I looked away slowly from my best friend, unable to look her in the eye as I prepared myself to speak the words I had held in my heart for far too long. Instead I focused on our reflections in the water of the lake we stood above. The moonlight hitting the water at just the right angle to create the illusion of the milky way swimming in the water below. There were soft ripples with the breeze of the night that distorted the image of us standing a meter apart on the bridge. And for a moment it looked like we were standing close enough to touch.

 

“Well?” Chaeyoung sighed into the cold night air and I knew I had to speak now, or I would never, ever say it.

 

“I… I’ve been taking some time to think recently and–”

“Lisa, you ignored me for a whole month after what happened.”

 

The bitterness in her voice hurt. But I supposed I deserved it after how I treated her… after everything we went through. She must have been hurting as much, or even more than I had been in that past month. I hated myself for making her feel like that.

 

“I know. I’m sorry.” I whispered, my voice already starting to break. “I should have just it up and talked to you like a normal person. But I guess I decided to do what I do best.”

 

“Run and hide.” She finished for me.

 

“But I’m not going to run or hide anymore.”

 

I finally looked up, abandoning our reflections to look right into her eyes. Those beautiful eyes. They were filled with unshed tears. So were mine. And in that moment under the moonlight, I knew. I knew for sure.

 

“I’m in love with you.”

 

 

 

Chaeyoung squealed and felt her own eyes tear up at the scene. She clutched her phone to her chest and squirmed in her bed, unable to contain the joy she felt when she read about her favourite idol ship, Chaelisa, FINALLY getting together after a rollercoaster of a fan fiction. This one had been particularly heart wrenching and it was RIDICULOUSLY satisfying to see what looked like a happy ending in sight. Today was a good day!

 

“STOP MOVING! GO TO SLEEP AND TURN OFF THE PHONE!”

 

Chaeyoung giggled, turning down the brightness on her phone and ducking her head under the covers to read the remaining paragraphs of the chapter.

 

“Sorry.” She mumbled to her older sister, Sana, who she unfortunately still shared a room with even when Chaeyoung was pushing 20 and Sana 23. Even worse was the fact that their tiny room only had the space for a rickety bunk bed, which mean that every little movement that Chaeyoung made on the top bunk could be felt by Sana (and vice versa).

 

She would have thought that Sana would have gotten used to Chaeyoung’s late night fanfic reading and her antics, but of course people reached their breaking points eventually.

 

She tried to remain as still as possible as she read the remainder of the chapter, happy tears running down her face when Rosé and Lisa sealed their love with a kiss under the moonlight just as the rain began to fall. It was such a perfect scene. Filled with so much emotion and so many unspoken words.

 

She voted for the fic and wrote a comment underneath, trying her very best to describe just how many emotions the author had made her feel at once. She thanked them over and over again.

 

This is my favourite story by you so far! It deserves so many more reads and votes!!

 

The author – going by the pseudonym @chaechae_lisa – was one of Chaeyoung’s favourites. They never disappointed. Whether the story was about her OTP Chaelisa or Jenlisa or Jensoo or simply any combination of her favourite girl group Blackpink, it was always breathtaking and so well written. Chaeyoung had always been picky with what fan fiction she picked up to read and this… this author knew how to write top-tier literature.

 

As she turned off her phone and placed it beside her pillow at around 1am, she closed her eyes and hoped to dream of Rosé and Lisa and prayed that one day, she too could write a piece of fiction like A Misconception or Three by @chaechae_lisa.

 

 

***

 

 

Chaeyoung, herself, had an Archive of Our Own user with its own fair share of stories. All of them under the tag BLACKPINK (Band).

 

She had written ten. She sometimes clicked on her own profile and looked at that little number beside the works – (10) – and beamed, feeling accomplished that she could write so much. Of course, she followed authors that had written well over 50 individual works, but 10 was a start. A step on the way to becoming the iconic, prolific, Chaelisa writer that she had always dreamed of becoming (well, maybe not always).

 

Chaeyoung had always loved writing. Since she was in school, she had always enjoyed picking up a pencil and drawing a scene from her head, then scrawling the scenario underneath, creating stories and comics and prompts. She hadn’t changed.

 

She was still always in her own little world. All up in her head, sitting at her and Sana’s shared desk, a blank word document blinking in front of her, just waiting to be painted in thousands of little black characters as a world was built and characters came to life.

 

Writing was everything to Chaeyoung. An escape. A release. A safe haven. There was nothing like thinking of something, imagining it like a movie in her head and describing every scene as they played out. Painting the picture… shooting the film with her words and then sharing it with the world.

 

For some time now, she had been writing a story – of course centred around Chaelisa – with the concept of soulmates. Chaeyoung had always loved the soulmates trope in all of its forms. She had seen one on the internet that had piqued her interest. One where you could feel your soulmate’s pain.

