Around a year later... 

October 2020 (but no covid)

Jennie’s POV

Just as I was putting on my shoes, the phone rang. It was Chahee. I answered it and placed my phone between my cheek and my shoulder, trying to multitask as I was already running late.

“Hey, I just left my house for the restaurant, are you on your way?”

“Yeah, I’m getting into the car right now,” I said, still fumbling to put on my shoes.

“You’re still at home, huh?” 

“Maybeee??” I said, obviously lying through my teeth. 

“I know you way too well,” she chuckled. “Well okay, the other girls seemed to have just left too, so if you hurry now, you shouldn’t be that late. Text me your ETA.”

“OK, sounds good.”

“I’m getting onto the subway, I’m hanging up!”

“Okay, see you in a little bit!”

“Eunnggg,” she responded before hanging up.

Just as I was about to go, I noticed a drowsy Chaeyoung dragging her feet into the kitchen. 

I haven’t seen her all day so I didn’t even know she was home.

“Bye Chaeyoung, I’m going to dinner with Chahee and them and probably won’t be back till late. See you later tonight,” I said as I opened the door.

“Bye unnie. Have fun,” she said, her nose sounding as clogged as ever.

“Hey, are you okay?” I stopped in my tracks.

“Yeah, I’m fine **sniffles**. Just ***ACHOO** a little cold,” she struggled to say. 

“Ohhh, is that why I haven’t seen you at all today?”

“Yeah, I was in my bed all day,” she said clinging to the counter as if she was about to collapse.

“Why are you up? You look like you’re about to faint!” I said, dropping my handbag and rushing to her side to keep her upright.

“I was just gonna grab a cup of tea real quick,” she said nodding towards the water dispenser.

“First off, sit down,” I said firmly, before leading her to the dinner table. “I’ll grab you some tea.”

I came back to the table with lemon tea to find her laying her head on the dinner table, her left check smushed into the surface, half watching me, half falling asleep.

“Here,” I said, placing the cup right in front of her face. As she got up and took a sip, I felt her forehead.

“Geez, you are burning up.”

“Yeah, I’ve had a fever all day...”

At that moment, my phone dinged. Chahee again.

“...but I am fine,” she finished, noticing that the text was from Chahee, who was almost at the restaurant already. 

“Where are Jisoo unnie and Lalisa?” I asked as I started to text the group that I wasn’t going to make it.

“Oh, they are both at YG practicing for our next performance,” Chaeyoung said rapidly before sneezing again.

“Hehe, I beat it that time,” she giggled to herself.

“Okay, I’m staying home,” I declared, taking off my shoes and tossing them towards the front door.

“No, unnie, go. Don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” she reassured, giving me a big smile.

“Nope, I’m staying,” I said, sitting down in front of her and 

“Unnie, I’m really okay. Go. Please, I don’t want to be a burden.”

“First of all, you are NEVER a burden to me. Second of all, I already sent a text saying I can’t go, so it’s too late already, I said as I showed her the text message I just sent.

“Unnie...” she whined.

“Nope,” I interrupted. “Don’t try to convince me not to, I’m staying. That’s final.” 

I picked up her cup of tea and held my free hand out to her, “Now come on. Let’s get you back into bed.” 

She grabbed my hand, too weak to fight back anymore. I led her back to her room and tucked her in. 

I walked out to get a warm wet towel to cover her forehead with and by the time I came back, she was already fast asleep. 

“All that overworking is finally catching up to her,” I thought to myself as I laid the wet towel on her forehead.

And as I made porridge for her, my mind flashed back to all the extra hours she spent in the dance room, all those middle of the night bathroom breaks where I would pass by her bedroom to hear her quietly practicing her high notes.

When the porridge was ready, I put it on a tray with a new cup of lemon tea and woke Chaeyoung up to have her eat it while it was fresh.

As I sat on the side of her bed and watched her gobble up the food I made her, I thought to myself: “Even while she is sick, her appetite is still as strong as ever."

