Jisoo was incredibly embarrassed of how she reacted to whatever Jennie was saying in the auditorium during their theatre showcase (regardless of whether it was reality or not), and she had been hiding in the indoor sports hall where she was playing basketball with her friends. Her most treasured teammates aka Yuri, Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, Seulgi, Wendy and her best friend, of course – Lisa – were more than willing to play a game or two with her to get rid of her embarrassment from earlier although they didn’t know the reason why. It was clear that it involved the girl next door though... 

If you’re wondering how they know, it’s because Lisa told all of them not to mention anything unless she gave them any cue or signals whatsoever.

“Yah, Sooyoung-unnie! Pass it over here!”

“AH JINJJA!”

The older members tried to hold back their laughter, finding Jisoo’s impatience especially endearing today; perhaps it was due to the fact that they had never seen Jisoo so flustered by anything before. 

How cute.

“Calm your ies, Jisoo-ah,” Yuri chuckled as she downed a small bottle of water; she was still amazed at how much the younger could change when the right person bothered her. The younger girl was so different from her normal self, honestly and it was a part of her that was rarely seen. She gently patted the purple-haired girl’s head and sighed, “you guys are so adorable… I wish I could do that again.”

Lisa rolled her eyes and smacked the tanned girl’s , “oh please, Unnie… it’s not like you’re not dating Yoona-unnie anymore. You’re still the great, big, dopey fool she calls you.”

Everyone burst out laughing when they saw Yuri's cheeks turn red immediately, her head suddenly lowering to mimic a young child getting immensely shy in front of her huge crush. Although Yuri was a well-known prankster of the school who was rumoured to only care about how many girls she turned lesbian for her, all her teammates knew better. Yuri was the most loyal, kind-hearted and dorky person they knew - most of all, her pure love for her girlfriend was unrivaled in so many ways... which was also the reason why Jisoo was so envious of the tanned girl. 

Jisoo stared hard at the necklace Hyoyeon was wearing around her neck, realising that it was the same pendant she had seen on Jennie’s bracelet earlier during the theatre showcase. She looked up and saw Hyoyeon already staring at her with that smirk on her face.

“If you must know, Jisoo… Jen’s my cousin,” Hyoyeon chuckled.

What now….

And while Jisoo was trying to make sense of the revelation she just heard, she didn't realise the photo that had just been captured of her. Jisoo has been teammates with the blonde for almost a year or two now but she never knew that Hyoyeon was Jennie's cousin. The only girl in the world (Jisoo's fantasy world) whose beauty was so charming and natural had been so close all this time yet Jisoo always felt as if there was a huge boulder in between them. If Jisoo had found this out much earlier, she would have been able to establish some sort of relationship with Jennie by now. 

“LALISA MANOBAN!”

Lisa cocked an eyebrow at the angry voice her girlfriend was using and she carefully spun around on her heels; there wasn’t any fight that was left hanging for the past one week. There was absolutely no reason why Rosé would be this angry with her and finding her during practice either. Though Lisa did have to admit… an angry Rosé was a uber hot Rosé, and it was turning her on quite badly (whether fortunately or unfortunately was another case altogether). Nevertheless, Lisa put on a straight face and walked towards her girlfriend who was stomping her foot impatiently.

“Yes, Chaeyoungie?”

Rosé's eyes narrowed at the innocent expression on her girlfriend’s face that was making her heart flutter; how could that woman smile at her like nothing was wrong when everything was wrong!

“Lalisa Manoban, did you pass your accounting test?”

There was absolute, pin-drop silence as Lisa froze in her spot, her expression stiffening at once. She had forgotten all about her bad report that she received yesterday, mainly because she had basketball to accompany her for the time being. It was no wonder why Rosé was so angry though, because she had been worrying about Lisa’s grades for pretty long… Lisa was supposed to be qualifying for a scholarship overseas through dancing and it required a good grade for her subjects at least.

“U-Um…”

“You come home with me now!”

The basketball team simply smiled at Rosé dragged her whining girlfriend out of court, until the latter turned around with an overly-sweet smile which could charm the socks off anyone else.

“Jisoo-unnie! I heard someone’s been looking for you since lunch period,” Rosé smiled and sent the older girl a wink.

Oh, for heaven’s sakes.

