At mid-afternoon, I'm in the kitchen trying to make dinner when I hear the ding of the security-coded door, indicating that someone has arrived. Not long after, I feel a familiar set of arms wrap around me from behind. I freeze amid chopping up vegetables.

"I missed you," I hear Jennie say softly, with a rasp in her voice that tells me she'd been crying, and I can feel her warm breaths at the back of my neck.

"I was here the whole time," I answer evenly, laying the knife on the chopping board beside the spring onions I'd been cutting up. "You're the one who left."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"You should get some rest, Jennie," I say, inwardly cringing at the obvious resentment in my voice. It's not my intention to make her feel bad, but I'm finding it difficult to hide my emotions right then.

She doesn't let go like I expect her to. Instead, she tightens her grip, resting her forehead on my shoulder blade. She smells like freshly-cut grass and a little bit of liquor. (I would have to ask her about it later, when I'm not too preoccupied with how good it feels to be in her arms.) "I'm sorry, Rosie. I really am. I don't want to fight with you. Not now."

Understanding the implications behind her words, I sigh and place my hand on top of hers. "I don't want to fight with you, too, unnie."

We stay like this for a few minutes, a rare, comfortable silence surrounding us.

"Do you want help with this?" she asks after some time, standing beside me and motioning with one hand towards the chopping board. She keeps her other arm around my waist.

"If you're up to it."

She beams at me. "Of course, hubby," she says, tiptoeing and giving my lips a short but searing kiss.

"Your breath smells like alcohol," I tell her when she pulls back.

"Sorry," Jennie answers, guiltily looking away, but not saying anything to explain herself.

"So, are you my wifey for real now?" I ask coyly, playing with the tips of her hair, trying to divert the conversation to a lighter topic...

"Sure, if you want to be the girlfriend of a dead girl walking."

...And failing.

"You're not going to die, Jennie," I say firmly, turning to her and laying both of my hands on her cheeks. "Jisoo unnie, Lisa and I will make sure of it."

"I know, and I'm really, really thankful for that. It's just... I hate the fact that it's my life that's supposed to end in two days, and I can't seem to do anything but watch you guys risk all of yours for it," Jennie admits, her head down, unable to meet my gaze.

"Look at me," I tell her, my thumb grazing the shadows under one of her eyes. When she looks up, her eyes shimmering, I press a quick, gentle kiss to her forehead. "Why wouldn't we put our lives on the line for you? When we all know you would do the same if it were any of us?"

She purses her lips thoughtfully, letting the words sink in.

I watch her, and at that moment it dawns on me that I've seen Jennie so many times in the past few years sporting different looks, and wearing different shades of makeup, but the most beautiful I've ever seen her is in this moment, when all her walls are down and she's just Kim Jennie, the girl I've fallen so undeniably in love with.

These thoughts cause a swell of feelings to bubble up uncontrollably inside me, and before I know what I'm doing, I'm pulling her towards me, leaning down and kissing her with fervor. I feel her eagerly returning the kiss, pushing me back towards the kitchen counter and trapping me with her arms on either side of my waist.

"I love you," I say against her lips, "I want you to know that, unnie."

"I do. I love you, too."

"But..." I start to pull away, and Jennie leans forward, trying to chase my lips, and giving me a slightly panicked look.

"But what?"

I give her lips one last peck before grinning at her innocently, as if we didn't just kiss each other senseless less than a minute ago.

"We still have to cook dinner."

-----

It's not until ten in the evening when Jennie and I hear any signs of life from Jisoo's room.

When we do, it's in the form of Lisa bursting out the door, anxiously searching for us. She finds us in the living room, curled up on the couch and looking up at her expectantly.

"Guys," she tells us, "Jisoo unnie's game is starting."

"How do you know?" I ask at the same time Jennie says, "Are you sure?"

"It's an online game, and one of the players on the enemy team is named 'fate0808'," Lisa explains, raising an eyebrow. "Try and convince me it's just a coincidence."

