Three Years - Jenlisa Story

Chapter 1

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Summer 2026

When Jennie opened her eyes she was still tired despite the fact that it was already lunchtime. It took her a while to realise where she was but the sight of her own clothes thrown onto the chair beside her bed and the presence of a hairy being on her lap gave her confirmation that she was home, in Seoul.

Not even 30 hours ago, she was in Paris for the presentation of the new make-up line of her brand, 'J-Lab & Style', which she had founded three years earlier, a few months after the break-up of the group. She had been immediately welcomed with enormous enthusiasm thanks to the notoriety she had achieved as a member of Blackpink, allowing her to consolidate in the following years and become one of the most influential and followed under 30 businesswoman.

She got up calmly, leaving little Kuku, a soft and silky Pomeranian dog, still asleep on the bed. It took her a while to accustom her eyes to the blinding sunlight coming in through the huge windows of her penthouse until, taking large sips from a huge mug of hot coffee in her hands, her eyes settled on the city skyline. Although it was daytime, the skyline, from the top of the twenty-third floor, was stunning.

Home.

She took another sip of hot coffee, enjoying the morning routine with the necessary calm, still a little groggy from the trip and all the good things that had happened. Kuku appeared wagging his tail in front of her with his usual cheerful air interrupted by a few yawns.

"I feel you" Jennie whispered with a smile ruffling his fur.

She turned her mobile phone back on, which had been switched off for almost 24 hours, but regretted it soon afterwards given the impressive amount of notifications she received. She noticed that most of them were congratulations messages from more or less close friends, but then her eyes fell on a name that had tried to call her about fifteen times: "Jichu".

They had not been in touch for at least two months.

She considered for a few moments whether to click "call back" when the mobile phone began to ring in her hands.

"Deuki finally! Where the hell were you? Are you still in Paris? By the way, congratulations!" the loud voice on the other end of the phone made her temples throb but a smile formed automatically on her face. She was happy to hear her.

"Good morning to you too, Jisoo." She said without stopping smiling. "I came back last night and... Hey how did you know I was in Paris?"

"You know I keep abreast of everything about all of you," she answered proudly. "That it was then hard not to know, given the articles in all the print and online papers, is another story."

Right, Jennie called herself stupid for asking.

Ever since she was a Blackpink, journalists had always had a sort of obsession with her and her every move never went unnoticed, a habit that had remained even after the group had disbanded. It was something that often worked well for her, for publicity and all, but at the same time it gave her the feeling of having a thousand eyes on her at all times, even when she would have preferred not to have them. Pros and cons of the life she had chosen for herself.

"Have you seen the news?" continued Jisoo enthusiastically.

"No, which one?"

"What? You really don't know anything? Don't you read the messages!?" the tone of Jisoo was incredulous and inquisitive and Jennie didn't know what to say. No, she hadn't heard or read anything, she had been quite busy the last few days.