When did it become the hardest for Jennie to look at Lisa?

Oh, right.

After Lisa’s date with Sehun.

“Hey, you’re still up.” Lisa says as she takes Sehun’s jacket off her and puts it around the couch.

Jennie tries not to twitch her mouth when she sees how Sehun still manages to make his presence known even if he’s not around.

And Jennie tries not to hurt when she sees how Lisa smiles at her.

She tries not to feel pained when sudden questions start flooding her mind again,

Are you two together now?

Are you his now?

Jennie holds her head as then it starts to ache, because she can’t help but have the blasted question inside her head,

Do you love him?

And she puts her hands down as she forces herself to stare at Lisa, another question lingering at the back of her poor, tormented mind,

Do you… Do you love me?

“I met with Kai.” Jennie blurts out – answering Lisa’s earlier statement.

And Lisa never fails in jerking up by the mention of that name, but Jennie thinks Lisa’s good in covering her stiffness, because Lisa simply asks, “Oh, is that so?”

Does it bother you, Lisa?

And Jennie can’t help but smirk when Lisa also comments, “Y-Your lips are swollen.”

Are you jealous?

And the grin on Jennie’s face only widens when Lisa stutters, “I-Is it from…”

Tell me you are.

… Please.

And Lisa’s not able to finish what she was previously saying, because she replaces it with, “I hope it gets well soon.”

“It will.” Jennie reassures her.

“Well,” Lisa stretches her arms upwards, making Jennie shift her gaze away from the blonde – because Lisa’s already-short dress gets shorter as she stretched, “I’ll be hitting the sack.”

Jennie sees Lisa about to walk by her when she suddenly loses control of her body again,

Because she stops Lisa from doing so.

Jennie clutches onto Lisa’s arm to stop the blonde from leaving.

“Yes?” Lisa tilts her head to Jennie.

And Jennie can’t turn her head back to the taller girl.

Because she knows what to say – what to ask – but afraid that she will not like the answer.

But Jennie loses control of her thoughts as well, because her thoughts find theirselves a way out of her mouth,

“How are you and Sehun?”

The question made Lisa face her properly, “Oh… We’re fine.”

And it was Jennie’s turn to face Lisa properly, “… H-How ‘fine’?”

Lisa nods first, “Just…Just fine.”

Jennie burrows her eyebrows together,

“What do you mean by fine? Are you…” Jennie closes her eyes because she doesn’t want her tears to come out – if ever they decided to, “Are you two…together?”

Lisa doesn’t answer, and Jennie restrains herself from forcing Lisa to.

Jennie swears she can hear herself swallowing, and the clock ticking, and their hearts beating.

And Jennie swears she stops hearing her heart beating when Lisa finally answers,

“No.”

“What?” Jennie can’t believe her ears, and so she needs to ask a repeat of Lisa’s anwer.

“No, we’re not together.” Lisa promptly repeats.

Jennie’s eyes wander their living room first before looking back at Lisa – her smile she tries hard to keep from forming as she asks, “Why?”

“I-I…” Lisa fiddles.

“Did he confess?” Jennie probes.

Lisa looks at her then looks back at the ground, a tint of red colouring her cheeks again, “Y-Yes.”

“A-And?” Jennie can’t take the unease anymore, she has to ask.

“I…” And Jennie believes Lisa’s eyes turn sad as Lisa says, “I rejected him.”

And Jennie knows she should feel bad for her cousin, but she can’t help but just calm her heart that she knows is leaping for joy, “W-Why did you reject him? I, I thought you liked him?”

“I-I do!” Lisa responds quicker, “I do like Sehun, but… but not like that, and…”

Lisa sighs, and she stares at Jennie,

And Jennie tries to stop her breath from leaving her when Lisa says,

“What you think still matters, Jennie.”

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“Your, your reminders of him,” Lisa starts, her gaze back to the ground, “The way you constantly tell me to be careful, the way you continuously ‘protect’ me from him – and I know he’s a good guy, because he is, Jennie – and I feel the worst for rejecting him, but I just can’t help but consider your feelings."

