Chapter 4: A reason to hide

Past

Jennie’s father was hugging his wife as they were watching their only daughter having a good time with her friend. Their precious sweetheart, was dressed up in a princess theme for her special day, she wore the most wonderful smile and she was a star of today party as a birthday girl was going to turn 9 years old today. Jennie was having some friends over for her birthday party at their house. He smiled happily seeing kids running around, with a merry and joyful atmosphere. Jennie had about a dozen of close friends, they were laughing and squealing girlishly. At first he didn’t think of it but then he noticed something. His daughter didn’t invite any boy at her party.

He waited until his daughter was alone when he walked to her and asked, “Sweetheart, don’t you have any boy coming for your birthday party?”

“Nope appa” Jennie replied

"Why is that, don’t any of boy friends in your classroom want to come and celebrate your birthday ?”, He wasn’t really serious about it, but he just wanted to know. It was weird to him not to see any boy when his daughter’s school was an international school with many cute little boys and he believed Jennie had some friends who were boys.

"Some may want to come but I didn't want them here" Jennie said

" Oh, how about your close friends, aren't they nice enough to be invited for my princess's birthday?" He patted her hair lovingly and calmingly asked

“I don’t have any close friend who is boy” Jennie replied innocently

“Oh, I see” He smiled, “Then how about any boy you like, don’t you find any cute boy at your classroom who you want to invite?” He teased light-heartedly but Jennie took it seriously, she shook her head sternly and he was going to end his question there but what he heard next gave him a weird feeling.

“I don’t like boy, I like girl, appa” Jennie stated firmly, her serious expression somehow made him swallow hard. He hoped she was just too young than to understand the meaning behind what she just said. He wouldn't think about it much if it didn't remind him about his sister.

He wasn’t pessimistic but he learnt it in a hard way, when his older sister was disowned by his parents when she came out when she was a teenager, which led to a tragedy anyone would ever thought of, Jennie didn’t even get chance to even know her aunt when she left this world and it made him hate everything about it.

The question was left hanging at the back of his mind, until one year later, his doubt was confirmed when he noticed Jennie being very close to a daughter of their driver and hired maid. Hyeri, who was three years older than Jennie was living with her parents here. Jennie was clinging around her and spent most of the time after her school with her. Jennie even asked if she could have her Hyeri unnie to stay with her sometimes, this fact bothered him so much, that he had to talk to his wife. But to his wife’s optimism, she thought it was normal for only daughter who didn’t have a sister to stick around an older girl and believed that Jennie just needed friend, but he completely agreed, so he had his a maid that he could trust to keep her eyes on the kids, and kept reporting him of their behaviors and what was reported by this maid one day made he tremble with anger.

Jennie returned home one day to find that Hyeri and her family was gone, she didn’t know what happened at first, her father lied that they had to leave and go back their hometown for an urgent matter. Although she didn’t understand, Jennie believed it and was very sad that Hyeri didn’t even tell her or saying goodbye to her.

Jennie became quiet and didn’t eat well after the departure of Hyeri. It was obvious that Jennie missed her a lot, and she became sad to the point that her mother was so worried. Jennie’s mother had to ask her husband to re-hire them and bring them back but he refused to do so.

“I’m not having them back” He denied

“Honey, it could be a misunderstanding” His wife said

“It was clear Jihyun, she kissed our daughter and that girl is going to be a bad influence for Jennie” He blamed it all on a girl named Hyeri.

“They are just kids and they don’t even know what love is” She calmly reasoned, “Hyeri is only thirteen, and she may not realize what she did, can’t you give her a chance honey?” Mrs. Kim tried to negotiate with her husband, she couldn’t stand seeing Jennie being very sad, it broke her heart.

“I’d rather prevent it now than regret it later” He reasoned

“I can’t stand seeing Jennie like this anymore” Her voice was sadden

“As much as I want to see Jennie being happy, I can’t have them back, not when Jennie is showing sign of not liking a boy” He said

“She may change when she grows up” His wife said

“Until later, for now, let me have peace of mind” He said and hugged his wife.

