that’s a wrap

chapter six

***

You

unnie

have something important to tell you

10:36 pm

Jisoo-unnie

what

10:37 pm

???

10:42 pm

did you just text me then enlist the army or what

10:45 pm

I CANT SLEEP unless you tell me

10:46 pm

if you say you’re telling me tomorrow

i will slap you into oblivion

10:50 pm

You

sorry just got out of the closet

10:51 pm

Jisoo-unnie

Oh what

you too

is everyone here gay but me

10:53 pm

You

nooo I got stuck in lisa’s closet!!

10:55 pm

Jisoo-unnie

okay??

I need more context but okay

10:56 pm

You

facetime?

10:58 pm

Jisoo-unnie

no I’m too ugly for that

10:59 pm

You

fine I’ll call you

11:02 pm

Jisoo-unnie

no don’t!!

they could overhear

just give me the main details

11:03 pm

You

Hmm

Okay

Uh

11:05 pm

lisa is a fakeass liar and wants to kiss jennie

11:06 pm

Not even a minute passes after Rosé hits send, her phone rings on her lap and she closes and locks her bedroom door before swiping the screen to answer Jisoo’s call. She takes the device to the side of her ear.

“Didn’t you say no calling?” Rosé says in a low voice, glancing at her door consciously every once in a while.

“Forget what I said! Tell me now!” Jisoo is practically roaring into her ear and Rosé has to abruptly jerk her head away from her phone to protect her eardrums from Jisoo’s ear-piercing tone. She positions it back.

“And just hide in your closet,” Jisoo advises, her footsteps clear cut in the background, perhaps pacing around her room. “Not like you haven’t done that a while ago. Which brings me to ask, how the heck did you get yourself in there?”

Rosé settles on her chair by the vanity, getting herself comfortable before starting her cautionary tale about a girl stranded in a confined space and two other hopeless idiots.

She recites to Jisoo about how she had merely been searching for her baggy band shirt Lisa loves to borrow, The 1975 shirt to be more specific (“The white one and has pink neon lettering on it?” Jisoo asks. “Yes! That!” Rosé exclaims. “Oh, it’s with me.” Jisoo confesses sheepishly). Moving on, she retells how much of a dump Lisa’s bedroom is and how the girl is undisturbed by her littered articles of clothing, making her a hazard to society and a hazard to people with poor coordination skills in walking (and that’s like, Lisa herself).

Her story picks up to the when she submits herself into hiding within the confines of Lisa’s trash-like closet, narrating the exchange between Jennie and Lisa. Then she details her escape, she had created a diversion by tossing one of Lisa’s jeans to her bed, scaring Lisa out of her room effectively and Rosé had scrambled her way into her own room unnoticed by the maknae (who probably was in Jennie’s room based on the “Unnie! Unnie! My jeans flew!”).

And Rosé concludes her story with:

“To summarize, our friends are es.”

Jisoo hums in approval. “I second to that. I’m guessing they both have the same thinking. Scared to risk their friendship, blah, blah.”

“I think so too.”

“But aww, our little Lisa wants to kiss Jennie.”

“She said it. More like, wondered why she wants to.” Rosé twirls a strand of her hair in her finger.

“Wondered why?” Jisoo says in disbelief, scoffing afterwards. “Everyone wants a piece of Jennie. I’ve seen her and I’m telling you, Jendeukie is blessed. Like unfairly blessed. I’d tell Lisa to hurry up and tap that before somebody else does.”

Rosé snorts at Jisoo’s bluntness and nods unknowingly, regardless of the older girl not being able to see her agreeing.

So her friends’ dilemma is similar to a drama.

Two people undoubtfully having the hots for one another, only to be hindered by their obliviousness and their lack of self-awareness.

It’s a cliched tale she’s seen a million times on television, the same recycled plot that somehow still has viewers hooked onto the edge of their seats (Rosé pleads guilty to that) despite the obvious conclusion to the story which can already be predicted from its very first episode.

It will only be a matter of time until they both realize the feeling is mutual, if those stories are in fact paralleled with reality. Though, not the kind of stories where the billionaire CEO/heir falls for the poorest schmuck he nearly crashes his car into but their love affair is prohibited by his snobby Cruella Deville of a mother and his insanely gorgeous, brilliant and diva-esque ex-girlfriend who returns from the US to win his heart back, which she does because he gets himself into a car accident and develops an amnesia, remembering his ex instead of the love of his life who—

Okay.

