The shock of the kiss nearly makes Rosie fall to her knees.

The kiss is nothing like Rosie dreamed of. Mostly because never in her wildest dreams did Rosie ever think this would happen. She hadn’t even told Lisa how she felt.

This was entirely outside of the realm of possibilities in Rosie’s world. She didn’t even expect Lisa to be here tonight, let alone be carrying a bouquet to surprise her and kissing her in front of 7,000 people in Le Zénith, Paris.

The kiss is everything all at once - fireworks and explosions, the drop from the highest point of a rollercoaster turning her insides out, her world upside down. It has the impact of a meteor, crashing down on earth to wipe her out with all the firm softness of a gentle press of skin against skin.

Lisa tastes like an orchestra playing the big chorus and the sweeping crescendo on her lips, feels like a sonnet being recited wordlessly.

The singer feels so weightless at that moment - as if she’d somehow sprouted wings and took flight, as if she’s a kite being blown every which way by the winds, tethered only to the world by her love’s lips.

But the kiss also feels like a sigh, a release - something long awaited that she wasn’t even aware of - the first droplets of rain touching parched, cracked soil, the exact answer sought by her longing soul.

It takes everything in her not to crumble - to stand still. But somehow she manages to hold herself up and any outward showing of how shaken she is manifests only in little trembles. Lisa’s hand is still warm against her cheek and the dancer has her eyes closed.

And Lisa keeps kissing her, moves her lips against hers. The dancer wraps her arms around her, bouquet and electric guitar smashed in between them, and caresses her in just the way Rosie felt like she needed to be held.

So Rosie kisses back.

She kisses back with everything in her, holds Lisa just as close and lets her confession be conveyed through touches and caresses and lips. She feels her breath leave her lungs in an exhale through her nose and instead inhale Lisa.

Everything Lisa - the scent of her, the warmth of her, sensation of her.

Rosie feels herself drowning.

It’s only when a voice comes through her in-ear that she’s pulled back and grounded to reality.

“Uh, um, Miss Rosé, you and Miss Lisa may now exit backstage,” says the stage director awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable about having to break up such an intense reunion.

Rosie puts a hand against Lisa’s shoulder and uses the last bit of willpower and strength left in her to lean back.

She opens her eyes ever so slightly and sees that the entire dome is now dark, with the exception of a few stage lights providing guidance to the path backstage. She becomes aware of the continuous cheering of her fans, loud enough that it’s bleeding through her earpieces.

In the dark she sees the faint outline of Lisa’s face, of half-lidded doe eyes under bangs and slightly parted lips - gorgeous as she’s always been.

“We have to leave the stage.” Rosie tells her.

Lisa just nods wordlessly and takes her hand.

The crowd doesn’t stop cheering until they’re long gone.

~

From the inexplicable foggy, hazy tranquility that enveloped the two of them onstage, Rosie and Lisa step into a crazy whirlwind backstage.

People are grabbing Rosie left and right - and Lisa, too, by default since to them she’s the soon-to-be-wife of the successful soloist who just finished the last stop of her sold out European tour.

Everyone backstage is hugging them both in congratulations or shaking their hands and patting their backs, Rosie especially.

The dancers smile and clap with immense pride, being the backdrop against which the singer-songwriter performed her more explosive numbers. The stylists and makeup team are happy that they’ve done their job well, allowing Rosie maximum mobility in her outfits no matter the stunts she pulled yet ensuring that she looked stunning all the while. The instrumentalists in the live band are the most vocal about their joy - hollering and whooping and lifting the comparatively tinier solo artist in celebration. The bodyguards and stage assistants watch it all respectfully, but celebrate with them nonetheless.

The star of the evening - Rosé - gets passed back and forth between people. She gets dizzy, but she laughs and squeals and basks in the celebratory mood and happiness all the same.

Lisa watches it all unfold before her, thinks of how the scene looks like a huge ballroom dance from one of those renaissance period films where they exchange partners - only this is more spirited and less choreographed. She shakes a few hands here and there and accepts all the hugs that come her way.

It’s Ashley who breaks it all up.

“Okay, okay, everyone, let’s not break my most talented soloist, now, and let her breathe, shall we?” The manager says with a playful tone, chuckling. Lisa laughs, too, along with everyone else.

Rosie grins then throws her arms around her manager. Ashley returns the hug with a smile.

“Congratulations, my little all-around star.” The older woman says with all the affection, leaning away from the embrace. The singer smiles so wide that it looks like she just might burst.

The way Ashley has treated Rosie like a little sister never changed over the years. If anything, the woman only grew more protective of her the more famous she became.

Lisa is happy Rosie has people like that in her life - people who would always look out for her and make sure she gets the best of everything.

Because that’s what Rosie deserves - the best of everything.