“I-I think you don’t like us to be together,” Lisa shrugs, “Maybe you don’t want me for him, because… our social statuses are different, and I may stain your family name, and I—”

“Don’t even think of that,” Jennie cuts her off, “Don’t you ever think that you’re not good enough.”

Jennie sees the shock in Lisa’s eyes with what she said, because Jennie is also dazed with what she just said,

“L-Lisa, don’t think of yourself any less,” Jennie knows she should stop now, “Y-You are more than what you think you are, y-you are always better for someone.”

Silence.

Followed by a small smile forming on Lisa’s lips.

And it’s only then that Jennie realizes what she said and she turns into a ball of burning embarrassment,

“Lisa! You dumb monkey!” Jennie covers her face with one hand as she punches Lisa’s arm with the other.

“You make me say stupid things!” Jennie continues to whack a laughing Lisa.

“It’s not stupid!” Lisa gets a hold of Jennie’s fist, as she continues to smile, “It’s actually comforting.”

Jennie stops hitting the other girl because she notices how her hand already stops curling and is just casually being held by Lisa.

And Jennie’s sure she’s about to withdraw her hand, because her heart can’t take anymore of this, but Lisa says – and Jennie fears for her heart bursting out more,

Lisa says with a smile, “Thank you, Jennie.”

Jennie feels the warmth cover her face, “I-It’s nothing, don’t think too much about it.” She stutters as she retreats her hand.

She walks towards the sofa and sits, because she figures that it’s better to already sit as she’s afraid her knees might give in if Lisa's near her.

But Lisa doesn’t seem to sense anything Jennie is giving off because then Lisa sits with her, with Lisa’s body slightly turned to face the older girl.

And Lisa’s being bold tonight, Jennie thinks, because Lisa extends an arm to rest at the edge of the sofa, and play with some of Jennie’s hair. Twirling and tangling her fingers around Jennie’s locks, lightly giggling as Lisa does.

And Jennie admits she missed that laugh, the soft giggle only others are capable of having Lisa make.

“How did Sehun react?” Jennie closes her eyes, because the way Lisa runs a hand through her hair is somehow relaxing.

“Well,” Lisa continues to loop through Jennie’s tresses, “At first I thought he’ll get mad, but he smiled and told me he kind of expected it,” Jennie hears Lisa sigh before continuing, “I feel so bad, Jennie. I like him… but,” She trails off and changes what she’s saying, “Sehun said it so genuinely I couldn’t help but apologize to him over and over.”

“And he accepted?” Jennie inquires.

“Yes, I asked if things will change between us now.”

“What did he say to that?”

“He said nothing will and he’ll just continue liking me until I liked him back. He’s a funny guy, Jennie.” Lisa smiles as she remembers.

“That’s just like Sehun, but don’t worry, he’ll get over it in a week.” Jennie returns the smile, “Anything else you talked about?”

Jennie sees Lisa hesitate at first, before finally answering meekly, “… Nothing.”

And silence takes over them again.

Jennie only feels Lisa’s hand continue to caress her locks, and she continues to sink into Lisa’s touches.

“Won’t you get dressed first?” Jennie asks as she continues to be submerged into the sea that is Lisa.

“I’ll get dressed later,” Lisa muffles, “Won’t youget dressed first?”

Jennie snickers as she slightly tilts her head, “I’ll get dressed later, too.”

She hears Lisa soflty laugh again, and so she giggles back.

“Hey, Jennie,” Lisa lessens the pace of her dwindling with Jennie’s locks.

“Hmm?” Jennie hums as she closes her eyes once more.

Though Jennie feels Lisa completely untangle her fingers from the brunette’s hair, and so Jennie finally turns to face Lisa.

And Lisa asks, “How long has it been that it’s just the two of us?”

The question made the heat rise to Jennie’s face again, and so Jennie pretends to not understand, “What do you mean? It has always been the two of us.”

“No,” Lisa buries her chin on her bent arm, “Like… How long has it been that we went… out? Just… the two of us?”