Rosé has to take a break from watching all those dramas.

She had been so absorbed that she hasn’t noticed the silence that fills the other end of the line.

“Unnie? You still there?”

“Yeah, still here. I’m browsing through Instagram right now and the Blinks really love Jennie’s fashion sense.”

“Of course they do, she didn’t spend all that time in the closet for nothing.”

Rosé could hear Jisoo’s snicker. “Ha, nice. So what should we do? Should I hide in Jennie’s closet like you did in Lisa’s? Set them up on a blind date? Ooh! Steal Lisa’s phone again and send a message to Jennie myself?”

“You did wha—unnie! No, not a thing.” Rosé reclines her back to the chair and props her feet up to the dresser of her vanity. “This is for them to figure out.”

“Pfft, that’s boring. I’d smash their faces together if I could.”

“Unnie!”

“What? They’re so clueless! Like Lisa’s cooking skills clueless.”

“Whatever they do from here on out is up to them. If they end up together, then good. If they don’t, then it’s still none of our business.”

Jisoo may have a point, a valid one at that, but this is something they shouldn’t themselves in. Jennie and Lisa should be the ones dealing with this, exclusively, without having anyone else intervening. It’s a recipe for disaster and Jisoo’s flawed views on privacy could cause another mishap.

And there’s Lisa, who Rosé thought she has figured out by now.

A realization had knocked Rosé into consciousness while inside Lisa’s dingy closet. If it wasn’t for her trapped in there, Rosé would never have witnessed Lisa’s change in character as Jennie disappeared (plus she did want to kiss Jennie, so yeah). She had been acting for some time, a probable reason for her break-up with Chanwoo. Rosé does believe their relationship had been genuine, though she guesses somewhere down the road Lisa had made some realizations herself.

So Lisa isn’t as open as she seems, only presents herself like it on the outside and maybe uses it to her advantage because, damn, Rosé has definitely underestimated her. She selectively chooses which parts of her emotions to bring out and meticulously hides the rest behind closed doors much better than Jennie does.

And Rosé isn’t entirely sure either, if Lisa had purposely derailed Jennie’s confession or it really hadn’t gone to her head.

Will Jennie not confess anymore?

Sigh.

This is out of Rosé’s control anyway.

The following morning, Jisoo returns to their dorm, extra attentive to the interactions of their two members. She’s watching like a hawk in action, eating her bag of seaweed treats as if she’s tuning in to a badly written rom-com movie starring the most oblivious people on earth. Jisoo isn’t as discreet as she thinks she is, it’s either she’s in deep observation or she’s in a dire need to have her eyes checked.

“Really think the YG ghost is haunting my room now…it threw me my jeans!” The fear in Lisa’s voice interrupts Rosé train of thought.

“Maybe it’s telling you to clean up.” Rosé says.

***

Their dream of performing at their own concert is finally happening.

They had been waiting for this moment since their debut, envisioning the designs of their stage and their tour outfits. It’s still so unreal to them. Even the rehearsal itself has been tremendously exhilarating, the adrenaline pumping up the blood coursing through Rosé’s body. Just imagining the crowd of supporters, the sea of glimmering pink from their lightsticks being waved around and the chorus of chants.

How cool is that?

After dancing for straight three hours, the choreographer tells them to take five. Jisoo and Lisa head for the cafeteria, leaving Rosé and Jennie alone. Rosé slurps on her juice on the bench of the practice room with Jennie beside her.

“Is that Kai—err, Jongin?” Rosé questions at the gradual buzzing of Jennie’s phone, notifying a stream of messages coming in all at once.

“Nah, it’s Irene-unnie.” Jennie informs her as she takes the umpteenth selfie of the night. She scans the photo produced and a moue of dissatisfaction spreads on her face. “And I stopped things with Jongin.” She proceeds to take another photo at a different angle.

“Oh?” Given Jennie’s nonchalance at the subject, it must have gone well. “I thought you were giving it a shot.”

“Things weren’t working out. Not in a bad way, more like we’re just destined to be friends. It’s also a practical career move since we’ll be touring for the most part of next year.”

