« chapter six »

•••

It was Lisa who had suggested it, to try to get more comfortable with Detec—no, Chanyeol. She was too awkward, and even she knew it, meaning that everyone else could certainly notice. Despite her uneasiness with the whole plan, she wanted it to work—anything to help Chaeyoung through this situation.

“You’re tense again,” he commented while stirring his coffee, resisting the urge to smile.

“Oh.” Lisa let go of her coffee cup, realizing just how hard she had been gripping it, and forced herself to relax. She looked around the café they were in, and was thankful that no one was paying attention. “Sorry.”

“No need,” Chanyeol said with a light laugh. “It’s okay to feel awkward, especially considering the situation.”

Lisa smiled tightly, nodding. She felt guilty—Chanyeol was trying so hard to help, and yet she was still unable to get herself together.

“Tell me about yourself,” Chanyeol said suddenly, leaning back. He focused on her with his large, brown eyes, and Lisa fidgeted self-consciously.

“Like?”

“Like ... what you do? You go to a dance academy, right?”

“Yeah, J. Kim Dance Academy,” she said, a bit more comfortable. This was a topic she could handle. “I like to dance.” She took a sip of her coffee.

Chanyeol nodded, a small smile forming. “You must be good at it, then—I’ve heard that’s a tough academy to get into.”

“It is,” Lisa said, biting back a laugh. She didn’t want to have to explain, and Chanyeol seemed the type to question. “Do you dance?”

Chanyeol almost spit out his coffee. He ducked his head to hide his face, and when he looked back up Lisa was relieved that he wasn’t choking. “Me?” he asked finally, coughs subsiding. He shook his head. “I can’t dance to save my life.”

Lisa pursed her lips, clearly holding back laughter. “So what do you like to do, then?”

He cleared his throat, fully recovered from his coughing fit, and paused to think. “I used to work in composing music.”

“Really?” Lisa leaned forward in genuine interest. “So do you, like, play any instruments?”

“Yeah, I still play piano from time to time,” he said, smiling. “I could play for you, sometime.”

Suddenly he winced, hand moving toward his ear. Lisa remembered that he had a tiny earpiece on, by which Chen could communicate with them. It was tiny and clear, almost undetectable unless one was right next to him and focusing on his ear—clearly, it was quite new and expensive, since she had never seen these types of earpieces before in real life or movies. He also had a small mic attached to his shirt collar through which he could talk to Chen. She had an earpiece and mic set as well (along with Chaeyoung), but it was only for emergencies, and she was to carry it with her at all times.

“Sorry,” Chanyeol muttered. Lisa could tell that he was refraining from going off on Chen for the sake of their cover. “He was testing the volume levels and was having a bit too much fun.”

She could visualize Chen laughing, wherever he was, and she laughed at the thought.

Chanyeol gave her a look. “Not funny.”

That only made her (and her visualization of Chen) laugh harder.

«•••»

The rest of the weekend passed by with no more incidents concerning Junhwe, but Lisa and Chanyeol spent most of the time together so that Lisa could, under the pretense of being on a date, introduce him to the areas where she and Chaeyoung spend the most time.

That Sunday, after Chanyeol spent some time making sure the new security system and security window film (which would keep the glass together even if the window was shattered, preventing anyone from entering by breaking through the window) were properly installed, Lisa led him toward the dance academy.

Unfortunately, she had forgotten that on Sundays, Hyoyeon and Seulgi went jogging together in the park that they had to pass on the way to the dance academy. Lisa caught sight of them first, before they noticed her and Chanyeol.

She stiffened, and Chanyeol noticed. “What is it?” he asked quietly, eyes discreetly scanning the area around them.

Realizing that Chanyeol was preparing for the worst, Lisa shook her head. “No, nothing like that—it’s just—those are my friends—they’re also from the academy.”

“Ah,” he replied. “I see.” Turning to Lisa, he grinned, a spark of mischief in his eyes. “Let’s put your acting to the test.”

