Lisa exited the dorm and made her way down the two flights of stairs to the building exit. She had her earphones in and was heading to the dance studio to practice and relieve some stress.
It had been a week since she and Jungkook broke things off and it had been one of the toughest weeks of her life. She hadn't felt up to doing much at all apart from stay in bed and debate whether to text him or not.
In the end, she hadn't messaged at all, and neither had he. She wanted to smack herself out of it and remind herself that she shouldn't expect any contact from him now that they were broken up but she still felt disappointed. Maybe because they had left things on good terms... The decision was mutual and they said they would wait for each other and for better timing after all.
Lisa was lost in her thoughts going down the stairs that she didn't notice a figure coming up the stairs at the same time until their white trainers stepped into her line of vision.
She moved out of the way without looking up and bowed politely to them, waiting for them to pass first.
"Lisa?"
Only then did she look up in surprise at the familiar voice. She took out her earphones and a small smile broke out onto her face.
"Hanbin oppa!"
"Hey, long time no see."
The genial face of Kim Hanbin, aka BI, rapper and leader from YG's boy group iKon, smiled back at her. They had known each other since their trainee days but only became good friends after her debut since iKon and Blackpink shared the same dorm building.
"Yeah, last time must have been at Inkigayo. Wow, the year's gone so quickly."
"Yeah, especially for you girls - world's biggest girl group!" he exclaimed with a grin, referring to their year of success, especially after the release of Ddu-Du Ddu-Du.
"Ah, stop! We've still got a long way to go! But look who's talking anyway, Mr. Big Shot Producer! I hear Love Scenario is a top contender for Song of the Year at the award shows."
Hanbin shrugged, trying to keep it cool, as if winning the daesang prize wasn't a big deal. "Maybe, I mean let's see."
Lisa burst out laughing and nudged his shoulder. "Yah, what was that!? You don't have to act so modest around me!"
Hanbin broke out into a grin. "I just don't want to get my hopes up!"
"Don't be silly, you're winning it for sure! The song's played everywhere, I would know, it's been stuck in my head for months!"
He laughed. "Thanks Lis, that kind of makes me feel better. How are you doing anyway?"
Lisa was caught off guard for a second, but she quickly covered her surprise up with a warm smile and a nod. "Everything's good. I'm actually just off to dance practice, so I should probably get going."
"Oh okay, sure." Before she could slide past him and continue down the stairs, he called her name again. "Hey, do you want to hang out later today? We could watch a movie or something like we used to when you guys first debuted."
Lisa's eyes widened at the offer, picking up that Hanbin looked a bit shifty and nervous when asking. He could barely even keep eye contact with her.
"Erm... I'll probably be at the studio until quite late, sorry. But maybe another time!"
She waved and escaped him, running down the rest of the stairs, before she spied the crestfallen look on Hanbin's face and feel completely guilty about it.
She did feel bad that she turned down his request, as it was true that they found it hard to hang out casually anymore. Blackpink and iKon used to hold a lot of movie nights back when the girls first debuted. They would always make their way to iKon's living room in their pyjamas and both groups would stay up late to watch movie marathons.
But obviously, when Hanbin had just asked, it sounded as if he wanted it to be just the two of them... Like a date.
And Lisa definitely couldn't handle a date right now. She could barely hold herself together to even see friends. It was draining when she constantly had to put on a fake smile to make sure no one worried about her unnecessarily, which is exactly what it felt like when he had asked her how she was doing. It was especially taxing for her as a lot of her friends didn't know she and Jungkook had broken up, or even been together to start with, despite their fairly conspicuous interactions on their private social media profiles. So when they were asking her how she was doing, she was scared that one more person knew about her relationship with Jungkook, and that she was one step closer to being exposed. Why did she still feel this panic even when they had broken up now?

-&-

After her dance session, Lisa didn't return back to the dorms until much later that night. She showered, ate a quick dinner of ramen and then got straight into bed, Leo settling on top of the duvet by her feet. Even though she didn't have any schedules on, she felt a little less lonely in the dorms than in her apartment these days. Her members were all spending some time with their families, but she felt their presence still in the dorms.
She was ready to throw the duvet over her head and just sleep, wanting to be dragged down into unconsciousness where none of her negative thoughts could invade, but her phone buzzing lightly next to her prevented her from drifting off. She grabbed her phone blindly in the dark and was suddenly feeling wide awake when she saw who the text was from.

-&-

Jeon Jungkook
23rd November 23:54 PM

Hi

-&-

The one-worded message was such a surprise after a week of not talking to him. It had been the longest time they hadn't spoken a word to each other since they had first started texting each other - that must have been around a year and a half ago.
She hesitated over a reply, unsure whether it was wise to text him back. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard in uncertainty.
But the next moment she made up her mind and locked her phone, leaving Jungkook effectively on read.
She sighed out and lay back down in bed, closing her eyes and resolutely tried to get back to sleep but the unexpected text message had shocked her core and she no longer felt tired.
She felt guilty for ignoring him, but she knew it wouldn't be a good idea to start messaging him again. They would easily fall back into the routine of texting each other everyday which is exactly how their relationship had started and how they had ended up like this.
Two more buzzes from her phone sounded out in the silent room in quick succession.
She bit her lip and tried her best to ignore it and just go to sleep but curiosity won over and she sat up again to pick up her phone.

