Third Person POV

Over the next few months, Jennie and Kai tried their best to meet up when they were free of schedules, meaning only a couple of times.

But in these couple of dates, Jennie had come to really enjoy Kai’s company.

He was sweet, goofy, and super considerate. He never complained or asked questions when Jennie had to cancel on him, and always had best attitude when they met up, even if it was right after his schedule. 

But, she just didn’t feel that spark with him. 

So, when late October rolled around and Kai asked Jennie out to dinner at a fancy restaurant, Jennie was ready to tell him she was only looking to be friends.

She had rehearsed the whole thing with Jisoo the night before so she was ready to friend zone even before she had actually gotten ready for the dinner.

While she was getting ready, a blur of long legs, blonde hair, a plaid scarf, and a pretty humming voice dashed past her room.

“Ya! Park Chaeyoung!” Jennie called for her as she walked past.

“Yes?” her floating head appeared, her hands clinging to the doorway and the rest of her body behind the wall, like a little kid trying to spy on their crush.

“Where are you going dressed in such a cozy scarf like that?” Jennie asked snarkily.

“Out. Where are you going all dressed up like that?” Chaeyoung retorted.

“Well, I know you are going out, but where and with who?”

“I already answered a question for you, so you answer my question first before I answer your second two questions,” she teased.

“I’m going to dinner. Now where and who?” Jennie did not like this game. 

“To a new restaurant I found with Sooyoung unnie. Who are you going out with?” 

“Kai sunbaenim,” Jennie replied quietly, not daring to look over at Chaeyoung, but just continuing to sit at her vanity and put on lipstick, acting like it wasn’t a big deal.

“KAI FROM EXO?!” Chaeyoung yelled in surprise.

“Shhh! I haven’t told Lisa yet!” Jennie whispered.

Chaeyoung quickly covered and whispered a muffled “Sorry.”

“Wait, but Kai asked you out?” Chaeyoung whispered after a few moments of listening for noises of surprise from Lisa’s room.

“Ya, we’ve been out a few times already. But nothing serious yet,” Jennie said casually as she applied mascara.

Jennie received no response.

She looked over at Chaeyoung to find her just standing in her doorway, staring at the floor and fumbling with her hands, obviously completely dumbstruck.

“Hey, what’s up?” Jennie asked, concerned.

No response.

“Earth to Chaeyoung, helloooo.” She bent her body down in her chair so that her head was in Chaeyoung’s view of the floor.

As soon as she saw Jennie’s face, she snapped out of it. “That’s great news unnie!” She looked up at Jennie, with a big smile on her face. “Sorry, I got distracted. I realized that Sooyoung unnie said to meet her downstairs, so I got to run! Let’s definitely talk about it more later though, okay?” 

“Okay...” Jennie said as she looked over to find that Chaeyoung was already out of the room. “I’ll let you know how the rejection goes, I guess...” Jennie says, finishing the words she didn’t get to say to Chaeyoung.

“That was strange,” Jennie thought to herself.

—————

Later that night, Jennie found herself in a private dining room of one of the fanciest restaurants she’s ever been to. It was so fancy that although 1 of the walls of the room was made completely of glass, displaying the bustling streets of Gangnam, it was mirror on the other side, meaning they could see out, but pedestrians could not see in. It seemed to be made specifically for celebrities that didn’t want to get into a big scandal like herself and Kai. 

After they finished their food, Kai excused himself to go to the restroom, leaving a super nervous Jennie to brew in her thoughts.

But instead of letting her thoughts overtake her, she distracted herself by watching different people walk on the sidewalk through the mirrored glass.

And just as she was about to look away and take out her phone instead, a familiar looking girl passed by that caught her eye.

The girl had long, wavy black hair, had a really great body, and was tall as well. 

From her side profile, Jennie could tell this familiar face was really pretty too, as well as clearly laughing at someone or something.

She had definitely seen this same laughing face before.

Just when she was about to put her finger on it, another girl came into her view.

This was a girl she knew from any angle, even from a mile away. But the blonde, wavy haired girl wasn’t far away. She was just 10 feet in front of her on the sidewalk outside the restaurant, separated from Jennie just by a glass window.

And Jennie watched from this window as the love of her life happily ran up behind the other girl, whom Jennie now identified as Park Sooyoung, and linked arms with her.

She then watched as Chaeyoung proceeded to lean her head on Sooyoung’s shoulder. And noticed how the girl closer to the giant window seemed to blush as the other continued to lean on her.

Just then, Kai slid open the door to the room, snapping Jennie back to what was happening inside, rather than outside. 

“Sorry I took so long,” Kai said as he sat down.

“I was just gaining the nerve to come back in here.”

Jennie forced herself to tear her eyes away from the window.

“Why? Are you scared of me or something?” Jennie joked, trying to maintain a light mood after the devastating scene she just witnessed.

“Nonono!” Kai waved his hands frantically, trying to clear any misunderstanding.

“I was just nervous because.... to tell you the truth, I actually have something important to ask you.”

