Chapter 15

Rose jumped up.

The door opened, and there stood Jennie, looking as beautiful as ever. Her hair was all styled, and she was wearing fancy clothing, much like the clothes seen worn by idols.

The door shut behind her, and she turned around, her eyes meeting with the person in her room.

The silence that fell in the room was deathly quiet, but also deafening, in a way.

‘R-R-Rose?’ said Jennie, her voice sounding so distant that Rose felt like she was hearing her talk in a dream. ‘Wha – what are you doing here?’ she asked, not sounding demanding, but with a slight edge of nervousness in her voice.

Jennie didn’t get the chance to ask any more questions because Rose had run up and squeezed her into a warm embrace.

‘Jennie, I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry for everything. It’s all my fault, and I’m sorry for making you feel the way you did. We were all so worried about you!’ Rose blurted, feeling tears b in her eyes.

Jennie didn’t know what to do. She awkwardly patted Rose’s back, as she continued to blurt out a whole bunch of apologies. But to Jennie, everything sounded muted.

Why is Rose here??? She kept thinking. Why is she here? After what I said to her last night … why did she come looking for me?

‘I-It’s ok Rose,’ said Jennie, finally finding her voice. ‘It’s ok, it’s not your fault.’

‘But it IS my fault, unnie!’ cried Rose. ‘If I’d never spoken to you back at the airport, you would’ve never got to know me, and you would’ve never … y’know … developed feelings.’

‘That’s crazy, Rose. We would’ve met anyway, cause we were seated next to each other on the plane, remember?’ said Jennie. Her voice sounded slightly annoyed, but she was now holding tightly onto Rose, instead of just patting her back.

Rose paused for a second, processing what Jennie had said. ‘Hm, you have a point …’ she mumbled.

‘Well, anyway, that’s not so important, really. What’s happened has happened and there’s nothing that one can do about it,’ said Jennie, breaking free from Rose’s bear-tight hug. ‘Agreed?’

Rose nodded. ‘Yeah, I guess so. Sorry, again.’

‘So, what are you doing here, anyway?’ asked Jennie, throwing her bags onto the couch and making her way over to the kitchen.

‘Um, well, see …’ Rose babbled in response. ‘Like I said before, we were worried about you, and I figured I should come out and find you, as I kept thinking it was my fault with you running away. I kept having this uneasy feeling that maybe … maybe something had happened to you.’

‘Huh? Why would you think that?’ asked Jennie, handing an ice-cold Sprite to Rose.

‘Please don’t get mad at Jisoo, unnie, but Jisoo told me about the whole situation you’re in right now.’

‘Situation? What situation?’ asked Jennie, her eyebrows raised in confusion.

‘Well … y’know, the whole thing on Instagram, and how people are hating on you and stalking you … stuff like that,’ said Rose, saying the sentence slowly, so she didn’t overwhelm Jennie too much.

There was a bit of silence after that, with only the sound of Jennie taking a sip from her drink.

‘Oh. That,’ she said after a lengthy pause.

Rose searched Jennie’s face for any expression hiding behind her blank facial expression. Was she mad? Was she sad? Was she thinking: “I don’t have a damn idea about what you’re talking about”, because what Jisoo said wasn’t actually true?

‘Jisoo told you, huh?’ she said, glancing up to meet Rose’s eyes.

‘Yeah she did. Please don’t get mad at her though! She was only doing what she thought was best!’ cried Rose.

‘Why on earth would I get mad at her?’ asked Jennie.

‘Well, cause … I dunno. It’s just, you never told me about it, and then Jisoo-unnie told me about it and I realised you never told me about it, so I just assumed maybe you didn’t want me to know.’

Jennie nodded slowly. ‘I get how you got that impression. But that’s not true. It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you about it. It’s just that, well … it just came to my mind when I was with Jisoo that day we met up, and I just told her about it cause I trust her. And I meant to tell you about it too, but I just forgot, cause … well every time I saw you, I just couldn’t stop thinking about confessing to you.’

