Bangkok always felt a bit like their second home. Lisa’s stories of the city, and the amazing, hidden places she would take them whenever they came around, made them feel less like tourists and a bit more like locals. It was a shame that they’d only be there for a little over a day and a half, and their schedule was packed for the duration of their stay.

They had flown in to do a 30-minute set at a charity concert for underprivileged children in Thailand, along with many other Kpop acts. From a private party, thrown by the charity for the acts, on the night of their arrival, to rehearsing their set the next morning, and then performing late afternoon, they maybe had a few hours of free time to go and explore the city.

When they arrived to the hotel, Lisa and Rose, who had gone ahead to check them in, took control of the task of dividing them into rooms (which they would be sharing). Unsurprisingly, and innocently or not, Jisoo and Jennie were sorted into the same hotel room, and Jennie – Jisoo couldn’t help but notice – didn’t seem too happy about it.

While Jisoo was desperate to get closer to Jennie, she wasn’t sure this was the best arrangement. It had been clear, lately, that Jennie was uncomfortable around her, and the altruistic part of Jisoo wanted to give her her space.

“Talk to her,” Lisa had whispered, once her and Rose had left the elevator on their room’s floor. Maybe the room sorting hadn’t been so innocent, after all.

The way to the room they would be sharing for two nights was awkward, to say the least. When they were inside, Jisoo saw Jennie’s eyes fall on the two beds, which had been pushed together by the hotel staff.

“We can move them apart,” Jisoo offered, quickly.

Jennie nodded, mutely, before retreating to the bathroom. While she was in there, Jisoo separated the beds, and then collapsed, defeatedly, on one of them. She hated that this was what had become of them; they couldn’t even be in the same room. It felt soul destroying to see Jennie so clearly distant from her. It felt like rejection.

When Jennie reappeared from the bathroom, Jisoo sat up, automatically. She realized this was the first time her and Jennie had been alone, in private, since they had broken up, and it felt intimate and odd.

“What time do we need to be at the party?” Jennie asked, probably just trying to fill in the intense silence between the two.

“Eight, so like-“ Jisoo consulted her phone, “In two hours.”

“So we should start getting ready.” Jennie looked around the room. “Do you want to get changed out here? And I change in the bathroom? Or the other way around?”

It took Jisoo a moment to understand what Jennie was referring to. “Oh, hm, you can take the bathroom.” It hadn’t occurred to Jisoo that changing in front of each other would be a problem, from now onwards. They’d never had an issue with it, even before they were dating; but maybe now things were different and, therefore, they should have different boundaries.

Jennie nodded, and, suddenly, her eyes fell to Jisoo’s chest. Jisoo’s cheeks flushed in reaction, before looking down and realizing what exactly had caught Jennie’s eyes.

Jennie reached out and touched the heart-shaped ring, which Jisoo had been waring as a necklace pendant, since they had broken up. It had somehow appeared from under her top, where she had been hiding it for the past two weeks.

“It looks nice, like this.” Jennie mumbled, finally catching herself and dropping the ring. It seemed like she had been momentarily distracted by the sighting.

Jisoo saw an opening, and she took it. “What did you do with yours?”

Jennie’s shoulders tensed, as she turned around and ped her suitcase, avoiding Jisoo’s eyes. “I think I left it at my parents’.”

It hurt. It hurt so badly. Jisoo couldn’t quite understand how they had gotten there; from talking about kids and marriage, to breaking up, to cold indifference within a month. While she had been good at keeping her feelings in check (at least, when around other people), Jisoo couldn’t help the tears that rushed to her eyes. Thankfully, at that moment, Jennie disappeared towards the bathroom again, and Jisoo was left on her own.

“Woooowooo.” It was Lisa whistling, from where she sat on the hotel lobby, as her, Rose and Jisoo waited for Jennie to come down so they could start heading to the charity’s party.

Jisoo spun around in her heels, following the direction of Lisa’s gaze, to see Jennie stepping out of the hotel elevator, wearing a familiar black, lacy dress and red high heels, her hair swept over her shoulder, her eyes smoky and her lips of a bold red colour. She looked absolutely divine, and Jisoo couldn’t help but wonder if this was Jennie’s way to provoke her; after all, this was Jisoo’s favorite dress on Jennie; and they both knew Jennie was aware of this.

