-VIII-

When the music ends, Jennie makes sure to look fiercely at the camera as she slows down her own breathing. Her ears are ringing when the audience roars in applause, another finished performance. The stage lights close, and Jennie is ushered to the back where she thanks the rest of her backup dancers and staff for their successful performance.

 

She’s been doing this for pretty much her whole life now. Every time she steps on stage to perform in front of her fans, it’s like her dreams coming true over and over again. It’s different without her favorite girls by her side, but Jennie doesn’t think she’ll ever get tired of performing on stage anytime soon.

 

When she sees Jihyo emerge from the make-up rooms, Jennie gives her a quick pat on the shoulder, with a quick 'fighting!' as the other vocalist smiles back and makes her way to the main stage.

 

“Jennie-ya!” A familiar voice calls once Jennie makes her way to the waiting room. Not long after, she’s tackled into a bone-crushing hug.

 

"Unnie!" Jennie retracts from their hug, surprised, "What're you doing here?" She asks, wondering why Joohyun's backstage and not at home at this hour.

 

"What? Am I not allowed to support my friends?" Joohyun asks, raising a brow.

 

"But your daughter—"

 

"Is with Seulgi-ya and is perfectly fine," Joohyun reassures Jennie as the older woman moves to fix wayward strands of her hair, "I hope..." Joohyun mumbles out softly, but with their proximity, Jennie doesn't miss it.

 

"You did well today. It's too bad your girlfriend missed your performance.." Joohyun says, ushering Jennie to sit on the couch as they monitor Jihyo's live performance from the TV screen.

 

"Thanks. It is, but I can't expect her to be at every stage when she's just as busy as I am, if not more," Jennie replies, but she can’t help but sigh. 

 

A staff member passes by and hands Jennie a bottle of water. The rapper quickly thanks them as the staff member quickly moves away to assist the rest of the sea of artists roaming around the area as well.

 

"You’re not wrong about that," Joohyun hums and gets up from her seat. Jennie remains seated and drinks her water, "Anyway, I'll be heading over to see how the newer groups are faring. They must be nervous for their stages since you started tonight’s stage so strongly. Wanna come with?"

 

"I'll pass, unnie," Jennie answers without hesitation, "I'm tired," She says while stretching her arms out, some of her joints popping because of her movement.

 

"Yeri's right," Joohyun quips as she stands by the doorway, "You are getting old."

 

"Hey!" Jennie shouts, "If I'm old, you're a hag!" The both of them both maturely stick their tongues out at each other until Joohyun makes her quick escape out the door. Chuckling softly, she slumps back onto the couch.

 

Jennie easily falls into a light sleep. She no longer has the same energy she did when she was younger, and Jennie finally gets what everyone says when they tell you to let loose in your twenties while you still can. In her sleep, she thinks that she’s extremely lucky to have experienced so much even with her packed schedules, especially when she used to tour as Blackpink with her girls. Time passes quickly as she rests, undisturbed even with the hustle and bustle of staff around her. 

 

When she’s finally woken up again by one of the staff, her make-up artists and stylists are fast to fix her up to make sure that she’s presentable before going back to the stage.

 

Jennie’s quick to stand side by side with Jihyo as all the idols thank their fans as the votes for the music show roll in. Both Jihyo and Jennie are relaxed despite the latter being in the top three for today. She’s had a fair share of wins in her career, Jennie thinks. She doesn’t mind anyone else winning today. 

 

Jennie’s already won anyway. 

 

Unlike most of the idols on stage, she has full control over when she has a comeback, and everything about her comeback. From the music to the photoshoots, and even the music video. Jennie watches the audience waving various light sticks and screaming for their favorites. It might’ve taken a whole lot to get here, but Jennie thinks that this is all worth it.

 

When the hosts announce a relatively new and an unknown girl group as today’s winner, Jihyo’s the first to run towards the group, engulfing them in a hug. She’s been rooting for them ever since they debuted. Jennie isn’t so far away to congratulate the underdogs. The four young women are starstruck at their presence, bowing multiple times in gratitude. Jennie’s quick to encourage the group to take the stage as the rest of the idols are ushered back to their waiting rooms to prepare to leave. 

