None of Us Saw This Coming

July, 2017: Inkigayo Sandwich

It was a tradition—well, sort of. A tradition between idols at Inkigayo backstage, where they shared their numbers by slipping them into the sandwiches and giving the sandwiches to whom the number was for. Although in that case—instead of number, Lisa was getting a short message, it was clear to Chaeyoung that Irene just initiated the tradition towards Lisa, which was quite unorthodox considering it had only been done from a male idol to a female one, but screw the tory, right?

"Yah! Since when?"

"Long story. Ah, seriously, now I have to go to thank her."

"Does Jennie Eonni know about this?" Chaeyoung popped up with a question that took Lisa aback.

"What does Jennie have to do with any of this?"

"What do you take Jisoo Eonni and me for, Lisa? Fools?"

They—knew?

Chaeyoung's smirk said it all.

Then the truth was finally out, Lisa could not possibly brew what she ought to think. Her brain was poorly squeezed just so she could come up with some excuse but there was nothing she could think of.

"The walls aren't as thick as Jennie and you think they are, Lis."

Chaeyoung intentionally emphasised Jennie's name without any honorifics to tease the way Lisa addressed the eonni. Although Lisa had been careful, her habit of calling Jennie with just Jennie, Jen, or Nini usually still accidentally slipped off of her mouth.

And that was usually enough to leave the younger with horror on her face, which at that time was enough to crack Chaeyoung up to tears. It was always fun to tease Lisa, she was so naive—it was easy to fool the youngest and get a reaction from her. Jisoo was the one who made use of that perks the most out of the three. Then, Chaeyoung could pretty much understand why Jisoo chose to tease Lisa on daily basis as a hobby.

"Calm down. I don't judge. I'm happy if you are," Chaeyoung tried to calm the younger down after throwing her fit of a laugh.

Lisa was the first one she met out of her members and the first one she got close to during their trainee days. It was at the ever-so-long elevator ride back when she first came as a trainee after meeting Yang Sajangnim, their CEO. She could remember clearly that moment when she first met the youngest because back then Lisa had this hairstyle where she tried the look of the early day Justin Bieber, but instead of looking like the former teen pop star, her habit of tying only some strands on the top of her hair making her look like a walking apple.

They basically grew up together and shared everything. Despite having an older sister, Chaeyoung still felt as if she was facing a new experience of having a sibling when she met Lisa. It was probably because Lisa was more like the other side of her coin, who shared many common grounds with her that only the both of them were able to relate to.

Lisa was also the first who came to her side of the bed on the first few nights she first came to be a trainee. Lisa knew how it must be hard for her to be away from her family in a completely foreign environment because Lisa, too, once felt what she felt when she first came to South Korea all the way from Thailand a year prior.

It was probably the third or fourth night of Chaeyoung trying to swallow her tears down from the unavoidable loneliness she could not help seep into her heart when Lisa dragged her to the practice room where Jennie and Jisoo were waiting for them with a guitar.

They spent that night away until the sun barged in, sparking a new day right in their presence and for a moment she forgot the suffocating feeling of not being able to see her parents for an indefinite time. For that, Chaeyoung was forever grateful to the younger and their eonnis.