“Come on, it’ll be so funny, Chaeng.”

“No way, we’re not doing it.”

“Don’t be such a party pooper! Come on, it’ll be the best prank ever!”

It started out as Lisa’s idea.

Well, not entirely Lisa’s idea. Part of the idea came from the three full tequila shots she just knocked back, and the two others she drank some fifteen minutes ago.

Lisa’s tequila-addled brain tended to be like that - impulsive, reckless, playful, and worried about absolutely zero consequences. Different types of drinks made different types of drunks.

For Lisa, tequila was her lubricant for stupid. She would always insist that it was her gateway to genius but her manager would beg to differ. Regardless, a tequila-drunk Lisa is a sure-fire ticket for the wildest times and you always come out with a goodie bag of the craziest anecdotes to tell friends - probably over more booze on a later date.

Most of the time she got in trouble for her drunken shenanigans. But even with the hangover, her manager and her publicist still suffered the bigger headaches.

And besides, Lisa is a firm believer of ‘no publicity is bad publicity,’ anyway.

“Are you insane? You think us pretending to be engaged is a funny little prank?”

“Yeah! ‘Cause we’re doing it just for fun. Think of how crazy your fans and my fans are going to get.”

“Exactly, you idiot.I can deal with my fans. Yours are on a whole other level, though.”

Lisa snorts laughter, falling back and rolling over on the expensive wool rug in the middle of her living room. Her head thuds quietly on the floor and her arms clutch around her stomach.

If Lisa was a tiny bit more sober, she would realize that her head hitting the floor hurts. Or would hurt, if she wasn’t already at the numb stage of being drunk.

“But imagine all the creepy men who would stop bothering us, though.”

Rosie who was about to put the glass of beer up to her lips stops her hand midair, then she tilts her head in acknowledgement.

That is definitely a huge pro to this idea, against the numerous cons.

She puts the rim of the glass against , tips the yellow liquid up and into it.

Rosie wasn’t really picky when it came to her drinks. She’s game for anything, despite her vanilla baby girl image. It wasn’t like she chose that image for herself, anyway.

But she’s a beer girl through and through. She would drink ale, craft beer, and cider over harder, heavier liquor.

Tonight, however, she’s drinking with Lisa in the dancer’s apartment. They’re sitting on the floor, cross-legged above Lisa’s very soft, very expensive rug - the alcohol is placed securely in the middle of Lisa’s coffee table, to make sure it doesn’t spill on the carpet.

It’s one of those very rare days where their schedules fit each other’s - their free day falling on the same date. They’ve hardly seen each other nor talked for weeks, what with both of them being the biggest and most widely known pop celebrities - Lisa being the dancer-rapper-model and Rosie being the musician-singer-songwriter of their generation.

So when they do finally find time for each other, what else is there to do but have a girl’s night in getting drunk without the danger of paparazzi selling photos of them being absolute wrecks?

“Rosie, we can post some vague caption… and then let the fans run with it... and then, like, come out with a statement later, like... saying we were just best friends, y’know, clowning around… and like, having a little shemance... or whatever the equivalent of, like, a girl bromance is... for girls.”

Lisa says all of that from her spot on the floor, a little slowly while slightly slurring her words. She’s looking up at her best friend with the stupidest lopsided smile on her face, all bunched up cheeks,  and teeth.

Rosie just looks at her for a while, looks at how insane and dumb Lisa looks. And then she bursts out laughing.

“Just for fun, right?”

Lisa nods.

“Just for fun... Besides, Jennie’s a brilliant talent manager... Why do you think she’s the highest paid one in the industry? She’ll, like, really be able to sell it.”

Rosie smiles and shakes her head.

Never in a million years did she ever think Lisa would ask her to do this.

“Hey, what do you think of pretending to be engaged with me?”

And maybe she was just even more drunk as Lisa, at this moment.

Sober Rosie would never even think to consider it.

Or maybe she’s just gone utterly nuts and lost it.

Because then she says, “okay, crazypants, let’s do it.”

~

Rosie doesn’t know how but Lisa manages to rope Jisoo into it.

Jisoo didn’t even need much convincing, nor did she need to get drunk. Lisa just called her up, put her on speaker so the both of them could talk to her. She laughed when Lisa finished explaining her crazy plan, then simply responded with four words: “be there in five.”

And sure enough indeed, five minutes later, Jisoo is buzzing in. Lisa let her in the apartment and Jisoo just went straight to the tequila and downed two shots for herself. Then the very willing accomplice turned to both of them and said, “let’s get this started!”