 

It was certainly a recipe for angst.

 

She had already written over 6000 words and she loved every moment of it. She had just gotten to the moment where Lisa was suddenly realising that Chaeyoung and her have a connection that goes deeper than mere feelings and of course, the worst-case scenario started to set in.

 

Chaeyoung stared at the paragraph and watched the cursor blink at her expectantly.

 

 

 

“You should listen to your friend.”

 

Lisa looked up to see Chaeyoung standing in the doorway again, her expression gentle and understanding.

 

“Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear. Your voice is kind of loud.” She said and Lisa almost wanted to hit her for being so rude, but also felt endeared by Chaeyoung’s straightforward nature.

 

“That’s okay.” Lisa mumbled, handing the phone back. “Thank you for letting me use your phone.”

 

Chaeyoung shook her head – It’s not a bother – and placed it back in her pocket.

“Is the friend calling you the one who sat next you back in high school?”

 

Lisa nodded, feeling a little awkward.

“Kim Jennie. She’s my best friend. She just gets a little overprotective.”

“She must be a really good friend to have stuck by you after all this time. I lost a lot of friends after high school was over. You’re lucky to have known someone so loyal.” Chaeyoung commented, sitting down on her neatly made bed, and patting the space next to her; an invitation for Lisa to take a seat too.

 

She obliged, feeling strange at the closeness. They sat about 30cm apart, looking at the opposite wall where there stood a mirror framed in black, similar to the picture she had seen just before, hanging on the wall. They locked eyes through the reflection.

 

 

 

What the hell was she supposed to write after that?

 

Chaeyoung absolutely despised writer’s block.

 

She had tried every possible cure:

Drawing the scene from her head instead of writing it. FAIL (the faces looked funny and it made her laugh instead of inspired).

Writing out her thoughts as they came to her. FAIL (Chaeyoung’s thoughts nearly always came out in the form of dot points and that wasn’t helpful at all).

Writing something else entirely. FAIL (Chaeyoung. You have writer’s block. How the hell are you going to write something else you dummy).

Listening to Blackpink’s music on repeat. FAIL (She just ended up singing and dancing instead of writing. Fun, but highly unproductive).

 

She was at a complete stand still.

 

Luckily, there were other things to distract her.

 

 

***

 

 

1:23pm

Dahyun bro

Calling…

“Bro, Wassup?”

 

“Hey, Chaeng. You coming to Jihyo’s tonight? You never really confirmed on the group chat.”

 

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m coming. I thought, um, that I did say that I was coming.”

 

“You didn’t. But that’s cool. Just checking.”

 

“Worried that you’d be alone? Haha.”

 

“What? No! Don’t be dumb. I convinced Momo to come with me just in case you pulled out.”

 

“Oh. Haha~”

 

“I always have my back up plans, dude.”

 

“I still don’t like Momo. Just so you know.”

 

“Oh, I know. You remind me every single time I bring her up.”

 

“She just seems so… how do you put it…”

 

“Scary?”

 

“No, no that. Like… distant? Yeah. Like she’s on another planet or something.”

 

“I really don’t see how you get that vibe from her but okay.”

 

“It’s because you’re blinded by love, Dahyun my friend. Blinded by love.”

 

“You’re such a lame dork. Okay. I’ll see you at 6?”

 

“Yeah see you guys then.”

 

“And please… please try to look less like you want to murder my girlfriend when you see her. It’s really annoying.”

 

“I’ll try.”

 

“God you’re impossible.”

 

“Hahaha! Bye, Dahyun.”

 

“See ya bro.”

 

 

***

 

 

“So, are you still going to that class meet up this afternoon?” Chaeyoung’s Mum asked her, causing her to look up from her bowl of cereal with a quick jerk of her head.

“Uh… yeah.”

“So, does that mean I have to take you there?” He mother looks simultaneously relieved and annoyed and the look is so confusing that Chaeyoung isn’t so sure she really wants to go anymore.

“Um… I guess? If you can.” She looked back down at her bowl and swirled the remaining cereal, watching as the dry pieces soaked up the milk and sunk to the bottom.

 

Did she do something wrong?

 

“What your mother is trying to say, is that you could have confirmed with us before.” Her Omma’s voice floated into the kitchen from the other room. “And it’s also about time that you got your own drivers’ licence so that you can take yourself to things like this.”

 

“Jeong!” Chaeyoung looks up again to see her Mum straining her neck to look at her Omma in the next room who was seated at the couch and watching some lame English rom com with the subtitles on.

 

She felt her cheeks heat up at the mention of her drivers’ licence. She had meant to get it years ago when she had turned 17, but she had been so afraid of driving on her own, that she had put it off for far too long. She guessed it must be getting to that point in her life where it was embarrassing for her parents to drive her everywhere. Not just embarrassing for her, but her parents too.

