Chaeyoung's POV

On the car ride home, Sooyoung unnie was unusually quiet. Normally, she would be humming along to the songs playing, or telling me an anecdote, or something, but tonight, she didn’t take her eyes off the road.

Then, all of a sudden, she spoke. “You know. I was thinking about your situation and was trying to come up with some advice on how to get over this person... But then I realized my advice would probably be pointless because you probably have already tried all the ways I would have suggested. And obviously, nothing worked. So then I thought, well maybe she loves this person too much to just move on. And keeping these emotions bottled up or just trying to let them go isn’t working. It’s obviously affecting you. So I say, be selfish!” she exclaimed, finishing dramatically.

“Selfish? What do you mean?” I pondered.

“Follow your heart, Park Chaeyoung! If you feel that a piece of your heart belongs to this person, either give them your whole heart or take that piece back!” 

“And how would I go about doing that?”

“Tell them how you feel goddammit!” she exclaimed, hitting the steering wheel with her hand. She was getting really passionate now.

“That would only lead to more problems, Sooyoung unnie... Only bad things would come out of me telling them how I feel...” I murmured.

“So what? It’s not like you aren’t already dealing with a lot of ! So what if you deal with one more problem? At least it would be a change, right? And all I know is that you need change. You can’t keep living like this. You can’t keep burying your emotions like this.” 

“But, I’m fine with my life now. At least I have control over my life now. With change comes new situations, situations I’m not familiar with already.”

“Chaeyoung-ah. You are the one that said it earlier, there is a deep, dark hole growing in your heart. A hole that can be detrimental to your wellbeing if you don’t mend it soon. And the only way to mend it is through closure.”

“But, I can’t just think about my own wellbeing. What about the wellbeings of everyone I would potentially hurt in confessing?”

“Now I don’t know how tangled of a relationship you have with your crush is, but I do know one thing: it’s okay to be a little selfish sometimes, especially when its crucial to your mental health. And who knows, maybe bottling up your emotions for longer will only lead to an explosion that is even more disastrous than just letting it out now.”

—————

When I got home, I couldn’t stop thinking about what Sooyoung unnie had said in the car.

She was right. I needed to do something before I exploded and created an even bigger problem. 

So, I decided to finally tell Jennie unnie how I felt. About how I’ve been feeling for the past 6 years. 

I knew I would be too nervous to actually speak my feelings, so I did what came most naturally to me: I decided to sing my feelings to her. And I picked out a song that perfectly matched my feelings: “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. 

It was a no brainer. I’ve sang this song at lease a thousand times within the last six years; it was a way to channel and express my feelings without actually taking any actions. Every time, I imagined I was singing it to Jennie unnie, and this time I actually would be!  

She was finally home.

I rushed out to meet her.

She looked happy, which oddly, made me sad.

“Hey! You’re back!” I said, trying to seem casually.

“Yup! I’m back...” she responded.

I really knew how to make things awkward. Who starts a conversation with “You’re back”?? Wtf.

Anyways, there was an awkward pause before I got the courage to tell her the real reason I came out to greet her. And when I finally got the courage, we both said at the same time: “I have something to share with you.” 

“Oh! You go first,” I said, thinking whatever she was going to say wasn’t gonna be as big as my news.

But she insisted with a tight smile, “No, please, go ahead.”

So, instead of delaying it any longer, I grabbed her arm and pulled her into my room.

“Geez Chaeyoung-ah! Are you trying to pull my arm out of its socket or something?” she exaggerated as she rolled her shoulders.

“Sorry, it’s just that Jisoo unnie and Lisa are in the other room watching a movie and I don’t want to disturb them.” 

With that I picked up my guitar.

“Oh you’re going to show me a song? I get my own private concert by THE Rosé of Blackpink?” she joked as she plopped down onto my bed.

We both laughed as I settled down into my desk chair and rolled it over to her.

I cleared my throat and began strumming, and soon enough, singing.

“Wise men say only fools rush in

But I can't help falling in love with you

Oh, shall I stay, would it be a sin

Oh, if I can't help falling in love with you?

Like a river flows, surely to the sea

Darling, so it goes, some things are meant to be

Oh, take my hand, take my whole life too

For I can't help falling in love with you

Oh, for I can't help falling in love with you.”

With every lyric uttered and every chord played, I poured out my heart. All of those emotions that were brewing in my heart finally thundered. I heard it in my trembling voice, I heard it in the bitters of each lyric.  And I hoped that Jennie heard it too.

And as I finished off, and looked up from my guitar, Jennie began to clap.

“Woo! That was amazing!”

I smiled subtlety and let out a weak “Thanks.” Just from that response, I knew she didn’t receive the message I was trying to relay.

“That was honestly one of my favorite covers yet. Are you thinking about posting that on your insta or something? Cause you totally should,” she went on enthusiastically. 

I took a deep breath in. I guess I would actually have to use my words this time. I can’t hide behind my guitar anymore. “No, I was actually trying to—“

Right then, a ding erupted from Jennie unnie’s phone.

Jennie unnie immediately grabbed her phone and looked down at the text she received. And I watched as she let a small smile escape from her lips. It has to be Kai.

She looked back up at me, saw me watching her with intent, and immediately threw her phone to the side.

“Sorry about that,” she said as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “What were you saying?”

I was devastated. That small little smile all the energy and adrenaline coursing through my veins a few moments ago and turned it into defeat. “It was nothing,” I smiled weakly, ”So what did you want to share with me?”

“Jong-in oppa asked me out officially today,” she said casually, searching my eyes for a reaction.

“Wow! That’s great!” I responded, trying my best for her. “Did you say yes?” I asked, now nervous.

“I did. I actually went in with the intent of rejecting him, but I don’t know, when he asked me, it just made sense to say yes, you know? Like us being together made sense to me in that moment.” she admitted. 

“Well, how do you feel now?” I probed.

“I think I made a good decision,” she said as if she were trying to convince herself.

“That’s great to here Jennie unnie! I’m so happy for you!” I mustered up a smiled and gave her a hug. 

“Thank you Rosie. I think I’ll finally be happy too” she admitted as I pulled away from the hug.

We sat there across from each other, just smiling. But weirdly, I could see a twinge of sadness in her smile. It was as if we were saying our farewells to each other. As if Jennie unnie was going somewhere far away for a long time, maybe even forever. And honestly, she may as well be going to a different country because I knew that it was going to feel as if we were thousand of miles apart from now on, even if we were physically right next to each other. 

“Welp,” she finally broke the gaze. “I better go share my news with the other girls!” she said as she stood up.

Just as she opened the door, she paused: “Oh, and don’t be alarmed if you hear squealing from the other room because I’m 110% sure that will be Lisa’s reaction when she finds out,” Jennie unnie joked. 

“I was already planning of putting my earphones in,” I responded.

She laughed and walked out of my room, closing the door behind her.

And so that’s how my attempt at a confession went. I ended up being too late by a few hours. 

Third Person POV

Jennie got mixed reactions when she shared her big news in Jisoo’s room.

Jisoo just sat there, confused and shocked, while Lisa jumped around the room in excitement.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU ARE DATING AN EXO MEMBER! Congratulations unnie! You are the first out of all of us to date an idol!” 

“Thanks Lisa,” Jennie said, chuckling at Lisa’s excited response, while glancing over at the pensive Jisoo. 

“Are we the first people you’ve shared the news with?” Lisa asked eagerly, obviously hoping the answer was yes so she had another thing to brag about.

“No I