"The pancakes are cold by now," Lisa spoke while lying on her front after spending a good, comfortable long minutes of just lying on her bed and staring into each other's eyes like nothing else would ever matter anymore. The side of her face was half-buried unto the softness of her pillow.

Jennie chuckled softly as her fingers were running on Lisa's back in small circular motion, from Lisa's bare shoulder down to the curve at the bottom of her spine. Jennie was also lying on her front, her head was tilted, facing Lisa. Her left arm was tucked comfortably beneath her, already feeling a little numb and tingly. The crumpled sheet was spread unevenly over their bodies. Because despite the strewn clothes on the floor and the bareness that they'd both enjoyed gloriously moments ago, both of them still felt shy and reserved to bare it all casually as they both laid with contentment at the moment.

"The boys have probably devoured all of it before giving it a chance to turn cold, I think," Jennie said. She was talking about Leo and Luca.

Lisa laughed and said, "Yeah. That's not completely impossible," and bit her lip after. "Have I told you how beautiful you are, Nini?" she asked.

Jennie grinned, showing off her gummy smile that Lisa adored so much. "You might have, yes. Quite a few times already, actually," Jennie said cockily, earning herself another bemused laughter from Lisa.

Lisa reached out and tucked some strands of jet-black hair behind Jennie's ear, carefully touching Jennie's soft cheek with the tip of her thumb.

"You're beautiful, Jennie Kim," Lisa muttered, her brown orbs wandered and marveled at Jennie's cat-like eyes. "So beautiful, that sometimes I wonder how on earth did I ever get so lucky," she whispered and offered Jennie a smile so warm and tender, it made Jennie's heart skipped a few beats.

It was painful and beautiful, the way the frequency went from calm to static to frantic. And Jennie was glad that it was. Because it hurt so good and she wanted that. Only Lisa could ever give her that feeling, that sense of being alive and she loved it. All of it.

"You mean how on earth did I ever get so lucky when you walked inside The Era that day?" Jennie replied. "Because that day changed everything in my life, Lili."

"Ah, yes." Lisa nodded. "You couldn't take your eyes off me that day," she said and smirked playfully.

Jennie's eyes dilated and squinted in a matter of seconds as she realized what Lisa was trying to imply. "Because you were nosy, loud and annoying," Jennie pointed out, laughing.

"And you were curious and interested," Lisa replied with another smirk.

"Oh my god, Lisa!" Jennie pushed herself up a little. The sheet slid down a little, showing the side of her butt cheek. "Where did all that confidence come from?" she demanded. "It wasn't there when you tiptoed coming down the stairs a while ago."

Lisa laughed out loud. She loved it when Jennie would react that way. Shocked, scandalized and defensive all of a sudden. Especially when those cat-like eyes would dilate and look at her like she was another level of annoying.

Lisa pushed herself up by her elbow, closed their gap and kissed Jennie on the lips soundly.

"From the fact that you love me?" Lisa said and grinned playfully.

Jennie tugged Lisa's lower lip between her teeth, inflicting just the right amount of pain and waiting for Lisa to protest. And when Lisa did, Jennie smiled and released it, and claimed it once again.

"I love you, Lili," Jennie said and rolled over and pinned Lisa beneath her.

....

"So, you lied to me."

It wasn't a question. Jisoo wasn't asking and it made Chaeyoung winced on her seat. She threw Jisoo a furtive glance and saw that Jisoo Kim was looking all serious. Her jaw was set, her eyes were sharp and looking straight ahead and her lips were sealed tightly. Even her knuckles were turning white for gripping the steering wheel a little too tightly. Jisoo looked tensed and mad.

The air around them turned thick all of a sudden. With a strong mixture of vomit odor and air freshener, which Doona insisted they should spray, emptied the cannister, after she cleaned the car, herself, out of embarrassment, in order to outstenched the acrid odor of her vomit. The result wasn't the most pleasant of odor.

