It was well into June but the weather had been very windy the last few days, as if a storm was about to roll in, so she had grabbed her grey crop top hoodie jacket before leaving her shared living space with the rest of the members. She was dressed rather casually for a meeting of this caliber but after the 20th outfit change and an abundance of whining, Rosé finally kicked her out of her bedroom amid protests from the other maknae. 

The instructions had said that there would be some walking involved and walking at the beach or the park in heels and a fancy skirt would hardly be appropriate. But then again, it might not have been. It was so hard to gauge whether she was over thinking this whole ordeal or if maybe she wasn’t caring enough as she caught her reflection in the van’s glossy exterior. A white graphic tee tied in the back into a bun, Rosé’s favorite pair of super high-waisted jean shorts and a pair of suede high-top wedge sneakers (albeit a cute pair) may seem understated but that was kind of the point: she wanted to exude the illusion of comfort - even if she didn’t feel it one bit. Her heart was beating so hard in her chest, she was sure it was going to break out of its ribbed cage and run in the opposite direction of the trendy little cafe she was supposed to be meeting him at. 

“Him,” she groaned and whined to herself, “Why did I agree to this...?”

Despite her manager driving at a normal speed, she was sure he was racing down the streets of Seoul, if not just to make sure she doesn’t jump ship mid-trip. 

The look on her face was not encouraging. 

“Why, Manager-ssi! Why did we agree to do this again?” she whined, sticking out her bottom lip before she began to gnaw at it anxiously. “Ah ya!! I don’t want to do this anymore! Can we please just go back home? Please?” 

She was being childish but it can’t be helped. She has never had any romantic relationship experience before in her 24 years on this planet. Sure, there were puppy love and teenage crushes but anything beyond that was in the realm of fiction - concepts only seen on screen and listened to on the radio from afar. 

Without that distinct barrier in-between her and the very real idea that she was going to have to be acting as if she was in love with a complete stranger was threatening to bring her meager breakfast back up.

Before she could contemplate if rolling out of a moving vehicle was truly a viable option, the van was put into “park” and she peeked out to see that they had in fact arrived at their destination. Without a second thought, she pulled out her phone from her purse and saw a message from the three other girls.

Jisooie: Don’t be nervous! It’s going to be fine. Just think of it as practice for your upcoming drama! 

Rosie: Hey!! Good luck, sis! Just be yourself - he’s gonna love you! 

Jennie: More like he doesn’t have a choice! The poor guy...

Jennie: Did Chaeyoung actually tell you to just be yourself? *eye roll emoji* Don’t be yourself! You want to actually make a good first impression, right? Besides, this is nothing compared to the grueling weeks you spent at an actual boot-camp! This. Is. Nothing. 

In spite of the harshness of the last three words, it was just what she needed to hear in order to call upon her stage persona. She felt the insecure, anxious, and vulnerable girl disappear deep into her heart and brought forth the sweet, confident, and charming woman who had commanded the undivided attention of thousands of screaming fans with ease and poise. She smiled at the messages one last time and took a deep breath before she thanked her manager and exited the van. She tried not to look at the camera crew that were in her periphery and instead focused on making her long legs walk the last few steps to the door. 

The moment she stepped into the cafe, he looked up at her and felt his heart stutter. He hadn’t been told ahead of time who "She” was going to be, but he knew it was her the moment they locked eyes. What were the chances that another celebrity would walk into the same cafe while the WGM crew filmed their initial episode of the new season? 

He watched her perfectly painted coral lips stretch into a small but confident smile and knew he was in trouble. Stamping down the panic that threatened to claw up his throat, he slid from the red vinyl booth and unconsciously his suddenly dry lips, hoping the cameras didn’t catch him wiping his hands on his jeans.  

“Good morning,” she said sweetly, bowing in respect before smoothly continuing, “I’m Blackpink’s Lisa. It’s so nice to meet you.” Her delivery had sounded so genuine and natural, it almost didn’t come off scripted. 

