"Sauna?"
"Unnie, you look as if you've been hit with a train."
"If you don't wanna, just say so." Jennie scoffed at Rosie's comment.
Stepping out to clear her mind, Jennie checked herself in the front camera before dragging her feet to the sauna.
Due to her luck, she found it was empty. She slowly climbed in and drifted into her thoughts.
She couldn't sleep at all last night. Spent it all worrying about Sooya and Jisoo.
Meeting Rosé's sister sounded like mission impossible. Somehow she's always busy. Surprisingly, she wasn't too worried about her. Almost all her thoughts were on Jisoo.
When did it happen? When did she start bickering with the girl every chance she got?
Jennie couldn't remember when she started glooming at the sight of Jisoo.
Who was she lying to...
She knew exactly why and when the changes towards Jisoo occurred. And she also knows why.
But was it a valid reason? Not at all. At least not on Jisoo's side.
She doesn't hate the girl herself. It's just what she did and what it reminded Jennie of.
A splash of water from the other side, indicated someone else about to get in.
Who would be here at the middle of the day and the middle of the week?
Jennie quickly opened her eyes and attempted to cover herself with her hands in shock.
"No point, dumbass. It's a bath house anyway." Jisoo clicked her tongue, swaying her feet in the water. Unlike Jennie she hadn't gotten the opportunity to undress.
The raven wasn't even looking at her but Jennie still felt self conscious of her body as if she didn't voluntarily come here.
"Where are the members? Did they leave you here?" Jisoo peaked around, searching for the other idols.
"What are you, a pervert?" Jennie scoffed. "Why are you looking for them?"
Jisoo stopped swinging her feet in the water. It took everything in her not to look at Jennie and retort back.
"Where's the manager?"
"I told Rosie I'm coming here."
"You shouldn't be here alone. Finish up fast so I can get you back." Jisoo instructed as she got up.
"Wait. Stay." It stopped her in her tracks.
"Excuse me?"
"I need to talk to you." Jisoo desperately wanted to look back to see what type of talk Jennie meant. Was she about to get scolded as usual?
Jennie prayed Jisoo would hear her out. The guilt was eating her up and she needed to tell her sooner or later to clear her conscience. Luckily, Jisoo stopped contemplating and sat back down, still looking at the water instead of Jennie."
"I- I owe you an apology. I didn't mean to get you fired. I was just upset and riled up from the long flight and the crowd got to me."
"So I was your punching bag..."
"No! I shouldn't- You weren't-" Jennie stopped talking to refrain from stuttering.The deep sigh that left Jennie's mouth was exhilarating. "How many siblings do you have, Jisoo?"
"Technically four of my own but originally two." She wasn't sure if she could call Chaeyoung and Jimin siblings yet.
"Four..." Jennie held her gaze, deep in thought. "I have just one. One that's always been better than me."
"Sibling rivalry seems to be quite common everywhere."
"No. No. You don't get it. I have no problems with Karina. She's the sweetest, really."
Jisoo knew what was coming next. Even she was familiar with this problem.
"It's my mom that has a problem with me." She enunciated with heavy stress on each word. "With anything I do."
"Constantly compared? Trust me I get it." Jisoo sighed. "Once, I failed with a 5/100, my brother got a 97% on the same quiz so my mom chased me around the house with a pair of metal chopsticks, yelling "Why can't you be like him?!""
Jennie giggled with her head down. She definitely missed Jisoo's jokes. How long has it been since they talked so freely?
"I wish that was my case."
"You really don't." Jisoo shivered at the thought. "You're too slow. My mom's like Usain Bolt when she's mad. She would've caught you in seconds."
"My mom never talked to me unless it was to degrade me."
Wow...she couldn't even transition that bomb smoothly?
"I don't think I've ever received a compliment from her in my life." A pathetic smile was painted on her face. "I was so desperate for validation that I tried everything I could through school, the only thing I had."
"You're better than me. I tried to skip most of my exams and go to the Dojo." Jisoo frowned goofily. "Mom found me and I got chased with an umbrella that time."
"At least you didn't have to beg her to like you. I did all that just for Karina to be born and get all I wanted without trying."
"That must've taken a toll on a child."
"It did." Jennie pushed her head back onto the surface of the water. "I craved attention so hard that I started acting out in school."
Jisoo couldn't imagine tiny little Jennie causing problems on purpose.
"She didn't care. It only wasted my energy. So I stopped. Stopped trying to impress her. Stopped trying in anything, really. Except music."
"Passionate, aren't we?" Jisoo would never deny Jennie's absolutely charming presence on stage.
"Passionate for attention."
Oh. That's not good.