They were driving along Mapo-gu, with Lisa's place as their destination in mind. Because they all agreed after a not-so-deliberate and hasty discussion, that that was where they could find Lisa and Jennie. Jisoo was driving as it was her car they were riding on, with Chaeyoung riding shotgun and Doona in the backseat, with her arms across her chest, looking curious and somewhat irritable, from Jisoo to the redhead.

Chaeyoung knew what Jisoo was talking about. It had been nagging her eversince she saw the article. Not so much about the bomb that went off exactly, namely Lisa and Jennie's affair, no. Or the bigger bomb that was Lisa's identity being revealed unceremoniously by some desperate attention-seeking, privacy-invasive person who Chaeyoung had no idea who, yet. Because at the moment, Chaeyoung Park's biggest concern (and this was shocking to her, actually, because why would she even care, right?) was the biggest bomb sitting just a few inches from her left. Jisoo was slowly evolving into a ticking bomb in Chaeyoung's eyes and she was scared that Jisoo would go off in front of her, because of her.

"I had to do it," Chaeyoung said, trying so hard not to sound apologetic but didn't sound convincing enough. She felt miserable. Lying wasn't really her forte.

"I can't believe you lied to me," Jisoo replied, shaking her head as she did so.

Disappointment was laced on Jisoo's voice and evident on the way her eyes had darted towards Chaeyoung for a split second and back at the road ahead again. As if looking at the redhead was a painful task to do at the moment. And for a fleeting second, Chaeyoung felt her heart sunk all the way down to her stomach. It would've been so much better if Jisoo would just yell at her and would engage her in another bout of unsophisticated exchange of arguments like what they did back at the hospital after Jisoo's fake passing out. At least, that was engaging.

"What was I supposed to do?" Chaeyoung asked, now unable to hide her own disappointment in her voice.

Jisoo sighed rather sharply. "I don't know, Park. How about you could've trusted me instead of taking me for a fool?" she said. "I asked you, didn't I? I can't believe how you could look me in the eye and then lied to me."

Park? No one had ever called her Park before, Chaeyoung thought to herself. It had always been Chaeyoung. She had always been Chaeyoung or Chipmunk. Or Chaeng. Or sweet Roseanne. Alice would call her 'Little Rosie', sometimes. Her Dad would call her 'baby' most of the time. But never Park. She had never been Park. Unless she would count the number of times some of her old teachers would call her by her family name back in Melbourne.

But Park, right now, was another level of disappointment thrown at her by a Kim. And it was honestly condescending from someone who she had kissed goodnight with. It was offensive and highly aggregating. But she had to keep her calm, Chaeyoung convinced herself. Otherwise, what was the whole point of kissing Jisoo Kim goodnight?

"I did not take you for a fool, Chu," Chaeyoung said a little too gently, it was unnerving her. "You know that," she added in a somewhat pleading voice that it made her cringe.

Why she was pleading with Jisoo Kim was beyond Chaeyoung. Especially when the raven-haired Jisoo was looking particularly smug and disengaging from her. And despite the fact that they were sitting only inches apart from one another and Jisoo was still wearing the pair of pajamas she lent her. Heck, she even smelled like her shampoo.

"No, I don't," Jisoo retorted stubbornly.

The stubbornness was starting to get under Chaeyoung's skin as she looked at how Jisoo's jaw was set strongly and her brows furrowed.

"Suit yourself," Chaeyoung said dismissively as she dialed Lisa's number for the nth time.

"I can't believe it," Jisoo said, shaking her head as she earned an annoyed eye-roll from the redhead. "Lisa is a princess? Like a real-life princess? I've met some diplomats from Thailand and even had the chance to brush shoulders with their King, once. But Lisa..."

"Is the King's daughter and I lied to a lot of people about that, too. But nobody gives a shit because people lie all the time, you know? Please get over it already, Jesus!" Doona interjected. She clearly looked like she's finally had enough listening to the two women's exchange of banter. Plus the hangover was kicking in in full throttle. She felt like throwing up from the pounding of her head but thought against it. Jisoo Kim will kill her.

