"Did she just say feelings?" Jihyo turns to Rosé with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh my gosh." Jisoo's jaw drops in an exaggerated gasp.
"Is the world about to end?" Mina stares wide-eyed at Lisa.
The current subject of their conversation, the mighty player Lisa Manobal, is totally oblivious to the weird looks her friends are giving her. They are gathered at Rosé's for their regular Friday night out with the rest of the girls. While the ash blonde is physically present, the others immediately notice how different she's acting.
Lisa had planted herself on Rosé's couch, sitting quietly still since she arrived. She barely paid attention to the conversation going on around her and is yet to even touch her glass of wine. It's only when Jisoo mentioned Jennie's return, which would be in the next two days, that Lisa's ears perked up.
And that's when her confession starts spilling from her mouth.
"I've had a crush on her for ages." Lisa continues word-vomiting her feelings for the absent brunette.
"No shit, Sherlock." Rosé rolls her eyes.
"Jen's so pretty, and sweet, and perfect and..."
"Something's wrong with her." Mina looks on at her friend, worry etched on her face.
"I just didn't act on it because I don't want to lose her. I can't live without her. If I fuck up everything with her, she'd leave me and then life would have no meaning."
"I think she's got the flu." Jisoo concludes.
"It could be Covid. The virus probably already reached her brain." Jihyo jokes to get some reaction from Lisa, who obviously did not even hear her.
Jisoo then reaches out to feel Lisa's forehead but her hand just got swatted away.
"Hey, ouch!" Jisoo hissed, nursing the painful sting on the back of her hand.
"So, is she sick?" Mina turns to Jisoo but didn't really get an answer since her friend is still wincing in pain. Should have remembered that Lisa is actually the strongest among them.
"She's fine." Rosé huffs, crossing her arms and looking bored. "She just has to grow some lady balls and tell Jennie how she feels."
"But I can't!" Lisa whines.
"Oh wow. I never thought I'd see the day when Lisa Manobal starts acting like a pussy." Jihyo stares amused at the Thai who somehow looks so small in the couch.
"I'm not a pussy."
Lisa growls at Jihyo, but even her glare did not scare her friends, not even a bit. Her shoulder falls, looking dejected.
"What if she doesn't feel the same and I lose her? I can't handle that. I'd be a dead man walking."
"Or woman, if you're going to be technical." Jisoo shrugs.
Lisa expels another exasperated sigh.
"Something's off when I'm not with her. Like, there's a void. I tried dating, you know."
"She's delirious too." Jisoo observes.
"But there's nobody like her. Maybe there's more to life than sleeping around." Lisa ignores her friends' comments as she continues with her sudden epiphany.
"We should call 911." Mina turns her attention to Rosé who just looks utterly amused.
"I will!" Rosé all too gladly picks up her iPhone from the coffee table, about to punch in the last number when it got unceremoniously snatched from her hand.
"Guys, come on, I'm serious!" Lisa exclaims in frustration.
There's an exchange of looks among the girls, realization dawning on them. Soft Lisa is a rare sight, but this is certainly a whole new level of soft, all because of Jennie.
"Being away from Jennie drives me insane. No one's ever made me feel this way before. I can't even smile when she's not here. She's like sunshine, you know. She makes everything brighter in my life. She's always been there and now, it's..." Lisa trails off, her mind wandering to Auckland, wondering what her bestfriend is doing now.
"Oh my gosh. You do have feelings for her." Jisoo's eyes widen.
"Didn't I say that already?"
"Wow, you've got it bad, girl." Jihyo gives a comforting tap on the shoulder.
What am I supposed to say? How am I gonna tell her?!
She's about to meet her bestfriend that night at their favorite place, NUDAKE Seoul, standing by the door with a bouquet of blue hyacinth and pink roses in her hands when it just hit her that she hadn't really done this whole confession thing before in her life.
Lisa is quite sure she's going to suck.
Oh, she's definitely going to suck.
No pun intended.