"On stage, I got all the validation I wanted. I was showered with compliments. Off stage, I was just another lost child."
"That's...damn." If it wasn't obvious already, Jisoo sucks at comforting others.
"She was already disappointed so I thought what big difference would it make for me to be an idol and waste my years training?" She shrugged as if it was an easy decision for her to make.
"I craved their praise so I did as well as I could so the mentors paid me with attention. To be honest, it was easier to get out of them than my own mother."
"And now you're the ace of the group so I guess it worked out." Jisoo has no idea where this was even headed. She just wanted some time in the hot tub to cool off.
Jennie shook her head "It would've, until you came in."
"Me?" She curled her index towards her."
"You and only you, Kim Jisoo." A half hearted smirk made the way up Jennie's lips.
"Everyone in the industry was just trying to pass by. Meaningless compliments to get something in return. But you didn't care about that."
Jisoo's fingers tightened around the edge. She had too much pride in her to kiss up to someone. Her ego didn't allow it.
"I was the centre of attention for everyone, but for you, I had to work hard."
"And the day finally came, I was all tired out from practicing for almost eight hours just for a four minute performance."
"You hadn't slept. There was only five hours left for you."
"So you came to get me. Told me you were proud of me for working so hard." Jennie's cheeks puffed up into a smile. "Even offered to carry me back to the dorms but I was too proud and refused."
"I thought you would've left but you didn't. Instead, you pulled back up with a blanket and forced me to at least take a quick nap with your shoulder as my pillow"
A soft laugh left Jennie's mouth. "I was such a loser to think you cared for me."
"I did."
"Not how I wanted you to. I started wanting your full attention on me. And you did as I wanted."
"At least until the next month rolled by." Jisoo felt guilty for doing her job for once.
"Do you remember the day we left Nayeon at Inkigayo?"
"How could I not?"
"It was a few months after we became friends and you abruptly got out of the van in the middle of traffic to go get her."
The memory of Nayeon crying into her chest and refusing to let go to the point Jisoo had to put her to bed personally was still engrained in both their heads. Although it carried different emotions.
"You were so worried about her that somewhere inside I started feeling angry." The raven's brows furrowed in confusion.
"You were always with me before that. I was always first. Your attention would stay on me before anyone else. Even Irene unnie told me of how we were practically attached at the hips. But you didn't even look back at me once that day."
"I'm one of your many bodyguards. I was assigned to you, then Nayeon, then Irene, Yeri, Rosie...you get it."
"I know now. I didn't before." Jennie left out a pathetic chuckle. "I thought I was special. For once."
Jisoo's brows relaxed at the depressing revelation.
"It's not fair for me to treat you like that but I couldn't help it..."
"...I'm sorry"
"That's new. You know how to say sorry..." Jisoo wore an impish grin.
"So you treated me like shit because you have mommy issues and a praise kink?"
"What the actual fuck?" Jennie splashed water her way. "Asshole. How could you just ruin the moment?"
"Well, Talent?" Jisoo shrugged. "You know I don't like lying so take this with a grain of salt."
"Your mom's a bitch and so are you."
"Excuse m-"
"Let me finish. From someone that doesn't have a single photo album from childhood because my parents got tired from taking pictures of my older siblings, even I know your mom is all types of fucked up."
"She's a shitty mother and you didn't deserve any of that treatment from her. But I didn't deserve any of that treatment from you either. I was just doing my job."
"I know..."
"Good. Apology somewhat accepted I guess. Now go put on some clothes so I can send you back and actually face you."
Jennie watched Jisoo steady herself on her feet and stretch the other way so she could get out of the water.
She grabbed the towel by her and was about to cover herself when she realized Jisoo probably wanted to spend the time in the hot tub alone.
"Oh my god, Jisoo!" The girl turned immediately when she was called. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your time here, I swear."
Jennie didn't realize that Jisoo couldn't hear a single word she was saying. The heat radiating from Jennie's body was enough to mess with her neural receivers.
She wanted to tear her eyes away but she couldn't. Plus Jennie's small brain doesn't seem to have figured out what's happening either.
No wonder Jennie seemed to be everyone's type. A smoking hot body paired with an adorable face and untouchable personality was definitely a seller for fans.
How come I have never noticed this?
"It's fine. Really. So fine..." Jisoo was trying to remember how to breathe again.
"Umm...okay?" Jennie walked away, confused as to why Jisoo was out of breath.
"What is wrong with that girl?" Jisoo asked herself. She walked to the front, hoping Jennie wouldn't stay this innocent her whole life. Would hate for someone other than Jisoo to take advantage of it.
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GN 😴