Rosé bites her tongue, contemplates on asking her status regarding her feelings for Lisa. It feels as though she’s stepping on shards of glass whenever the topic arises. There’s so many things left unanswered and the curiosity keeps her on her toes. She asks anyway. “And what about Lisa?”

“What about her?” Jennie smiles, still glued to her phone. “Past is past, Rosie.”

“But—"

Their conversation is cut short when Jisoo and Lisa barge into the practice room in the middle of their own heated debate or whatever it is they’re bickering about.

“—and you gotta quit saying that or people will seriously think you’ve got a hidden stash of in there.” Jisoo warns Lisa who folds her arms in a sulky manner.

“Not my fault they sound the same, so screw me!”

Rosé coughs up a laugh at Lisa’s attempt at an English slang. “The phrase is sue me but Jennie-unnie would totally screw y—ow! Ow!”

Jennie subtly pinches the exposed skin on Rosé’s leg (she now regrets not wearing pants instead of a pair of shorts), giving her a killer sideways glare that prevents her from making more comments for the succeeding hours.

***

Dispatch is late.

Like uber late.

Not that Rosé would have had them release the photos on the same time they had taken them, but it’s rather crappy journalism on their part for releasing some news that has long fizzled out (not that long but still). The nasty vultures have kicked off the New Year with their usual tradition, netizens hungrily feasting on the juicy gossip like a freshly cooked Christmas ham.

Fans have mix emotions, some were happy, some were neutral, some were not, some were threatening to leave the fandom. It’s disheartening to read those particular comments, an ache smothering Rosé’s chest as Jennie swears off social media for a month, veering away from prying questions and everything else toxic. She’s a private person who values her personal life and makes sure she doesn’t get it entangled in her career, so to have her privacy stripped from her in a single post crushes her.

The girls are on a short holiday break so Rosé doesn’t hear from Jennie until a day later. She relays the boss’ plans in handling her predicament and they have come to an agreement with SM Entertainment to utilize this as an opportunity because any publicity is good publicity.

God, Rosé hates how the entertainment industry works sometimes.

She can’t even imagine the media attention if news broke out about Lisa and Chanwoo.

And so, their social media accounts suffer a drought, becoming eerily quiet, so quiet that Rosé can picture out a tumbleweed rolling by and cricket noises humming in the distance.

***

So while the rest of the population thinks Jennie is taken, Rosé on the other hand thinks she’s taken by Lisa.

The Golden Disc Awards has finished and after bagging home two awards, they decided to hold a humble celebration by ordering a takeout meal per Jisoo’s request. They dine in the living room, the TV playing a Disney movie Lisa had chosen.

Rosé has been juggling between devouring her food and spying on Jennie, given her perfect view from the beanbag across the couch where the two are situated. Space becomes invisible as they sit at a hair’s breadth though, they have always done this in the past. It’s Jennie who gives something different to the table. Rosé finally comprehends Jisoo’s wise words: you gotta look where her eyes are.

There’s a not-so friendly manner at how Jennie rakes her eyes over Lisa’s profile, like she’s memorizing all of the details in one slow sweep of her gaze, as Lisa speaks to her about a cat diet Leo is undergoing.

As fascinating as it sounds, Rosé bets her life savings (and her sister’s) Jennie isn’t even processing whatever Lisa is saying, just staring at her openly with no shame.

If she could see herself in a mirror…

“My bangs are getting longer,” Lisa announces, measuring the hair shielding her forehead with her fingertips. Jennie also reaches for her hair, plays with it distractedly, almost cat-like.

“I could give you a haircut.” Jisoo offers from her spot on the floor.

Lisa squints at her. “You could..?” There’s an underlying suspicion in how she says it.

Jisoo shrugs, unaffected by the suspicious looks being thrown at her. “Yeah, I’ve been doing it to you guys for months now.”

Jennie shakes her head, as if she has only recently caught herself being touchy towards Lisa, so she flicks the younger girl’s forehead for good measure then gapes at Jisoo unpleasantly. “Since when do you—”

“You guys nap too much.”

“I thought I was losing my hair!”

Lisa roots Jennie to her seat, restraining her from strangling Jisoo as the oldest member defends herself saying that she’s learned from their hairdressers anyway so they have nothing to worry about. Jisoo and a pair of scissors may be a deadly combination but Rosé has more pressing issues than her hair (as precious as it is, chopping a few inches off isn’t such a bad idea).

