"What were you portrayed as?" Ren finished my half-formed question, something amused flickering across his face.
I wanted to sink into the floor.
"I—you don't have to answer that."
"You're definitely cuter than you look on screen." The words came out sudden and direct.
Heat exploded across my cheeks. I tore my gaze away, fixing it on the scuffed practice room walls.
Ren laughed—a genuine, teasing sound that softened his entire face.
"Well, I can't really expose too much of what I saw," Ren interrupted gently, that small smile still playing at his lips.
"Production would have my head if I started spoiling their narrative arcs."
Right. The show was heavily edited. We lived it raw, but viewers only saw what production wanted them to see.
"But I can tell you this much—" Ren's expression turned sincere.
"There's nothing negative. You're painted in a good light, Jiwon. Sympathetic. Talented but struggling. The kind of story people root for."
Something loosened in my chest.