We all pile into Jisoo's room not a minute later. The ruckus we cause—mostly Lisa, who trips over something invisible after we get to the door—goes unnoticed by our oldest member, who has a pair of large, black headphones on, fully immersed in the game she was playing on the computer humming faintly on her desk.

I don't recognize what she's playing, exactly, but it looks like a first-person shooting game. Sure enough, when I peer over to see the player names on one side of the screen, "fate0808" is typed up in red, indicating that the player is on the enemy team.

Jennie, Lisa and I hover silently behind Jisoo, while the in-game sounds blare through Jisoo's headphones so loudly we can hear some of it from where we're standing.

The screen would be an absract blur of colors as Jisoo moves her mouse around, making her in-game character turn his head in this and that direction. Splatters of red would smear the sides of the screen from time to time, whenever the character gets grazed by bullets.

Unlike the loud volume of the game, Jisoo doesn't make much sound in her seat, save a few grunts whenever she gets hit, and little squeaks whenever a grenade flies in her direction.

All three of us watch with bated breath as Jisoo's character cautiously scans the area, which is unusually silent even though there are still three survivors on the enemy team, including fate0808. I look at the names on the screen again, and it looks like Jisoo is the only one on her team standing.

I gasp, startled, when bullets suddenly rain down towards her character, and Jisoo barely manages to have him dash out of the way, towards a run-down wall that comes with the game map.

She straightens up in her seat and takes a few deep breaths, then suddenly her hand tightly grips the mouse once more. First she throws what looks like a smoke bomb, instantly engulfing her waiting enemies in a thick, grey haze. Her deft fingers are a blur on the keyboard as she changes her weapon, jumps out of hiding, and holds down her left mouse pointer, releasing a continuous blast of bullets, all the while strategically moving her character back and forth to avoid any return fire.

I see the top of the screen flash with the names of the enemies she'd killed, and by the time the smoke from the bomb clears, I read fate0808's name on top of it as well.

"I did it," Jisoo says to herself, leaning back on her chair and staring at the screen in awe. "I really did it."

Jennie and Lisa start to flock towards her, the maknae ruffling Jisoo's hair playfully as she says her congratulations, the other girl simply saying a soft, almost tearful "Thank you, unnie," as she lays one hand on the older's shoulder.

A message pops up on the chat window, and I only have about a second to read it before the screen changes.

fate0808: Good job, Jisoo. Your life is yours, for now.

I feel a chill run down my spine as I stare blankly at the screen, remembering that Jisoo's in-game display name isn't even close to her real one.

-----

It turns out that Lisa's game is not quite what she expects it to be.

After leaving Jisoo's room that night, I somehow manage to get into mine without incident—even if my eyes keep closing on their own due to being awake for almost two whole days—and fall headfirst on to the bed, utterly exhausted.

Unlike me, Lisa stays awake as night turns into another day, and Jennie, who can't seem to fall asleep herself even when it's six in the morning, joins her on the living room sofa. Both have their eyes on the TV in front of them, but none of them are actually paying attention to whatever is on.

Lisa is the first to speak, shaking Jennie out of her thoughts.

"You know, unnie, you're pretty lucky."

She raises her eyebrow at the youngest. "Really?" she says dryly. "You think I'm lucky now, of all times?"

Lisa nods seriously, her eyes still glued to the TV screen without watching anything. "Even if one of you you dies tomorrow, you'll die happy knowing the person you love happens to love you the same way."

"What's so good about that if one of us ends up dead?" Jennie replies. "I don't see it."

The maknae turns to her, a wry grin on her lips. "I don't know about you, but I think living the rest of your life knowing you love someone who can't ever love you back is worse."

"Lisa..."

"I want you to live so badly, Jennie unnie, so I'm going to do my part to help," she continues. "But that's not really why I'm betting ony my life. I'm doing this for Chaeyoungie."