Rosie absolutely adores Jisoo. She’s one of the most gorgeous women the singer-songwriter has ever met her entire life, and the most talented actress, too.

Jisoo could cry at the drop of a hat, convince everyone that she’s the innocent heartbroken love or she’s the psychotic, vengeful widow.

But what Rosie loved the most about her was her kooky sense of humor and her unique wit. Jisoo was smart, but never the know-it-all. Jisoo was clever, but she never put people down with clapbacks or little reads.

And if any two incredibly famous celebrities wanted to pretend to be engaged just so they can rock the boat a little, Jisoo was the perfect person for it.

Thirty minutes after Jisoo arrived, they had Lisa’s camera equipment set up. A white backdrop rolled out behind them, a reflector to their side, and lights around them.

Lisa may be drunk, but she was determined for the photo to come out looking like it was from a professional shoot. She had a love and a natural eye for photography like no one Rosie has ever met. Rosie sometimes thinks Lisa would be happier if she was a photographer. But she also knows Lisa breathed and lived in movement - that dancing is her one true love and rapping and performing gives her the rush of her life.

So Lisa made her living as a dancer-rapper. And she embraced photography as a hobby, a breath of fresh air from the suffocating confines of show business.

Just like Rosie turned to painting and art when music starts to feel like too much of a job instead of the thing that she loves most.

“Okay, get into position, ladies!” Jisoo yells excitedly at them.

Lisa throws her head back in loud boisterous laughter - the uninhibited kind of laugh that Lisa rarely ever shows to the public. Rosie giggles too, partly from Lisa’s contagious glee and partly from the alcohol still coursing through her veins.

Rosie was game for drinking any type of liquor, for sure. But she never said she wasn’t a lightweight at it.

Lisa gets down on one knee and wobbles as she does. Rosie holds her hand tight and watches her.

“On three, okay?” Jisoo checks.

Lisa and Rosie nod. “On three.”

Jisoo’s counting fades to the background.

It was absolutely unnecessary for their little charade, but Lisa asks her anyway.

“Rosie, will you marry me?”

And it’s all for fun, but Rosie still answers.

“Yes.”

~

After an hour of going through all the photos and drinking so much more, they finally narrowed it down to the two best: one where they were looking into each other’s eyes with Rosie’s hand to as if in shock, and the other one where it looked like Rosie just said yes and Jisoo made a cameo by playfully hitting Lisa’s head with a toy hammer.

They sit huddled together, leaning against each other for support - Lisa in the middle and Rosie and Jisoo to her left and right.

“What should we caption it?” Lisa asks.

“Something cute and simple. Obvious but not direct.” Rosie suggests.

“Yeah,” Jisoo agrees.

So Lisa types just that, too drunk to even put a space before her little colon + close parenthesis smiley, then clicks post.

“She said yes:)”

~

Lisa and Rosie wake up to a massive hangover and a million missed calls from both of their managers.

And their managers themselves banging on Lisa’s door, ready to call in a demolition team with a wrecking ball to break through.

Well, Jennie was, though. Ashley was fine with just repeatedly buzzing in and calling their phones. Jennie was absolutely murderous. Ashley was a little more chill.

And poor Jisoo got caught in the crossfire of it all, getting a little taste of scolding from Jennie for enabling Lisa and being told to stay put and wait for her turn at Jennie’s ire.

And in the ten years she’s been one of Jennie’s closest friends, she was definitely not looking forward to it.

“Lalisa Manoban, what the were you thinking? I don’t care who you want to spend the rest of your life with but you could have AT LEAST - at the very ING LEAST - informed your manager so we could plan the press release accordingly.”

Poor Lisa had her hands to her head while Jennie jackhammered a curse-filled sermon into her skull.

Rosie and Ashley stand in the kitchen, on the other side of the apartment far away from the more rackuous duo.

Well, it really was just Jennie causing the racket, but regardless.

Rosie pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes closed and not looking at her manager. If she was she would see Ashley carefully appraising her with a tired look.

A few moments pass and Ashley speaks.

“Damn, Rosie, I didn’t even know you swung that way. I should’ve known, though, since you and Lisa were a little too close and a little too clingy to just be friends.”

Huh. What.

That wasn’t at all what the singer was expecting. She was waiting for some form of scolding from her manager slash mentor, but it seems like none of that was in store for her.

“Still, you both reek of alcohol and you both really came out publicly in the dumbest, most reckless way. A heads up would have been nice, both as your manager and as your friend. I thought we have enough years of trust between us that I deserve at least that.”