While Jisoo was in the basketball room with double the amount of fluttery motions in her stomach, Jennie was finding it so difficult to concentrate in class. She usually had Anatomy with Jisoo but the latter was nowhere to be seen; yes, they were classmates who never breathed more than four sentences to each other every day but Jennie still noticed her absence effortlessly. There was a certain feeling in her gut that didn’t sit too well with her and it made Jennie… fearful, for some reason. Whether it was because Jisoo wasn't here or how she reacted during theatre, Jennie wasn't too sure.

Jennie continued to spin her pen between her fingers, pursing her lips at the boring lecture; the lecture theatre was filled with the sound of the professor’s monotonous voice.

“Jennie, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Seungwan,” Jennie smiled (unconvincingly) before lifting her pen to take down some notes on her lecture pad, “why?”

Wendy rolled her eyes at her friend's obnoxiously lame attempt to avoid questioning; it was so obvious that the girl was clearly engrossed in her own thoughts instead of the lecture. It was even more suspicious because this was one of Jennie's favourite subjects, yet she couldn't seem to concentrate well. Most of the time, it was Jennie pestering Wendy to make sure the latter paid attention to the lecture; that's the main reason why seeing Jennie distracted and so distant from the entire subject itself was making Wendy more worried than amused.

Laying a kind hand on Jennie’s forearm, Wendy tried to be as assuring as possible, “whatever it is that’s bothering you, you can always talk to me about it… or find Chaeyoungie; I know she usually understands your problems.”

Jennie couldn’t help but blush at the concern she was receiving; this was a vulnerable side of her friend that rarely appeared. She was used to being babied by her close friends and family but not by someone who was considered a mere friend to her; in fact, the one person who began all this spoiling her was none other than Park Chaeyoung. Jennie sighed, suddenly wondering where in the world that girl was; she missed being babied and pampered where she would be able to spill all of her problems without giving a damn about being judged or misunderstood.

The one person out of a million who would understand her new-found fondness for a certain purple-haired girl... wouldn't it be none other than Kim Jisoo herself who owns those set of charms? 

When she saw the message she had received on her phone, however, a bright smile made itself onto Jennie’s face. She tried to conceal her emotions whenever she was in public eye but Jennie couldn’t help this one.

Jennie felt her cheeks about to split at how wide she was smiling at the picture; she had seen that picture on Jisoo's instagram (yes, she was definitely stalking her) before. She wondered just how many cute expressions Jisoo was capable of making, considering there were more than 10 in just her normal feed alone. The one thing she truly wanted to know was who in the world Jisoo was tagging in all of her photos; there was definitely someone being the mysterious photographer but who was it? The comments exchanged on some posts were pretty intimate at times too...

Okay, this was getting creepy. 

A deep blush appeared on Jennie’s cheeks when she realised just how much she was thinking about a mere Instagram feed; the best part was that she didn’t even follow Jisoo’s account.

“Oh my… is Jennie Kim smiling and blushing to herself?”

Her smile turned upside down immediately; that voice never failed to piss her off whenever she heard it.

“I hope it’s because of me.”

“You wish it’s because of you, Seokjin.”

Jennie was pretty damn proud of herself for wiping that cocky smile off his face ever so flawlessly with her sharp words; there was no reason for her to entertain him when all he did was annoy her in every sense of the word. She knew his main purpose for approaching her whenever they were in the hallway - it was for attention and nothing else. It was probably because Seokjin has some stupid reputation like being the school’s most handsome boy or the best player, but Jennie wouldn’t give him the time of the day even if she was given more than fifty bucks for it anyway. 

Flipping her hair over her shoulder, Jennie walked towards the direction of her locker. She was about to twist open the lock when she was spun around roughly and pinned by the shoulders, faced with an immensely wangry Seokjin.

“How dare you reject me and act as if it’s nothing? I’ve been asking you out for weeks, and you always take me as a joke. I mean I have money, and I know how to show a girl a good time; why can't I go out with you for once?”

