Chapter 3 : Where we fell slowly

“Jennie”

“Yeah?”

“Please return my coat” Jisoo friendly reminded before Jennie was getting out of her car, Jisoo was dropping her off at her place after their trip back to Seoul.

Jennie seemed to forget that she was still wearing a trench coat that Jisoo lent her, adding one more layer of clothes to keep a younger woman warm when they were out at the graveyard. Jennie remembered it now and slowly removed it.

“Thanks” Jennie said as she passed it to Jisoo.

“Take care of yourself when you go out tonight” Jisoo told caringly, she didn’t like the idea how Jennie and her friends had their night out so often, but it wasn’t like Jisoo could stop Jennie either, although Jisoo loved Jennie but she wouldn’t want to control her life.

“Where will you be tonight?’ Jennie asked, she was considering dropping at their home , if Jisoo would be there

“Depends, I’ll be at Chaeyoung’s birthday party tonight” Jisoo said unsure, she had couple things to do and a party to be at.

“Let me know if you go there” Jennie told

“I will” Jisoo said

“And also take care” Jennie knew Jisoo was way more sensible when it came to living her precious life.

“I’ll just have a couple drink, so don’t worry” Jisoo assured, she knew what she was doing, and that was why Jennie was confident that Jisoo could take care of herself.

“Alright, I’ll talk to you then” Jennie said as she reached to open the door, but again she heard Jisoo calling her back

“ Jennie” , assuming that she might forget something, Jennie turned around. To her little surprised, she was greeted by a close distance of Jisoo’s face when Jisoo purposely bended forward, Jennie stopped but Jisoo leaned in to give Jennie a quick peck. Although Jennie tried to keep it cool, it was a moment like this she lost her cool, and blushed.

“Since when you became like this” Jennie said

“I don’t know too” Jisoo grimaced , Jennie shook her head

Jisoo wasn’t a love sick, she just didn’t know when they could be together again, thing was not easy for them, and it was hard when most of the time they were acting like strangers, so Jisoo want to make out the most of it while they were together.

“Drive safe” Jennie told Jisoo and the older woman nodded, “I will”

Jennie quickened her pace as she ran out of the car, and into her apartment. Jisoo watched until Jennie disappeared before she drove away.

After parting her way with Jisoo, Jennie quickly went up her apartment to freshen up, get change and be ready for a night out with her friends. Jennie was a bit tired after a long drive and she didn’t appear to be very energetic as she should be.

“Are you ok?” Irene asked worried

“I’m just tired” Jennie replied with her tired smile

“What have you done?” Irene was curious, Jennie looked really tired.

“Not much, I’m tired by just sitting doing nothing” Jennie stated bluntly , Irene scoffed , she reached her hand out and ruffled Jennie’s hair adorably.

“You’re a lazy girl” Irene commented

“As if you’re not” Jennie playfully retorted

“Well, at least she does her own laundry” Yeri joked, earning laughter from Jennie and Joy but not Irene

“What’s wrong with me doing my laundry?” Irene defended

“Nothing wrong” Yeri said

“She meant it in a good way” Joy stepped up to help Yeri

“Yeah, nothing wrong with your obsession” Jennie added

“Yah, Kim Jennie, it’s not my obsession, it’s just my favorite thing” Irene strongly defended herself

“I see, if it’s your favorite thing, come over and do the laundry for me sometimes” Yeri suggested

“In your dream” Irene denied

“I can do that for you” Joy said before taking a sip of her drink, Yeri didn’t expect it, things turned awkward all of sudden, Jennie and Irene exchanged their looks.

Irene was thinking about thing to say for changing the topic and saved the awkwardness then one thing came into her mind

“Some said, they ran into Jin oppa and Jisoo at the mall this evening, so are they out for dating?” Irene asked no one in particular, but she hoped to make Joy or Yeri who knew well about gossip stuff to speak up, and forgot what they were talking earlier behind.