She simply overlooks the commotion (ignoring Lisa’s “Chaeng? Chaeng!”), her mind boggled by the blurring lines of friendship in Jennie and Lisa’s relationship. Like, where does it begin? And where does it end?

If Jennie is indeed trying to get over her feelings, then what’s up with their unnecessarily close skin-to-skin contact and her lingering stares?

Rosé pushes her luck on Lisa.

“So, how’s it goin’?” She asks her casually an hour later, cocking her hip against the kitchen counter.

“We live together.” Lisa spares her a quirk of her lip while washing the dishes at a snail’s pace.

“You know, about…stuff. Or someone.”

Lisa stifles a tiny giggle. “I don’t think you need to ask about that, Chaeng,” she says cryptically, placing the last rinsed plate onto the drying rack.

There’s a feeling that’s boiling at the pit of Rosé’s stomach. A feeling that’s telling her she’s not aware of something. A feeling that’s—

Nope.

Rosé dashes for the bathroom.

She makes a mental note not to eat anything extra spicy for some time.

***

Friends fight.

Every friendship goes through a little bump on the road.

But the fights Jennie and Lisa have are another story. For starters, they act like they’re a newly formed couple in their honeymoon stage and the next minute, they’re ripping each other’s heads off fighting over the parental custody of their shared child slash cat or whatever.

“Ooh, lovers’ quarrel,” Rosé remarks, a hint of teasing veiled in her words.

“We are not quarreling!” Lisa efforts to diffuse their situation.

“And we are not lovers!” Jennie bemoans, shooting an intense warning look at Rosé’s direction.

“You both wish you were.” Jisoo mumbles quietly.

Rosé has to yank Jisoo out of the scene before it becomes into a bigger one. She doesn’t bother asking what they’re fighting about, doesn’t bother asking how they made-up, and doesn’t bother asking about the hurt flashing in Lisa’s features when Jennie says “we are not lovers”.

It’s none of her business.

***

Thailand is their current destination for the Asian leg of their tour.

And Lisa is ecstatic for the most obvious reasons.

She had woken up everyone else in her frolic of excitement, manhandling Jisoo out of her room and into the living area (“Lisa-yah, there’s five more hours before we have to leave!”). If regular Lisa is loud, bouncy and hyperactive, then excited Lisa is even louder, bouncier and whatever word is used to describe someone beyond hyperactive.

Lisa is all toothy smiles and sunshine down from the airport and into the airplane, and when they make their arrival in Bangkok, she shows no tiredness. Her energy is amazingly high which Jisoo mutters a “good luck” to Rosé since she’ll be sharing her hotel room with this living breathing coffee machine.

BamBam greets them at Rosé and Lisa’s suite, where all girls are huddled in before leaving for the night market. As Lisa assists Jennie with her checklist (she listed all the food she wants to buy in Thailand), Rosé and Jisoo plaster themselves by the window, gawking admiringly at the beautiful and shimmering Bangkok skyline. Hues of dark blue, purple, and a deep orange prepare to splash onto the sky, and Rosé moves to grab her phone for a photo until Bambam pads to them.

“It’s funny isn’t it?” He says, darting his eyes from them then to Lisa and Jennie at the far corner, chattering away.

“What is?” Rosé asks, already forgetting about the dimming scenery.

“Your friends, duh.”

“You know?”

“I can’t count the times Lisa has name-dropped her whenever we get together. Sometimes, I think she mentions you guys first as an excuse just so she could talk about her more.”

Jisoo wrinkles her nose. “Wow, I’ve never felt so used.”

So BamBam knows too. Who else does?

Lisa takes Jennie around the streets of Bangkok to fulfill the wishes in her list and tells them they will follow them in an hour or so.

Rosé and Jisoo have loaded themselves onto a second vehicle, transporting them directly to the night market. They don’t depart from the van until Lisa arrives, as their bargaining abilities are still rough and needs more honing. But they’ve been waiting for almost thirty minutes now and Jisoo is getting antsy so she instructs Rosé to text Jennie on their whereabouts.

You

WHERE

ARE

YOU

GUYS

8:30 pm

Jennie-unnie

WE

ARE

ING

8:42 pm

You

WHAT

OMG TMI !!

BUT CONGRATS???