Jennie stood still at the crack open door, she was holding back her tear and tried to move her feet to walk away before her parents would spot her, after she just overheard what her parents were discussing when she was coming to see her mother. The truth broke her little fragile heart, she was crushed by how her father judged her and did to her Hyeri unnie, and it was too much for a little and sweet girl like Jennie to deserve it. She brought herself back to her bedroom and closed the door and she sobbed quietly in her bed. Jennie might be young, but she knew what she wanted for herself, her father was too heartless to understand her love for another person who wasn’t her family. What her father was so cruel to Hyeri’s family, and she didn’t know where they were and what they were doing now. Jennie wasn’t only heart-broken to find this out, but she felt guilty for Hyeri unnie for the difficulty she had to face after leaving their house.

Without her father knowing, what he did, wasn’t to protect Jennie but it left her traumatize and rooted a deepest wound in Jennie’s heart, and worse came to worst when her mother, the only one who understood her, left unexpectedly a few month later, it left Jennie with nothing but sorrow and misery.

Years gone by since Jennie’s father re-married, and Jennie had changed for the better, he was happy that Jennie started to warm up to his wife and her daughter. Felt relieved at one point, it didn’t across his mind at first when they got close together, but a night where Jennie didn’t show up at the dinner and Jisoo looked anxious, it got him thinking.

Jennie’s wound which seemed to be healed after time, was once again touched and re-opened. It was around two weeks after they returned from their trip from the ski resort that Jisoo’s mother came to Jennie’s bedroom to talk to her. Jennie was quite surprised when her step-mother was approaching her to ask if she would want to go to study overseas, Jennie felt strange at the question and it wasn’t until later when Jisoo’s mother revealed that it was her father’s idea. He wanted to send Jisoo to study aboard, but Jisoo’s mother wanted to know Jennie’s idea first, in case she might want to go, then her step mother would suggest to Jennie’s father to send Jennie. Jennie should have been put first, that was her first thought.

Jennie sensed that something was off, and assumed that her father might have a hidden agenda on this, and when she put things together, it all made sense to her that her father wanted to separate them just in case for they stared getting too close.

“Aren’t you overthinking it, are you?” Jisoo asked , she tried to stay positive after hearing what Jennie told her

“You don’t know my father” Jennie said.

“It doesn’t make sense that he wants you to go study aboard first, and not talking about me going, I am his daughter for God’s sake” Jennie reasoned

“He may want to have you close to him” Jisoo said

“That’s the point, keep me here so I’m not too far from his supervision” Jennie said bitterly, and Jisoo thought about, even she didn’t want to jump into a conclusion, she had to admit, it made sense.

“By any chance did he know that you …” Jisoo hesitated

“Like girls, yes” Jennie answered

“How and when ?” Jisoo explored Jennie

“He has his way” Jennie sighed, and she decided to tell Jisoo a long story short about her childhood crush, and how he father did to her.

“So you think he may find out about us, do you?” Jisoo asked with difficulty

“He may suspect it” Jennie said

Just like kids who had done something guilty, faulty stood on their guards, and paranoid were at the back of their heads. They were trying to figure out what to do next. Jisoo was shaken by what Jennie told her and it was something she least expected it to happen.

“I don’t want us to be apart Jisoo” Jennie weakly confessed

“Don’t worry, we won’t” Jisoo tried to comfort Jennie

“How?” Jennie was despair

“For now, just act like we don’t know first” Jisoo suggested, “We will play along, if we have too”

“ Jisoo” Jennie called her

“ Yeah?” Jisoo could see the weakness in Jennie’s eyes

“Won’t you give up on me, will you?” Jennie was at the verge of crying and it pained Jisoo’s heart to hear Jennie’s voice trembling with fear.

“I won’t give up on you, and I won’t give up on us” Jisoo promised as she put her arms around Jennie, although Jisoo acted strong but deep inside, she was confused and scared too. She was just a teenage girl in love and too young to figure all out at once. But all she knew she was going to fight for Jennie and their love, and they would do anything to be together.

Present

Jennie was coming down from her bedroom after getting dressed, and she thought about filling her stomach with something before she left for her university. Wandering to the dinner room, Jennie noticed Jisoo was having coffee with her mom, and their eyes met once Jisoo spotted her. Something in Jisoo’s eyes were telling her to come and join them so Jennie did.

“Let’s grab some breakfast together before you leave” Jisoo’s mother said warmly as she saw Jennie, Jennie smiled at her as she found her seat across Jisoo. Jisoo nodded agreeing with her mother.

