This story is a TopJen fic!

Sorry to disappoint the TopSé fans but I love TopJen hehehe

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Chapter 2

Thursday, 4pm, YME University 

It has been 5 days since that incident and honestly, Chaeyoung felt weird not having Jennie budge in here on Tuesdays or Thursdays to request impossible things since baseball training were usually held on these 2 days. She honestly wonders if Jennie had told anyone yet.

She shook those thoughts off before focusing on the budgeting for the school clubs. She then heard someone clear their throat. Looking in that direction, she sees Jihyo looking at her.

Raising her eyebrows at Jihyo, she’s surprised when Jihyo walked towards her and felt her forehead. 

“Unnie.. What are you doing?”

“You have been very off lately, and very distracted. Are you feeling okay? Are you under too much stress?” Jihyo asked, concerned. 

Chaeyoung bit her lips, contemplating if she should come forward with the truth. She chose to hide parts of it in the end.

“I…It’s just because someon-“

“Someone?! Are they bullying you? Was it Jennie? I knew something was fishy when she avoided me in the cafeteria yesterday.” 

“No! It’s not that, it’s just, last week, at Lisa’s party, Jennie… She…” Chaeyoung paused. Chaeyoung doesn’t lie. She doesn't know how to tell lies. Therefore, at this rate, she’s most probably gonna spill the whole truth out.

“Yeah, I know you guys left together, Tzuyu said Jennie wanted to send you home but you denied so she accompanied you to wait for the taxi.” Suddenly, Jihyo wore a playful grin, “Why? Did you had a ‘Shim-Koong*’ the moment when she was being so nice suddenly?”

[Shim-Koong means heart racing]

Chaeyoung flushed red before sputtering out a high pitched “Whatttt, no way! AS IF I WOULD FALL FOR A JERK LIKE HER!”

“Well, your overreaction makes whatever you just said invalid,” Jihyo laughed. Seeing Chaeyoung’s head hanging low, still with the tip of her ears red, Jihyo patted her head. “It’s okay to have a tiny crush Chaeng ah, Jennie is actually not a bad person, she’s just too childish for her age which is why she finds it fun to tease you. If you want to get to know her better, we can go and watch the baseball team’s opening match this saturday morning, I’m sure Tzuyu or Momo, or even Seungwan could us get in for free.”

“I’ll think about it…” Chaeyoung replied with her head still hung low, allowing Jihyo to give her another pat on the head before Jihyo moved back to her seat. 

Chaeyoung placed a hand over her chest, feeling her heart palpate fast. Yes, she was mad when she found out that Jennie had her first time, but when Jennie didn’t come and annoy her these past weeks, she felt weird. It was difficult to describe but something felt missing.

And thinking back to all the times Jennie annoyed and , she admits that she has never felt actual anger for the said girl. She always had this gummy grin whenever she barged into the council room and demanded something for Chaeyoung. And she has never made Chaeyoung take the blame, whenever Nayeon went and questioned her, Jennie always replied coolly with a “Yeah I did it, so what?”

Chaeyoung silently went back to doing her work after self-reflecting for a few minutes.

An hour later, when Tzuyu’s head popped in with a ‘hi’, Jihyo packed her bag and waved Chaeyoung goodbye. 

“Wait, Jihyo unnie!” 

Jihyo turned back, arms linked with Tzuyu, “hmm?”

“I… I will go with you guys this saturday..” Chaeyoung said hesitantly.

Jihyo grinned, “Sure, I will get the tickets then, see you on Saturday! Remember to lock up!”

Chaeyoung nodded and waved bye. Upon hearing the door close, Chaeyoung slammed her head on her desk, wondering why she did that. She will most probably regret it on Saturday but oh well, what’s done is done. She collected herself and continued to do her budgeting, noting that she was almost done.

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It was 15 minutes before 6 when Chaeyoung finally keyed in the last number in her excel sheet. She stretched in her chair, and hurriedly packed her bag. She had promised her mother that she would be back by 6.30pm so they could have their dinner together. 

“Okay, lights: off, fans: off, chairs: pushed in, rubbish: thrown.” Chaeyoung muttered under her breath as she mentally ticked off the to-do-list of locking the council room. She confirmed once again that everything was off and in order before bending down to lock the door. 

Chaeyoung stood up and turnt to leave but shrieked in surprise when she saw Jennie standing behind her. “What the heck Jennie! What are you doing here? You almost gave me a heart attack!”, her hand still over her heaving chest. 

Jennie only sported her signature gummy smile and replied, “Well, I wanted to talk to you and it seems like too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

Chaeyoung only puffed air out and crossed her arms over her chest, “What are you? 5?”

“Nope, but maybe mentally I am.” Jennie followed Chaeyoung as Chaeyoung started walking towards the main gates of the campus. “Hey, slow down, I honestly wanted to talk to you about last weekend.” 

