“Love!”

“Hmm?”

“Not you, Jendeuk.” I wink at her when I see her pouting as this cute little thingy jumps into my arms. “Aigoo, why are you so cute, Love?”

“Oh, because of his mom, of course.” The three of us immediately roll our eyes at Lisa, who is smirking with utmost confidence.

After counting down together for our anniversary, the four of us are here in the dance practice room, still not wanting to leave even if it’s late already. I guess we just miss how we would sing and talk at midnight, bringing back those memories when we were still living in the dorm together.

“So what, you’re the cutest now?” I chuckle at the way my girlfriend sounded, teasing the Thai girl.

“No, I’m still the hottest. Right, Chaeng-ah?” Lisa wiggles her eyebrows that make me laugh even louder, as the ever-so-clueless Rosie is blushing like she just gulped down shots at once. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because I know you thought of me that way.” Oh, here we go again, a drama in front of us.

Jennie scoots herself closer to me as she takes me and Love into her arms, embracing me tightly while pressing her round cheek over mine. “When do you think they would finally reveal their real feelings?”

I look at how Lisa keeps on teasing Chaeyoungie because of how much she loves to see her blush. “Hmm…I don’t know. Should we help them?” I move my head to squeeze our cheeks together.

“Nope, let them have their own story, without anyone interrupting.” Jennie leans away to look at me in the eye, as she smiles knowingly and whispers,

“Just like us, we both confessed our love in our own ways.”

===

Looking out at the car window, the rain that is pouring down reminds me of that day, when Jisoo being the first one among us who mustered up her courage, to accept and love.

“Jennie, please…”

I clenched my fist tightly as I tried hard to not comply with her request because I knew that I would succumb to her with just a look on her face. I did not want to hurt any deeper than this.

“Can you please look at me? Just this once…”

Words had left unsaid, feelings were being buried, with fear that kept on building up.

Closing my eyes, I could still feel the fresh pain inside my heart when I saw her with someone else. I knew the reason, I clearly recognized this feeling through those beautiful words that I have read in between the pages of somebody else’s love story. But I also knew, how much pain this feeling could bring.

“I’m sorry that I yelled at you. I’ve scared you, and I just feel like I don’t have the courage to look at you. So please, unnie, can we just solely wait for the rain to stop? I-I just don’t want to cry in front of you right now.”

After a moment of silence, I gradually opened my brown orbs to a sight that made me freeze. “U-unnie, what are you doing there?” I stepped forward as I raised my arm, wanting to reach her. Only for her to step back. “Jisoo unnie, can you come closer please, you’re soaked from head to toe!”

“But this is the only way for me to be able to look at you!” She stood in front of me, out in the rain, so that she could face me completely. What are you doing, Kim Jisoo?

“I don’t want you to get sick, unnie. Please… come here, I’ll look at you, I’ll do it.” My voice was being shaken with concern as the rain kept on pouring hard on her body.

“Listen to me, Jennie.”

Her pleading eyes left me with no choice but to nod my head, waiting for her to continue.

“I want to love. I-I want to love you, so badly.” My heart seemed to stop immediately, only for it to beat rapidly again, with my eyes focusing on hers. Her voice has made the sound of the rain fades away.

“I know how hard it is, how much pain and sadness that I’ll endure, and how I tried so hard to not let you fall in the same situation as me. It’s a true dilemma. I don’t want you to suffer but I also can’t deny that I want to make you feel loved. Only by me.”

Jisoo placed her hand on top of her heart as her deep voice sent shivers throughout my body. “At the end, I choose to accept it. This foreign feeling, this utmost want that is surging through me whenever I look at you, to the way my heart seems to thump quickly, sending the butterflies around. I’m happy, Jennie. I’m really happy that I’ve gotten to feel this, and I don’t want to see it ends.”

The bright smile that I was seeing back then expressed every word