“Did appa leave already?” Jennie asked as she looked around

“Yes, he just left about 10 minutes ago, he has a morning meeting” Her step-mother said

“Ah, I guess I miss him them” Jennie said

“You should come back home more often, your father misses you” Her step-mother encouraged

“I’ll do when I’m less busy” Jennie got by with her excuses

“That would be nice , Jisoo too, will you?” Jisoo’s mother looked at her daughter

“I’ll try my best” Jisoo replied, she sipped the coffee from her cup and stealing glance at Jennie

“Can you get me a cup of coffee please?” Jennie told Mrs Choi

“Yes, Miss Jennie” Mrs Choi responded to Jennie’s command then she walked toward a kitchen to prepare the coffee for her, Jisoo’s gaze dragged after Mrs. Choi then looked at Jennie, for a swift moment they exchanged a knowing look, and small smirk curved up at one corner of Jennie’s lip. Mrs Choi was still too far from their hiding game.

“Jisoo unnie, aren’t you going to the university?” Jennie asked nonchalantly but more relaxed without her father around.

“I won’t have my class until 10 am” Jisoo replied casually, “ How about you?”

“I’ll have one in the afternoon” Jennie said, she reached for some bread, Jisoo passed her the butter

“Thanks” Jennie said.

“I guess that’s why you don’t often come across each other” Jisoo’s mother joined in the conversation. She remembered Jisoo told her that she didn’t see Jennie very often at their university as they were studying different fields.

“Yes, we barely see each other” Jennie replied as the same time coffee came, Mrs. Choi was placing a cup of coffee in front of Jennie.

“Thanks” Jennie smiled at Mrs. Choi

“You’re welcome Miss” Mrs Choi bowed with her sweet smile

It made Jisoo inwardly scoff at how pretentious she was. But Jisoo couldn’t blame her though, she just has been following the instruction. But it wasn’t wrong for Jisoo to dislike her as well when Jisoo and Jennie was put at a dangerous stake when it came to her monitoring them while they were at home.

“I guess I’ll have to leave now” Jisoo announced

“Won’t you stay with us a bit longer?” Her mother asked

“I’ve got something to do before my class, I’ll be late if I don’t get going now” Jisoo reasoned.

Gave in to her reason, her mother didn’t persist her to stay but asked her to come home more often

“See you next time unnie” Jennie said without looking up from her phone.

“When will you come home next time?” Jisoo asked

“I don’t know” Jennie shrugged

“See you when I see you then” Jisoo didn’t really look at Jennie when she said so, her gaze fell upon Mrs. Choi, and Jisoo smiled at her, and it was a fake smile.

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The BLACKVEL University

Jennie arrived at the campus when it was time for her to start her class, she was spending time with Jisoo’s mother and didn’t leave until later. Jennie decided not to meet up with her friends today but went straight to a lecture room where she found herself a seat. She looked around and saw some people gathering up, their mouths were moving up and down as though they were gossiping over something, and it wasn’t until he removed her ear-pods when she started hearing the buzz of girls talking about what seemed to be a hot topic today, even the guys too, they were obviously paying attention to something on their phone, and Jennie could care less if it wasn’t for …

“I suspect the one responsible for this must be JinSoo anti-club” One of them voiced out

“Whoever did it, she shall not face only a consequence of her action, but will live a hell afterward” Another girl added

“Yeah, who are you kidding with? For God’s sake, it’s Jisoo, the elite members, with a huge numbers of fans, they probably start haunting down the person who hurt Jisoo by now” The last person whispered but it was loud enough for Jennie to hear, she raised her brow.

“What were you guys talking about?” Jennie turned around to ask those three girls behind her, but they were to shock to answer at first, their jaw dropped. Kim Jennie, a cool and popular girl from an elite club, known for being snobbery and cold, who barely talked to anyone besides her circle of close and best friends, were talking to them now, it was unbelievable.

“We were talking about Kim Jisoo from an elite club, she got attacked by someone” A girl stuttered

“What?” Jennie found herself explained but then decided to keep her cool and listened until the end of the story.

