Hey, so I've decided to cut the alternate ending into two chapters because it was getting annoyingly dragging, I think. Hang tight for the actual ending, guys. Thank you for all your kind words and great feedback so far.

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Tires screeching. Glass shattering. Smoke rising. Pedestrians screaming. And the bright, early noon sun, shining down the streets of Seoul, peering at the entire scene, unbothered by it all.

I take back what I thought earlier, I tell myself, as the excruciating pain from being stabbed through my chest muddles my already scattering thoughts, This could be a dramatic sort of death. Something straight out of one of those evening shows I would binge-watch when our group doesn't have any schedules—

"...No, no, no! Rosie! No!"

I try hard to lift my heavy eyelids, red already seeping through the corners of my vision. Only two people ever called me Rosie, and one of them was long gone. I chuckle inwardly, the blood trickling from the corner of my lip reminding me that it's only a matter of time before I would be gone, too.

At least—At least I would meet her soon, and I'd get to tell Melissa that this time, this time, I did something other than stand on the sidelines and watch another person die.

Jennie unnie isn't just another person, though, I mentally correct myself, feeling a sudden flood of relief temporarily ease the pain.

Moving my lips feels like trying to lift lead, and it's such a struggle to smile, but it's worth it. Jennie is alive.

"It w-worked... Jen," I croak out, my voice almost failing me.

She has scratches on her forearms and knees and is bleeding from small cuts, but the dates on top of her head changing to a day in the distant future tells me that all my years of worrying for her life are finally over.

"Rosie, you lied to me."

Then again, seeing Jennie break into sobs as she gently reaches for my cheek brings me a hurt that is much, much different from the one that's slowly dragging me farther from her and closer to death.

I feel the need to apologize, so I do. "I'm sor—ry."

"I love you," is all she says in return, her way of telling me she forgives me for hiding the truth.

It's too painful for me to tell her how much and how long I've loved her in return, too painful because it's too late, so instead I settle with, "I know."

And not a minute later, I find myself falling asleep without closing my eyes.

"Rosie..."

Please, just let me rest. It hurts.

"Rosie..."

Just let me go. Why won't you let me go?

"Chaeyoung-ah!"

My eyes snap open, and the sun's light is still a constant presence. Only this time, it looks like it's early in the morning, and I'm no longer inside a heavily damaged vehicle. The light filters through the pink curtains of my room instead of through shattered car windows.

I don't feel the cold sweat on the back of my neck, and I don't hear my quick, panting breaths, but I hear Jennie's voice clearly as she asks in English, "Rosie, are you okay?"

She helps me sit up, and immediately, my hand flies towards my chest, feeling for a wound that isn't there. "I—I think so."

"It sounds like you were having a nightmare," Jennie comments, concern evident in her tone. She sits on the edge of my bed, rubbing small circles on my back with her hand, and I feel my breathing gradually go back to normal. Or as normal as it can be, given the situation.

I look up at her and see 080818 hovering over her head, in that crimson writing I've come to hate over the years. I'm still living the nightmare, I barely stop myself from saying.

Instead, I nod mutely, and to avoid any more questions, I clear my throat and ask one of my own. "What are you doing here, by the way, unnie?"

The rubbing on my back stops abruptly, and I'd be lying if I say I'm not even a little bothered by it. "Well, I, uh," Jennie starts, the thumbs of both her hands twiddling together, a nervous habit of hers. "I made breakfast. A-and you were the only one who wasn't awake yet, so I thought I'd come get you. Then I heard you say my name when I opened the door, and... y-yeah," she trails off.

"Oh. Thanks for waking me up. And I'm sorry for the trouble."

"It's okay, but... Aren't you ever going to tell me what's been bothering you for so long?" Her gaze looks gentle, but also seems a little sad. "To tell you the truth, I hate feeling like there's nothing I can do to help you."