Bowing slightly in return, he hoped his smile didn’t look like a grimace. “Good morning, I’m EXO’s Do Kyungsoo. It’s a pleasure to formally meet you.” 

Lisa gave a breathy giggle and nodded, “That’s true. We have met in the past, haven’t we? But only in passing.” She looked over at the table and saw a familiar looking brown envelope. “Have you been waiting long?”

Kyungsoo shook his head in reply, “No, I only just got here myself.”

He watched as she gave a small sigh of relief, “Oh good.” She took her purse from her shoulder and placed it on the booth opposite from his before admitting with a stage-whisper, “I have the tendency to run late.”  

“Don’t worry. You’re fine.” Kyungsoo reassured her with a soft smile before gesturing to the envelope. “Did you receive one too?”

Lisa smiled, her eyes twinkled as she pulled an identical one out from her bag. “Yes, I did.”

“Have you read it yet?” 

“Yes. Did yours have puzzle pieces too?” Kyungsoo tried not to focus on the fact that she smelled faintly of fresh strawberries and sunshine after a rainstorm and instead took in her expectant expression. He simply nodded as he pulled out his set from the envelope. 

“Welcome,” came the voice of their waitress, “Could I take your order?”

Kyungsoo turned to the woman across from him, realizing that she wouldn’t know what she wanted just yet and was about to tell the waitress to come back in a few minutes but Lisa beat him to the punch. “Ah! I- uhm... do you know what you’ll have? I can make a decision by the time you order yours.” She insisted.

He tried to gauge whether she was truly going to be ready seconds after he told the waitress that he’ll have an iced Americano but decided to not push the issue. 

As it turns out, she was ready - an iced vanilla latte for her. 

Once their orders were placed, they both turned their attention back to the puzzle pieces that were now scattered across the lacquered wooden table. Kyungsoo started to gather all the corner pieces and noticed that Lisa had begun picking out all the pieces with text printed on them. He wasn’t sure if that was because she noticed that he was working on one part of the puzzle and decided to tackle the other or if she simply didn’t want to work with him on the same part. 

He chanced a look at her and ended up looking straight into her questioning soft brown eyes. They both broke eye contact immediately and looked back down at the pieces in front of them. He felt his heart rate quicken when their orders arrived.

They both thanked the waitress at the same time, adamant about focusing on anything other than their partner. “Uhm...” she began. “Would you mind if I sat next to you to finish the puzzle?”

Kyungsoo raised his large round eyes to see that she had finished her text portion of the puzzle. “Oh... no, I wouldn’t mind.” He scooted over to make room for her.

Lisa let out a minute puff of relief, her face split into a shy smile before she switched sides and slid into the booth next to him. Up close, her sweet scent was even more potent and he unconsciously inhaled a lungful of it before scolding himself for being a creep.  

Thank all of the entities in the heavens that she didn’t seem to notice. Looking down, Kyungsoo saw that she had added her portion of the simple jigsaw puzzle to his completed corners before tacking on the bottom portion which spelled out an address. 

“We’ll probably have to go to this address. I wonder how far it is from here...” she murmured aloud. 

“Well, it’s on the same street as this cafe. Most likely it’s close by.” Kyungsoo surmised. 

Lisa had already brought out her mobile phone out and was looking up the address. Sure enough, it was about a 15 minute walk from the cafe. 

Without anything to occupy their hands now, they both turned their attention to their neglected drinks. Lisa made no attempt to return to her side of the booth and Kyungsoo wasn’t sure how it could make him nervous and happy at the same time. 

“So... how’s... work?” She weakly attempted. 

Kyungsoo smiled gratefully at her. “It’s been... hectic.”

There was another awkward beat before he turned the question back on her, “And you?”

Lisa nodded, “Same. Busy, busy, busy.”

Silence once again permeated the table before Lisa whispered, “Did you ever think this was where you would end up?”

He turned his head towards her questioningly, hoping she would elaborate. Sensing his gaze, Lisa turned before shyly tucking her hair behind her ear and chuckled nervously, “You know, meeting your “wife”,” making sure to put up air quotes to punctuate her point, “for the first time in a random cafe amidst a full camera crew?”