"It's Jisoo!" both Jisoo and Chaeyoung corrected Doona but avoided each other's eyes, anyway.

"Yes, I know!" Doona replied with an eye roll. "I was talking about the bearded man? People call him when they're frustrated. You two ever heard of that? Because the way you, two, are fighting like girlfriends in front of me right now is frustrating and a whole lot of annoying and I can't stand it anymore! I'm not having it," Doona said.

"We're not--!"

"--girlfriends. And waking up and finding out that Lisa is a princess after being told that she's not before going to bed is not something I can get over with quickly," Jisoo said angrily.

Doona shrugged. She had never seen two people obviously oblivious about their feelings for one another. It was funny (should they had been on a different and lighter situation) and somewhat annoying. But now wasn't the time to point to them the obvious, of course, Doona told herself, because aside from the fact that both women were obviously still tiptoeing and hopping around each other like teenagers with raging but confused hormones and what with the revelation of Pokpak's identity greeting her morning, Doona definitely didn't feel like doing anything that would require thinking and would involve arguing with an angry Jisoo Kim at the moment. She just really wanted to sleep the day away.

"Alright! Alright! I'm just saying," Doona said, raising her hands in front of her. "But you, two, should stop that. Seriously. Stop it right now. It's annoying. It's cute, but it's annoying. I hate things that are annoying and cute. Especially when my head is pounding like the drums of hell." Also, it wasn't helping that Jisoo's car still smelled like vomit after she emptied a cannister of freshener to eliminate tye stench. It was a stupid idea. But then again, it was her fault that it was, so Doona knew not to complain about that or risk herself being thrown out of the car by Jisoo Kim. Because the woman, despite her angelic face, looked scary and intimidating when provoked.

"Sorry," both women said at the same time and caught each other's eyes for a split second before Jisoo looked outside the window and Chaeyoung went back to fiddling her phone again. She was cancelling calls from the crew and Alice and still trying to get hold of Lisa's line, which was futile.

They fell into a ringing silence as they were waiting for the pedestrians to cross the street and the light to turn green.

"How did they find out, though?" Chaeyoung asked after she dropped the device on her lap out of frustration. Lisa was still unavailable.

"Somebody did their homework, obviously," Doona said, now leaning back to her seat with her eyes tightly shut and her fingers pressing on her temple.

"Yes. But who?" Jisoo asked. "And why does Lisa have to hide her identity?"

"You can ask her yourself once we get there. I'm sure she can explain things better than us," Chaeyoung told Jisoo. "I wonder why she's still not picking up, though? I've been calling her nonstop eversince we left the house."

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" Doona said.

"What is obvious?" Jisoo asked curiously.

"She's with Jennie. She's not taking any calls because she's with Jennie," Doona replied, with an air of someone explaining that one plus one is two.

"Yes. But she could at least pick up her phone just once so that I could at least give her a heads-up before we barge in in her place, unannounced," Chaeyoung argued.

Doona stifled a huff and shook her head. "Like I said, it's obvious," she said dismissively.

"You know what? For someone close to Lisa, you seem pretty calm about this whole thing," Jisoo said out of annoyance. "And please get your feet off the upholstery? It's bad enough that we're inhaling your vomit right now."

"Jesus, you're cranky," Doona commented but still took her feet off the leathered seat. Cranky Jisoo was a scary Jisoo. "Anyway, it's not like I'm not upset or anything about this whole thing. But there's no point getting all worked up for something that's bound to happen, you know? Pokpak can't hide who she is forever. That's what I've been telling her for years. She can't just run away from who she is. That's just absurd," Doona continued.

"She wanted to live a normal life, Miss Doona. You know that," Chaeyoung replied in Lisa's defense. This wasn't the first time that she and Doona Bae differed on their opinions about Lisa's decision.

"By hiding and running away from herself?" Doona asked. "I'm sorry but that's stupid. The only way to free yourself from yourself and anyone, for that matter, is to accept who you are and, I don't know, be free?"