Jennie felt her blood was boiling inside after a story was told, she clenched her jaws suppressing her anger while worry was creeping up in her heart. She couldn’t believe, she just saw Jisoo like hours before and now she was hurt. Wasting no time, Jennie was desperate to find out what actually happened, and the only one who could give her the best answer is Jisoo. Jennie punched away her phone keyboard and asked Jisoo.

It had been long hours where Jennie had to endure listening to what seemed to come to her right ear and go out on her left ear. The long wait ended when the class was dismissed and Jennie quickened her pace faster than her usual walking rhythm.

Although Jennie was confirmed by Jisoo that she was alright, Jennie wanted to see it on her own eyes. By the time her feet led her to a location Jisoo told her where she was, from a fair distance, Jennie spot Jisoo and her friends seated at the café. Her gaze fell on Jisoo’s arm, it was bundled in a white bandage, in which according to what Jisoo told her, was sprained arm. Upon seeing so, Jennie wanted to walk closer to where Jisoo was and gave her a hug, but she couldn’t, thus all she did was to look Jisoo from a far, where Lisa was helping to feed Jisoo some snack.

“I was looking for your everywhere”

Irene placed her arm around Jennie’s shoulder, her appearance and announcement broken Jennie’s trance, she quickly tore her gaze from Jisoo’s group but it was too late, Irene’s stare had already followed where Jennie was looking, she was there when Jennie was spacing out.

“I just finished my class and thought about getting a cold drink but I changed my mind” Jennie turned to look at Irene

“I see” Irene nodded, “They are there”, she thought Jennie might not want to go in alone because another gang was there

“Let’s go somewhere else” Jennie suggested

“But I asked Joy and Yeri to come over” Irene reasoned, “ It’s alright if you want to go somewhere else” she left Jennie an option.

Jennie was contemplating where she noticed her two said friends were coming their way, “ I guess it’s okay to hang around there, it’s not like they own the place anyway” Jennie said

“If you say so” Irene shrugged, she couldn’t careless, she was lazy to walk far anyway.

As expected, once Jennie and her friends stepped into the café, they earned a quick glance from a group from a table, but it was only a swift second before they averted their attention back to what they were doing.

“I guess it was true” Yeri whispered among them

“It was obvious” Joy answered knowingly

“Was that girl a fool or something, how she dared to mess up with such a person?” Yeri kept her voice low

“I’m sure she would face her wrath soon” Joy gave her opinion

Jennie appeared not to care yet she listened to everything, and thought along. She kept stealing glance and Jisoo when her friends were not looking. And even from where she was, Jennie could still hear how Lisa was blabbing about Jisoo’s incident and swore to haunt whoever had such a gut to harm Jisoo. Jennie was grateful that Jisoo had such a good friend, somehow it was her place to be able to express in a such a way.

“Do you think we shall them?” Joy asked hesitantly when she looked up from her phone

“Tell who what?” Irene asked

“I got a piece of evidence from my people, they know who was a girl in a mask this morning” Joy answered, hinting about an incident about Jisoo

“Oh really?” Yeri was interested

“Didn’t I tell you to leave this alone?” Irene gawked at Joy , which made she smiled dryly before kept her phone away

“Can you please send it to me?” Jennie spoke to Joy and it drew a surprise stare quick look from Irene, and Jennie was aware of her questioning look, “I want to know who is that brave girl”, Jennie said nonchalantly.

“Me too” Yeri chimed in excitedly, ignoring Irene’s disapprovingly look, as long as it was Jennie, Irene would give in anyway.

Jennie scanned through information and a face behind a mask and the next photos which revealed a face of suspect, Jennie gritted her teeth. How could you? Jennie thought

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The worry which had followed Jennie around all day long ended the moment she got to see Jisoo in their own place, a reassuring smile was welcoming her as she entered their apartment, and Jennie could feel her longing was granted when she put her arms around Jisoo.

Jennie gently touched Jisoo’s arm where it hurt while Jisoo’s head rested on her thigh, her worries were washed away, leaving a lone anger when she remembered a face of a person who dared to hurt her Jisoo.

“What are you going to do with her?” Jennie asked Jisoo, she had given Jisoo the information

“I don’t know yet” Jisoo honestly replied. The least she wanted to deal with.

“I’m not going to let it slip” Jennie stated firmly with her strong resent.

