The Star and the Fangirl - A Lisrene Adaptation (AU)

Chapter 1 - Irene's Twitter Announcement

Hey babe, I am studying real hard for this exam tommorow, I hope I do well - Lisa texted her girlfriend Jennie.

She was a student at the Ramkamhaeng University in Bangkok for four years now and she was really excited to finish her college education so she could find a job and support herself. One of her dreams was to become a photographer, but she knew that being a successful photographer in a modern day world was not easy, so she was hoping she would find a job that would allow her to have a steady income, but also a job that would allow her to have time to follow her passion.

She and Jennie have been dating for three years now. Lisa has been happy but she felt that Jennie was being distant for the last couple of months. The distance was subtle in the beginning, and Lisa didn't mind, since she thought that Jennie was just adjusting to her new job. Lisa though Jennie just needed space but after a while she talked to Jennie about it. Jennie admitted the she felt the same, and they both agreed they would work on being closer again. I worked for a couple of weeks, but lately, Lisa had this nagging feeling again that something wasn't right with Jennie. But this time she didn't want to pressure Jennie into a new conversation, feeling that it might upset her. This time, she just wanted to improve their relationship by talking to her more, texting her more, giving her more love and generally giving herself more into the relationship than ever before. And that meant a lot of texting, talking over the phone, seeing each other in person, going out, doing activities that interest Jennie and generally being there for Jennie whenever Jennie needed it. All of which constitutes a normal relationship, but in Lisa's case, times a hundred.

Jennie has seen your message.

Lisa didn't want to nag, she knew Jennie was probably doing something important so she continued with her studying for her exam. Every now and then she would check her Facebook or her Instagram or her Twitter, mostly because she was bored and the things she was studying felt like they weren't TOO hard.

After a while she went to Irene's Twitter profile, Irene Bae was a famous singer from Korea, and Lisa has been following her since the start of her career. She was impressed by Irene's vocal and rap skills, and generally liked the songs Irene was coming up with. She has seen a lot of interviews that featured Irene, and she genuinely thought that Irene was a nice and sincere person - serious when it comes to her work, but also kind of goofy when she needs to be. Many times she has joked around that Irene was her celebrity crush around Jennie. Jennie didn't mind, as long as she knew that it was just an innocent crush. Everyone had a celebrity crush, even Jennie, so why shouldn't I have one? Lisa thought.

Lately, Lisa stopped with her fangirl crushing around Jennie because she thought that she was actually hurting Jennie's feelings. Jennie denied it strongly, but something about her body language told Lisa that it wasn't a smart idea to provoke her anymore. Lisa stopped with her fangirling even though Jennie would comment from time to time how hot Billie Eilish or Ariana Grande are. Lisa didn't mind it, but she also found it kind of hypocritical.

Lisa was browsing through Irene's profile for the 1000th time that day. She was refreshing Irene's Twitter profile out of boredom, hoping that something new would pop up. Then she stopped and continued with her studying.

Her phone vibrated and it was a text from Jennie.

I hope you do well too :* was what she replied.

A year ago, that text would have been a lot longer with a lot more kisses and with a much happier tone. Now all Lisa gets is bare bones. But she would take it because she would rather have this type of Jennie than no Jennie at all. A small smile sat on Lisa's face. She wasn't happy, but she thought it was just something she and Jennie had to work at.

After she read the message, she went back to Irene's Twitter profile and refreshed it again. Just as she did that, a video popped up. Lisa was pleasantly surprised and she clicked on the video to see what Irene has posted.

"hollin deus nal ttalawa, modu hwanhohae neodo god ooh ooh (oh-eh-oh-eh-oh)
anin cheoghaedo neon ooh ooh (oh-eh-oh-eh-oh) an beon naegileul haebolkka

neomu swibgen oji ma jaemi eobsjanh-a geogiseo ooh ooh (oh-eh-oh-eh-oh) milgo dang-gyeobolkka Ooh ooh (oh-eh-oh-eh-oh)
sijaghalge bad boy down Whoa, whoa" - Irene sang as the guitar player that was sitting beside her played the chords to her hit single Bad Boy. As she ended her singing of the chorus with the word "Bad Boy down", she laughed and turned to her guitarist and said: " Chan, that's enough".

They both smiled at each other and Irene looked back at the camera and said:

"Hi Irenators! I hope you enjoyed that, that was an acoustic rendition of Bad Boy, and as you know, this is Chanyeol, my guitarist. Say "Hi!" Chanyeol"

"Hi!" - he replied enthusiastically. They both laughed at that, and so did Lisa watching it.

They're so cute was the mental note Lisa made at that moment, giggling and smiling from ear to ear.

"Anyway" Irene continued, as if she was waiting for Lisa to stop giggling "the reason why we did an acoustic rendition of that song for you right now is because we have been working on a secret project for the last couple of weeks."

Lisa widened her eyes. She felt confused but she wanted to know what Irene wanted to say next.

"In three days, I will be having my first ever acoustic concert here in Seoul in Club RV. The reason why I haven't told you this before is because I wanted it to be a more private and intimate concert for a small number of my fans. I have been told that only 100 tickets will be released for this concert, and you will be able to buy a ticket on my official website in exactly an hour."

Lisa was smiling even harder than before. She has never been to Korea and she has never seen Irene perform live, but she thought this would be the best way to experience her music - live vocals, knowing for sure nothing was prerecorded, instruments following her voice. But she also knew that flying to Korea wasn't cheap, especially with only a three-day notice. She also knew that getting a ticket for Irene's show wasn't going to be easy. All those thoughts were rushing really fast through her head as Irene continued to talk.

"I will be performing all of my songs, a couple of songs that are not finished yet and a couple of covers from both Korean and non-Korean artists. The new songs that are not completely finished yet are my way of thanking you, my fans, for your support. I highly recommend you bring your phones so you can film me performing them, as my camera crew will also be filming it for my YouTube channel later on. I am proud of these new songs because I also had a chance to work on writing them and I am generally proud of the arrangements and uh.... My vocal performance on them."

She looked at Chanyeol at that last part, giggling like she was telling a secret to the rest of the world. Chanyeol laughed with her, noting that he was really impressed with her performance of the new songs.

"So yeah, I'm proud of them and that's why I want people to record it and spread it around and spread the love" she giggled.

"That's it, Irenators, hope to see you soon! Byeee!"

"Bye!" Chanyeol added at the end, causing Irene to smile once more.

Lisa was ecstatic. She wasn't usually a person who took risks, but this time, she really wanted to see Irene perform live and she really wanted to travel to Korea.

I have been following this girl for the past two years, why shouldn't I see her live? Lisa thought.