Rosie kept glancing at Jennie who was mumbling to herself with her eyebrows knitted in concentration. The dark-haired girl adjusted her eyeglasses then checked her phone, scrolling alternately between two gadgets. “Okay, sooo, two accooounts, got it, and, huh, okay. I shouldn’t autoplay? Why.”

The blonde girl studied her girlfriend again, lying on her stomach and still engrossed with what she was reading. “Hmm, okay, I didn’t know that. Now you know, Jennie.”

Rosie tapped her pencil on her sketchpad, her attention clearly now on the girl to her left. “What are you doing?”

“Did you know that looping a video won’t help in streaming counts?”

“Uhh, no, what…are you doing?”

“Oh my gosh, so many rules, this is hard work.” Jennie griped, fully piquing Rosie’s curiosity. Now openly amused, she decided to lay down next to her Jennie. “What are you doiiiing, why are you ignoring me?”

“I’m not…just,” Jennie bit the cap of her pen and took down notes. “Is that…oh my god you weren’t joking at all,” Rosie gasped when she took over the laptop. “How many accounts did you make? Oh my god.”

“I can only appparentlllyyyy,” she drawled as finished her note taking, “two accounts per service provider. So technically, I can make four…I think,” she blinked in confusion and took her phone to verify the information again.

Rosie couldn’t help but dissolve into laughter. D-day was indeed so close, and there was a part of her that seemed to shut it down, still unable to reconcile that it was really about to happen. Jennie, however, just can’t seem to shut up about it and had recruited her own sister to make several accounts. She took it as a joke, but Jennie apparently had a very intense commitment to her girlfriend duties.

“You know instead of laughing at me—”

“Oh, no, no, no, no, my love, I’m not laughing at you, I promise.” Rosie pressed her lips together before she wiggled closer. “I would love to help you think of usernames or…we could…maybe…just…make out.”

“That’s the least important…go back to your sketches if you’re not gonna be of real use.” Jennie raised her hand and shooed Rosie away. “Really? Really?” The blonde poked the older girl’s side, “I’m right here, yours for the taking, and I’m of no real use?” She laid flat on her back with arms stretched to emphasize her offer, while the older girl tried to hide a smile.

Jennie rested her right hand on Rosie’s stomach as a weak compromise, which the blonde girl quickly took and played with her fingers.

“Your parents are in your kitchen, and I do not want to become buffet for piranhas.”

Rosie pouted and bore holes on her room’s open door—which Jennie insisted. “You really don’t need to make a good impression on them. They already know you.”

“As your bandmate and friend. Not someone who possibly have been doing ungodly things to you. Which for the record, I have not, since I am a very honorable woman.”

Rosie looked at her girlfriend, still all business-mode on the computer. “This conversation seems oddly familiar. They like you for me, I promise.”

Jennie took a break and gave Rosie a peck but the blonde’s hands were quick to draw her in for a deeper one. “I miss you,” she murmured with desire in her eyes that quickly shifted to determination. “I’m getting a love shack.”

“You’re going to spend money just for a place where we can make out.”

“Not just make out if you know what I mean. That’s why I work hard.”

“If it’s privacy you’re after, my home is big enough.”

“Your mom is there. What if she goes to the kitchen or something.”

“The…kitchen? Why Park Roseanne? What should she see in the kitchen except me cooking dinner?” There was a glint in Jennie’s eyes and a knowing smirk as Rosie side-eyed her and rattled on about her “not having any idea how hot she is in a messy bun and an apron.”

“Okay, that fantasy is duly noted for the future,” the older girl nodded.

“Not gonna happen in your place,” Rosie lamented while her cheeks burned at her girlfriend’s willingness.

“Mom travels more often than necessary…if you know what I mean.”

“So it’s okay for you to do nasty things in her home, but refuse to give me a kiss near my parents?”

Jennie tickled Rosie’s side then hushed her. “Pipe down, will you? Your parents are still very traditional, my mom…well. She’s a lot more free-wheeling as you have witnessed many times. And trust me, traditional parents…I’d still rather be a lot more careful.”

