The news spread round campus like wildfire.
The unattainable Kim Jisoo was ready to date.
The news came, not from Jisoo herself, but her big mouth of a sister, Chaeyoung.
One throw away comment from a tipsy Jisoo on one of their weekly sister's night's that had been repeated offhandedly to Jennie, and before Jisoo could even recover from her hangover the day after, everyone on campus knew.
Kim Jisoo was looking for a girlfriend.
She had always been popular on campus; openly gay and somewhat mysterious she had quickly secured a reputation as a badass who was not to be underestimated. Bobby learnt this the hard way, with several snide comments and a gross breach of her personal space that left him with a bloody nose and very sore nether regions.
Jisoo's status as a gay icon on campus had been cemented the moment she joined Seoul University's soccer team, within a year she was their captain, and by the end of her sophomore year had led the team to a state championship. She was top of her class in every subject, amazingly smart and dangerously beautiful. In short, Kim Jisoo had girls falling over themselves to be with her.
What made her even more alluring to most of the female (and a fair chunk of the male) population, was that Kim Jisoo didn't date.
The rumours as to why were rife, some believed it was because she was too picky, never able to find anyone who could match up to her ridiculously high standards, (these were usually people who had tried and failed to charm her).
There were others who believed that Jisoo was refusing to date until her sister did, not unlike 10 Things I Hate About You.
This rumour was debunked when the Chaeyoung was spotted locking lips with the infamous Jennie Kim, (a woman who's reputation almost matched Jisoo's), in the middle of the quad.
Then there were those who believed that she had been hurt, hurt so badly by someone that she couldn't face the prospect of dating, that nothing was worth it.
The truth was much simpler.
Kim Jisoo was simply too busy to date.
In between captaining the soccer team, taking extra modules and looking out for Chaeyoung, which was in itself a full-time job, the last thing on Jisoo's mind had been dating.
It wasn't like she had been completely celibate, there had been the odd night, partners who had been good for destressing and never expecting more.
Until now.
Now, in a moment of openness (heavily influenced by several large shots of whiskey), Jisoo had admitted to Chaeyoung that maybe dating wouldn't be the worst thing she could do.
She had expected the information to stay between the two of them.
She should have known better.
Chaeyoung loved to gossip, and there was no one she liked to gossip with more than Joy. Joy, who although was more scared of Jisoo than he was of pretty much anything else on earth, could not resist passing on the golden ticket of information that Chaeyoung blabbed to her at their weekly lunch date.
By mid-afternoon the whole campus knew.
"I hate you." Jisoo grumbled.
"No, you don't." Chaeyoung chimed back, although her usual cheery smile dimmed at the glare that Jisoo sent her way when another girl passed them on the quad, eyes roving almost lewdly up and down Jisoo's body. "You don't?" her voice sounded less certain, Jisoo hadn't glared at her this much since she had accidently broken her older sister's favorite snow globe when they were teenagers.
"If you weren't my sister I would have killed you." Jisoo growled, turning her piercing stare on the woman to scare her away.
It appeared to have the opposite effect, the woman if possible looked even more enamoured.
"This is not over." Jisoo pointed an accusatory finger at her sister before taking off across the quad, a fast jog in the direction of the labs.
The girl looked like she might follow, but a touch to the arm and a shake of the head from Chaeyoung stopped her. Jisoo in a foul mood was best left alone.
"Did you hear the news?"
Lisa didn't need to look up from her textbook to know that there was a wide grin on Yeri's face.
"What news?"
"No way you haven't heard!" Yeri exclaimed loudly, causing the girl at the nearest table to shoot her a nasty look.
"I've been in here all day." Lisa stifled a laugh. "The only thing I've heard is the turning of these pages...and the heavy breather on the other side of the shelf."
"It's Kim Jisoo."
"What about her?" Lisa tried to play coy, but Yeri now had her full attention.
"Apparently, word on the street is she's ready to date."
Yeri's words had the desired reaction. Lisa's eyes lifted from the pages to meet her smug expression. "I knew you'd want to hear that."
"Where are you getting this information?" Lisa was loath to trust the rumour mill, it was notoriously unreliable.
"Straight from Park Chaeyoung herself. Well I heard it from Joy, who heard it from Chaeyoung."
"Jisoo's little sister?" Lisa leant back in her chair, stroking her chin pensively. "She doesn't lie, especially about Jisoo."
"This could be your chance." Yeri nudged her again, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. "You can finally tell her how you feel, let out all those feelings you've been bottling up for the last two years." Her tone dropped with sarcasm.
Lalisa Manoban's crush on Kim Jisoo could be seen from space, it was no secret. Even Jisoo, who was known to be completely oblivious most of the time to the effect she had on women, knew about it. The two of them shared several classes and spoke often enough to be considered friends. Lisa had dropped enough hints that she wanted to take Jisoo on a date, but had always been declined.
