"You look…"

 

Karina Yu — or Yoo Jimin, to people who knew her personally — groans, plopping herself onto the couch.

 

"The agency called," Jimin replies in an uncharacteristically gloomy voice, tall figure hunched over. Giselle raises an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. Jimin stares at her for another second before groaning loudly, slouching. "They think that fans are getting suspicious."

 

"Suspicious?" Giselle repeats in a surprised voice, placing a cup of tea on the table in front of Jimin. "Of what?"

 

"Who I'm dating," Jimin grumbles, not touching her lukewarm cup of tea. Being a huge star in the music industry, it wasn't very surprising that there were all sorts of rumors circulating around about the young idol. Some of them being what was considered normal , most of them being either borderline or downright problematic. The rumors that have been circulating her lately? Well, they weren't exactly outrageous , but they were certainly enough to rouse the whole nation.

 

"They think I'm dating the likes of Jeong Jaehyun, Choi Soobin, Lee Jeno and— argh!" Jimin tugs her hair — it makes Giselle worry for the state of her scalp at this point — groaning loudly. It was annoying (Giselle's not talking about Jimin, of course).

 

Giselle sits down in her swivel chair, raising a brow. "So?" 

 

Jimin blinks, smiling sheepishly at Giselle, a bit confused. 

 

"...So what?"

 

"Are you? Dating someone, I mean."

 

"No." Jimin immediately answers in an affronted tone with a raised brow. "Especially with them? Never in a million years. What made you think that I am?"

 

Giselle shrugs, listening to the soft, buzzy hum in her head.

 

"Just making sure. Or maybe not. Maybe I want to write something based on what your relationship with someone is or, you know, you can do that yourself. Maybe I also think that it's impossible for someone as gorgeous as you to not be dating anyone, but also that you're too pretty to date them anyway," mumbles the brunette, tapping her pen along with the rhythm of the song she had formed in her mind.

 

It's bright , she thought to herself. Cheerful, but with melancholic undertones. Piano at the start was nice, not your typical ballad. Misleading. Maybe the lyrics should be depressing too.

 

"Hm…"

 

"Oh please, and indirectly 'confirm' the rumors flying around?" Jimin questions with air quotes. Giselle doesn't say anything, still focused on her song. "And God knows how much of a better songwriter you are than I am."

 

Giselle hums and writes down the notes in her head in her notebook. 

 

"Hey, are you even listening?" Jimin asks with a pout, walking towards Giselle. 

 

As the songwriter slash producer of most of Karina's songs, it was Giselle's duty to produce the best songs she could ever give to Karina. She wasn't exerting effort just because she was being paid to. She made those songs with much love because she was very passionate about songwriting and producing. 

 

"What were you saying again?" Giselle turns around to face Jimin, only for her to gasp softly when she realized that Jimin's face was just inches away from hers. Clearing loudly, Giselle stands up, fanning herself with her lyric book. It isn't even summer. 

 

"Sorry… you were saying?"

 

Jimin huffs, crossing her arms cutely. "I said, if I get my first win for Life's Too Short on Inkigayo this week, I'm treating you, Somi, Doyeon, Yeji, Minjeong-ie, Ryujin-ie, and Ning-ie somewhere. I dunno where, but I will. " Jimin promises, giving Giselle a charming, broad smile with her signature, dorky thumbs-up.

 

Blinking, Giselle chuckles. "Alright then. I'll be looking forward to that. I'll even help in the pre-votings and live voting on Inkigayo so that you'll definitely win," Giselle adds teasingly, nudging Jimin, who only grumbles. 

 

Their cups of tea stood on the coffee table, cold and forgotten. Remembering this, Giselle quickly picks hers up, taking a small sip of the drink. Frowning at the strange taste, she places it down on her desk. 

 

"Blargh, tastes ugly."

 

Jimin takes a sip from hers, raising a brow. "It's not at all that bad."

 

Rolling her eyes, Giselle hands her cup of tea to Jimin. "Here. I don't really mind if you want to drink more."

 

Grinning, Jimin takes the cup gratefully, clutching it tightly with tiny hands. Giselle watches and tries not to think — as silly as it might sound — about how Jimin looked way too adorable than Giselle would admit. She watches as Jimin accidentally burns her tongue with the drink, giggling at her. Is it even possible for a person to get even cuter than they already were?

 

Giselle quietly revels in the sight of Jimin, wondering about something. Something that's been on her mind for quite some time now.

 

"Jimin?"

 

"Mhm?"

 

"If you were to date someone, who would you date?"

 

Giselle sees something glimmer in Jimin’s eyes but doesn't think much of it, focusing on the way Jimin's smile gets replaced by a small frown.