Rosie believed that Jennie can make the most venomous snake fall in love with her and so there was something so adorable at how this charmer of a woman almost had a panic attack at their first dinner together, as girlfriends, with her parents. Her mother loved Jennie from the start; her father, always the more wary one, was won over by Jennie years ago. It wasn’t any different from all other dinners, but that didn’t really stop Jennie from fumbling, stuttering, and apologizing profusely for being ten minutes late. Rosie had to excuse the two of them because her girlfriend looked every inch a cooked lobster. “Jen, you’re okay, breathe. It’s just my parents, we’re just at home. We’ve done this a thousand times.”

“Ugh, why’s the dinner at 6? I hope the kimchi rice is—that photoshoot took longer—”

Rosie swooped in for a kiss, hoping to calm down the older girl. But instead, she found her lips pressed firmly on Jennie’s palm. “Babe, your parents,” Jennie hissed.

“Babe, I think you’re overreacting. Come here and gimme a kiss,” she insisted with her lips puckered. Jennie looked around first and gave her a peck. “Okay, satisfied?”

Rosie chuckled and looked at Jennie adoringly. “The kimchi rice looks fine, you look great, and even if we pretend it’s your first time to ever meet them, you’re going to dazzle them with your wit, charm, intelligence, and grace. I can assure you because we Parks think alike.”

“Okay,” Jennie breathed out. “Parents. Nothing new, no biggie.”

Rosie smiled encouragingly, but somewhere in that simple comment came a barrage of insecurities. She has always tried to keep certain thoughts away, particularly with regard to Jennie’s dating history that had been a source of noticeable strain in their friendship before. It was a non-existent issue now, she knew that. But Jennie had always been more tight-lipped about her personal life and Rosie never had the courage to approach the topic directly even before. She briefly wondered then if Jennie had met her past boyfriends’ parents especially Kai’s. It’s ancient history and that’s why she didn’t have the reason anymore to bring it up, but it seemed that period in particular was a black box between the two of them. And Rosie wasn’t also particularly proud of how she can’t seem to let go of it.

Lisa and Jisoo tried to pry more gossip from Jennie with bottles of wine placed randomly on the table. For Rosie, her guitar became her greatest companion and shield, drowning the girl talk all around by melodic strums and plucking. It didn’t help that they were back in Tokyo for a brief set of activities and a very exclusive corporate show. She kept a tight focus on the melody she played over and over, committing to memory the chords. One day, she’ll be brave enough to tell her story through songs she’s written, but for now, she was happy enough to make it a diversion. No one seemed to notice what she’s playing was hers and hers alone as her two bandmates listened attentively to Jennie and that was okay, too. She occasionally looked up, pretending to be mentally present and noticed Jennie glance at her as if daring her to ask a question. But she wasn’t in the mood and so she just played and played and played, until her best friend had a little bit too much to drink; just enough to be loose-lipped.

“Unnie, you should go on a double date with Rosie,” Lisa suggested. There was pin-drop silence then an “oops” from the maknae as Rosie gripped her guitar and glared.

“Chaengie?” Jisoo looked pleasantly surprised. “Someone’s keeping a secret.”

“I’m not, Unnie. Lisa is just bored and is trying to play cupid.”

Lisa protested and proceeded to gossip about a certain member of a girl group who admitted to a member of another girl group in a chat, who in return kept sending screenshots to Lisa, that she had a crush on Rosie.

“I’m not interested.” Rosie glared at Lisa one more time.

“Why not?!” Jisoo exclaimed, equally excited with the prospect of Rosie snagging a girl as she scrolled through Lisa’s phone. “I think she’s trying to fish for information if you’re also into girls. She’s cute.”

“I don’t know her.”

“That’s kind of the point of dating, Chaeng.”

“I’m really not interested,” Rosie said rather impatiently and went back to playing the guitar.

“You should—” Rosie heard Jennie’s voice distantly, which Rosie realized had remained quiet as Jisoo interrogated her. “You should open yourself up to dating. You know that…you know we’ve got your back.”

Rosie blinked several times, refusing to look at Jennie. “I’m just not interested.”

“In general, or just her?”

“I don’t know, maybe just her.”

“Who are you interested in?”

“No one in particular.”

“Not even one crush?”

“None.”

“What’s your type? Maybe we can help find someone.”

“I don’t have a type.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Okay.