“I heard it too, they said they saw them at a jewelry shop” Yeri joined

“Oh really? I think some said she wasn’t interested in him, and did reject him” Joy disagreed

“I don’t know but some claimed they had a photo” Yeri reasoned

“Oh, wait, I thought I saw Jin sunbae in this club earlier, apparently he was with someone, but I only saw a glimpse of her back” Yeri stated curiously

“Couldn’t it be Jisoo right?” Joy asked

Jennie showed no interest in the topic but actually she was hiding her bitterness inside, Jennie was scrolling down her phone to read messages which she received earlier, in the messages, Jisoo told her that she was going to the mall with Lisa to find Chaeyoung a gift for her birthday, and they were going to throw her a surprised birthday party at her place.

Jennie was desperate to defend for Jisoo, but she wasn’t in a place to utter a word, and it was time like this that Jennie felt so helpless, she couldn’t stand up for someone she loved dearly, it was just frustrated to know everything but could speak nothing, Jennie couldn’t do anything for Jisoo.

“Guys, what would you say if we leave early today, I’m tired?” Jennie stated purpose, everyone agreed

Jennie was back at their place today though she wasn’t sure if Jisoo would be here, from the latest that Jennie receieved from Jisoo, and it was unlikely that Jisoo would make it, she said she might have a sleepover at Chaeyoung’s place , because everybody else started to get drunk and Jisoo had to stand by to look after them. Although Jennie didn’t feel completely fine with it, for Jisoo was having a night over at her friend’s, with Lisa was there, Jennie never doubted Jisoo’s love for her, she just couldn’t trust somebody else, however Jennie tried her best to put her jealousy aside and believed in them.

Jennie walked into a kitchen and reached for a bottle of water in a fridge, her favorite brand of mineral water were stored, along with some other drink, juices and snacks, and Jennie wouldn’t wonder who did it, she smiled at a thought of Jisoo going to supermarket and did some shopping, but then it gave off a bittersweet feeling in her heart when she realized they had never gone for grocery shopping together for once, a simple thing that many couple did together

Tiredly, Jennie dropped herself at a chair in front of a piano, it was a new piano they bought, one thing that Jennie and Jisoo shared in common, and it all started back then.

** Flashback **

Too young than to know how to cope with her despair after the loss of her mother, every time Jennie missed her mother, she found herself sitting in front of a piano, a reminder of her mom. It revived the memories of her beloved mom sitting there playing the most beautiful song Jennie had ever heard and loved them.

An old piano belonged to her mom, standing at a corner of a leisure room that no one wanted to come in since Mrs Kim passed away. It wasn’t scary, but it was filled with sad aura, with every corner of this place emotionally reminded of a young beautiful Mrs. Kim., Jennie didn’t recall seeing her father came to visit this room ever since too.

All alone, Jennie became solitude, finding her escape, dancing her fingers along the black and white keys of this elegant musical instrument, imagining that her mother was standing there with her beautiful white smile when Jennie played her favorite songs. Jennie found her escape and did it for years until one day

Jennie frowned when she realized the presence of someone in this room beside her, who seemed to be listening to Jennie playing a whole song for a while without Jennie even knowing when she came in, even though an intruder didn’t make any sound, but Jennie was quick to her surroundings, she was familiar of being alone here, and nobody dared to come into this room to disturb her before.

She turned around and found Jisoo sitting on the floor at a corner near a door, she looked shocked when Jennie caught her.

“What are you doing here?” Jennie shot Jisoo an icy glare

“I heard the sound of music, so I came in” Jisoo said, “I am sorry to disturb you” she added

“Get out and close the door” Jennie coldly ordered which Jisoo obediently followed, she lowered her head and left the room.

If Jennie thought that Jisoo would be scared of her and would never come back in again, she was completely wrong when Jisoo did the same thing over and over every time she heard the sound of piano played by Jennie. Jisoo found herself sneaking in, sitting at the same spot quietly and listening to Jennie’s solo performance of beautiful song until Jennie sensed her presence, and ended up getting shooed away by Jennie. The event repeated itself for several months like broken records.

