Please, do take time to read the Author's Note at the bottom of this chapter. Thank you.

Jennie is a huge red flag.

Seulgi believes she wasn’t entirely a bad person, Seulgi doesn’t understand exactly how it is to be in Jennie’s place but for sure she knows Jennie shouldn’t have acted the way she did with Joohyun. It was clear that Joohyun was surprised too with her confession, telling her that she’s coming back to Korea merely to see Joohyun alone. And the way she ambiguously refused to let Seulgi know about her plan doesn’t really help the situation at all.

Seulgi feels her jaws clenching.

Seulgi tries to stay calm though but she looks at Jennie with a quite hard look as if she’s giving warning signs to her that she’s standing on thin ice right now. It might be best to not go further ahead. The last thing Seulgi wants to do is make a scene at a café where her friend works at. Also, this meeting is supposed to give a positive result. A result that shows Joohyun how Seulgi and Jennie can get along once they get to know each other better.

That thought was the only thing holding her in place.

Also, the fact that Joohyun was rubbing her arm as if she knew what Jennie said would offend and trigger a switch that Joohyun hadn’t known existed in Seulgi. Even Seulgi herself doesn’t know what she could do if Jennie steps any further and endangers her relationship with Joohyun.

What breaks Seulgi’s mind was her cellphone.

It was a call from her father.

It could only mean one thing and that is business.

Seulgi hesitated to answer the call because her father will most likely ask her to see him or attend a sudden meeting or meet a client asap. Sure, she called off every meeting and appointments for today, but if it’s a direct order from her father, she couldn’t exactly comply. And not obeying him because of her girlfriend will not be the best scenario. Seulgi has to make her parents, especially her father, sure that she can prioritize work over her girlfriend. Though, the more she gets closer to Joohyun, the more that kind of mentality feels wrong to her. Which is why right now Seulgi hesitated to take the call and possibly leaving Joohyun with Jennie alone.

She trusts Joohyun, she really does.

It is Jennie that she doesn’t trust.

“Seul?” Joohyun’s voice managed to make her wake up from her short train of thought. “I think it’s your phone.”

“Oh,” Was an immediate response as she reached into her pocket, pulling out the ringing device. She still hesitates when she looks at the screen… It really is her father calling.

“You’re not gonna get that?” That was Jennie, making Seulgi aware again that if she answers the call, she will seriously have to leave her girlfriend alone with Jennie.

With still feeling that hesitation, Seulgi muttered a short. “Yeah…” She answered the call but didn’t excuse herself from their table. “Father?” The other line answers. Then Seulgi says, “That’s true, I have something quite important to do today.” The next thing Seulgi said was only a short ‘no’ and an “Of course,” Her eyes fell on Joohyun who’s already frowning. Joohyun knows that Seulgi would have to leave early for work and seeing that look on Joohyun’s face makes Seulgi feel guilty. It means Joohyun has gone through this scenario a few times to already have an idea about what it is without Seulgi telling her about it.

“Yes, I will be there shortly.” The call ended.

“Joohyun, I’m sorry but—”

“It’s okay. It was your dad, right? Sorry, I saw the screen before you answered.” Joohyun let out an apologetic smile, her hand squeezing Seulgi’s. “It must be important, you should hurry.” Despite the words she’s saying, Seulgi could feel how Joohyun tightened her hold in Seulgi’s hand.

She rubs her hand softly with her thumb. “Alright.” Seulgi wanted to curse at herself for only being able to say that word alone.

“Oh, you’re going somewhere?” Jennie asked, gaining Seulgi’s attention.

Seulgi gives a short nod. “Yes, it’s quite urgent. I apologize but I should leave first, I’ll…” She looks at Joohyun shortly before sporting a smile and turns back to Jennie. “I’ll leave Joohyun with you, please take care of her for me.”

The smile Jennie was returning to her was obvious that she would gladly do what Seulgi told her to. Perhaps, she would do it even without Seulgi telling her to. “Yeah, sure. Hyun will be just fine with me.” Seulgi doesn’t like the sound of that answer. It could be the jealousy acting up or this girl is just starting to get on Seulgi’s nerves that a simple phrase like that, sounded so wrong.

