One step forward. Two steps back. All you need to do is triple your steps and you're back on track.

If there's one thing she knows she's good at, it will be lying. Lie about how she feels. Lie about how she's not tired or hurt. Lie about how things don't bother her. And as bad as it sounds, it's really the only thing that could help get through this. At least, for now.

Bammi:

Lis, how're u today?

Lisa:

I'm fine Bammi, stop texting me so early in the morning

It's getting weird

Bammi:

Sorry, just wanna check up on u

Lisa:

U don't have to, I'm serious

I'm fine

Aren't u supposed to be busy with ur comeback?

Bammie:

Yeah, but I still got time

Hey, wanna grab dinner later?

Lisa:

I'm having dinner with unnies tonight

Bammie:

Oh okay. Maybe tomorrow then?

Lisa:

Omg Bam, stop being weird!

I'm flying to Osaka tomorrow evening remember?

Bammie:

That's tomorrow?

Okay when are u coming back?

Lisa:

Sunday

Then I'll be busy with Moonshot promo

Bammie:

Okay, when u come back then

Lisa:

Stop worrying!

U're gonna have wrinkles quicker than u thought

Bammie:

Yeah

She sighed and put her phone away quickly so she won't scroll down to the unopened texts from Jungkook. On top of everything, she really feels bad at Bambam. He'd been so worried and being so attentive – texting and calling her every day to check up on her. They hadn't said a word about what happened last week at the restaurant.

Both were silent the entire journey back to her house. She still remembers how fast he was driving, but as jumpy as she was, she knew better than to say anything. She felt his anger radiated in the car and it stopped her from crying. She didn't want to add more fuel to the fire, so she pretended to be okay. She even smiled and said goodnight to him nicely, which had left him confused – it was obvious on his face.

The days had went by with a routine. Lisa had been busy with Blackpink's preparation of their upcoming tour concert in Osaka and she can't be any more thankful. It gave her very little time to think about Jungkook and lesser time to wallow in the devastation. Most of all, it distracted her from missing him. He's been calling since that night and sending text messages, both to which Lisa had ignored successfully. Some days she would just leave her phone at home on purpose so she wouldn't have to see his name popping up from her screen.

She haven't had time to fully digest everything yet, but she hopes that she'll manage to get over it when it happens. When she came back that night, her members were still up. They were confused as to why Lisa got back so early, but she just shrugged it off quickly by saying that the party ended the moment she reached there. It made her feel like crying looking at them so excited to know Jungkook's reaction to the gift. She didn't even get to pick it up, too engulfed with her emotions. She lied, of course. The last thing she wants was for her members to get angry at the boy, especially Jisoo, being the one who warned Jungkook first-hand in L.A.

She also didn't want to worry them. She knew that if they started feeling sorry for her, she'd break down and cry – and they'd cry too. Chaeyoung came to her bedroom after her shower and ended up sleeping next to her that night, so she couldn't let herself cry – scared that it might wake her up.

It was really hard not to, but she had spent the night formulating a plan. As far as her members' concerns, everything is fine between her and Jungkook – until two weeks later when they're in Tokyo for the concert when she'd get into a fight with him on the phone and ended breaking up. Lisa will just have to firm up the details by then.

She hates lying to her sisters, but it just seemed like the better option. Jisoo is friends with Taehyung, one of BTS' members. She's scared of what Jisoo will tell him and the effect after. Yes, what she heard from the room hurts her badly. But despite it, she still loves him. She still wonders from day to day when she has a bit of time – if he's okay, has he been eating and resting well, what he's saying in the texts, how would he apologise if she were to answer his calls, will he tell her it was indeed just a bet and a game between them? What kind of pain would she feel then? Will it be worse than how she already felt? She just can't help having all these questions.

Just yesterday when she had an hour to do nothing, she found herself scrolling through the pictures they took together on her phone. She almost felt angry with him - almost, but ended up being angry at herself again. How could she put herself in this position, blindingly falling in love with him, when she knew it would all be so painful in the end? Didn't she felt the gist of it a few months ago when she found out about Yeri and his 'talk' at the stairs? How could she end up believing in him?

How is it even possible that she had been her happiest with him just two weeks ago and now...now this? It was just a game between them...were none of the love she felt from him real?

"Lali, what do you feel like having later? I'm ordering in," Jisoo snuck up to sit beside her on the couch.

"There you go, asking me again! You never paid attention to what I wanna eat before –"

"Of course I have!"

"Even if you have, you'd ignore what I want and we'll always ended up having what you want instead. Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?" Lisa gave Jisoo a judging look. Jisoo had been asking and getting her food since yesterday morning, it's so not her!

"What? Haven't I been nice to you all along?" Jisoo laughed.

"Do you want my help or something? This feels like a trap –" Lisa squints her eyes and frowned.

"Fine. I'll get fried chicken for you –" Jisoo rolled her eyes before standing up, leaving her maknae alone.

"Unnie - I don't want fried chicken!!"

...

It had been over a week since Jungkook's world had fallen apart. He's still not angry enough at his own stupidity. How could he forgot about the damn bet?!