‘Say what? That was the reason??’ exclaimed Rose. ‘Oh wow! Thank goodness it’s not cause you don’t trust me or something!’

‘Nah, it’s nothing like that,’ said Jennie with a laugh. ‘Well, let’s just pretend last night never happened, okay?’

‘Last night? Why last night?’

‘Cause, y’know …’ Jennie said, her cheeks starting to go red. ‘What I said to you … do you really not remember that?’

‘Oh! That! How you said you liked me?’ asked Rose.

‘Ya! Don’t bring that up again!’ cried Jennie, throwing a cushion at Rose. ‘I want you to make a solemn promise to yourself that you will forget anything that happened last night, okay?’

‘Okay, okay. I promise I’ll forget anything that happened last night,’ said Rose, with a smile. ‘But why do you want me to forget about it?’

‘That’s got to be the stupidest question you could possible ask,’ said Jennie, sighing. ‘It’s cause I don’t want things to be awkward around us.’

‘Awkward? Why would things be awkward?’ asked Rose. She really did seem so clueless.

‘Well wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable with a friend who’s said they like you but you can’t return those feelings cause you don’t see them in that way?’

Rose was quiet for a second.

‘No. Not really,’ she mumbled after a while. ‘To be honest, you’re the first person who’s ever confessed to me, and … and I’ve kinda had this happy bubble in me ever since you said what you said.’

‘Wha – why are you saying that??’ said Jennie, throwing another cushion at Rose. ‘It’s not like you like me like that anyway …’

‘Yes that’s true,’ said Rose.

‘Oh ok, you don’t need to say that right in front of my face,’ said Jennie.

‘Sorry. I probably shouldn’t have said that, huh?’ replied Rose, putting a hand over .

Jennie nodded with a thin smile. ‘Well, to be honest, I need to get over you anyway.’

‘Get over me?’

‘Yes, I need to get over you. That was partly the reason why I confessed to you in the first place. I knew you didn’t see me in that light, but … I just couldn’t stop thinking about you. It annoyed me so much. I heard somewhere, where if you’re in a love situation where you like a person who you know likes someone else, the best way to get over them is to tell them you like them,’ said Jennie.

‘So … are you saying you know that I like someone else?’ asked Rose, studying Jennie’s eyes closely, as she’d come to realise that Jennie expressed her feelings and thoughts better through her brown eyes.

Jennie nodded. ‘Yeah. It’s that Lisa girl, isn’t it?’

‘H-H-How did you know?’ exclaimed Rose.

Jennie had to constrain herself from rolling her eyes. ‘Well, I’ll just say: you’re not very discreet with your feelings. What I mean is … you make it very obvious.’

‘I do??’

‘Yeah, you’re always running up to her like she’s you’re favourite idol or something ...’

‘Do I? Huh, I didn’t even realise that,’ muttered Rose.

‘Anyway, let’s change the topic. So, are you just gonna stay here for the rest of the day, and then go back to the hotel?’ asked Jennie, taking another sip from her drink.

‘Oh, well, I was planning on finding you first, then taking you back to the hotel,’ said Rose.

‘Why do I have to go back to the hotel?’

‘Cause the instructors are worried sick of your whereabouts. You have no-idea how much they bugged me, asking if I knew where you went,’ explained Rose.

‘Did they inform the police?’ asked Jennie.

‘No, I don’t think they did. Maybe they will if you don’t go back by tonight. Does your dad know that you’re here, and not at the hotel we’re staying at? Cause if not, then you should probably tell him, so he can tell the instructors that you’re staying here so they don’t have to worry anymore.’

‘Ok, ok, ok. I’ll go back to the hotel,’ said Jennie, getting up and tossing her finished drink in the bin. ‘Let’s go.’

---

Rose hailed a taxi, and both she and Jennie got into its backseat. She told the driver the address of the hotel, and the taxi started off.

She and Jennie sat quietly at the back, both of them bumping along in rhythm with the car’s movements. Rose watched the city lights came on, as the sky slowly began to dim to a warm yellowy glow.