The sudden charge of energy from all the people backstage made Lisa forget what just happened a few moments ago, on stage. But now, watching Ashley speak to Rosie with such fondness brought back the memory of it.

The song. The emotion in Rosie’s voice. The feeling that overcame Lisa. And the absolute, unabashed need to just kiss her best friend, her fake fiancée - and quite possibly a girl she’d unknowingly been in love with for so many years.

The dancer swallows a lump that lodges itself in . The realization tumbles down like a tiny tin ball down her spine, clanking and tumbling and pinballing against every little vertebra - rattling her bones - and then falls into the pit of her stomach. Her mind blanks. Her hands grow cold and clammy.

It’s only when Ashley calls her over that she snaps out of it.

“You,” Ashley points at her playfully, and wraps an arm around her. Lisa returns the one-armed hug mechanically, the other hand still holding the bouquet that’s been smushed from the onstage kiss earlier. “Miss Lalisa Manoban. You surprised me as well, tonight. I didn’t expect you to come, let alone pull such a public stunt like that.”

Ashley winks at her and laughs. Lisa smiles.

“Honestly, I surprised myself too.” Lisa says, absolute sincerity in her voice.

The real truth in the statement flies over Ashley’s head. But Rosie gives her a weird unreadable look. Lisa can only wonder what her best friend thinks about everything - the surprise appearance, the kiss.

“Aren’t you fully booked with shootings, though, Lisa? How ever will you manage to sneak in a long flight here and a long flight back?” Ashley asks, a little concerned. The manager knows all too well that the last thing a talent should be is overworked and stretched too thin.

“I convinced Jennie to move a few things around.” Lisa smiles sheepishly, as if the amount of effort she’d give for Rosie is something to be embarrassed about.

Ashley raises an eyebrow. “Knowing Jennie, you probably begged for it.”

Lisa laughs. “Yeah, I did. I’ll have to leave and fly back tomorrow, probably eat lunch at the airport. But...” Then the dancer looks at Rosie and holds her gaze, wanting to convey the truth of her next words and ensure that they land the way she needs them to. “But I was missing this one so much, I just had to see her. Everything else be damned.”

Rosie just looks at her. Ashley speaks up with a proposition.

“Well, how about a nice expensive dinner at a five star hotel with the whole team, then?”

~

The dinner goes smoothly. Or so that’s what Lisa thinks at first.

It isn’t until dessert that Lisa notices how Rosie hasn’t actually spoken to her directly the whole night. Lisa thought it was expected, initially, since the singer had just finished an incredibly successful tour and she was rightfully the star of the evening.

But Lisa realizes that Rosie had been purposefully avoiding her gaze and feels a little too distant to her.

So Lisa tries to discreetly take Rosie’s hand under the table. But her attempt is rebuffed when Rosie pulls back with a little too much force, then, acting as if she was just calling a waiter, raises her hand for them.

The action has Lisa shaken.

Was Rosie mad at her for the kiss? Was the kiss too much? Was she wrong for doing it?

But wasn’t Rosie kissing her back?

The singer orders wine for the table, acting like nothing is amiss. Lisa knew, though, of course, and saw through it.

Tendrils of anxiety crawl up the skin of her back and cold fear grips the dancer’s heart.

Did Lisa just ruin their decade-long friendship? Did she somehow hurt the woman she just came to realize to be the person she loves most in the world?

The wine comes and Rosie drinks her a little too quickly. Not fast enough that she looks like a woman racing to get smashed for the night, but hastily enough that Lisa knows it isn’t how she normally drinks.

Rosie loves her alcohol and she tries to enjoy it. The singer seemed too thoughtful and did not look like she was enjoying the drink one bit.

Suddenly Rosie stands up. Unknown to Lisa, she’s been very aware of the looks the dancer has been throwing her way. She’s glad that it seems like everyone else hasn’t noticed her fake fiancée looking like a kicked puppy for half of the evening.

There was only so much she could take of it. She needed a breather.

“Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom.”

Rosie walks away from the table. Lisa stands up, too, seeing an opportunity to speak with her in private and not willing to pass it up. The dancer follows on Rosie’s heels.

The singer is well-aware that Lisa is following her to the bathroom. She really didn’t want to have some kind of confrontation tonight, seeing that she should be celebrating, but it was inevitable.

Rosie just hopes it doesn’t become too painful.

She checks if anyone else is in the bathroom with them when Lisa finally steps in. As if the universe allowed for them to have this time to talk, there was no one. So Rosie reaches behind Lisa to pull the bathroom door closed and lock it.

Lisa gulps. At the proximity of her friend and at the intensity suddenly behind her eyes. Her reflexes are triggered, and she braces for whatever is coming.

“What was that?” Rosie asks. The question is all pointed daggers, said in a voice deadly quiet.

It makes Lisa tremble.

