THE LIGHT OF LOVE | JENLISA

Chapter 1.

If there was one thing that Lisa painfully learned during her eighteen years of life is that perfect love didn't exist. The evidence for it was everywhere: from the divorce of her parents to observing the couples around her: everything showed that the idea of perfect soulmates lived just in the imagination of authors of romance novels. And maybe innocent fourteen-year-olds. No, Lisa categorically refused to be that naive.

Or at least her brain did. Because in the bottom of her heart a small hope was still lingering, refusing to be completely erased. The hope of finding a perfect person and a true, unconditional love that lasts forever. Lisa hated herself for even preserving this hope, yet she never could fully abandon it because of two reasons.

The first reason was her best friends: Jisoo and Rosé, or Chaesoo as everyone called them, the living example of a match made in heaven. In all aspects they were like a perfect couple, always together, protecting each other, caring about each other, understanding each other without words... all signs of a true love were there. Except sex. Because both girls were completely straight, they never went beyond friendly touch and openly stated that their relationship is purely platonic. Each of them dated a few times, but all their relationships were very short: none of their boyfriends wanted to compete with the strong love-like bond that the two girls had.

"Taehyung broke up with me." Jisoo stated matter-of-factly, she didn't even seem particularly sad about it.

"I'm so sorry." Lisa said and Rosé just patted her affectionately on the back.

"He said he always felt like our relationship was inferior to what we have." Jisoo looked at Rosé, who nodded understandingly.

"So basically the same thing why Jungkook and me stopped dating." Rosé said. "Doesn't matter, we don't need them."

Lisa noticed in awe how her two friends were staring at each other, the kind of look full of pure, loving affection and understanding. It was during such moments that her heart shyly dared to believe that true love indeed exists.

But there was also a second reason. Her strange dreams: a secret that Lisa never told anyone. Until now, because she was so desperate to share it with someone that she finally confessed it to her two friends.

"You've been having these dreams for a month and you're only telling us now?" Jisoo frowned.

"I'm sorry but you can understand, right? It's because it's very embarrassing..."

"Yeah, I mean you're eighteen and having an imaginary friend is more like a child's thing..."

Lisa nervously tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, she always did it instinctively whenever she was anxious.

"So the girl that you keep dreaming about, what's she like?" Rosé asked and Lisa sent her a thankful glance for not sounding judgmental.

"She is... it's difficult to explain. But it truly feels like we're soulmates... The single person in the entire world who can fully understand me." For a cool and down-to-earth girl like her it was a difficult thing to admit so the slightest blush appeared on Lisa's cheeks.

"I thought you didn't believe in such things." Jisoo's surprised face made Lisa even more awkward.

"I still don't..." No, Lisa couldn't lie to her friends. It was clearly a moment to be completely honest. "Okay, maybe I believe a little bit..." she corrected herself shyly.

"And what happens in those dreams?" Jisoo asked with her trademark smirk, which made many guys instantly fall for her. Lisa fell silent for a moment, her eyes wandering in the distance, when suddenly she noticed that Rosé was faintly smirking too. Lisa's face quickly turned red.

"Oh my god, no! You and your dirty mind! They aren't those kind of dreams! There's nothing sexual about them! We just... talk. No, we don't even talk, it's more like we... exchange thoughts."

"About what?"

"About everything. The world around us, our lives, our feelings..." Lisa paused and a weird grimace appeared on her face. "You think I've gone crazy right?"

"A little bit, yeah." Rosé teased, smiling lightly. "But seriously, are you sure you've never met this girl before? What's her name?"

"I'm completely sure we haven't met in real life. And I don't even know her name. I call her Mandu because she has the cutest cheeks. And her gummy smile is amazing, I swear-" Lisa abruptly stopped seeing how her two friends were now watching her with their eyes widened in surprise.

"I can't believe, you're falling for a girl that exists only in your mind!" Rosé shook her head in disbelief.

"I'm not falling for-" Lisa protested but Jisoo interrupted her.

"You should have seen your own dreamy eyes when you mentioned her gummy smile... Lisa, just be careful, okay? There's nothing wrong about dreaming about a perfect person, as long as you know it's just your imagination."

"Yeah, I know you can't control your dreams, but try to look at this logically, all this stuff is happening just in your mind. Don't let it affect your real life." Rosé added, her voice full of concern. Then, in a perfectly synchronized move, both Jisoo and Rosé moved forward and hugged Lisa. The comforting warmth of their bodies made her immediately feel thankful for having such good friends. The best friends one could ever dream of. Lisa literally couldn't think of anything to complain about her friendship with the two girls.

Except... Well maybe there was one thing. Chaesoo couple was so close that sometimes Lisa couldn't help feeling a little bit like a third wheel. Maybe this is why she imagined in her mind this perfect girl, to be finally able to experience the same amazingly deep connection that she was observing between Jisoo and Rosé.

"Too bad it's just my stupid imagination." Lisa thought and sighed with a heavy heart."She's not real, you have to realize she's not real, don't be a child Lisa!" she tried to convince herself in her mind. But somehow letting go of this idea was just too damn difficult.