Seeing Chaeyoung paused slightly and turnt back to look at her, Jennie further proposed, “Why not let me send you back? We can talk in the car.”

The words of rejection were already at the tip of Chaeyoung’s tongue but she glanced down at her watch; reading 6.05pm. She contemplated the pros and cons of taking Jennie’s car and the pros seem to override the cons. Sighing, she nodded her head and followed Jennie to the campus carpark.

Why did Jennie have to show up at this kind of moment where she is confused about her feelings? Chaeyoung cried internally. She had prayed not to see Jennie till Saturday so that she would have time to figure out how she really feels about her.

The unlocking of the car brought Chaeyoung back to reality. Jennie opened the door for Chaeyoung but only received a dumbfounded look from Chaeyoung. 

“What? Can’t I be nice?”

“I mean you can, but it just feels weird to be receiving nice actions from you.” Chaeyoung shrugged and got in. Jennie closed the door and went to the driver’s side.

“Well, I didn’t want to risk you slamming my beloved car door loudly.” Jennie muttered and fastened her seatbelt.

“And here we go. Welcome back, normal Jennie.” Chaeyoung rolled her eyes subtly as she fastened her own seatbelt too. 

“Tsk. Be nice, if not I’m gonna drop you off at a random, unknown place.”

Their banter doesn’t feel like those of the past. Their past banters felt more aggressive and harsh while their current one, felt much lighter and friendlier.

Chaeyoung looked at Jennie who started to drive out of the lot. She didn’t miss the small smile on Jennie’s lips. 

“Hey, I know I’m good looking, but if you keep staring at my perfect face like that, I would get shy too.” The smile on Jennie’s lip splits wider as she glances at Chaeyoung.

Chaeyoung had no idea how Jennie could showcase such confidence and was so baffled that she let out a laugh. “Oh please, I was just looking to ensure you are following the speed limit, please don’t flatter yourself.”

Jennie scrunched her nose in disapproval at Chaeyoung’s sentence. “I’ll have you know, I’m a safe driver, maybe even the safest.” Jennie glaced at Chaeyoung again. “By the way, I have a question.”

“Hmm? What is it ?”

“Where do you stay? I’ve just realised that I don’t have your address.”

Chaeyoung laughed again at Jennie’s statement before typing in her address into Jennie’s phone GPS.

Jennie stopped at a red light and looked at Chaeyoung inputting her address. “You know, you should smile and laugh more, you look so much more approachable when you smile.”

Eyes rolling back again, cheeks a little pinkish, Chaeyoung replied, “Oh shut up,I’m always friendly to people. And before I forget, what was it that you wanted to speak to me about?”

“Oh right, about that, I just want to apologise for what had happened.” Jennie rubbed her nape sheepishly as she steered a right turn. “I know you said it was your first time, and I know how special it means to some people. I honestly don’t remember how it happened but I hope you will forgive me.”

“Jennie…” The smile had already fallen from Chaeyoung’s face. She pondered silently for the next few minutes. Jennie glanced worriedly at Chaeyoung when she felt that the latter had been silent for way too long, “I’ll understand too if you want to stop talking to me, I promise I won’t bother you anymore after today too if you want.”

Sighing, Chaeyoung looked up towards the road. “I just wanted to say that I have been at fault too. I shouldn’t have had such a huge reaction to you that morning but I was honestly in shock. And let’s be honest, we both know that we were not on good terms.” Chaeyoung chuckled. “But it’s not your fault, we were both drunk. If it’s anybody’s fault, it would have been Lisa’s.”

Jennie laughs in relief. “So we cool?” 

“Yeap, we cool.”

“Means I can still annoy you sometimes?”

“No, it doesn’t mean that.”

“What about once a week?” 

“Isn’t that the frequency now?”

“Exactly.”

“Sheesh, which means my answer is still a no.”

“… You know I would still do it anyways.”

“Damn, it was worth a try to stop you though.”

Thursday, 6.20pm, Chaeyoung’s house

“Thanks for the ride, it was a good chat.” Chaeyoung said as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

“You’re welcome, glad the atmosphere wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be.” Jennie grinned back. “See you in school tomorrow?”

“Yeap, just not in the club room though. And thanks for coming up with that cover story about why we were gone, I almost spilled out the truth when Jihyo asked me just now.”

Jennie laughed, “No problemo, I am just glad you didn’t come up with another story.” Jennie then waved goodbye as she drove off.

Chaeyoung stared at the vehicle, getting smaller till it was out of sight when it turned left. She placed her hand on her chest again, feeling her heart racing. 

“Chaeng! What are you doing out there? Dinner is almost ready!” Alice, Chaeyoung’s beloved older sister shouted out from the dining hall window. 

Chaeyoung jumped from the sudden sound and quickly replied, “Coming!”

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Just a short update for now!

I'm glad to see alot of you guys enjoying this storyyy, do comment if you have any feedbacks or ideas you would like to see in the future ^^