He cursed himself once more for not telling her sooner. She had asked him before on how he came to have her number. Had he told her, he would have been able to explain it better. He was sure she would have laughed about it instead. The fact that she had to hear it from their conversation had made it all worse.

How could I mess this up so badly? This is driving me crazy - I hadn't been able to do anything right!

A wave of regret and despair washed over Jungkook. Is it over between them? Why hadn't she replied – did she not read his texts? Is she leaving him? Will she never give him the chance to explain? Will he never get to speak to her ever again?

His shoulder tensed again as the questions flooded his thoughts. The image of his beautiful Lisa – standing helplessly in tears, speechless...her face filled with hurt and disappointment – had never left his mind.

For the thousandth time - how could you be this stupid?! Lisa had made him happier than he had probably ever been. She had made him want to be a better man. She was the first person who had made him truly understand what love is. She didn't deserve this!

Jungkook knew he had to do whatever he could to explain this to her. He had to fix this mess. He'd fallen for her so hard, there's no way he'd let this be the end for them!

But how? She hadn't been answering his calls or replying any of his texts since last week. He couldn't even asked Bambam for help now - who's still very upset at both him and Jaehyun. He tried to get in touch but the guy's not responding as well, and Jungkook couldn't blame him. He felt betrayed. He had made it clear way before anything even started - especially to Jungkook – how precious Lisa is in his life. He had put his trust in me to not hurt her!

He tried calling Bambam again.

Still no answer.

"Fuck!" He threw his phone on the bed in frustration. Never had he felt so defeated and helpless in his entire life!

"Kook, what's going on? I heard you shouting from –" Namjoon burst into the room and stopped his tracks when he saw Jungkook kneeling on the floor.

"Kook, what happened? You've been like this the whole week, talk to me,"

"I messed up hyung!" Jungkook can't hold it in anymore.

The anxiety had been building bit by bit since that night. He kept telling himself that it will be okay – that he'd get the chance to explain and give her the space she needed, and eventually she'd forgive him. The Lisa he knew would forgive him. But as days passed and there are still nothing from her, it dawned on him that she might never will. "I messed up and I – I just – I don't know how to fix it," He whimpers.

Namjoon crouched down to his maknae's side, staring at Jungkook's shaky hands.

"Calm down. Take a deep breath and tell me what happened,"

Jungkook inhaled sharply a couple of times, suppressing the sobs and urge to howl - wiping his tears that seemed to keep flowing out freely before telling the older everything.

"I'm so stupid! I should've told her, I know I should but I forgot – I forgot cus it didn't matter,"

"Did you tell her that?"

"I called every chance I got since last week! She's not picking up. And I – " He grabbed his phone and opened the inbox. "All the texts I sent – I explained it, but she's not responding to me, I don't know what else to do!" He lets it fall back to the floor.

"What about Bambam?"

"He's not answering as well. I know he's mad as hell with me...with us....I need to fix things with him if I want Lisa to talk to me but he's not replying and I don't know –"

Namjoon took a deep breath, distraught by the sight of his youngest member bawling his eyes out. He'd never seen Jungkook like this. Not about a girl, at least! In fact, the only times he'd ever seen the boy being upset and cry was whenever he couldn't perform perfectly on stage.

"I think you need to calm down, Kook. Ever since you met this girl, you've been so off. I'm not saying that it's not important, but you need to get your mind off it – it's like your mood depends on her now. You've only known her for a couple of months and what – you've been together for a month, and now this? Maybe it's a sign that you two –"

"I love her." Jungkook looked up with a frown, offended by what Namjoon just said.

"It's still too early to be having a misunderstanding like this, don't you think?" The younger blinked a couple of times and looked away. Namjoon sighed. "I know, I know you love her. But does she love you? Cus if she does, she wouldn't ignore –"

"She does – she said it before and I know she does!" Jungkook stood up abruptly and walked to his writing desk, grabbing a small, black, velvet box. "She wanted to give me this! She wanted to but she couldn't cus she heard us," He handed it to Namjoon. "If you were there hyung – if you see her face – you wouldn't have said these things to me. I don't know how long she'd been standing there, how much she heard – but what we talked about - if it were to be me, I'd break down walls! But she just stood there. She didn't even say anything..." He trailed.

Namjoon opened the box and took out a silver ring. At first glance it looked like a plain ring, then he saw the little engravings on the side.

'I love you tenderly in the night, more when the sun shines bright - J/L'

He sighed and looked back to Jungkook, whose head already bowed down in resign. Suddenly he felt bad for what he said earlier. He might not know the girl well – perhaps if all is resolved, the group should make time to get to know her. Nevertheless, he could see how much Jungkook had been affected since they've met.

She had made Jungkook the happiest these past couple of months. He'd been taking care of the group since the beginning, he'd seen the ups and downs of each members as they get through phase by phase. Never once had he seen Jungkook being consistently happy and excited like when he was talking and being with Lisa. Never once had he seen him being so down either!

"Go and wash your face. We're going out," Namjoon carefully puts back the ring in the box and place it on the bed.

...