Kim Jisoo was a simple woman: there were only a few things in this world that she truly treasured. One of those things was sleep. Ever since she was young, she spent as much time as humanly possible sleeping, often to her mother’s chagrin, as her habit led to many late or flat-out missed appointments on her part. Even after becoming a world-famous Korean pop idol, her sleep habits remained the same. Almost nothing could pull her out of her slumber, and given the opportunity, she would sleep well into the morning, and sometimes into the afternoon.

    However, on that particular night, Jisoo just so happened to awaken around three fifteen in search of a glass of water. Dalgom was none too happy as his master lumbered sleepily out of her room and all the way into her dorm’s kitchen for a glass of water. It was a comic scene, the dazed, pink-and-white-striped pajama clad girl swaying back and forth as she stood in the kitchen, draining two full cups before turning around to return to the inviting embrace of her pillows. As she moved to resume her favorite activity in the world, she heard something. An almost imperceptible noise, small and lonely in the dark of their expansive house, coming from the living room. A noise that sounded as if its producer was putting all efforts into quieting it, a noise that sounded suspiciously like someone crying.

    Jisoo tiptoed her way through the darkness and toward the source of this mysterious noise. As she went, it grew louder and louder, reaching its muted crescendo as she peered over the top of the living room couch.

    From her vantage point, Jisoo could see the back of a brunette’s head. She was clinging onto one of the throw pillows, face buried in it as she sobbed. As Jisoo’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, she recognized that the size and shape of the brunette’s form indicated that it could have only been Kim Jennie, who was, oddly, dressed in her street clothes.

    “Jennie?” Jisoo whispered in an attempt to not startle the forlorn younger girl.

Unfortunately, Jennie was still caught off guard enough to shoot up into a sitting position, spinning around to face the newcomer behind her. Jisoo stood there dumbly as she stared at Jennie’s tear-soaked, puffy face, spectre-like in the light cast by the full moon outside.

“It’s just me, Jisoo.” the older girl said, walking around to the other side of the couch to meet her friend.

“Unnie?” Jennie replied, her eyes widening as she realized he’d been caught, “What are you doing up so late?”

“I could ask you the same thing. But I was getting water,” Jisoo took a seat on the couch beside Jennie, “What about you?”

“I was… uh…” Jennie struggled fruitlessly to conjure up an excuse for the entire scenario.

“Out with your secret girlfriend?” Jisoo asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“What?!” Jennie gasped, her sad expression shifting to shock and embarrassment, “N-no, that’s not… where’d you get that idea from?”

Jisoo rolled her eyes and sighed.

“It wasn’t hard,” she replied casually, “Late night disappearances, you always seem to be waiting on a text from someone, you’re really protective of your phone… I figured you were dating. Now the real question is: who is she and what’d she do to make you cry?”

Jennie slumped over, turning her head down and looking away, as if reliving the moment that elicited such strong emotions from her. She then wordlessly held up her cell phone, unlocking it with her thumbprint to reveal a text message conversation.

Jisoo read through the latest received message, mouthing the words to herself as she went along, her brow furrowing as she put together each detail. When she was finished, she glanced up to look at the name, and felt her heart flutter in shock as she read it:

“Bae Joohyun.”

“No way…” Jisoo muttered in awe, “Is she the Bae Joohyun I’m thinking of?”

“Yeah,” Jennie mumbled, tossing her phone haphazardly onto the other side of the couch.

“You were dating Bae Joohyun?”

“Not dating,” Jennie explained, taking a deep breath and running a hand through her hair as she visibly attempted to fight her tears, “She called it a ‘casual fling’. It was complicated. Mostly just meeting up in hotel rooms late at night. She was really secretive about it, and insisted that I do the same.”

“I take it