Lisa and Jennie where both laying in the brunette’s bed, facing each other, music could be heard coming from the brunette’s phone, both in their underwear just wanting to enjoy each other’s company after the big fight they had.

The brunette gave Lisa a meaningful look before placing her hand on the girl’s cheek pulling her for a light kiss. Her lips moved to her cheek, then her nose, her eyes, her forehead and lingered there for second. She moved even closer to Lisa on the bed, holding her close, touching her forehead with hers.

“Please don’t walk away from me again.” The brunette whispered.

“I won’t.” The thai girl responded softly. “I’m not leaving you, I promise.”

The brunette seemed to process Lisa’s words for a second, she kissed her softly on the forehead one more time before getting up from the bed, she walked towards her closet to pull out a hoodie and put it on. She then silently walked towards the dresser in her room and immediately started taking things out from a drawer and moving them into another one.

Lisa got up confusedly, took another hoodie from the brunette’s closet and walked towards Jennie. “Hey, what are you doing?” She said softly standing behind the brunette and holding her softly by the waist.

“Just clearing some stuff out so you have space for yours.” She said, her hands moving rapidly to make space.

Lisa frowned and stopped the brunette by placing her hand on the taller girl’s. “You don’t have to do that Jen, I get it now and it’s ok if you need more time to let me in completely.”

“It’s not that.” The brunette said. Looking down at her hands. “I almost ruined things two days ago with my actions, I made you feel like I didn’t care when it’s the complete opposite of that.” She continued quietly. “I just don’t want to ruin it again.” She whispered and then continued cleaning up the drawer.

“You are not going to ruin it.” Said Lisa, gently turning the brunette around so she could face her. “Communication comes a long way you know?” She said, her hands on the brunette’s waist. “Yes, you made me doubt you for a second, but then you made understand where you were coming from, that’s all I wanted Jen for you to let me in so I could understand you a little better.” She pushed back a lock of hair from the brunette’s face behind her ear. “You let me in, and I’m still here, I’m not going anywhere.” Her eyes finally going up to meet Lisa’s. “Okay?” Asked the thai girl.

“I’m not easy to be with.” The brunette said quietly looking at Lisa uncertainty. It was as if she was giving her one last chance to leave but of course Lisa proved her otherwise.

“So?” The thai girl shrugged. “Easy is boring, besides I’m not that easy either, I’m stubborn, I take monopoly way to seriously to the point where I’ll stop talking to you if you win, I’m way to loud when I talk, I’m up in the clouds 90% of the time, I’m way too energetic for my own good, I’m…” she suddenly gets interrupted by a pair of lips, a pair of lips she loves very much.

“I have a hard time talking about my feelings, I sometimes get so into work that I forget there is a world outside, I’m horribly stubborn too, If I just bought a piece of clothing I like I will pretty much wear it everyday, and I actually do like the twilight movies.” She says with smile.

Lisa can only smile back. “So you see we both have our downfalls but what matter is that we stay despite of them, hell it makes things more interesting.”

“So everything will be ok? Will figure it out together, right?” Jennie asks softly.

“You can bet on it.” Lisa nodded firmly. “Now come on, I love this song and I wanna dance with you.”

“Now you are just being too sweet.” Jennie mumbles while Lisa pulls her close to her.

“You love me anyways.” Lisa whispered in her ear as they begin to sway.

Lisa feels the brunette melt into her, and she smiles softly against her as they sway slowly. The moonlight being the only thing illuminating the room, the music softly playing, it’s all so perfect. Lisa’s hands slowly trail along Jennie’s arms so that they can curl comfortably around the brunette’s waist.

“Don’t be scared, no don’t be scared ‘cause you are all I need.” Lisa softly sing against Jennie’s ear.

As the song comes to an end and the initial strums of Lights Down Low start playing as their lips meet, the kiss was soft and slow. Jennie’s hand raised, resting on Lisa’s cheek before sliding both of her hands over the taller girl’s shoulders and locking behind her neck. She starts pushing them towards the bed, laying down first and then pulling Lisa on top of her.

Lisa sits up to remove her own hoodie and underwear and then slowly doing the same for Jennie, the brunette wrapping her arms around Lisa’s neck and her legs wrapping around the girl. Never once breaking contact with each other they spend the rest of the night worshipping each other.

----------

Fast forward a month later, everything is going great, Lisa’s bookstore clientele has been increasing ever since Chaeyoung agreed to help with marketing the place, Lisa swore she’ll never be done with the ever growing list of restorations she had, but hey it’s what she loves to do even if it means being held up at the workshop all day. Besides she occasionally had a pretty brunette bring her lunch and if not she was the one bringing lunch to a pretty brunette’s office.