“What was what?” Lisa doesn’t mean to play fool, she really doesn’t. Not now, not when Rosie means business.

But it was hard to tell what Rosie was talking about and she wasn’t really the most eloquent under stress.

“Don’t play dumb, Lisa.” Rosie bites out. There is an angry fire in her eyes and Lisa knows it’ll burn her whole soon if she said the wrong thing. “What was that? Why did you show up tonight with a bouquet, and…” Rosie stops herself, takes a few calming breaths. She was too angry. She shouldn’t be too angry. Not yet. Not when her best friend hasn’t even had the chance to explain herself.

“And the kiss… What was that? Was it just another prank you thought up while drunk?” Rosie finishes.

Lisa searches Rosie’s eyes then, as she says the question. And then she finds what she’s looking for as Rosie takes slow steady breaths, and says her words haltingly.

There was anger and there was fire. But behind it all was this heavy, agonizing pain.

Lisa doesn’t know why the pain is there, but something tells her she caused it.

And just as Rosie would comfortingly tell her “yeah, I know” and understand whatever she meant to say, Lisa understands then, too.

Rosie has feelings for her. Lisa doesn’t know for how long.

But Rosie has feelings for her and her best friend had to play along with the fake engagement, thinking that none of it was reciprocated on Lisa’s end.

Rosie must have thought she was just playing with her. The dancer’s heart shatters.

“I meant what I said.” Lisa says in quiet conviction. “I missed you and I wanted to see you.”

She takes a tentative step forward, into Rosie’s space. When the singer leans away, about to take a step backward, Lisa grabs Rosie’s arm with much more certainty than she managed to slip into her tone earlier.

Lisa isn’t a woman of many words. She has always been, and will always be a woman of movement and action.

And there was no better time to act than now.

“I meant it.” Lisa repeats, a hand coming up to gently cup Rosie’s face. “I meant what I did.” The dancer looks down at Rosie’s lips, making her intentions clear. She looks back up into the singer's eyes, to see if Rosie was going to pull back.

She sees no trace of reluctance in Rosie’s eyes. Only hurt and expectation.

With a deep breath, Lisa hardens her resolve and hopes she can meet them.

“I mean this now.” The dancer leans in and whispers the words against Rosie’s lips, before closing in.

For the second time tonight, Lisa kisses Rosie. And Rosie also kisses back.

This second kiss feels different than the first. This was expected, this was something they both knew was coming.

But it was still no less groundbreaking and earth shattering.

Lisa still feels fire erupt under her skin, gets swept in the storm that thunders in her heart. She feels instinct guide her, feels her whole being tingle with familiarity that can only exist when a soul finds its mate.

She feels the string connecting her heart and anchoring it into Rosie’s vibrate with life, as if in joyous celebration that finally - finally - everything is right.

Lisa feels like she could reach the stars. Like she only needs to hold her hand up and stand on her tiptoes to grab them and take them from the sky.

As if Rosie’s lips brought her closer to the cosmos, made her ascend up and outside of the earth, into the expanse of the universe.

Or maybe it’s Rosie’s kiss that brought the heavens down onto its knees, well within Lisa’s reach.

Either way, they press closer together, now, with nothing caught in between them. They are chest to chest, their arms snaking quickly around each other, both overcome with the need to have more, feel more.

The kiss quickly deepens, becomes hungrier, needier. The softness of lips make way for the sensuality of tongues.

Rosie moans and Lisa swallows it with .

With a trembling hand and a shaky exhale, Rosie pushes Lisa back, just far enough to break the kiss yet stay in her embrace.

“Wait,” the singer says, breathing hard. “Just… wait.” And then a big, dazed grin spreads across Rosie’s face. “Just need to breathe… Okay?”

Lisa laughs for a reason unknown to her, catching her breath, too.

“Okay.”

Rosie closes her eyes, rests her forehead against Lisa’s. They both wrap their arms more firmly around each other - Rosie around Lisa’s shoulders and Lisa around the other’s waist.

They hold each other like that for a while, just basking in quiet closeness, enjoying the feel of being held. Rosie speaks up first.

“So.. was that a confession?” Rosie asks.

Lisa couldn’t help but throw her head back in loud, boisterous laughter. Of course, Rosie would ask that after what was probably the most intense kiss of both their lives, bar the first one earlier that night.

And just because she could, Lisa shakes her head.

“No, that wasn’t a confession.”

A confused look passes through Rosie’s face and before it could evolve into doubt and worry, Lisa chooses to ease it.

“This is a confession: I love you Roseanne Chaeyoung Park.”

Rosie breaks out into the biggest, happiest smile.

“Then, I need to confess something, too - I love you, Lalisa Manoban.”

~

Lisa comes with Rosie to her hotel that night.

