Jennie never claimed to be the stealthiest person in the world, especially when it came to Rosé. Luck happened to be on the brunette’s side that night, however, because she was able to creep her way out of her lover’s embrace, fully dress herself, and slink out the door entirely unnoticed. Ironically, the sneaky girl found herself thanking Jisoo for both leaving so late at night and for allowing Rosé to take the brunt of her chores. Jennie knew that the only reason Rosé hadn’t noticed her departure was her immense exhaustion from being overworked.

Jennie waited five minutes before leaving, following just far enough behind Jisoo that she wouldn’t be spotted, but close enough so that she wouldn’t lose the girl. The city was quiet at that time of night, with very few robots walking amongst the streets, forcing Jennie to take an entirely separate tram in order to remain incognito. Jisoo took the red tram, which led from their building to the northern side of the city. Jennie waited patiently in the tram behind the older girl’s, sitting in the very back and keeping herself low so as to avoid detection.

After Rosé’s outburst the previous night, Jennie had decided that she would follow Jisoo to see exactly what the older girl had been up to all this time. It couldn’t just be alone time. Jisoo wouldn’t shirk her chores just to sit alone somewhere. There was undoubtedly something else going on - something that Jennie had been content to ignore as long as it didn’t affect her or the other girls. Last night had been the final straw. Jisoo was both taking advantage of Rosé and causing problems with her and Jennie’s relationship. Although Jennie knew that Rosé would never approve of snooping, she felt compelled to get to the bottom of Jisoo’s odd behavior.

Upon exiting the tram, Jennie found herself on the outskirts of the city, near the edge of the entire structure. The robots had no need for guardrails to prevent them from falling off the edge, but the girls were deliberately careful around such areas. Jisoo was the most skittish when it came to this. Jennie could see the black-haired girl up ahead, gradually making her way to the building that housed the cargo lifts that brought them to the surface. The brunette decided that it would be best to wait until one of the robots used a cargo lift in order to provide sufficient cover for herself. Unfortunately, she was waiting for several minutes before one of the artificial beings entered a cargo transport, and by then Jisoo had already completed her descent. Jennie waited impatiently in her own lift as it slowly descended to the surface, accompanied by a robot carrying a large box filled with a number of enigmatic machine parts.

Jennie rushed out of the lift as soon as its double doors opened, just in time to see Jisoo taking off down one of the roads in a red pickup. The brunette was forced to hurry halfway around the city’s base in order to take the green pickup that Lisa normally used; all of the girls simply left their keys in the trucks overnight, as there was no one else on the island to steal them. Jennie took the same route Jisoo did, although she moved the vehicle along at a crawl in order to stay hidden. It was a long, winding road that narrowed heavily at certain points. Jennie was unequivocally a worse driver than Jisoo, so there were moments when the truck’s mirrors would scrape against trees as she passed, or where she’d underestimate just how large some of the bumps were and nearly blow out one of the tires. It was easily the worst ride of the young girl’s life.

After rounding one final bend, Jennie noticed Jisoo’s empty truck parked in the trees to the right of her, near an area of beach where the jungle almost met the water. The brunette parked her own vehicle a few hundred feet down the road and made her way over to the other truck, hoping that she would be able to find the older girl. Jennie soon found that there was little need to worry, as most directions that she could travel in were blocked either by heavy bushes or the ocean. She wandered forward until she came to a break in the foliage where she was able to step onto the beach. Directly in front of her was a thin strip of sand between the jungle and ocean, and if she wasn’t mistaken, there were faint traces of bootprints still imprinted in the fine earth. Jennie followed these prints until she came close to the end of the path, whereupon she ducked into the bushes and scouted out the scene before her.

JIsoo was seated on a towel in the center of a large bay. Next to her sat Dalgom, his massive form nearly blocking the black-haired girl beside him. They were both staring out at the ocean. Jennie followed their gazes, resting her eyes upon an irregularly-shaped silhouette at the center of the bay. The brunette squinted to get a better look. It looked to be some kind of hatch made of metal, poking up out of the water, the body of the object hidden beneath the surface... realization dawned on Jennie. She abandoned her cover entirely and began sprinting through the bushes and over to where her friends sat. She had to warn Jisoo. That was a pirate submarine. Jennie had no idea why Jisoo was sitting there like an idiot, why she hadn’t pulled out a weapon, or why she wasn’t running away at the very least. Jisoo and Dalgom turned as they heard the girl crashing through the underbrush, and the younger girl opened to call out a warning. As she was about to speak, there was a flash of orange, a sharp pain in her temple, and then, nothing.