As for Jennie, she was still a bit closed off but not as much as before and she kept opening up more and more with time, the thai girl now had her own drawer at Jennie’s, her own mug, it was a white one with an illustration of books that read “My weekend is all booked”, gifted of course by her pretty girlfriend because of course the brunette knew how much she liked puns.

Also Lisa was happy to say she even had some of her precious books at Jennie’s house. And Jennie was also happy to say it was her who initiates contact in public, she even lets Lisa help her with things at work, mostly she helps with redacting emails apparently the brunette could be a bit sharp, even in written form.

Speaking of the brunette’s work, that bring us to present day, two days before the brunette’s studio grand opening, although is wasn’t anything super formal, like the galas the brunette is accustomed to, it was important enough that the press was coming, partner companies reps, important people from the industry were coming, so well...everything had to be perfect, so to say the brunette was stressed was an understatement.

“Chaeyoung my darling chipmunk.” Jisoo said walking into the brunette’s office, which was right next to the other brunette’s one.

Chaeyoung only raised a finger at Jisoo, signaling her to wait for a moment as she finished reading an email. Jisoo only nodded as she set the flower bouquet she was carrying on a nearby table.

“Hey dollface, know where can I find Miss Kim this fine morning?” the dark haired girl asked once she saw Chaeyoung had closed her laptop.

“Why do you ask?” She said leaning back on her chair.

“My boss figures your business partner might be a bit stressed what with the inauguration happening soon so she sent me to bring her some pretty flowers to light up her day.” She said pointing to the bouquet she left on the table earlier.

“That’s sweet, but I’m afraid Jennie’s a bit indisposed right now, she is in a meeting, but you can leave those here, I’ll give them to her later.”

“Right, thank you for that.” Jisoo said, looking around the office the girl could see papers scattered everywhere, some takeout containers in the trash, and a couple of energy drinks cans scattered around. “So…” she cleared . “How are you doing? I mean I now Jennie is probs freaking out but you are part of the team as well, surely you are suffering from stress as well.” she said shrugging.

Chaeyoung looked at Jisoo stunned, genuinely surprised she cared, a lot of people didn’t give her a second look because they thought her job wasn’t as stressful so they never bother to ask, but here she is, this amazingly beautiful girl asking out of genuine interest.

She cleared and readjusted herself in her seat. “I’m... stressed, not only I’m managing the marketing aspect of the recording studio but I also have other campaigns to work on and seeing as we are currently understaffed and with me working remotely because somehow I thought relocating here would be a good idea, I’m way behind schedule and deadlines and I’m honestly surviving on take out and coffee.” She said out of breath after talking so fast.

“Oh Chae.” Said Jisoo, reaching across the brunette’s desk to hold her hand. “I’m sorry you are going through that.” She said softly. “I’m not experienced in marketing or anything like that, but I am experienced in using a skillet and oven, so how about you take just one night off and come to my place for dinner, hell even if you can’t turn off your working brain for a night I can even help you with something, I dunno reading some emails maybe, organizing stuff…” She rambled before being interrupted by the brunette placing her free hand on top of hers.

“That would be wonderful Jisoo.” The brunette said with a smile. “I’m in.”

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

“Hello gorgeous.” Said Lisa immediately after picking up the phone.

“Hey babe.”

“So to what do I owe this phone call? I mean I love hearing your voice, but I thought you said you had a meeting.” She said checking the clock in her wall.

“I did, I mean I have another thing to do right now but I just needed to tell you something. Well two things.” The brunette said. “First thank you for the flowers, I loved them and the flower pun.” She said with a smile. (If you really must know what it was, ‘Not a daisy goes by that I don’t think about you.’)

“What can I say, I’m romantic like that.”

“Whatever you say babe, but I also wanted to tell you something else, so just like… don’t stress ok?”

“Ok… what’s going on?” the thai girl frowned.

“So you know my dad’s coming to the grand opening right? Well I told him about you and he said he wants to have dinner so he can meet you.” Said Jennie.

“Ok. When? the day after the opening or…”

“Tonight.” Interrupted Jennie. “He got here earlier than expected, I’m on my way to pick him up actually.”

Lisa just paled and her brain malfunctioned right then and there.

“Lisa? Babe, are you there?” She asked after several seconds of silence.

“Yes, I’m here…” Lisa swallowed. “Tonight huh? I can do dinner, just tell me where.”