After just waking up from such a vivid dream, I feel a weakness so crushing, that it takes the very last vestige of mental strength to stop myself from just giving in and telling Jennie that she's going to die in the next few days.

"You're helping me, though, unnie," I force myself to act cheerful, pretending that the prospect of food excites me right then as much as it usually does. "Your cooking is always good. One bite of anything you make and I'll forget all about any pesky nightmares in no time."

Her eyebrows meet, clearly unconvinced by my attempt at flattery, but she decides to drop the topic for the moment. She tugs at my hand, muttering a "Let's go, then," and the pink tinting her cheeks as she looks straight ahead tells me my flattery may have worked a little bit, after all.

-----

To say that the silence between the four of us as we sit together that morning is uncomfortable would be an understatement.

Lisa has never stopped trying to talk to me, even though I'd started avoiding her since that moment when we'd kissed. Lately, the unnies seem at a loss at what to do to resolve a conflict that they could sense, but know nothing about.

Until, finally, Jisoo unnie gets fed up with the tension at all the unanswered questions between us, and slams her palm on the dining room table, visibly rattling the bowl in front of her and making all three of us straighten up in shock.

"If none of you are going to tell me or Jennie what in the world is going on, you better at least apologize to each other and stop this nonsense," she says sternly, eyes narrowed at both Lisa and I.

It's very few times like these when I suddenly remember that she's the oldest among all of us.

"I thought we were family," her voice wavers a little, the frustration in her eyes mellowing down to something closer to disappointment. "But if we can't even share our burdens with each other, I guess we can just call all this," she gestures with a wave of her hand at herself, and then at the three of us, "a strictly business relationship."

I feel a twinge of hurt inside me at hearing Jisoo's words. All this time, I'd been trying to keep my troubles to myself so I could spare my unnies from all the anxiety, fear and self-loathing I've been holding inside for most of my life. I'd been so dead set on doing this, I'd failed to realize I may have been hurting the very people I thought I'd been protecting.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Lisa opening , an apology forming on the tip of her tongue. But before she can say anything, I find myself beating her to it.

"I'm sorry, Lisa." For involving you in all this, for making you go through this madness with me, for leaving you to fight with your thoughts when you always try not to leave me with mine. "For everything."

She's clearly taken aback, not expecting me to apologize to her. She stares at me from across the table, a frown on her lips. "But it's my fault. You didn't do anything, Chaeng," she answers, confused.

I stare back, and the tears fall from my eyes before I notice they were even forming. "You're right. I haven't done anything. Not a single thing. And maybe that's what I'm sorry for the most."

As expected, Jennie and Jisoo gape at us, dumbfounded at the cryptic conversation. The silence at this moment is even more stifling than the one from a while ago, and right then, I want—need—nothing more than to get away from it.

So I stand up, wipe my cheeks, and quietly thank Jennie unnie for the food before I retreat to my room, trading the suffocating silence in the dining room for the never-ending, equally suffocating noises in my mind.

-----

My fingertips furiously rub against the page of my open sketchbook as I sit, hunched over my desk, trying to spread a chaotic flurry of oil pastel colors on to the paper.

Unfortunately, no matter how focused I've been with rubbing my fingers raw for the last couple of hours, the walls of our shared dorm are not thick enough to keep me from hearing the voices that start to sharply rise in volume outside my room.

"...just tell us what you're fighting about, Lalisa!" I hear Jisoo say first.

"We're not..."

"Then what's going on?" I flinch at Jennie's broken tone, the fingertips of my left hand hovering over my unfinished drawing.

Lisa's voice is much more subdued than the two others', and I have to strain my ears to hear some of what she's saying. "...thing's going on, unnie."

Jisoo still sounds the same as earlier today, seemingly gathering fire the more she speaks. "Why do you keep lying to us? What are you hiding?"

For a moment, I dread being on the receiving end of Jisoo's rare outbursts, and I feel an immense guilt nagging at me for leaving Lisa to dodge the words–which may as well have turned into figurative daggers at this point—being thrown at her.