When she finished, I took the tray away and placed it on her bedside table. 

“Thanks unnie, that was delicious. I guess I’ve been so tired all day, I forgot I haven’t eaten since lunch time yesterday.”

“Rosie... you have to take care of yourself more.”

“What do you mean? I normally eat a lot!”

“I’m not just talking about that. I’ve noticed that you’ve been staying up super late working on our comeback and your solo. But you have to get some sleep and you can’t be working yourself until you get sick,” I said, my voice ridden with concern.

“I know, I know. I just feel like I need to be better. I need to put out music and content I can be proud of. I can't just be the girl who sings and says she’s a songwriter... I need it to be real. I need the music I sing to come from my heart...”

“I get how you feel, but take some time off for yourself sometimes okay?”

“Okay, I will try...”

“Good.”

“Thanks for taking care of me unnie. You really didn’t have to stay...” 

“Of course I did! It’s the least I could do. To be honest, I’ve been feeling kind of guilty lately. I feel like you’ve been acting more of an unnie than I have for the past few years.”

“What are you talking about?! I’m still scrambling to repay you for all the times you’ve had my back during trainee days, and everyday, my indebtedness to you piles up even higher! Like right now! I’m barely even sniffling after you took care of me for just a few hours,” she smiled at me really big, her nose all red and her eyes all swollen. 

“Whatever, Park Chaeyoung. You are just being your typical nice self. We both know you’re lying and probably holding in a sneeze right now just to spare my feelings,” I mumbled, rolling my eyes at her excessive kindness. 

She sneezed.

“You see?! THIS is what I’m talking about!” I exclaimed before both of us burst into a fit of laughter.

“I should start calling YOU unnie,” I exaggerated.

“No, you’ll forever be my Jennie unnie,” she said as she scooched toward me and snuggled into my arm.

I felt my heart jump a little. 

“Okay, okay. You need to go back to sleep Park Chaeyoung. You need to get over this cold before our next schedule.”

I gently pushed her back down into her pillow and away from my helpless arm.

“I’m gonna go do the dishes, call me if you need anything and, please, try to go back to sleep,” I told her as I turned out the lights.

“Okay thank you unnie,” she said faintly, already falling back asleep.

“The least I can do,” I whispered before I shut the door quietly.

Third Person POV

After Jennie finished the dishes and did some other chores she had to do, she went back into Chaeyoung’s room to do one final check-in before going to sleep herself. 

Just as expected, Chaeyoung was still fast asleep. 

Jennie pulled up the chair from Chaeyoung’s vanity and sat down next to her, suddenly tired after seeing the Sleeping Beauty in the bed in front of her.

She sat there in silence, studying Chaeyoung’s beautiful facial features as if she were trying to memorize each feature (which was highly unnecessary as she practically already memorized them). She noticed a few strands of hair in her face and gently tucked it behind her ear, and from there, she got carried away. She started tracing all of Chaeyoung’s facial features: her eyebrows, her eyelids, her nose… but when she got to her lips, she froze in fear and dropped her hand. She buried her head into her hands in defeat, internally scolding herself for not being able to control her emotions.

But suddenly a hand grabbed onto Jennie’s wrist, causing Jennie to freeze in shock. She mustered up all the courage and lifted her head out of her hands to see Chaeyoung awake, her arm stretched out and her eyes staring up at her with longing.

Chaeyoung moved Jennie’s hand down to her face and slowly closer to her lips, her eyes growing watery as she did so. She softly brushed her own lips with the back of Jennie’s hand and in that exact moment, a tear fell down her cheek. She brushed Jennie’s hand against her cheek, effectively wiping her single tear and from there, gently placed the hand on the bed and closed her eyes again, her hand still gripped around Jennie’s wrist.

Jennie sat there in shock, not knowing what just happened or what to do. "What did that mean? She put her hand to her lips… Do