Kyungsoo laughed at her candidness. He bluntly replied in turn, “To be honest, I thought I had dodged a bullet when the show hadn’t been picked up for a new season. The show was making the rounds to the younger groups in the last season and it felt a bit like the Reaping during the Hunger Games.”

Lisa’s eyes grew to the size of saucers. “It did, didn’t it?!” she agreed enthusiastically. 

They both laughed, not knowing if it was the nicest thing to say about the current show they were on. Lisa swooped in for the save though, “I’m sure this will be a fun experience though.” she insisted, “At the very least, I would really like for us to be friends. I want you to feel like you can come to me for anything.”

Kyungsoo tried to cover his shyness that was about to overtake him with a chuckle. “I would like that - and please know that you can count on and come to me as well.”

Lisa smiled and nodded sharply her acceptance of his polite offer. 

They finished their drinks and made their way towards the address that was printed on the now completed puzzle. They walked side by side, the wind picking up slightly as they crossed the street. Kyungsoo was just thinking to himself that it was such a nice day out, when her voice filtered through his thoughts. 

“If you weren’t here right now, what would you be doing?” 

Her question seemed innocent enough but Kyungsoo could hear a wistfulness in her voice. Sure enough, when he turned to her questioningly, Lisa gave a small rueful smile, “It’s just... I can’t remember the last time I just took a casual walk outside... with a man who wasn’t my manager.”

Kyungsoo had to agree. He too had been going nonstop since they had debuted and had only had time to slow down when he had enlisted for the military. Despite missing out on so many amazing things that the group managed to accomplish without him, he felt it was a much needed break from it all. Dating wasn’t even in the picture - fictional or otherwise. 

Deciding to not go down that mental route, he focused on her answering her question instead. “Hmm, well today being Monday, I would probably be at a meeting to go over the schedule for the week. After that, would be to the dance studio to practice the new routines and then probably go to the recording stu...” half way through his answer, Kyungsoo noticed that Lisa had disappeared from next to him. His eyes scanned the sidewalk lined with pretty shops and eventually settled on her two stores behind him and the camera crew. She was bent over a stroller, the mother thanking her for something as the female idol smiled at her before waving to the little boy.  

As Kyungsoo approached her, she turned to him with a slightly mortified look on her face. “I’m so sorry for walking away while you were talking! It’s just that, that little boy’s blankie blew out of the stroller and the mom didn’t noticed and he was reaching for it, and she was pushing the stroller away from the blankie and I - ”

Kyungsoo shook his head, waving off her apology before softly chuckling, “That was very kind of you.”

Her cheeks flushed a pretty pink, but whether from the compliment or her apology, he wasn’t sure. “Anyone would have done it,” she replied assuredly.

He stared at her, baffled by how effortless her humble yet diplomatic answer came out. Will she constantly be surprising him like this? 

He stole a quick glance at the film crew and for a split second wondered if that mother had been planted - staged to make sure Lisa would have to help her, and in turn make his heart ache uncomfortably. The thought annoyed him (just the very fact that it did in the first place, bothered him even more!) but he kept it hidden behind a placid look as he simply repeated his answer to her as they continued walking.

He was mad. He brushed it off casually because the cameras were present but she could tell in the way his eyes narrowed and it made her want to kick herself for not having any semblance of restraint. She knew that he was being polite enough answer the question that she had posed but she just had to go off and -

Lisa mentally shook herself. ‘Focus, dang it! He’s answering your question again and you’re about to check out on a self deprecating rant! You can beat yourself up later, just pay attention to what he’s saying!’ 

To her horror, the moment she began to listen intently, he had stopped talking again. Lisa tried to swallow the panic that was going to take over with a strangled, “Ah~”

He turned to her incredulously, a raised eyebrow accompanying a low chuckle, “That was so late. Are you even paying attention?”