-&-

Jeon Jungkook
23rd November 00:05 AM

How are you doing
?

-&-

She locked her phone again quickly, slamming it face down back on her bedside cabinet. It was taking a lot in her to not reply back.
Another buzz came through not a minute later.

-&-

Jeon Jungkook
23rd November 00:06 AM

... I miss you.

-&-

Wow... Lisa didn't expect that. Of course she missed him too. Her heart hurt reading his message and thinking how lonely he must be feeling right now. She understood because she felt it too.
She sat up fully, gripping her phone tightly and staring at his illuminated messages. Her fingers began typing the reply before her brain could remind her why she shouldn't be doing it.

-&-

Jeon Jungkook
23rd November 00:07 AM

Ya Jeon Jungkook!
What do you think you're doing?

What do you mean?
What does it look like?
I want to talk with you.

You know why that's a bad idea.

Why?
So we have to be cold to each other now?

I'm not saying we have to be cold.
But the less we talk the easier it will be.

For who?!
I don't want us to be strangers.

We're not strangers, we just need to be apart for now.
I thought we were on the same page about this.

We said we'd wait for each other didn't we?!
How can we wait for each other and maintain our feelings if we don't talk at all?!
Why can't we talk and remain friends?

Can't you see it's for the best?

But... I miss talking with you

Jeon Jungkook!!
Stop making this so hard for me.
Of course I miss you too and it's not easy to stay away.
But we agreed to do it so we can be together properly later.
If we keep talking, even as friends, we'll end up in the same pattern as last time.

Of course you're right.
But I hate it!!
And at least you said you miss me too 😏

Even in these moments you can still find the chance to joke 😒

If we don't laugh, we'll cry

You got that right 😭
I need to sleep now, Jungkook
Let's keep working hard.
We'll be at the end of year award shows... Will you guys be there?

Yeah, it's going to be hard seeing you in person and not being able to speak to you...
But I'll try my best.
Lisa, fighting!

Fighting, Jungkook!

-&-

Lisa finally put her phone down, feeling a little lighter since her conversation with Jungkook. She was glad he had managed to lighten the mood towards the end of their conversation, even eliciting a murmured laugh from her in her empty bedroom. As much as her voice of reason made her sound like the bad guy, she really didn't want her relationship now with Jungkook to be corrupted by her cold words. But she also knew she needed to be careful and remain professional around him.
At the reminder of the year end award shows that she had just discussed briefly with Jungkook, she couldn't help but to bury her face into her pillow and let out a loud groan of dread. It was going to be extremely difficult to keep her eyes off of Jungkook when she saw him. She had always somehow managed before, but this time would feel different with the circumstances and their history, not to forget the many months since they had last seen each other's faces.
Oh, how she wished it would all be over already.

-&-

On the other side of Seoul, another restless body flipped and turned in bed. Jungkook was frowning in the darkness of his room. Luckily none of his hyungs could see him or they would surely call him out for it. He would know - they had been constantly catching him brooding and looking longingly at his phone like a lost puppy. RM would scold him lightly and try to distract him with work. Suga would slap his back and ruffle his hair encouragingly but didn't say much more. Jimin and J-Hope were constantly trying to make him laugh with their pranks. Jin, as the oldest, offered wise proverbs that were too abstract for Jungkook to make heads or tails of. And V offered companionship and competitive matches of ping pong or table football to help drive his mind away from his recent break-up, if you could call it that.
But whenever he wasn't with his hyungs and he wasn't working, his mind never failed to stray back to Lisa. Funnily enough, his yearning wasn't even this bad when he had been on tour and they had barely found the time to text each other towards the final days of their relationship. Maybe it was because humans tend to always want what they can't have. And maybe just knowing that they couldn't be together for the next few years caused him to miss her presence a lot more, taunting him that he had taken their time together for granted.
He sighed and flipped over onto his other side again, shortly kicking off the duvets off his hot body.
Tonight he had finally gone out of his mind and had texted her after a week of almost going stir crazy with the need to hear from her, to hear she was okay.
She hadn't reacted the way he thought she would. It was the return of Black-Hearted Lisa, but even that made his blood warm with fond nostalgia. When she finally admitted to missing him too, his heart flipped in his chest.
They would wait for each other. He had faith in her and was sure that she had faith in him. There could be no alternative, no way that the two of them don't end up together. He was resolutely firm in his conviction. However, if that was the case, why did he still feel so uneasy?