"Jennie, I...," Jisoo is dumbfounded. It is not that she doesn't understand what Jennie is saying, it is that she isn't sure if this is all just a dream.

"Do you have feelings for me?" Jennie's tone is persistent, her eyes searching the depths of Jisoo's brown. For the first time, Jisoo thinks there is uncertainty in those cat-like orbs, and if she could see her own right now, hers must be filled with confusion and disarray, because she can barely string a coherent sentence.

"This... I mean... what about, like..."

Halting the rambling, Jennie puts a finger to Jisoo's pair of lips that she is dying to kiss again. With her other hand, she picks up a bottle on the coffee table and spins it, the tinkling of glass ringing crisply in the apartment.

"It's just a yes or no," she doesn't wait for the bottle to stop.

Jisoo gulps. She has always been bad at lying -- it comes back to bite her more often than not -- and so she doesn't, "Yes."

Like hearing the sound of the starting pistol at a race, Jennie doesn't wait to pounce Jisoo again with a hungry wet kiss, her fingers curling in Jisoo's smooth locks, her body leaning in and pushing Jisoo back down onto the sofa with a thud. Jisoo is quite literally taken aback, but inevitably dissolves into a moaning mess as Jennie cups Jisoo's jaw and breathes her in like she is air, Jennie's fingers moving from Jisoo's jaw down to her neck, her collarbone, between her breasts, across her navel and then -

"Wait," Jisoo pants and clutches Jennie's wandering hand, the sounds of their heaving loud in their ears. She licks her lips nervously, tasting the wine Jennie had indulged in earlier.

"Yes?" Jennie's breath is hot and seductive, her lips a mere inch away.

"Don't you think, um... we're going a bit too fast?" Jisoo fails to come up with something less lame.

"No," Jennie doesn't even hesitate, before leaning in to suck on Jisoo's lower lip.

Jisoo arches her back in response and almost loses her resilience, but she forces herself to persevere because the guilt in her is stronger than her lust. She breaks the kiss again by pulling back and leaning their foreheads together instead of their lips.

"But... you're drunk." Jisoo's heart skips when she abruptly realises that one of her hands is lost in Jennie's luscious hair while the other is pressed against bare skin on Jennie's chest where the plunging neckline opens.

"Z, Y, X, W, V, U, T, S, R," Jennie recites as her hair falls in cascading waves around them like a curtain, or perhaps, waterfall.

"Oh. Wow. That's... impressive," Jisoo murmurs. She can't help but trace the soft porcelain skin as if her fingertips are a stethoscope, in search of Jennie's heartbeat.

"Mmhmm," Jennie hums above her and dives back in, going for Jisoo's neck this time. With her tongue, she trails a hot, wet circle on a pulse point that sends goosebumps from Jisoo's scalp to her toes. When Jennie sucks hard, the architect moans in spite of herself and her fingers dig into the CEO's hair. She desperately wants to pull Jennie closer, if that is even possible, but she steels herself to resist.

She straightens her arm with the palm on Jennie's chest, nudging Jennie back slightly. "Wait, wait," she exhales into the tiny space between their faces and takes a moment to recover her breath stolen by the aggressive advances, as her mind tries to conjure the right message to her mouth, albeit unsuccessfully, "I mean, but... think about it..."

"Think about?" Jennie's brows crease with impatience above her eyes blown with desire.

"Um..."

"Is this about... Nayeon?"

Jisoo doesn't answer, which is itself an answer that Jennie infers.

Exhaling a deep sigh, Jennie heaves herself off of Jisoo for the second time tonight, and sits on the couch, offering a hand to pull Jisoo into an upright position next to her. She tousles her hair with both of her hands, and sweeps them over a shoulder, before tilting her head to look at Jisoo. It is a simple action, nothing meant to seduce or allure, but Jisoo thinks her heart arrhythmia is working up a storm nonetheless.

Jennie's eyes wander to the floor as she purses her lips, and then explains, "Tonight's dinner is actually a sort of... closure between Nayeon and me. I had to tell her what I felt and so I did, yesterday in fact. Sad as it is, she and I both have to accept this, that it is just not the same anymore."

"I just... don't want to hurt her. She trusted me, and she trusts you too, she's going to feel so betrayed to know we are... uhm...," Jisoo motions awkwardly between them.

"We are... what?" Jennie cocks an eyebrow and smirks.

Jisoo gulps and blushes hard, while Jennie shamelessly admires Jisoo's cute red face.

"That we, um... we are... I don't know, ugh!" Jisoo buries her face in her hands, muffling her next words, "I wasn't expecting you to like me back."

She throws her head back against the couch and stares at the ceiling, the sudden turn of events swimming in her head. Too much is going on too fast, and as much as she wants to throw caution to the wind and dive headlong into the throes of passion, Jisoo craves meaning and guiltlessness in intimacy and so she needs to know what Jennie is thinking, what they are doing, and that whatever it is, they are not hurting anyone in the process.

Mirroring Jisoo's posture, Jennie leans her head back too, the ends of their shoulders brushing.

"Neither was I." Jennie's voice was quiet, pensive, "Although we've clicked from the first time we met, okay maybe second, and it's always been so easy and comfortable around you, I never thought I had anything beyond friendship for you."

From the corner of her eyes, Jisoo notices Jennie fidgeting blindly with one of the cushions while her eyes are closed and her face towards the ceiling. It is then that Jisoo realizes Jennie must be grappling with her own set of inner struggles, too.

