Based on the song "Heather by Conan Gray"
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January, 10th.
Jennie stood by the window, her hands tucked into the sleeves of a soft sweater that wasn't hers. It draped over her small frame, its familiar scent lingering faintly in the fabric, giving her a sense of warmth she desperately clung to. The sweater belonged to Chaeyoung-her best friend, her anchor, and her unknowing heartbreaker.
It was the third of December. Jennie had worn the sweater almost every day since that moment when Chaeyoung had casually slipped it over her shoulders and said, "It looks better on you anyway."
Jennie had tried to laugh it off, but she had felt her pulse quicken at the thought. She had always liked Chaeyoung, liked her in ways that stretched beyond the comfortable borders of friendship, but she never said a word. Why would she? Chaeyoung's heart belonged to someone else. Jennie couldn't compete with her, not with Bae Suzy.
Her thoughts were interrupted as the door to the apartment opened. Jennie's heart clenched involuntarily when she saw them-Chaeyoung and Bae Suzy-walking in together. Suzy's hand rested gently on Chaeyoung's shoulder, a simple gesture, but it felt like a dagger twisting deeper with each glance.
"Hey, Jen!" Chaeyoung greeted, oblivious to Jennie's quiet turmoil. Her voice, always soft and melodic, brought both joy and pain.
Jennie forced a smile, her eyes flickering between them. "Hey."
Chaeyoung smiled brightly, her eyes catching Jennie's for a brief moment before returning to Suzy as they moved to the kitchen. Jennie watched them interact, the way Chaeyoung's gaze followed Suzy-entranced, captivated, like Suzy was the only person in the room. Jennie could see it, could feel it in the way her heart seemed to stutter and slow with each passing second.
Bae Suzy was perfect. Tall, confident, with a smile that could light up a room and a personality that made everyone gravitate toward her. She was everything Jennie wasn't, everything Jennie wished she could be. And more than anything, Bae Suzy had Chaeyoung's attention.
Chaeyoung laughed at something Suzy said, a sound that made Jennie's chest tighten. She looked down at the sweater she was wearing, pulling it tighter around herself, as if that could somehow make her invisible.
She couldn't look at them anymore.
"I'll be in my room," Jennie muttered, but neither of them seemed to hear. Not really. Chaeyoung gave a distracted nod, her focus still entirely on Suzy, leaving Jennie to retreat into the silence of her own space.
As soon as she closed the door behind her, the façade she'd been holding up for so long crumbled. She sank down onto the edge of her bed, her fingers gripping the fabric of the sweater as if it were a lifeline, as if it could keep her tethered to some sense of sanity.
How many times had she imagined what it would be like to be the one Chaeyoung looked at like that? How many times had she wished she was the one who could make her laugh, who could make her smile, who could make her stay?
Jennie shook her head. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn't Bae Suzy. And that truth gutted her.
She stared at herself in the mirror across the room, at the reflection of a girl who wasn't enough. Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears, her chest aching with a longing that would never be reciprocated. Jennie wasn't Suzy. She wasn't tall, or striking, or effortlessly magnetic. She was just Jennie, the girl in the sweater, the girl who could never be enough.
The sound of laughter filtered through the walls, and Jennie's heart twisted painfully again. She wished she could hate Suzy, wished she could find some fault, some flaw in her, but Suzy was kind. She was thoughtful and sweet, and Jennie knew deep down that Chaeyoung's choice made sense. There was no room for bitterness. Not really.
