XXXXX 2019

“I'm shining solo!”  You yelled to the top of your lungs, shaking your carelessly as you stuck the last corner of the poster to the glass. You jumped back once it was properly attached, admiring your own handiwork.

BLACKPINK IN YOUR AREA! The bold text practically screamed, with three drop dead gorgeous women posing confidently in the center of the poster. You ignored your heart clenching at the sight.

Instead, you crossed your arms and admired it. As much as you loved their music, God, you were so gay. For all of them, really. The loud beats of the song that was playing out loud shook you out of your thoughts.

“Used to be your girl, now—” You rapped as you spun around to grab a mop, and imagined Jennie rapping with all the swag in the world. You tried to ignore the questions that bubbled at the back of your mind as you listened to the song.

“I’m used to being the goat,” You continued, using the mop as an impromptu mic stand. You were getting absolutely no work done tonight. But who cares? It was three in the morning and no one was around to see you goof around.

“You’re sittin’ on your feelings, I’m sittin’ on my throne!” You failed to catch up to the speed of the song’s rap but didn’t care as you went on a mumbling spree, not knowing the rest of the English lyrics. Jennie was always better than you at that, anyway. After all, she was the one who taught you… In the middle of your mumbling and your attempt at ignoring those thoughts, you straightened out the bags of chips left askew on the shelf, threatening to fall.

The more rational you told yourself that the CCTV’s could see you goofing around, and you should get back to being more serious lest you get fired. But at the same time who even checks those things?

The more rational you sneered at your foolishness, but you paid it no mind. You didn’t have a lot of time like this for yourself, so you might as well enjoy the moment while it lasts.

The song closed at the same moment you’ve finished mopping the floor. You know by heart that the next song on your playlist was the world famous 4D. Just like your personality. Or at least, that’s what your friends told you before. You were always a little strange anyways, but you can only recall one person who’s always appreciated you despite your weirdness.

Jennie.

You bit your lip and fixed your cap, willing away those memories once more. You’d rather not ruin your alone time just this once. Then again, maybe you should stop listening to her songs to begin with if you wanted to forget. With a new resolve, you faced the drinks section of the cramped store and took your position anyway.

“HIT YOU WITH THAT DDU-DU DDU-DU!”

You sang the whole song through, knowing the Korean lyrics and rap by heart. You were never that great at English anyway. You returned to your place behind the counter and grabbed a towel to wipe the beads of sweat that formed on your forehead as the next song began. It was something a bit out of place this time, but you were bored at the time and had to do something.

You wrote lyrics over an English song that your weird Youtube recommendations had given you. The song sounded nice, but you couldn’t be bothered to remember how to properly pronounce and say all the words. You began to sing loudly once more, checking on the POS as you did.

Once you were done checking the system, you left the counter once more with a clipboard in hand, headbanging and galloping weirdly towards the aisles of products as you rocked on. Unbeknownst to you, the door had chimed softly, signalling that someone had entered the store.

“I don’t want to keep it but I keep coming back. I can’t help it, I don’t know what to do,” You sang your own lyrics, patting yourself on the back mentally as they fit in pretty well with the music despite it being in Korean. As the song progressed, you smacked both of your hands towards the empty table, breathing deeply.

“Why are you my clarity?” You sang, jumping in place.

You didn’t want to but your memories inevitably resurfaced, back to a time when you and Jennie were as close as ever.

“I won’t debut if you aren’t gonna be with me, Jisoo-yah!” The young woman pouted cutely, looking much younger than she should.

“That’s sweet, but what if I eat too much chikin and become too fat? Or I trip over a staircase and hurt myself forever? You gotta be stronger than that, Jendeuk,” That seemed to make the young woman’s frown deepen.

“If I can’t make it, you’ll have to do it for me, okay?” You took her hands into yours and grinned.

“Of course, unnie! You have to do the same too, Jichu-yah~” She teased.

“But of course that won’t happen. I’ll make sure we’ll debut together,” She continued, her playful attitude turning serious as her eyes shined in determination.

“Yeah, we’ll make it,” You said, infected by her resolve.

“Let’s keep practicing, then!”

You frowned at the thought. If you told anyone that you used to be best friends with the Jennie Kim, no one would believe you. They’d only probably believe you if you told them you had the same last name as she did, which was obviously true.

“IF OOOUR LOOOOVEE, IS TRAGEDY WHY ARE YOU MY REMEDY??” You didn’t forget about the song in the middle of your thinking and you tried to belt, your voice cracking in the middle. You ignored Rational Jisoo who was trying to tell you, ‘If you had practiced more, you could have reached the note,’ in your head.

You sang even louder, as if to banish rational— scratch that— Evil Jisoo, out of your mind.

“IF OOOOUR LOOOOVE’S INSANITYY WHY ARE YOU MY CLARITYY?!” You heaved, struggling to catch your breath. Holding the clipboard to your chest, you plopped down on the chair adjacent to the table.

“If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?” You sang softly and tiredly, a stark contrast to your obnoxious belting just moments ago. Even after all that belting you frowned, Evil Jisoo was still winning. You slouched in your seat, resting your head on the table. The memories were coming back, and you didn’t like it one bit.

Sudden clapping rang in the once silent store, causing you to snap your head up so fast you heard some unpleasant cracking from your neck. You stood up quickly, with your hands absentmindedly throwing the clipboard towards the shelf of packed sandwiches that you literally just fixed.

“H-hey! Uh, h-how can I help you?!” You yelled, now aware that you weren’t alone this whole time as you dashed to the counter, not sparing a glance to the unknown entity (It could be a ghost for all you know, or the demon. You vaguely recall agreeing to sell your soul somewhere, after all.) as you sped to the counter.

“Sorry about that, it’s, uh,” You checked your wristwatch, realizing you broke it a month ago and it was non-existent now, and decided to fumble for your phone that you were sure was somewhere in your pants.

“It’s three in the morning,” The unknown entity supplied graciously. Okay, you thought, at least it wasn’t a demon. It could be Casper the friendly ghost but a girl now, for all you knew. It’s 2019, ghosts can be any gender they want to be.

Oh right, you were talking to the ghost.

You rambled mindlessly as you scanned the mess of items on the counter.

A tub of milk-flavored ice cream, gummy bears, instant ramen, chips, and bottles of soju. In your peripheral vision, you could see that the ghost had a Gucci handbag. Fancy.

“Yeah, so y’know I’m not expecting any customers, so I’m sorry you had to hear me sound like an ostrich,” Your hands fumbled on one of the items, and the scanner decided that it couldn’t read the barcode. Just great.

“Wait, do ostriches sound like that? Pretty sure I sounded even worse. Sorry,” You filled the void of silence in an attempt to entertain the customer, knowing that people at this hour, be it friendly ghost or not, are cranky and just want to buy their things and get out as soon as possible. Before you