None of Us Saw This Coming

March, 2017: Let's Have Some Pho

"How was Thailand?" Irene's voice suddenly knocked her out of her reverie.

Huh?

"Jennie told me that she visited Thailand with you earlier this year," Irene explained her question.

Oh.

To the question, Lisa smiled, "She did visit Thailand—with her mum, earlier this year. We had a lot of fun touring around. The surprising thing was there were a lot of people who recognised us. It was surreal as much as it was unexpected," Lisa told as she recalled how many people there were attending her arrival back to Thailand the first time after their debut with Jennie next to her. It was overwhelming, to say the least. She could feel how loved they were and she could not be thankful enough.

"You'll never get used to it," Irene smiled at Lisa. There was sincerity between her eyes, seemingly having their fans in her vision as she said her piece of mind.

They continued their casual conversation and only stopped for a moment when their food was served. Gone was the awkwardness. Lisa could see how Irene slowly had managed to get familiar with her presence and let go of the stiffened posture she had been holding onto for a while.

"I can't wait for your comeback, sunbae," Lisa said with pure visible excitement glittering in her eyes. Lisa was not exaggerating when she said she loved Red Velvet's entire discography since their debut in 2014 and she had always loved their concepts too. To be honest—in her opinion—Red Velvet was a whole genre itself because she was quite confident nobody else could pull what the girls had been doing.

"Neither can I for yours," Irene replied before continuing, "And please, don't be so formal, Lisa," Irene said eyeing the woman who could only stare at her with the gentlest pair of eyes.

"Okay, eonni," Lisa said as she tried to hide her reddened cheeks. It was strange for her to be blushing over such a thing but her heart did pump twice harder when she said the word. Luckily it seemed like Irene did not notice her sudden change of colour and paid her sole attention only to her pho. So she, too, silently went back to her pho as they carried on with a casual conversation.

"Wow. It's almost two," Lisa said as she took a peek at the watch circling her slender wrist.

"Is it?" Irene took her phone which she had been neglecting for hours by then to see the time only to find one unread message.

"Oh. There's a message from Jennie," so she told the other person, "She couldn't make it. Something came up."

They both giggled at the message they read rather late because they were both too immersed in their awkwardness then moved on to their own conversation.

"It's late, we should head back," Lisa said after winning the fight over who was paying the bills. They proceeded to exit the restaurant when they both stopped at a sudden realisation that just sank in rather late in both of their minds.

"I was meaning to ride along with Jennie."

"I was meaning to tag along with Jennie."

Uh oh.

So they both asked their managers to leave as soon as they arrived because they thought they would just tag along with Jennie. Unfortunately, they both had the same idea and ended up not having any vehicle to go back home.

A split second of silence and they laughed, so hard that Lisa had to squat to ease the growing cramp on her stomach.

"Our dorm is actually a walking distance, eonni. You can stay there if you don't mind. It's already morning anyway," Lisa suggested after she managed to stand up straight and clear the edge of her doe eyes off of tears.

"Wow, it's only our first time meeting each other like this and you already want to take me home."

Lisa did not expect that, so did not her brain that it deliberately ordered the pigments on Lisa's face to immediately turn red, resulting in the possessor's unavoidable embarrassment.

"Look at you," Irene laughed contently at the sight of the fuming red colour that was proudly painted on Lisa's face.

Lisa wished the ground beneath her feet could just swallow her wholly. It was so embarrassing considering how they were still practically strangers and Irene's comment already slapped her face red. What kind of thoughts would Irene think she was thinking when she heard such a thing and ended up being—she believed—as red as a freshly steamed crab?

So accompanied by Irene's content string of laughs, Lisa just walked off trying to shy away from her own thoughts and Irene herself, who just happily skipped her steps following the younger.

"We went to Thailand last month," Irene said after her laugh had finally subsided completely.

"You did?" Lisa distractedly asked, as if asking the woman to continue her story.

"For our upcoming reality show, Level Up Project."

The wind was quite friendly that night so they took their time strolling around in that warm spring, enjoying each other's company. They both had a warm canned coffee in their hands just to help them cast the typical chilly night air off of their skins that were hiding under their hoodies.

"So how was it?" Lisa asked, actually was curious about Irene's opinion about her home country.

"It was fun. I mean it was only three days and Joy couldn't come with us, but the girls and I were having a lot of fun. First, we went parasailing. That was life-changing, to say the least. Never in my life have I ever imagined doing such a thing. It was extremely scary at first but when I was up there, turned out it wasn't all that bad. Well, I did scream to my heart's content but it was really fun and surprisingly calming. Then we went to the zoo and I fed giraffes and elephants, even crocodiles! The crocodiles were so strong I almost let go of the stick I used to feed them. Seungwan even had to help me. It was a beautiful country and I enjoyed every bit of it. The beach was beautiful and the sky!"

Lisa slightly jolted at the sudden excitement lacing Irene's words when she mentioned the sky.

"Oh the sky, it was magical."

If Irene was beautiful before then she was even more radiant then, talking about things she obviously loved. There was excitement, amusement, and fondness in her gaze that Lisa could not help but notice. It drew her in and she wondered how someone could be so adorable so effortlessly.

"I'm sorry, I talked too much now, didn't I?"

"No, it's okay, eonni. I'm glad you were having fun there. I'd like to hear more if it's okay," to which Irene replied with a smile before continuing her story.

It took Lisa back for a moment. She never expected Irene to have this particularly bubbly side. Irene never appeared as someone approachable to start with and then Lisa found out how easy it was to talk to the famously proclaimed 'Ice Queen.' Irene was not as cold as people claimed her to be. Lisa was starting to feel how unfair people were towards the woman.

And then hearing Irene's excitement and admiration towards the environment and ambience she felt when she was in Thailand made Lisa miss her home but also eased her longing for the home that was so far away. So to the words falling from Irene's lips, Lisa smiled contently.

It was probably one of the best nights.

The first night she got to know Irene.