It was the perfect day to confront a career-ending scandal. Momo had gone to breakfast with Mina at this pancake house they both ended up obsessed with after one morning of random scouting for restaurants. Since waking up next to Mina that day, she never thought of anything else but them, not even the meeting they were supposed to have with YGE’s CEO and Rosie. None of that mattered because that moment she had been more brave than she was before. Having Mina by her side made her stronger.

“That’s your fifth today, love.” Mina cracked up watching her devour half a pancake. Mina had been observing her from across the table and she knew Momo was in good spirits.

“I don’t care,” Momo said as she chewed, almost spitting some bits of pancake on the plate.

Mina could only sit in laughter. There was Momo, a woman to face the biggest barrier in her career to day, enjoying her breakfast like it was the last she would ever have. Momo never ate breakfast and Mina liked to take credit for this life-changing phenomenon.

“Hurry up, you have to be at JYP at 10. We can’t let the bosses wait.”

She put away her food from and into her stomach, smiling as Mina was being everything she had imagined. “I will.”

Legend said never did JYP and YG have a scandal together, and never did their bosses meet in one room for it. That morning, it was Park Jin Young PD-nim and Yang Hyun Suk sajang-nim to discuss the fates of BLACKPINK Rosé and TWICE Momo.

She had never expected to meet Rosie ever again, although in their line of work it was always a certain to bump into each other. But that arrangement was farthest from her expectations. She didn’t know what to say to Rosie, maybe just smile and apologize. Momo wanted to call first but she didn’t want to lie to Mina about it. Mina said she heard nothing from Rosie too. Rosie never called her, but Mina assured Momo that it was probably for safety. They shouldn’t meet or communicate for as long as the scandal wasn’t resolved.

“What do you think Rosie’s gonna say?” Momo asked as Mina started the car.

“Probably the same things as you,” Mina answered. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

“I’m really nervous about meeting her like this. I’ve never seen her since.”

“Well, I’ve seen her. And she seemed well.”

Momo turned her face to Mina. They were now making their way back on the highway en route to JYP. “What if her boyfriend already knows? What if she didn’t want her boyfriend to know?”

“I’m pretty sure her boyfriend doesn’t know, unless she told him about it.” Mina brought her eyes to Momo, looking away from the road as they hit a stop. “Things like this stay within companies. That’s what confidentiality clauses are for.”

“I just don’t want to cause her more trouble than I already have.”

The world learning about Momo’s uality was not a concern. Momo declared to herself that if Mina was okay with, if her members were already okay with it, if her boss didn’t give her much about it, why should the rest of the world’s opinion matter? Her family had since moved on about it. The world should too. But that wasn’t the case with Rosie. Even from the start, Momo knew that Rosie was biual, it was a secret hidden deep within their friends. Rosie’s family knew nothing and so did her boss, and especially her fans.

If Rosie was seeing someone new, how would he take it?

“I’m just afraid I might ruin Rosie’s relationship with this guy,” Momo continued.

“Hey,” Mina assured her. She could feel Momo’s worries venting out of her. “You won’t, okay? And for all we know, the guy already knows. I’m sure Rosie has told him. He probably even knows about your relationship with her.”

“She’s only been so nice to me. She’s the kindest person I know.”

Mina held Momo’s hand. “She is. And that shouldn’t make you worry about anything.”

As they drove, Momo kept inside her mind how she did love Rosie, how what they had was also true, but her love for Mina was just stronger and that didn’t seem fair to Rosie for them to go on.

 <