"...not in the position to say any...not my secret to tell...'m sorry."

"What's so bad that you can't even tell us about it? How long have we gone through everything together? Unless that means nothing at all to you—"

"That's not what this is, Jisoo unnie!" Lisa argues, her voice louder now as well. "How could you say that? You... This group... All of you mean the whole world to me!"

I hear Jennie speak up again, although it sounds much fainter than before, and most of her words don't completely go through the wall. "...soo unnie, stop...let's not force..."

"Well, what is it then? Is Chaeyoung secretly dating someone? Are you?" Jisoo demands, either not hearing or not listening to the younger girl.

I barely hear Lisa scoff, but her disbelief in our unnie's accusation is obvious when she sneers, "Oh, please. I wish it were something that easy to deal with."

"Lisa, I swear, if you don't—"

"Unnie, just leave her alone!" Jennie yells, cutting Jisoo off. "Please," she adds softly.

A few minutes of silence occurs before my ears pick up a sound that's even more uncommon than Jisoo being mad: Jisoo crying.

"I don't understand. I care about you guys so much. I just want us to be okay. And now we're suddenly not... I—I don't understand. Why won't you tell me what's wrong? W-Why won't Chaeyoung tell me?"

"Jisoo unnie," I mumble under my breath from where I'm sitting, the pain laced into her words echoing in my ears. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm so sorry," the youngest answers from outside, as if she'd heard me. "Sorry, unnies."

"Hey, Lisa, wait—"

I listen as hurried footsteps scurry towards my door, and even if we still aren't on speaking terms, I stand and let Lisa inside before she can raise her hand to knock.

Guilt hits me again, this time in waves, as my gaze falls to meet Lisa's reddened eyes, which are on the verge of spilling more tears than what must have already fallen down her face earlier.

"Chaeng, s-sorry you had to hear that," she manages to say, and I can see she's trying to put on a brave face, while still attempting to blink away her tears and to stop her lower lip from trembling. "I did m-my best not to tell them an-nything."

"I know you did."

I pull her into my arms, pressing my lips to her ear, thanking her for being so strong and telling her how much I regret selfishly putting her through all this turmoil, as she finally cries, burying her head on my shoulder and clutching my waist tightly.

"I'm sorry, Lisa," I repeat my words from earlier that day, placing what I hope is a comforting kiss on the top of her head, and letting her hold on to me until her tears dry.

Right then, it occurs to me that, while I'm trying so hard to protect one of my members, I may very well be but a few moments away from losing them all.

-----

My sense of time pretty much escapes me that day; I don't know how long Lisa and I hold on to each other before her legs start to wobble from exhaustion, and I sling her arm around me, half-carrying her towards my bed.

She falls asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow. I sit beside her, carefully moving hair away from her face, my insides twisting just thinking about how I'd pretty much thrown her to the wolves earlier.

I know I have to talk to Jennie and Jisoo myself, and with this in mind, I leave the room to find them, only to blink in surprise at the darkness of the hallway, just realizing that night has already fallen.

My ominous thoughts tell me that today is almost ending, and my time is almost up.

I can't possibly leave things like this. Then again, I think bitterly, I wish I didn't have to leave at all.

I slowly walk to the kitchen, trying to calm my shaking hands as an unwelcome feeling of fear starts slithering into me. It's as if the gravity of it all has just now sunk in, and suddenly I'm not ready for whatever it is I had too hastily decided to do days and days ago.

I'm so focused on not dropping the glass I'm trying to fill with water, that I don't notice the two older girls entering until Jisoo's question pierces the silence in the room. "Chaeng, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, unnie, I was just thirsty," I say carefully, making sure that a smile is plastered on my face when I turn to her. I expect to come face-to-face with a confrontational unnie, but what I see is a gentle, albeit troubled girl instead. I don't miss the apparent puffiness below her eyes, too, a painful reminder of how much worry I've been causing her.

