Jisoo had to admit that being asked to meet Rosé in a hotel put her on edge. She hoped that the younger girl hadn’t asked her to come there for the reason she was thinking of. Pushing those thoughts aside, Jisoo swallowed her hesitance and rapped her knuckles on the door in front of her. She could faintly hear footsteps and then there was the soft click of the door. It swung open to reveal a disheveled Rosé, her eyes puffy and her cheeks rosy from crying.

“Oh, Rosie,” Jisoo breathed, wasting no time in wrapping the girl in a reassuring hug. Rosé began crying again almost immediately, burying her face against Jisoo’s chest. Without removing her hands from around the crying girl, Jisoo shut the door and gently guided Rosé backwards toward the couch. Once they were both seated, Jisoo scooped Rosé up and placed her in her lap, her arms locked securely around the younger girl’s shaking shoulders. For a while, the room was filled with the sound of Rosé’s sobs and Jisoo’s quiet coos of reassurance. Only when Rosé’s sobs died down to sniffles did Jisoo cautiously lift her head, tenderly the other girl’s ginger locks.

“I’m sorry for crying all over your shirt,” Rosé suddenly mumbled, her voice muffled since she still had her face nuzzled into the crook of Jisoo’s neck. The older girl let out a soft chuckle at her partner’s words.

“I think my shirt is the least of my worries. I’m more concerned about what made you cry. Do you want to talk about it?” Jisoo asked softly. Rosé shook her head, her hands balling into fists as they clutched at Jisoo’s shirt. The older girl’s hands busied themselves with alternating between carefully drying Rosé’s face and running soothingly up and down the length of Rosé’s back. In a whisper, she continued, “That’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it. But I have to ask one thing. Does it have to do with Jennie?”

“I’m not going back,” Rosé said in response, a strange emotion coloring her voice. “She doesn’t deserve me. I’m done trying to please her.”

“Rosie, she’s your best friend--”

“Best friends don’t treat each other the way Jennie treats me!” Rosé was sitting up now, her eyes blazing dangerously as she stared down at Jisoo. The older girl simply pushed Rosé’s hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear, a sad smile playing on her lips.

“You’re right,” Jisoo admitted, her voice barely audible. “Jennie doesn’t treat you the way a best friend should, or the way you deserve to be treated. I’m sorry, Rosie. I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” Rosé asked. The anger seemed to have flickered out of her at the feel of Jisoo’s gentle touch and she melted into the feeling.

“Because she always hurts you and I’m never there to protect you.”

“But you’re here now.”

“I am, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to take care of you.”

***

Lisa knocked furiously on the door, barely pausing before impatiently repeating the action.

“Jennie, open this door right now or I swear I’ll--” Lisa was cut off mid-sentence when the door swung open and she caught sight of the broken girl that she was met with. “J-Jennie?”

“She hates me,” Jennie squeaked, her voice hoarse from crying.

“Who hates you? Jen, what happened?” Lisa didn’t wait for an invitation to enter and just stepped into the apartment, closing the door behind her. Jennie immediately crashed into her, holding onto the younger girl’s slim form.

“Rosé… she… I… she hates me.”

“Jennie, baby, listen. I need you to calm down a little for me, okay? I can’t understand you when you’re hysterical like this. Can you calmly tell me what happened?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jennie hiccupped. She calmed down quickly all of a sudden, the tears ceasing almost as if on command as she pulled away from Lisa. Jennie roughly wiped at her tear-coated cheeks with the heel of her hand.

“Are you… are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Lisa asked cautiously, feeling uneasy by the way Jennie had so easily switched between heartbroken and resigned. Jennie shook her head, offering Lisa an unconvincing smile.

“I’m fine. Sorry for the mental breakdown moment. Rosé and I, uh, we had an argument earlier. It got pretty bad.” Lisa couldn’t quite place it, but there was something off about the way Jennie was speaking. Maybe it was the awkward lilt in her voice, or maybe it was her oddly emotionless tone. Regardless, the younger girl shook off the weird feeling and tried to act like she didn’t feel like something was wrong.

“Um, yeah, I figured something like that happened. She called Jisoo a while earlier sounding like she’d been crying. Jisoo bolted out of the door so fast I could barely get two words in before she was gone,” Lisa explained. Jennie looked up, a flash of emotion burning in her brown orbs for a moment before she quickly replaced it with a blank expression.

“I may have said some harsh things. I’m just gonna let things cool down for a bit and I’ll talk to her tomorrow or something,” Jennie replied with a frown. She was silent for a moment before she turned a curious expression to Lisa. “Not that I don’t like having you here, but I’m still curious as to why you’re here.”

