after the show. Not until I scrolled back through old photos from last year—Hong Kong airport. Ji-an, all dressed down in a hoodie and baseball cap, talking to some hot stranger for almost an hour.
I'd taken a photo of it. A joke, back then. Something to tease her about later.
But the guy?
It was him
Same jawline. Same eyes, Same swagger. Same vibe. Logan Carter.
Ji-an had known him.
And she'd said nothing.
I stared at the photo again, zooming in. Her expression in that picture was soft. Curious. Vulnerable.
Then I swiped to the next one.
This one was recent. The video. The one I'd pulled from our internal security team's shared drive before it could be scrubbed clean. Logan bursting out of the dark like a damn superhero. One bullet. Five men on the ground. That last guy's face when Logan dropped him like a sack of rice? Iconic.
I watched it again.
Bit my lip.
The truth was—I like him.
Not the slow, shy, rom-com kind of like. I wasn't that girl. Never had been.
But Logan? Logan was my type. Big. Military. Unshakeable. The kind of man who didn't flinch when things got messy. The kind of man who made you feel safe just by being near him. I liked that.
And I wanted him.
The problem was… so did Ji-an.
And honestly? That made it more fun.
She was too careful. Too closed off. Always trying to control the narrative, even around us. But the second she stepped off that bus earlier, cheeks flushed, lips parted, looking like she just barely survived a category-five emotional hurricane—I knew she kissed him.
And I was willing to guess; she hadn't been the only one affected.
So here I was. Back of the bus. Everyone pretending nothing had happened.
And me? Ready to break the internet.
I opened my mail app, typed in a burner email I used when I was bored and feeling petty, and started composing a message.
Subject: Nova Security Scandal?
Body: You didn't hear it from me. But if you're wondering why the buzz around Nova's latest concert is spiking, maybe check the attached footage. Seems like someone forgot to mention a heroic security guard—or the fact that he's very close to the members of Nova.
Attachment: The Gorge Incident.mov
I hovered my finger over the send button. Just for a second.
Because yeah, it was chaos.
But it was fun chaos.
I hit send.
Closed the app.
Leaned back and smiled to myself as Ji-an glanced over her shoulder, her brows pinched like she could feel the storm coming.
Oh, baby.
You have no idea.
Volume 1 Finished.