Lean On Me (Chaelisa)

6| Comfy Shoulder

There weren't many people when Lisa ushered in a grumbling Jisoo into the Quad and sat them down near the middle, to the side.

"Remind me again why I agreed to come here?" Jisoo mumbled as she tugged up the edges of her jacket to hide the noticeable hickeys marking her throat.

Lisa hadn't asked, Jisoo hadn't mentioned, but she gave Lisa a silent fist bump when she turned up for the game and Lisa understood her without Jisoo saying a word: the night had been a success.

She had likely gone for a second time too, some of the marks looked fresh.

"Because you promised that if I scored five times you'd come with me so I scored eight," Lisa said absently, searching for a particular blonde. "Oh there she is!"

The host of the event took to the stage, thanking the small audience present before introducing the various acts. Lisa waved when Chaeyoung was presented, catching the blonde's attention who sent a beautiful smile in their direction.

She wore a flowery dress with a blue cardigan and her hair was today neatly tied up in a side-plait. It gave her a country Taylor Swift vibe (yes, Lisa was familiar with Taylor Swift) and she had to admit it suited Chaeyoung a lot. She also carried with her a guitar.

Lisa was curious to see what she was going to sing. Chaeyoung refused to tell her when asked over late night text, sending a winking emoji instead.

"I'm still surprised she actually showed up and talked to you before the game yesterday," Jisoo noted, "Jaehyun seems to be taking it well." She had of course learned about their breakup.

The assistant coach had been more subdued than usual. Lisa wondered what went though his head when Chaeyoung came to wish her luck before the game, because they were in plain view of everyone. He hadn't spoken with Lisa except for a terse greeting and barely even looked at her, which suited Lisa just fine.

"As long as he doesn't push her in any way, I don't really care about him," she shrugged now as the concert began with several students taking to the stage one by one to sing, dance or recite poetry.

It was different from anything Lisa usually attended but she was enjoying herself immensely. She only wished there were more people around to appreciate the effort and also help out with donations. On sudden inspiration, Lisa discreetly took her phone out and typed for a couple of seconds before putting it away and sitting back with satisfied grin.

"What are you planning?" Jisoo said suspiciously. "I heard the squad group chat notification go off."

"Wait and see," Lisa winked.

When the act on stage finished and everyone clapped, Jisoo was struck by how much the applause sounded louder than before, as though the number of attendees had somehow swelled without her notice.

Turning around in her seat, Jisoo was mystified to see the rest of their squad had shown up and occupied the whole back rows, providing a sizeable audience to hype up the crowd and turning it into quite the event. Now the proceedings were definitely livelier.

Some of their friends waved to Jisoo and gave her discreet thumbs up, grinning broadly.

"What did you promise them?" Jisoo whispered when she turned back in her seat.

"Come on now, maybe they just wanted to attend something culturally enriching—"

"Bull."

"First round of drinks is on me later," Lisa relented.

"Ouch. I'm really glad I'm not your wallet."

Lisa shrugged, watching Chaeyoung take to the stage, looking surprised by the crowd that had suddenly grown in number. "I think it's worth it."