 

When Jihyo and Jennie arrive backstage, someone elbows Jennie’s side. She’s just about to snap at the person for hitting her, until she hears their voice.

 

"Hey baby," A rather sleazy voice starts, "Want me to take you home?" The intruder, from what Jennie can see from her peripheral, wears sweatpants over an oversized hoodie.

 

Jennie can't help but shake her head and slap the intruder’s leg. She's trying too hard to be inconspicuous.

 

"Nayeon," Jennie starts, rolling her eyes, "Don't you have enough women in your life?"

 

"Oh, you!" Nayeon pretends to be flustered as she hits Jennie's shoulder coyly, "Want to be part of my collection?" She flips her hair for extra flair, and Jennie wonders why they're still friends.

 

"Nayeon," Jihyo says slowly and dangerously. Jennie wisely decides to take a few steps away from Nayeon.

 

"Jihyo! Baby!" Nayeon jumps at her voice, launching herself towards Jihyo, "The love of my life, a goddess in the flesh! Your performance today was perfect! People were so stunned they forgot to vote for you tonight, baby," She says and smothers Jihyo with kisses all around her face. Jihyo pretends to be disgusted, but doesn’t move to avoid the older woman’s affections at all.

 

Jennie rolls her eyes again, but can’t help but smile at the sight. A few years ago, Jihyo would’ve punched Nayeon’s shoulder or shove her away if the woman tried anything like this. Now, she lets Nayeon have her way with her. When Jihyo rolls her eyes, Jennie can tell that she's only pretending to ignore Nayeon's existence.

 

"Jennie, do you need anyone to take you home?" Jihyo decides to ask once Nayeon’s done kissing her face off, contentedly hanging off of Jihyo’s arm, “You look exhausted.”

 

"Hey, I offered first!" Nayeon whines and pushes at Jihyo.

 

"I have a better car," Jihyo returns the banter, and they start bickering like an old married couple. Jennie can’t help but feel a bit envious, feeling more alone than ever because her partner couldn’t make it.

 

"It's not your car, Ji," A new voice cuts into the conversation, stopping the two from knocking each other over completely as they bickered.

 

The newcomer approaches Jennie and tilts her chin up with a finger, “I’ll take you home tonight.”

 

At that Jennie can’t help but step back and laugh at Jeongyeon’s face. Jihyo already has her fingers massaging her temples exasperatedly, while Nayeon is practically on the ground, roaring with laughter.

 

Jennie’s going to roll her eyes out of their sockets one of these days, “As far as I know all three of you are girlfriends, why are you all flirting with me?” 

 

Nayeon’s the first to whine in full aegyo despite being a fully grown adult, “They always reject me!”

 

“It’s no fun when none of them get flustered anymore,” Jeongyeon shrugs it off casually. Nayeon takes that as an opportunity to tease Jeongyeon and the two begin to bicker.

 

“Correction; both of them were flirting with you, not me,” Jihyo says amidst the noise with her equally loud voice. She’s always the most sensible one among the three of them. Jennie can’t imagine Jeongyeon and Nayeon without Jihyo to balance them out. The three of them just work so perfectly together.

 

Although Jennie also can't imagine the opposite scenario, where Jeongyeon and Nayeon aren't there to support Jihyo. The only reason why the youngest of the three is a proud soloist now is through Nayeon and Jeongyeon's unwavering support, pushing her to not give up. Jeongyeon becoming a producer, and Nayeon a lyricist to support their baby (Nayeon's words, not hers) might have looked like a big sacrifice from an outsider's point of view but to Nayeon and Jeongyeon, their dreams have just come true yet again.

 

They've always wanted to make music on their own terms, after all.

 

Despite her train of thoughts, Jennie still manages to raise a brow at them. It doesn’t take long for both Nayeon and Jeongyeon to settle down.

 

Nayeon, now hanging off of Jeongyeon, reaches to take Jennie’s hand.

 

“We’re just worried about you, Jennie-ah,” She says honestly, “We don’t know if you’re going through a rough patch with your girlfriend, or if it’s something else, but she’s been... distant lately.”