Seulgi finds it even harder to leave Joohyun now.

But she had to leave so she forced a smile and sigh a little.

“Good to hear that,” That was clearly a lie. “Well then, I’m leaving.” She announced, attention is back to her pretty girlfriend. When their eyes met, Seulgi somehow knew what it meant. So, without wasting any more moments just standing there and staring at her girlfriend, Seulgi takes the initiative.

In a split second, Seulgi leaned in and captured Joohyun’s lips with hers.

She had seen her unnie do it to Yongsun-unnie whenever they parted ways. Joohyun also has been trying to make Seulgi get used to parting kisses. So, this is not something new. However, this is still the first time Seulgi doing it where everyone else can see them—not to mention Jennie is still sitting across from them. Good, Seulgi thinks. Seulgi wanted Jennie to witness this kiss right before her eyes.

It’s ridiculous how much Seulgi feels like she needed to show Jennie that Joohyun is off limits so she would stop trying to woo Joohyun.

But aside from that, Seulgi was still amazed at the feeling of kissing Joohyun on the lips. They did it several times now, supposedly Seulgi should get used to it already but the truth is kissing Joohyun still feels like the first time and if it wasn’t because of that call or the fact that they’re in public or that this supposed to be just a mere short kiss, Seulgi wouldn’t want to pull away that fast.

The thought of it makes her face feel hot, so Seulgi was quick to flash one last smile at Jennie before leaving their table.

Seeing Jennie’s face after she witnessed Seulgi kissing Joohyun on the lips and Joohyun kissing her back even though just for a really short moment, it makes Seulgi want to give Jennie an even bigger smile. One that says, “I win.” – but then again, this is not a competition.

It feels so childish, immature, and dare she say, so Byulyi-like. She witnessed Byulyi get jealous when she noticed people are hitting on her girlfriend and she would always show those people that her girlfriend is taken. Seulgi never actually gave it much thought. For a moment she thought Byulyi is almost acting as if her girlfriend is something she should show off to other people and Seulgi at that time never dated anyone so she thought maybe that’s just how it is with couples.

Until the exact same thing happens to herself.

Seulgi lets out a long sigh.

“Jealousy is tiring.”

Meanwhile, Joohyun is now left with her best friend, Jennie.

The first thing Joohyun said was her frustration over what Jennie had done—or more specifically, said. Joohyun’s intention was for her best friend and girlfriend to get along. She knows Jennie is not a bad person and so is Seulgi and because they’re both got off on the wrong foot in their first encounter, Joohyun would give them a chance to redeem or reset their meeting in a better setting.

Joohyun already told Seulgi that she can trust her words when she said Jennie is not that bad.

But after witnessing it before her eyes, what Jennie said and the way she’s saying it… It felt off and quite inappropriate when Jennie clearly knows Joohyun’s status with Seulgi.

“What the hell, Jen?” Jennie was not given a second to answer when Joohyun continued. “What was that earlier? Seulgi could’ve gotten the wrong idea.”

“Could have? Thought she already did.” The model said nonchalantly, smiling as if it was just all fun jokes.

To be quite honest, Joohyun was surprised at her response. “Seriously, don’t do that… Seulgi’s not yet familiar with all this relationship stuff, and she may not tell me but I think she’s actually a bit of a jealous person too. So, please… Refrain from making such jokes.”

“Geez, Hyun, chill.” Jennie chuckles, prompting her elbow on the table and putting her palm under her chin. Her eyes fixated at Joohyun alone with a smile—that smile. It has been years, it still has that effect on Joohyun. “I’ll go easier next time but what do you mean she’s new to ‘relationship stuff’? I mean, she’s definitely younger than you but I’m sure she’s not that young.”

“Well, I’m…her first girlfriend—ever.”

Jennie’s eyes slightly widened. “Seriously?”