"Because you love her?"

"Everybody does."

The smile on her face slowly tightens into a thin line when she faces the TV. "Hey, unnie, have you seen this game show before?"

Jennie shakes her head. "Is that a sudoku puzzle?" she blurts, seeing familiar square grids partially filled with numbers.

Lisa's eyes widen in realization. "Oh, geez, this must be my game!"

Jennie, still skeptical, furrows her brows, watching more intently as the screen briefly flashes to a studio where a game show host announces the mechanics of the game to a lone contestant. "You think so?"

Lisa grabs a pen and paper that's lying on the coffee table, and is already hunched over, squinting closer to the screen from where she's sitting.

"Focus, focus," she mutters to herself, "This is just like making dance formations, Lisa."

She barely puts down her pen at the same time the contestant does, when a new set of blank grids appear on the screen. "Damn it, there's more than one?" she grumbles, but continues to scribble on her paper anyway, undeterred.

After what seems like an endless series of flashing sudoku grids, the screen stills. Lisa exhales the breath she'd been holding in. "Is it over?"

As if in answer, the game show host picks up the contestant's paper, shows it to the cameras, and jovial music starts to play. The sound of a studio audience cheering fills the living room.

"Congratulations, Lisa!" the host booms, eyes directly on the camera, and seemingly looking right at the youngest from behind the screen.

Jennie watches the camera pan back to the contestant, then sees the name tag pinned on to her chest.

Her name is not Lisa.

Jennie's eyes dart to the youngest, and by the astonished look on the other girl's face, she knows she sees it too.

"I guess I just won."

-----

"Are you ready?"

"How can anyone ever be ready to face something like this?"

"Can't we just not go out tomorrow?"

"Do you think fate won't just find a way to take Jennie's life while we're all inside this house?"

"Remember my favorite photo of you, unnie? I made a sketch out of it. Do you want to see?"

"Can we see it together? When we get through tomorrow, alive?"

"Chaeyoung hasn't been made to play a game yet, has she?"

"Why do I feel like I forgot something I'm supposed to remember?"

"No matter what happens, you know I love you guys, right?"

"Are you ready?"

The four of us sit and wait in our living room until another night gives way to dawn, and then the morning. None of us get any sleep.

Finally, the first, unwelcome rays of sunrise tauntingly peek through the half-opened curtains, and we have no choice but to face the day.

"I will be."

-----

Our manager oppa thinks we're taking a long time to prepare ourselves for the usual reasons: that none of us are really morning people, that we've probably been staying up late during our rest days from our Japan concert, that we're all just feeling too lazy to get out of bed that day.

He doesn't know that we're stalling, trying to avoid the inevitable, even just for a little while.

We all manage to hold on to each other in some way when we're out of the door of our dorm. Lisa has an arm around Jennie's shoulders, Jisoo's arm is hooked with Lisa's, and Jennie keeps a tight grip on my hand.

"Fasten your seatbelts, girls," Manager oppa instructs from the front seat after we're all seated in the van that would take us to the venue of our CF shoot that day. "We're going to have to move fast today." I can almost hear the implied "because you're making us late" laced into the tone of his otherwise neutral voice.

I occupy myself by posting a photo on Instagram with a short message about our anniversary.

"I have a confession to make," Jennie says suddenly, enough only for me, as well as Jisoo and Lisa who are in the seats right in front of me, to hear. "I might have also played a game."

Jisoo turns and asks her the question we all want to know the answer to.

"Did you win?"

"I don't... really remember," Jennie replies, even now still trying to force herself to recall the memory. "I didn't say anything at first because I thought it was just a dream."

"Chae?" Lisa calls. "Did the dates on Jennie unnie's head change?"

The dates. I wanted to smack myself for forgetting to do something that should've been second nature to me.

I've been so caught up in the events of the past few days, and I've been so used to seeing the same numbers every single day since I met Jennie, that I hadn't bothered looking up to see if anything was different.

