-VII.I-

While Blackpink’s company leaves them with little to no plans for the next few months after concluding their last comeback’s promotions, Jennie decides to make her own plans with some close friends she hasn’t seen in a while. 

As much as Jennie loves her members, sometimes she just needs time to be with people outside of their group. She already sees Lisa, Chaeyoung, and Jisoo everyday given their living situation, so the young woman thinks that a change of pace might help herself to stop (over)think about a certain someone.

“I can’t believe we’re all in the same situation, seriously,” Nayeon huffs as she sips on her iced coffee. 

“Correction, Jennie and I are in the same situation,” Irene quips, “Jeongyeon already rejected you,” She says bluntly.

Nayeon waves her off, “Fine. But it’s not my fault both of you are too chicken to say anything.”

“I tried! Three times!” Irene says rather loudly. The three of them quickly try to act more inconspicuous to draw less attention. Even if they’re tucked into the corner of the cafe, Jennie isn’t so sure that their attempts at being discreet are working. 

“It’s not my fault Seulgi doesn’t seem to get the message every time,” Irene stabs at her red velvet cake frustratedly.

Jennie sighs at that, “I’m the only chicken here since I haven’t tried yet. But why does Jisoo say and do things that just sound… I don’t know,” She slumps in her seat, fidgeting with the engraved ring on her finger, her fingers smoothing over the clumsily engraved JJ4EVA.

“She says and does things that sound like she might like you too?” Nayeon suggests, and Jennie nods, shrinking further into her seat.

“Then maybe she does like you, you know?” Nayeon continues and Irene swats her arm.

“That kind of thinking is what got you rejected in the first place,” Irene says defeatedly.

“At least I tried, you know,” Nayeon shrugs, “It still hurts, of course, but I’ll be okay. At least I won’t be longing forever, unlike the both of you,” Nayeon says pointedly at her two friends.

“You have a point,” Jennie agrees, “The faster I get on with it, the faster I can move on if it doesn’t go well, right?”

“Yeah, but you could build up on it?” Nayeon says, “Y’know, like, be a bit more bold. Flirt with her, show that you’re interested in more than just a friendship with her. That you could be more than a best friend.”

“Was that what you were trying to do with Jeongyeon?” Irene raises a skeptical brow, “You both looked like you were fighting more than flirting.” 

“Yeah. I have to agree with her, Nayeonie,” Jennie shrugs and adjusts the oversized scarf around her neck that Jisoo forced onto her before she could even step foot out of their apartment.

“Look unnie, I’m pretty sure there was something between us,” Nayeon says and takes a sip from her drink, “I just… I don't know what happened. Jeongyeon didn’t really explain herself, she said something about not wanting to hurt anyone... Maybe the ring was too much?” Nayeon sighs forlornly.

“I don’t think that could have scared her off—” Jennie tries to say.

“Not all best friends give each other cute rings casually,” Nayeon says with a frown, taking a glance at the ring Jennie’s been fidgeting with, “I’ve actually never seen Jisoo allow anyone to even be so clingy and all with her except for you.“

“Don’t say things like that,” Jennie frowns, trying to ignore the blush creeping on her cheeks. When she buries her face deeper into her (Jisoo’s) scarf, she blushes an even fiercer shade of red.

“Look Jennie-yah, from the three of us, you have the biggest chance of getting the girl. Jeong flat out rejected me, and Seulgi-ya is pretending not to see for some reason. Your grandma Joohyun and I have practically been rejected.”

“Hey, don’t lump me with you!” Irene huffs indignantly, “Seulgi probably just needs something clearer… ”

“She thought your corny love letter was song lyrics even if they were clearly addressed to her. Yerim already tried to help you even before that, and her lazy moving for something that isn’t work is already a miracle in itself. Honestly, I think Seulgi either just wants to let you down easy, or is in denial herself,” Nayeon says rather bluntly. The two vocalists stare each other down and Jennie doesn’t know what to make of it.

“Honestly…” Irene mutters, breaking her staredown with Nayeon. Instead she looks into her cup of tea, contemplating, “Jisoo’s birthday is coming up in two months, right?” Irene suddenly asks, looking at Jennie.

“Yes…” Jennie helps her unnie shift the topic to something a bit lighter, “Why’re you asking?”

“What if you just got her an actual wedding ring for her birthday?” Irene suggests, and Nayeon snickers over a mouthful of bread, “You both have so many rings together… You have like, four now? I don’t think she’ll think much of it.”

Jennie wants to correct her and say that they have exactly six rings since they’ve met, but she doesn’t want to add any more fuel to the fire.

“What’s the point if she won’t get it?” Jennie’s quick to retaliate, “I thought the point was to get me to confess to her,” She frowns.

“Grandma, you’re a genius!” Nayeon cackles and smacks Irene’s shoulder. Irene hits her shoulder back just as hard, causing the former to choke on her coffee. Once Nayeon’s cleared , she continues.

“You and Jisoo have known each other for so long. It might be hard for her to see you in the way you see her now,” Nayeon says as if she holds all the wisdom in the world, “If you tried changing it up a bit, being flirty, making her jealous and all… You could have her by her birthday! The ring would be the killing move!” Nayeon snaps her fingers to end her little Eureka moment.