“Turn around, show it off.” Lisa instructed, always the group’s personal hype-woman. “Let’s see what the is saying.”

Jennie chuckled modestly, before doing a quick twirl.

“Damn. The is saying daaamn.” Lisa concluded.

“The is definitely just right in that dress.” Rose agreed, with a laugh.

Jisoo’s eyes automatically fell to Jennie’s bottom, and Jennie caught her staring. She gave her an apologetic look; she hadn’t been able to help it, not when most of the conversation was around it.

“Can we please stop talking about my ,” Jennie requested, mortified, “and get going?”

Lisa threw her arm around Jennie’s shoulders, as they walked outside to hail a taxi. “Anyone in particular you are trying to impress, tonight?” She asked, naughtily.

Jisoo’s ears perked up, but then again, that couldn’t be what Lisa had meant with the question.

“What do you mean?” Jennie glared at her.

“Maybe a specific boy band member that needs to realise what he’s missing out on because of his playboy, girl-texting tendencies?” Lisa continued, cryptically.

Jennie seemed confused for a moment, “Kai?” She asked. “I didn’t even remember he was going to be there, to be honest.”

Neither had Jisoo. But now that Lisa mentioned, she remembered Exo was on the line-up to perform the charity’s concert the next day, so it made sense he’d be at the party that night. She couldn’t help but to feel her chest tighten. She wasn’t sure how she would react if she saw Jennie talk to Kai. If she’d been a bit jealous of him when they were together, she’d be driven to insanity now, when Jennie didn’t have anything stopping her from getting with him.

“Sure you didn’t.” Lisa winked at Jennie and Jisoo had to remind herself that Lisa was oblivious to what had happened between them, and wasn’t being completely insensitive. Still, it hurt.

Jennie had gone all out, when getting ready for that night’s party, out of a childish urge to surprise Jisoo and have the girl yearn after her. It had all been worth it, when she saw Jisoo’s mouth practically water when she first caught a glimpse of her in her favourite dress.

Maybe this was the shake-up Jisoo needed. See what she was missing, and finally start trying to win Jennie back.

The down-side of going all out with her look was that, without meaning to, she’d kind of made herself stand out at the party, and had boys surrounding her, as if moths to flame. She wondered if they thought she’d dressed up in order to impress them, and the thought of it made her sick; there was only one person’s interest and attention she was interested in, and that particular girl was across the room, talking to Seulgi and Irene, instead of orbiting around Jennie.

And, yes, Jennie was bitter about it, and having a hard time hiding it. She kept looking over at the group of girls all night, and she knew that Jisoo had seen her staring. She couldn’t wonder if Jisoo was intentionally trying to make her jealous which, to be fair, served Jennie right for pulling the dress shenanigan, but since when were they these people that played games with each other?

Fine. If that was the game Jisoo wanted to be playing at, Jennie knew she could top her. She should not be provoking Jennie; Jennie was the queen of pettiness. And she had just the perfect pawn for this twisted game.

Kai had been standing with his Exo’s band members just by the bar, and Jennie saw, from the corner of her eye, as Jisoo visibly turned around and watched her walk over to him. There. That will teach you not to mess with me. She knew that her talking to Kai would drive Jisoo mad; it was just the button to push to get a reaction out of her.

She did her best flirting, and made sure it could be seen from across the room. Laughing loudly, flipping her head, touching his arm. That night, Jennie was a flirting machine, and she didn’t care if everyone in the room could see it; maybe now Jisoo would understand how ty it felt like when everyone thought your better half was attracted to someone else.

At some point, throughout the night, she noticed that Jisoo was gone. Jennie continued talking to Kai, for a while, until it became somewhat clear that Jisoo wasn’t coming back; and then she no longer had any use for him.

“Have you guys seen Jisoo?” She asked, once she walked back to Rose and Lisa.

“I think I saw her go out the backyard with Seulgi?” Lisa said, casually, point her thumb over her shoulder.

“She what?!” She almost cried. The backyard which had no lighting, no heating, and had been declared out of limits for party goers? What could those two possibly be doing in a dark garden at night, on their own?

Lisa looked surp