When I turn to Jennie, my gaze skimming beyond her eyes and on to the top of her head, I don't even have the time to express my surprise, as the new numbers on Jennie's head are the last thing I see before I feel a strong impact slam against our van, causing me to fall sideways, my head colliding with something hard, and my vision abruptly fading to black.

-----

I wake up to a voice I haven't heard since I was in elementary school.

"Wosie? Are you okay?"

I shoot up, feeling short blades of grass tickling my lower body. My eyes slowly adjust to the bright sunlight bathing the playground with an inviting atmosphere.

Finally, when I turn to the source of the voice that woke me, I see a boy with dirty-blonde hair crouching on my side, and when I recognize who it is, I can't resist the urge to pull him into my arms.

"Elliot!"

He lets out a small laugh, his little body hugging me back. "I missed you," he says.

"Me too."

He pulls away from my embrace, and looks at me in awe. "You're so big now."

"And you're still as cute as ever," I answer with a smile, reaching out to ruffle my childhood friend's hair. We sit together on the patch of grass I'd been lying on, my eyes drifting to other kids playing on the swings, on seesaws, on little merry-go-rounds, and on monkey bars, oblivious to our presence.

I hold my tongue and resist the urge to ask where I am. At the moment, I don't really want to know.

But Elliot seems to sense my thoughts and asks me if I know why I'm here. I shake my head.

"Fate wants to play, Wosie," he says slowly, his eyes on the ground, picking at a patch of grass nearby. "Your friends already won their games, now it's your turn."

"W-Why did Jennie have to play a game, too?"

"Because she asked for it," he replies, pointing a finger towards a clearing some distance away. "Look."

When I turn to the direction he's pointing at, I see a Jennie of two days ago on the ground, leaning on a large tree that seems to envelop the area around her in an embrace. An empty soju bottle lies discarded just beyond her reach.

I'm up on my feet before I know it, carrying Elliot with me and walking closer. My heart clenches at the sight of the other girl weeping uncontrollably, her head leaning back and chin pointing upwards.

"Leave them alone," she cries, chest heaving with difficulty. "It's... me you want... isn't it?"

She doesn't say anything else for a few minutes, but as her sobs slowly die down, she rubs her eyes with the heels of her palms and tries to stand up on shaky legs.

"Why don't you let me play?" she dares, eyes fixed towards the sky. "If you win, you can kill me whenever you want, even if Jisoo, Lisa and Chaeyoung win their games. But if I win, you don't touch any of them, no matter how many times they lose."

She stumbles a little at first, but manages to walk more steadily after digging for a mask in her pocket and wearing it over her face. I fall into step beside the girl, an invisible barrier between us blocking my hand when I try to reach for her.

"Wow, look, Wosie," Elliot exclaims, still in my arms, waving an excited hand straight ahead. "Dogs!"

Sure enough, there's a makeshift obstacle course for dogs a little ways in front of us. Before Jennie (and I) can take another step, a little brown puppy dashes towards her and stops to sniff at her sneakers.

"Hey there," she stoops down and coos at the furry animal, scratching lightly behind its left ear. "You know, you look a lot like my dog, Kuma."

We both look up as we hear a set of running footsteps approaching. A young woman with short black hair, who looks like she's in her late 20's, stops in front of Jennie and bows repeatedly.

"Thank you so much! I thought I lost him," she says gratefully. Turning her attention to the Pomeranian pup, she speaks with a little sternness in her tone. "Unmyeong, please don't run off next time."

Jennie watches as the woman tries to pick up Unmyeong, but the dog evades her with its nimble feet, hiding behind its newfound friend.

"Unmyeong," Jennie calls out authoritatively, and the little dog immediately relaxes, and circles back so it's animatedly wagging its tail in front of her.

The woman chuckles. "He seems to like you a lot, miss." As an afterthought, she motions towards the obstacle course. "We're holding a fundraiser for our local dog shelter. Unmyeong is one of the abandoned dogs we look after. He's supposed to be joining our main event, but the one who usually handles him is sick."