Jisoo looked up, she inhaled a sharp breath. She knew Jennie was going to be like this. “ I’ll deal with it, don’t you worry” Jisoo told

“How?” Jennie asked, she doubted if Jisoo would have a heart to haunt this person down

“I’ll tell you later, for now let’s not talk about it” Jisoo suggested and Jennie had no choice but to drop the topic, but she didn’t forget to make a mental note to make this girl taste her own medicine if Jisoo wasn’t going to do anything.

“By the way, I can’t wait for the rally road trip” Jisoo smiled as she thought about the upcoming event, but she heard Jennie sighing , Jisoo furrowed her brow

“It’s gonna be a headache” Jennie pointed out

“I’m sure it will be” Jisoo agreed,“But there’s not much we can do, so I guess we will have to play along like we always do”, she added

“Um” Jennie hummed in agreement, though she had no idea what was going to happen

“One thing, please ask your friends to take care of our Wendy, I mean not an obvious way if you could” Jisoo requested, thinking of her poor friend who was going to join Jennie’s gang

“Well, my friends are not bad people, and I’m sure they are not going to be hard on your friend” Jennie somehow defended her friends

“I wasn’t saying they are, just you know, it’s already hard for Wendy to be separated from us” Jisoo tried to reason

“As long as she doesn’t get to their nerves, I’m sure she will survive. I’ll talk to them anyway” Jennie couldn’t promise if her friends would take care of Wendy the way Jisoo wanted them to, but she was going to do what she could as per Jisoo’s request. “ I’m sure she will be alright though” Jennie added to make Jisoo feel at some ease.

“Thanks” Jisoo smiled

Then Jisoo remembered to tell Jennie something, “ Tomorrow I won’t have any class, so I’ll be accompanying my mom to the hospital for her annual medical check-up” Jisoo told Jennie

“Ah” Jennie nodded, “How is your mom’s condition?” , Jennie asked , it just felt weird to her when she had to address Jisoo’s mother as her mom alone, when in fact, the middle age woman was related to her as her mom too.

“ She does take her regular pills for her heart disease, rather than that nothing to worry” Jisoo informed. Jennie nodded

It was nothing new about Jisoo’s mother health condition, it had been known Jisoo’s mother had this heart disease for a long time, and she had to take medicine for it. It was one of many reasons that drove Jisoo to this point, she hadn’t been brave enough to confide her secret to her mom for she was afraid of the outcome. One awful memory which haunted Jisoo until nowadays was the day her father passed away and her mother couldn’t take it well, she collapsed with her heart attack once the news was broke out and she would regret all her life if she was to give her mother a heart attack confessing this to her. Jisoo would buy the time and hoped one day she would be able to figure what to do with it, meanwhile she chose to enjoy the excitement and guilty pleasure of hiding this love, a relationship that only they knew.

Jisoo looked up to the pair of eyes staring at her, as water was running down her hair, when she rested her head on the edge of the bathtub, Jennie reluctantly rinsed water on Jisoo’s hair, washing away the shampoo off it, while her fingers running through her hair.

“I don’t know you could be really good at it” Jisoo complimented as Jennie was washing her hair for her because she had trouble doing it herself with one hand.

“Really?” Jennie smiled

“Really, it’s worth a sprained arm” Jisoo answered

“Yah, don’t say so” Jennie stopped Jisoo, shaking her head. “Nothing will be worth it if you’re in pain”

Jisoo looked up at a pouting face, that never failed to give her the urge to pitch the cheek. “You know what?” Jisoo began as she stared straight into Jennie’s eyes, where Jennie always lost in them

“You’re always worth my pain, no matter what” Jisoo said. It was something that only they could understand, it was sad yet sweet, hence they refused to give up on it.

Jennie couldn’t resist the alluring eyes when she bended down to give Jisoo a kiss and Jisoo had no reason not to respond but it didn’t stop there when their kisses became passionate and affectionate. The guilty pleasure that none of them would want to stop and didn’t know how.

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One Week Later

In front of the university, 15 SUV cars were lined up at the starting point. The Road Trip Rally, a distinguish game mixed between car rally race rule and road trip aimed to strengthen friendship among college students through a whole three days journey, made this game a special highlight event of the year, one of the most anticipated annual game for their university.

