Today, Lisa would be filming another dance performance video for her YouTube channel, Lilifilm. She walks onto set, hand in hand with Chaeyoung, who decided last minute that she wanted to tag along. They come in wearing similar black ensembles, but while Chaeyoung’s outfit is form-fitting, Lisa’s is loose and flowy. Suffice it to say, both looked ready to grace their own magazine covers. They joyfully greet crew members as they make their way deeper into the bustling studio.

“Ah, Lisa! I see you’ve brought a guest,” The director for the video, Anthony, exclaims, surveying the both of them brightly. 

“Yeah, she wanted to see me in action, I guess,” Lisa locks eyes with Chaeyoung with a small smile who returns it shyly. “Come. Sit here, Chaeng,” She says softly, leading the older girl to an empty chair in a relatively secluded area.   

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be blown away!” 

“Like always,” Chaeyoung agrees, smirking slightly at the blush that blooms on Lisa’s cheeks at her words. 

“We’re just making some last-minute adjustments to the equipment. We should be ready to go soon,” Anthony informs them and then leaves to tend to another task. A few seconds later, Lisa is called to do hair and makeup as well as an outfit change, and Chaeyoung is immediately pulled along to accompany her. Once that’s done, they return to the set together, chit-chatting endlessly. After five minutes go by, Chaeyoung begins to grow curious at Lisa’s incessant presence by her side. She notices the other dancers, Cheshir, Vata, and Yehwan standing a little ways away, conversing amicably.

“Uh, Lisa, don’t you need to be rehearsing with the other dancers or something?” Chaeyoung asks, worried that she was distracting the younger girl. 

“Nah, we practiced a ton yesterday already. We got this.” Lisa leans in a little closer, so close that Chaeyoung can feel her breath fanning her face as she speaks. “Besides, I don’t want to leave you alone.” 

“Lisa, I’m a big girl. I can stand to be left alone for more than five minutes,” Chaeyoung deadpans and lightly shoves Lisa in the direction of the set, but Lisa doesn’t budge. She looks past her with a steely expression, and Chaeyoung notices her jaw tighten. Curious, she turns around and locks eyes with a young man, probably around the same age as them, looking at her with a shy expression. 

“Lisa--”

“He hasn’t taken his eyes off you since we got here.”

“Well, can you blame him?” 

Lisa looks at her, unimpressed. 

“I do look pretty hot.” 

“Okay, I really regret not leaving you at home.” 

“Lisa! Come over here for a sec!” Anthony calls. 

“Coming!” Lisa turns back around and looks at Chaeyoung warningly. “Behave.” 

“Just go, Lalisa,” The older girl says, exasperated, and successfully pushes her in the direction of the director and dancers who were already gathered around. Lisa grins at her and puts her hands up in surrender before sauntering away. 

Chaeyoung occupies herself by watching Lisa interact with the close circle of creatives. She looked serious as she listened intently to Anthony speak, nodding every once in a while at something he’d say. Her long, black hair only worked to intensify her no-nonsense image, but then she would catch her staring and shoot her a wide smile, effectively shattering that particular line of thought as quickly as it comes. Suddenly, Lisa’s eyes narrow at something behind her and before she could even dwell on it, she hears footsteps behind her and turns reflexively. Her eyes are immediately drawn to a white styrofoam cup,

“Would you like some tea?” A deep voice asks calmly. “There’s also coffee, but you seemed like a tea person to me.” It was the guy who was staring at her earlier and who Lisa was two seconds away from drop-kicking out the door. 

“Oh! Um, sure, thanks.” She takes it graciously but doesn’t drink from it. He stands there for several moments, looking at her expectantly. Chaeyoung grows increasingly awkward at his stare and taps lightly on the warm cup in her hands. She feels eyes digging into the back of her head, but she resists the temptation to turn and lock eyes with them.

“You’re not a tea person, are you?” He says with a rueful smile when he sees that she has yet to take a sip.

“Oh, no, I love tea!” She is quick to quell his worries. “Very much, actually, but I’m not very thirsty right now.” Truthfully, Chaeyoung just didn’t want to have to use the restroom. They were about to start filming and she feared that she would miss out on seeing the first part if she let any more liquid pass through her lips. He visibly relaxes and ends up sitting with her for the next hour or so, talking about random things in between takes. It turns out that he was a friend of one of the dancers and that his little sister was a really big fan of--

“Red Velvet, huh?” Chaeyoung nods her head goodnaturedly. “Yeah, they’re amazing.”

“She loves you guys, too, though! She streams all of your songs and knows a lot about your personal lives, which honestly is kind of weird. But yeah, Red Velvet is her personal favorite.” 

“I’ll make sure to let them know.” 

They’re currently talking about their favorite places to eat in the area when a familiar voice cuts through their conversation.

“Hey, lead dancer!” 

Chaeyoung turns her head to see Lisa standing about ten feet away, her hands buried deep in her pockets and a small smirk on her lips.

“Come dance with me.” 

She pretends to think for a moment. “Hmmm, I don’t know...”

“What is it?”

“I'm just not sure that you’ll be able to keep up with me.”

“Oh, I think I can manage.” 

Chaeyoung quietly excuses herself and makes her way over to the younger girl who watches her intently as she approaches.

