Our Old Manager.

New beginnings.

"Thank you for picking me up." Jennie mumbled. "It's the least I can do." Irene smiled. "Are you okay?" Jennie shrugged. "Nope," but continued on. "I will be."

Irene walked Jennie to the elevators and bid her goodnight. She did not expect anyone to be waiting, but when she pushed open the door to her place, there were unknown voices.

Her mother was one of them, of course.

"What?" Jennie became speechless. "What are you all doing here?" Her bags dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

Her former group members. Women she had not seen in months had crowded into her living room, holding bags of food and drinks. "You did not think we let you sulk alone, right?" Lisa teased, tugging Jennie into a tight hug.

Rosé draped an arm over Jennie's shoulders, "Come on, we  brought enough to last the night." Jennie tried to smile but it wavered as the ache in her chest was still raw. "You did not have to."

"We wanted to," Came in Jisoo. "Besides, I think we all need it."

"They wanted to surprise you." Mrs Kim approached her daughter. "I allowed them too and besides I miss seeing the four of you together." The mother-daughter duo went into the daughter's bedroom to settle the things first. "Where is she?"

"Her apartment." Jennie answered. "I packed all of my things. Nothing of mine is there anymore."

Mrs Kim sat at the edge of the bed, a sad smile on her lips. "So, that's it?" Her question was gentle but steady.

The daughter blinked, her throat tightening. She has avoided saying it out loud all day because she knew once the words left her mouth, it would make everything real. Jennie stared at her hands, then forced herself to speak.

"Yeah, we... we broke up." she whispered with the words sounding foreign, as if she had borrowed them from someone else's mouth.

Mrs Kim's chest rose slowly then fell. She did not rush in with advice or pretend to fix it. Instead, she leaned forward and rested her hand over her daughter's clenched fingers.

The daughter swallowed, then spoke with her voice cracking. "We love each other. We really do but it just was not enough. Not for everything else that was in the way." Her eyes filled, a tear slipping down before she could brush it away. "I did not want to say it because, well, because then it would be real. But it is real. We broke up."

Her mother's grip tightened, her thumb brushing over Jennie's hands. "Sometimes love is not the problem," she mumbled, softly. "but the timing or the world around it."

Jennie let out a shaky breath, her whole body trembling as though she had finally laid down a burden too heavy to carry.

"Go and be with the girls tonight. You all need each other even if none of you wants to admit it." Mrs Kim advised.

After promising that they would not get too rowdy, the fun begun.

The night was filled with chatter and laughter, the kind that felt rough around the edges but real. They  played old songs, ones they used to rehearse endlessly. The teasing continued when one would not remember the next dance steps. Rosé pulled Jennie to sing along, and though her voice cracked, the others only sang louder to cover her faltering notes.

By midnight, Jennie was sprawled on the couch with a blanket thrown haphazardly across her. Her chest still hurt but it was softened by the comfort of knowing she was not alone. She shut her eyes and drifted off.

The next morning.

Sunlight spilled across the living room, cutting through the chaos left from the night before.