But Rosé was right. She has to 'grow some lady balls whatever that means if she really wants to be with Jennie.
Clearing her throat and getting some deep breaths, she pulls the door handle and walks her way into the very crowded cafe. She tries to brace herself for there's no going back now. She'd always fought for what she wanted, and this certainly isn't going to be the first she'd give up on without a fight.
She can't even imagine giving up on Jennie without even trying. Rejection isn't a concept she's familiar with, but it's Jennie.
She'd risk everything for her.
As soon as she steps into the cafe, her eyes zoom into a brunette head of hair by the coffee bar.
Her lips automatically lift into a wide smile.
And, as if feeling eyes on her, the brunette turns, revealing an equally excited smile. Her dark brown eyes glimmer, as the smile reaches the brunette's eyes.
Jennie gets up from the bar stool, squeezing her way through the surprisingly thick crowd, to her.
Lisa feels her heart pounding against her chest, as if it wants to get freed from her ribcage and into the arms of the approaching brunette.
Not really paying attention to anyone else but Jennie, Lisa took steps to meet Jennie halfway when----
"Hey watch---!"
Whoever said that wasn't able to finish that sentence because the next thing she knew she was pummeled down onto the cafe's wooden floor.
With the server's body on top of her.
Lisa immediately pushes the guy off of her before he gets any ideas to feel her up.
"Oh my gosh, Lili! Are you okay?!" Jennie rushes to her side, helping her get up.
"Hi, Jen." Lisa takes the brunette's offered hand, smiling sheepishly.
Jennie chuckles in amusement.
"Way to make an entrance." The brunette jokes.
"Yeah, exactly how I planned it."
"Are you hurt?" Jennie inspects her bestfriend if she has any injuries or anything.
"Me? Psh, I'm the woman of steel. I don't get hurt." Lisa grins.
"I'm glad you're fine. Oh, wait, there's someone I want you to meet." Jennie walks back to where she was previously sitting, leaving the ash blonde with a confused look on her face.
Lisa barely caught what Jennie said since her attention was on the server, currently picking up the pieces of silverware and tray that scattered on the floor due to their collision. She gets down to help him.
"Sorry." She mumbles.
"It's okay. Nothing's broken. Just try looking at where you're going next time." The server replies, a little bit relieved that all he was carrying was cutlery.
"Lili!"
Lisa gets up again, head turning to the direction where her name is being called.
Her eyes narrows.
Attached to her bestfriend's hand is the hand of a crazy beautiful blonde that definitely isn't her.
Ash?
"My bestfriend, Lisa Manobal, meet Ashley Hamilton---" Jennie smiles, turning briefly at Ashley with a sickening sweet smile before shifting her eyes back to her bestfriend. "---my girlfriend."
Lisa freezes.
"Well, it's nice to finally meet you. This one wouldn't shut up about you." Ashley flashes a charming smile, revealing a set of perfect pearly whites. "You can just call me Ash." Ashley offers her free hand.
The ash blonde isn't sure how long it took her to shake that hand, but it did take a while. There's currently a lump in her throat, making it hard for her to talk. The way Jennie's looking at her probably means that she should say something, anything. But really, her voice box suddenly decided to take a day off for some reason.
Lisa eventually managed to force a smile which she was sure looked more like a grimace.
"Hey you dropped your flowers."
Lisa freezes for the second time after hearing the server's voice, and feeling the bouquet of flowers poking her on her right arm.
"That's not mine!"
"Ugh, I think it is." The server is quite sure.
"No it's not." Lisa defensively shoves that bouquet back into the arms of the confused server who could do nothing but scratch his head as she scurries away to a safe distance.
The bouquet would make things more awkward than it already is.
"Uhm, this is ours." Jennie taps Lisa's shoulder from behind, causing the ash blonde to stop walking.
Hearing Jennie call the table 'ours' makes her want to hurl.