“Careful, else everyone will think you’re obsessed with me,” Chaeyoung remarks when she finally stands in front of her, a playful smile on her face.   

“That’s the plan,” Lisa responds lightly and takes the older girl’s hands in her own. Slowly, she begins moving their arms back and forth, eyes never once leaving her face. Chaeyoung moves with her, giggling at her girlfriend’s antics. She can’t help but think of how silly they must look, with Lisa having just filmed an intricate dance routine now shimmying with her like a twelve year old that's attending her first school dance. “What were you and errand boy talking about back there?” Lisa asks after several beats of silence.

Chaeyoung laughs airily. “Errand boy?”

“Yeah, the guy who felt the need to bring you something to drink. You know he doesn’t even work here? He’s a friend of--”

“Vata's. Yeah, he told me.” 

“Did he try to hit on you?” Chaeyoung could tell that Lisa was trying to play it cool, and smirked internally. At the beginning of their relationship-- and truthfully even before then when they were simply friends who had feelings for each other-- it was always Chaeyoung who seemed to get jealous more often at her girlfriend’s interactions with others, particularly with female idols. Lisa was just naturally flirtatious and friendly and opted to spend more time hanging out with her friends rather than be with Chaeyoung. As the years passed, Chaeyoung mellowed out upon the realization that Lisa would never try to do anything to intentionally hurt her; that no matter how flirty or touchy she got with someone else, she was just as invested in their relationship as she was. Ironically, while Chaeyoung was having this revelation, Lisa had fallen more in love with her than she thought possible and this manifested through frequent dates and proposed outings, copious amounts of PDA, and most notably agitation at any boy who gave Chaeyoung unnecessary attention. It was maddening but not entirely unwelcome, in Chaeyoung's honest opinion. 

She hums for a few moments. “Well, apparently his friend works at this Vietnamese restaurant that I really like, and he said that if I wanted, he could get me the recipe to their in-house dipping sauce. But he said we’d have to exchange numbers,” She remarks casually. 

Lisa abruptly stops swaying. “No, nope, uh-uh, absolutely not.” Chaeyoung looks at her guiltily. “You didn’t give it to him, did you?” When the older girl doesn’t immediately trip over herself trying to reassure her, Lisa lets go of her hands and gapes at her in disbelief. 

“Chaeyoung!” 

“I ing love that sauce, Lisa.” 

“So, you did it? You gave him your number?” She states more than asks the older girl.

“He was just trying to be nice. I kept telling him how good I think the sauce is,” Chaeyoung defends.  

“It. Was. A. Ploy!” Lisa cries. “To get your number! He doesn’t care about your sauce interests!”

“But he was so sweet, Lis. Honestly, I think you should meet him. He likes Thai food, too! Maybe he could recommend us some good spots.”

"You know who else could probably recommend some good spots? Your Thai girlfriend, who grew up in Thailand, and actually knows what good Thai food tastes like!” Chaeyoung rolls her eyes and closes the distance between them, reclaiming the younger girl’s hands. She begins to gently sway them back and forth once again with Lisa being considerably less cooperative than before. 

“You’re cute when you’re jealous," She says gently, after a minute of watching Lisa sulk in silence.

Lisa huffs. “I’m not jealous."

“Yes, you are. But I like it.” 

“Did you really give him your number?” Lisa asks again, this time with a somber look in her eyes. Chaeyoung meets her gaze, a slow smile etching its way across her face. 

“No.”

“No?” 

The older girl merely shakes her head, her smile never faltering. 

Lisa exhales shakily. “Man, when you mentioned the dipping sauce...” She trails off, a smile of her own forming on her face as she swings their hands together with more vigor than before, seemingly rejuvenated at this news.  

“Shut up, you know I would never,” Chaeyoung protests at her girlfriend’s jab at her love for anything food-related, and begins jumping up and down.

“What are we doing?” Lisa asks, but follows along dutifully. 

“I don’t know, I just wanna dance!” Suddenly, she starts performing a part of the choreography from today’s video, albeit with considerably less precision. Lisa bursts out laughing at the randomness of it all.

“Hey, do it right!”

“Like this?” Chaeyoung redoes the move in question, but this time with more dramatic flair.

“One more time, one more time,” Lisa says, and Chaeyoung could not possibly keep a straight face after hearing that. “More feeling, like this!” Then Lisa joins in, exaggerating the dance moves. By now, both girls looked like they were each doing an interpretive dance rather than the actual choreography. They laugh until their stomachs ache and Anthony regretfully steps in to tell Lisa that they were moving on to the next section of the video. Just as Chaeyoung is about to retreat back to her seat, Lisa is pulling her closer to whisper into her ear: 

“Tell errand boy thanks for the offer, but I plan on taking you to that restaurant so often that you'd have figured out the ingredients in that dipping sauce yourself. Got it?” Lisa asks lightly but with a deadly undertone. At Chaeyoung's nod, Lisa finally pulls away and places a lingering kiss on her cheek before quickly jogging away. Chaeyoung stares after her, shaking her head incredulously and walks back to her seat. Her overprotective words replay over and over again in her head like her favorite song, stifling all other noise that tries to worm its way into her mind. She thinks she hears someone speak from next to her, but she's not too sure.