“Kim Jisoo, tell me why you are here again?” Jennie had enough, Jisoo never stopped coming in, and this was after a year of living under the same roof, Jennie was somehow mad, she wondered if Jisoo had been doing this to get on her nerve.

“I’m sorry to disturb you” Jisoo said, she got up and span her heel around to make her leave.

“Yah, stop there” Jennie shouted,“ I asked why you were here again”, it only made Jennie got more mad for not getting the answer to her question earlier so she repeated it.

“I’m here to listen to your piano -playing” Jisoo answered with her back facing Jennie

“Kim Jisoo, don’t you get it when I tell you to get out, don’t you understand that I need to be alone?” Jennie snapped

“That’s why I’m going to leave now” Jisoo reasoned.

Jisoo’s reason only made Jennie wanted to pull her hair out of frustration, why it was so hard for Jisoo to understand that Jennie didn’t want her to come back ever again

“Will you sneak in again when I play next time?” Jennie asked impatiently, she expected Jisoo to say no

“I will” Jisoo strongly affirmed, and it made Jennie rolled her eyes in annoyance, she was going to bawl at Jisoo when Jisoo spoke up first.

“You play too well, and it would be a waste if no one is here to listen” Jisoo genuinely praised, “Please let me quietly sit and listen until you find me disturbing you then I’ll take my leave” Jisoo requested , “ But please don’t stop me from coming back again, because I still want to hear you play, more beautiful songs” Jisoo finished

It was the first time Jennie ever heard someone appreciating her talent and her song playing after her mom, she was speechless and those harsh words she planned to spill out at Jisoo was caught up in , they slowly faded into the air, Jennie didn’t know what was this feeling, it was so hard to speak when a lump forming at , but somehow it was warming her heart, Jennie didn’t get a chance to say anything back when Jisoo closed the door behind her.

As time went by, it either Jisoo was persistent or Jennie could careless, Jisoo wasn’t sent away anymore but could enjoy song after song that Jennie played, no more bickering to interrupt Jennie’s play, and both of them were just there, one was playing and one was listening in their own worlds and things slowly changed for better as year gone by.

It was one of those days , when they entered a life of senior high school, Jennie finished playing one love song and Jisoo gave jennie thumps up for being awesome.

“Jisoo unnie” Jennie thought about it for a while

“Hm?” Jisoo’s usual spot changed from the floor to be in front of Jennie now.

“Do you want to learn to play it, I mean playing the piano?” Jennie asked

“Will you teach me how?” Jisoo asked hopefully, after all these years, she was inspired by Jennie and wanted to be the one playing a song she wanted to play for her too

“Sure, but under one condition” Jennie contemplated though

“And it is …?” Jisoo got excited and she was ready to exchange anything

“Quit your guitar lesion and ttop going to the practice room with your seniors ” Jennie said

“Eh,why?”Jisoo was confused, she didn’t understand why Jennie didn’t want her to join a music band at her school, moreover they were at different high schools but would Jennie care if she was in the band?

Honestly, Jennie didn’t know the exact reason why she had to ask her sister to do so, all she knew, she felt irritated at a fact that Jisoo’s male senior came over to pick Jisoo every weekend to practice with a school band and Jisoo would never come back home until the late evening.

Jennie couldn’t give a right answer so she said, “Whatever, if you don’t want to learn”, Jennie left Jisoo with no choice, Jisoo frowned hard, she was considering.

“I will, please teach me, teacher nim” Jisoo made up her mind right away and agreed to Jennie’s condition. Jennie smiled satisfied.

Since that day, Jisoo joined Jennie’s reality escape journey, not only to listen but learn how to play time to time, and it didn’t take Jisoo long to understand and be able to play it. Without them knowing, those little teaching session, every time they hands brushed against one another, or those time Jennie held Jisoo’s hand to guide her putting her hands on keys, or when they sat next to each other feeling each other breath’s, they were falling slowly.

** End of Flashback **

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“You’ve gotta be kidding me” Lisa grumbled upon re-checking a final list of team assortment for Road Trip Rally announced just now, Jisoo looked up from her book, curious what made Lisa expressed her dissatisfactory, so did Wendy.