 

“Sana can drive. She started driving as soon as she could, and she’s had her drivers’ license since she turned 17. Come on Chaeng. It’s not that hard. You’ve got all your hours. Just book the test and get it over with.” Her Omma called, causing her Mum to hide her face in her hands.

 

“I was trying to ease her into the conversation, Jeongyeon.” She groaned.

“It’s three years too late to be easing her into this Nayeon. She needs to it up.”

 

“So… can you still take me to Jihyo’s tonight?” Chaeyoung mumbled, trying to change the subject to avoid witnessing a petty fight between her parents and the topic of driving which caused her far too much anxiety to think about for too long.

 

“Book your drivers’ test and we’ll think about it.” Her Omma grumbled.

 

Her Mum looked at her apologetically but nodded slowly in agreement.

 

Ugh. This was the worst.

 

 

***

 

Mina 3

@revolutionistheblackpink

--TAP FOR OLDER MESSAGES--

 

-2:34pm-

 

You: Hey, just letting you know I probs won’t be able to talk much today cuz I gotta go to a class reunion this afternoon. Dahyun will force me to turn my phone off.

 

Mina 3: That’s all g.

Mina 3: Y do you sound so depressed about it tho. Sounds fun to me. Good to get off the internet once in a while.

 

You: Yeah, I guess it will be fun…

 

Mina 3: come on! You said that everything you do with Dahyun is fun. How is this an exception?

 

You: Nah I’m sure it will be fine. Guess I’m just annoyed because I wanted to try and write tonight. I have a feeling that my writer’s block will finally be gone, and I’ll get to the next part of my fic. I had high hopes!!

 

Mina 3: still writing that soulmates fic?

Mina 3: you know none of your readers will care if you don’t upload it soon. We’ve all got lives outside of stanning Blackpink and reading fanfics.

 

You: I guess. I just felt like writing tonight though.

 

Mina 3: Just try and enjoy the night and maybe beat up Dahyun’s gf if she misbehaves

 

You: Oh yeah. I’m just WAITING for her to slip up and Dahyun will FINALLY realise that she’s a player and doesn’t care about anyone other than herself!

 

Mina 3: you know you sound like you’re jealous.

Mina 3: But I can’t really tell who you’re jealous of hehe XD

 

You: Jeez.

You: Neither. I’m just looking out for my best bro.

 

Mina 3: sure, sure.

 

You: I already told you that I like someone.

 

Mina 3: you’re hard to read Chaeyoung.

 

You: Whatever. Talk tomorrow?

 

Mina 3: Yeah. I’ll be streaming hylt with some friends. Maybe you can join. We’ll have a discord chat going too.

 

You: cool. See ya 

-Read-

 

 

***

 

 

After spending the last hour trying to convince Dahyun that her girlfriend IS in fact a cheating , because I KNOW I saw her flirting with some other girls at a restaurant that one time (and if there’s one time, there will surely be others), I finally gave up and took a seat on Jihyo’s couch. In front of the gas fireplace, watching the flames flicker, trying to imagine how the next paragraph of my Chaelisa fanfic. Of course, my mind remains blank.

 

Jihyo always offers to host parties like these. Class meet ups, surprise birthday parties, simply get together. She’d always been generous and accommodating like that, but then again, I supposed it was partly because she was rich and actually had the money and facilities to be this generous and accommodating. Regardless I always had this sense of admiration for her in that regard. And pride, because other than Dahyun, Jihyo was my closest friend.

 

“Alone again?”

 

Speak of the devil.

 

I look away from the flames to the beaming face of my best friend. I tried to block out the way my heart raced at the sight of her beaming cheeks and the gleam in her eyes.

 

“Yeah, I got bored of third wheeling with Dahyun and Momo.”

 

Jihyo chuckled slightly and sat down next to me, the couch indenting a little. She left barely a metre between us and I found myself wanting to make that distance infinitely smaller.

 

“There are so many other people here to hang with though. No need to third wheel.”

 

“You know me. I don’t like parties.”

 

It was true. I hated crowds and parties and anything that involved bunches of people who knew who you were and never really acknowledged your existence. It was awkward as hell…

 

“Then why do you go?”

 

Because you’re here.

 

“Because Dahyun wanted me to come.” I lied.

 

“Well, I’m glad Dahyun wanted you to come.” She smiled again and my whole body filled with warmth.

 

“Do you want to watch a movie away from the others? I recently got a TV in my room.”

 

“Jeez. That wasn’t a very subtle flex, Ji.”

 

We both laughed and she smacked my shoulder lightly before standing up, beckoning for me to follow her to her room.

 

Jihyo makes me forget about my writer’s block. She always does.

