"None of us saw this coming."
So a bubbly voice with an unavoidable excitement voices the words out to every pair of eyes in the room that has its attention solely on the possessor, waiting for her next set of words as she shows her toothy smile; the one that is so adorable and sincere that everyone cannot help smiling too. She heaves a sigh—a deep one—to hold a grip on herself, but the idea of taking a glance at the figure next to her, dressing in white with a smile that has yet left her beautiful beautiful face does not help her settle her wrecked nerves.
It all started back in 2017 when she was still active as a member of the girl group Blackpink. It was the time when everything was still surreal to her; including the stardom that the group gained after debuting not even a year prior that also affected her. She remembers how everything that led her to this day started some months before their comeback for their new single that would be released in summer. A lot of people were looking forward to it but Lisa could not shake off the nervousness in her system because their new single was conceptualised differently from their previous tracks. So there Lisa was, still out of breath after hours of practising at her company studio when a call dropped on her phone.
"Lisa-yah, where are you?" A familiar voice from the other end of the line greeted her. A familiar voice of Kim Jennie.
They met in 2011 when she first came to South Korea as a trainee under YG Ent; the agency where they were then working at. Jennie was one of the top-ranked trainees back then, who did not hesitate to communicate with her in English just so she could help Lisa at least understand her surrounding easier and better despite their CEO's strict rule of banning anyone from speaking to her in languages other than Korean. That was why Lisa spent more of her time with Jennie during her first few months being a trainee and grew fond of her because being with Jennie was easy. It made things way easier and she just loved how easy it was with Jennie.
It was not long before Jisoo came to the scene and Lisa became more fluent and comfortable speaking in Korean. Jisoo was bubbly and easy to talk to, like an older sister she never had. They could talk from sunrise to sunrise, they could fight like tomorrow did not exist, and made up quicker than spelling their own names. Lisa loved being around Jisoo; the energy she channelled, the warmth she provided, the tough love she gave her when it was the most needed. Jisoo spoiled her in the way only Jisoo knew how to and Lisa could not help loving the soundness Jisoo made her feel.
Then Chaeyoung came along and although she felt quite bitter about Chaeyoung's presence at first because the new girl annoyed her from time to time. Yet, in the end, it turned out that Chaeyoung was her twin flame all along. They fought, they bickered, they laughed, they cried, they finished each other's sentences, and they shared almost everything together; like two perfectly matched puzzle pieces. Lisa had come to love Chaeyoung's presence. Lisa loved how Chaeyoung completed her in a way she did not know she needed to be.
But for the young Lalisa Manoban, Kim Jennie had always been different from the rest because, for Lisa, Kim Jennie had always been there and there was no way she could ever imagine herself being without the older anymore.
"I'm at the building, eonni."
"Have you eaten?" The voice asked.
"No. Not yet."
"I'm going to have some pho at our usual place, let's have a meal together," Jennie said without skipping a beat, seemingly hoping Lisa would not give the idea a contemplation and just immediately agreed to it.
"Jen, it's almost midnight."
"So? I'm heading there now, I'll see you there," Jennie said without giving Lisa time to reply and just ended their call, leaving Lisa with no choice but complying with the older's invitation.
It was unusual for Jennie to eat at such an hour, considering that it was probably only a couple of months before their comeback. Jennie was usually the one who went on a strict diet before every comeback, but since the older seemed to insist and it was just how it had always been with Jennie, Lisa, and midnight supper on daily basis, Lisa just packed her bags and stuff without wondering further. She decided to take a quick shower to wash the sweats off her body before heading out of the building to meet her manager who then took her to where Jennie asked her to be.
The Vietnamese restaurant where they were supposed to meet at was quite secluded that many failed to notice it despite being in one of the busiest areas in Seoul and it was also close to both their company and dorm, making it easily become one of their favourite places to visit—by their, it meant Jennie's, Jisoo's, Chaeyoung's, and hers as well.
Lisa arrived looking rather confused, not because of how there was only one table occupied, but because Jennie was nowhere in sight. In her confusion, Lisa scanned the whole room and studied the only person sitting at the table a few steps from her closer.
Oh.
It was a familiar face and Lisa recognised her immediately. Lisa had always been the shy one in the group so she was not sure what hit her that moment that she just confidently made her way approaching the figure and greeted her, making the figure, who had been having her head slightly down, automatically directed her full attention to Lisa.
"Good evening, sunbae," Lisa bowed to the senior.
"Oh, Lisa. Good evening," the woman whose skin was painted in pearl ivory, clearly smiled behind her mask because it was painted on her eyes coloured in dark chestnut. Irene dressed in an attire that was purposefully meant to avoid any attention; there was a mask on her face, a baseball cap covering her messy bun, and an oversized hoodie wrapping her petite figure.
Bae Joohyun, known publicly as Irene, was the leader and visual of Red Velvet, a girl group that debuted two years earlier than Blackpink in 2014. She was claimed as one of 'K-Pop Face Genius' because of her facial features that were claimed perfectly carved by God on the day He was the happiest and Lisa could understand why because at the very moment—even without her having to remove her mask—Lisa could clearly see how radiant her smile plastered on her perfect features just by looking at her now-crescent eyes.
"Are you here alone?" Irene asked, sounding a bit awkward but warm nonetheless. She was clearly shy and Lisa felt a little pinch in her heart at how adorable Irene was, trying to initiate a conversation with her.
"I'm supposed to meet Jennie Eonni here but I don't think she's arrived yet," Lisa looked more relaxed than Irene then despite it being the first time they interact ever.
"Is that so? She also asked me to meet her here," Irene said as she moved slightly to make room for Lisa at the table, "Here, have a seat."
It was about to become awkward between the two shy cats the moment Lisa put her arse on the seat slightly across Irene but luckily the waiter finally came attending to their table to take their orders. But the unavoidable awkwardness eventually did seep into the situation between the two of them as soon as the waiter left their table and they both could not help wondering where Jennie was because it had been almost five minutes from the last they heard from her and the woman did not seem to be making her appearance anytime soon.
It was in late 2016 when Jennie met Irene in a salon they both went to. Lisa recalled the story Jennie told them, of how she approached Irene first and asked for her number. Ever since then, Jennie and Irene usually spared their time when they had no schedule to have a meal together. So Lisa figured it was what Irene thought when she left her place after Jennie contacted her and Lisa also figured how it must have been quite surprising for the older that instead of Jennie, it was her who appeared there.
"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.