“What’s it about?” Wendy asked

“You’re not going to be happy for this Wendy” Lisa hinted and it made Wendy frown

“Tell us already Lalisa” Jisoo addressed Lisa’s full name for her seriousness

Lisa smiled dryly before showing her two friends a page she was skimming though on her i-Pad, Wendy took it from her hand and shared it with Jisoo, they were scanning through the name and found out themselves

“Wendy is not in our team?” Jisoo furrowed her brow, it never happened before that they would be separated during university activities unless their consent to remove themselves when one of them was not good at the games they were in, but this time wasn’t their call. A Road Trip Rally where the 3^rd year students were looking forward to and they actually planned to go on a same car together.

“Worse” Lisa sighed

“How come I would be in that team?” Wendy couldn’t believe it, she narrowed her eye and re-read her name again, but no matter how many times she re-checked, it wouldn’t change a truth that she was joining a rival group, and among all of them, she was the only one randomly thrown into this group.

‘Uh, Wait” Wendy’s eyes were widened again.

“Yeah, Kim Jennie is assigned to our team” Lisa confirmed

Confusion fell upon them for such a switching, Lisa was obviously unhappy, while Wendy was caught in between being surprised and nervous. On the other hand, nobody knew what Jisoo was thinking, what Lisa and Wendy could detect from her expression was calmness. Lisa was anticipating for Jisoo’s reaction or further idea on this.

“Shall we submit a petition to get Wendy back in our team?” Lisa suggested, much to her displease to have Jennie in her team, she was desperate to have Wendy to join them.

“It doesn’t seem like we are only two teams that members are rearranged, check out the rest of other 13 teams” Jisoo told , together they went through the list of other 13 eligible teams which were selected , and it was true , one or two of members of each close group or even in elite club were shuffled and separated among their teams.

“What is all this about?” Lisa found this fact very annoying

“I think I understand” Wendy figured, Jisoo and Lisa turned their attention to Wendy

“This game was originally held to strengthen friendship among students from different faculties, not an actual competition” Wendy started, “During the run, you won’t only drive as fast as possible, but you will have to figure out mysteries along the way, and one individual who is good at one particular field won’t know everything so it is set to have people with mixed abilities and talents to help each other solving problems throughout the race” Wendy concluded

“That sounds like a whole concept” Jisoo voiced out her opinion. Wendy agreed

“So we won’t be able to change anything, will we?” Lisa hoped her friends wouldn’t give in and support her petition idea.

“I’m afraid not” Wendy said

“I guess so, it has been approved by the university director” Jisoo agreed

“Aish” Lisa groaned, it took them a short moment to take in what they have to accept it, especially Wendy.

“Nah, don’t worry, I’ll be fine, it’s not like I’ll have to be stuck with them whole year long” Wendy cheered Lisa up. After reconsidering it, Wendy found it not too bad to join a team with other three members as Irene, Joy and Yeri, and now part of her was getting excited. She knew it was going to be uncomfortable for sure, but either good or bad, it could turn out to be, it was a nice chance to be on a 3-days road trip with a person she had been admiring, it might worth it.

“How do you thinnk Jisoo?” Lisa asked a person who seemed to be in her deep thought.

“Me, why?” Jisoo asked back

“Having Jennie in our team, of course” Lisa stated cautiously. Every time she thought about this name, a memory of Jennie slapping Jisoo always came back into her mind.

“I wouldn’t kill to have someone majoring in fashion design to help us to survive or get by at the game at some point” Jisoo reasoned.

“It’s gonna be fun” Wendy added

“I wish” Lisa said sarcastically

While Lisa wasn’t very pleased about her team member, the other team didn’t react differently too. Irene was complaining non-stop since she found out. Although Jennie didn’t feel right about it too, because she knew it was gonna be awkward being around Jisoo’s friends, but she kept emotion for herself.

“I’ll have my uncle to fix this” Irene said

Jennie nodded, she hoped he could do something about it, even though Jennie wasn’t positive, nobody could ever go against it when it came to their the director of their university. He was known for being righteous and strict.