***

Lisa was jerked out of her sleep by a scream. She bolted out of bed, her mind on alert and her body ready to fight. Yerim jumped up with a surprised shriek, just barely dodging Lisa’s flailing feet as the younger girl kicked the covers away.

“What’s going on?” the brunette asked, sitting up.

“I don’t know,” Lisa whispered uncertainly, “I’m gonna go check it out. Stay here.”

“No, I can’t just-”

“Yerim, please. Just stay here. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

The blonde answered her senior’s concerned look with a reassuring smile and a gentle brush of Yerim’s cheek with her fingers.

“Be careful.”

Lisa nodded and moved slowly towards the door, listening intently and wishing that she was wearing more than shorts and a T-shirt. She doubly cursed herself for her lack of weapons. As she opened the door, familiar voices filled the room.

“WHAT THE HAPPENED?!” Rosé demanded, her tone shrill and frantic, “WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?!”

Lisa stepped out of the room and was momentarily taken aback by the scene before her. Jisoo stood by the doorway, carrying a limp Jennie in her arms. The brunette had a bloody bandage wrapped around her head and appeared to be semi-conscious, her eyelids fluttering intermittently and hanging slightly open. Rosé stood with her back to Lisa, the violet-haired girl clad in a thin set of black underwear that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Dalgom paced back and forth between the two girls, whining uncertainly and looking from Jisoo to Rosé with worried eyes. Neither of the two girls took notice of Lisa, who had arrived just in time to see Rosé step forward and borderline yank Jennie away from a flustered-looking Jisoo.

“Pirates,” Jisoo said, stepping back and holding up both of her hands, as if in surrender, “I went to this spot I go to with Dalgom, just to think about things, and I guess Jennie followed me. There was this pirate that showed up, and she got the jump on Jennie and knocked her out. But I managed to fight her off. She took off in a submarine, so I patched Jennie up and came back here.”

Rosé nodded in acknowledgement and turned around, brushing past Lisa and carrying her injured partner back to their room. Prior to following, Lisa stepped into her own room and found a wide-eyed Yerim sitting up in bed, clutching the covers like a scared child. Despite the urgent situation, Lisa had to take just a second to appreciate just how adorable the older girl was.

“Yeri, grab the medkit from under my bed. Jennie’s hurt.”

Yerim obeyed immediately and Lisa left her behind to join the others in Rosé and Jennie’s shared room.

When the blonde walked in, Rosé and Jisoo were easing Jennie down onto the bed while Dalgom continued his whining. The violet-haired girl shushed him in an uncharacteristic display of harshness.

Lisa rushed to join Rosé by Jennie’s side and began inspecting her wounds. The cut originated just at Jennie’s hairline and ended about halfway to the back of her head. Despite its length, the wound was not very wide and mostly superficial.

Yerim arrived shortly thereafter and handed Lisa the medkit. The blonde got to work.

“You didn’t manage to capture the pirate that did this to her?” Rosé asked, her voice dangerous.

“No…” Jisoo said shamefacedly, “I was more focused on Jennie’s injuries.”

“Where were you that there was just a random pirate hanging out?”

Jisoo paused for a long enough time to cause the impatient Rosé to repeat the question, slightly louder this time. The older girl flinched at her junior’s infuriated tone.

“There’s this bay on the northern part of the island where I like to sit and think… The submarine must have been docked there or something.”

Rosé was about to respond but was interrupted by a low moan from her wounded lover. Lisa tried to push Jennie back down into a lying position so that she could continue cleaning the cut, but Rosé practically shoved the blonde out of the way, taking Jennie’s head in her hands and cradling her like a child.

“Oh my god,” Rosé whispered, “My poor baby, are you okay?”

Jennie appeared to still be oblivious of what was going on around her. Her eyes were unfocused and was plastered into an unaware grimace of pain.

“Rosie, my head hearts…”

“I know, baby, I know, I’ll make it all better…” Rosé doted, giving the chubby-cheeked brunette a kiss on the nose.

Lisa handed the medical supplies to Rosé and the older girl began tending to Jennie’s wound. The blonde then stepped back beside Yerim, Jisoo, and Dalgom in order to give the couple space.

“I don’t think she has a concussion,” Lisa said, “It’s not a very deep cut, so I won’t have to stitch it up. Once the bleeding stops, just put a bandage over it and change it once a day.”

Rosé nodded without turning around, and the others took that as their cue to leave.

They convened in the kitchen, sitting solemnly around the table. Dalgom took a seat by Yerim’s feet and nudged her hand, indicating that the brunette should start his fur. They sat in silence for awhile, Lisa clutching Yerim’s free hand while Jisoo shifted restlessly in her seat. The blonde could sense that her senior was eager to say something, but decided it was best to wait until the black-haired girl was ready to speak up.

