Hard to love : A haesoo love story

Chapter 14: We were on a break (part 1)

June 26th, 2022

Haein had just finished filming some night scenes for DP2, he was exhausted and just wanted to be home with Jisoo and a beer. He could forgo the beer if he could have the Jisoo, he hadn't been able to see her for almost 3 weeks. She had been almost living at YG building working on Blackpink's latest album. The few hours she had free she spent doing Pilates or catching up on some sleep. He hadn't even heard from her since yesterday morning when she sent him a "good morning message"; his answer had been left on read.

Haein was clearly in withdrawal, their Kakaotalk chat had been very active ever since they started dating, they usually exchanged tons of pictures and videos daily. To his despair, the minutes-long voice notes and long messages transformed into short monosyllabic answers. He couldn't blame it on her schedule alone, he had been very busy as well. It was hard not to feel like he was missing out on something important and frustrating to think that he couldn't make time for the things that really mattered. They needed to reconnect and they needed it "tout de suite".

Which brought us to tonight, he had learned from her manager that she was getting home relatively early tonight so he made sure to shuffle a few things to free his night and was on his way to surprise her. He had asked his manager to pick up some flowers, chocolates, her favorite Thai food and even strawberry Tanghulu. He had been excited all day knowing that at the end of it, she would be in his arms.

It was almost 11 pm when he punched her door secret code. As soon as he walked in, he could hear the music, conversation bits and laughter. Jisoo was home and she was clearly not alone, Haein recognised the voices of the other three Blackpink members. He stopped dead in his tracks: his girlfriend who didn't even answer his message or tried to reach out to him in more than 36 hours was home, having the time of her life with the very people she had seen every single day and most nights for the past 3 weeks.

Haein's excitement transformed into disappointment, Jisoo clearly had better things to do than spend time with him. The girls were so loud, they hadn't even heard the door open, he could sneak back out and save himself the awkwardness his presence would bring. Haein made his way back out as silently as humanely possible, he hurried to the elevator trying to hold down the nausea he was now feeling. A warm summer breeze welcomed him outside, he took a few breaths to calm himself down and started walking. He didn't feel like calling his manager back and a walk would do him some good. As he reached the first crosswalk all the gifts he got Jisoo were feeling heavier, he threw them in the first trashcan he encountered.

Jisoo's POV

Jisoo realized that making the latest Blackpink album would require an extreme amount of energy from her. Her schedule wouldn't be her own anymore and she basically lived at the YG building. That was all fun and dandy when she didn't have a boyfriend whose schedule was just as full as hers.

Ever since they began their relationship, this marked the longest period of time they had gone without meeting each other despite being in the same country. The stress had started to become overwhelming for all of the Blackpink members, and they were teetering on the brink of a full-on meltdown. They had requested an evening to relax away from their teams and reconnect on a personal level. They had decided on Jisoo's place, ordered take out and talked some things through earlier. Music had been playing and anecdotes flowing. Jisoo was happy with the outcome but she was hoping to surprise Haein and reconnect with him as well.

She didn't even know what to say in text messages anymore because she didn't want to feel his disappointment every time they tried to match their schedules and failed. Whenever he asked for her availability, She didn't know how to answer, because her schedule changed all the time. Also, she didn't know what to answer every time he asked how she was feeling. She didn't want to lie to him but if she told the truth all their exchanges would be her complaining and whining when neither of them could do anything to change the situation. Jisoo didn't complain to anyone, so she swallowed her sadness and put a smile back on her face for everyone's sake.