“I wanted to know what happened. And I was worried that you were in a similar state to Rosé’s. I didn’t want you to be alone.” There was something new in Jennie’s eyes now and it sent a shiver down Lisa’s spine, though she wasn’t sure if it was a shiver of pleasure or fear. Maybe both.

“You were worried about me?” Jennie repeated in a husky voice. She took a step closer to Lisa, causing the blonde to take an involuntary step back, her back hitting the door.

“Uh, y-yeah. Of c-course I was worried,” Lisa stammered. Her heart was hammering against her chest at the way Jennie was looking at her, and warmth pooled between her legs when Jennie’s hands firmly pinned her hips against the door.

“I’m really glad you came,” Jennie purred, nipping the shell of Lisa’s ear. “I really don’t want to be alone.”

“Y-You aren’t alone.” Lisa could hardly breathe as she felt Jennie’s lips trance a line of kisses down her jaw. When their lips finally met, it was like an explosion of want and need. Their mouths moved furiously against each other, Lisa’s hands tangling in Jennie’s dark locks. The younger girl wanted this so bad. She was craving Jennie in every sense of the word. But there was something nagging her in the back of her mind and she wasn’t sure what it was until she noticed a familiar bitter taste on Jennie’s tongue. Lisa detached her lips from Jennie’s, gasping for air as she demanded, “Jennie, have you been drinking?”

“Mhmm. But only a bit,” the older girl mumbled against Lisa’s neck. The blonde’s head was spinning and it was taking all of her effort not to get lost in the feeling of Jennie’s teeth scraping against her porcelain skin.

“Jennie, w-wait. M-Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” Lisa huffed, her chest rising and falling heavily.

“Wait for what?” Jennie giggled softly to herself as she continued her work marring Lisa’s perfect skin. The younger girl was about to succumb to Jennie when the dark-haired girl’s hands expertly popped open the button of Lisa’s jeans. That was enough to snap the blonde back to reality.

“Jennie, stop it!” Lisa growled, shoving the older girl off of her. “What is wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? You were practically begging me to sleep with you yesterday,” Jennie hissed.

“Yeah, but you were sober yesterday and acting a whole lot less like a !” Lisa yelled back. “Do you even want to sleep with me because it’s me, or do you just need something to get your mind off of Rosé?”

Jennie didn’t answer, her glance drifting to the side, her fists clenched at her sides. Lisa scoffed at Jennie’s silence.

“Of course. Do I even mean anything to you, Jennie? Does anyone mean anything to you?” Lisa demanded. Hot, angry tears were starting to roll down her cheeks as she stared at the girl who refused to meet her gaze. With a shake of her head, Lisa turned and opened the door.

“Lisa, wait I--” Jennie was sharply cut off by the door slamming as Lisa left. For a moment, Jennie stared blankly at the door. Then she whispered into the darkness, “I told you I’d hurt you.”

***

“Are you sure you don’t want to get some rest?” Jisoo asked for what had to be the hundredth time. Rosé shook her head, shifting on the couch so she could curl closer to the older girl.

“I’m tired but I don’t want to sleep,” Rosé answered quietly. She blinked up at the girl who was holding her, the muted TV washing them both with a flickering glow of light. Jisoo smiled down at the girl snuggled in her arms, pressing a kiss to the crown of Rosé’s head.

“Do you need anything?” Jisoo questioned.

“Nope. I already have you. I’m good,” Rosé hummed as she pressed a fleeting kiss to Jisoo’s lips. When she pulled away, Rosé’s eyes were shining with an emotion that Jisoo couldn’t quite place.

“What’s wrong?” she whispered, fingertips tracing Rosé’s jaw.

“Nothing. I’m just glad you came. I don’t know what I wouldn’t have done if I were alone.”

“You’re not alone, Rosie. I won’t let that happen.”

“Thank you.” Jisoo didn’t respond, offering Rosé a lingering kiss instead. When the younger girl settled back into Jisoo’s embrace, her voice broke the silence. “Do you mind telling me that story now?”

“What story?” Jisoo inquired.

“The one about you and Lisa,” Rosé murmured.

“Oh, that story,” Jisoo winced.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I was just wondering,” Rosé quickly added.

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s just not exactly a happy story.” Jisoo took a deep breath before plunging in. “Lisa and I met last semester. I was doing the study abroad program in Thailand and we shared a class. We connected very easily and very quickly, and after that we were together practically all the time. I really liked her and she really liked me, and it wasn’t long before it became something more than friendship.