"Here," she says, taking the glass I'd left on the sink. If she sees the colored fingerprint stains from my still dirty hands, she doesn't say anything about it.

Throughout the the shaky, stilted conversation that happens between Jisoo and I—Jennie being a silent audience—my mind pushes me to bring up my supposed "fight" with Lisa. I open my mouth to speak, but even with the water I'd just drunk, my throat feels dry, and my courage is nowhere to be found.

All I can think about, as all three of us trudge back down the hall to say our good nights, is how hopelessly scared I am for the night to give way to the next day. And the next, and the next...

I vaguely remember Lisa telling me I'm too selfless. Does that give me a good reason to be the opposite, then, for once?

I find myself calling Jennie's name on reflex before my thoughts can catch up.

I find myself lying next to her on her bed before I can stop myself.

For a while, we talk about everything and nothing at the same time, at some points switching back and forth between Korean and English, much like we used to during our trainee years.

She seems to read my mind when she says, "It's been a while since you've slept over, hasn't it," her voice sounding wistful. "I kind of miss this."

"Sorry I've been distant lately, unnie."

"It's not your fault. It's not like we stopped sleeping over in each other's rooms on purpose. Things just happen, I guess."

"But," she continues, the beginnings of a bright smile on her lips, "You're here now, so... I'm glad."

A surge of longing washes over me at the sight of her twinkling eyes. What I'd give to see her this happy for the rest of her life...

I try to mirror her smile, allowing myself to forget about everything else but this moment. "So am I."

We stay like this for a few more seconds, neither of us seeming to want to break eye contact, except for when I unconsciously wet my lips with my tongue and see her follow it with her gaze.

"Now come on." Jennie abruptly grabs first my hand, then my arm before facing her back to me, pulling me towards her in the process. "Let me be a good pillow to you."

She interlocks her fingers with mine, effectively keeping my arm draped over her waist. Carefully, I press my front against her back, my nose close to the back of her neck. "This pillow smells good," I mutter, resting my chin on her shoulder.

"Of course it does," Jennie teases.

I hum softly in agreement. "Good night, unnie."

"Good night, Rosie. I'll protect you from nightmares tonight."

It's not until I hear Jennie's breathing even out minutes later, indicating that she's fallen asleep, when I answer in a hushed whisper.

"I wish you could protect me from this one."

Now that I'd started to verbalize my thoughts, it's as though a dam inside me has broken down, and any strength I have left evaporates as the tangled mess of emotions I've been trying for so long to push away suddenly rise up and out of my mouth.

"I wish there was another way."

"I wish I could tell you everything."

"I wish neither of us had to die."

"I wish I had more time to love you, Jennie unnie."

"I wish I—" My voice cracks painfully, and I feel annoying tears prickling on my eyes yet again, "I wish I wasn't s-so scared." I start to sob at the back of Jennie's neck, and if my words from earlier don't wake her, this surely will, but I'm too distraught to care anymore. "I'm so scared, unnie."

She turns around so quickly, I find myself wrapped in her arms not even a second later. How long has she been awake? I think frantically. How much did she hear?

"I'm right here, Rosie. I'm right here," she says softly in my ear, still sounding faintly groggy from sleep, while she runs a soothing hand through my hair.

"You—I—I don't have much time left," I say weakly, unable to hold my tongue any longer.

"What are you talking about?"

The deep breath I let out sounds strangled and shaky, and I hold on to her more tightly, afraid she might pull away once I've finished revealing the secret that, until right then, only Lisa knows about.

"I—I can see the exact day when people are going to die, unnie," I start. Jennie stiffens, but doesn't let go as she wordlessly urges me to continue.

My throat is scratchy by the time I've told her all there is to tell about my curse and about the one death that needs to happen in three days time. I'm not sure what reaction I'm waiting for, but it's not the one that actually happens.

Jennie draws back the slightest bit, just enough for our faces to hover a few inches apart, and for the briefest moment, I can feel her breath tickling my nose. She narrows her eyes, bites her lip, and without warning, kisses me long and hard.