Lisa's attempts had never been serious, Jisoo had made it painfully clear to everyone she met that she didn't want to date. Lisa mostly enjoyed the blush that coloured the other woman's sculpted cheek bones whenever she paid her a compliment.
Things were different now. If the rumours were true.
"I gotta go." Lisa gathered up her books and stuffed them in her bag, pointedly ignoring the look Yeri was giving her. "Don't suppose you have any idea where..."
"Last seen heading towards the labs with a face like thunder." Yeri supplied immediately. She chuckled at Lisa's mumbled thank you as she pushed past her and out of the library.
Lisa skidded to a halt outside one of the labs, taking a moment to take a deep breath and calm down, not wanting to make it seem like she hadn't run across campus as fast as she could.
Which she totally had.
Peering in through the window she saw immediately Jisoo's form hunched over a microscope, one hand twisting the dial fixed to the side, the other making notes on a pad of paper.
Pushing open the door, Lisa adopted her cockiest swagger, striding across the room she called out loudly to announce her presence.
"Jisoo! Long time no see!"
"You saw me yesterday Manoban." Jisoo replied without looking up and Lisa knew she was rolling her eyes as she reached the desk Jisoo was working on and leant against it, arms crossed over her chest.
"Ahhh, but yesterday you were a completely different person."
"How's that?"
"Yesterday you were an unattainable Goddess, out of reach for us mere mortals. But today, today, you're down here with the rest of us. Ready to dive back into the pool?"
Jisoo looked up from the microscope, eyes narrowing at Lisa's smirk. "Dive back in the pool?"
Lisa mimed diving, smirk broadening as Jisoo arched an eyebrow. "Back in the pool, jump back in the ring, get back on the horse. Take your pick, they're all good."
"What do you want Manoban? I'm pretty busy." Jisoo indicated her work spread out on a bench.
"The same thing I've wanted for the last two years. Dinner with a beautiful woman." Lisa replied.
Jisoo shook her head, lips twitching in the barest hint of a smile. "I'm sure you can find one. From what I've heard there's plenty who would be honored to be your dinner date."
"Now why would I think about them when the beautiful woman I want is right in front of me." Lisa dropped her tone to a husk, taking great pleasure in the pink that stained Jisoo's cheeks as she ducked her head back down to the microscope. "And from what I've heard she's open to going for dinner."
"I'm going to kill Chaeyoung." Jisoo muttered darkly. "And Joy." She spoke the younger girl's name with such venom that Lisa was quite worried for her, she hoped they were good at hide and seek. They were going to need to keep a low profile for a while.
"So, what do you say Jisoo, go on a date with me?"
Jisoo sighed and leant back, expression thoughtful and for a moment Lisa thought she was going to agree.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't know anything about you Manoban." Jisoo replied arms folding over her chest and a defiance setting into her expression.
"Ok." Lisa conceded. "You have a point there," she scrunched her face in thought, eyes lighting up when inspiration struck, "I've got it."
Jisoo looked wary but said nothing.
"There's that big beach party in two weeks right? In between then and now, I will give you ten reasons you should go on a date with me. If I convince you that I'm worth it and you've learnt enough about me, you go to the party with me."
Jisoo didn't speak for a moment, clearly mulling over Lisa's proposal.
"What if I told you that there's nothing you could do to change my mind?"
"Then I would leave you alone straight away, but I know something about you Kim Jisoo, if you really didn't want anything to do with me you'd have sent me packing long ago."
Jisoo narrowed her eyes, and Lisa thought she might have overstepped, but then she gave a small nod. Barely a jerk of her head but enough to let Lisa know that there was truth in what she said, even if she wouldn't admit it out loud.
"What have you got to lose Jisoo? You could do a lot worse than me." Lisa winked, causing Jisoo to roll her eyes again, something she seemed to do a lot.
"You're pretty persistent, aren't you?"
"I prefer the term focused, and yes I am, especially when I'm going after something I know is going to be great." Lisa hid a smile as another blush threatened to break out on Jisoo's face. "So, Jisoo, do we have a deal?"
Jisoo pursed her lips, face scrunching in adorable contemplation. Her answer came in a form of a grunt, one that Lisa knew was a yes, she had won this battle.
"Prepare to have your mind blown over the next two weeks." Lisa mimed an explosion with her hands as she backed away.
Jisoo's attention was back on her microscope but Jisoo could hear the smile in her voice when she called back. "You're a cocky shit, Manoban."
"I'm optimistically confident, Jisoo!" Lisa shot back from the door. "See you around beautiful lady." Then she was gone.
Jisoo glanced up once she'd disappeared, an almost fond smile pulling at her lips.
Lisa walked away from the lab with a grin splitting her face.
The game was on.
—
A/N:
%% - Apink