“You sound awfully relaxed, are sure it’s ok? I know it’s short notice but…”

“Jen, baby, it’s fine parents love me. Just text me the details okay?” Lisa said trying to keep her voice steady. “Listen I gotta go, but I’ll see you tonight. Love you.” She said before hanging up. Leaning back on her chair she passed her fingers through her hair.

Jisoo was scouting the internet looking for something to cook for Chaeyoung, biting her bottom lip as a nervous habit and bouncing her leg up and down, when she heard a quite, ‘’ coming from Lisa’s mouth as she walked passed her and started pacing back and forth in front the counter.

“Whoa, hey no!.” Said Jisoo. “How come you always get to be the caged tiger, maybe this time I want to be the caged tiger, have you thought about that?” She complained.

Lisa stopped for a second to look at Jisoo before answering. “It’s a big cage.” She said gesturing to the open space on her right side.

“So what, we are doing this at the same time?” Asked Jisoo with a frown.

“Why not?” the thai girl shrugged.

“Alright.. so I just…” Jisoo moved from her spot to stand opposite Lisa “...Walk? I mean do I like it? will it work?” She mumbled while both of them started pacing back and forth. “ yeah, I think I like this.” She said convinced.

“Ok, you first.” Said Lisa.

Jisoo took a deep breath. “ing Chaeyoung.”

“Whoa! What?” Lisa stopped pacing standing next to Jisoo to turn to look at her a surprised look on her face.

“No!” Jisoo widened her eyes. “Not like me ing Chaeyoung, though I wouldn’t say no to that, I mean… .” She said continuing her pacing and the thai girl following through.

“I think I like Chaeyoung.” Jisoo said.

“Nooo.” Lisa said sarcastically.

“Yes...Wait…” They both stopped their pacing again. “Are you saying nooo, like ‘no ing ’?” Jisoo questioned.

“Dude, you’ve been spending a whole lot of time with her, plus we can’t have a conversation without you bringing her up one way or another.” Said the thai girl with a grin.

“.”

“So what brought this revelation to the light?” The taller girl asked, continuing their pacing.

“I invited her over for dinner tonight, and I’m freaking out, because I don’t know how to handle it.”

“Okay.” Said Lisa, stopping their pacing once again. “Tonight shouldn’t be any different than all the other times you’ve hanged out, take it easy, go with flow and see where things end up.” she continued. “You are an amazing human being Jisoo and an even more amazing cook and for what it’s worth I think Chaeyoung might like you back.”

“Right, just take it easy… I can do that.” Said Jisoo then pointed at Lisa. “So you? Why are you pacing now?”

“Mr. Kim is arriving today and he wants to have dinner with me and Jennie.” said Lisa.

“Oh. Billionaire owner of the biggest music empire in the country Mr. Kim is coming to meet bookshop owner Lalisa Manoban?” asked Jisoo incredulously, her eyebrows raise in surprise. “Well , by all means please keep pacing.”

Lisa could only sigh and continued her pacing.

“Jennie said her father has always been very protective of her, and that protectiveness only multiplied times a hundred after the whole Kai fiasco. And okay he’s an , but he’s an with a ton of money capable of taking Jennie all over the world if he wanted, capable of showering her with expensive gifts, and I’m just a bookstore owner.” She said quietly.

“Hey you are a bookstore owner who is the world’s first choice for book restorations, like literally the whole world, a bookstore owner who had to work hard for everything she got, a bookstore owner who happens to love his daughter and would go to the end of the world to make her happy.” Jisoo tells her firmly, because her best friend is not allowed to talk down on herself in front of her. And Lisa, Lisa could only nod, still worried.

“Don’t sell yourself short ok? Just be your usual punny self and I guarantee he’ll love you. You got this.” Said Jisoo looking straight into Lisa’s eyes. “Also, this whole dual pacing thing, I love it, we should do it more often.”

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

Chaeyoung knocked on the door of Jisoo’s apartment at eight on Wednesday night, she was surprised the shorter girl had ask her to come to dinner, although it was not clear if this was a date or not she is considering it as one, she likes Jisoo, plain and simple, there is not point in denying it and if she’s being honest if Jisoo hadn’t invited her today she would’ve ask her out for a date herself.

This was the first time she’d really spent any time at Jisoo’s apartment, as usually they’d meet at restaurants or coffee shops. So for the blonde this meant they had taken another step in their growing relationship.