“Where are Joy and Yeri?” Irene huffed the air from her nose and Jennie knew Irene was really moody.

“They are having classes, it shall end soon” Jennie informed, she then put her arm around Irene’s neck trying to calm her down

“Take it easy, we shall find a way out” Jennie told positively, upon Jennie’s subtle contact, Irene got calmer

They waited until their other two friends joined them to talk about it.When Joy and Yeri arrived, they seemed to make a matter worse, they were showing their strong oppose about it, while Irene tried to get a help from her uncle who was a part of the board. Everyone pinned their hope on Irene while she was talking to him on the phone, but judging from Irene’s brow which knotted tighter as their conversation carried on, they sensed it wasn’t going to be easy.

“He said he can’t change anything” Irene broke the news to her friends. Irene looked more stressed than Jennie herself.

Jennie came to realize than it would do any good for Irene to be wasting time and being stressed over this thing, she had to take it.

“It is what it is then” Jennie gave Irene a reassured smile

“We are not losing you” Irene opposed stubbornly

“Don’t take it too serious, it’s just a game” Jennie stated

“But…” Irene was protesting it

“No buts” Jennie ended the argument

“Shall we go to that team and trade Miss nerdy with our Jennie?” Joy chimed in

“I’m sure they shall be more than happy” Yeri agreed.

“They might have tried the way we did” Irene sighed, she knew they might not feel much different and might be trying to find a way to take their team member back too, but who were they to disagree with the director?

“You’re right” Yeri sighed.

“Nah, never a dull moment” Jennie said nonchalantly before taking a look at her phone and everyone knew better than to argue.

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At the music hall, the hustle sound of a committee of judges collecting votes and scores and whispering was fainted in the air after watching the piano performances of last top 5 candidates, which only one of them was going to be chosen to be playing the piano as a part of score music for this year musical play.

The front row audiences were none other than Jisoo’s and Jennie’s friends, two outstanding candidates with leading top votes, they couldn’t sit still as they were waiting patiently for the announcement.

Chaeyoung was unconsciously holding Lisa’s hand as they were seated next to Wendy, and on the other the left end, Irene, Yeri, Joy and even Krystal, a member of cool club and her sunbae were supporting Jennie.

After scores and votes were collected, an MC, made her appearance on the stage again, while she was holding the most important paper of result in her hand, and a moment that everyone had been waited was coming to an end when she held up her microphone to announce the winner name,everyone held their breath.

“And the winner goes to …… Kim Jisoo ssi , congratulation !”, she spoke loud and clear, which caused the loud scream of joy from Jisoo’s fans, Lisa and Chaeyoung jumped and hugged each other in joy. On the other hand, the complete different reaction took over Jennie’s fans and her friends, they sank back on their seats with huge disappointment written all over their faces.

“What’s a day!” Irene groaned as she was watching Jisoo making her way up stage, she looked a little surprised at the outcome, if Irene didn’t mistake it.

“Shall we go to see Jennie?” Yeri asked, she didn’t bother to sit there anymore

“Wait till it’s over, give the winner a respect” Krystal taught them, though they were unwilling to do so and the rest of them had to follow their senior’s advice.

They waited some more minutes until it was over, then quickly made their way out to check on Jennie at the back stage and as soon as they noticed her, they ran to Jennie and gave her a group hug.

“You did your best” Irene was the first to say

“Yeah, you did awesome” Joy praised

“You’re still the best one for us” Yeri patted Jennie’s back

“Thanks guys” Jennie uttered as she was squeezed inside a hug.

Krystal watched them with a smile and when they broke a hug , Krystal made her way to Jenie

“Thank you for coming Krystal unnie” Jennie said

“I wouldn’t miss it” Krystal said

“But sorry for disappointing you” Jennie’s face was sadden, Krystal placed her hand on Jennie’s should and gave it a light squeeze

"You didn’t disappoint me” Krystal comforted Jennie, “And we’re proud of you” she said with her faith.