My lips are still for a few seconds, my head dizzy from simultaneous bursts of both exhilaration and confusion. It takes Jennie cupping my cheek with her hand for me to reciprocate, and when I do, I close my eyes and press myself even closer to her, deepening the kiss.

She tastes like French vanilla mingled with salt from my tears, and the back of my mind urges me to memorize the moment by heart, in case it's the first and last time I'll ever feel her lips on mine like this.

Stopping seems to be far from what Jennie wants right then, as she teasingly runs her tongue down what must be a slightly swollen bottom lip. That's alright, it's not like I want her to stop, either.

"Rosie, I," she breathes between hasty but tender kisses filled with desperation, "I wish I... had more time... to love you... too."

I can almost see the figurative flashbulb light up in her head as she stills, then reluctantly unlatches her lips from mine. We rest our foreheads on each other, and even in a daze, I have a few more seconds to visually appreciate her long, tousled hair, her flushed cheeks and her soft pink lips, before she speaks again, pulling me back to reality.

"We have to talk to Jisoo and Lisa."

-----

The first thing Jisoo does when she finds out is giving me a tight hug, which seems to express as much love and apology as she can muster without words.

"Thank you, Chaeyoung-ah," she says, the huskiness in her voice even more apparent right then, her sleep having been interrupted by Jennie's insistent knocking on her door less than an hour ago. "I'm sorry for being so hard on you, and Lisa too. I had no idea your secret would be something like this."

"It's okay, Jisoo unnie. You wouldn't have known," I answer, one hand patting the back of her head. 

She pulls away a few seconds later, and crosses the living room to stand in front of Lisa, who's leaning against the wall in a corner, a little farther from the sofa that Jennie and I are sitting on.

Lisa flinches and looks away as soon as Jisoo approaches, most likely still anxious from the heated conversation they had earlier in the day. I don't miss the shock on her face when the older girl pulls her into a hug as well.

"I'm sorry, Limario," she says apologetically, using one of Lisa's nicknames, along with a little aegyo, to try and lighten up the general atmosphere somewhat. "I'm sorry for everything I said this morning. Will you forgive me?"

Nothing else is said between them for a few moments, but as Lisa pulls back and stares down at Jisoo with her slightly puffy eyes, the lightest of smirks can be seen on the corners of her lips.

"I will if I don't have to wash dishes for a month."

"Deal," Jisoo agrees without hesitation, relieved that the maknae doesn't intend to hold a grudge. She takes her by the arm so they stop in front of Jennie and I, both sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"So, to make the long story short," the oldest member of the group says, her voice taking on a detached, business-like tone that seems eerily appropriate for this particular predicament, "Jennie is supposed to die three days from now. No, actually, two, since it's already past midnight. And, if we're to believe Chaeyoung's theory, she's the only one who can stop it. By taking Jennie's place."

I see a spark in Lisa's eyes, and I know she's about to say something in protest, but to my surprise, it's Jennie who speaks up first.

"I don't agree with this. If it's my time to die, then let me die. There's no way I'm letting Chaeyoung or anyone else do that for me."

I cover my face with my hands in mild exasperation. "This is actually one of the reasons why I didn't want to tell you, unnie," I say tiredly. "I knew you would say something like that."

"You were seriously going to go through with it without saying anything?" Jennie says incredulously, turning to face me. "Without stopping to think about how I might feel?"

Feeling cornered, I fail to notice myself switching to English when I answer. "I don't know, Jennie, all I know is I want to do something so I don't lose you! Just like I lost everyone else!" At that moment, my usually calm voice rises sharply, making the other three falling silent.

Jisoo is the first to snap out of it, speaking before anyone else gets a chance to. Her next words are enough to get all of our attention.

"Listen, everyone, there might actually be another way," she begins. "Do you know who likes playing games more than anyone?"

