None of Us Saw This Coming

August, 2018: Fools in Love

And she had come to where words finally failed her. There were not enough words she could possibly arrange to explain or simply put how Lisa was for her. The most she could come up with was just that Lisa was her uncertainty—an uncertainty that sparked at the back of her mind and was kept alight inside her heart, an uncertainty that was built out of a deep connection that over time, she began to doubt that she had ever truly loved anyone before.

Lisa was a complexity to Irene's simple routine.

"We're here!"

Their van stopped and the hand brake cracked as it was pulled by their manager. They finally arrived at Goyang Gymnasium. Once the girls saw some staff approaching them, they immediately thanked their manager and hopped out of the van one by one.

"Have fun girls!" They could hear their manager faintly in the background as they were ushered to proceed their way to the gymnasium. The place was already packed with idols, both male and female and they could hear their sunbaenim, Leeteuk, chatting with one of their friends, Nayeon of Twice, who was acting as the presenters of that day, along with Jun Hyunmoo, a senior host and TV personnel.

Irene scanned the room as they were ushered to their spot close to NCT who was also just arrived. Irene, Wendy, and Yeri would go up against Twice members in archery that day. Then there it was, a burning sensation in Irene's stomach. She felt gassy and it seemed like her stomach finally addressed its distaste towards Irene's decision to skip breakfast. It was actually completely unintentional though, they were out of bread, so Irene decided to skip hers and let her members eat. Out of the chaos that happened in their dorm earlier, she did not have that much choice.

She would be just fine.

Once again she convinced herself as if doing so would help calm the raging storm in her stomach. She waited patiently for their turn to go up against Twice. She wished Blackpink could also participate in events like that; she wanted to know what Lisa was good at or what she sucked at (she knew Lisa sucked at archery though, she had witnessed it on Blackpink TV), but most of all, Irene wanted to see Lisa having fun. She wanted to see her smile.

That bloody smile.

"We're up, eonni," Yeri tapped her shoulder gently.

Oh.

She followed Wendy and Yeri to prep herself, while Seulgi and Joy settled their arses on the audience seat. Across their seats, they could see Twice members cheering Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and their maknae Tzuyu; some of them waved towards Red Velvet's direction, to which Irene replied with a little wave of her own and a smile.

First up were Wendy and Dahyun. They both stepped up and were readying themselves at each of their positions. The buzzer went off and Dahyun started the competition, she lifted her bow and confidently pointed her arrow towards the target. The camera zoomed into her face as it captured her fiery eyes. She held her breath and released her arrow.

Seven!

Daehyun smiled disappointedly, she originally aimed higher, but well, she supposed seven would do for then. Once were cheering at the stadium seat, Reveluv could also be spotted there and even heard because the moment Wendy readied herself, a loud cheer could be heard roaring in the whole stadium. Wendy calmly placed her arrow on her bow and proceed to take her aim. She released her grip on her arrow and it sped up.

Eight!

Irene and Yeri shook their hands and bodies cheering for their teammate. Eight was good. The turn had gone back to Dahyun who despite her determination only managed to score a four and a six. While Wendy managed to maintain her composure and scored a seven and even a ten. Red Velvet was leading in their first-round with 25 to 17.