Lisa gaped at him. “W-what? Like, now? But—”

Lisa cut herself off as Chanyeol took her hand in his so that they were now walking while holding hands. She ducked her head, feeling her face heating up. How did she ever think this was going to work, she wasn’t cut out for acting, how could she—

“Lisa?”

Oh god, here it goes.

She looked up, her face quickly returning to its normal state as her friends approached. They had slowed to a walk, and were staring at her—no, at Chanyeol. And at their intertwined hands. Bottling up her nervousness, she smiled and hesitantly waved with her free hand.

The two pairs reached each other near the park gate, and they stopped walking.

“Hey, Lisa,” Seulgi said, taking time to actually greet her. Hyoyeon didn’t bother with such subtleties, opting to blatantly glance between Chanyeol and Lisa with a grin on her face.

“Who’s this?” Hyoyeon asked, tucking a few strands of her short blonde hair behind her ear.

“He’s, um—” Lisa nervously met Chanyeol’s eyes, and he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, which did not go unnoticed by Hyoyeon. “He’s—this is Chanyeol,” Lisa said finally. “Chanyeol, this is Seulgi, and this is Hyoyeon. We’re in the same dance class.”

Chanyeol bowed slightly in greeting. “Nice to meet you.”

“You two are dating, aren’t you?” Hyoyeon confirmed, her smile stretching even wider. Seulgi was looking between them with wide eyes, still disbelieving, and Lisa had to bite the inside of to keep from laughing.

“Yes?” Lisa tried to say, but it came out more like a question.

“And why didn’t we know this?” Seulgi burst out, her jaw dropping. “Lisa, we’re—”

Hyoyeon elbowed Seulgi in the ribs, and Seulgi momentarily stopped talking, crying out in pain. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Lisa,” Hyoyeon said sweetly, dragging Seulgi away before she could make a bigger scene. “Nice meeting you too, Chanyeol!”

As they walked away, Lisa could swear Seulgi continued to complain to Hyoyeon.

“Oh my god,” Lisa groaned.

Chanyeol laughed, almost doubling over. “Well, that went better than expected,” he said, clearly pleased with the situation.

“No, now I’ll have to talk to them about us—about this. Tomorrow.” She slapped her free hand to her forehead. “I’m gonna be sick.”

After thoroughly exploring the area around the dance academy—and scouting out locations for new, improved security cameras to aid the investigation—Chanyeol figured that they made enough progress for the day. Lisa felt more comfortable with him now, especially after the run-in with Seulgi and Hyoyeon, and their interactions were no longer as awkward or forced.

By this point, she felt like this could work after all.

«•••»

The next morning, as per the plan, Chanyeol picked up Lisa to drive her to the dance academy so that he could both monitor her and mark the locations for Chen’s team to install the upgraded security cameras later that night. Chaeyoung’s parents, while agreeing with the investigation procedures, were wary of parting from their daughter after the ... event that took place on Friday, so Chen trailed them inconspicuously while they drove Chaeyoung to class themselves.

The first hour of class was typically unmonitored practice time, during which everyone warmed up and reviewed without instructor supervision. With the opening of the East Wing, they had begun to break off into smaller groups to practice in the empty rooms, almost like an extension of the speed dating activity.

Lisa was running quite late that day since she had been able to get little sleep the previous night, so she was expecting everyone to already be in the East Wing and for the main practice room to be empty. That was why she did a double take when she entered the classroom and saw only two people, as if they were waiting for her.

“Seulgi? Hyoyeon? Where are—what are you doing here?”

The two had been lying down, completely relaxed, on their phones, with their bags under their heads as pillows. At the sound of Lisa entering, they looked up and quickly sat up.

“About time you got here,” Seulgi said, fixing her ponytail. “Do you know how hard it was for us to convince everyone to get started early? They kept asking what was up.”

“Why would they have to leave?” Lisa asked, a sense of unease settling in her stomach. She knew what this would be about.

“So you can tell us about Chanyeol,” Hyoyeon said with a wide smile on her face, confirming what Lisa expected.