 

"...Huh…" Jimin leans back, arms crossed as she thinks. Scratching her nose, she shrugs half-heartedly, as if she were confused about something. 

 

"I'm not sure." And then she leans forward, a mirth-filled grin plastered on her face. "But, honestly, Aeri? You're like, eighty-nine percent my type. I would most likely date you over anyone else."

 

 

"I'm too lazy."

 

Giselle groans as she gets up from her bed, growing tired from watching puppy videos for the past two hours on YouTube, walking to the mirror to look at her face and fix herself up. 

 

“But for Jimin, you should get up,” Giselle mumbles to herself, pointing threateningly at her reflection in the mirror.

 

Fridays and weekends were always Giselle's rest days. On those days, she normally stays at home, doing practically nothing on her bed while watching cute dog videos on YouTube and TikTok, scrolling down her Twitter or Instagram feed, taking Cooper out on a walk, hanging out with Somi, Yunjin, or their entire small friend group, or go on a date — a friendly one, Giselle would insist as she ignores the fluttering feeling in her stomach at the thought — with a Jimin whose face was to be covered by a face mask and a cap on her head. 

 

On this particular day, Jimin had insisted that they hang out— well, hang inside Giselle's penthouse. With all the songs she’d created for hundreds of artists excluding Jimin, she'd managed to get this nice little place for herself.

 

Jimin had mentioned that she misses Giselle due to her extremely hectic schedule lately, but really, Giselle knows that she just wants to claim Giselle's dark blue beanbag for herself and play with Cooper. 

 

Extremely hectic schedule was an understatement, however, when you think about how Jimin — or Karina, rather — dropped her first full album in years, promotions lasting for several weeks , companies ringing up her work phone for new CFs, and going on a world tour on top of that.

 

Jimin says that she's fine, but Giselle can't help but worry about how when Jimin turned up on her doorstep dressed in her favorite black cap, beige cardian and black shorts, there were evident dark circles under Jimin's eyes, face slightly paler than usual, and how Jimin mutters about how her back pain is getting worse when she thinks that Giselle isn't listening. But despite that, Jimin displays the same kind of cheerfulness she normally exhibits around everyone, whether on-cam or offcam.

 

“Hi, Aeri-ya. Hope I'm not intruding or anything,” Jimin greets in a raspy voice (Giselle tries not to think about the warm feeling that spreads across her cheeks).

 

Shaking her head, Giselle steps aside as she welcomes her in. “Don't be stupid. Come on in, Cooper’s waiting for you.”

 

“You brought Krush instead of the typical soju?” Giselle asks, amused, when Jimin pulls out two bottles with Krush's trademark blue label out of the plastic bag she'd brought. Jimin shoots her a toothy grin.

 

“Of course, I'm their model after all,” Jimin explains almost proudly, grin turning even dorkier. Jimin might've ended up with a chipped tooth had Giselle not intervened after almost opening a bottle with her teeth out of habit. Cooper barks at Jimin, tail wagging madly as he runs around Jimin. Jimin giggles, petting Cooper gently after handing Giselle her beer bottle.

 

The thing about Jimin and Giselle was that they didn't have the typical business-oriented relationship most artists had with their producers/songwriters. They were best friends , as Jimin loved to call them (Giselle is completely fine with that), before business partners. Giselle only ever really became Jimin's main producer and songwriter — the Teddy Park to Jimin's BLACKPINK — because Jimin insisted that having someone she was already quite familiar with was better than having someone who didn't really know her style instead.

 

Giselle gratefully accepts the bottle of Krush Jimin offers her with some potato chips to eat with, taking a swig right from the bottle itself. The drink feels cool in , a rather sweet aftertaste pleasing her tastebuds unlike the overwhelmingly bitter taste that comes from the usual cheap beer she purchases on the rare nights she feels like drinking. 

 

Smacking her lips, she turns to Jimin. “Huh. This is actually pretty good.”

 

Jimin flashes a triumphant grin at her. “Maybe it's because I'm the model?”

 

Giselle rolls her eyes before taking another swig. “You're so full of yourself, Jimin-ah.”

 

Jimin snickers before snatching the bag of potato chips from Aeri. Stuffing some chips inside , she asks Aeri through mouthfuls of junk food. “Hey, Aeri?”

 

“Hm?” Giselle hums, absentmindedly swirling the bottle around, lines to songs forming in her head. Scenes filled with only us… I cherish it…

 

“What are you thinking about?”

 

Giselle glances at Jimin, a solemn expression on her face instead of the playful grin she usually shows to other people. Slowly, she drinks from the bottle again.

 

“I could ask you the same.”

