Idols | LisRene (Revised Version)

IRENE

I don't usually spend Mondays like this—sitting in a room with Jisoo and Lisa. I should be at the dorm, getting some early sleep.

But somehow, I ended up in a double date situation, wasting thirty minutes of my life listening to whatever Suho was going on about. Jennie was the one who pushed me into it. She played matchmaker, since I helped her with Kai.

I never thought they'd end up dating so quickly. I teased her about him and helped her get his number, but I didn't expect her to say yes so soon. After just two weeks of talking, Jennie told me she'd said yes. I was honestly shocked—guess I had too much faith in Jennie.

Since I helped make her happy (even though all I really did was facilitate the exchange of numbers), she figured she'd return the favor. And who better to play matchmaker for than me... with Suho, of course.

Suho and I have been friends for years. We're from the same company and have known each other since trainee days. But that's all we are—friends. We don't really talk unless we're asked to.

It started to get a little annoying when he and Kai began bragging about their accomplishments, trying to impress me and Jennie with stories about SM and their groups. I was hoping for a date where we'd get to know each other better, not one where they just talked about the company and their groups. Honestly, I know enough about SM already, I didn't need to hear more.

So when the blonde girl walked into the store, I saw my chance to escape. Jennie knew how badly I wanted to leave.

Lisa, I think that's her name, the Thai member of BlackPink. She's the rapper and dancer in their group. Jennie talks about her a lot, but I've never really paid much attention. Out of all the BlackPink members, she's the only one I'm not friends with.

Her silence in our group meet-ups is incredibly annoying. I don't get it—she just sits there quietly, and it bothers me. She mostly sticks to Jennie, which is annoying to watch. She just smiles and nods like she's listening, but I'm sure she doesn't understand half of what we're saying.

To sum it up, I'm not fond of her, and I don't even know why.

On the other hand, when she's with others, she acts like a cute puppy following her members around. I once saw her bringing orange juice to Mina from Twice, and they chatted for an hour before the award ceremony. She even hugged Sunmi, and Sunmi had the audacity to kiss her on stage.

Yeah, I saw that, and I couldn't wrap my head around why she's so comfortable with everyone else but can't even say "Hi" to us. It's strange.

***

As we walked towards the dorm, I cursed silently in my head. The sandals I was wearing kept making me trip over and over again. Lisa offered to switch shoes with me, but I didn't want to take her up on it.

The fifth time I almost stumbled, she suddenly grabbed my arm and knelt in front of me, carefully taking off my sandals. I was caught completely off guard, unable to speak for a moment, just watching her as she slid her shoes onto my feet.

My heart skipped a beat, especially when our eyes met and she flashed me that smile.

I felt guilty, looking at her bare feet, but her reassuring smile put me at ease. No one had ever done something like this for me before, and even though it seemed like such a simple act, I felt so grateful. I couldn't bring myself to refuse, especially when my feet were already sore.

Luckily, we arrived at their place quickly. Jisoo was happy to see me and immediately dragged me into their living room. I noticed Lisa had put the garlic fried chicken on the plate and opened the soju bottles. After a minute, she went upstairs, probably to her room.