‘It’s late already …’ she mumbled, absent-minded. ‘I can’t believe I missed half a day of school on a mission to find you.’

She turned to face Jennie.

‘What? Am I supposed to say sorry for making you drag your all the way out here?’ asked Jennie, a hint of irritancy in her voice.

Rose laughed. ‘No, you don’t need to say sorry. It wasn’t your fault. It was min-‘

‘Now don’t start that whole “my fault” nonsense again,’ dead-panned Jennie, turning her attention back outside the car window.

Rose didn’t know why, but she couldn’t help smiling. She’d always felt like there was something that was wedged between her and Jennie, that made them not be able to have a comfortable friendship. And now, it felt like that obstruction had been removed and they could have the friendship that Rose had always dreamed to have with someone.

‘Hey unnie …’ she said, tapping the older girl on the shoulder. ‘Am I your friend?’

‘What kind of stupid question is that?’ was Jennie’s nice response. ‘Of course you're my friend, silly.’

‘Am I … am I your best-friend?’ asked Rose.

Jennie didn’t respond for a few seconds. Then she nodded, and turned to look at Rose in the eyes.

‘Yeah. You’re my best-friend.’

‘Yes!’ cried Rose, hugging Jennie’s arm.

‘Yah! What are you doing?’ asked Jennie in surprise at the sudden act of affection.

‘I’ve always wanted a best-friend …’ Rose mumbled in response. ‘Unnie, is it okay if I rest my head on your shoulder?’

Jennie gave a stiff nod. ‘Sure, why do you need to ask to do something like that?’

‘Well, cause I don’t want you to be startled again. You seemed a bit shocked when I grabbed your arm just then. So I just thought maybe you might be uncomfortable with that,’ said Rose, resting her head on Jennie’s shoulder.

---

By the time they reached the hotel, the sun had just dipped over the horizon, and the sky had taken on a lovely twilight blue.

Rose gave a huge yawn, and quickly covered when she realised half a dozen people coming out of the hotel double doors were giving her strange looks. Jennie stifled a rather large yawn to.

‘Hey, unnie, aren’t you tired?’ Rose asked, as they rode up the elevator.

Jennie nodded warily. ‘Yeah … I was up all night cause I just couldn’t stop thinking about stuff. And now I’m ready to collapse in a heap.’

‘Oh, I forgot to ask you before. What’s with the fancy outfit? Did you accidentally take the bus to the fashion show event, instead of school?’ joked Rose.

‘Ha ha, very funny,’ said Jennie, sarcastically. ‘My father had a board meeting and for some reason, he texted me, telling me I need to go to it. I think their planning on debuting an idol group.’

‘Oh, really!?’ exclaimed Rose. ‘Girl or boy group?’

‘A Girl group. If they’re sticking to what they said at the meeting, they’re gonna have global auditions in a few months’ time.’

‘Wow! Who knows, maybe you’re dad wants you to participate in the auditions. That’s why he wanted you to go to that meeting,’ said Rose, stepping out of the elevator.

‘Maybe …’ replied Jennie.

‘Do you sing or dance?’ asked Rose, unlocking the door to their room.

‘Mm … a bit of both, I guess. I like rapping too,’ said Jennie.

‘Ooh! Rapping! That’s cool,’ said Rose. ‘But to be honest, you really don’t give off that “rapster” type vibe. You’re too cute and innocent-looking.’

‘Rose, you’re making it really hard for me to get over you,’ said Jennie throwing herself onto her bed.

‘Oh. Sorry,’ said Rose. ‘Then … should I call you ugly?’

Rose got a nice pillow-to-the-face for that rhetorical question.

‘I’m kidding!’ giggled Rose. ‘You’re beautiful!’

At that moment, there was a knock at the door.

‘That must be the instructors who’ve come to ask me if I’ve found you, instead of doing it themselves,’ said Rose quietly, walking over to the door to unlock it.

The door opened and Rose was hit by something that had been flung a billion miles at her. Actually, it was more of a “someone”.