Turns out, being fake engaged to superstar Lalisa Manoban isn’t so hard. And neither does it make a huge difference in Rosie’s life.

Or at least, that’s what she’s learned in the first month and a half.

Sure, there was the fact that Rosie has to deal with her newly-discovered feelings and the fact that she now understands that the blushing, swooning and butterflies in her stomach whenever Lisa compliments her is a by-product of that. And yeah, she gets a little too gleeful whenever Lisa sends her a selfie coupled with the messages, “do I look okay” or “how do you like this new hoodie I bought lol it has a weird baby on it”. And she probably shouldn’t be as thrilled as she is when Lisa calls her “my beloved fiancée” and once, in an instagram post of a throwback photo of them with Lisa’s cats, “the loves of my life”.

But all in all, it’s not as horrible as she thought it would be.

And the same goes for public response. The worldwide public were understandably shocked by their announcement - their respective loyal fanbases, especially - but the general consensus is that the news of their engagement was well-received and even widely-supported.

Of course, some of the more loyal, verging on rabid, fans did not take it well and felt like they were betrayed by them both; firstly for being gay, secondly for having the audacity to be in a relationship. But it’s not like they weren’t expecting that.

One thing that made Rosie uneasy, though, was that they were suddenly into the role of being icons for the LGBT community. It was one thing neither she nor Lisa considered, but apparently something their managers both predicted.

Well, that just goes to show they both have managers who do their jobs.

So, in light of being overnight sapphic icons, they have both been receiving invitations to perform at Pride events and speak at LGBT community gatherings.

Rosie feels terrible about it. First, because she’s only recently discovered that she’s actually attracted to the same-. Second, because they’re only technically pretending to be gay and in love.

If she any other baby gay and she wasn’t her, then she found out that two people she idolized for being strong enough to come out despite what people would say, she’d feel absolutely, utterly offended.

What she and Lisa are doing is without a doubt disrespectful to such a marginalized community.

It makes Rosie sick thinking about it, about how many little girls in love with their best friends, spurned on by the instagram posts, are now having the courage to come out about their feelings. And then the truth of it is that all of it is fake?

God, Rosie just wishes she could turn back time and simply undo everything - say no to Lisa, firmly, when she suggests the stupid idea, and then come to realize her feelings about her best friend on her own.

But what’s done is done and there is definitely no way to change the past.

Rosie promises herself that when she makes better sense of her feelings, after she and Lisa call off their fake engagement, she’ll have to come out to Lisa and confess her love. There’s no other way to go about it. Her fear of rejection from her best friend cannot keep her from saying her truth - saying it to the one person who needs to hear it, who matters the most.

Rosie is determined to do it right - to do right by herself, and do right by all the other closeted girls harboring feelings for their best friends.

For now, though, Rosie has instructed Ashley to respectfully decline those invitations. She knows she has no right speaking for an experience she is yet to have. She knows it would be wrong to pretend like she’s some kind of role model, some brave representative or spokesperson. She’s talked to Jennie and Lisa as well about it and Jennie understood.

But Jennie told them they would have to appear at talk shows and talk about their engagement and relationship sooner or later. Ashley agreed with Jennie. So that’s one thing she can avoid. But fortunately for her, she’s currently busy with rehearsals and she’ll have an upcoming tour so she wouldn’t have to speak about their fake engagement on national television or radio shows.

But Lisa on the other hand, being a regular on a few shows and being booked on nothing but promotions for her upcoming new release, has no way of evading personal queries.

~

“And from 53 contestants, only 28 now remain. Who among them will debut in the top 12 and become the next girl group phenomenon? Tune in next week. This is your host and judge, Kun-”

“And this is your host and judge, Lisa-”

The two hosts-slash-judges turn to each other, then to the camera and together they say: “Thank you and good night!”

“And cut! That’s a wrap on the live broadcast!” The director announces. The remaining trainees applaud and congratulate each other, meanwhile the eliminated ones are crying and ushered out of the studio.

Lisa takes off her in-ear and couldn’t stop the sigh escaping from her lips. It had been a particularly exhausting few weeks since her fake engagement was announced. Since then she has been shooting for reality show competitions non-stop. Most days, she’s actually being a hands-on mentor with the trainees, though they don’t show all of it. She actually teaches the steps and choreographs some of the dances. If she isn’t doing that, she’s meeting with her producer and still working on polishing some of the tracks on her new and upcoming rap album.