Lisa finds the brunette and her blonde girlfriend taking the seat next to each other on the table, leaving her with no choice but to sit alone on the opposite side. Just as she's getting settled, Jennie decides to drop another bomb on her.
Like the first revelation isn't enough for the night. Or for her entire lifetime.
"Lili..."
That tone makes Lisa feel sick to her stomach, like Jennie's about to say something that she isn't going to like. It's just that her guts when it comes to her bestfriend is always spot on.
She looks up from the menu that she had actually memorized by heart. She already knew what she's going to order, but she needs a distraction from that hand-holding that's happening in front of her.
Lisa fights the urge to roll her eyes.
"Hmm?"
"Ashley and I, we're engaged."
Lisa's face suddenly turns white, but she's guessing Jennie is just too excited to show her the huge rock on her finger to notice.
"We're getting married!"
In that moment, her world crumbles.
Lisa feels her world suddenly falling apart.
She manages to excuse herself and reaches the bathroom in time to throw up the little contents of her stomach.
She has no idea how long she'd been sitting there, not really listening as the new couple opposite her went on and on about how they met and how they felt immediately attracted to each other. Truthfully, Lisa zoned out on the whole conversation. She'd heard some parts when Ashley was telling the story of how she realized she couldn't watch Jennie leave and came up with the proposal out of nowhere.
It's cute, and romantic, and spontaneous.
It makes Lisa want to strangle herself.
Why did she even come here in the first place?
Oh, Rosé, right. The blonde lawyer told her to grow some lady balls. Well, Rosé better grow some lady balls of her own so Lisa could cut them and feed them to the sharks. Or maybe to the blonde's own dog, Hank.
It's not anyone's fault (actually, it was solely Lisa's), but she's totally blaming this all on Rosé just so she'd be able to sleep at night despite being such a stupid pussy all these years.
Finally, Ashley gives her a break as she went to the bathroom, leaving her alone with Jennie for the first time in two months.
She finds the blonde smiling at her.
Her heart flutters seeing that smile meant for her.
"What?" Lisa feels a bit embarrassed under the brunette's stare.
"I'm just happy to see you again."
Lisa just smiles back.
Ah, the things you do to me.
Jennie arches an eyebrow.
"What's up?"
"Huh?"
"You aren't as happy to see me?"
"Don't be ridiculous. You know I am."
Jennie's eyes narrow.
"Why do I feel that you're not?"
Lisa internally sighed. The brunette could still read her like a book.
"Jen."
"Yes?"
"I've waited two months for you. I've never been happier." The ash blonde confessed.
This time, Jennie looked like she believed her.
After that, both of them fell silent again.
"Do you love her?" Lisa blurts out before she could stop herself. Realizing what she had just said, she mentally facepalmed.
"What kind of question is that?" Jennie looks affronted by the question, but since it's already out there, Lisa wasn't about to backpedal.
The ash blonde desperately needs to know the answer anyway.
"You told me you'd only marry for love. Do you love her?"
Jennie stares back at her.
Before she gets the answer, Ashley decides to come back.
This time, Lisa rolls her eyes. Jennie catches it.
That's probably the shortest bathroom break in the history of mankind.
"What did I miss?" Ashley smiles that annoyingly charming smile of hers and shifts a questioning look from Lisa to Jennie.
"Nothing. We're just catching up." Jennie covers up.
Ashley leans closer and gives the brunette a peck on the cheek.
Lisa immediately turns her eyes away.
"You know, I think I have to go." Lisa's voice cracks as she picked up her purse. She pulls out a few bills, leaving them on the table.
"What? Why?" Jennie glances at the time on her phone. It's been only a few minutes since her bestfriend arrived.
"I'm suddenly not feeling well. That was a hard fall a while ago and I really should just go to bed." Lisa gets up from the chair.
"Are you okay?" Jennie reaches out, touching Lisa's arm, but the ash blonde pulls her arm back too fast, as if she was burned.
"Yeah."
"Do you want me to walk you---"
"I'll be fine." Lisa rushes out of the cafe, almost bumping into that server again.