"Oh no, that's too bad," Jennie answers, her eyes still on the puppy, who now does little jumps, trying to get more of her attention. "Sit, Unmyeong," she says, stooping down herself. The dog follows suit, and Jennie rewards its obedience by rubbing its side and, when it rolls over, the bare white skin covering his stomach.

"Do you know anything about training dogs, miss?"

She nods slightly. "Only a little bit. I taught my dog Kuma some basic tricks like rolling over and fetching."

"Umm, this might be too much to ask," the woman says, "but maybe you'd like to be Unmyeong's handler for just one game?"

The mention of the word "game" seems to make the gears turn in Jennie's half-sober head. "Just one?"

"Just one."

"O-Okay then."

The woman happily hands her a leash, which Jennie hooks on to Unmyeong's collar.

"You know, it looks like you were both fated to meet today."

The way she says it makes Jennie remember that "Unmyeong" in Korean actually means "fate". (It takes me a few seconds longer to come to the same realization because of my half-baked fluency in Korean.) She tightens her grip on the leash and takes determined steps towards the dog park up ahead.

"This must be the game she was talking about," I mumble to myself. I put Elliot down, and he reaches for my hand. "Let's follow her."

There's a fair number of people crowding around the area, but Elliot and I make it to the front somehow and get a full view of the obstacle course.

The emcee announces that it's a time attack race, so each dog would get a turn at completing all the challenges. The winner would be the dog that completes the course in the shortest amount of time.

I recall Jisoo going through a similar series of challenges with a trained dog during Blackpink House, but I don't know if Jennie had ever tried this before.

Then, a whistle blows, signalling the start of the event. Before I know it, it's Unmyeong and Jennie's turn.

"Hey, Wosie," Elliot speaks, keeping his eyes on the race, "Do you love her?"

The question makes me feel a twisting, pleasurable pain in my chest, and I don't even have to think about my answer. "I do. So much."

"So much you were going to die for her?"

I look on as Jennie expertly guides Unmyeong through a curved tunnel, gives him a dog treat and a quick pat on the head, then runs towards the hurdles, giving the same reward as soon as the skilled dog successfully jumps over all the bars.

"Yes."

"Fate says you can still do that," the child says without any change in tone, as if he was telling me about his favorite toy and nothing else. "You can still die for her." 

"But she—she's alive now, isn't she?" I question, not able to turn away from the smile in Jennie's eyes as she and Unmyeong breeze through the course like professionals.

"If you give fate your life, she will live for sure. They promise."

For a moment it seems that everything around me is moving in slow motion as the words sink themselves into my mind. Jennie will live for sure if I give my life up right now. I want her to live. I want her to have more days where she gets to have pure happiness within her reach, instead of just looking at it longingly from afar. I want her to...

All of a sudden I see flashes of Jisoo and Lisa in my mind, both of them giving their all to win the games fate had challenged them with, reminding me that I'm not the only one who wants Jennie alive.

Just then, a whistle is blown, and Unmyeong successfully completes the course in record time.

Elliot looks at me expectantly, waiting for my answer to fate's proposal.

"Please let fate know I owe them one game," I tell him, thinking fast. "I might have something they want."

"Really? What is it?"

"My curse." I answer decisively. "If I win, fate can take away my ability to see death dates. If I lose," I pause, watching as Jennie and Unmyeong are applauded by the small group of people gathered, "Fate can take away my life."

Jennie gives a small bow to the audience and then turns to the woman she was talking to earlier, handing Unmyeong and its leash back to her. A few words are exchanged, Jennie shaking her head when she's asked for her name, and the girl is walking away once again, her eyelids drooping dangerously from time to time, as the adrenaline from the contest wears off of her system, and as the effects of the alcohol she drank earlier are finally kicking in.

