LISA'S POV
"I don't trust the way he looks at her," Jisoo whispers.
"Me too," Nayeon comments.
All three of us watched as Jennie, followed by Irene, Suho and that fucking Jaebeom followed her back to our table.
"Why can't you just tell him to fuck off, Lisa?" Jisoo-Jen and I's number one shipper-whines.
"Are you stupid? He obviously likes Jennie. You know her family will do everything to cut Lisa off her life if ever Jaebeom tells them. Worse, I bet they'll want him for-ouch, Jisoo!"
To say I'm bothered is an understatement of what I'm truly feeling, but yeah, let's go with that.
I don't want Jennie to worry either, so I secretly nodded and smiled at her while she sits beside me.
This fucking Jaebeom Lim is getting under my skin. He obviously likes my girlfriend, sticking beside her from time to time and trying to get her attention by annoying her.
And I have no fucking choice but to guard my girlfriend because he surely has his way to stick around. First, because he's Rosé's cousin. And now, because he's Suho's cousin. Dammit.
I relaxed a little when Jennie leaned on me.
"Cafeteria food looks good," the fucker says while sitting on the other side of my girlfriend, "I might just eat here all the time."
Oh, stay here all you want. I'll be sure to bring my girl with me when we eat out of this goddamn cafeteria. Fucking away from you.
"Who likes cafeteria food?" Jisoo rolled her eyes.
Nayeon nods, glaring at Jaebeom, "It sucks!"
Unfortunately, the person they were trying to mock was too dense to even notice he's unwanted here.
"Here baby, eat more," Irene lets Suho take a bite from her own sandwich, having their own world as usual.
"Thank baby," and they kiss right in front of our salad.
"Get a room you two," Jisoo cringes, turning away from the lovers to focus on her food.
"Oh c'mon," Irene laughs, drapping her arms around Jisoo, "Don't be jelly, babe. You're my forever girl friend."
We laughed when Jisoo horribly looked at her, as if wanting to puke. "Suho will you please get your girl off me?"
"Nope, she's your problem now," he jokes.
I laughed at my friends being foolish, until I felt Jennie's small hand, slowly touching mine. I intertwined our fingers, loving the way her small and slender ones tangle with mine.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw her smiling, quickly hiding it by drinking on her tumbler.
I wanted to pat my heart to calm it down, if only it wouldn't look so weird. There, there, buddy. She's all yours, see?
"Oh by the way," Jaebeom turned to face Jennie and I. Jennie quickly removed her hand on mine while she choked.
"Hey," I took out my handkerchief from my pocket, only to see that the fucker is already wiping the side of my girl's lips with a napkin.
"Careful," he seriously says, eyeing her with worried eyes.
"Uh, thanks," Jennie takes the napkin with her own hand. And I would've been fine with it if only the fucker didn't pull out some more tissue and tried to touch her again.
Seriously, I want to punch him-
"I'm okay," Jennie politely turns away from him, glancing at me so I instantly calmed down.
I realized that the girls are watching us cautiously.
Clenching my fist on the handkerchief, I brought it down to my lap.
"Anyway, I guess we'll be seeing each other tomorrow," the fucker says almost happily.
Tomorrow's our anniversary. Is he fucking kidding me?!
I furrowed my brows, "Why?"
Jaebeom narrowed his eyes at me. It didn't last long because Jennie blocked me away from him.
"Mind telling me how?" Jennie asked, clearly dumbfounded.
Oh, how badly I want to snatch my own girl away from him.
Just by watching them facing one another... fuck, I hate it! But I'm not that kind of girlfriend. The 'too possessive' kind that will impose sick rules.
"Family dinner," he simply says, "Want me to pick you up?"
"Fuc-"
"No, no, no need!" Jennie's voice was loud enough to drown my curse.
The fucker looked a bit startled, slowly nodding, "I guess your boyfriend will pick you up?"
Boyfriend?
"Boyfriend?" Irene mouthed with wide eyes, while Nayeon and Jisoo looks weirded out as well.
Suho stays silent, just observing us all.
"I'll go on my own," her voice was strained.
"Mmm," the fucker just nodded, dropping off the topic.
I can't stand him. I really can't. I might just let our families know that I'm in love with this girl and shout it in this fucker's face, nevermind me being disowned by my family. But Jennie... I won't ever forgive myself if I ruin her life and every thing she worked hard on. She loves her family and works hard to prove herself, to follow their steps.
I wish there's an easy way for us.
"We better go," I announced, looking at my watch, "Next class is in 10 minutes."
Her curious-looking, feline eyes meets my gaze as I stood up. She then looks around the table, saying goodbye to everyone as I waited for her.
"I'll see you tomorrow," fucker grins at her, while I wanted to test how strong his teeth are with my fist.
Jennie didn't respond and just hooked her arm on mine, dragging me slowly away from them.
"I'll understand if you're angry at me-"
"Jen I'm not angry at you," I assured her as I stopped to just look at her, "I'm not. Lately we've always been fighting over him and I know we're both sick of it. He's obviously into you, even when you told him you're taken. Right?"
She fell silent. I took her hand, bringing it up to my lips while I stared at her.
"Baby, it's not just about me," I say softly, looking straight into her worried eyes, "Don't be afraid of me. It's all about us. I want us to be okay. I want you to be happy, always."