“Aw, thank you” Jennie said, touched.

“If I was one of the judges, you would surely have won” Krystal commented , it made Jennie’s smile

“Here comes my bias” Jennie’s mood was slowly lifting up

“I’m serious, it could have been you on that stage now” Krystal stated a matter of fact, it drew her friends’ attention. Krystal was a last year winner and she was majoring in music, so her opinion was trustworthy.

“Jisoo hit wrong notes more than a few times” Krystal pointed out, and it made Jennie gulped

“Did she?” Jennie asked

“She did, I am not sure how it happened, she couldn’t be that nervous, her mistakes were subtle but noticeable, I wondered how the judges let them slip”, Krystal explained from what she noticed.

“What do you mean unnie?” Irene didn’t know well about music, was interested in this topic.

“She obviously made few subtle mistakes” Krystal summed up

Jennie thought about what Krystal said, while the rest of them frowned and started to complain, Irene even proposed her idea to seek a judgment for Jennie but before they could go further, Krystal said her second thought to prevent them from doing so.

“To her defense, I might be the only one mishearing it” Krystal didn’t want any more argument.

Krystal never believed in loser as long as you tried harder, failure was just fuel to push you further. True loser for her were people who could not accept the fact that someone else was better than them and talked them down, and she didn’t want Jennie to be one of them.

“Whatever, Jennie is a winner for me” Krystal said genuinely, finally she gave Jennie a hug. Jennie hugged her back and said, “Thanks unnie”

After consoling her friend, Irene suggested the idea that they went out for dinner, everything was on her, but Jennie had to decline it for today, she had a plan back at home, her father wanted to see her, Jennie didn’t give much detail of it, for was a family matter and she promised to go out with them another night.

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Behind a tall gate, stood a grand mansion that belonged to Kim family, Jennie slowly swerved her car in, and stopped beside a car which parked in one of the parking space, Jisoo was faster than her. Jennie breathed in the air into her lung, fixing herself in a car mirror before shove her legs off a car.

It had been some months since she came home, given how busy she was with her study and life, and Jennie was glad though, it was a good reason for her not having to come home that often. It wasn’t like she didn’t miss her father or something; she truly loved him and wanted to spend more time with him, but her father wasn’t always home, and was always busy with his business, and Jennie got used to it as she was growing up. By the time she knew it, Jennie wasn’t a girl who needed her father’s attention anymore, Jennie had a life to live and at this point she preferred to be on her own without her father’s supervision, not that he had time for her anyway.

From kid, her father was always her hero, but what she accidentally found out last year, had become the inconvenient truth that bothered her a lot, somehow Jennie had been keeping it to herself, not even her father knew that she found out nor Jisoo knew.

Mindlessly walking toward the house, Jennie was greeted by her maids, who gave her bow upon seeing her.

“Miss. Jennie, everyone was at the dining table” Mrs Choi, a head of house maid informed her.

“Thank you”, Jennie said, Mrs. Choi nodded, smiling back at her.

Jennie made her way to a dining room where her father was seated at the head of the table, her step-mother on his left and Jisoo was next to her mother

“I’m sorry to keep everyone waiting” Jennie apologized as she walked to her seat on the opposite site of Jisoo, Jennie gave a bow to Jisoo’s mother with a smile, which her step-mother returned with a gentle smile, one of the things Jisoo had from her mother. Jennie had a quick glance at Jisoo, “ Hi, unnie’ she managed to say, Jisoo gave her a light smile before Jennie looked away and smiled at her father.

“No worries” Her father said, “How is everything dear?” he smiled at her

“Everything is going great appa” Jennie said, “How was your trip?” she looked at her father then stopped at Jisoo’s mother

“It was good, I’ve some got gifts for you” Mrs. Kim answered

“Aw, thank you” Jennie smiled

As soon as Jennie sat down, they started their dinner, during the dinner, they had little family catch-up before they throughout small conversaton , occasionally Mr Kim would ask Jisoo and Jennie about things, while there were small talk exchanged between Jennie and her step-mother, but they were literally very little interaction between the two sisters, which it wasn’t a surprise for their parents. Seemingly, Jennie and Jisoo were drifting apart as they grew up, their parents believed it was a common way how teenagers turned adults when they tended to stick around with friends more than siblings, given a fact that Jisoo and Jennie were not biological sisters, they weren’t born to be bonded from the start, and with their opposite personalities made them nothing but two different people.