 

“Not to mention, you’ve been looking really tired recently,” Jihyo jumps in before Jennie can even say anything, “And I know that kind of exhaustion isn’t just from dancing.”

 

“Yeah, didn’t you drive yourself here?” Jeongyeon adds, “You look too tired to get back home driving on your own, let us help you. I mean we’re friends, right?”

 

“Alright, fine,” Jennie gives in to their offer and looks at Nayeon pointedly, “But Nayeon’s definitely not driving,”

 

“That’s your loss,” Nayeon huffs, “I’m a great driver! The best, even!”

 

“Explain the dent on your car then,” Jihyo says, crossing her arms.

 

“Not my fault the guy wasn’t looking both ways before crossing the street,” The eldest says so casually that both Jeongyeon and Jihyo pale at her words. 

 

Jennie sighs, deciding to add fuel to the fire just because she can, “Yeah, I was there when it happened. The world could use less careless people anyway.”

 

“What?!” Jeongyeon and Jihyo yell, the latter already yanking Nayeon by the collar.

 

What a lovely relationship, Jennie thinks to herself as she watches Nayeon try to explain herself while being shaken harshly by one panicked Jihyo.

 

 

One chaotic drive home later, Jennie arrives home to a dark penthouse. Her dogs greeting her by the doorway are the only signs of life in the large place. Patting the dogs before sighing, Jennie makes her way to the kitchen to prepare a small meal. Despite her exhaustion, she manages to give all of the dogs a small snack and a good brushing down before preparing for bed.

 

Jennie makes sure to leave a note on top of the covered meal before she sleeps.

 

 

Jennie wakes up to a cold bed.

 

Shivering, Jennie brings the weighted blanket up to her nose, thankful for her lack of schedules today. However, she can't say the same about her bedmate. Did she even sleep here? Jennie wonders, now noticing how the other side of the king-sized bed looks almost too immaculate for it to have been used.

 

Frowning, Jennie's just about to get out of bed when the door kicks open and the pitter patter of small steps fill the room.

 

"Good morning, Jendeukie," The love of her life says, holding a breakfast tray in her hands. Their three dogs frolic around the foot of the bed, trying to catch a glimpse of the food high above them.

 

A genuine smile blooms on Jennie’s face at the sight of her lover. When the woman draws near, she sets the tray on the nightstand and moves to sit on Jennie’s lap.

 

“Breakfast?” She offers, already beginning to slice a piece of the pancake.

 

Jennie tilts her head to peer closer into her eyes, “What do you want, Jichu-ya?” She asks teasingly, taking a bite from the fork offered to her. Jennie smiles when she hears the young puppy, Dalgom the Second, whine as he tries to beg for food along with the older dogs Kai and Kuma.

 

“What? Can’t I be nice to my Jendeukie?” Jisoo tilts her head the opposite way to . Jennie can’t help the way her heart soars whenever the older woman does these kinds of things for her. She also can’t help but smile even wider when Jisoo softly scolds the dogs for begging, telling them (as if they can understand her words) that they’ve already eaten breakfast.

 

“You can,” Jennie says softly before moving closely to peck Jisoo’s lips in the middle of her little scolding, “I missed you,” She takes the cutlery in Jisoo’s hands to put it aside and moves to hug her.

 

Jennie sighs into the hug, not realizing how much she’s missed her until Jisoo positively melts in her embrace. Ever since Jisoo set her sights with their friend Byulyi to run their own entertainment company when their contract in YG ended, Jisoo’s just been busier ever since. But that’s never been a problem to them; Jennie and Jisoo have always been able to make time for each other, even when Jisoo decided to go to university to study while working up to be where she is now: the Vice President of Sun and Moon Entertainment. 

 

Jennie tightens her hold on Jisoo, realizing how long it’s been. Ever since their company started up, Jennie’s been signed as a soloist for the company along with Jihyo and other notable veterans in the industry. It’s been years of hard work, and their company has been booming lately, so much so that there are times where she doesn’t see Jisoo for days on end despite living in the same home. And in all of their years of being together, that’s never happened before until recently.