 

Jimin huffs, fiddling with her own bottle of Krush . “I asked you first. It's only fair that you answer first.”

 

Giselle rolls her eyes. Classic Jimin to bring up that silly rule every time.

 

“Alright.” Giselle sets her bottle down momentarily, cracking her knuckles. “I came up with some lyrics for a song.”

 

Jimin lights up almost immediately at her words. She had always been a huge fan of Giselle's writing ability. “Let me listen.”

 

Giselle doesn't reply, opting to drink more beer as liquid courage. Tries to think back to the melody she'd thought of weeks ago. Starts singing the lyrics to the melody, with eyes closed, heart somewhat feeling tighter than it was seconds ago.

 

“Scenes filled with only us,

I cherish it

With it in my heart…”

 

She trails off, opening her eyes. She's almost startled to find Jimin staring back at her with the same solemn look from a while ago. She smiles sheepishly at the taller woman. “I'm not sure what comes next yet, so that's all you're gonna hear from me.”

 

As if breaking out of stupor, Jimin slowly nods, taking a small sip from her bottle. 

 

“You're next, by the way,” Giselle reminds her. Jimin doesn't reply immediately, still staring into nothingness with solemnity.

 

“You know, I was thinking about your words the other day.”

 

Giselle raises a brow at her words, sipping from her second bottle (she'd finished her first one in a matter of minutes). “Which ones?”

 

“Dating.”

 

Giselle's glad she hadn't started drinking yet. Otherwise, she would've sprayed beer all over Jimin’'s face. She raises her brow again in an attempt of nonchalance. “What about dating?”

 

Jimin hums, sipping from her bottle. “You know how I've dated secretly before?”

 

Giselle nods slowly, gripping her bottle tightly, not sure where this conversation is going.

 

“He wasn't a good guy,” Jimin admits in a quiet voice, fiddling with the sleeve of her cardigan.

 

Still not understanding what Jimin's trying to say here, Giselle nods, urging Jimin to continue as she takes another swig. She glances at her bottle, sighing softly when she realizes that it's half empty at this point. Maybe she should start stocking up on Krush next time.

 

“I mean, it's not really like he's not good. He's nice,” Jimin mumbles, eyes avoiding Giselle. This piques Giselle's interest. What’s making Jimin feel so self-conscious right now?

 

“It's just that…” Jimin pauses, looking up at Giselle with a look that looked like Jimin wanted to tell Giselle something that she's afraid of telling her. So Giselle smiles at her encouragingly, nodding for her to continue. Jimin bites her lip — Giselle's stomach flips at the sight — opening to speak again.

 

“It's just that, maybe men are just... not for me, you know?”

 

The bottle that fell from Giselle's hands probably would've broken, had Giselle's floor been bare of carpets.

 

“Sometimes,” Jimin starts, avoiding Giselle's gaze once more. Giselle's heart thumps loudly in her chest, almost as if she was anticipating Jimin's next words. “Sometimes, I just want to feel what it would feel like to kiss a… woman, you know?”

 

Giselle doesn't say anything in response, still trying to process Jimin's words. Yoo Jimin, the woman she thought was straight for the longest time, is now telling her that she would want to kiss women.

 

What the hell.

 

Jimin takes Giselle’s silence the wrong way, beginning to apologize.

 

“Sorry- I'm sorry, that was so random. Hell, I don't think that-”

 

Giselle's not sure why, but she leans in and presses her lips against Jimin's to shut her up (and definitely not because Jimin's heart-shaped lips look so, so kissable and soft).

 

Jimin immediately stops her rambling at Giselle's kiss, eyes widened. Giselle blames the alcohol in her system for prompting her to lean in and kiss her.

 

She realizes, belatedly, that Jimin isn't kissing her back, so she pulls back immediately, stuttering out a series of apologies in a fast pace.

 

“, I'm so sorry, Jimin- I-I don't know what came over me, but-”

 

And then Jimin grabs her by the front of her black hoodie and pulls Giselle in for another kiss, crashing their lips together. This kiss was more desperate than the first, with Jimin clawing at Giselle's back, fingernails scraping the black cotton of Giselle's hoodie when the brunette nibbles on her bottom lip. Jimin opens slightly, allowing Giselle to slide her tongue in, drawing a small moan from the older woman.

 

Giselle tugs gently at Jimin's shoulder-length hair, angling her face to kiss her deeper, her other hand slowly slipping underneath Jimin's cardigan, the slightest of groans leaving Jimin's mouth as she breaches forbidden territory. She tries not to think about how she can taste Krush and the small hint of the tangerine candy Jimin loves to consume on Jimin's lips, cheeks red at the realization. Tries not to think about how pretty Jimin's jawline looks at the moment as she moves to kiss it, a series of moans slipping past Jimin's lips as she kisses down her neck before moving back to kiss her lips again. She wonders what Jimin tastes while kissing Giselle. Somehow, the thought makes her face burn even more.