We all look at her questioningly, but it's Lisa who actually asks. "Who?"

"Fate."

-----

Needless to say, the three of us lose any chance of sleeping that night, looking up and trying to practice all sorts of "games", as Jisoo had mentioned, and none of our eyes are shut even as the sun starts to rise.

"It's all fictional, and just so you know, I'm not one hundred percent sure about any of this, but I've read that those who pull life's strings—the god of the underworld, fate, the grim reaper, whoever—like making wagers," Jisoo said. "So if we present them with something they'd be interested in, they might be willing to exchange it for Jennie's life."

"You mean, make a bet with fate?" Lisa asked.

Jisoo nodded, then turned to me and said, "Yes. And the three of us bet each of our lives for Jennie's. That's probably the only thing that will get fate's attention."

"How do we let them know we're willing to make this bet?" I said, trying hard to ignore Jennie's disapproving eyes.

"I think they already do. Just... just be ready in the next few days, whenever you're randomly asked to answer a riddle or to play a game. When the time comes, you'll know if you win or lose."

Seemingly triggered by the finality of our decision, Jennie looked like she was about to burst. And judging by her next words, she did just that.

"What the hell do you all think you're doing?" she snapped, "This isn't one of the usual bets the maknaes make for fun, Jisoo unnie!"

"I know that," Jisoo said coolly, looking up at her defiantly from where she was sitting, appearing unusually calm despite the younger girl lashing out at her.

If I had thought angry Jisoo was scary, it was nothing compared to this frigid, aloof Jisoo, who I'd only ever seen whenever she played one of her online computer games with her headphones on. I watched Lisa's apprehensive expression from the corner of my eye, and I realized I might not have been the only one who was starting to notice the building tension between the unnies right then.

"These are your lives you're betting with. Three lives, three gambles, and for what? You don't even know if you'll win all three!"

"That's why we're doing the planning now, aren't we? We're losing time the more you try to argue with us," Jisoo answered, in the same detached tone as when she spoke earlier.

Her nonchalant aura appeared to annoy Jennie even more. "I just said I don't want anyone dying for me! Which part of that sentence do you all not understand?!“

Jisoo met her eyes with a fiery gaze that matched the younger one's. "Really? That's what you think of us after all these years together? 'Anyone'? Well, you should remember that you're not just 'anyone' to us, Jennie. You're family. We're family. Try to get that through your head without forgetting it!"

And with that, she stood up, gave the three of us one last meaningful look, as if to tell us to remember what we'd talked about, and walked away towards her room.

"Jennie unnie," I said, moving to lay a hand on Jennie's, but she was quick to shrink back, out of my reach.

"I'm going out," she muttered, standing up and avoiding my eyes.

"It's so late, unnie," Lisa said meekly from where she was sitting. "Where are you going?"

Jennie ignored her, turning and making her way to her room, and both Lisa and I almost jumped at the loud slam of the door as she shut it behind her.

Stung by the cold treatment I was getting from her, I raised my knees towards me and hugged them with my arms.

I felt a weight next to me on the couch a moment later. "Chaeng," Lisa called out gently, resting a hand on my shoulder. "Just give her some time."

"I would, but it's not like we have much of it left, do we," I said flatly.

The youngest member winced, realizing her mistake. "Wrong word choice. Sorry."

"No, I—I'm sorry, Lisa," I stuttered an apology. "First I made you hide my secret, and now I'm making you risk your life. I shouldn't have gotten you and Jisoo unnie involved in all this."

"Hey, you're not making me do anything," Lisa said reassuringly. "At first I was so against you trying to save Jennie unnie yourself, partly because I felt like there was nothing I could do." She paused. "Now I actually get to pitch in, and I'm not wasting it. I want her to live too. Because Jisoo unnie is right. We're family. And families look out for each other."

All I could do was give her a grateful smile, since right then I couldn't trust myself to speak without breaking into tears.