“I think I should go back out to check if that pirate’s still there.” Jisoo said eventually, standing up as she finished her sentence.

“Yeah. And you shouldn’t go alone this time. I’ll come with you.” Lisa said. The blonde girl wasn’t surprised when Jisoo immediately protested.

“No, no, it’s alright. You and Yeri should go back to sleep. It’s late. Me and Dalgom can handle it just fine.”

“I would believe you more if you were able to capture that pirate in the first place. Or at the very least stop her from hurting Jennie.” Lisa said cooly.

“She snuck up on us, Lisa. There was nothing I could do.” Jisoo narrowed her eyes and set into a stubbornly thin line.

“Okay,” Lisa dismissed, waving off her senior’s anger, “Go do whatever you do out there.”

Jisoo clicked her tongue at Dalgom to indicate that it was time to go. As the black-haired girl opened the door to leave, Lisa spoke up one last time.

“Please be careful.”

Jisoo paused in the doorway, turning around and locking eyes with Lisa. The younger girl could swear that she detected some kind of panicked hesitance in Jisoo’s normally stoic eyes, an emotion that was rapidly hidden as the older girl offered a soft smile.

“Thanks.”

Lisa stared at the door for a few seconds after they’d left, only shifting her attention away when Yerim gave her a light tap on the shoulder.

“Do you want to stay up and wait for them to come back? I’ll wait with you.” Yerim asked sincerely.

Lisa leaned forward and kissed the brunette in gratitude.

“It’s okay, we can go back to bed now. I’m sure Jisoo will be fine. She has Dalgom watching her back.”

Yerim was unable to hide the tired relief that played on her features at her partner’s words. They made their way back to Lisa’s bedroom, their fingers still locked together tightly.

***

Jisoo found Taeyeon waiting on the beach, wrapped in a towel and pacing up and down the shore of the bay. When the orange-haired girl noticed Jisoo and Dalgom’s approach, she immediately sprinted over to them, enveloping the black-haired girl in a wet hug that remained unreturned.

“What happened?” the older girl asked worriedly.

“I told them a pirate came and surprised us,” Jisoo said flatly, “And that the pirate hit Jennie over the head but I managed to chase her off.”

“Do they suspect anything?”

“I don’t know.”

Jisoo detached from Taeyeon and walked over to the center of the bay to look out at the water again. Judging by the increasing purpleness of the eastern horizon, the sun would be rising soon.

“Are you mad at me?” Taeyeon asked, walking over to join Jisoo.

“Well, let’s see. You hit one of my best friends on the head with a rock and made me lie to all my other friends about what happened. So yeah, I’m a little mad at you.”

“Chichu…” the orange-haired girl wrapped her arms around Jisoo’s waist from behind, resting her chin on the taller girl’s shoulder, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know who she was, I thought-”

“If she was here on the island, she couldn’t have been a threat. And even if we were discovered, what would it matter? I’m tired of this facade, I’m tired of sneaking around to see you, I’m tired of lying to my friends…”

“You know we can’t tell anyone about this,” Taeyeon whispered into the younger girl’s ear, “Both of our groups will hate each other even more because of it. Do you want that? Do you know how many problems it’ll cause?”

“Maybe less problems than what we’re doing now.” Jisoo said thoughtfully.

“Just relax,” Taeyeon crooned, beginning to massage Jisoo’s shoulders, planting soft kisses up and down the back of the younger girl’s neck, “Everything’s gonna be okay… I’ll make this up to you…”

“No.” Jisoo spun around to escape from Taeyeon’s caresses, “You should go now. If someone else comes around and notices us, I don’t want you trying to kill them again.”

Taeyeon looked down, unable to meet the gaze of the furious girl before her.

“I’m sorry…”

When Jisoo offered no response, the older girl handed back the borrowed beach towel and walked to the water. Taeyeon turned to give her lover one last look of apology before stepping into the ocean and swimming back to the submarine. Jisoo watched as the orange-haired girl climbed atop the metal dome and slipped into the hatch. Soon, the vehicle disappeared beneath the waves.

Jisoo sat on the beach, clinging onto Dalgom’s large form and crying mutely into his fur as the sun’s first rays fell upon the bay. The wolf didn’t seem to mind.

--------------------

Plot progression! Jisoo's secret relationship with Taeyeon definitely can't remain a secret for much longer at this rate (;

I don't know how often I'll be able to update anymore because my classes just started up again. Granted I don't think it'll be any more than once every two weeks, but I have been putting things out pretty frequently since I started posting so it feels weird to me. Anyway, just to get you guys excited for the next chapter, I'll say it's entirely about Seulrene and what they're up to right now.

Thanks for reading<3