Jennie just stares at Nayeon with a judging gaze, “And how do you think I could ‘change it up’?” 

Nayeon pouts at that and decides to drop a bomb, “What if you went on a date with me?”

“Nayeon—” Both Irene and Jennie are about to yell at her when Nayeon interrupts them.

“Not now!” She says, trying to calm them down, “Later, when you make Jisoo realize what she has. What she can lose, you know? Build up on it.”

“I… don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Irene lets out her honest thoughts, “But it’s a plan, I guess.”

“You know, I can see how Yerim managed to convince you to do all of that now,” Nayeon giggles as she steals a strawberry out of Irene’s plate.

“Shut up,” Irene grumbles and pouts.

“But what do you get out of that, unnie?” Jennie asks after taking a long sip of coffee from her own mug.

“I get a little distraction from everything. Twice doesn’t have anything to do for once, and I can’t stand staying in the dorm for too long because Jeongyeon is a homebody herself… And if Jisoo doesn’t share your feelings, at least we can have a little date to congratulate you for being brave. It’s a win-win situation for the both of us.” Nayeon says, looking away.

“That’s… understandable,” Jennie’s unsure as to how to respond to her friend.

“Fine. Let’s do it,” Jennie breathes out, and Nayeon looks genuinely surprised that she’s agreed to her plans.

“Then let’s choose out a ring for Jisoo today,” Irene pipes up, “We’ve got the time for once, and we already know how indecisive you are, Jennie-yah,” She says just as Nayeon asks for the bill.

Before they venture out in their quest to save Jennie’s love life, the three of them bicker over who’ll pay for the food with three credit cards being shoved at the poor server. Their not so concealed faces show up on the news the next day with their fans cooing over pictures of them aggressively trying to foot the bill, appreciating their ‘adorable’ friendship.

Despite all of the fuss, Jennie is thankful for the comfort and change of pace her friends provide.

Jennie and Nayeon never truly get around to planning out their date date, but Jennie finds herself hanging out with the older woman more often. Sure they've been friends before all of this, but her presence has become a lot more comforting to Jennie. For a homebody, Jennie's found herself wanting going out to meet Nayeon more and more despite the hassle of having to dress up inconspicuously because of her fame.

Jennie thinks that being with Nayeon is nice. It’s a nice change of pace, for once.

With the amount of times they've gone out, it doesn't take long for Jennie to discover that Jeongyeon has been avoiding Nayeon like the plague after rejecting her, and that their best friend, Jihyo, is trying to fix things between them. It's the first time their trio's been torn like this, and Nayeon feels like it's all her fault. Jennie's quick to assure her that it isn't. Not entirely, at least. Jennie doesn't understand why Jeongyeon would avoid her like that.

Nayeon's exact situation is what Jennie fears the most. But the older woman tells her that whatever Jeongyeon's going through will pass. She tells Jennie that Jeongyeon isn't confrontational and needs time to process things alone before speaking up. Jennie doesn't want to doubt Nayeon, but it's been weeks and even she herself can feel the awkward energy in their dorms when she drops Nayeon off.

Because of that Jennie can't help but step back and have second thoughts despite Nayeon's encouragement.

She doesn't want to lose her best friend.

When Jisoo’s birthday draws near, Jennie is a nervous ball of energy. She’s managed to hide the ring box out of Jisoo’s sight easily despite buying it months ago since the older woman wasn’t one to snoop around. She’s always respecting her privacy despite all the things they share with each other. Besides that Jennie has tried being a bit more affectionate and flirty with Jisoo— like what her friends advised— but she doesn’t think it’s been very effective, if she’s being honest. 

Sometimes, it feels like Jisoo’s slowly drifting away from her and she doesn’t know why.

But that doesn’t really matter right now as Jennie’s now cuddled closely beside Jisoo, completely content to have her best friend in her arms. The four of them go on a movie marathon to wait for Jisoo’s birthday at midnight. As much as the other three would’ve wanted to go out to celebrate, Jisoo’s always been the biggest homebody out of all of them. Jennie finds it odd that Jisoo didn’t bother shifting away to dig further into the blankets or change positions to get more space for herself like she used to, but she chalks it up to Jisoo being completely engrossed with the movie.

Beside the large couch lies Lisa’s gift for Jisoo, a large box that stands at about Jisoo’s height. It’s a bit concerning, with how the poorly wrapped box teeters every now and then. Lisa insisted that she didn’t want any help from anyone while she was wrapping it. Rosé’s gift isn’t too far away, supporting Lisa’s unstable block of a gift, but Jennie wonders why it looks oddly like a cooking pot despite it being wrapped. Jennie’s gift box looks devastatingly plain (but much better wrapped) beside the two strange items, but that’s okay. Her actual gift lies heavily in her pocket.

Shaking her head at her thoughts, she snuggles closer to Jisoo and clutches the ring box in her hoodie’s pocket. Jisoo hums and grabs Jennie’s free hand, entwining their fingers. While Chaeyoung and Lisa may be the couple of the group, they’re never as clingy as Jennie and Jisoo.

As the movie goes on, Jennie’s gaze shifts from the animated characters on screen (Jisoo let Chaeyoung a