 

She thinks about how the kiss felt like Jimin was trying to prove something through it. 

 

Like she had come to a realization- proved what she was trying to prove the more she kissed Giselle.

 

And somehow, that terrified Giselle.

 

So she pulls away, ignoring the disappointment nagging her brain for doing so. Giselle shivers at the look Jimin sends her — Giselle's never seen this kind of expression on Jimin's face before — and the voice Jimin says her next words in.

 

“So that was what it feels like to kiss a woman, huh?” 

 

Giselle convinces herself that maybe it was the alcohol that pushed her to do this; maybe Jimin's notoriety for her high alcohol tolerance was not actually a real thing, that's why she's kissing Giselle out of drunk stupor; maybe Jimin was too drunk to realize what she was actually doing and saying.

 

She decides it, and leans in to kiss Jimin again.

 

She fails to notice the very much not empty bottles that Jimin had set aside for herself.

 

When Giselle pulls away, she whispers, failing to notice the shiver Jimin does when her lips brush against the idol's lips:

 

“I like women too, you know.”

 

 

A few months have passed since Jimin and Aeri’s revelation and the thing they shared happened.

 

The weird thing is that they're acting normally, like they didn't just breach a territory they shouldn't have crossed. Jimin's still clingy with Giselle, Giselle lets her. The only difference is that when they get too close for comfort — Giselle swears she's imagining it but it feels too real— they both turn redder than Jimin's favorite red plaid shirt.

 

Karina resumed her world tour. After a long trip around North America and Europe, she'd decided to tour around Asia, starting in Japan. Giselle had tagged along, discreetly using her producer-songwriter privilege as an excuse to go back to her hometown. 

 

Jimin had been raving about wanting to visit Japan for the longest time , preferably with Giselle around, even going as far as to mention in interviews and variety shows that the number one item on her bucket list was for her ‘special friend’ to give her a tour around her hometown (this never failed to make Giselle blush).

 

So of course, she jumped up to the opportunity to do so.

 

After finishing day 1 at Tokyo Dome with her songs and the crowd swooning over her hit songs Menagerie, Savage, and Yeppi Yeppi, Giselle waits as Jimin steps out to the backstage, fair skin glittering with sweat, eyes twinkling with excitement despite having already finished her performances.

 

“Aeri!” Jimin gleefully exclaims when she easily spots Giselle despite her outfit that made her blend in well with the other staff members, quickly sprinting over to the shorter woman. She engulfs her in a hug — Giselle tries not to think about how warm Jimin feels in her arms — giggling softly. Pulling away, she looks at Giselle almost expectantly, combing her fingers through her newly-dyed blonde hair. Somehow, her blonde hair makes her shine like the sunshine she is.

 

“How was it? Did you like it? Did I do okay? I made a mistake during YOLO, I hope no one noticed.” Jimin slightly frowns at the last part of her sentence, shaking her head.

 

Giselle smiles before pulling Jimin into another hug, figuring that this would mean more than words would to her. “You did amazing,” she whispers, rubbing Jimin's back soothingly. “You made a mistake? I didn't even notice because you handled it professionally.”

 

Jimin pulls away first — Giselle tries not to think about the disappointment that bubbles in her stomach when she does — grinning at Giselle sheepishly. “You sure?”

 

Giselle's almost tempted to recreate what happened that Friday , but decides against it, flicking Jimin's forehead instead with a playful grin. 

 

“Definitely. Now if you're not too tired, get ready because we'll be strolling around Tokyo ‘cause it's cooler to go around on a winter night.”

 

And they do just that. The moment Giselle utters those words, Jimin's already running off to the dressing room. 

 

Stepping out together with Jimin now concealed in her not-too-suspicious disguise that didn't draw people's attention to them, Giselle almost moves to hold Jimin's hand but holds back, slipping her hands inside her coat's pockets.

 

They push past the bustling streets of Tokyo, with Giselle pointing at places she thinks Jimin would enjoy visiting during the days they'll be in Japan (Jimin totally fawns over the micro pig café they pass by, loudly pondering if micro pigs can get along well with cats). They stop at a coffee shop, with Jimin complaining that she needs more caffeine in her system.

 

“Ordering iced americano in winter? Seriously, Jimin?” Giselle teased when Jimin orders for the both of them, the tips of Jimin's ears redder than the Christmas decorations in the coffee shop. Her ears, paired with her golden locks of hair, funnily su