"I want you to be happy too, Lis..."
"I am. I'm so damn happy that you're mine," I smiled at her, "Now enough about him. I still need to make my girl smile, I've been missing that gummy smile of hers for a while now. Can you help me?"
She smiles shyly, pinching my cheeks. Adorable.
"Love," I caught her hand with mine as we walk side-by-side, "Spend tomorrow night with me?"
"Sure, love," she answers happily.
I don't care if the fucker gets to see her tomorrow. It's a business matter after all.
Tomorrow, after their gathering, I'll have her for myself. And it will be special because it's our anniversary tomorrow.
I'm so fucking crazy for Jennie Kim.
~
JENNIE'S POV
"Jennie Ruby Jane," Mom hugs me tightly, smiling from ear to ear.
Dad then approaches me, kissing me on the top of my head.
I don't normally come early at these gatherings because I know it will bore me. For my parents, however, it's different. They come ahead of time and were never late.
It's weird entering the place with them.
"Did you go here straight from work?" I can't help but ask.
"Yeah, we did," Dad answers while straightening his suit.
I only nodded as the doors were opened for the three of us, seeing that the Lim's and Park's were already there.
For tonight, I chose to wear a red tube dress and stilettos.
"We're very sorry we're late," Dad announces our arrival humbly.
Looks like all of them are already here even when it's still early.
"You weren't, we were just too early," a man who I recognized to be Jaebeom's father approaches us with a welcoming smile.
I ignored all the formal greetings that the older ones usually have and started roaming my eyes. My eyes landed on Jaebeom, whose eyes were already locked on mine.
He's wearing an all-black suit, very formal just like when I first met him. He gave me a small smile.
Looks like he's the only one I can talk to here on this dinner.
It's fine though. I'll have to leave early. Lisa's waiting for me.
And I suspect she's prepared something all day that's why she refused to meet with me in the morning, just like on every special occasion we shared ever since we became together.
Jaebeom and I are far away from each other so we didn't really talk, but I can feel him staring once in a while.
"Mom, I have to go," I said right after I finished my food.
"Oh sweetie, why don't you and Jaebeom enjoy our dessert over there while we talk about old stuff here?" she points at a smaller, circular table on one side of the room.
Once again, I met his eyes.
I shifted back my gaze to Mom.
"I can't-"
"Just hangout with him for a short while. He'll be bored to death here."
"I'm sure they will get along," Jaebeom's mom joins the conversation, catching everyone's attention.
They were all smiling and praising Jaebeom as he stood up beside me, holding back my hair as I stood then offering me his arm like a gentleman.
I have no choice but to go with him, then.
"They look good together," I hear Jaebeom's father say while we walked away.
I don't think so. I can't even feel anything. I just want to celebrate with Lisa right now.
"You look beautiful," he seriously says, across me.
I nodded, maintaining my gaze everywhere except him, "You don't look bad yourself."
"You can at least pretend you like my company, you know," I hear him chuckle.
"I wish I could, but I have somewhere else to be right now," I focused on the food, boredly using my fork.
I still have three hours before the night is over. I'll make it, right?
"Why don't you leave, then? I'm sure they'll understand if you tell them you have plans with your boyfriend."
I lifted my gaze to him in surprise.
"Jennie," he narrowed his eyes at me and says in a low voice, "You're keeping him from them?"
"That's none of your business," I reply sternly.
He shook his head, sighing, "I see. You must have a reason why. He's one lucky man."
I blinked.
"What?"
"Don't worry, I won't tell them."
We continued eating for another half an hour in silence until I was free to go. Another 30 minutes for me to reach Lisa's unit.
I texted her to let her know I'm already near.
I pulled out a small, white box from my purse, tied in a velvety red ribbon. It's a wristwatch that she likes but never had the time to buy, because it's always out of stock.
Smiling to myself, I punched in her passcode.
Darkness welcomed me the moment I opened the door.
"Love?"
Silence.
When I turned on the lights, my eyes widened as I saw rose petals in a heart shape, surrounding a table near the glass wall. The table is fully prepared with the cloth table and utensils, there's even an unlighted candle in the middle.
But I can't see Lisa anywhere.
"Lisa," I called out once again, looking at every part of her unit but she's nowhere to be found.
I tried calling her on the phone but she's not picking up.
I sat on the chair beside the glass wall, overlooking the beautiful city lights outside.
I've been waiting for an hour and a half already.
We only have 30 minutes left to celebrate our third anniversary....
"Lisa why aren't you picking up..." I sighed, looking at my phone as I watched the call end once again without her picking up.
I hope nothing bad happened to her.
Like a cat, I almost fell my ears perk up when I heard something on the door.
"Lisa..." I mumbled as I stood up and rushed to the door.
I can hear her punching the code awfully slow, so I was able to open it before she even finished.
And it felt as if my insides crumbled as I opened it, seeing her in her drunk state, arm draped on.. Rosé.
"Jennie!" Lisa smiles at me with heavy eyes. She reeks of alcohol, for fuck's sake.
"Um, hey..." Rosé winced, gripping Lisa's body, "She's really drunk, where's her room?"
"Oh, this way..."
I helped her with Lisa, trying to ignore the ache I felt with all these happening on our anniversary night.