(A/N: Yeah, the title doesn't make sense, i know. Titles don't always work with me)

Chapter 11

‘Hey, you okay?’ asked Lisa. ‘You look like you just saw something horrifying.’

Rose swallowed.

Why the hell is Jennie here? How did she know I’d be coming here? This place is no-where near the hotel! She thought.

‘U-uh, it’s nothing …’ said Rose with a smile.

Does Jennie hate Lisa that much that she had to follow us to see where Lisa was taking me? No way! That doesn’t sound like something she’d do … although, frankly, Jennie’s been acting kina weird lately … she’s always looking away when she talks to me and she’s always got that light flush on her cheeks. It’s not what I think it is, is it?? Rose thought.

Just as Rose had feared, Jennie walked up to their table.

‘Oh hey Rose. Didn’t know you’d be here too,’ she said rather coolly. ‘Is this Lisa?’

Lisa glanced up at her. There was a strange expression on her face. But she plastered a gleaming smile and said, ‘You must be Rose’s friend. Nice to meet you.’

Jennie gave a light smile back. This girl’s pretending to be nice. Such a fake.

‘Um so anyways, what are you doing her, Jennie?’ asked Rose, not wanting the atmosphere to dip into awkwardness.

‘Oh me?’ said Jennie. ‘I’m meeting up with Jisoo.’

‘What?? Really?!’ replied Rose, probably with a bit too much surprise in her voice. Oh thank god. I honestly thought for a second that Jennie was following me. Phew!

‘Well, I’m gonna go now,’ said Jennie waving bye to Rose and giving a slight glare in Lisa’s direction.

Once Jennie was out of ear-shot, Lisa sighed and rubbed her temples.

‘I honestly dunno why all pretty girls seem to have something against me …’ she said. ‘Well, except for you Rose.’ She gave a cheeky grin.

Rose tried to hide her blush by pouting and playfully swiping her hand at Lisa.

‘Don’t be silly…’ she said.

Lisa shrugged her shoulders. ‘Well it’s the truth. I can’t deny that.’

The cringe was real, but Rose felt like she was on cloud-nine. Spending an afternoon with a girl who she secretly admires but can’t tell anyone about that because of certain circumstances, was, in her opinion, one of the best afternoons she’d had in a while.

After a while, Rose decided she should wrap up this little “outing”. As much as she wanted to continue staying with Lisa for as long as she could, she knew she had to get back to the hotel and finish off some 50 billion pages of homework.

While they were making their way back to the hotel, Rose hadn’t even realised that she’d slipped her arm through Lisa’s. From a stranger’s perspective, they looked like good friends. They arrived at the entrance to the hotel and Rose waved bye to Lisa. Rose was making her way through the double doors when she turned around to see if Lisa had left.

She hadn’t.

Rose gestured with her hands for her to go.

‘I’ll go when you’re inside,’ was Lisa’s reply.

Rose thought this reminded her a lot of those sappy romance drama’s she’d watched on the odd occasion.

‘Aish this girl …’ Rose mumbled under her breath, but she couldn’t help smiling.

‘Just go Lisa. Don’t stand there. It’s cold. You’ll catch a cold if you just stand there waiting for me to go in!’ said Rose.

‘Yeah, it is kinda cold,’ replied Lisa. ‘That’s why you should hurry up and go in!’

A few people entering the hotel were staring at the strange pair, telling each other to hurry up and leave when neither of them were doing so.

Eventually, Rose pushed the double doors open and went inside. She snuck a look behind her, to see if Lisa had left yet. She had said that she would leave once she saw Rose go in.

But Lisa was still standing there. Rose half-speculated that Lisa might’ve been waiting for someone else. But then she saw Lisa give her a goofy grin and wave to her.

Rose waved back with a sigh. This is really childish, she thought.

She stepped into the elevator and waited for the doors to close. Just before they did, she snuck another quick look out to see if Lisa was still there.

She was.

Rose was seriously confused. Is this normal? Is she okay? Rose thought.

Once the elevator arrived at her floor, she ran to her room and looked out the window. She just managed to see Lisa walking away from the hotel.

Rose smiled. So she was waiting for me to go in …

She took her phone out to check the time.

5:45 already? I wonder why Jennie hasn’t come back yet … We have to all be in the lobby at 5:50 to go out for dinner. I also wonder what she’s doing meeting up with Jisoo … I didn’t know they were close.

Rose put her phone down on top of the drawer and jumped onto the bed.

She smiled as she recounted what had happened in the past 2 hours.

This was probably the best afternoon I’ve had in a while, she thought. Why do Jisoo and Jennie say that she’s a bad person? She seems so nice and funny. I wouldn’t think for a second that she was bad, let alone abuse someone.

At that moment, the door to the dorm opened and Jennie walked in. She took off her coat and hung it up on the rack, then went over to the small armchair in the corner of the room, and collapsed into it.

‘Hey Jennie,’ said Rose. ‘You okay?’

Jennie started at her for a while, not changing her polka-face expression. Then she got up and went to the bathroom, closing the door firmly behind her.

Question marks floated around Rose. Huh? Did something happen? Perhaps she and Jisoo-unnie had an argument?

Rose thought that it was best to let Jennie be and not bother her by asking anymore questions. She took her Nintendo Switch out and began playing Mario, to kill time. She had won 5 races consecutively, when Jennie finally came out of the bathroom. Her towel was draped around her neck and her wet hair fell over her shoulders.

She walked up to where Rose was sitting on the bed playing her Mario.

‘S-so how was your little get-together with Jisoo?’ asked Rose, feeling intimidated when Jennie locked eyes with her. ‘I – uh -  didn’t know you two were close …’

‘Hey Rose …’ Jennie began, leaning down. ‘I need to tell you something.’

‘U-uh, y-yeah? What is it?’ asked Rose nervously. She had backed away from Jennie a bit, so her back was now on the bed.

‘I just gotta say this first: I’m really sorry for this, Rose.’

‘Huh? Sorry for what?’

Before Rose could get an answer, Jennie leaned in and her lips touched Rose’s.

What the hell is happening?? Is Jennie … kissing me???

Well, actually, Rose thought Jennie’s lips had touched hers, but in fact, Jennie had not actually kissed Rose. She had paused and considered if what she was doing was the proper way to go, and after a short second, she decided that it wouldn’t be right.

As quick as she had leaned in, she broke away. She averted eye-contact with Rose, her head bowed.

‘I … I like you, Rose …’ said Jennie. There were tears running down her cheeks.

‘And for that, I am sorry.’

Then she bolted out of the dorm.

X