I Think I Love You •Chaennie•

Chapter 24

Rosé's POV

I walk to Tae's, the sound of Jennie's footfalls as she ran away from me ringing in my ears. It's an hour-long walk from Park Slope, where Kai lives, to Tae's place in downtown Manhattan, but even the sun beating down on the Manhattan Bridge, sure to leave a sunburn on my collarbones, doesn't faze me.

After what Kai said, nothing can.

Even though he said nothing that I didn't know all along. I might've fallen for what the squad said about Jennie loving me, but I always knew love wasn't real.

I walk off the bridge, my skin already prickling with the premonition of sunburn, and cross Chinatown. The smells of fish markets and fried dumplings mingle in the air. I make my way through the crowded streets, which are packed with tourists and market-goers.

I don't care about any of it. I can't stop thinking about Jennie. The look in her eyes when she found out. The way she left me behind as soon as she knew the truth.

It's for the best, I tell myself forcefully. It would never have worked out anyway.

I'm so wrapped up in my thoughts that, for a moment, I forget why I've walked all this way. Then I remember I have to go upstairs and explain to Tae that he's a giant asshole who publicly humiliated his girlfriend for no reason.

My lower lip quivers at the thought. He's going to take it so hard.

Then again, so did Jisoo.

I walk up to the buzzer. He opens the door a second after I ring, his face melting into a smile when he sees me.

I grin back, but I can feel the terse stiffness in my jaw. "Hey."

"What's wrong?" he asks, his eyes darting to the tightness in my lips.

I shift my weight. My whole body is numb. "Can I come in?"

He steps aside in answer, opening the door wider to reveal his living room, which his mom has covered in kitschy tokens, colorful animal statuettes, and a wooden cutout that says It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere. I step through, interlacing my fingers as Tae leads me to his room.

I plop down on my usual seat at his desk chair, dabbing the sweat off my forehead, and watch Tae as he settles on the edge of the bed, staring at me. He normally lies back against his pillows and tosses me a video game controller as soon as I'm sitting, but he must have realized something's wrong, because he keeps his toes pressed against the carpet. His eyes are wide behind his glasses.

"What's going on?" he asks.

I clear my throat. "It's about Jisoo."

Tae stiffens. His anxious stare hardens into more of a glower.

"What about her?" he asks.

I stare at his feet. He's wearing his stupid banana socks. The sight of them makes my gut twist. How can I tell a guy who wears banana socks that he's the world's biggest jerk?

Well, second-biggest, after Kai. But then again, if you can't tell your best friend, who can you tell?

"She didn't sabotage us," I blurt.

Tae opens his mouth, probably to remind me what we saw together, so I push on before he can say anything. "We talked to Kai. He confessed to the whole thing. He was mad that you didn't help set him up with Jennie, so he framed Jisoo to wreck your relationship. He made it look like Jisoo was sabotaging us, but it was him all along."

I talk fast, getting the whole story out before he can try to argue. He stares back at me, processing my words. He looks like he's been punched in the gut.

"What?" he whispers, hoarse.

"She didn't do anything wrong."

He looks at me. "I'm the asshole here, then."

I stare at him, not able to give him any kind of comforting response. It's true, and we both know it. I scoot the desk chair over, the legs scuffing the carpet, to wrap my arms around him.

"You were upset," I whisper into his chest.

He doesn't return the hug. His arms hang limply by his wiry torso. "That doesn't excuse anything. Even if she had lied to me, it was too much. And now..."

He trails off, letting his head hang. He exhales, a rush of air clipping past my ear.

"I have to make it right," he whispers, his breath hot against my cheek. "If she didn't-a text isn't enough."

I nod, getting caught in the fabric of his shirt. "It isn't."

He straightens. "I guess I can start by bowing out of the contest. If that's okay with you. I don't want to be in her way."

"Jisoo already dropped out of Jennie's movie," I murmur.

Tae's face, somehow, falls more. "Because of me?"

He takes my silence as an answer.

"Well, tell Jennie that I'm dropping out. Hopefully Jisoo will feel like she can participate again."

I pause. I know how much this means to him.

"It's the least I can do," he says, and I nod. Jisoo shouldn't lose out because he made a mistake.

I pull out my phone and type the text to Jennie. If Jisoo enters the contest again, Jennie could finish her movie. Her movie should be finished. Her face lights up when she talks about it. I've seen it. I get it now, after hearing her speech and listening to her talk about coming out, how much it means to her. But I falter before hitting send. "We're not exactly on speaking terms, I don't think."

Tae looks up at me. "What happened?"

"Kai told us what you guys did," I say.

Tae nods, dodging my gaze. "Sorry."

I'm not sure how to respond. Should I be mad? He did lie to me. Not any normal lie either-it was more of a giant campaign he recruited all my friends into, so that he could convince me that my rival was in love with me. When I remember the conversation I overheard, staged by Jisoo and Lisa in the middle of an empty room, it makes the hair on the back of my neck bristle with anger.

But on the other hand...if he hadn't said anything, I wouldn't know what it feels like to kiss Jennie Kim. And, contrary to what I might've thought before, kissing Jennie Kim feels pretty nice. If Tae and the rest of them hadn't lied, that would never have happened.

It's too much to figure out now, so I settle for shrugging and saying, "Thanks for apologizing."

I hit send on the text I composed to Jennie.

My phone buzzes a moment later, and my heart buzzes with it.

Stop that,I say to myself as I check the screen. No good can come of it now. No good was ever going to come of it, but it's especially not going to happen now.

JENNIE: Movie is off anyway. No time to finish. There's no way I can shoot enough footage and edit everything in two days.

I stare at the screen, my heart landing thickly in my stomach. This movie meant so much to her. Whatever's happening between us may be over, shattered with Kai's words, but maybe I can still fix this for her.

My fingers fly over my keyboard again, and I chuckle to myself. I can't believe that, after everything that happened, their stupid plan worked.

We're going to merge the groups again.