Mr Kim didn’t wonder if they wouldn’t get along great, or had things in common, at least he could relieve that they didn’t fight nor resent one another. He remembered Jennie once requesting him not to let anyone know that Jisoo was her step-sister for being embarrassed about it, and he still kept his promise though.

Since the trip at ski resort, they never went on any trip together again when Jennie’s father became extremely busy as his business was hugely successful and expanding its branches, his exceptional achievement had a price to pay, he didn’t remember the last time they spent a quality together as family, when his business empire was his first priority.

Ever since, he had less time for family, let alone paying attention to little things for family matter, he didn’t even know what Jennie was doing at school except for her major and it was more like Jisoo’s mother who took care of everyone.

While Jennie was a rebellious kind of a daughter, Jisoo was very obedient. When Jennie told her father what she was going to study at university, he was very disappointed as he wanted her to follow his footstep, but after trying, he failed to convince Jennie so he had no choice but to talk to Jisoo’s mother, and had her convincing Jisoo to enroll for business field, which Jisoo did, so at least he could rely on her when he was getting older.

Dinner carried without anyone even noticed the emotional suffer Jisoo and Jennie had to go through, they barely talked to each other, when they were urging to smile and give each other meaningful glances, but they couldn’t do it here and a simple dinner was just the pure torturing for them, when they did like they never loved at all.

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“What’s a shame Jisoo couldn’t make it” Lisa regretted

“Yeah, it’s her night” Yoona agreed

“I’m sure she wanted to come, and would have cancelled it if it wasn’t for a family plan” Chaeyoung defended on Jisoo’s behalf

“It is never too late to celebrate victory” Wendy added

“But it’s not often that everything is on Lisa” Yoona teased

“Yeah, let’s enjoy the expensive meal” Chaeyoung joined.

“You guys are really!” Lisa shook her head

It was for today competition that Lisa was planning to have special dinner with her friends, either Jisoo won or lost, she wanted to give her friend a special treat but what she didn’t know, Jisoo had a plan with her family, but Lisa didn’t want to cancel it because it wasn’t often that Yoona, their senior could make it, she was an idol with a hectic schedule, could make it

To lighten up a dinner without Jisoo, they started making the mood by teasing and joking around, which soon turned enjoyable, and Yoona was laughing at Lisa’s joke when she saw a group coming in, she recognized everyone, especially one person that they didn’t talk anymore, for a moment their eyes met, and Yoona had to look away.

Krystal didn’t expect to see Yoona here, it had been a while since she last saw her, after that day. Yoona used to study with them but she had to drop out when busy life as an idol took a toll on her.

“I guess we can’t really get away from them”, Joy commented as she noticed a group

“Good thing Jennie isn’t here” Yeri took a seat next to Joy

“I can’t imagine if both of them encounter here” Irene felt glad now Jennie didn’t make it, she didn’t want the brunette to run into Jisoo here, which would only emphasize her lose.

Krystal looked straight as she got a seat next to Irene, she couldn’t help but stole a glance at a person seated facing her from a far corner of the restaurant. Then Krystal noticed something

“Isn’t Jisoo here neither, is she?” Krystal whispered when it came to mention the name

“Oh isn’t she?” Irene just noticed too

“Who cares?” Yeri pursed up her lips, she wasn’t over a face that Jennie was defeated

“It’s just a bit weird, it seems to me that they are here to celebrate but then it’s without the winner” Krystal stated logically.

“You have a point unnie” Joy didn’t turn around to look but agreed anyway.