“Oh?” Jennie reacted, pretending not to know what was coming.

“Ya,” Kai laughed nervously, his hand on the back of his neck. “Well here goes nothing....” he sat up straighter and cleared his throat. “I ummm really like you, Jennie. And I have for a while now. Will you be my girlfriend?” 

And with that he whipped out a little teddy bear charm from his pocket.

“I know it’s nothing big or anything, but I felt it was necessary to have something to offer when I asked.”

And with the whole scene between those two girls that looked like it came straight out of a romantic k-drama replaying in her mind, Jennie made an impulse move that she would ultimately regret. She said yes.

“Wait, really?”

“Yes. Of course. I mean, you are one of the sweetest, most considerate guys I’ve met. Why wouldn’t I say yes?”

Ya, why wouldn’t she? She only was going to reject him because she didn’t feel as strong of emotions as she did for Chaeyoung, but Chaeyoung was clearly not interested and wouldn’t be for a while (at least while Sooyoung was at her side), and Kai clearly was. And those emotions can be developed over time. And added bonus: the emotions she felt for Chaeyoung would fade away in the process! It was a win-win situation for Kai, Chaeyoung, and herself. No one would get hurt! So why not?

That’s what she thought to herself to back up her impulse decision.

“Wow! I can’t believe you said yes! I was so certain you were uninterested!” Kai was looking at her with the biggest smile on his face. 

Jennie forced a laugh as she glanced over to the window, to find that the couple she was spying on earlier was gone. “Uninterested? All of Korea is interested in you, Kai sunbaenim. You are EXO for christ sake!” Jennie responded after focusing back on the guy in front of her rather than the girl leaning on someone else.

Kai blushed. “Eyyy, whatever,” he brushed the compliment off like the humble boy he was. “By the way, please don’t call me Kai sunbaenim anymore. You can call me Jong-in oppa, or Kai oppa, or Kai-ssi, or Jong-in ssi, whatever you want, but just not sunbaenim. It’s too formal for our-ahem-relationship,” he said, trailing off timidly at the end, getting shy at the thought that they were in an actual relationship now.

“Okay then... Jong-In oppa,” Jennie emphasizes the oppa, causing Kai to smile bashfully into his arm, trying to block his smile like he would a sneeze.

After a few seconds of being in this position, he suddenly straightened up and cleared his throat, probably realizing he looked totally whipped. “Sorry, I thought I had to sneeze for a second there.”

Jennie just giggled at his cute actions.

“When is the check coming anyways?” he scrambled to distract Jennie.

Jennie felt her heart get warmed by his actions. She thought to herself: “Maybe falling for him will be easier than I thought.”

—————

Chaeyoung’s POV

When I heard from Jennie that she was meeting up with THE Kai from EXO, my mind went completely blank. And when she noticed, I didn’t know how to respond, so I just went with my first instinct: make an excuse and run.

So that’s what I did.

And as I sat on the bench outside our apartment complex, I found myself having a hard time just with breathing. I was panicking. Different thoughts were bouncing all throughout my brain.

My first thought was: why am I acting like this? Shouldn’t I be happy for her? 

I probably was just in shock.

I mean, I knew something was going on with Jennie, but I definitely did not think it was that she was seeing someone, and another idol at that. 

But also, shouldn’t she be more aware of the consequences of dating as an idol? But then again, it isn’t a crime to date someone and even more important than that, it’s not healthy to keep all your emotions bottled up. Take me for example: I was super conscious of the consequences of dating as an idol to the point where I completely suppressed all my emotions when I liked —

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of familiar footsteps.

I looked up to meet eyes with the always gorgeous Park Sooyoung. She was smiling so brightly at me, I didn’t know how to act, so I just waved a little awkwardly.

“Hey! I thought I told you that I was okay with picking you up from ur dorm, you didn’t have to wait for me down here,” she remarked.

“I was just so excited for our dinner that I felt the need to come meet you down here so we can get to the restaurant even faster!” I improvised, not wanting to go through all the trouble to tell her what really happened.

“It sounds like you were just eager to eat to me,” she chuckled. 

“You know me too well,” I responded.

“So where are we going?” she asked as we walked towards her car. “You didn’t tell me where yet, so I had to kinda guess what was the appropriate to wear to this mysterious restaurant.”

She swiftly did a 360 turn as we walked to show off her outfit, which was simple, but stunning. She had on a black turtle neck shirt tucked into black high waisted trousers pants, and a light grey overcoat. She fashioned this outfit with a silver necklace showcased over her turtle neck and a simple black belt. She looked stunning. And here I was looking like a thumb with my dumb scarf and weird grey suit jacket thingy.

Anyways, it was my turn to plan the dinner date, and I was so ambitious to make it as great and surprising as that one night picnic that I forgot one important detail: Sooyoung unnie was driving.

“I really wanted to keep it a surprise, but I guess I can’t, considering you are the one driving. I really didn’t think this through,” I said as I mentally smacked my own head in disappointment.

“How about you just give directions from your phone so I don’t have to see where we are goin