Elliot and I follow her to a taxi she's barely able to hail with one heavy hand. We make it inside just as she closes the door, mumbles the location of our dorm to the driver, and falls asleep on the backseat.

I'm right next to her, but all I can do is hover a hand near her face, and watch the small, adorable crinkle of her nose and the ever present knitting together of her eyebrows, as if the very act of sleeping takes the utmost amount of concentration.

The drive is silent for all of five minutes, until the child beside me holds my hand, catching my attention.

"What puts on clothes in hot summer and takes them off in cold winter?"

My eyes stray past Elliot's face and on to the greenery that seems to blow past as the car moves. For some reason, my thoughts momentarily drift to a V live Jisoo and I had done about a year ago, where she had been adamant that I love all trees rather than just the cherry blossom ones.

In the future, I would remember to thank Jisoo for that conversation.

"A tree," I reply, with no trace of uncertainty in my voice. "A tree's clothes are leaves. It has a lot of them in summer but none during winter."

Elliot squeezes my hand affectionately, a warm smile stretching his lips. "Fate accepts your conditions," he tells me, in a mature tone that seems to belong to a whole different person. "You win."

Just then, the taxi comes to a stop in front of our complex, and the driver reaches back to gently wake Jennie. Once she's up, she pays for the fare with bleary eyes and opens the door with unsteady hands.

"You better go now, Wosie." For some reason, it feels like I'm being pulled by an unknown force towards the front entrance of the building, and the world around me, starting with my childhood friend's face, fades away little by little every passing second.

I finally give in to the pull, letting go of Elliot and following Jennie's back as we both make our way inside.

-----

It's not Elliot's hand holding mine the next time I wake up.

There's a dull ache on the side of my bandaged head, and a heaviness throughout my entire body that feels like an anvil is pressing down on me, but the hand locked with mine, belonging to the girl sitting beside the bed, head laying on the mattress, on top of a folded arm, makes me shove all other thoughts to the back of my mind.

She's really here. As I look around what looks like a hospital room, I see two other figures lying together on a couch on the other side, and I feel a strong sense of relief start to flood inside me. They're all here.

No, I correct myself, We're all here.

I want to call out to the three of them, let them know that it's finally over, but right then, my body only has enough energy to give Jennie's hand a small squeeze.

This seems to be enough to wake her, as she jumps a little at the sudden sensation, abruptly sitting upright.

"Rosie!"

"Hi," I test my voice, which sounds a little raspy from disuse. The startled expression on Jennie's face slowly fades, replaced by the brightest of smiles, which light up even her disappearing eyes.

"Hi," she answers quietly, reaching out for my cheek and running her thumb along it. "How are you?"

"I'm..."

Just then, I remember my wager with fate. Slowly, my gaze turns upwards, searching for the familiar red writing on top of Jennie's head.

Nothing, I think. There's nothing.

My eyes quickly dart back towards Jisoo and Lisa, and there are no numbers on top of their heads, either.

"J-Jennie unnie, I'm—" I struggle to say, afraid that if I say what I'm going to say out loud, fate might change their minds.

"You're what?"

I meet Jennie's gaze, which has an edge of both concern and curiosity in it.

"The curse, it's gone. I'm... free."

-----

As soon as Manager oppa finds out I'm awake, he comes to my room and bows, apologizing profusely. He thinks that, if he hadn't pressured the driver of the van to drive faster in an effort to be on time for our group's schedule, the accident would never have happened.

If only he knew that something would have happened anyway, regardless of his actions that day.

When Jennie wakes Jisoo and then Lisa, she comes back to sit on the side of the bed, while the two others occupy seats on the other side, telling me about the accident that ended up bringing us to the hospital.

Apparently, a car had grazed the back of the van, on the side I was sitting, before colliding with another vehicle. The impact had then thrown me sideways. The other three who were sitting on the seats in front, along with the driver and Manager oppa, got away with a few bruises. On the other hand, I was unconscious for almost two whole days.