Jennie looks at Lisa and Jennie fools herself by believing that Lisa is blushing.

And Jennie misses how she teases Lisa, and so she takes this as an opportunity to do so,

“Lisa Manoban,” Jennie turns her body to be facing the other girl, a smirk already slapped on her face, “Are you asking me out on a date?”

She sees how Lisa’s eyes immediately widen, as the blonde quickly says, face redder than Jennie could ever imagine,

“N-No! It, It’s not a date! I, I mean yes, I want us to go out somewhere together, but you have… Kai… and it’s okay if you don’t want to, I-I’ll just go tag along with you guys again, i-if you want to, that is, and since Sehun’s not here anymore, it’ll just be me, I just hope Kai doesn’t mind, but I’d gladly go with you! I-I’m just saying that it’s be–”

Lisa says fast that Jennie can’t help but cut her off with a loud laugh.

“Calm down, Lisa!” Jennie wipes a tear off her eye from too much laughing, “I’ll go with you. Kai doesn’t have to be there.”

She smiles at the taller girl, and she keeps on fooling herself by believing that Lisa’s eyes sparkle with what she mindlessly said.

“Are you sure?” Lisa asks, “You don’t have plans with… Kai?”

“I don’t.”

And Jennie knows that even if she does, she’s more than willing to go with Lisa instead.

“Th-That’s settled then!” Lisa exclaims, “Th-This weekend?”

“Sure,” Jennie continues to smile as she stares at Lisa, her snide side getting the best of her as she also continues to jeer, “But only if you ask properly.”

Jennie keeps that smile as she looks at how Lisa’s wheels start working at once on how to actually ask her out – how Lisa rubs her hands on her lap because Jennie likes to believe that Lisa’s nervous,

Jennie sees Lisa clear her throat first before sitting properly, Jennie also hears Lisa say to herself, “Okay,”

“Jennie,” Lisa looks at her, and Jennie only anticipates what Lisa’s about to say,

But she’s not able to anticipate how it would make her feel,

Because Lisa asks – nervous and jittery and yet still so determined,

“Will you go out with me?”

And even if Jennie knows that it’s not how it sounded, that even if Jennie knows the question has no other meaning but Lisa asking her to just literally go out with her to eat or to shop, or to anything else but actually ‘going out’, she can’t help but blush at the thought of the question.

Jennie can’t help but have her heart beating fast again.

She senses the sudden tension between them and so she quickly responds proudly,

“Yes, Lisa Manoban.” She says with a smile, that Lisa happily returns, “Yes, I’ll go out with y–”

But before Jennie could even finish her sentence, oh how lovely would her response probably have sounded, they hear Lisa’s phone ringing.

And Jennie swears she will strangle Sehun or Rosé for cutting their moment off yet again.

But Jennie will need to keep her hands to herself because then Lisa looks at her phone then back to Jennie, a confused look painted on her face,

“It’s Dad.”

Jennie jolts right up, and she’s not sure why.

But she’s sure she questions the universe on why their fathers like ruining their moments.

Lisa throws an apologetic smile as she indicates that she needs to take the call. She excuses herself and walks a bit farther to create distance between her and Jennie.

Jennie’s left to sigh as she plops her head backwards the edge of the couch.

She feels nervous for a second there, like her heart is at her throat.

She feels frustrated for a second there, because as much as she doesn’t want to say it, but she does miss Lisa and the company the latter brings.

Though she lets a smile creep on her face when she remembers how Sehun’s rejected – sorry Sehun, she thinks – and how she and Lisa will be ‘going out’ on the weekend.

But her thoughts are cut short once more because Lisa comes back to the living room.

A combination of disbelief, worry, confusion and happiness – imagine how she looked then – sweat on her face.

“What happened?” Jennie can’t help but ask worriedly.

Lisa finally turns to her,

And the same mixture of emotions on Lisa’s face transfers to Jennie when Lisa says,

“My parents will be visiting this weekend.”

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

Have faith in Jennie and Lisa ಥ‿ಥ