To celebrate and thank their North American tour crew, Yuri had organised a small farewell party in the top suite at their New York hotel, to happen on the last night Blackpink would spend in the US before flying over to Europe the next day.

The girls had the idea to put together gift baskets, as well as writing small notes for each one of them crew members that would be leaving them, to thank them for their hard work and support. Lisa suggested they should get some Korean candy to put in each basket, so her and Jisoo (because they couldn’t trust Lisa to not get lost in the city or take all day to find a few bags of candy– or Rose, for that matter) were tasked with venturing to Korea Town and grabbing the goodies, while Rose and Jennie (the two that had a knack for words) stayed in and worked on their notes.

Jisoo was happy to be away from the hotel for a bit, and she was happy to have some distance from Jennie. She was still carefully trying to navigate the tricky balance of getting some space so that she could move on from Jennie without compromising their friendship.

It warmed Jisoo’s heart how supportive and actively involved in getting Jisoo to accept her uality Jennie had been. She was touched about how much Jennie cared for her, and how protective she was being; however, while Jisoo had allowed her to be there for her after she came out to her (she felt it was important to the both of them, and their relationship), she had sort of made up her mind that the end of the North American tour would also be the time she would start trying to get a bit more distance. Now was the time to move on. They would be travelling fascinating, old, historic European cities with so much culture and beauty; Jisoo was hopeful that this would be a good distraction for her.

Yuri had organised for a selection of food and alcohol (for the crew exclusively, the girls were not to touch the alcohol, of course) to be available for the gathering in the suite, and everyone spent the first couple of hours eating, drinking, exchanging contact information, sharing photos and videos and all around reflecting fondly on the past 2 months together.

As it got later, the party grew thinner and thinner, as people started going back to their respective hotel room.. As soon as Yuri said his goodnight’s and left the suite, Jisoo spotted Jennie grabbing a bottle of wine, and pouring herself a glass.

Although she thought Jennie deserved to relax after she had been working so hard the past few weeks, Jisoo was worried about who else would notice her drinking, and whether they would run back to Yuri with the information.

Yet, Jisoo wasn’t Jennie’s mother, and she didn’t like bossing her around, and figured that Jennie knew exactly the risks and consequences of her actions better than she did. So she ignored it, even though she saw Rose send her a concern look from across the room.

Thankfully, the American staff that was still left at the party was quite inebriated themselves, and when someone finally got the Karaoke machine to work, no one was really paying any attention to what any of the girls were doing.

In the middle of a particularly passionate rendition of Ariana’s “One last time” by Lisa, Jennie sneakily poured herself another glass. When Rose took the microphone to undoubtfully wow everyone with a version of “Chandelier” by Sia, Jennie was nowhere to be found.

At first, Jisoo figured she had gone to the bathroom. But when she wasn’t back 5 minutes later, Jisoo wondered if she had sneaked away to her bed (and if so, why hadn’t she told anyone?). She didn’t want to be clingy friend, but she allowed herself to ask Rose if she knew where Jennie had gone. Rose responded by pointing towards the balcony with a disapproving shake of her head.

Jisoo found Jennie sitting on the daybed out in the balcony, bottle of wine next to her, now almost empty.

“Hey, what are you doing out here?” She asked, as she tentatively walked out and closed the balcony door behind her. She hoped none of the Korean crew members would see Jennie drinking.

“Just needed some fresh air.” Jennie said, poetically.

It was fresh indeed, Jisoo thought, as she rubbed her arms in an attempt to stay warm. Jennie noticed it, and reached out to Jisoo, with an affectionate smile, “Come here.” Her voice was low and husky; probably the alcohol, Jisoo thought.

Jisoo held her hand and let herself be pulled towards the day bed. Jennie readjusted so that she could sit between her legs, her back to Jennie’s front. Jennie held Jisoo tight and pressed her face against the side of her face.

“You smell nice.” She whispered.

Jisoo couldn’t help but to have butterflies in her stomach, both at the physical closeness of Jennie and at her husky voice in her ear. Instead of giving in to that feeling, she tried to focus on talking. “Jennie, what are you doing? What if someone tells Yuri you’ve been drinking?”

Jennie shrugged, pressing her face now against Jisoo’s neck. She was holding her so tightly, Jisoo wondered if this was the physical manifestation of the possession and protectiveness she had shown towards her lately. “I don’t care.”

“I don’t want you to get in trouble.” Jisoo mumbled, her hand finding Jennie’s hand in her stomach and interlocking their fingers.

“Thank you, but I’ll be fine.” Jennie whispered back. Her voice was a lighter and more relaxed than usual, which was the only sign she was slightly intoxicated. “I missed you today.”

“Okay, Jendeuki.” Jisoo laughed, trying to ignore the way how the hairs in the back of her neck raised at the feeling of Jennie’s breathing.

“I wish we would’ve been able to get another friend day,” Jennie continues, “because Chicago really special to me. I hope you know that.”

Jisoo’s chest felt heavy. “It was special to me, too.” She admitted.

“I’ve felt so close to you since then,” Jennie breaths, and Jisoo has to stop herself from shuddering, because the stimulus of Jennie’s whispers in her ear, her warm body pressed against Jisoo’s back, her hands playing around Jisoo’s waist- it was all too much. She had knowingly stepped into the lion’s den, and she knew she should regret it but- a part of her enjoyed the intimacy. “Like- I can’t explain. Like I want to hold you all the time. Be by your side.”

“You’re being protective, and its sweet.” Jisoo rationalises it. A part of her, the wishful part, wondered if it was possible it could be something else; that Jennie’s clinginess and affection as of late was something other than her just being a good friend to her in her time of need. But the realistic side of her (the Capricorn, Rose would say) knew that Jennie was straight, and while she was blessed with incredible amounts of affection and love that she spread amongst her close friends, that did not mean she saw Jisoo as anything but a that. A close friend.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about when you get a girlfriend,” Jennie admitted, and Jisoo laughed.

Jennie might as well think about when Jisoo would become president, because as far as Jisoo was concerned, both events were equally distant. She could not imagine liking someone else than Jennie, let alone approaching them and make her feelings known. Just because Jisoo had finally be able to say it out loud, it didn’t mean everything was now going to magically fall into place. She had a lot of soul searching to do. And step one was to get over Jennie.

“And I don’t know how I would react just because-“ Jennie hesitated. “I’d miss you too much. I’d be too jealous that you’d have someone else to open up to. Do you think that’s weird? Do you think that’s mean of me?” She sounded a bit exhasperated.

“No- it’s not mean, I understand where you are coming from,” Jisoo assured her soothingly, while caressing Jennie’s arm. “But, if it gives you any consolation, it’s not going to happen anytime soon.”

“What do you mean?” Jennie enquired, genuinely confused.

“Well, I’m not out to anyone but you and, God, I don’t even know how to approach girls.”

“I’m sure many girls will be falling all over you,” Jennie declared. She paused. “And you seemed to be doing fine, the other day.”

Jisoo squinted confusedly. “When?”

“At the Starbucks. Talking to the barista.” Jennie’s voice had a teasing tone to it now.

Jisoo chuckled. “Ah. That was not what that was.”

“She was pretty though.”

Jisoo shrugged