 

 

***

 

 

Author’s note:

 

Hello my wonderful readers! Thanks for reaching the end of another long, self-indulgent Chaelisa fic. It surely was a wild ride. All 12 chapters and 107,543 words of it. Thank you all for the continued support. It makes me the happiest in the world to see so many people showing love for something I put so much time and effort into.

 

However, I have some disappointing news with the conclusion of A Misconception or Three.

 

As you have noticed, my updates have become increasingly sporadic and shorter in the past few months. And this is not without reason.

 

I think I have finally come to a point in my life where Blackpink and Chaelisa (and all my other favourite ships) have become… more of a background image. Maybe it would be more appropriate to call them… something from my past.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about my writing and my future and I think I’ve come to the realisation that fanfiction writing is not the thing for me.

 

 

 

Chaeyoung’s heart dropped through her chest and to the floor beneath Sana’s bed.

 

 

 

I just kept thinking about how writing about real people… putting REAL people in situations and moments I come up with in my head to satisfy my own fantasies is a little… strange? Maybe not all of you feel that way, but I just kept thinking… what if Blackpink accidentally stumbled across my fics? What would they think when they saw some of the scenes I decided to write? What would that do to their REAL-LIFE friendships?

 

I no longer feel comfortable making up stories like this one about Blackpink or any other idol group.

 

I have come to the difficult decision to abandon this account, and eventually delete all my works. I hope you can all understand.

 

I will leave the final chapter of A Misconception or Three and my other works up until the end of the month, but after that, they will be gone forever. I’m sorry, but I hope you all understand.

 

Thank you all again for the love and support!

 

Signed: @chaechae_lisa

 

 

 

“WHAT THE ?”

 

“SHUT UP! I’M TRYING TO SLEEP!”

 

“BUT MY FAVOURITE AUTHOR JUST SAID THEY’RE NOT WRITING ANYMORE!”

 

“SO?!”

 

“THEY’RE DELETING E-EVERYTHING!”

 

Chaeyoung wasn’t embarrassed when she finally burst into tears. This was the WORST day ever. It was the 3rd of August now… that mean she only had 28 days to memorise A Misconception or Three and everything else… because after that… they would all be gone. Forever.

 

She sat up and switched off her phone, holding her head in her hands. This couldn’t be happening.

 

Just beyond the screaming in her own mind and her sobbing, Chaeyoung registered a sigh from below her and an eventual dip in her mattress as her older sister joined her on the top bunk. She leaned her body against Sana’s chest and listened to her heartbeat.

 

“Come on, Chaeng.” Sana whispered, knowing full well that their shouting match may very well have awoken their parents. “It’s just stories. Just fan fiction.”

 

“No. Nothing written by them was JUST FAN FICTION. It was… so… so much m-more than that.”

 

They were an inspiration. A learning experience. A creative idea. And escape from reality.

 

“Chaeng…” Sana’s voice broke and Chaeyoung couldn’t quite figure out why. “I can see it means… a lot to you… but there are other authors… right?”

 

“Not like them.”

 

Sana stiffened.

“But what about your own writing? You could write something like they did.”

 

“I’ll never write something like them. You don’t get it Sana.”

 

Sana spent the rest of the night trying to coax Chaeyoung out of her depressive state, only stopping when her younger sister fell asleep in her arms, not because she succeeded.

 

 

***

 

 

Instead of trying to write, because Chaeyoung knew that she would sit for hours without thinking of a word, she checked up on her profile. Maybe someone would have left a nice comment on her story or two. She didn’t have that big of an audience, but she did get the occasional comment and it always made her feel a little giddy.

 

To her delight, her inbox tab had a little number 4 next to it. She clicked on the icon.

 

 

Jisoo00oo on Wait a Minute

Woah this was a great read!

 

Whistle_missile on Learning to Forget

I felt everything Rosé felt. This is epic. Thanks for writing!

 

3LisasJennie on Learning to Forget

Good writing 

 

Sooyaaa8 on ONE IN A MILLION

Take this down. I can’t believe you would ever write something so disgusting and bring Blackpink into it. I hope you realise how wrong this is.

 

 

Chaeyoung frowned.

 

She closed out of the tab and looked back at her document.

 

 

 

She obliged, feeling strange at the closeness. They sat about 30cm apart, looking at the opposite wall where there stood a mirror framed in black, similar to the picture she had seen just before, hanging on the wall. They locked eyes through the reflection.

 

Something strange was settling on Chaeyoung’s face. A strange calmness. A heaviness and a lightness at the same time… her lips parted, and her deep brown eyes looked away for a second. Almost as if she were about to…

 

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.” She whispered.

 

 

 

She stopped there, tears clouding her vision.

 

 

***

 

 

4:50pm

Dahyun bro

Calling…

“Yo!”

 

“Hey. You free?”

 

“Not really. Trying to write.”

 

“Do you do anything else?”

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