“We started dating, I suppose you could say, though we never put an official label on it. We became increasingly dependent on a physical level and it dawned on me how hard it was going to be when I had to leave. Lisa was so optimistic about it all. She was even willing to try the long distance thing, but that wasn’t something I was up for. But I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that and shatter her hope. The day that I finally gathered the courage to tell Lisa that we had to stop before we got hurt, we ended up sleeping together instead. I completely freaked out after that. I didn’t even stay the night. I was already on a plane back by the time she woke up to find me gone, and I left her no kind of explanation.”

“Was she your first?” Rosé asked when Jisoo fell silent.

“No, but I was hers,” Jisoo admitted.

“I would have been furious at you if you had just left like that after taking my ity,” Rosé commented, scrunching her nose up at the thought.

“She was. She bombarded me with calls and messages. Some were sad, some were confused, some were hurt, but all of them were angry. I wanted so badly to talk to her and explain what had happened, but I felt too guilty to even speak to her. I ignored her for the rest of the school year.”

“I don’t get it though. You guys seem so close now. What happened?”

“I stopped being a coward and finally called her. She wasn’t mad anymore by then. She said she’d figured out that we had moved too fast and I’d panicked. She told me she was sorry she hadn’t asked me how I felt about the relationship and I apologised for hurting her the way I had and for leaving without an explanation. She forgave me and we stayed in contact over the summer. Things went back almost to the way they were before we developed feelings for each other.

“But then she got accepted here and I couldn’t help but feel like this would be my second chance. After all, I’d never stopped caring for her. I brought it up to her and she unfortunately didn’t see it the same way as I did. She felt that maybe it was better if we just stayed friends. She didn’t want to risk things going wrong again when she cherished our friendship so much, especially since I still wasn’t a fan of long distance and she’d only be staying in the States during school. She didn’t think we should put that strain on ourselves and, as much as I hated it, I agreed with her. So yeah, we’re still close and stuff, but things haven’t really been normal between us since that conversation happened.”

“I’m sorry you didn’t get your second chance,” Rosé whispered. Jisoo looked down, meeting the younger girl’s gaze.

“You don’t have to be sorry. I may not have gotten a second chance with Lisa, but I got this chance to be with you and I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Jisoo replied softly.

“Not even for the opportunity to be with Lisa?” Rosé said sadly, her eyes dropping. Jisoo placed a finger under Rosé’s chin and gently tilted the girl’s head up so their gazes could meet again.

“Rosie, I wouldn’t trade the time I’ve shared with you for anything or anyone, not even Lisa,” Jisoo breathed. Her eyes shone with a sincerity that compelled Rosé to close the distance between them and kiss the other girl deeply.

“Can ask you one more thing?” Rosé asked when she pulled away.

“Anything,” Jisoo replied.

“Is the thing that happened between you and Lisa the reason you don’t want to be too… physical with me? Are you afraid of hurting me the way you hurt her?” The redhead blushed as she said it, her fingers tugging nervously on the hem of her shirt.

“Partially, yes,” Jisoo laughed, finding the younger girl’s shyness cute. “But also because I know your relationship with Jennie was almost purely physical without a real emotional basis, and I saw firsthand how much harm that caused you. I didn’t want us to be like that. I wanted to take care of you emotionally first.”

“You are very good at that,” Rosé smiled. She pressed a soft, chaste kiss to Jisoo’s lips. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For sharing your story. For staying with me. For taking care of me instead of taking advantage of me. Just thank you for everything.”

“You seem to thank me way too often,” Jisoo chuckled.

“Yeah, well maybe you should stop acting so perfect all the time so I don’t have to thank you so much,” Rosé teased.

“Sorry, can’t do that. You deserve perfect so I have to at least try to play the part if I want to stick around.”

“You’re not just trying. You’re succeeding. You’re like my knight in shining armor or something.”

“Does that make you my princess?”

“Only if that means you’ll keep coming to my rescue.”

“You know I will for as long as you need me to.”

“Promise?” Rosé murmured around a yawn. Before Jisoo could answer, she noticed that Rosé’s breaths had evened out. The younger girl had fallen asleep curled up against Jisoo, who smiled at the sight.

“I promise,” Jisoo whispered to Rosé’s sleeping form. Then she pressed a kiss to the younger girl’s forehead, careful not to wake the sleeping girl in the process. “Goodnight, Princess.”

I was sick for a couple of days and couldn't write, so I just sat myself down and wrote this all out in the past few hours. I didn't have a real plan going in so I kind of just wrote it as I thought of it. I hope you all enjoy it! ^-^

Please don't hate Jennie or me, thanks.

~unsungpoet <3