A/N: I hope you all have a brilliant new year!!!

Chapter 20

‘Hey, listen to this!’

It was the next day, and Rose was at school sitting at her desk and waiting for the school day to start. Jisoo had come over to her desk, and seemed to have recovered from her sudden dormancy that had had occurred the day before.

‘Hm? What is it?’ Rose asked.

Jisoo showed Rose her phone. ‘Look! Lalaland@banban is having an interview session with the famous MC Y on podcast XXX!’

‘Wow, really?!’ exclaimed Rose, her eyes speed reading over the small article on Jisoo’s phone. ‘Oh my gosh, she is!’

‘Isn’t it exciting! I’ve always been a fan of her; she’s so good at dancing,’ said Jisoo.

‘I didn’t know you were a fan of hers!’ said Rose.

‘Well, I am, and have been for about two and a half years now.’

‘Wow!’ said Rose, impressed. ‘She started her channel that many years ago, didn’t she?’

Jisoo nodded. ‘She’s always been so secretive with her identity, I can’t believe she’s doing an interview with someone! Someone’s obviously going to use her voice to crack out whoever she is.’

‘Either she was offered big bucks, or she want’s the world to know who she is now,’ said Rose. ‘When’s the interview?’

Jisoo scrolled down her screen. ‘Well it says here that it’s tonight at 8:00pm local time tonight. Wow, she must’ve only decided very recently, as this article was only published two hours ago!’

Both girls were bubbling with excitement throughout the day.

At lunch-time, Jennie came to join them, and was surprised to see both girls so excited.

‘Lalaland@banban is having a live interview tonight!’ explained Rose.

Jennie raised her eyebrow. ‘Huh, really? I guess she decided to not continue what she’d said she would’ she muttered.

‘Huh?’ asked Rose. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Well, I’ve met her a couple of times before and she told me once that -’

‘Wait what? You’ve met her before? That means you must know her!’ Who is she?’ cried Rose.

Jennie put a finger to her lips. ‘She told me that that was confidential, and she trusted me, so I’m gonna keep her secret. I’ll admit, it’s rather silly, but I’m a trustworthy person. I’ll let you guys figure it out.’

Rose groaned in mock frustration.

‘That’s going to be so hard though, unnie!’ she mumbled. ‘Lalaland@banban always manages to cover up her identity so well, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s actually a dude and not a girl!’

Suddenly, from out of the blue, Jennie piped up and asked: ‘Where’s Lisa?’

Jisoo shrugged, and Rose’s eyes scanned the noisy room. Her eyes fixed on the area where Lisa and her friends usually hung out, but today, only her friends were there.

‘Well, she’s not with her friend group, so maybe she’s not here today,’ said Rose. ‘Why do you want to know, Jennie?’

‘Oh nothing, no reason,’ said Jennie. ‘Hey Rose … isn’t it kinda funny how Lisa doesn’t sit with you considering you are, y’know, a cou-‘

She was interrupted midsentence by Rose who gave out a massive yawn that drowned out whatever Jennie had asked. Rose gave Jennie a silent eyeball, and jerked in the direction of Jisoo. Jennie remembered and immediately switched topics.

‘So Jisoo, do you have anyone who you fancy?’ she asked, most randomly.

Jisoo looked slightly alarmed at the question, and her cheeks immediately went light red.

‘N-no. No, I don’t like anyone at the moment. I-I’d – uh - rather concentrate on my studies …’ said Jisoo.

Jennie caught the blushing intensity of Jisoo’s cheeks, and leaned across the table, grinning a sly grin. ‘Really? It doesn’t look like it; you’re turning fire-engine red as we speak!’

Rose shoved Jennie lightly. ‘Hey, I don’t think Jisoo looks comfortable engaging in this conversation, so maybe you should respect that and not push her over the edge.’

‘Okay, yeah you’re right,’ said Jennie. ‘I’m sorry, Jisoo.’

Jisoo managed a smile, and waved her hand as if to brush away the conversation they had just had. ‘It’s all good. I think there’s something wrong with my flushing hormones; they keep turning on whenever I get asked anything related to love,’ she joked.

‘Y’know,’ said Jennie, snagging a chip from Rose’s chip packet that lay unguarded on her lunch tray. ‘Y’know, I’m surprised that you don’t have a boyfriend, Jisoo. I reckon you’d have tons of dudes crawling up to you on their knees and begging for your number.’

‘Why so?’ asked Jisoo.

‘Cause you’re pretty! Duh!’ said Jennie with a grin. ‘I swear, dudes these days always fall for the pretty girls. They don’t give a damn about their personality or anything.’

‘Well then you shouldn’t have a problem in the dating world,’ mumbled Jisoo, before realising what she had said and pretended to break out in a coughing fit.

Rose and Jennie immediately responded by handing her a water bottle, and Jennie got up to pat Jisoo on the back.

‘You okay, Jisoo?’ she asked in a worried voice.

Jisoo coughed a few more times for a more realistic effect, and Jennie turned to Rose.

‘Should I do the Heimlich manoeuvre on her? I know how to do it. I watched it on Youtube once,’ said Jennie.

As soon as Jisoo heard that, she instantly stopped couching and took a sip of water. She did not want Jennie to perform a manoeuvre on her that she had only seen how to do once on Youtube.

‘Ahem, I’m fine now,’ she said, feeling rather embarrassed.

Jennie released her tight grip on Jisoo’s shoulders. She hadn’t realised she’d been gripping the older girl so tightly.

‘You scared us, Jisoo. Did you choke on something?’ said Jennie.

Jisoo nodded. Yeah, I choked on my words.

‘Er, sorry about that. Must’ve been a grain of rice or something. Thanks for the water,’ she said, and smiled at the two younger girls.