When Seokjin saw Jennie laughing to herself, he felt his ego get crushed a bit more in front of everyone who was watching and spectating. He felt a large pang in his chest when he realised just how much Jennie was finding this amusing. In fact, Jennie seemed to loathe him as if he was some sort of creature that didn't deserve anything. Seokjin’s grip on Jennie’s shoulders tightened significantly and his eyes were firing up with fury; there was completely no mercy whatsoever. Jennie refused to show it, but her heart was pumping rapidly at the thought of what he might do to her. 

Seokjin was about to come even closer and Jennie flinched, her eyes closing instantly. She could already feel his breath tickling her lips, and that was when Jennie felt the weight get lifted and her wrist grasped by a soft hand with a firm grip. Her eyes opened at once and she nearly passed out at the mop of purple-hair in front of her.

Those beautiful purple-pinkish locks only belonged to one person; the same person she always stalked on Instagram… in fact, the most wonderful, adorable person Jennie has ever seen.

“H-Hey! Where are you bringing me?!”

Jisoo finally let go of Jennie’s wrist and faced the wall beside her, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. She felt an unexplainable urge to drive her fist into Seokjin’s face when she saw how he was pinning Jennie to the lockers in front of everyone. Jisoo wasn’t someone to get angry or frustrated; in fact, the only thing that made her genuinely upset and angry was her parents’ treatment towards her and nothing else. This was a first for her too… Jennie wasn’t the only one being surprised here.

Her anger didn't even allow her to realise where she had brought Jennie too, only that she didn't want Jennie anywhere near that clingy scumbag who only wanted to have a go at her or something. 

“Um…”

Jennie was hesitant to do anything, she could see the heaving shoulders in front of her and she wondered if leaving Jisoo alone was better for now. She had heard many stories about Jisoo being a bully in the past and all but the latter had definitely turned over a new leaf - all that was going around now was about how Jisoo shouldn't be so kind-hearted to everyone she meets or knows anymore. The part of Jisoo’s stories that amazed Jennie most was the fact that Jisoo could change so much in such a short period of time despite the countless rumours spreading around her.

If only she knew the reason why…

Jisoo took one last deep breath and plastered one of her cheeky smiles on her face, turning around to face Jennie. She did have to make some sort of move, “would you like to grab a snack with me?”

*

“You call that a snack, seriously?”

Jisoo pouted at the surprising comment as she continued to shove rice into like a trashcan; she was hungry after all that dragging and trying to calm herself down. She was a rice can anyway and her diet consisted of mainly rice so… not at all surprising since she could lose weight through her flying yoga classes with her sister. Her figure was slim and she had very faint abs if one tried to focus hard enough; it was sufficient and definitely to her liking. She didn't need to look anorexic-ish to be pretty; her sister would probably slap her silly if Jisoo ever went on diet.

Jennie smiled unconsciously; the charismatic Kim Jisoo was scarfing down her food like a huge kid and it was adorable.

“Why aren’t you eating, Jennie?”

“I don’t want to get fat,” Jennie made a face as she said that, “and I’m not hungry anyway. I already had lunch before class.”

Jisoo rolled her eyes at the girl's excuse and continued eating; there was no use forcing Jennie to eat if she wasn't going to enjoy the goodness of food. She was a big eater, just like her sister and Jisoo wasn't afraid to show off her huge appetite. That being said though, Jisoo would mercilessly smack anyone in the face if they tried making fun of her or start saying stuff like females should eat lesser so it's easier to attract males. She was brought up in a tough environment but her sister taught her to love herself and make sure no one's words would affect her mindset. 

That was not going to change.

Jennie clasped her fingers together and considered the odds of opening up to the latter right now; Jisoo was probably wondering why Jennie was so comfortable with her.

“Jisoo-ah, can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Jisoo put down her utensils, sensing that the atmosphere was getting serious.

The expression on Jennie's face was quite unreadable and it was scaring Jisoo but she wasn't showing it in the least... Jisoo preferred to give everything and everyone the benefit of the doubt. Jennie was nervous about this too, because she didn't know what the other girl's reaction was going to be - it was going to go very badly in the sense that Jisoo was going to avoid her from now onwards or it was going to go nicely for the both of them, meaning a fresh start as friends, with the possibility of them moving forward smoothly. Needless to elaborate, both girls were only aiming for one thing: progress.

“Remember the girl you used to bully?”