Lisa burst out in nervous laughter and covered her face in utter mortification. “I am - that is - I’m trying to! I’m so sorry. Once more, please! Once more!” she begged cutely. 

His ears turned slightly pink at the look on her face and Lisa found her heart racing at how incredibly adorable he looked. Kyungsoo cleared his throat before he repeated himself for the third time and then looked at her expectantly. She smoothly replied with a follow up question about whether EXO was working on a new album, proving to him that she had in fact listened that time around. 

The conversation continued without incident as they approached their destination, which turned out to be a small jewelry boutique. It was one of those ethical, fair trade businesses that promote sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to and securing the rights of marginalized producers and workers. It was a trend that was making quite an impact and Lisa’s eyes began to twinkle in excitement as she saw that some of the jewelry on display were made with “eco diamonds” (the perfect, guilt-free alternative to mined diamonds). 

The young sales representative behind the counter greeted them before handing Kyungsoo a familiar brown letter envelope. He pulled it open and read aloud that their challenge for the day was to pick out their rings and post a picture of it to social media with the #mbcwegotmarried. 

Lisa swallowed down her nerves as she snuck a glance at him and saw a pensive look mar his otherwise handsome features. She had seen trailers for his movies play on the silver screen before a movie that she and girls would go to watch on their rare days off and even seen him at award shows before but in all the chaos and the strobe lights and confetti bombs, she had never gotten the pleasure of actually admiring just how handsome he was. In fact, handsome was a slight understatement for the legendary singer/actor. His beautifully tanned skin, his large, round eyes, his perfectly heart-shaped, full lips - Lisa could admit wholeheartedly that the man was gorgeous. 

He turned to her then and she plastered a smile to welcome his slightly worried expression. “This might be a problem,” he began, “I don’t have any social media accounts.”

Lisa’s eyes widened. “... Really? Not even one?”

He shook his head.

‘Wow… he’s really living that unplugged life.’ She thought to herself before bravely asking, “Why? Don’t you want to post stuff and get followers and maximize the exposure of your works?”

Kyungsoo simply shrugged before saying, “I guess I just can’t be bothered,” as though this was the most normal thing in the world. Lisa wasn’t sure if it was the nonchalant way he had said it or if it was simply because the man seemed so unbothered by the fact that he was not “up with the times” but, either way, she found the quality to be quite charming. It made her want to see what else she could find out about him - to peel back the layers and see what it would reveal about her “husband”. 

The thought of that term brought her attention back to the task at hand and she gave him a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry about that. I can post it for us.”

He gave a slight chuckle before muttering, “In that case, I’ll be counting on you then.”

“Mm!” She replied happily and turned her attention to the display case. 

There were dozens upon dozens of rings to choose from - gold bands, silver bands, platinum bands with colorful stones, bands with sparkly stones encrusted all around, gaudy bands with multiple metals and stones adorning them. As fun as that last one looked, Lisa thought one stood out in particular to her. 

“Could I see that one please?” she asked the saleswoman. 

The woman pulled out a trillion cut ring with a rose gold band. It was a simple ring, no embellishments or stones that outline the solitary diamond that was set into it but it was nice. Much like the man next to her, the ring was pretty in an understated way.

The saleswoman then handed Kyungsoo its pair: a sterling silver band with a ‘V’ shaped indentation. Lisa watched him carefully, curious to see what he thought of the simple band when he held out his hand to her in silent permission to see the ring she was holding. He took the rose gold band from her, her skin tingled where their fingertips had touched in the exchange, and carefully stacked them atop each other in his palm. The two bands had fit perfectly together.

“Like two pieces of a puzzle.” he murmured lowly, his deep voice sending chills down her spine. Kyungsoo nodded once and then turned back to the saleswoman and said, “These will do.”

“Really? Are you sure?” Lisa asked. 

He turned to her, his head tilted in question, “Did you not want that one?” 

“Well, yes, but isn’t there one that you would prefer?” 

Kyungsoo shook his head. “No,” the beginnings of a smirk formed before he continued, “Besides, this one is on message.”