 

It worries Jennie, if she’s being completely honest. The last time Jisoo overworked herself, she nearly collapsed, and Jennie hated that she didn’t see the signs of her exhaustion earlier. However she doesn’t want to dampen the mood by bringing it up, especially now that she finally has Jisoo in her arms after so long.

 

“I missed you too… I’m sorry for being so busy lately,” Jisoo says while Jennie rests her head in the junction between Jisoo’s neck and shoulder, kissing her softly.

 

“Make it up to me then,” Jennie mumbles in between kisses. She hears Jisoo’s breath catch when her kisses become much more than just simple pecks, and she revels in how Jisoo struggles to pull away when she reaches the older woman’s collarbone.

 

“Later,” Jisoo finally pulls Jennie away from her. The younger woman involuntarily whines at the loss while Jisoo tuts, “You should eat something first. I’m pretty sure you skipped dinner last night.”

 

“...Fine,” Jennie relents and pouts, her eyes trained on the small red marks she’s left on Jisoo, “But you owe me.”

 

“I’ll take care of you, don’t worry about that,” Jisoo says in a low voice that sends shivers down Jennie’s spine, “But first, breakfast!” The older woman chirps like nothing happened.

 

Jennie bites her lip and thinks that someday, Jisoo’s duality will definitely kill her.

 

 

Later that night Jisoo holds up a giant sign as she stands in an oversized coat, waiting for two certain someones to emerge from the crowd. As much as Jisoo could’ve just hired someone else to pick them up so she could get some semblance of sleep, she knows she wouldn’t want to miss them for the world. Not after missing them for years.

 

“Welcome back— yah!” Jisoo stops herself mid-greeting, face quickly turning red at the sight of the giant poster her best friends struggle to hold along with their luggage as they charge towards Jisoo like they didn’t just go through a whole eight hour flight.

 

“We’re home, unnie!” Lisa yells, garnering the attention of onlookers. Jisoo wants to smack her upside the head already for being so loud. The plan is to not get everyone’s attention— it would be unfortunate to be on the front page of the media when she’s been hiding their return for so long.

 

“Unnie! Do you like our poster?!” Rosé shouts, equally as loud and Jisoo gives up. Jisoo made sure to print them a pretty sign board to welcome them home, and all she gets is a poster of her face from five years ago in return.

 

It’s not long until Jisoo’s tackled into a tight embrace. She manages to speak despite being stuck in  between her two tall friends, “I missed you guys too, but you didn’t have to emphasize how old I am.”

 

Lisa and Chaeyoung step back from their embrace, both looking scandalized. Jisoo thinks it’s a bit scary how synchronized the two are. She pretends to ignore the almost life-sized poster they’ve printed of her own face with hastily written text scrawled on top of it, reading: ‘If found, return to Kim Jisoo!’ 

 

“I hate you both,” Jisoo says, looking at the photo of herself from way back in 2023. 

 

“We love you too!” Lisa and Rosé say together, waving the poster around proudly.

 

Jisoo sighs, and drags the two of them back to her car.

 

The things she puts up with, Jisoo thinks to herself, as she trudges through the airport receiving weird stares while she drags her two taller friends to the parking area. Jisoo sighs deeply again when she has to remind both of them to actually wear their seatbelts before driving away.

 

 

When Jisoo brings the couple to their hotel suite for their stay in Korea, it doesn’t take long for both Lisa and Chaeyoung to settle on the couch once the staff drop their luggage off, dragging Jisoo down with them to sit in the middle.

 

For a moment, they all sit in silence. The couple are exhausted from their eight hour flight from Australia to South Korea. Jisoo thinks back to when they disbanded and all decided to quit YGE. It was all or nothing, after all, and as soon as their contract with YG ended in 2023, Lisa and Chaeyoung announced their engagement, (sending both Jennie and Jisoo to almost die of cardiac arrest for their impulsive actions) and moved to settle down in Australia. Just about everyone was shocked at how easily the couple announced it over their SNS accounts, and how nonchalant they were about quitting their lives as idols. Jisoo knows it’s not as simple as the two had made it out to be on social media. She knows how hard it is to let go of a life you’re already used to, and to even go as far as letting everyone know more about their own private lives… 

 

Jisoo’s never been as brave as them. 