Though she was never one for violence, Lisa very much wanted to smack that smile off the elder blonde’s face. But she knew there would be no easy way out of this, at least one that would avoid raising suspicions.

She sighed, dropping her bag and taking a seat next to them so that the three were sitting in a circle. “There’s nothing to really talk about. We’re just ... dating.” She was quite proud of the fact that her voice came out calmly, as if there genuinely was nothing odd about it.

Seulgi gaped. “Lisa! I thought we were your friends!” she said, putting a hand to her heart to show how much Lisa had hurt her.

Lisa resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I’m serious, we just—”

“Okay, then, how’d you meet?” Hyoyeon asked, eyes glinting with mischief.

Oh, crap. Lisa fought to keep her expression neutral—she had to think of a story, and fast.

“I—he—we met through Jisoo,” she said, stuttering at first but gaining confidence as the story materialized in her mind. “He’s her colleague, so we met at a banquet Jisoo dragged me to.”

“Interesting ...” Hyoyeon said. “Jisoo is a fashion designer, right?”

Lisa nodded. “Yeah, so—”

“That means he could be a model,” Hyoyeon squealed, hitting Seulgi in her excitement.

Seulgi didn’t mind, because she was hitting Hyoyeon back in her own excitement. “And he’s so tall, too, I bet he’s a model, did you ask?”

“Of course she’d ask, I mean they’re dating now right?”

“Wait Lisa you should do a photoshoot with him—”

“You’re tall too, it would work—”

“How long have you—”

“Oh yeah, since when have you two been—”

There was a sound of a door opening, and Lisa sighed in relief, at the brink of being overwhelmed. Taeyang stepped into the classroom, slightly surprised to see the three girls there.

“You’re not usually here this early,” he commented. There was an unspoken request for an explanation.

“We finished preparing a few minutes ago so we thought we could just relax till class started,” Seulgi said calmly as she stood up and stretched. Lisa was surprised by how quickly Seulgi and Hyoyeon had regained their composure, but before she thought she was let off the hook, she met Hyoyeon’s eyes. Lisa internally groaned—this was far from over.

Taeyang smiled, not suspecting anything. Everyone else began to file into the classroom, and when Chaeyoung entered, Lisa knew by her expression that she realized what Seulgi and Hyoyeon had planned. She gave Lisa an apologetic smile, and then class began.

«•••»

Lisa had been partnered with Dino for the speed dating activity. She could tell he was curious about something, but he was shy enough to not voice it, and they went through the showcase routine a few times, extensively going over a few rough sections to polish them. Then, they decided to call it a day.

As she was walking down the hallway toward the main entrance, she felt rather than saw someone walking up behind her, and when she glanced to the side she saw a familiar redhead.

“How were they?” Chaeyoung asked as they walked side by side.

“Oh, god,” Lisa groaned, the memory resurfacing. “I thought I was done until Taeyang walked in ... they were just warming up and he saved me.”

Chaeyoung was pressing her lips tightly together to prevent smiling. “I’m so sorry, I don’t even want to imagine ... Momo was telling me how much they pressed her for details when they found out she had a girlfriend in Japan.”

“That was intense,” Lisa recalled, shuddering. “And they weren’t as close to her as they are to me, so I was expecting worse.”

Chaeyoung laughed despite herself.

As they approached the entrance, Lisa caught sight of someone familiar—no, two people—through the glass doors of the entrance. She immediately recognized the sleek ponytail and the other tall, lanky figure.

Oh. No.

“Lisa, what—”

“It’s Jennie. And Chanyeol.”

Chaeyoung glanced up toward the entrance, and her eyes widened in an instant. “We need to help him.”

Lisa nodded, and she was glad that Chaeyoung realized this was a bad situation, even though Lisa also knew that Chaeyoung was blissfully unaware of just how bad it was.

Both Jennie and Chanyeol turned around to the sound of the entrance doors opening. Jennie was expressionless and poised stiffly, and Chanyeol was frowning—this was enough to indicate that they had been arguing.

“What’s going on?” Lisa asked, eyes darting between Chanyeol and Jennie.

