behind the stars // chaelisa + hints of jensoo

All day, Lisa has tried to stay out of the way.

After making sure Chaeyoung was fast asleep in a drunken stupor and blissfully unaware of her world falling apart, Lisa called Jungkook again, knowing he'd probably be getting as much sleep as she would.

As she brewed a fresh pot of coffee at the brink of three am, she got scolded again - she had her share of the blame and Jungkook was annoyed that his plans of keeping Chaeyoung safe had gone south, but it didn't make it any easier to swallow - and didn't argue when he said he'd be in the next flight to Colorado. This isn't something Chaeyoung can fix on her own and Lisa knows she's not much help.

Then, sitting cross-legged in the middle of her bed with a steamy mug filled with coffee cupped in between her hands, Lisa watched as the news articles poured in.

Lisa sipped at her coffee, bitter enough to keep her awake without the caffeine and read with bleary eyes and an uneasy heart how the tabloids depicted Chaeyoung. With harsh words and more exclamation points than Lisa thought a serious news outlet should use, they labeled Chaeyoung as an opportunist, a gold digger, a liar - anything but the kind-hearted musician Lisa has gotten to know in the last few weeks, who'd giggle when a butterfly landed on her finger, who had befriended everyone in the hotel's staff, who still managed to smile despite everything she had gone through.

As soon as the sun came up, Lisa made all the calls she could, personally cancelling reservations with her profound apologies, contacting her own lawyers to know what she should do, asking favors in to help secure the roads leading up to the hotel. She would block all roads and have every phone in the small town searched to pinpoint who leaked those pictures, but apparently that's not something a hotel owner has any legal right to ask for.

All day, Lisa tried to give Chaeyoung the space she needed to deal with it however she saw fit.

From what she had read, she had half expected Chaeyoung to throw a tantrum and burn her hotel to the ground. Even thinking that about Chaeyoung made her feel guilty. Lisa knew not to trust anything in the tabloids, knew better than to believe Chaeyoung was the same person they painted her as. But all Chaeyoung did was sit in her favorite reading nook, with her laptop in front of her and whatever drink Joy managed to put in her hands - she didn't drink much, didn't eat at all, but Joy would be damned if she didn't try to avoid her brother's yelling because Chaeyoung hadn't eaten.

By the time Jungkook arrived, Lisa was little more than a puddle of worry. She had read enough articles to realize anyone with a good sense of direction could tell where Chaeyoung had been staying and it was only a matter of time before someone gave the name and phone number to her hotel.

She wasn't really worried about having her hotel flooded with fanatics and photographers, even though it's not something she ever even thought about preparing for. She's just worried about what Chaeyoung would go through.

After spending a whole afternoon holed up in her office, her phone going off every time someone posted a new article about Chaeyoung - she asked Jennie to set up a Google Alert for her and the fact that she didn't get mocked at all showed just how serious this whole situation was - Lisa feels like this day has dragged on for an entire week. It doesn't even feel possible to have so much shit packed up in less than twenty-four hours.

Between pretending to go through her accounting books and convincing her heart it had no business being upset about Chaeyoung leaving, Lisa is glad for the distraction when Jisoo came to get her to join everyone around the firepit for cider and roasted marshmallows.

Maybe it's the warmth from the fire blowing away the cold fall breeze, maybe it's the way Jungkook looks like he's having the time of his life stuffing ten marshmallows in his mouth, but Lisa feels lighter than she did all day. There's a quiet light within her and something lets her hope the world won't end tonight.