Playing with Fire: A BLACKPINK Story

Chapter 11: Zero Day

2019.

The tour began with startling swiftness. Jisoo and I were barely given any time to enjoy ourselves before the rest of the girls began arriving back at the house, which meant it was almost time to get on the road. The daily, day-long practices started up almost immediately, which meant we were being ferried back and forth across the city, hitting studios and working with choreographers, designers, and publicists, who were doing their best to get everything ready.

I had wondered how the rest of the girls were going to react to Jisoo and me, since we were being a little more... open about our involvement with each other. Obviously, it was still a secret from pretty much everyone else, including the outside world and especially YG. In the house, it seemed to be something of an open secret. I knew that Jisoo and Rosé talked about it a little in private, and I could see the looks that Lisa and Jennie gave me from time to time, especially if I did something for Jisoo or if a touch lingered for a little longer than usual.

I could tell that they approved, but I had no doubt in my mind that if I ever did anything to hurt Jisoo, they would be at my throat in a second. It was a good thing that I would never even dream of such a thing.

They were working on something else, as well. They were apparently closing in on finishing a new EP, something that the four of them were very excited about. I had only heard snippets—even I wasn't privileged to that—but from what I could tell, it once again raised the bar on the excellence that they kept creating. It did mean, though, that they needed to know even more songs for the tour. Which meant harder work and longer hours.

Every night was the same—they would come home and collapse almost right away. On more than one occasion, I carried Rosé upstairs. I tried to carry Jisoo once, but she would not have it, insisting that she can walk herself, and that I should keep my hands to myself. Lisa had laughed so hard that she accidentally rolled off the couch.

And then, almost without any warning at all, tour began. Our first stop was Thailand, and the nerves of each member were practically visible as we got on the plane. It was an almost surreal moment. This was the first time that my skills would really be tested. Everything leading up to this had just been a warmup. Given the things we had already faced, that was a little hard to believe, but I knew it was true.

But there was something else that was going to be tested too, and it had nothing to do with my physical abilities. Jisoo was now going to be under greater scrutiny than ever. That meant we would need to be more careful than we had before—we weren't on vacation and this wasn't a break. This was the world stage, and all eyes were watching.

One other thing was raising tensions and causing stress had nothing to do with me, but it didn't bode well for Jisoo and me either. On January 1st, just a few hours after Jisoo and I had woken up together, disaster had struck for Jennie.

We had seen it online and my heart had broken the second I read it. Jisoo had gasped, looking at her phone, and I had gone into panic mode. "What is it?" I had cried, rushing over to her.

She had shaken her head mutely and handed me the phone, we displayed paparazzi photos of Jennie and Kai together, photos that could not be disputed. My stomach flipped and Jisoo stared at me, concern written all over her face.

<What will we do?> she had asked, and I knew that she wasn't just talking about Jennie.

Now, on the plane, I could tell that Jennie still wasn't over the invasion of privacy and that the worry was eating her up from the inside. It was only a handful of days since the exposure. As far as I knew, YG hadn't demanded she do anything yet, but the pressure was mounting from both YG and Kai's management.