Jennie caught the movement, and ignored her question. “You know him?”

“Yeah, he—” Lisa’s voice caught in . She met Chanyeol’s eyes for a quick moment. I can’t back out now. “He’s my boyfriend.”

If Lisa had been watching as a bystander, she would’ve laughed at Jennie’s expression—her eyes widened almost comically, and her jaw dropped as she gaped at this new information.

And then Lisa remembered that, no, she wasn’t a bystander.

“Ah,” Jennie said, taking a deep breath to regain her composure. Her voice was calm, too calm, but still intense—the anger was suppressed, and it would burst in the future, just not now. “I see.”

Lisa took a step back out of instinctual fear, closer to Chaeyoung, who was frozen in her spot and was simply being an observer. But Lisa took some comfort from the fact that Jennie wouldn’t—couldn’t—do anything here, since they were outside. There were too many people around, too many witnesses.

“I just parked for a few minutes too long,” Chanyeol explained, catching that something was off between Jennie and Lisa. He tried to divert their attention. “I thought it said 20-minute parking, not 15.”

The diversion worked for now. “Regardless, you should leave now,” Jennie said, turning back to him. “I won’t press fines since it’s a first time accident and seems like a genuine mistake, but next time I won’t be so generous.”

Diversion taken care of, she turned back to Lisa. “Now, if you’ll come with me to my office, I—”

“I was actually waiting for her,” Chanyeol interrupted. “I’ll be driving her home.”

Thank you, Lisa thought, grateful for Chanyeol’s ability to stay rational. After all, he was a detective.

Jennie’s eyes flashed dangerously, and Lisa could tell that it was taking all her restraint to maintain her cracking façade. “Tomorrow, then.” Lisa shivered at her tone. “Have a nice rest of the day, girls,” she said dismissively, eyes momentarily glancing at Chaeyoung in acknowledgement. Then, she spun on her heels and walked back into the academy building.

Lisa remained rooted in her spot, and only moved when Chanyeol took her hand and pulled her toward where his car was parked along the curb. He opened the door for her, and she got into the car robotically.

What will she do to me tomorrow?

She won’t do anything to me though, right? If she’s interested in me, then she couldn’t ... she wouldn’t hurt me in any way ...

I should just ditch tomorrow, tell Jisoo I’m sick. I think I’m actually going to be sick—

But then you won’t know what she’s going to do! Do you want her to take her anger out on someone else?

Oh my god, she could hurt someone else! Chanyeol? He should be able to take care of himself—Chaeyoung? What if she—

Lisa was yanked out of her thoughts with Chanyeol lightly shaking her shoulder. She jumped, and looked back to see that Chaeyoung was no longer in the car. Then she realized that they were parked in front her house, and Chanyeol was looking at her, his brow furrowed. “Lisa? You all right?”

The worry and concern in his face was so real, and Lisa was just so worried, she almost told him about Jennie.

Almost.

“I’m fine.” Lisa lightly shook her head, outwardly to try to assuage Chanyeol’s worry, inwardly to try to think of an excuse. “It’s nothing much, we just—there’s just an unspoken rule against dating in the academy.”

Lisa almost cringed at how pathetic the excuse was, and she knew that Chanyeol wasn’t buying it—why would she have agreed to it in the first place if it would have raised suspicions? But he let it slide for now, giving her a look that said she’d have to tell the truth eventually.

But Lisa decided that she would cross that bridge when the time came. For now, she had to worry about dealing with Jennie.

•••

Author’s Note:

IMPORTANT PLZ READ: so my brain decided to be spontaneous which is what resulted in the whole chanyeol x lisa thing in the first place cuz that was not in my original plan ... but then this led to some characters becoming more important in my plan for the rest of the story. so i edited chapter one again — the main change you’ll notice: the bff trinity changed from lisa, seulgi, and bambam to lisa, seulgi, and hyoyeon.

so what do you guys think of chanyeol? (and seulgi and hyoyeon?) i can see that some of you are predicting his death by jennie and i think i choked when i read that lmao

~ thana