"You had to get stitches for your head," Jisoo says. So that explains the bandage.

"Like a battle scar," Lisa chimes in, evidently trying to see the good in the situation.

"I think everything Chaeyoung went through all these years, and the past few days, has been a real battle," Jennie thinks out loud.

"It's been one for all of us," I say solemnly. "I'm just glad we all went through it together."

"We're the best when it's the four of us, right?"

I feel three hands reaching for both of mine. "Always."

-----

My mom visits me later that day to check up on me, making sure I'm alright and being taken care of. My sister Alice starts a video call with me not long after.

Somehow the three other Blackpink members, together with my mother, manage to fit all of us into the phone camera's field of vision, Lisa holding up the phone the whole time, her enthusiasm never running out as we all converse with Alice and my dad, who's beside her.

We eventually end the call when a nurse comes in to check my bandages and vital signs, as well as inject pain medication for my head in my IV.

It's almost nightfall when my mom says goodbye, choosing to go home to give way to Jisoo, Lisa and Jennie. (The hospital only allows three people to stay in the room after visiting hours.) Before she leaves, she asks them to take care of me, and I'm not sure if the lingering, meaningful look she gives Jennie is just my mind playing tricks.

Jennie and I find ourselves alone when, a few moments later, Jisoo and Lisa volunteer to go out and buy dinner—although earlier it appeared that only Lisa volunteered, then dragged a grumbling but easily compliant Jisoo along with her.

The silence between us is nothing like the suffocating one I'd experienced on the breakfast table less than a week ago. It's peaceful, comfortable, and as we meet each other's gaze, warm smiles both curling on the corners of our lips, I immediately decide that it's one of the things I love about being with Jennie.

I make some space on the hospital bed and pat it, shyly motioning for her to come lie next to me. I instantly feel safe and warm the moment she lays her head on top of my shoulder.

"You know," Jennie says softly, looking up at me with those cat-like eyes, "I totally owe you a lot right now."

I raise my eyebrows at her, slightly puzzled. "For what?"

A telltale smirk replaces the smile that's been on her lips these past few minutes. "Besides saving my life, you've given us some free time because we've postponed our schedules till your injury fully heals."

"Is that supposed to be a good thing, though, unnie?"

"It is for when I ask you out on a proper date, Rosie," Jennie says with an adorable pout. "Don't be so pessimistic. It doesn't suit you."

I laugh at the cute face she's making, then lean down and kiss her protruding lower lip. "Okay, Jennie. I'll be waiting, then." 

"You won't have to wait long," she promises, cupping my cheek with her hand. "I'm not going to waste all the extra time you guys have given me."

My eyes flicker towards . "Neither am I."

Our lips meet in gentle, loving caresses, slowly mapping out each other's taste and feel and storing these away in our minds so we never forget. This is the exact opposite of our first kiss, which was fiery, desperate and filled with urgency lest it be our last. 

Right then, there is no trace of fear in our kisses, because we know we have more time to love each other now.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sure if anyone reads these notes, but if you happen to be reading this, hey there.

So I think one thing I can be proud of about this alternate ending is that it's able to draw a parallel with the original version. The original shows Chaeyoung sacrificing herself to save Jennie without involving anyone else, and while it highlights her selflessness, it also results in irreparable damage to the other members. This ending, on the other hand hand, highlights Blackpink's teamwork because all of them were able to help save Jennie's life.

With regards to the games fate made them play, I hope they were alright and not too badly written. The game Jisoo played is... I'm not actually sure, but since I'm a little bit of an old-school kind of gamer, I was imagining a mix of Counterstrike and Halo 2 when I was writing about her game. lol

I'm not sure what else to say, but I hope you enjoyed this. If you feel I missed something, or have a random question, hit me up in the comments or something. In the meantime, stream Kiss and Make Up, support any of the members' solo and group projects, and keep being healthy, everyone.