"Until our drinking game, that is. That was when I suspected that maybe, just maybe, you feel something for me, and after that I catch myself thinking about you all the time, wondering why you have to shut me out, fretting about how to make peace with you, how to get you to talk to me again, and finally chiding myself for being so bothered over just another human being, and then the cycle repeats."

Jisoo's heart sinks, listening to how much trouble she has caused Jennie for the past few weeks. She wants to apologize, but words don't seem to suffice, so she simply holds Jennie's gaze when the CEO slides her eyelids open and turns to look at Jisoo.

"It repeats until Nayeon's confession at the villa. Everything about it reminded me of you -- there was you sprinkled in her words, there was you scattered around the house, and there was you written in the stars. I seriously thought I was losing my mind to be seeing so much of you at every turn, to be wishing it was you everytime someone approaches."

The depth of sincerity that swirls in Jennie's pretty eyes renders Jisoo speechless, so Jisoo doesn't speak; instead, she softly slides her palm in Jennie's and intertwines their fingers in a loose hold. If someone were to ask her what that is for, she wouldn't know what to reply, but what she does know is that it feels right to hold her at this very moment.

Jennie smiles in return, and rubs her thumb along the back of Jisoo's hand in a feather-like touch, natural and comfortable, like they've done this a thousand times before. And Jisoo smiles back.

"When I saw you today on the dance floor, it drove me insane," Jennie sighs. "Perhaps it was the alcohol, or maybe that's just a lame excuse, but there was this surge of... jealousy, possessiveness, I'm not sure, but it was bubbling within me. And then suddenly everything makes sense -- the pondering, the vexing, the second-guessing, the missing you... they're all because I have feelings for you, Jisoo. Intense, relentless feelings that keep me up at night. I was wrong, you're not just another human being. You're someone I want."

With emotions she will fathom later, Jisoo's heart swells and a knot forms in her throat. She swallows as hard as she is clinging onto Jennie's every word.

"I'm sorry I've come here on impulse, questioning you like it is an interrogation," Jennie is the first to break eye contact and she shakes her head apologetically, "and it's so rude of me to just barge in here and assume you are also desperate to see me and kiss me. And if it's Nayeon you're worried about, w-we can figure out when and how to tell her. Together. I just really -"

Abruptly, Jennie feels her chin jerked upwards and she widens her eyes and looks up, but she doesn't register what she sees because just as quickly her eyelids have fluttered close, because Jisoo's pillow-soft lips are moving against her own in an urgent, sensuous dance.

Jisoo has straddled her and Jennie's hands move automatically around Jisoo's waist, pressing her breasts into Jisoo's stomach. She feels Jisoo slide her hands from the sides of her face to caress the back of her neck, deepening the kiss, and Jennie swears every inch of her skin prickles. She tightens her arms around Jisoo's lithe body and savours the taste of lips on lips, tongue on tongue, skin on skin.

The way Jennie arches her body off the back of the couch, the way she wraps her arms and clings onto Jisoo like she is drowning, the way she moans into Jisoo's mouth and sends vibrations straight to her core -- it's paralyzing Jisoo in the most beautiful ways. Jisoo doesn't stop to question anymore, she stops trying to comprehend; and instead, she resolves to treasure this gem of a woman pinned under her right here right now in her couch and kissing her as if her life depends on it.

It's with each ounce of strength in her body that Jisoo manages to tear her lips from Jennie's for a moment, desperately breathless and desperately wanting.

"It's already so hard trying to get over you, but look what you've done now -- you've just made it impossible."

And her lips come home to Jennie's once again, pouring everything she has been bottling inside of her into the kiss that marks not just their duelling lips but every piece of their exploding hearts.

---------

"Oh my god," Lisa shrieks, "so you guys finally had sex?"

"No!" Jisoo throws a ball of paper napkin in Lisa's face with a thwack.

"Hey! Don't waste my resources," Soojoo laughs.

Chaeyoung gestures her palms out, "So... what? You made her sleep on the couch while you enjoyed your big comfy bed? How rude."

"No," Jisoo grumbles and then pauses. "We spent the night on the couch." It is barely above a whisper.

"Ooh, you naughty thing!" Lisa claps her hands like a seal excitedly, "Spill! Spare no details!"

"It's not like that! We just... cuddled, okay? Get your mind outta the gutter," Jisoo rolls her eyes despite the heat rising feverishly in her face.

"Just cuddled? That's it? After you basically devoured each other's faces?" Chaeyoung raises a brow and sips her coffee. "I don't buy that one bit. Mm, nice coffee as usual, Soojoo, thanks for the treat."

"Who says I'm treating?"

"We didn't devour each other's faces, that's so awful!"

"Jisoos Christ, it's a metaphor, we don't actually mean you're a carnivore!" Lisa laughs and throws a peanut at Jisoo.

"Lisa, you're wasting my peanuts."

"Please enlighten me: how did you not manage to get to third base?"

Jisoo groans in despair. "Chaeng, it's not life-threatening not to have sex at every chance you get, right?" She realises she has said it a tad too loudly because stares are now thrown their way from the neighbouring tables. She clears her throat and pretends it's perfectly normal to scream sex in a café.

"I don't get it, man. You're weird," Lisa throws a peanut in the air and catches it successfully in her open mouth. "Yes!"

Soojoo chuckles and stands, patting Jisoo's shoulder, "Take it easy. Everyone's nervous the first time." She leaves the table to help out with the morning crowd.

"Ohhhhhh," the younger ones chorus in epiphany while Jisoo groans in agony, her mind already plotting revenge on Soojoo for exposing the truth.

---------

A/N: the end is near...?