Jisoo’s expression hardened the moment she heard that question, and her cheek muscles were clenched tightly. She was still so affected by the mention of her past – an embarrassing part of her past instead. If anything, Jisoo wanted to have that part of her buried and never revealed ever again; that was the most likely reason to ruin any chances of her progressing with this beauty sitting right in front of her. Before Jisoo could start babbling about how it was no longer something that would happen anymore and how she was ashamed of herself – absolutely no doubt that she was – Jennie decided to be straightforward about it.

“That was me.”

…

…

…

What?

“So…” Jisoo hesitated for a bit, her gaze directed down at her feet, “you’re also the same person I asked my sister to gift a puppy to? I couldn't apologise to you personally because I was getting punished as well; and by the time I was allowed back in school, you'd already transferred. My unnie managed to find out who the girl was, so she suggested that I get a gift and she'd send it to you...”

Jennie had agape at the sudden revelation she was receiving; true, she had expected some sort of penance to apologise but it had never crossed her mind that it'd be her adorable, playful and bouncy little Kuma. It was almost as if the person had read her mind; after Kai died, all Jennie wanted was another dog she could love like she did Kai. She had loved Kuma ever since he was a puppy; a lovely ball of fluff which became her baby in a matter of minutes after meeting. Kuma, her precious baby who always cheered her up when she needed some happiness actually came from the person who caused her such misery years ago… 

That would explain why Kuma took some time to adjust to her; because he was a complete newborn and had been in the shelter for a longer time compared to being in a family full of love.

“So it’s you…”

Jisoo nodded shamefully, her cheeks burning in embarrassment. She didn’t know how Jennie felt about this whole thing right now, whether it was shock or mere disgust – Jisoo was terrified. She had to do something about it because this was probably the only chance she had to make it up to Jennie personally instead of gifting a puppy to her. Jennie's gaze directed at her food didn't sit too well with Jisoo; the girl was definitely hungry by now, especially since lunch time was almost two to three hours ago. 

Furthermore, it gave her an excuse to spend more time with Jennie.

Why not?

“How bout I buy you dessert?”

A few negotiations later, Jennie was sitting in another café with Jisoo opposite her; the girl was happily enjoying her patbingsoo like no one’s business – one would think it was her first meal of the day but it was already her third. Jisoo was quite the big eater, on the contrary to what she looked like and Jennie was appalled at how different she was; it made her wonder if everyone was as different from what they seemed as Jisoo was. In fact, Jisoo was so unpredictable and four-dimensional sometimes like right now, she was playing with the napkins and folding them into different shapes.

Jennie had never seen such a girl before. 

When Jisoo finally stopped playing around with the few (both hers and Jennie's) napkins they had, she looked up and saw Jennie staring at her with an amused expression. Her blush returned at once, knowing that Jennie was probably judging her for being weird right now. She covered her face to hide her embarrassment, not know the other girl was practically giggling at her. Jennie had this resting face that could be mistaken for something else other than friendly but the truth was, she was just more shy and introverted as compared to other people in university. 

“Is that all your apology is going to consist of?” Jennie asked, feigning a displeased expression. She liked seeing the other girl crumble under pressure; it was pretty amusing to watch. “Well, I’m disappointed…”

Jisoo pouted, “does it seem like I’m insincere?”

“Yes.”

“Hey,” Jisoo's pout only deepened and she rested her chin on her palms, looking away from the younger girl sitting in front of her. She had expected that answer but it was unexpected nonetheless, especially from the seemingly-quiet girl. “I know I was a back then but I truly feel bad about it.”

The younger girl didn’t say anything in response to Jisoo's claim, simply flashing a cold smile at Jisoo. It was so difficult to understand what Jisoo was up to in the first place. There was absolutely no way someone like Jisoo would be nice for no reason at all; thinking back during their high school days, all she ever received was mocking and jeering from Jisoo because of how she couldn't speak Korean well. She continued to poke around her creme brulee, ignoring the strong gaze she was receiving from the ex-bully. In fact, why in the world was she even entertaining Jisoo's lacklustre apology? 

Why? 

Jennie wanted to know too. 

No...

She wanted to confirm her own suspicions.

15 comments and above for the final to be published! Not too much to ask: more than 100 of you and 15 comments isn't even one-quarter of it so please :( 

hehe next chapter will be last so look forward to it <3