When she walked up to the shorter girl’s door there was a note that read ‘If you are Chae make you way in, if you are not Chae kindly off. ’ so with a chuckle she made her way in, and what she saw when walking in was exactly what she expected, the whole place was all white walls but the décor was mostly black, the living room furniture had a vintage design, with a small black chandelier hanging on the roof. She knew nothing about modern gothic interior design, and it wouldn’t be her first choice of decor but she had to admit Jisoo had a good eye for it.

She then caught sight of the dinning room and saw Jisoo setting up the finishing touches to dinner. Watching her move around made her feel happier than she had most of the day. She had really put a lot of thought into the dinner and making it nice. She was touched. Definitely what she needed after a long day.

She cleared , Jisoo turned around surprised but then smiled after seeing the interrupter.. “Chae! Sorry I kind of lost track of time, hence the door note” she said.

“No worries, I got here a bit early, is everything ready or do you need help with anything?”

Jisoo nodded. “Everything’s done, please take a sit.” She said as she pulled the chair back for Chae.

As she walked to the chair, Chae pointed out “A gentlewoman, just how I like them.” All Jisoo could do was chuckle nervously, pushing Chaeyoung’s chair towards the table. “So what’s for dinner?” Said the blonde girl.

“Well, there’s lasagna for dinner and strawberry cheesecake for dessert,” she said, sitting down in front of Chae “My mom used to make lasagna all the time back in Korea, I demanded she teach me how to make it before moving here for college.”

“You know, I never pegged you for a cook.” she said. “This was a pleasant surprise, speaking of home, Do you miss it?”

“I do. I don’t get to see them as often unfortunately, distance, money… But…I think it’s what makes each visit special.” She said with a slight shrug as she served dinner.

Chae only nodded feeling slightly sad about Jisoo’s situation. She could tell the subject was making the shorter girl sad so she decided to take a bite out of her dish and change the subject. “Wow. Jisoo, this is amazing.”

“Thank you,” she said with a grin feeling proud of herself. “The sauce it’s the secret, all home made, using sauce in a jar is for peasants.”

The blonde smiled at the girls humor before responding “I had no idea you could cook like this. In fact there are a lot of things I was not expecting from you and I’m really glad I got to know you.”

Jisoo smiled trying to hide a blush. “Well the cooking thing is a hobby, about the rest I don’t know, it’s easy to judge people by how they look, I don’t really hide who I am but I guess a lot of people find it easier to judge upon the first glance.” She said shrugging.

“Yes, I get the judging part, I am after all the daughter of a famous rich man.” the blonde said. “And about the cooking if you ever want to practice your hobby again, the please do invite me every time.” She said with a smile.

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

On the other side of town…

Stressed?

No. No, stressed wasn’t the right word for the emotion Lisa felt right now.

Panicked?

Yeah...that seemed more accurate.

Maybe it was an anxiety attack, who knows? the point is, the feeling of worry and anxiety greatly overpowered any sense of joy.

As she gazed at herself in the mirror, hair loose with braids on one side of it and slight make up applied, she felt like something was off. Jennie told her she looked great. But everytime Lisa looked in the mirror, she immediately thought her outfit wasn’t enough to impress someone like Mr. Kim, like it made it clear she wasn’t up to Jennie’s standards, like she didn’t belong in her world.

Rocking back and forth, she let out a long breath and closed her eyes, hands clenching the bathroom sink, she leaned over looking up to meet her reflection in the mirror. To describe her appearance in one word? Panicked.

To describe how she felt on the inside? Panicked.

This wasn’t some normal dinner she could brush off. No. Today, she’d be attending a fancy restaurant with millionaire Mr. Kim and not just him but also her mother because yes that was a very nice surprise her brunette girlfriend kept secret until five minutes ago.

Today, she’d meet Jennie’s parents for the first time.

Today, she’d be assessed, judged? Based on table-manners?, Speech?, Behavior? who knows what rich people judge on really. But she wasn’t really worried about that, really her main concern was proving to her parents she was not an abusive and that basically lives and breathes for Jennie’s happiness, question is how do you show that to people?

Lisa straightened her back, removing her hands from their death grips on the furniture. She leaned back and gave herself a once over for the last time.

“Who’s the man? You are Manoban, you are the man.” She told herself, trying to smile. “You got this.” she tried to convince herself one more time before walking out of the bathroom.

“Okay, I’m all ready to go! Are you...” Jennie came out of her room, her eyes immediately looking at Lisa clenching her hands and trying to plaster a relaxed smile.

“Lis?” She asked in worry.

The brunette approached the thai girl and wrapped her arms around her waist. “There’s no need to panic you know?”