“She might be caught up with something, like Jennie can’t make it here with us tonight” Irene said without much thinking about it

“Um” Krystal agreed and let it slip

On the other side, it must have been a familiar sight for Wendy to see Jennie in the group wherever they went, so when she was not here tonight, Wendy couldn’t help but noticed an empty spot right away. At first she didn’t specifically look at them but when Irene whose seat arrangement was just before her eyes, she couldn’t distract herself long enough not to steal a glance at her, then noticed that a spot beside Irene was replaced by Krystal today.

As if they were at the cold war or some sort, two groups were having diner under the unseen pressure when they couldn’t just laugh out loud and kept their voice low all the time, saved for people whose seats were back facing the the other, Chaeyoung enjoyed her dinner happily, while Lisa had things to bicker with her all the time.

Not to make it too obvious, Krystal excused herself to go restroom , a couple minutes after she saw Yoona got up, quicken her pace hoping Yoona wasn’t done yet. Krystal didn’t want to use the restroom, but she waited for this moment for so long. She leaned her back against a wall, and waited.

A door pushed open and Yoona came out, she was surprised to see Krystal in front of her, she quickly moved for Krystal to go in and walked to a sink

“It has been a while” Krystal spoke, Yoon stared at Krystal from a mirror

“Yes, how are you doing?” Yoona asked

“I’m good” Krystal said

“I’m glad to hear that” Yoona smiled

“I guess you’ve been busy” Krystal stated

“Yes, I am” Yoona replied

“I’m happy to see you” Krystal smiled

Yoona didn’t respond but stared at Krystal from a mirror

“I miss you” Krystal said sadly

Yoona bit her lower lip, she wanted to reply her badly but she held herself back.

“I’ll see you around” Yoona didn’t dare to look at Krystal when she made her way out of the restroom, leaving Krystal alone there.

Krystal had a sad smile on her face, she felt pity at herself. After all these years, her heart was still breaking for this person. Nobody ever told her at school how it was hard to date an idol and kept a secret, and no one ever taught her how to cope with a break-up of hidden relationship, that didn’t even get chance to be known by anyone else, and it was aching until now.

----------------------------

Silence was helping to calm the chaotic mind, when Jennie had so much going on her head, she was standing at a balcony of her bedroom for a cool breeze after they were done with the dinner for quite sometimes. Her parents told them to stay over for a night, because it was a while since they returned home, involuntarily Jennie agreed somehow. Jennie was going to turn around and walked inside her bedroom when she heard a door sliding open from a bedroom next to her, with a connecting balcony but divided by a partition. And the owner of the other bedroom was none other than Jisoo, she appeared at the balcony and looked at Jennie.

Both of them didn’t speak any words but stared into the darkness of the night from each divided part of balcony, stars could not be seen clearly from here when the city light took over a whole sky and outshined them.

It took a moment until Jisoo spoke, “I am sorry about today,I didn’t expect it to turn out this way” , she sighed recalling about an event today where she won over Jennie at the completion

Jennie didn’t respond, she must be lying if she said it didn’t hurt her pride when she was defeated by a person she taught her how to play it.

“Are you mad at me?” Jisoo asked

“No, I’m not” Jennie answered

Although Jennie was upset at first, she wouldn’t be mad at Jisoo for her victory. She even doubted if Jisoo would ever want to battle with her, and after hearing what Krystal unnie said and Jennie believed her sunbae couldn’t be wrong about it, Jisoo pretended to make some mistakes but luck was just on her side, she won anyway.

“I didn’t mean to take it away from you” Jisoo admitted sadly

“I know” Jennie said, “Congratulation” she said at last

“Thanks but..” Jisoo couldn’t finish her sentence when Jennie cut her off , “I’m proud of you” Jennie said with a smile,

Standing apart, Jisoo reached out and placed her hand on the top of Jennie’s hand which rested on the balcony railing on her side of balcony, their fingers clasped so tight as if a promise unsaid by them but understood that they would never let go of each other hand.

-----------To Be Continued----------

A/N: Thank you for every subscription, upvote and comment, you guys are the best.

Here is another update, it explains more about their situation. Please feel free to let me hear your feedback. Thank you.