8:45 pm

and also

HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME WIFEY

:(((

8:46 pm

Jennie-unnie

NOOOOOOOO!!!

I MEANT

WE ARE ING CLOSE BY

8:47 pm

THE REST DIDN’T SEND!!!!

HUBBY

!!!

8:48 pm

***

Rosé feels like she stumbled on a gold mine, upon discovering a small pastry shop, in a commercial area ten minutes from their dorm, which sells a special type of cheesecake wherein the taste lingers on your lips (like a cheesecake flavored lip balm if you will, except that it’s from an actual cheesecake not the artificially coated ones in those lip products).

The shop is new, with its freshly painted walls on the interior, varnished wooden paneling on the outside and fresh from the factory pieces of furniture. It was the flower arrangement by the door that had sparked Rosé’s interest, congratulatory notes and cards of well wishes attached to the front.

She has entered the shop and is immediately attended by a welcoming staff who serves her a complimentary cheesecake and the rest is history.

The staff has recommended her to keep the dessert refrigerated so Rosé makes a detour to the dorm before joining her mother and sister for lunch. It’s not that she doesn’t appreciate the importance of family time, it’s just that she couldn’t bring herself to stop thinking about the cheesecake, resulting to her zoning out a lot (“Ooh, mum, baby sis is on dreamland again!” Their mother instantly assumes: “Honey, who’s the boy?” Rosé didn’t have the heart to tell them the truth).

Her father has made a last minute visit, which ends with her entire family having an early dinner.

Rosé gets back to the dorm, deflating at the empty carton that once held her cheesecake.

“Alright, which one of you idiots took my…” she trails off then asks herself, why should she waste her time finding for the culprit when there’s only one major suspect?

“Jisoo-unnie…”

With not much of a choice, she navigates herself to the pastry shop but the sign on the door in big bold letters spell out CLOSED and Rosé gathers her will-power not to cry and draw attention to herself on the street. She stays positive, reasoning out that hey there’s always tomorrow.

She buys a slice an hour after waking up.

“Didn’t you buy that yesterday?” Lisa asks, recognizing the carton from their fridge.

“Yeah but someone ate it like they freakin’ bought it themselves.” Rosé says, her fork gliding onto the smoothness of the cheesecake then sending the scraped piece into . She sighs merrily. The creaminess sends her into an out of body experience. She hands Lisa her fork, urging her to have a taste of heaven.

“What the…it tastes familiar.” Lisa around her lips. “Isn’t there some kind of lipstick that tastes like it?”

“There is?”

“I swear there is. Jennie-unnie has one like this. I tried it yesterday.”

“No way.”

“Yes way.”

Before Rosé could inquire about the lipstick, Jisoo walks into the kitchen, her hand reaching for the fork. “Oh hey, you bought cheesecake.”

Rosé swats her hand away. “You get away you demon!”

Jisoo blinks at her in confusion, flinging her hand in the air from Rosé’s slap. “Fine, I wasn’t gonna ask.”

“Gosh, did you really buy another?” Jennie comes in, carrying a similarly designed carton, except it’s thrice the size of what Rosé had bought. “I’m so sorry I ate that yesterday. I was looking for something sweet to wash off that awful food I ate with Chahee and that was the only one.” She sets the box onto the counter next to the one Rosé and Lisa had been eating.

Oops. So unnie is innocent.

Rosé hasn’t verbally accused Jisoo, so she saves her apology and focuses on the box Jennie is opening. “You are sorry.” How can she say no to another slice of cheesecake? Rosé glimpses at the dessert as Jennie lifts the lid. Scratch that, she purchased a layer of cheesecake.

“How come when I want your leftovers I get a “you should have bought your own” and a silent treatment? You guys even made me go on a time-out once. I’m the oldest!” Jisoo whines.

“That’s because you tell us when you’re done eating—hold on.” Rosé backtracks to what Jennie said. “You ate the entire thing yourself?”

“Yeah, what I ate with Chahee was to gross. And God, this is amazing.” Jennie moans into her fork in content.

This is none of your business Rosé. None.

But if Lisa says she’s tried Jennie’s so-called cheesecake flavored lipstick yesterday, and Jennie ate the entire slice herself yesterday. Could it be that…

Rosé’s fork falls.

“Huh.”

edited.