“Sorry.” Lisa answered back with a sheepish look, guess her calming down tactic didn’t work.

“Don’t apologize, I know it’s intimidating and probably me talking about how protective my dad is, did not help matters at all.” Jennie said. “But babe, you really don’t need to worry…”

“I’ve never been this worried before, Jen.” The thai girl interrupted. “I mean what if I this up? What if I screw up this dinner and make your parents hate me and… and ruin our relationship… I can`t...” All the anxiety finally coming out in fast words.

“Whoa, baby no.” the brunette girl comforted, kissing her cheek and pulling her for a hug. “No. . .no, Lalisa, listen to me. There’s nothing you could do to make my parents hate you.”

“But...”

“No, but nothing.” Jennie scolded gently. “I love you and they can’t change that. All my parents want is someone who takes care of me, and loves me, and guess what? you do a pretty good job at doing at. And I’ll make damn sure they know that. Ok?”

Lisa nodded.

“Good,” her thumb brushed the thai girl’s cheek as she pulled her in for a kiss. “So if you are ready, we better go, we don’t want to be late.”

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

On a different part of town...

Dinner with Jisoo and Chaeyoung was going great. Conversation never stopped. In fact, for a little while, they spent more time talking than eating. Unfortunately they both had work in the morning and Chae still had projects to finish so they decided to call it a night.

“Let me help you with the dishes.” Chaeyoung said as she stood up.

“It’s fine, I can do it”

“No, I insist,” she said, starting to pick the dirty plates. “I mean, I had a great night, but you also have to work tomorrow,plus you fed me tonight it’s not fair for you to do it all by yourself, so please let me help you.”

“Okay,” Said the shorter girl with a nod and small smile.

“This was a good date,” The blonde said. Oh yes, she was shooting her shot right now.

Jisoo widened her eyes in surprise and clear . “Oh, you uh...considered it a date?”

“You didn’t?”

“I honestly didn’t know how to consider it, doesn’t dating involve going out?”

“Well, I think this was a date because you asked me to come here tonight and have dinner with you,” The blonde told her. “Look, I like you Jisoo and I’m pretty sure you like me to so… if it’s okay with you this is a date.” the blonde finished with a grin.

“Then, this was our first date, wasn’t it?” Said Jisoo with a smile.

“Yes it was.”

Jisoo thought about this as she washed the dishes, while Chae help drying them, neither of them were talking but it wasn’t awkward it was nice. A few minutes later Jisoo accompanied Chae to her car, where they both stood looking at each other with a smile. “We should have another date soon.”

She nodded. “We should. And next time It’ll be my turn to cook.”

“Okay.” Answered Jisoo smiling

“Well, good night.”

“Night” Said Jisoo

 

The blonde bit her lip before taking a step forward and kissing Jisoo softly. Once Jisoo’s brain had caught up with what was a happening she pulled Chae closer, deepening the kiss. When Chaeyoung pulled away she gave her one last smile before getting into her car. Jisoo only watched her drive off with a huge smile on her face, this was definitely the best date she’s ever been on.

--------

“Babe, are you okay? We’ve been parked here looking at the restaurant for 15 minutes now.”

“Oh. Has it been that long?”

“It’s only been a few minutes but we shouldn’t delay things longer.”

Lisa was about to get out of the car before stopping and turned to Jennie “I...uh...just want to know if there’s anything I need to know about your parents. Like things I shouldn’t say or...”

“I think you’ll be fine.” Jennie interrupted. “They’re great, mom likes reading as much as you do so if you talk about books with her she will instantly like you, and dad is a ex-wrestler so just don’t talk about that and you’ll be fine.”

“Oh great! If I screw this up, not only will I lose you, but he’ll make sure to suplex me to oblivion afterwards.” Said Lisa sarcastically. “But sure, I’ll be fine.”

“Stop overreacting, just calm down! You are not losing me and my dad most certainly will not suplex you into oblivion.” Her tone softened as she took Lisa’s hand in her own. “Everything’s going to be just fine. Sure he’ll interrogate you but I know you better than he does and I know his stupid questions aren’t going to faze you. The whole point of this is for you to meet my parents since you have become a permanent fixture in my life and they should know that, it’s not so you can pass my father’s ‘evaluation so he can deem you fit for marriage. So just take it easy.”

“Thanks Jen.” The thai girl said with a smile pulling her in for a quick kiss. When they departed, Lisa had a -eating grin. “So marriage huh?”

Jennie blushed averting her eyes. She cleared . “Right... let’s go before my dad suplexes you for being late.”