"Because the Blackpink our fans imagine is a thousand times better than the real thing.  They don't spy on each other.  And they're not cold, unfeeling es.  And they're not... they're not afraid to go for what they want!"

From behind the door of her room, Jisoo heard Lisa's outburst, followed by a slamming door.  She dropped the book she'd been reading and leaned her head back against the door.  Tears started running down her face.

"Cold?  Unfeeling?  Oh my beautiful girl, you have no idea..."

When Jisoo was a trainee, she knew that she was different from the other girls.  The other girls were always excited to see the boys when the two groups passed each other going in and out of the cafeteria, but Jisoo never saw the attraction.  Then she met Lily.  Lily was the prettiest girl Jisoo had seen up to that time, and having grown up in Seoul, Lily knew a lot of things that Jisoo didn't.  It was Lily who explained everything.

Or at least as much of everything as she knew - there was still a lot that neither one of them understood.  They knew that the word for what they were was "lesbian," and that it meant a woman who loved other women instead of men, but they still didn't know exactly what lesbians did.  They thought they had plenty of time to figure it out.

One day after dance class, Lily asked Jisoo to be her girlfriend.  Jisoo immediately said yes and gave her a big hug - all the girls were constantly hugging and kissing and holding hands with their friends, so this didn't strike anyone as at all unusual.  After that, the two of them were inseparable, but no one thought anything of it.  They just thought they were another of the pairs of best friends that had formed by this point in the trainee program.

Jisoo was the happiest she had ever been.  She was a trainee at YG, at the top of her class.  She had several close friends in her trainee class and got along well enough with everyone else in the class.  And to top it all off, she had a beautiful girlfriend who loved her.  And just when she thought things couldn't get any better, they did.  One evening at dinner, Lily leaned over and whispered to her "If you're ready, I'd like to come to your room tonight after lights out."  Jisoo nodded and responded that she was ready.

"Okay then," Lily responded.  After dinner, I want you to go do homework or hang out with someone else or something - I want you to be starving for me when you see me later tonight."  Jisoo thought that was the most romantic thing she had ever heard.  She responded that she had a lot of homework so she'd just go do that after dinner.

The time from dinner to lights out had never seemed so long.  Jisoo had time to do her homework and then check it over twice before lights out finally arrived.  She then laid down in her bed, pulled up her blanket, and waited impatiently for Lily to show up.  Just when it could seemed she could wait no longer, her door opened a crack and Lily slipped inside.  She silently closed the door, crept across the room, and climbed into bed with Jisoo.

They wrapped their arms around each other and before either of them had a chance to say a word, Jisoo began kissing the smaller girl with a ferocity neither of them would have guessed that she possessed.  Their mouths explored each other hungrily, as if this would be their only chance.  

When they finally stopped, Jisoo planted a small kiss on the tip of Lily’s nose before saying “I love you.”  This was the first time either of them had said those words to the other, but Lily immediately responded “Love you too.”

They spent almost half the night together, until Lily got a feeling she’d better get back to her own bed before sh