LA LA LOVE YOU | LIZKOOK

xxv. making plato proud

Lisa had just finished watching a film with Rosé at the dorm. Jennie and Jisoo were staying with their families and would be back later that day. As the credits started to roll, the two of them stood up and stretched from the positions they had been stuck in for the last two hours.
"I feel so lazy today," Rosé mumbled, heading to their kitchen to rummage for a snack.
Lisa hummed in agreement, heading to her bedroom to check on her phone, plugged into the charger by her bedside.
She flopped down belly first onto her bed and replied to a few texts. Then she scrolled through her private Instagram account, laughing to herself at some memes. Her phone suddenly flashed with an incoming call.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Lisa." It was her manager.
"Yo, oppa!" she genially greeted.
"Lisa, you need to stay off SNS today, okay?"
Lisa frowned and sat up on bed at her manager's serious tone. "Why?"
"It's just not a good idea to go on it today."
His vague reply wasn't sufficient enough for Lisa. "What are you talking about?"
She heard him sigh over the phone, and could imagine he was probably pinching the bridge of his nose at an oncoming headache, as he always did when he had to deliver bad news. "There are some malicious comments made by netizens that have been circulating on articles about you... They were... race-related."
"Oh..." Lisa replied flatly, feeling a sudden numbness.
"The fans have been trending hashtags in response to support you. But it's blowing up a lot everywhere. So I'd recommend you just stay off the internet and lay low."
Lisa's frown deepened. "How will laying low solve anything?"
"We'll just wait for it to blow over. It'll be old news tomorrow."
"So the company isn't going to do anything about the malicious commenters?"
Her manager chuckled, much to her chagrin. "It's the internet. People say anything they want to while hiding behind their screens. We don't take anything said on the internet too seriously."
"Right..."
"Just know the fans have your back. Just hang with Rosé today and don't worry about it. Everything will be back to normal tomorrow."
"Sure, oppa. Bye." She hung up the phone and disregarded her manager's advice immediately. She sought out what was being said about her and found the comments under a Korean article on her. It was from the style section about her red carpet outfit at the Golden Disk Awards, where she had worn a Celine dress with her blonde hair straight and red lipstick on. She had felt confident and grown up in that outfit.
The malicious comments in question had a lot of likes which had pushed them up to the top of the comment sections. Most of them pointed out her Thai ethnicity and compared her made up face here to her bare face when she had appeared on Real Men, making racist generalisations about South East Asians.
She then flicked to Twitter and saw that a hashtag '#respectlisa' was being trended. She read some of the top tweets, which made her smile, but she understood why her manager had warned her to stay off SNS completely, as there were still screenshots of the malicious comments circulating on this app too, as well as some haters who were supporting the comments with comparative side-by-side screenshots of her pictures.
She quickly locked her phone and tossed it back on the bed, determined to distract herself for the time being.
She entered the living area again and saw Rosé had settled on the couch again with some carrot sticks and was scrolling through her phone. When she looked up from her screen, her face fell.
"Oh, Lisa," Rosé said pityingly, standing up and going straight for a hug. "I just saw what's been going on. Manager-oppa texted me to give me a head's up. Are you okay?"
Lisa patted Rosé's back half-heartedly and pulled back. "Yeah, Chae, I'm fine."
Rosé raised a brow at her. "Are you really?"
Lisa's face dissolved into a smile that crinkled her nose. "Yes! I'm absolutely fine, honestly!" She slapped Rosé's arm lightly to snap her out of her worrying.
"That's the smile I like to see! Our sunshine vitamin," she beamed back. "Come on, let's watch another film!"
They settled back down and watched another film on Netflix, with Rosé being unusually clingy, draping her legs on top of Lisa's and hugging onto her arm. Rosé even offered Lisa some of her carrot sticks, which was a big gesture for Chaeyoung, who rarely shared her snacks. Lisa appreciated it but instead went to get her own snacks where the first ingredient on the packet was sugar and the other ingredients were all unpronounceable chemicals and e-numbers.