‘You know, I’d have rather died from choking, than have Jennie perform the Heimlich manoeuvre on me. Both would’ve killed me anyhow,’ teased Rose, who promptly received a hard shove from the annoyed girl sitting next to her.

Jisoo watched the two bicker like children in front of her, and she suddenly remembered that the bickering duo were actually exchange students. She had completely forgotten that they were due to return back to their country in a few weeks. Remembering this made Jisoo feel a sudden pang of sadness. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn’t realise Rose and Jennie had stopped arguing with each other, and were presently staring at her with wide eyes.

‘You okay, unnie?’ asked Rose.

Jisoo snapped to attention, and nodded. ‘Ah, yeah. I was just thinking how you guys are going home soon. As in, you’re actual home.’ She paused for a bit before adding. ‘I’m gonna miss you guys. We haven’t known each other for very long, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve known you guys all my life!’

‘Aaw, that was very sentimental, unnie,’ cried Rose, wrapping the older girl in a warm embrace. ‘But I don’t think you should be so worried about that. There’s a glimmer of hope that we can stay here in Korea. Well, I know Jennie can stay here, because she’s rich and has her own apartment and everything. But, there’s gonna be this girl group audition thing in town soon, and Jennie and I are gonna audition and see if we can get in. If we do, we can stay in provided dorms and stay in the country! Isn’t that awesome?!’

Jisoo nodded enthusiastically. ‘Oh, wow! That sounds awesome! Good luck!’

‘Yeah, thanks. We’ll need all the luck we can get,’ said Rose. ‘Well, actually, Jennie shouldn’t have a problem getting admitted, cause her Dad is the owner of the company.’

‘Actually, that’s not the case,’ said Jennie. ‘My father’s actually selling YG entertainment to this other rich dude named [name of current YG entertainment CEO].’

‘Wait what?? He is?’ cried Rose and Jisoo in unison.

‘Why?’ asked Jisoo. ‘Isn’t he super rich? Why would he need to sell one of his companies?’

Jennie shrugged. ‘Beats me. He never told me. Maybe he’s tired of running so many entertainment companies and has decided to cut one loose.’

Jisoo and Rose nodded at the sensibleness of Jennie’s thought.

‘Hey Jisoo-unnie, you could try out to!’ suggested Rose. ‘If you do, then all 3 of us could have a chance of being in a girl group together! Wouldn’t that be awesome!’

Jisoo fidgeted with her fingers. ‘I dunno about that. I’m a bit … shy.’

‘Hey, aren’t we all!?’ said Rose.

‘I’m not,’ piped in Jennie.

Rose gave Jennie a shove.

‘Well, she might be a social butterfly, but I’m with you, Jisoo,’ said Rose. ‘Y’know, before I came to this school, I was such an awkward mess when I talked to strangers. Making friends was something that I struggled with, and it turned me into a shy, antisocial person. But … after I met Jennie at the airport and came to this school, I think my antisocial wall is crumbling, slowly but surely. I’ve learnt to make friends, and I’m even in a relationship with someone!’

‘Wait, you are?’ asked Jisoo, looking surprised. ‘With who?’

Rose bit her lip as she realised she’d spilt out a bit too much. But, was it really so much of a deal now? Would anything bad happen if she confessed that she had actually been going out with Jisoo’s ex for the past few weeks? Besides, for the sake of the author’s and readers time, this should be the right thing to do.

‘Yeah,’ said Rose. ‘I’m dating Lisa.’

A blanket of silence draped over their table after Rose’s response. Jennie glanced at Jisoo, then at Rose, then back at Jisoo. Rose was slightly afraid to look Jisoo in the eyes, so she stared at the empty meal tray in front of her. Then she saw a hand tap on the side of the tray, and she glanced up to see Jisoo looking at her with a warm smile lighting up her face,

‘Good for you, Rose!’ she said cheerfully. Then seeing Rose’s relieved, yet still slightly edgy look, she prodded Rose’s shoulder lightly with her finger. ‘What? Did you think I would be mad or something?’ she joked.

Rose squirmed in her seat. ‘Well, yeah, obviously. Cause, you always seemed so edgy with Lisa, and, well she told me you guys used to be a thing, so I thought it might’ve been awkward if I told you I was going out with your ex …’

The sound of Jisoo laughing made Rose look up from her fixed gaze on the floor.

‘I told you before that I wouldn’t interfere with your relationship with Lisa. It’s none of my business if she’s my ex and your dating her,’ said Jisoo. ‘I’m sorry again for telling you to not get close with her … that was selfish and unfair of me. I’m glad you told me though!’

‘Aww, UNNIE!’ cried Rose, flinging her arms around the older girl. ‘Thank you!’

‘Why do I feel like Rose just asked for Jisoo-unnie’s blessing to her marriage with Lisa?’ asked Jennie with a laugh.

‘Hey! Don’t talk about marriage yet!’ exclaimed Rose, throwing a rolled-up napkin at Jennie.

‘True …’ said Jennie. ‘You guys probably haven’t even done that yet … hehe~’

‘What’s with the emphasise on the word “that”?’ asked Rose.

‘Oh Rose, you’re too pure-hearted,’ said Jisoo, feeling her cheeks flush. ‘Jennie here is talking about something that really shouldn’t be discussed while we are eating lunch.’

‘Aw you’re no fun, Jisoo-unnie ~’ giggled Jennie.

Rose bit the end of her chopsticks. Is Jennie perhaps referring to … ual intimacy??!! Her cheeks immediately flared up and she broke out in a sweat. Ok, Rose, don’t go start imagining weird things. Please keep this PG, she thought, biting her lip.

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