Each vehicle was equipped with GPS and GoPro camera for recording the journey, and each team was given budget to be spending during the trip that they had to figure out how to use.

Contrasting to an exciting atmosphere was the tension and awkwardness situation inside a car, when Wendy got in a passenger seat next to Irene, and at the back seats were occupied by Joy and Yeri, they didn’t know what to talk, and it silenced the talkative duo at the back as well. Wendy expected it, so she prepared herself with a set of her earphones in case they didn’t want to converse with her, also the courage to strike conversation with Irene at some moment.

While on another car was facing the dead air, Jennie seemed to be in a better position. She was seated at the back seat next to Chaeyoung who was friendly enough to initiate the conversation with her and gave her genuine nice smile, whereas, Jisoo and Lisa were on the front row, with Jisoo was to drive first then switching with Lisa later as according to the plan that Lisa shared in general. To eliminate an absolute awkwardness, Jisoo asked everyone to introduce themselves for just formalities. Beside the greeting, Lisa didn’t talk to Jennie afterward, which Jennie couldn’t care less, she was fine with it.

Once the signal was given, the cars kicked off the starting point and freely ran into the road , Jennie dozed off as soon as she felt the car was moving, Jisoo took glance at the rear view mirror, she couldn’t help but smiled, she hoped she would be able to get a fair share of time given to enjoy this trip with Jennie, she was already glad to feel Jennie’s presence though they wouldn’t talk at all.

Following the game rules, everyone stopped by along the way to find the item(s) as prescribed and hinted on each given mission with quiz to solve.

Chaeyoung was paired up with Jennie, while Lisa and Jisoo got together to do the mission

“Jennie and I will go in the convenient store to get some snack and food for us” Chaeyoung announced

“That’s a good idea Chaeng” Jisoo said

“Wait us at the car, once you’re done” Lisa told Chaeyoung

“Do you need anything Lisa?” Chaeyoung asked Lisa but before Lisa could answer Jennie spoke for the first time,

“I think we need to be careful on what we spend and get only necessary stuff, we don’t know yet what this money is planned for” Jennie reasoned, Chaeyoung thought and nodded.

“I don’t need anything Chaeng” Lisa looked crossed though

“Alright, off we go, see you soon” Chaeyoung excitedly cheered, she took Jennie’s hand, which surprised the latter but Jennie didn’t reject and let Chaeyoung dragging her away. For a moment, without words, Jisoo looked at Chaeyoung’s hand which was holding Jennie’s and Lisa followed suit.

While they were alone in the convenient store Jennie asked Chaeyoung for a quiz paper again, she wasn’t only getting stuff for their own but looking for the item as well.

“Jennie, what do you like for snack?” Chaeyoung asked

“Anything is fine” Jennie answered while looking for an item

“Are you allergic to something?” Chaeyoung asked again, and Jennie had to pause and think.

“Yeah I do” Jennie looked at Chaeyoung, “ I’m allergic to shrimp or any product with shrimp as a main ingredient” she described

“Understood” Chaeyonng nodded. Jennie found Chaeyoung a very nice and charming girl to be around, and it was enough to break Jennie’s nutshell

“Thanks Rosé” Jennie smiled at Chaeyoung

“Rosé ? “ Chaeyoung repeated, it had been long since she heard someone calling her this name

“I find it suit you better” Jennie explained, she knew Roseanne Park was her full name and Rosé was her other nickname stated in the profile of elite members.

“I love it too” Chaeyong smiled, agreed to let Jennie calling her by the name that mostly her family called her, and now Jennie was a special case.

At the end of the day, everyone gathered at the location where they were set to stay for tonight, Irene, Joy and Yeri were exchanging their looks as they were to decide how to share the room for two. As much as Joy wanted to save Irene from the awkwardness, she wouldn’t agree if Yeri had to share a room with Wendy for sure.

“I’m tired, so I’ll go ahead and shower first, anyone who would share a room with me, please knock the door when you get there” Wendy decided to speak up, she had enough of an awkward situation where the three of them treated her like alien, and no matter how much she liked Irene, she felt hurt at her coldness too. Wendy grabbed her suitcase and headed to an elevator, without turning back to get the answer from the trio.

Irene didn’t know if it was guilt or something that made she feel bad all of sudden the moment Wendy disappear inside the elevator.