When the film was over, Lisa once again went back to check on her phone. She had many unread texts from concerned friends and family. Her mom and Bambam had been trying to reach her too. She video-called her mom first, and spent an hour talking with her. Her mom, of course, knew just what to say to make her feel better, praising her talents and ensuring she needn't worry about any of the things said about her. They spent the rest of the time catching up.
She called Bambam next.
"Lisa, I've been so worried."
"Sorry, Bammie, I've just been watching movies with Rosie all day."
"Oh good," he said relieved. "Have you seen the comments?"
Lisa chuckled. "Yeah, Bammie, it seems to be the only thing people want to talk to me about today."
"Right sorry..."
"It's fine. I'm grateful for the concern, but I'm fine, really!"
She could feel his grin through the phone. "Phew! I knew you'd be fine, I just wanted to check. And you know those k-nets are in the minority and they're just jealous of you. You're successful and beautiful, and just happen to be a Thai in Korea, and their minds just implode at that."
She laughed. "Thanks, I appreciate it, Bam."
"I'll treat you to a meal when I'm back, alright?"
"Let's go to that fancy Thai Michelin restaurant in Gangnam then!"
He groaned. "I walked right into that. But fine, I never break my promises. Talk to you later, Pranpriya."
"Take care, Bam."
She let her phone drop our of her hand lifelessly and ran a tired hand through her hair. She didn't have the energy to go through all her texts and reply to each one to reassure everyone she was doing fine - no really she was! She was grateful for the support but she didn't want any more people to worry about her.
"Lisa, you want to watch another movie before bed?" Rosé asked, peeking her head into Lisa's room.
"I'm pretty tired actually. I think I'm just going to have an early night."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'll see you in the morning. And Rosie," Lisa called out before she could leave. "Thanks for staying with me today."
Rosé looked surprised before she blushed. "Ahh, it's what friends do!" she explained modestly, before leaving to stay up and watch some more TV before she went to bed herself.
Lisa got ready for bed quickly and then burrowed herself under her duvet. She flipped off the light but truthfully she wasn't feeling too tired. Instead she stared into the darkness. The quiet had left her alone to her own thoughts, which felt tumultuous and had been building in her chest for the whole day. The racist comments left under her pictures obviously hadn't been welcomed and maybe she had been more affected by them than she had let on.
Thinking such depressing thoughts made her want to cry silently into her pillow until she could fall into a dreamless sleep, waking up with it all let out and ready to start a new day. However, before the tears rose, her phone lit up in the dark space.
A call from Jeon Jungkook.
"Hello?" she said quietly, not wanting to disturb the quiet in her room.
"Hello? Did I disturb you?" his gentle voice replied uncertainly.
Hearing him instantly anchored her and she smiled softly, even though he wouldn't be able to see.
"No, I'm just in bed but not able to sleep."
"Oh sorry, I didn't think it was that late."
"It's 9pm, I just wanted to go to bed early. Where are you?"
"In London for a schedule but I'll be back in two days."
"That's a short trip."
"Yeah... I wish I was in Seoul right now."
"Why?"
"I saw what was trending on Twitter and the comments that were being said about you..."
Lisa let out a hollow exhale of a laugh. "Yeah, it's crazy, right? But I'm fine... really."
There was silence over the line and Lisa was about to ask if the service in London was really that bad. But Jungkook spoke again after several seconds.
"You don't have to lie to me."
The words that were about to exit her mouth suddenly got stuck in her throat.
"Jungkook-"
"Your voice gets high and you get insistent when you lie," he explained without her even needing to ask.
If he could see her right now, he would have thought she looked a bit like a gaping fish. She was surprised that he could tell, even halfway across the world.
"Alright, smart guy. You got me without even seeing my face. Do you have a sixth sense or something?"
"Stop trying to change the subject, Lisa," he chided. "I just want to know how you're feeling - honestly."
She hesitated, the silence stretching over the air waves. She had always found it hard to discuss her vulnerable emotions with anyone, as she knew she was the person people depended on for happiness, so it seemed out of character for her to appear anything but joyful. However, she knew Jungkook knew that. So she closed her eyes and took a deep inhale.