 

She’s never been more proud of them either, making sure that they left South Korea knowing that they’re loved by organizing their fanclub (which, by some miracle, had doubled in its numbers despite some hate being thrown at Lisa and Chaeyoung because of the news) to be there at the airport to offer their unwavering support. Although Jisoo made sure to hire security, just in case anything happened.

 

Jisoo promised to protect them after all.

 

Fast forward to now and well, Chaeyoung and Lisa have been happily married for five years. They also run a small dance studio together, teaching people of all ages how to dance in various styles, and Jisoo knows that they’re living their new dream together. 

 

Jisoo thinks it’s high time to turn her new dream into reality as well.

 

“I’m pretty sure you didn’t send us an invite all the way back here just to choreograph and teach the dance for your new girl group’s comeback, right?” Lisa pipes up, breaking the silence as she nudges Jisoo with her elbow.

 

“Not that we changed our minds, I mean you guys already approved our demo... It’s just, you literally have Momo, Seulgi, and other choreographers in the company to be doing that instead of us,” Chaeyoung adds, concern visible on her face, “Is something wrong? You know you can call us, right? We don’t care about what time you end up calling us, unnie. We  get that you’re busy,” She continues, taking a hold of Jisoo’s hand.

 

“I know, Chaeyoungie,” Jisoo replies, patting both Lisa and Chaeyoung’s heads in gratitude, “It’s nothing like that, though. It’s just…”

 

Jisoo puts her hands down, pressing them against her own lap. She takes a deep breath and squeezes her eyes shut, preparing for the chaos to come.

 

“I’m planning to propose to Jennie.”

 

“WHAT?!”

“FINALLY!”

 

Lisa and Chaeyoung scream at the same time, tackling Jisoo and nearly breaking the couch in the process.

 

"Do you think it's too soon?" Jisoo asks while slightly winded out from their hug in between the couple’s excited yelling.

 

"Too soon?" Chaeyoung starts with her trademark small font voice, "Too soon?! Jisoo unnie, it's been eight years, it’s almost your anniversary!" She shouts in her (also) trademark caps lock voice.

 

"You've been dating for longer than some have been married!" Lisa joins in, "What's taken you both so long?"

 

"We like taking it slow, okay?" Jisoo huffs, while the couple look at Jisoo disbelievingly.

 

“I like taking it slow… so we don’t rush and do anything stupid before we’re ready a-and, it’s in my name, Jisoo Turtle Rabbit Kim, you know?” Jisoo tries and her friends can’t help but roll their eyes at the joke, "At least we're here now, right? I mean, if she says yes..." Jisoo squeaks out meekly, and the pair can’t help but smile endearingly at the eldest.

 

“You’re not wrong,” Chaeyoung relents and shrugs, patting Jisoo’s head in reassurance.

 

“So what’s the plan?” Lisa asks eagerly, already beginning to inch closer and closer to her unnie.

 

“Well, I’ll need both of your help for this… if that’s okay with you guys,” Jisoo starts, “I already have a few others on board but I want to have everything ready before this month ends. I don’t want to keep Jennie waiting for too long…”

 

“Of course we’ll help!” Chaeyoung eagerly bounces in her seat while Lisa rolls her eyes and says,  “Jennie would wait forever for you, you dummy.” 

 

With that Jisoo takes her phone out of her pocket and begins to explain her detailed plan to the pair. Their smiles only grow bigger the more Jisoo talks about what she plans to do doe her ninth anniversary slash proposal date with Jennie.

 

 

For the next few nights, Jisoo keeps in frequent contact with Lisa and Chaeyoung to help enact her plan. Given the scale of it, she’s also managed to convince a few other friends to help her out. With Byulyi, Yongsun, and Yeri managing some of the more difficult logistics of her operation, she makes sure to have Joohyun and Seulgi check up on her girlfriend as well. 

 <