Lisa hasn’t been able to properly stay and enjoy her apartment and the company of her cats for a while. She’s glad her mother is more than happy to cat-sit for her, though.

But the most exhausting part of it all was having to answer and address all the goddamn questions and congratulatory messages and even the jokes about her engagement. She envies Rosie for being holed up in the dance studio, focusing only on rehearsing for the stages in her solo concert tour. The only people she’ll have to explain anything to are the dancers and choreographers who are mostly professional and will stop bothering her once it’s time for practice.

Lisa, on the other hand though, has to deal with a lot of different people - mostly other celebrities, too - who want to poke and prod at her love life.

Just because she’s famous and was generous (dumb) enough to share part of her private life, a lot of people think that they’re actually entitled to know everything about her. But what’s even weirder and worse, is that now even fellow celebrities who most definitely know how it feels to have their privacy invaded, are doing a lot of invading into hers, too.

It might be that they’re just glad it’s not their own love life that’s in the spotlight right now.

Either way, Lisa absolutely loathes it and immediately develops a loathing for anyone who would be pestering her about her and Rosie’s engagement.

Even if all of it is really her fault. All the badgering has overstepped the boundaries of common human decency and it’s just driving her mad. And Lisa knows that she deserves to be angry about it, rightfully so.

So when Kun turns to her and gives her a smirk, and then says, “so, will you be coming home to the fiancée tonight, or nah?” Lisa thinks of wiping the stupid smirk off his face.

Preferably with her fist. But because she doesn’t want to be slapped with an assault suit right when all the gossip outlets are zeroing in on her, she gives him a tight-lipped smile and curt reply in return.

“No. Like I told you last week, Rosie is busy with rehearsals for her concert tour.”

Kun nods, still smirking.

“Ah, right, right.”

And then, for god knows what reason, Kun winks at her, then says, “must be great to be marrying such a fine woman like Rosé - she’s talented and she’s also so hot.”

The way he says it rubs Lisa the wrong way and makes goosebumps erupt all over her flesh in disgust. Kun must think that because Lisa is out as a gay woman now, that they’re some kind of bros.

Lisa grits her teeth, has to physically stop herself from making any moves and make an effort to stay rooted where she stands. She wants nothing more than to beat the out of him. He always annoyed her but it was always harmless.

This, though, was just too much. Lisa’s not stupid, she knows what Kun meant, with the way he said it. And there was no way she’s letting him speak about nor think of Rosie in that way, fake fiancée or not.

“Yeah, I’m incredibly lucky to be marrying Rosé and as her fiancée, I respectfully ask you to never talk about her again in that way.”

Lisa’s nostrils flare and figurative steam comes out of it. Kun physically backs away from her, hands raised to placate her.

“Whoa, Lisa, chill. I was just appreciating her.”

Lisa takes a step forward, eyes glinting dangerously.

“Appreciate her again like that and I can assure you, you will regret it.”

Kun raises his arms higher.

“Okay, I’m sorry! I mean nothing by it, really.”

Lisa just pivots on her heel, storms off away from the stage and the she has the misfortune of being coworkers with. Once backstage and in her dressing room, she asks for her phone and one of the assistants hands it to her.

She opens her call log, taps on the contact that she called last - Rosie ❤. Then she decides against calling. Her fake fiancée is probably smack in the middle of rehearsals right now and can’t be bothered. She decides to send a text message instead, even though she knows Rosie isn’t really the type to respond to text messages.

But Lisa just feels too upset and needs to both find some form of comfort and release.

And Rosie has always constantly been the one to give her both of that.

Lisa thinks for a moment, of what to say. She ends up with something a little longer than her usual short ones, but taps it quickly, fingers flying over the keyboard. She usually isn’t one to type too many words, she likes to keep texts short and simple since that’s exactly what they’re for, right? But she hasn’t been having the best time dealing with the repercussions of her recklessness and she just misses Rosie so, so much.

So before she second-guesses the message, she presses send.