It was always part of the plan, though. She didn’t book a hotel for herself since she and Rosie always have sleepovers when they spend time together. Lisa just books a hotel for the bodyguard and the assistant that came with her to Paris to make sure she’s safe and unnoticed when she arrives and when she leaves.

But the air around them feels different that night. And understandably so. Their relationship dynamic has suddenly shifted from fake engaged best friends to potential lovers.

“Potential” because they didn’t exactly have the time to discuss everything in the restaurant bathroom before Ashley went looking for them and reminded them that they can do whatever they want with each other in their hotel room and not in a restaurant bathroom. The insinuation made both of them blush and look at each other awkwardly.

As much as the desire is there, there is also an unspoken need to take things slow. Everything has already been crazy since the fake engagement was announced. It would be nice if Lisa wasn’t constantly put in situations she didn’t know what to do.

And well, besides sleeping chastely with her best friend in either of their beds, Lisa didn’t exactly have any experience in the whole sleeping with other people thing.

She was too busy spending her late teenage years working as a celebrity instead of getting drunk and hooking up like normal kids.

And so did Rosie.

So that night, they lay facing each other on the queen-sized hotel bed, arms and hands and limbs respectfully in their own spaces.

“So, we should talk, huh?” It’s Rosie who breaks the silence, as she is the better communicator between the two of them.

“Uh huh,” Lisa agrees. “We should.”

“This is awkward.” The singer laughs.

“I’m sorry,” Lisa apologizes, looking down.

“No, no, don’t be sorry!” Rosie reaches out and takes Lisa’s hand, rubs a gentle thumb across the back of it. “It’s not your fault. I don’t know what to say either.” The singer smiles kindly, then intertwines their fingers and pulls their hands up to her lips so she can place a soft kiss on the back of Lisa’s.

The small, sweet action unleashes butterflies in Lisa’s stomach, causing a fluttering in her chest.

Lisa sighs and closes her eyes, scoots closer until they’re forehead to forehead.

“No, you’re doing great.”

She feels Rosie’s lips form a smile against her hand, feels her place a few kisses once more before she speaks again.

“That was my first kiss, you know? On stage.”

Lisa’s eyes fly open.

“Your FIRST?”

Rosie nods. “Mhmm.”

Lisa can’t believe her ears. There was absolutely no way.

“Not even a stolen kiss by a dumb boy in fourth grade?”

Rosie laughs at how specific the question is. “No. Never. I never got the chance before I became a trainee and after debut, it was just impossible to date anyone. You know that.”

“Yeah, I know, but I thought you’d have experienced a dumb kiss in gradeschool or middleschool.”

Rosie shakes her head. “Nope. You’re the first.”

“Holy .” Lisa mutters in amazement. “I’m your first kiss.”

“Mhmm.”

“Wow.”

“Not for a lack of suitors, mind you.”

“No, yeah, I know. I met most of them. Still. Wow.”

Rosie chuckles. “Lucky you, huh?”

Lisa looks at her, eyes softening. Then she comes closer and presses a quick, soft kiss against Rosie’s lips.

“I’m already the luckiest person in the world because you love me. This is just a bonus.”

Rosie smiles.

“Now, when did you get so cheesy?”

Lisa laughs.

“I don’t know.”

The singer looks at her fondly.

“What made you fly all the way to Paris, bring flowers to my concert, and kiss me onstage?”

“Hmm.” Lisa thinks for a moment. “I don’t know, really. What I told Ashley was real - that I missed you so badly I had to see you and I was willing to do whatever to make that happen. It was Jisoo who gave me the idea, though.”

Rosie nods, but her real question remains unanswered. So, she asks it directly instead.

“But was it because you were going to confess to me?”

Lisa shakes her head.

“No, that part was totally unplanned. I didn’t even know I was in love with you until I was backstage listening to you sing.”

“Oh.”

“After the song, I just felt this… pull. I don’t know. I just felt like I had to kiss you. And when I did, I realized that I had feelings for you.”

“In that moment? During the kiss?”

“Mhmm.” Lisa nods. “Just during the kiss.”

“Wow.” Rosie exhales the word in wonder.

“Why?”

“I realized I was in love with you the morning after the instagram post. Ashley was talking to me, and she told me that she should have seen that we were actually more than friends - that we were too clingy and too coupley.”

Lisa snorts.

“Damn, Jennie should’ve said something like that to me instead of chewing my head off. Maybe I’d have realized my feelings sooner, too.”

Rosie laughs.

“Well, if you did, maybe we wouldn’t have the memory of tonight.”

Lisa looks into Rosie’s eyes and smiles.

“Yeah, maybe.”

They let the truth settle over them, then. Perhaps it did take a long time before the two of them could get here, perhaps it took the most bizarre turn of events for them to realize the depth of their affection for each other.

But it was all worth it.