Rosie spoke too soon. Or thought too soon. So she tucks away her misplaced relief at not being scolded. What Ashley said was definitely worse than what she expected. An ache grows in her chest and there is a sting of tears behind her closed eyelids.

She should apologize to Ashley. She should explain how this was all a prank and that she and Lisa weren’t really engaged. That it was all just a drunken, impulsive, joke.

But instead she just says, “I’m sorry, Ashley. I’m really sorry.”

Ashley sighs and puts a hand on Rosie’s shoulder, then proceeds to rub her arm up and down in a comforting manner.

“I forgive you, Rosie. And I am happy for you two.”

~

Lisa sits beside Rosie on the couch. It was Jisoo’s turn to be in the hot seat now, and unfortunately, both managers’ attention were now on her as the oldest and more experienced celebrity who should have definitely known better and stopped them instead of enabling them.

“Hey,” Lisa whispers.

Rosie instinctively leans against Lisa’s side and rests her head on Lisa’s shoulder.

“You still have all your limbs intact after Jennie talked to you. Congratulations.” Rosie says drily.

Lisa snorts.

“If she tore off my limbs, I wouldn’t be able to dance and she’d lose her biggest talent.”

“Mhmm.”

Rosie closes her eyes. Her headache still hasn’t subsided.

“So, wanna tell me how you explained to Ashley that it was a stupid drunken prank so I would know how to explain to Jennie or should I just wait for Ashley to tell Jennie?”

Rosie sits up and turns to Lisa so fast, she gets dizzy.

“You didn’t tell Jennie?!” She whispers harshly.

Lisa’s eyes widen like saucers on her tiny face.

“You didn’t tell Ashley?”

Rosie shakes her head vigorously.

“.”

~

It turns out Jisoo didn’t tell both of them either.

“Well, I guess now you two just have to get married,” the actress told them earlier, then laughed and ran out to call her driver.

Jennie and Ashley then became busy making and taking calls. The two managers warned them to stay put on the couch and not leave, then confiscated both their phones.

They never went through that celebrity phase where they weren’t allowed to use their phones, but the two managers thought it would serve as an initial punishment and insurance that they don’t cause further damage.

So Rosie and Lisa are left to discuss their next plan of action - how to untangle this great big mess that they’ve caused.

“How are we going to tell them the engagement isn’t real and we aren’t actually in love?” Lisa asks, awkward and with a pained smile on her face.

Rosie glares at her for a moment, not saying anything. Then she grabs a throw pillow and hits Lisa with it in her face.

“Hey!” the dancer protests.

“This is your fault. You and your dumb ideas!”

“Well, you agreed to it!”

Rosie harrumphs and crosses her arms in front of her, an angry pout on her lips.

Lisa raises her hands in surrender.

“Okay, okay it’s my fault. But we really need to figure out what we’ll do because Ashley and Jennie are probably setting up press conferences right now and already have press releases ready, if they don’t have those out yet.”

Rosie just glares at her. Lisa sighs and reaches out for her hand. The singer attempts to pull it back, but Lisa stops her and holds it firmly with the other.

“Okay, Rosie, I know you’re mad, okay? I’m sorry.”

Rosie stares at her best friend - the girl she’s known since they were two lowly trainees preparing to debut under different companies, the girl who’s made a new and unfamiliar country feel like home, the girl who, like her, flew miles and left her family to pursue her dreams overseas.

The singer feels her heart thaw. She can’t be mad at Lisa. Not really. She did, after all, give in and agree. She’s partly at fault, too.

Rosie sighs.

“Okay, you’re forgiven.”

Lisa smiles, eyes turning into tiny upturned crescents, all cheeks and teeth. She puts Rosie’s hand to her lips and places a soft kiss, as a sweet gesture - as a wordless thank you for forgiving me and my  .

Rosie’s breath hitches at the feel of Lisa’s lips against her skin, a bodily response she didn’t expect. Then she feels a fluttering in her chest, and she’s unsure whether her heart feels like it’s being tickled or cradled in warmth.

Perhaps both.

Suddenly Ashley’s words come back to her: “ I should’ve known, though, since you and Lisa were a little too close and a little too clingy to just be friends.”

And with that came a flashback of all the men that’s courted her - both celebrities and non-celebrities - as if her mind was spinning a rolodex of everything that could be remotely considered as little pages of a technically non-existent love life. From the nice guy in church who offered to teach her guitar, to the high school classmate who confessed his love to her, to the fellow trainee who kept hitting on her, to the other idols who tried getting her number - Chanyeol, Jimin, Jaehyun.