She gave me a grin of her own before she grabbed at my arms. "Let's go, let's go, let's go, we have three bets to win!"

I shook my head, letting Lisa drag me along, fascinated at how this tall, thin stick of a human being could have so much energy in the face of possible death, and at the crack of dawn, no less.

At the periphery of my vision, I caught a blur of black hair whizzing past, going out like she said she would, and although I never physically followed Jennie through the door, both my eyes and my mind definitely did.

The maknae's voice as she asks me another riddle, her third for the last hour, cuts through my thoughts and brings me back to the present.

"What tears and eats its own flesh and dies?"

I blink, utterly clueless, absentmindedly petting Jisoo's dog Dalgom on the head as I sit on the floor, leaning against the foot of my unnie's bed. "I'm pretty sure I've never heard that one before."

"Aaahhh, we're so bad at this," Lisa groans from her spot beside me. "I'm telling you, fate is definitely going to kick our butts with Korean riddles."

"The answer is 'candle'." Jisoo's voice floats toward us from the bed. "Isn't it?"

"Yah! If this was an exam, I'd cheat off Jisoo unnie," Lisa thinks out loud, then lets out another groan when a throw pillow bounces off the top of her head, courtesy of Jisoo.

"Pabo," our oldest member says, laying back on her bed and scrolling through her phone. "No cheating, even in your head. We have to do this right."

As morning turns into late noon, we mull over more riddles together before Lisa passes out on the bed, succumbing to her drowsiness.

Jisoo shakes her head at her sleeping form, finally putting her phone away. "Seriously, Lisa, I got a lot less sleep than you did," she grumbles, then, remembering I'm also in her room, she looks over to where I'm sitting, still at the foot of the bed. "Chaeng, you've been up all this time, haven't you? You should get some sleep, too."

I look up from my own phone and turn to her, giving a small smile. "I'm okay, Jisoo unnie, I'm..." I feel my smile falter, "I'm going to wait for Jennie unnie."

Jisoo visibly huffs. "Yah, that Jendeuk, she can be so hard-headed when she wants to be. She hasn't been answering my texts or calls."

"She used to do this sometimes, back before we debuted. She'd run away for a while when all the pressure got too hard to handle." Another smile, this time one of nostalgia that comes with reliving past events, makes its way to my lips. "Remember?"

The other girl crawls towards the end of the bed, and unceremoniously plops beside me on the floor. "I remember. But whenever she did that, she would drag me or you with her. I'm worried now because, this time, she's alone."

"You know, back then," she goes on, "All that was in her mind was 'Debut, debut, debut', and it showed in all the hard work she put into her raps and dances during evaluations. Then you came along," Jisoo looks away, choosing to fix her eyes on to the ceiling, "and she was still determined to debut, but her thoughts turned into 'Rosie, Rosie, Rosie'" (Jisoo's Korean accent makes "Rosie" cutely sound more like "Rojie") "the more you hung out."

"How do you know? Did Jennie unnie tell you?" I ask.

Jisoo shakes her head and smiles wistfully. "She didn't have to. The way she looked—looks—at you tells me everything. And I know because it's the same way I look at you. My thoughts are always filled with you, too."

The confession itself isn't unexpected, but the timing of it is, and it renders me speechless. "Jisoo unnie, I—"

"It's okay, Chaeyoung-ah," she waves hastily with a small chuckle, cutting me off. "I know you can't feel the same for me. And I'm not cruel enough to try and take you away from the person your heart already belongs to." She meets my gaze, and the affection in her eyes don't fail to give me a twinge of guilt.

"I want you to know one thing though. I'm putting my life at risk not only because I care about Jennie, but also partly because of you."

"What do you mean?"

"You should understand by now, that if I could, I would do anything for you. And now that I have the chance, I'm going to do my best." There are unshed tears pooling in her eyes, but she's quick to brush them away with a single swipe of her hand.

"Now, I have to ask you to leave, Chaeyoung. I got to practice for a game I need to win."