“Seriously… I mean, she’s also my first girlfriend so—”

“Wait,” The surprised expression now turned into a slight frown, Jennie’s narrowed. “Are you saying you never dated anyone before Seulgi?” For some reason, the fact that Joohyun hadn’t dated anyone after she graduated High School is more surprising to Jennie.

“Uh, yeah? I mean, I wasn’t looking for any relationships either so I never really cared.” Joohyun paused for a bit, biting her lower lip before saying, “At least that’s how things used to be before I met Seulgi.”

The rest of the conversation was just Joohyun talking about how she and Seulgi met and how they ended up dating. The history of how Joohyun confessed first and all. Jennie managed to listen to all her stories, she was paying attention really well and that never failed on Joohyun. As far as Joohyun can remember, Jennie was really good at paying such attentive attention whenever Joohyun talks.

It doesn’t matter how silly or uninteresting or random her stories was—even the school’s subjects—Jennie would always gaze at her with that look and sometimes she would give her that smile.

And Joohyun thought she had forgotten about it all because of Seulgi.

Until Jennie comes back and now, she remembers again.

“You’re paying attention, aren’t you?” Joohyun suddenly asks once she has finished yet another story.

Jennie nods a little, “Yeah, of course. You went camping with her and you guys had your first kiss.”

See? She really did pay good attention.

“Oh, good, well… I think that’s enough about me, I wanna know about you!” Joohyun smiles widely, out of habit reaching for Jennie’s hand on the table. It wasn’t a romantic gesture at all, it’s something she always does too to her friends, especially when she feels excited.

But for Jennie? It could mean more and Joohyun wasn’t yet aware of this.

Jennie holds her hand back, glancing at their hands for a really short second before turning her attention back to the excited bunny in front of her. Without looking nor asking for Joohyun’s permission, she holds Joohyun’s hand back subtly.

“Mine was not so interesting though… In terms of relationship, I had a few dates here and there but nothing serious.” She looked at Joohyun better, right into her eyes and Joohyun noticed the slight change in Jennie’s eyes.

She tries to ignore it, maybe it’s just her nerves. “How about your work then? You often go places and different countries just to take photos. And I’ve seen your photos, they’re amazing!”

“You’re making me blush now, stop it, Hyun!” The model giggles a little, “But I mean that’s one of the perks of being in my field of work. Usually they would pay for everything like plane tickets, food, hotel and transportations. I think most people would see it as such an easy job—just come to the shooting site, get makeup done—you even have a makeup artist assigned to you alone—and then dress up and do poses and then get great paychecks.”

“That really sounded like an easy job, you know.”

“Well, if I put it that way then yeah… But it wasn’t easy when I first started though and I’d be lying if I say I wasn’t nervous the first time. The whole crew had to cancel the photoshoot for a week because I couldn’t get everything right—it was all the nerves. Gladly, the photoshoot wasn’t on any crazy deadline.”

“Seriously? But I’ve seen your first photoshoot—I mean, I’ve seen the result photos. You looked nothing like a nervous model at all, Jen.”

“Well, of course. They had to put up the most natural one out there. I did receive a scolding though and I felt bad for being a burden for the crew, but everything turned out well in the end.”

“Yeah, I can see how that one brought you to where you are now.”

When Jennie heard that, her eyes met Joohyun again. Joohyun feels a small squeeze in her hand, now completely aware that they’ve been holding hands. Joohyun wasn’t against hand holding, she does it a lot with her friends and Jennie should be one of the closest ones, it would be fine. But Joohyun was aware that back then she wouldn’t mind doing this because she and Jennie liked each other.

Right now, Joohyun is liking—no, loving—someone else.

This doesn’t feel quite right for her.

So, before Jennie can say anything, Joohyun subtly pulls her hand away from Jennie’s hold.

Jennie let out a disappointed look for a very split second, Joohyun almost thought she was imagining it, maybe she really did. But either way, Jennie looked okay when Joohyun took her hand back. They continued to talk and conversation just flowed so easily between them. Jennie jokes a lot but not too much, just the right amount for Joohyun to handle. Jennie’s jokes made Joohyun’s playful side come out too—gosh, that has been a really long while. At some point, the jokes would be so funny, Joohyun would laugh so hard, tilting her head back while clapping her hands. She would even slap Jennie on her arm—at this point, Jennie is no longer sitting across from Joohyun, rather next to her.