She thinks of how she never felt an inkling of attraction for them, how she’d chalked it up to none of them sparking her interest, how she’s just probably never met her type of guy.

A light bulb goes off in her head. Not in the AHA ! or the Eureka ! type of way, but more in an illuminating a dark room in her mind that she had no idea existed kind.

Because in that instant, her history of not being interested in men finally made sense .

And for the first time in all the years she’s known Lisa, she starts considering the one thing she’s never even once talked about.

Maybe she does have feelings for Lisa.

~

Rosie feels a tap on her wrist. She looks up to see Lisa looking at her with concern. The dancer waves a hand in front of her eyes, as if to check if she’s conscious. Rosie slaps it away.

“Ow.” Lisa complains, cradling her hand dramatically as if the light tap did any actual injury to her.

Rosie groans.

“Shut up, that didn’t even hurt.”

“I was just checking if you were okay!” Lisa whines. “You suddenly spaced out and got a look on your face like your soul left your body or something.”

Rosie looks down and starts playing with her nails.

“I’m okay.” She waves her friend’s concern off, then she looks up at Lisa, now attentive. “Were you saying something?”

“I was saying…” Lisa inhales, as if steeling herself. Then exhales in a huff. “Dammit, it was so hard for me to say the first time and now I have to repeat myself because you weren’t listening.”

“Sorry.” Rosie actually means the apology. “Now, spit it out.”

Well, she meant it when she said it.

“Okay,” Lisa starts. “I was suggesting that we don’t tell Jennie and Ashley.”

“What do you mean not tell them?” Rosie’s heart thunders in her chest and she feels like her brain is about to explode.

“Like, not tell them it’s all actually a prank.” Lisa elaborates, waiting for it to click in her friend’s brain. She looks into Rosie’s eyes and searches for the understanding she hopes to see there.

But Lisa sees none, so she lets her shoulders sag in defeat and groans.

“What?” Rosie asks, annoyed and impatient.

“I mean, we’re going to pretend like we’re actually in love and engaged?”

Rosie stands up so quickly she sees spots in her vision. But it doesn’t rattle her from screaming at the incredulity of what Lisa was suggesting.

“WHAT?!”

Lisa shushes her. Her scream was so loud that Jennie and Ashley looked into the living room and shushed her, too, distrurbed from whatever phone call or discussion they were in the middle of, in the kitchen.

Lisa pulls her back down and she sits on the couch, but was still wide open and her eyebrows were still up so high on her forehead that they’re nearly touching her hairline.

Rosie just couldn’t believe what Lisa was suggesting, that Lisa was actually even suggesting it.

“Okay, I know it sounds crazy-” Lisa starts explaining but Rosie interrupts her.

“Crazy?! It sounds ing bat insane.”

Lisa gives Rosie a look. Rosie doesn’t curse - it’s never been her thing. But this was just off-the-walls insanity and coupled with the recent realization and little crisis she’s internally having, it’s actually quite understandable if she threw around an f-bomb here and there.

But Lisa doesn’t know that. So Lisa stays annoyed.

“Can I continue?”

“Okay, sorry.”

“As I was saying,” Lisa shoots Rosie a look. Rosie puts her arms up in surrender, showing that she’s not going to interrupt anymore. With that Lisa continues.

“We pretend to be in love and engaged. For just a few months. Or even just a few weeks. And then we pretend to break up. And we say it’s just a mutual decision and we both realized we’re not fit to spend the rest of our lives together, or something. We have to clarify that it’s not because of a third party or it’s not because we fought so much and now hate each other. We just decided to go back to being friends because we discovered that we aren’t romantically fit for each other.”

“Huh.” Rosie considers Lisa’s proposition.

If they broke the news that everything was just a prank AFTER not telling their managers earlier, they’d be digging themselves into a deeper hole.

Worse, Ashley might just be so done with Rosie that she quits being both her manager and her friend. Rosie thinks she can’t deal with that. She values Ashley far too much as a friend, even if she wasn’t the best one to her since last night.

And there isn’t really any other option. At least one that doesn’t present a solution that wouldn’t harm their careers and their relationship with their managers.

Jennie is actually already the embodiment of wrath. If they told her that it’s all a prank now, she might just strangle Lisa with her bare hands, chop up her dead body to tiny little pieces, and flush the mini decapitated parts down the toilet.

Well, .

Rosie’s going to have to agree to another one of Lisa’s crazy ideas, isn’t she?