Lisa isn’t really aware of what happens next. It’s as if she runs on autopilot. Her mind has seemingly detached itself from her body, and her muscles seemingly move of their own accord - knees bending, feet taking steps. She reaches out in front of her, places her palms flat against the huge double doors of the auditorium and pushes it open.

Lisa absolutely hates clichés but it seems like she’s now irreparably and irrevocably one – a sapphic girl who’d been careless enough to allow herself to fall in love with her straight best friend, who now has to suffer through the reality of said best friend dating and falling in love with men.

And much as Lisa would refuse to let go of the reality that men are trash – because they are – this Jaehyun who likes Rosie and who Rosie seems to like back, is actually a decent enough guy, possibly even a really good man.

And so, with the weight of reality pressing down upon her and her poor heart not being able to make peace with everything just yet, Lisa’s brain kind of just detaches.

Well, isn’t her being too attached, the problem in the first place?

The sound of the outside world filters through the huge doors and fills up the auditorium before it’s once again shut out. The sudden intrusion upon the quiet hum of people focused at their work catches everyone’s attention, every person working there looking up in happy anticipation of food and a break. And just catching on the heels of sound as it traveled, the distinct smell of pizza followed, wafting all over the enclosed, air conditioned space.

The reaction of everyone working there was immediate - non-fragile things clanking to the floor, hums of approval, and pleased murmurs of “pizza” ringing through the auditorium.

Lisa just plods along, not even bothering to acknowledge the excitement at the arriving food while Jaehyun holds the boxes up over her head.

“Pizza!” Jaehyun announces in a voice comically low and cookie-monster rough, obviously in a very good mood. “Come and get yar pizza!” He takes quick long strides to the stage and takes three steps at the side in one bound, and sets down the boxes on top of a long table.

Everyone laughs and some people start getting up to open the boxes and grab a few slices, some go back to work opting to eat later. 

Lisa just hobbles along beside him, eyes emotionless and just going through the motions. She grabs a slice of the pizza overloaded with toppings and plops down in front of the stage backdrop she was painting, chewing silently and staring at her unfinished work. Her mind is blank at that moment, other than the thought of “gotta get back to work, I guess”. keeps chewing until she finishes her slice and she sighs, stares some more, before picking up her brush again and half-heartedly dipping it in blue paint before putting the paint on top of the spot she was previously working on.

It was so obvious that there was something wrong with Lisa and Rosie could tell in the droopy shoulders and the bowed head the moment Lisa came in carrying the pizza boxes. She was about to go to Lisa once the dancer settled down with her pizza, unfortunately her phone started ringing with an incoming call from Jennie. Rosie sighs and only considers if she should answer the call first for a second, but ultimately decides to take it. She’d been waiting for the call the whole day on the costumes and it was Jennie who was overall in charge for that.

Rosie steps aside to take the call.

It wasn’t only Rosie who noticed Lisa’s bad mood. Jisoo picks up on it, too, despite how busy she is. 

(Jisoo either really underestimated the work she had to do. She imagined herself to be playing Animal Crossing or Kart Rider or farming for her numerous RPG accounts instead of doing actual work, but alas.)

Jisoo has noticed the sudden plunge of Lisa's already sullen mood since she abruptly stood and announced she’d be going out. Lisa had been so restless for the last few days and she seemed to constantly be uncomfortable being stuck in the auditorium, so Jisoo thought it best to put her on an errand so she wasn’t wandering aimlessly around campus and had something to do.

Jisoo was about to head over to Lisa and talk to her about it once Lisa finished eating but it seems like someone else beats her to it.

Esther Yu plops down beside Lisa, clutching a script in her hand and beaming at the dancer. Lisa doesn't notice her presence at all as she gets to painting.

Esther just keeps smiling, waiting for Lisa to notice her. A few beats pass, and her smile starts to dim, as the realization that the dancer is likely not to pay her any mind or even notice her presence dawns on her.

Esther stays there for a few more bated breaths. Lisa keeps painting lazy . Jisoo watches the whole thing from a few feet away, eyebrow raised and lips upturned in confusion.

The drama and literary club president wasn't really aware of Esther Yu's crush on Lisa. She knew the girl, of course, the girl being active in both Lisa’s dance crew and the drama club. Esther often auditioned for the lead roles but she mostly only lands the third supporting, comedic roles. But Jisoo appreciated her tenacity and enthusiasm, anyway.

Esther finally gives up on passivelt trying to get the dancer to notice her and resorts to just finally calling her name.

“Hi, Lisa!” Esther says in a loud voice, doing her best to mask her annoyance with the faux sweetness in her tone. Lisa startles a little, her brush almost slips through her fingers but she manages to tighten her grip before it’s too late and her grey sweatpants get splattered with sticky blue paint.

“Oh!” Lisa turns to the other girl. “Esther, hi,” she says, wondering when the girl got there, forgetting for a moment that Esther volunteered to help for the play, too.

In the past two weeks, as Jaehyun used the excuse of helping with the play to try to get closer to Rosie and spend some time around her, Esther came up with the same plan in mind and tried to employ the same tactic. She was already playing one of the supporting parts -- Truyde, one of Sabran’s ladies in waiting but who becomes a catalyst for a big event in Sabran’s story.