"Honestly, I feel... It's complicated," she eventually confessed. He was silent to let her continue. "In some ways, I really don't mind. I know it's only a small number of people saying those things, and there are a lot more people defending me and cheering me on. But truthfully, when I read those comments, I couldn't help but feel a little hurt. There are some days where I forget I'm a foreigner in this country. Korea feels like home to me now, it feels so natural most of the time. Comments like those ones remind me that some people don't even think I'm welcome..."
"It's something I take for granted, but RM-hyung explained to me how Korea has always been a homogeneous country so racism wasn't even a thing we considered, let alone something that the vast majority of us have ever experienced. So I don't want to say the wrong thing here... But I want to make sure you know I'm always here to listen to you and support you. And tell you that you are definitely welcome."
"Thanks, Jungkookie. It's been a while since I've experienced racism in Korea to be honest, I think it just shocked me seeing it again after so long. But I know the majority of Koreans aren't like that."
"Really? You've experienced it before too? Tell me who, I'll beat them all up!"
Lisa laughed at his heated tone. "It was a long time ago."
"I wish you didn't have to experience it at all. I wish no one had to. Aren't your company doing anything about the malicious comments?"
"Er... No. They said it'll all be forgotten about quickly."
"

That's ridiculous. They should sue those netizens for defamation or something!"

"That's not how YG operate. It would probably cost them a lot to sue, and you know how money-hungry they are."
"They need to protect their artists! I'm so frustrated for you."
Lisa sighed. What could she do? She had such little power at her company, despite Blackpink being the money-makers of YG.
"...Are you going to be okay?" he asked, knowing that she was still hurt right now.
"Yeah, I will be. I'm going to take my manager's advice to stay off social media for now. I think it's going to take time to trust the Korean general public again if you know what I mean."
"Take all the time you need. I'll be here if you want to talk. Although I really wish I was back in Seoul right now. Then I could have comforted you tonight."
"You're comforting me now, over the phone, dummy."
"No, I mean like... cuddles."
She laughed at the pout in his tone and his reluctancy of saying something so gooey. "Who said I would allow you to have cuddles with me, Jeon-ssi?"
"Cuddles as friends! Completely platonic cuddles."
"Completely platonic, you say? Well I guess I can allow that."
"Good. Next time we're in the same city, we'll be having platonic cuddles."
She laughed. "You're such a dork."
"Oh, I'm sorry, the line just broke up for a second. Did you say 'I'm such a dork' or 'You're such a dork'?"
"You're such a dork."
"Got it. So you're such a dork. You, Lalisa Manoban, are such a dork."
Lisa was going to scream it down the phone at him, but the effort that would require was slowly seeping from her in the face of her irritation. "I can't. You're infuriating."
He chuckled evilly, like a little kid who just pulled an elaborate prank. Eventually she smiled too.
"Just like old times when we first met."
"When you got on my nerves all the time?"
"Oh? You're telling me you didn't fall for my rambunctious charms at first sight?"
Lisa rolled her eyes, even though he couldn't see her. "Please."
"Right, because I was actually your bias before we even met."
"Shut up," she said stubbornly, although the words were said without any real heat.
He chuckled, as she didn't even bother denying it, and soon she was laughing too without even realising that she had forgotten all about her earlier worries. The tenseness from her body had dissipated.
"Jungkookie, thanks."
"Anytime, Lalisa," he said, knowing exactly what she was grateful for.
"Are you tired?"
"A little," she admitted. It was still early but the day had mentally taken its toll on her.
"Want a lullaby?"
She smothered her uncontrollable smile into her duvet cover and through the material, muffled out shyly, "Yes, please."
He sang her a slowed down version of Euphoria and his soothing vocals worked a charm and Lisa drifted into a peaceful sleep, like all ill-will in the world just disappeared. It was just her and Jungkook, and it felt so blissful listening to his harmonic voice that it felt like they had been thrown back in time when their relationship wasn't complicated and it was still sweetly naive.