“How would you like it?” Joy asked for Irene’s opinion

“I honestly don’t know” Irene sighed tiredly

“If you don’t feel comfortable to share a room with her then I will” Joy finally made up her mind, it was better than to let Yeri or Irene do. Irene was surprised, as she knew Joy wanted to be with Yeri. 4

Another wave of guilt hit Irene, she was nominated as a leader for this game but she couldn’t do anything when it came to the decision and now Joy was the one who showed her the spirit of leader, Irene couldn’t help but felt ashamed. For a swift second, Irene decided to do what she should do .

“No worries, you and Yeri will be sharing a room and I’ll be a roomie to …Wendy” Irene told

“Are you sure?” Yeri asked

“Yes” Irene confirmed.

Agreed to room sharing, Irene proceeded to a room where she was to be roomie to Wendy. She knocked on the door, and was greeted by a surprised expression written all over Wendy’s face when she opened the door.

“I hope you’ll be fine with this” Irene spoke to break the ice

“Sure, why not?” Wendy tried her best to hide her smile. Irene walked into the room where two twin beds were provided, she released a sigh, at least the first night was a hotel but she couldn’t imagine when they would have to share a camp for their next destination.

“ We will be headed for dinner at 7:00 PM, if you want to walk around before then, please meet us at the restaurant on 5^th floor” Irene informed

“Okay” Wendy nodded. She was planning to go and see her friends at their room for a bit, and joined them later.

“Wendy” Irene called her name as she was about to leave the room, Wendy stopped at her track and turned around, Irene looked up from the floor and said, “ Thank you for driving us for the rest of the day”

For the first time, Wendy tried to capture how beautiful Irene’s smile was when she thanked her, followed by a nice smile.

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“What’s with a grumpy face?” Jisoo asked as she stepped out of the bathroom, Lisa was complaining something while Wendy was sitting at the edge of the bed listening to a story Lisa was blabbing about

“Really, can’t you see how Chaeyoung treating her, that’s so annoying?” Lisa complained

“Don’t act as if you don’t know Chaeyoung” Wendy commented

“She is just being friendly which it’s good, and you should thank her for that, she saves us from suffocating the dead air” Jisoo reasoned, she sat down on her bed, wiping her wet hair.

“This is too much, you see, she totally forgets about us, and she is so happy with a new roomie” Lisa annoyingly huffed out her breath.

Wendy just shook her head at her childish friend, either she was being jealous or possessive, Wendy didn’t think Lisa was even aware of her feeling.

“She will be meeting us at dinner anyway” Jisoo said

“Did you hear how Jennie calling her?” Lisa asked Jisoo

“Why, did I miss something?” Jisoo asked

“She called her Rosé, a nickname that only her family does call her” Lisa said, upset

“Oh did she?” Jisoo did actually miss it

“ Yeah, I heard it a few time and Chaeng seems to be happy to be called by that” Lisa said, “ Since when she allows other to call her that nickname”

“ Wait” Wendy interrupted, “ I don’t remember Chaeyoung saying that we were not allowed to call her by that name and it was us who decided to call her by her Korean name” Wendy straightened it

Although Jisoo was surprised at how Jennie could get along with Chaeyoung and even called her by that name, she had to agree with Wendy “Yeah, she never said so, it was hard for me to pronounce her nickname at first so I also decided to call her by her Korean name too”

Lisa paused and thought but still she was upset of how special this name sounded when among them but then Jennie was calling her.

" Still since when they were close enough to be so close, were they being friends behind our back?” Lisa argued, somehow her nonsense doubt backfired on Jisoo.

“Don’t be ridiculous Lisa, Chaeyoung is not going to leave you for Jennie” Wendy teased

“I think it’s enough for the nickname thingy, let’s move on, you should get going and shower already, we are headed to dinner soon” Jisoo sternly ordered as a leader for their group, “ Or you will be left alone” Jisoo threatened

“I’m sure Jennie and Chaeyoung shall be ready by now” Wendy teased

“Yah, no way” Lisa ran to grab her towel and sped up to the bathroom

Jisoo and Wendy shook their head, and when Lisa left, Jisoo started to ask about Wendy’s day.

--------------- TBC --------------------

A/N : A short update for now. Pleas stay tuned, I’ll update soon.