Though she had better connection to the play and more reason to be there, Esther found herself a lot less successful than Jaehyun with her plans, however, as Lisa was always distracted with trying to not let Rosie and Jaehyun’s developing closeness affect her by almost always being somewhere else, other than the auditorium. And even when she tried to help Lisa with her “outside” errands, Esther found herself having to actually do her job of rehearsing her lines, blocking out stage positions, or helping with her own costume and props.

So, Lisa settling to quietly work as she paints backdrops seemed like the best opportunity to try her luck again, in finally spending some time with the dance crew captain.

But it seemed like she had no luck even in just getting noticed. Ah, well, Ester is a woman who is used to taking matters into her own hands anyway.

“Oh, Esther, hey.” Lisa greets back in a monotone, as if unperturbed and completely unaffected by the other girl’s presence. She only spares Esther a quick glance and resumes painting.

Esther quirks an eyebrow at Lisa’s response, a little offended at the lack of concern thrown her way by the only person who she has fancied in her two-year stay at the university.

Despite what anyone might think, Esther isn’t delusional enough to believe that Lisa would fall in love with her in any plane of reality. Anyone who hung around Lisa enough would also know that Lisa only ever had eyes for her best friend, Rosie.

But, as far as Esther knew, Rosie was straight. And that’s why it annoyed her to no end that Rosie stayed blind to Lisa’s affections. In her mind, it was either Rosie was incredibly emotionally stupid or shockingly cruel enough to string Lisa along.

Either way, Esther hated it.

Not because it gave her and her affections no chance, but because she could definitely imagine how much Lisa is suffering.

She would definitely have a good idea of Lisa’s situation, being in the similarly situated, too.

So Esther has resolved to keep trying to get Lisa to notice her and keep trying to get Lisa to spend time with her. The choice came about from a decision of her innate stubbornness, of a sliver of hope that Lisa would somehow, somehow, one day consider her as a romantic prospect, too, and out of the pity for someone who just fell in love with someone who doesn’t love them back the way they want to be loved.

Lisa had always been nice to her, though, and that was Esther’s little takeaways from their interactions, whenever Lisa would take the time out of her day to acknowledge her.

So when Lisa treated her with less of the kindness that she usually does, Esther immediately notices something was off -- something was different, something had changed.

“Huh,” the younger girl exhales. She watches Lisa paint again, deciding in her mind how to best go about dealing with this Lisa. She settles with, “you look like a six year old kid who just got told Santa doesn’t exist.”

That seems to work because Lisa turns to her with a “huh?” and a confused expression.

Her crush’s attention successfully caught, Esther allows herself a small smile.

“You looked sad,” the younger girl offers, as an explanation. She leans closer, and whispers knowingly. “Did something happen on the way to the pizza place? Did Jaehyun bull you or something?” She asks the second question in a more playful tone.

Lisa freezes, not knowing how to respond to Esther’s questions, a little surprised at the insightfulness the younger girl is suddenly displaying.

And a little impressed, too, if she were being honest.

“What do you mean?” Lisa lets out a nervous laugh, a guilty laugh. “I’m not-- I’m fine, like, I mean, the-- there’s nothing wrong.”

Well, if Lisas wasn’t caught in the act before then, she surely had all the evidence smeared all over her face now.

Esther only quirks a brow, looking as unconvinced as one possibly could. “Suuure,” she answers, the singular word thick with sarcasm.

Lisa prepares herself to argue, to insist that there is absolutely nothing wrong and that everything is completely fine. But with the look on Esther’s face she catches herself and sighs.

“I’ve just got some things going on.” Lisa settles for a half-answer. It was not untrue, anyways, but neither was it entirely honest. She looks down and fiddles with her brush.

“Well, I’m not the best listener or the best counselor, but do you wanna talk about it?” Esther doubts that Lisa would accept the offer, but she extends it anyway.

Lisa looks at the younger girl and gives her a genuine smile of gratitude.

“Thanks, but it’s nothing you need to worry about,” the dancer politely declines.

“Okay,” Esther just nods. She decides to leave Lisa alone to her thoughts. But Esther being herself, she couldn’t resist leaving Lisa with something, so she says, “Well, whatever it is, just know that between you and Jaehyun, I think you’d make the better significant other. Okay, byegottagorehearse!”

Esther springs up from her spot beside Lisa and runs off to the cluster of actors huddled together and reading lines.

Lisa’s mouth hangs in shock.

Did she just hear that right?!

A few feet away, Rosie stood watching Esther and Lisa speak in whispers so close to each other. She had gotten off the phone with Jennie about the additional materials they needed for the costume adjustments they were still doing and about needing to confirm that there were no further adjustments to be made for anyone, seeing as the play is in less than three days.

Jaehyun was talking to her about something and she had zoned out when she noticed Esther sitting beside her best friend.

Rosie wasn’t Esther’s number one fan. She thought the girl was too obsessed with Lisa, too clingy and too annoying with her little crush. She wished Lisa was a little bit more of an , paid the other girl no mind, and ignored her completely. But of course, if Lisa was unkind, she wouldn’t have become Rosie’s favorite person.

Usually, Rosie would swoop in and try to “save” Lisa from Esther the stalker, but she didn’t want to dismiss Jae so rudely. So the student council president is left with no choice but to stay annoyed and put up with it.

Finally, she sees Esther get up and leave Lisa, but she notices that her best friend is left with a shocked expression.

Did Esther confess to Lisa, or something??

The thought leaves a bitter taste in .

But curiosity grips her and Rosie makes a mental note to find some way to nose out whatever Esther said to her best friend later, when they’re back in their room.