‘Was gonna call but I know ur busy, so I’ll text instead. Work today. Kun was such an . More than usual. The fake engagement prank isn’t funny anymore. Why did I have to be such a ? But I guess, things could have been worse. I could have been stupider and fake-engaged myself to someone that isn’t u. Anyway, I’m glad it’s u. Jennie told me she’s happy we found each other, btw, before the presscon. She doesn’t know we’re not really dating, but she isn’t wrong. I’m happy I found u and I’m fake-engaged to U. I miss u. Good luck with rehearsals. Ur Beyoncé’s successor. Ur amazing. Love u.’

Sent 21:05 ✓.

~

Rosie reads the message at 11:16 pm that night when her face is freshly washed of makeup and she’s in her jammies tucked in bed. The wall of text surprises her, but it’s the kind of unexpected that’s pleasant. A warmth spreads from her chest down to her belly and a huge grin erupts on her face.

Rosie doesn’t remember the last time Lisa sent her a long text message. Even birthday greetings or congratulatory messages were short and straightforward, never rambly. And now that she thinks about it, she’s convinced Lisa actually never sent her a long message in all 10 years she’s known her.

Well, there surely is a first time for everything.

All these years and Lisa can still surprise her.

Rosie thinks that Lisa is probably tired and already asleep but on the off-chance that she’s still awake and upset, she texts her back.

‘Sounds like Kun did something really awful for you to send me that wall of text. You can call me if you’re still up.’

Sent 23:17 ✓.

The singer stares at her messages thread with Lisa. Then suddenly her phone starts to vibrate and Lisa’s caller ID pops up - incoming call.

Rosie picks it up right away.

“You’re still awake?”

“Mmm,” comes the muffled reply. “In bed but couldn’t sleep.”

“Well, wanna talk to me about what is keeping you up?” Rosie offers, gently.

Lisa sighs.

“Just…” she starts, “just everything. Kun, firstly, but also I feel bad for putting us in this dumb situation.” Lisa sighs again, sadness in her tone. “I’m really sorry for all of it, Rosie.”

“Well, you always knew how to make life interesting, Lisa. It’s one of your many talents.” Rosie chuckles. “But it’s okay and you don’t have to feel bad anymore. There’s no sense in beating yourself up over what’s already done.”

Lisa sighs again. “But still…”

“Yeah, I know.” Rosie agrees. Those three specific words bring comfort to Lisa, like they always do. Lisa has never been a woman of many words, never been one with a knack of expressing emotion linguistically. She has always been all about movement. If she was angry or sad or happy, she conveyed it physically, with animated facial expressions and nonverbal sounds - a squee or a harrumph or a grunt or a groan.

So whenever Rosie says, “yeah, I know,” Lisa always feels relieved of the burden of having to verbalize her thoughts. And what a relief it is, to not have to explain herself to someone all the time - to have someone just get her.

Because Rosie understood her not only from the years they’ve known each other, but also just from this deep, palpable bond she’s always felt between the two of them. As if there is a string, anchored directly into her heart that connects to Rosie and if ever she needed anything - any form of comfort, any form of acceptance, any form of just being seen - she knows she only needs to give the string a little tug and Rosie would be there.

Lisa smiles.

“Yeah. You do know.” She chuckles. Rosie laughs along with her.

“Look on the brightside, besides not having to deal with being hit on by men, we apparently made a lot of ‘shippers’ happy.”

Lisa bursts out laughing then. When the news of their engagement broke out, it came to their attention that some of their fans actually ‘ship’ them with each other. Apparently, ‘shipping’ is wishing for two people to be in a relationship - hence, ship - and creating fan content to feed into the whole idea of said two people being together, whether it be drawing them together or writing stories about them being together.

It gave both of them a kick, looking at all the fanmade stuff the shippers did for them. They would stalk fanartists, mostly, on instagram and like some of their posts.

Of course, to add a level of legitimacy to their whole charade, but also to just show appreciation. Some people are just so talented and deserve to be recognized for it.

“Yeah, we really made their shipping dreams come true, didn’t we?” Lisa says proudly.

“We sure did.” Rosie agrees.

And then Lisa yawns.

“Sleepy now?” Rosie asks.

“Mhmm. Thank you.”

“Okay, good night, Lisa.”

“Good night, Rosie.”

The dancer didn’t even remember to tell her best friend and fake fiancée about Kun and what he had said to make her so upset. But she didn’t feel the need to.

Rosie gets her already, anyways.