[Are you angry?]

Was he angry?

As Ari read NOVA’s question before flicking away the blue screen, he genuinely thought about it before shaking his head.

He was a bit angry, yes, but even more than anger, what he felt right now was just frustration and tiredness.

He was honestly sick and tired of dealing with this entire situation.

Given how helpful PD Emily had been in mitigating Wilford Forbes’ actions, maybe he was naive to think that they were all on the same page and the episode would be relatively straightforward.

Especially since they were so close to the end of the show.

Was there even any value in continuing to paint him this way?

Did she have no other storyline to pursue?

It wasn’t that he wanted the production team to paint any other contestant in a bad light, but seriously? Again?

When were they going to stop? Were they ever going to stop? Was he just supposed to keep dealing with this until the very end of the show?

To Ari, it was just an extremely tiring experience, and for a second, he actually saw red, so he closed his eyes.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

Hearing Jamie’s question, Ari opened his eyes and gave him a grim smile.

"I mean, this is nothing new to me. They always treat me like this, it’s just really annoying. Really, really, really annoying. Actually, I’m actually pretty angry right now." Ari said honestly.

"It’s not fair. They keep messing around with you, even though I’m the one who was causing trouble. It’s not fair." Jamie repeated angrily.

He had repeatedly challenged the production team and Wilford Forbes, Levi had literally gone missing, yet it was the scene of Ari angrily leaving after being forced to change clothes by William Forbes that was included to put him in a bad light.

What kind of nonsense was that?

Jamie felt well and truly angry about the situation, and just as Ari was about to comfort him-

BANG!

The door to the practice room slammed open.

When Ari turned to look, it was Levi standing there looking angry and resigned.

Meeting Ari’s eyes, Levi immediately lowered his head and apologized earnestly.

"It’s my fault they did that. I’m sorry."

"It’s fine."

It’s not like I can blame you for being angry.

The only person at fault here is the PD and Wilford Forbes.

"It’s not....sorry. I’ll make a post to correct it and will just have my dad pay the fines," Levi repeated again, lowering his head even more.

"Don’t do that. I said it’s fin-"

Before Ari could even finish his sentence, Carlos burst into the practice room. He looked completely frazzled, and his brown eyes were a bit glassy as he stared at Ari and began apologizing.

"Ari. I’m so sorry. I didn’t say that-. I wasn’t talking about you. I’m so sorry it got twisted like that after you told me to go tell the PD."

"It’s fine."

"Seriously. After all you did to help us, I went and got you in trouble. It’s my fault. I’m so sorry."

"No, it’s my fault. Sorry.

"I said it’s my fault!"

As the two of them got into an apology contest, Ari could only laugh.

While he was frustrated and angry, the innocent parties were piling the blame, while the guilty ones probably didn’t care.

As Jamie said, it really isn’t fair.

But he wouldn’t let these two continue apologizing for something they didn’t do.

Getting up, Ari slapped both Carlos and Levi on the back as hard as he could.

"It’s neither of your faults. It’s the PD’s fault for messing around like this, and that other one for successfully getting a rise out of me. And it’s fine. I’ve been going through this since episode one, and at this point, it’s weirder if the production team doesn’t do this to me. Don’t worry about it, and whatever you do, absolutely don’t try to post any corrections. You see how vindictive they are. Just let it go, okay? Or at the very least cheer me up instead of me having to cheer you up."

"Ah! You’re right. I’m so sorry-" 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Ah, good, good. The important folks are gathered here." As PD Emily’s cheerful voice interrupted Carlos’ apology, the atmosphere that was warming up immediately froze up again as they all turned to stare at the PD waving from the doorway.

Not wanting to be close to her or even see her face, Ari went to sit down while scrolling through his phone.

Chloé was messaging him and trying to call - ignore it for now.

Grace messed him - let’s ignore that one as well.

A bunch of private and tagged messages from his social media accounts - let’s ignore that too.

Because if he saw something annoying, with how he was feeling right now, he might actually explode.

"How did you boys like the episode?"

At the cheery question, nobody answered the PD, just stared at her quietly, while Ari didn’t even acknowledge her existence.

"Oof, tough crowd. Anyway, I’m just letting you guys know that if you post anything online, you’ll be eliminated immediately and will be contacted by the legal department. Got it? Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, tell your favorite PD why you all look so angry. Ariel? You look the angriest. Talk to me." PD Emily asked as she looked between the handsome faces that looked like they wanted to murder her.

Ari couldn’t help but scoff at the PD’s shamelessness.

You dare to ask why we look angry after doing such a thing.

[Her audacity is really amazing. Even I have to admire it!]

Don’t admire this literal incarnation of evil!

Ari flicked NOVA’s words away before turning around. He felt as if he didn’t; with how angry he was right now, he would say a lot of things he shouldn’t.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the PD was really here to harass him, as she walked around until she was facing him again.

