THE LIGHT OF LOVE | JENLISA

Chapter 21.

"Hi." the brunette uttered shyly, surprised seeing almost a dozen people inside, all looking at her.

"Most of you know Jennie, because of my... uhm... letter." Lisa introduced her. "Jennie, these are my friends, you already know Jisoo and Rosé." Both girls waved their hands in a friendly way. "And this is Sana, Mina, Yeri, Baekhyun, Jimin and Suga. You know some of them already from school, right?" she asked encouragingly and Jennie nodded.

"I'm so glad you finally showed up. But aren't you a little overdressed-" Jisoo was ready to tease Jennie but noticing Lisa's deadly glare she immediately abandoned that idea."I mean you look very chic, girl. Just sit down here. We're watching Lisa's old photos and reminisce fun stories, it's so hilarious."

"Can I get you a beer or something else to drink?" Jimin asked Jennie, offering a nice smile.

"Orange juice would be nice." Jennie hated herself for speaking so awkwardly, but to her surprise no one even paid any attention to it. "Thank you." She took the glass from Jimin and sat down on the chair, looking all stiff. Her body only relaxed a little when everyone turned their attention to the screen.

"Remember this photo Lisa?" Rosé pointed to the monitor.

"Damn, not this one, it's embarrassing!" Lisa protested, feigning being flustered. It was an act because, to be honest, she enjoyed it as much as everyone in the room.

"So this was back in the beginning of the freshman year and Lisa was this nerdy kid-"

"Nerdy? Lisa? Really?" Baekhyun's eyes widened unnaturally. He was deliberately overreacting and a few people laughed.

"Who would have thought this nerd would become such cool girl!" Mina teased, making Lisa more and more flustered.

"Look at her hair, oh my god, who did that to you!" Sana chuckled.

"Guys, but you haven't heard the story behind the photo yet." Jisoo said.

"No, Chu please, don't tell it, not on my birthday!" Lisa knew perfectly well that her plead will be ignored.

"Come on, we have to make fun of you today, it's a tradition!" Rosé laughed.

"So listen, Lisa knew nothing about relationships back then and she had a huge crush on this older girl, a senior, what was her name-"

"Solar!" Rosé helped and Jisoo winked at her thankfully.

"Yeah, exactly. So Solar had a girlfriend at the time, but they broke up. The next day Lisa bravely came over to her in the cafeteria and asked her out."

"Wow, you were a freshman and you asked out a senior?" Yeri giggled.

"And the next day after her breakup, what were you even thinking?" Suga couldn't even believe it.

"Solar refused of course." Jisoo went on. "I mean why would senior want to date a freshman, right? But for whatever reason, I don't know, maybe she wanted her ex to be jealous, she said that Lisa was being sweet and kissed her on the cheek in front of everyone."

"Haha, now I understand why Lisa has lipstick marks on the photo!" Mina commented.

"And what about these dreamy eyes, you can tell how whipped she was!" Sana continued to mercilessly mock poor Lisa.

"And now comes the best part." Jisoo continued. "It all happened on the lunch break and the photo was taken on late afternoon."

"Really!? So she wore someone's lipstick marks on her cheek for half a day? With classes and everything!?" Baekhyun grinned broadly.

"Yeah, we tried to convince her to clean it but she was so whipped that she decided to keep it for a whole day as a sign of Solar's affection." Rosé explained.

The entire room was laughing wildly except Jennie and Lisa of course, who was still pretending to be annoyed.

"I can't believe you told this to everyone. We're not friends anymore." she frowned at Jisoo and Rosé, who still couldn't stop giggling.

Jennie observed the entire scene and for the first time in her entire life felt as a part of a group of friends. Until now she was convinced that she was better off being a loner, but now doubt was starting to grow in her mind. Maybe people weren't as bad as she suspected. No one made fun of her dress, no one mocked her for not smiling, no one tried to force her to talk... They all accepted her as she was: a quiet, shy girl.

"Please forgive us, Liz." Jisoo pouted her lips mockingly. "Please, please, please... Can we be friends again?"

"Ugh, fine, you're forgiven. But only because I'm still moved by your present."

"Yay! Face it Lisa, you know you can't stay mad at us for too long, you love us too much." Rosé teased.

"Yeah, I guess I do." Lisa wasn't ashamed to admit.

"What present did they get you?" Sana asked curiously and Lisa took out a photo.

"They bought this cute kitty for me. Look, isn't it beautiful?" she asked. The kitten was indeed irresistibly cute and everyone started complimenting it, staring at the photograph. "It's not here yet, but if everything go as planned, I'll have it by Saturday. I really can't wait, Leo will finally have a companion to play with. You two know me so well, thank you." she felt so moved that she rushed forward and hugged Jisoo and then Rosé.

"Geez, what a moving moment, I think I'm going to cry!" Jimin commented jokingly, causing a wave of giggles to echo in the room again.

But Jisoo and Rosé weren't smiling, on the contrary, they seemed a little uneasy. They exchanged glances as if deciding something together and then Rosé broke the silence:

"Lisa you know we love you, but we can't take credit for the gift."

"Yeah, and if there's anyone who deserves to be hugged, it's Jennie because it was her idea." Jisoo added.

Nine heads turned in the exact same moment towards the brunette, who shifted nervously, not knowing what to say. When people usually stared at her, their eyes were filled with either fear, disdain or mockery. And yet there she was, being bombarded by looks of admiration. It was a completely unexpected, new experience for her. At first it spread a pleasant warmth across her body, but because she wasn't used to receiving such attention, anxiety soon kicked in and she shivered.

Lisa made a move towards Jennie, determined to give her a hug but she saw a "please don't" look in her eyes. So she just stopped halfway, standing in front of her and gazing in amazement at her face. Realizing that the situation was becoming awkward for both of them, Jisoo asked:

"And what about other presents, Liz, what else did you get?" The question made Lisa come back to reality.

"Yeah, actually this one is a great gift too, it's a bottle of perfume which Jennie made herself." she showed the bottle to everyone.

"Oh my god, what?"

"Really?"

"You made it yourself?"

"I didn't even know you could do that!"

"That's so fucking cool!"

"Can you tell us how you make it?"

At first Jennie was quite startled by all the incoming enthusiasm, it was too overwhelming and it made her awkward at first. She began to carefully explain how creating different scents was her passion for many years and how to mix the ingredients to get the scent you want. Lisa was silently watching her from afar. Her heart grew more and more proud as she observed how Jennie started to excitedly talk about her passion while her initial shyness was gradually vanishing.