“Better now?” Chaeyoung asks as she watches Lisa chow down on a bowl of fruits, mostly mangoes. Lisa nods enthusiastically, she still hasn’t forgotten about the incident from that morning but she’s trying her best to keep her mind off of it. It’s no good dwelling on things that have past and she has no control over.

But still…

She takes another bite of the juicy fruits and rids herself of the depressing thoughts plaguing her mind.

“So,” Chaeyoung slowly starts, their manager is off in the distance, with her own tasty treat, looking at small shops in the area, “what’s going on with you and Jennie?”

Lisa chokes on the fruit in and hurriedly chugs the cup of water at her side.

Chaeyoung raises an eyebrow at the younger girl’s suspicions reaction and observes her closely.

“W-what?”

“So,” the brunette uses her spork to play with a fruit in her plate, “there is something going on?”

“N-no,” Lisa internally curses herself for stuttering like an idiot, Chaeyoung will surely notice.

The brunette’s eyebrow arches further, “Really now?”

“Uh-huh,” Lisa nods, unconvincingly.

She always has been a terrible liar with Chaeyoung.

“Lisa,” Chaeyoung reaches across the table and places her hand atop the latter’s, “please, I just want to help.”

Lisa hesitates for a second before meeting her gaze. That’s when it happens. Her walls come tumbling down and the secret comes spilling out of her lips like it’s been waiting for the perfect moment to escape its confines. Chaeyoung’s eyes widen, Lisa is speaking so fast, faster than she’s ever even rapped before, and Chaeyoung can barely understand a word she says.

“Wait, wait, slow down, what?”

Lisa abruptly stops and repeats everything in a quiet voice so no one in the surrounding area overhears.

“Apparently Jisoo is in love with me so when I confessed that I liked Jennie she went and confessed to Jennie that she likes me, but the problem is that Jennie is in love with her. So, Jennie came to me and…offered a deal.”

“What?” Chaeyoung repeats, completely dumbfounded. She had known that the other girls cared for each other a little more than they should but she didn’t exactly know to what degree. “A deal?”

Lisa nods, her gaze set on the table.

“Lisa,” Chaeyoung eyes her warily before asking again, “what kind of deal?”

Lisa starts fidgeting and uselessly turning the cup of water in its spot, avoiding the older girl’s searching gaze.

“She-…she said that if I managed to make Jisoo happy by being with her, she would,” Lisa’s gaze leaves the cup of water to gauge Chaeyoung’s reaction but quickly bounces away from the girl’s intense stare and mumbles out the last part, “-she would give me anything.”

Chaeyoung’s eyebrows scrunch together in deep thought.

Anything?

What does that mean?

Then, it clicks. Her eyes widen in realization.

“Don’t tell me she-,” Chaeyoung sees Lisa shrink into herself in her seat and cuts herself off because that’s answer enough. “What did you say?”

Lisa wraps her arms around herself and ducks her head, her voice a fading utterance, “I said yes.”

Chaeyoung opens and closes in disbelief, no words come out. She never thought Lisa would be willing to go that far someone. For Jennie.

“Do you realize what you agreed to do?”

Lisa silently nods.

“Why did you?”

“I love her,” the quiet words are spoken with such conviction that Chaeyoung is taken aback once more, “If making Jisoo happy makes her happy then I’m willing to compromise.”

“Lisa,” Chaeyoung’s gaze softens and she takes Lisa’s hand to get her attention, “it’s not that simple. Have you stopped to think about how Jisoo feels in all of this?”

“She doesn’t know.”

“What?”

“About the deal, she doesn’t know.”

“Aren’t you going to tell her?”

“That would make the whole thing pointless.”

“You can’t just lie-,”

“Don’t tell her,” Lisa’s pleading eyes sparkle in the sunlight and Chaeyoung wonders if they’ve always been that particular shade of brown.

“You realize you’re asking me to lie to her for you, right?”

“I’m not asking you to lie, I’m just asking you not to say anything.”

Chaeyoung shakes her head, “A lie by omission is still a lie and she’s also my friend, in case you’ve forgotten.”

Lisa grasps Chaeyoung’s hands between both of hers, “Please, I’m asking you as my best friend, don’t tell her. I know it sounds bad but I’m trying to make this right, if I can at least make her and Jennie happy this won’t all be for nothing.”

“Lisa…if she finds out, it will all be for nothing.”

“That’s why I’m asking you not to say anything.”

Chaeyoung huffs and unclasps her hand from Lisa’s hold, “We’re supposed to be a group, a family, we promised not to lie to each other.”

Lisa keeps her hands busy with the cup once more, “I know.”

“It shouldn’t have come down to this.”

“I know.”

“I don’t agree with it...”

 Lisa silently nods in understanding and resignation, of course Chaeyoung wouldn’t agree with her decision, it certainly wasn’t the best or the brightest.

“But,” Chaeyoung pauses to make sure Lisa is looking straight at her when she speaks again, “I won’t tell her anything, it’s not my place.”

A slight smile tugs at the corner of Lisa’s lips at the disclosure, “Thanks, Chaeng.”

“Don’t thank me, just…be careful.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Lisa grins and mock salutes in hopes of lightening the mood.

“I’m serious, Lisa, I love you but what you’re doing will end up hurting someone if you do it wrong,” she leans forward, her elbows resting on the table. “I love Jisoo too and I think Jennie’s an idiot for coming up with this plan but I love her just the same and I don’t want any of you getting hurt. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

Lisa’s large grin disappears and is replaced by a smaller one, her look subdued, “I know you do, don’t worry about it, I know what I’m doing.”

I think, Lisa silently adds in her brain.

**

“We thought you two got lost on your way back, almost called the police and everything,” Jisoo says as soon as Chaeyoung and Lisa walk through the door, a grin on her face.

“Yea, you only went out for fruits, what took so long?”

Chaeyoung smiles at the older girl’s way of greeting and eyes Lisa from her peripheral vision, “We got a little distracted,” she raises one of the bags in her hands, “got plenty of fruits though.”

Lisa absentmindedly smiles to keep the questions at bay and silently makes her way into her room. She closes the door behind herself and flicks the lights on but stops in her tracks when she sees a neatly wrapped box with a note laying atop her bed. Curiosity strikes her and she completely forgoes reading the note, opting to open the box to see what lies inside first. She unwraps it carefully, unsure of the contents within. When the wrapping paper is discarded she is left with a simple white box. She lifts the lid and her eyes start to water when she sees what’s inside.

Did Jennie…

Does she remember?

She cautiously lifts up the snow globe and brings it up to eye-level for closer examination, a grin tugging at her lips. It’s not as extravagant as the last one but there’s something about this one…the cabin, lit up from within, seems to radiate a warmth of its own.

It fills Lisa’s heart with hope.

She shakes it up a bit and watches as thousands of small white dots swirl around the cabin and pine trees within, creating a small vortex of snow in its confines. She traces a fingertip over the glass and smiles, h