"Talk to me. Ariel, you always have something to say, and I can tell by your face that you’re holding it in. Let it out. Let me hear it." PD Emily said playfully.

"I don’t know why you’re pretending after publishing that episode. You know exactly what you did. I don’t have anything to say to you," Ari told the PD simply before looking away.

"Ah, the episode. Well, it’s not a big deal. Truth be told, I didn’t want things in this direction, but orders are orders, and I need a job. Don’t be too mad. Everything will be cleared up next week with our double episode special for the finals. We’ll resolve all conflicts, nullify all drama, and you’ll even get a heart-warming moment during family day as everyone makes up and becomes one big happy family in time for the finals, okay?" PD Emily said, with an expression that made it clear she really believed everything would be fixed just like that.

Ari didn’t know whether she was delusional or if her world really worked that way, but either way, he didn’t care anymore.

"As I said just now, I don’t have anything to say to you, and I have no plans to go to family day," Ari told her bluntly.

"It’s a required event now, sorry. Seriously, all of you, cheer up. It’s like a funeral home in here. You’re making me feel bad. It will only be good episodes from now on. Promise. What do you say, Ariel?"

Meeting the PD’s eyes, Ari simply smiled and told her his honest feelings.

"PD? I think you should feel like a horrible person, and if you dropped off the face of the earth, nobody would miss you. I know I certainly wouldn’t. I would actually throw a party. I’d don’t think you understand that I’m very angry right now, and each time I look at your face, it just pisses me off. You telling me this will be fixed next episode, that the drama will be resolved happily, pisses me off even more because it just means you smeared my name and image for shock value. I don’t care if the order came from above, below, or sideways; whatever god you believed in could have whispered the order in your ear, your behavior is wrong, there should be a limit, and you know it. Right now, I am doing my best not to curse you out. That’s the very last courtesy I can give to you, because I know everyone has their own circumstances, and I am trying to be understanding. I really am. So please, get the hell out of my face, and leave me the hell alone from now until the finals before I actually lose my temper and show you what a real crashout looks like. Tu comprends? You understand me? Don’t piss me off any more than this."

If she thought he would be participating willingly in things, she had another thing coming.

Because what was she going to do? Use him as a scapegoat? Evilly edited him in situations that had nothing to do with him.

Oh no~, the horror~, whatever shall he do.

While Ari couldn’t say that he hadn’t been difficult to deal with as a contestant, nobody had gotten it as bad as he had, and he was just really tired of this whole thing and couldn’t be bothered to try to keep up appearances any longer.

"Hey. Hey. Ariel. What’s this? You actually never take things so personally, so what’s up? I told you it’ll be corrected next episode, so let’s be calm. And watch your language." Seeing Ari curse and threaten her with his green eyes blazing furiously, PD Emily was genuinely shocked.

Even though Ari would get frustrated, this kind of behavior was completely out of character for him.

He looked even angrier than when PD Ji-ho had released the Sports day episode that got him fired, and she hadn’t done anything half as bad as that.

What was this?

She thought they would have their little back and forth before Ari got over it as usual but he seemed really fed up.

"I don’t have anything to say to you."

"Ariel! Hey, Ari!"

As PD Emily called his name, Jamie stood up and got between the two of them.

"Can you please get out. We got the message loud and clear. Nobody will post anything online. Leave." Jamie bluntly asked the PD with a cold expression.

"Oh ho. The golden retriever got mad, too? I told you all, it will all be resolved in the next episode. Okay? Let’s all smile and take a deep breath." PD Emily tried to reason with Jamie, who was usually easy to get along with, but his blue eyes were firm, and there wasn’t a single smile on his face.

"Everyone is tired of dealing with this. And we’re tired of you harassing our teammate for no reason and giving fake apologies. Please get out," Jamie repeated as he grasped the PD by her shoulders and began ushering her out, his expression firm.

"Hey!"

"Out."

Levi followed with a sharp glare, and PD Emily looked at each of their faces before realizing they were all very big, strong boys who were quite angry.

One of them had already broken several doors before throwing his credit card at a staff member

"Okay. I’ll leave for now and give you guys some time to calm down this evening. But tomorrow, it’s back to regularly scheduled programming, okay? Ariel, you’d better turn that frown upside down."

"Out."

Jamie stood in the doorway, blocking it with his body, until the PD reluctantly left.

When she was gone, Jamie turned to Carlos and Levi with a strict expression.

"This goes for people not on our team as well. Please leave and don’t bring your problems here again."

"It’s fine-" as Ari spoke up, Jamie turned to glare at him.

"It’s not fine, and you should stop saying that it is! It’s understandable to be angry, but because he couldn’t just suck it up like the rest of us, you’re getting blamed for his actions!" Jamie yelled while pointing at Levi, who had his head bowed again.

Eh?

Why are you the one getting angry?

Ari couldn’t help but stare at Jamie in shock.