Side by Side - JENSOO

Discoveries

"I've never seen you so stressed out like now." Lisa gives me a frightened look.

"HOW SHOULD I BE IF THE GIRL I WANT IS HAVING FUN WITH MY COUSIN?" I take a deep breath and close my eyes "Doesn't she have a boyfriend? How does he allow all this? Did you see them, Lisa? The way they smile and flirt shamelessly. What did I do wrong?"

"I've never seen you so desperate for someone's attention. She really messed with your head."

"I hate being rejected and treated like that."

"Well, karma is a bitch."

"What you mean?"

"You always treated other people the same way Jisoo treats you."

"Are you serious?" She nods and I sighs, leaning my forehead on the restaurant table.

"Good manners never go with you, Miss Ruby." I jump in fright when I hear that voice. Jisoo arrives with Rosé and sits across from me.

"Stop disturbing her, isn't everything you do enough?" Rosé slaps Jisoo on the back of the head.

"What did I do?" She arches her eyebrow and looks at me.

"Give her a break, we know you treat her very badly" Rosé says and Jisoo rolls her eyes as she takes a sip of her wine.

"I don't treat her badly, I treat her as she treats everyone else." she shrugs and says like I'm not here.

"I never treated you like that." I say and she looks at me. Her phone rings and I see it's Sunmi, she smiles and answers. Rosé rolls her eyes and I feel someone cover my eyes.

"Guess who." A soft voice whispers in my ear, making me shiver.

"I suck at guessing." I let out a low laugh and the person releases my vision, I look up and see Seulgi. I was responsible for aligning the marketing actions, since I'm the face of the company, so we got closer, we became friends. "Hi, Seulbear!" I stand up and hug her.

"We'll talk later." I hear Jisoo's voice as she hangs up without waiting for an answer from Sunmi. She watches us and I can see the line in her clenched jaw. "What are you doing here?"

"Talking to my friend, JenJen." Seulgi gives a mocking smile and I start to laugh. Jisoo looks surprised and speechless for the first time since I've known her.

"Friends?" She looks at me and I can see something in her eyes. Anger and jealousy? No, I'm delusional. I feel Seulgi wrap her arms around my waist and I wrap my arms around her neck, just like she and Sunmi did.

"Obviously, I love happy, partying and fun people like Seulbear, why?" I arch an eyebrow and she looks away.

"OH MY GOD!" Rosé screams and we look at her without understanding. "Chu, what did you do?"

"Nothing..." she starts to say and Rosé puts the phone to Jisoo's face, who arches a confused eyebrow and then sighs. "Shit."

"What happened?" Lisa looks worried and takes out the phone. "Were you kissing?"

"Who?" I take the phone from her hand. There's a photo of Jisoo and Sunmi, very close, it looks like they're about to kiss. The headline 'New couple? Sunsoo? What happened to Jihun?'

"No, Lisa." I hear Jisoo's cold voice and her phone starts ringing again. Sehun. She rolls her eyes.

"Aren't you going to answer it?" Rosé asks confused.

"I don't want." she turns the contents of the wine glass.

"You can't run away from him forever, you know that, right? If you're interested in Sunmi, at least break up with Sehun." she tries to take Jisoo's hand.

"It's not like this." She pulls Rosé's hand.

"Do you think anyone would believe that?"  I say and she looks at me like I'm crazy "Please, you two flirt and are together all the time, besides all the smiles and in this picture, you two were almost kissing." I roll my eyes. "You may love Sehun, but you're clearly into Sunmi." Wow, I managed to make her shut up.

"Woah..." Seulgi forces a cough "I'm going, it was good to see you, I think. Good lunch." she hugs me before leaving.

Lunch goes quite well, except that Jisoo doesn't open her mouth to say anything, immersed in her thoughts and seems lost. Occasionally, I spy on her peripheral vision and she looks beautiful, even serious.

How did Sunmi manage to fish Jisoo without even trying? While I did everything I could think of, but nothing came of it. It seems to have pushed her closer and closer to Sunmi.

***********

It's early evening when I'm back in the office because I forgot some project drafts in the Jisoo room. I nod to the guards. The door to the room is ajar and there are altered voices. It's Sehun and Jisoo.

"CAN YOU EXPLAIN ME WHAT THIS MEANS?" he shouts, for someone so calm, he really lost control. I think I would lose too if I were him.

"Rumors." Jisoo's voice is cold, the coldest tone I've ever heard.

"Rumors?" he laughs sarcastically "You have been away lately, you don't answer my calls, we barely see each other, Jisoo. I don't even remember when I last touched you." I frown when I imagine them together.

"You took me away that day from the party, remember?"

"The day you met your mistress?"

"She's not my lover, she's my friend." she's irritated now. "You started driving me away that day and now are you complaining about my attitude?"

"OBVIOUS! Your focus, your life, everything you said was about Jennie" he says and I'm surprised to hear my name "It seems that from the moment they made this merger, everything for you was reduced to her."

"Is not true."

"Do you know what is funny? You can't handle yourself and now you're using Sunmi and me to get away from anything about Jennie."

"You don't know what you say!" she raises her voice.

"Look me in the eye now and say you love me." he pleads.

"I love you, Sehun!" she says and my heart sinks.

"Now say you don't feel anything for Jennie."

"I don't feel no-noth..." she tries to speak after a while, but doesn't finish the sentence. He laughs bitterly.

"You can't do it, Jisoo, she moves you so much and all your efforts to keep her away, didn't solve much. I'm your best friend, I know you and you know it."

"I don't want to talk about her." that cold tone again.

"Of course, you want to keep ignoring what's inside of you." he sighs heavily "We'd better break up."

"What?" she looks surprised.

"Sooya, I love you, for God, as I love you, but we can't continue together if you don't feel the same way." I approach the door slowly and look through the opening. Jisoo's looking at him as if he's thinking about something.

"Forget it." she approaches him.

"What?" he looks confused, just like me.

"I'm tired of talking." she says before kissing him in a very hot way and pushes him to the sofa, staying on top of him.

I lean against the wall and close my eyes. I want to cry, I don't even know why, but I want to cry and I know I shouldn't. I take off my shoes and walk slowly to the elevator.