Jennie winced as she watched the server almost drop his tray for the second time that night.
Lisa is about to get into her Mclaren 540C when she heard Jennie from behind her.
"I know what you're doing."
"What?"
"You don't like Ashley."
"Where are you getting this?" Lisa tries to sound annoyed when really, she's just being defensive.
"I get why you're always being protective of me Lili, but you're my bestfriend and she's my fiancée, so I'd really love it if you could get along with her. You're both very important to me."
The ash blonde contemplates on what to say before speaking again.
"I don't hate her."
"Why do I find that hard to believe?"
"Jen, I really have to go." Lisa could feel her frustration getting under her skin.
"Why are you rushing to get away from here, Lili?"
"I'm not."
"Don't lie to me. You can't wait to leave so why don't you just tell me why? I'm pretty sure you're not going to bed this early."
"Look, I'm sorry I can't stay. But... there's someone I have to meet." She lies.
Lisa really needs to get out of here. Far from Jennie.
"Right now?" Jennie quirks an eyebrow.
"Yes."
"At the same time when you're supposed to meet me?"
"It's kind of important."
"Who is it?"
"What?"
"Who are you meeting with?"
"Anne." The name just came out of Lisa's mouth.
Jennie crosses her arms, visibly displeased.
"Anne?"
"Yeah."
"She's important now?"
Lisa just shrugs. Less talk, less mistake.
"I thought you said she's starting to get clingy."
"Well, yeah."
"Didn't you break up with her months ago?"
"Technically, we didn't since we weren't officially in a relationship."
"Right. So why are you meeting with her?"
"Why are you asking?"
"I just want to know."
"Why are you marrying someone you just met two months ago? Or was it even less?" Lisa fires back, regretting those words as soon as it came out of her mouth.
There's a fire in Jennie's eyes, but she remains calm.
That look usually scares Lisa, but she has to stand her ground. So she tries to be brave and holds Jennie's challenging stare.
"You're really gonna do that?"
Lisa's hands clench into a fist. She'd had enough for one day. All she wants is some space away from Jennie and Ashley who, for some reason, decided to hang out in their favorite place right now. Fortunately, the two did not take their favorite table.
At least she could say that there's still something that Jennie shares only with her.
"Jennie, your fiancee's inside waiting for you. Get back in there. I'll see you around." Lisa pulls her car door open.
Just as she's getting in, Jennie's words caught her.
"I want you to be my maid of honor."
"What?" Lisa squeaks, unable to pull her door down.
"It's one of the most important days of my life. I want you to be a part of it. It wouldn't be complete without you, Lili."
Is Jennie torturing her for being stupid all these years?
"Please?" Jennie pleads.
And she pouts.
Damn that pout.
And with that, Lisa was a goner.
As soon as Jennie was back inside the restaurant and back into Ashley's arms, Lisa pulls out her phone and dials a familiar number.
"Let's get fucking wasted."
She wakes up with one hell of a hangover.
It's early in the morning the following day when Lisa finds her friends Rosé and Jisoo sitting next to each other in her kitchen counter, drinking coffee. Both greet her with a nod while she replies with a groan, taking refuge on a chair opposite the blonde. She flashes the blonde lawyer a grateful smile as a hot cup of coffee was pushed in front of her.
The events of yesterday comes rushing back to her.
"Holy mother fucking shit." Lisa winces as she feels the stabbing pain in her head as if splitting it into million different pieces.
"What?" Rosé growls at the ash blonde while placing two aspirin tablets onto Lisa's right hand.
"I just remembered something."
"Should I be worried?" Quirking an eyebrow, the blonde looked on suspiciously at her.
Lisa pauses for a few seconds before answering.
"Jen asked me to be her maid of honor."
"She asked you what?!" Jisoo splutters a bit of coffee. When Rosé quickly hands her some paper towels, she mouthed a thank you.
"To be her maid of honor."
"Maid of honor?" Jisoo couldn't believe her ears.