Joohyun didn’t mind, it’s not like Jennie was doing anything inappropriate.

Aside from all the jokes, Jennie has also opened up little by little with Joohyun. She’s telling her stories about her career, especially the part when she wanted to call everything off because things are starting to get harder for her and she had a horrible time keeping up with everything. Joohyun felt sorry for her, but Jennie told her she doesn’t have to because if everything went by smoothly, it would feel more like a dream given to her—not an achievement she earned herself.

This Jennie amazes Joohyun.

If anything, Joohyun was feeling so motivated by her.

Especially that part when she talked about getting her own achievement—well, technically, Jennie had things literally handed to her at the very start of her career. But we can all just say it was just a great opportunity at the right time. Jennie never regretted choosing that path, or so she thought, until she remembered Bae Joohyun.

Joohyun and Jennie never exactly made any promise back then.

The only thing they could remember was when Joohyun asked Jennie to promise her that she will pursue her dream of becoming a professional model. Meanwhile, on Joohyun’s side, Jennie made Joohyun promise she will nail her test and earn a scholarship at her current university. It’s so nice for Joohyun to think back about those days when they made those promises and now here they are, living their promises in reality.

The two end up talking more about the past after Jennie was done with her career story.

Joohyun was in the middle of a story, talking about how the first time Jennie asked her out—like it wasn’t a date but Jennie asked her to hang out together at a café without bringing any textbooks. She just wanted to sit at a café and talk with Joohyun alone, like actual friends. Little did they know, the two of them were already developing feelings for each other at that point so of course Joohyun was excited when Jennie asked and Jennie was the same when Joohyun agreed.

So, they went that day. It was a cute café and Joohyun liked it a lot. The café soon became their regular go-to place whenever they wanted to hangout alone and away from school stuff.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened though, they were just there, had some iced tea and chatted for a bit. Joohyun had a carrot cake (one that also ended up being her favourite) and shared some of it with Jennie—who likes it mainly because Joohyun would feed her.

And then comes the time when they have to pay for the meal and drinks.

Jennie, as the one who initiated the hangout, insisted that she will pay for the two of them. While Joohyun, on the other hand, as the older out of the two of them, insisted she should pay for them instead because she would feel bad letting the younger pay—especially when she also ordered a cake. They had a little argument there, it wasn’t serious but they kept going back and forth saying, ‘no, I’ll pay’ and ‘nu-uh, I took us here, so it’s my responsibility’ – in the end though, Joohyun won. She paid for the both of them under the condition that ‘next time’ Jennie would be the one paying.

Young Joohyun who really liked Jennie back then was happy knowing that hanging out alone with Jennie like this would be a regular thing for the two of them. She was happy but tried to not let Jennie know how much it made her happy.

Looking back, Joohyun realized just how much she liked Jennie in High School.

And in the middle of realizing this, Joohyun’s mind starts to wonder about a particular what-if situation.

Like, what if back then she and Jennie made a promise to meet again after they’re both successful? No, what if they just promised to meet again after five or ten years?

What if that last day they didn’t just hug but also confessed their feelings? What would it become? Surely, back then Joohyun can only think for the worst because the fear of not knowing about the future is the scariest thought.

Joohyun bit her lower lip, she shouldn’t be thinking about this at all. It’s wrong, it’s not like Jennie’s intention to see her again was to court her or relive their past lives when they’re into each other a hell lot. No, Jennie knows about her relationship with Seulgi. The Jennie she knows won’t go that low.

Joohyun put that thought so far in the back of her mind.

She was just glad that Jennie didn’t change much—she almost didn’t change at all. It was still so easy to talk with her and everything wasn’t at all awkward in any way. Joohyun would like to keep talking to her but she has a part-time job to do.

“You work a part-time j