"The world hates me." Lisa buries her face in her hands.
"The world doesn't hate you, Lisa." Rosé counters.
"What did you say?" Jisoo kind'a knew the answer, but she's also hoping that her friend didn't act like an idiot for once.
"I said yes!"
"Are you a masochist?" Rosé frowns.
"No. But how can I say no to that pout? You know how defenseless I am when it comes to her pout."
"Maybe if you weren't so thick you would have taken that as a sign that you do have feelings for her that's more than friendly. Way before this wedding ruckus." The lawyer feels sympathy for Lisa after she told them about the whole engagement thing last night, but she couldn't help but blame her as well for being such a dumbass all this time.
"Not really helping." Lisa growls. "I can't do this. I can't be her maid of honor. I'll die! I'll probably just collapse and stop breathing just seeing her in her wedding dress. I should draft my last will soon. That would be a wise thing to do, right Rosie?"
"Maybe it's a good thing." Jisoo remarks.
"How is it a good thing that I'm dead?"
"Manobal, you're 27. Stop talking about last wills and death. You're giving me the creeps." Rosé shakes off the goosebumps.
"It's never too early to write a will. You'll never know. Why do you sound like you don't want to help me?"
"Fine. I'll help you draft your will. But after you resolve this thing with Jennie."
"Good. But let's not get lost here. What were you saying, Chu?"
"I mean, maybe it's a good thing that you're her maid of honor."
"Chu, I don't know if you see the point but I don't want her to get married to anyone else but me!"
The identical reaction on both her friends' faces would have been comical if the conversation isn't this serious.
"Whoah, wait, hold up. You want to marry Jennie, is that what you're saying? " Rosé looks at her in utter surprise.
"What?" Lisa realized what she had just said.
"If you don't want her to marry anyone else, what do you expect her to do? You want her for yourself, but what can you actually give her? You're like the antithesis of marriage, Lisa, and Jennie deserves to be happy. If you can't give her that, then don't take away something that makes her happy." Rosé is friends with both Jennie and Lisa. And while she believes that the ash blonde entrepreneur has genuine feelings for Jennie, she couldn't help but watch out for both of them.
"I..."
Lisa sighs in defeat.
"I don't know, I... I just want to be with her. Only her."
Jisoo and Rosé exchange looks.
"Rosie, maybe that's enough for now."
It's Jisoo's subtle way of telling Rosé to leave Lisa alone. Then she remembers what she intended to say before her train of thought got interrupted.
"You can destroy the wedding from the inside. If you're the maid of honor, then you can stay close to Jennie and make her realize that she's making a mistake."
"Hey, we're not destroying any wedding, okay?" Rosé glares at Jisoo.
"Oh come on, Rosie. Lisa and Jennie had been dancing blind around each other for years already. They are SO into each other. Everybody knows it except the two of them. Now this one's finally realized what she should have realized a long time ago, and I do believe that Jen has feelings for her too so---"
"She's marrying Ashley! How could she have feelings for me?"
"Like I said before, blind! She probably thought you're a hopeless case so she turned her attention somewhere else and this Ashley person just happens to be there. Come on Rosie, admit it, you believe these two knuckleheads belong with each other."
Rosé sighs.
"I don't want to hurt Jennie. It's her wedding for Pete's sake." The lawyer slumps in her chair.l
"I know you're in, just say it." Jisoo grins at the lawyer.
Rosé never really trusted Jisoo with that grin.
"Manobal, you're a twerp."
"Geez, thanks Park."
"And you too, Kim." Rosé looks like she's trying so hard not to smack Jisoo in the head.
"What did I do?" Jisoo looks confused.
The lawyer rolls her eyes.
"Well, I probably am too, and Jihyo, and Mina, because we're all friends. And because I can't believe I am actually agreeing to this."
Rosé shifts her eyes from Jisoo to Lisa then back to Jisoo again.
"If this backfires, you're facing the consequences alone, Jisoo Kim."