"Whose side are you on, really?" Jisoo butted in. Because as much as she didn't like the fact that Chaeyoung lied to her, she didn't like it more when Doona was arguing with the redhead.

"Oh. So, we're picking sides now?" Doona replied to Jisoo. "Because I thought that you wanted to know the truth and here I am, giving you glimpses of the truth. You hated her when you found out she lied to you about it, didn't you?" Doona nudged her head towards Chaeyoung.

"No, I don't. Hate is a strong word," Jisoo told Doona in the rearview mirror.

"You heard that, Chaeng? Your girlfriend--"

"She's not!" Chaeyoung protested.

"--doesn't hate you," Doona continued as if Chaeyoung didn't interrupt her. "You can now stop looking so disappointed with yourself because it's not your fault, honey," Doona told Chaeyoung and brought her attention back to Jisoo once again. "And to answer your question, Miss Kim: My loyalty lies with Pokpak. Chaeng's, too. Her Royal Highness knows that," she told Jisoo and made a face after. "And it's still weird calling Pokpak 'Her Royal Highness'. No wonder she detests it."

"You can park there. That's Lisa's," Chaeyoung told Jisoo as they were approaching the curb, pointing the cherry red Impala beside the bricked two-storey building.

"No media and paps. Good! At least they haven't found Pokpak's place yet," Doona said before she hopped out of the vehicle enthusiastically after Jisoo parked the car next to Lisa's car, leaving the two women with a tensed silence.

"Hey, listen. I'm really sorry I lied to you about it." Chaeyoung took the opportunity to apologize to Jisoo a while after Doona slammed the car door behind her.

Jisoo sighed and gently shook her head. "She's right, though," Jisoo said, talking about Doona, "It's not your fault. I would do the same for Jendeuk if I have to. In fact, I may have done it a lot of times for her without me realizing it, now that I think about it," she told the redhead as she turned the ignition off. "It's what we do for the people we love, I guess. We protect them."

"So, are we cool?" Chaeyoung Park asked tentatively.

"I'm still wearing your pair of pajamas, Park. And I haven't thrown you out of my car yet. Of course, we're cool," Jisoo answered with a smile.

"Thanks," Chaeyoung breathed out with relief. "What do you think will happen now?" she then asked.

"At this point? I don't know anymore. Lisa's identity will surely play a huge role now that it's out and she and Jendeuk have been outed. This is going to be my Dad's biggest nightmare, I'm telling you. I wonder what he will do to control the damage this time," Jisoo said and leaned back on her seat. She looked wary and tired all of a sudden.

"We need to move, Chu. Or Miss Doona will start nagging and calling us 'girlfriends' again," Chaeyoung suggested as she pushed her door open after she noticed how Doona was eyeing them suspiciously. Jisoo followed suit.

"Which we both know is impossible to happen," Jisoo said as soon as she caught up with Doona and Chaeyoung at the bottom of the stairway. "Right, Park?"

But it seemed like Chaeyoung didn't hear what Jisoo said because she asked to no one in particular, "Should we ring?" when she first reached the topmost landing and she was staring at the door security device beside the jamb.

"What are you talking about? You didn't ring yesterday. You just went straight in," Doona replied impatiently.

"Yes. But Jennie's still probably inside and... you know..." Chaeyoung hesitated. "I mean, out of respect for..."

"You know Lisa's door passcode?" Jisoo asked out of curiosity.

The redhead nodded. "Lisa gave it to me. It's for when she's away. She'd usually ask me to look after her place and her cats when she's somewhere else..."

Jisoo nodded and hummed a non-committal "Ah."

"Please don't tell me this is another issue and you're going to fight about it in front of me again?" Doona asked in an exasperated, dragging voice.

"No," both Jisoo and Chaeyoung replied in unison.

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me," Doona said and squeezed herself between the two to ring the doorbell with so much passion. "I'm doing the honors"

....

"Are you expecting anyone?" Jennie asked when they both heard the doorbell ringing persistently.

"No," Lisa replied but looked unsure. She wondered if she had ever asked Bobby anything that would require his presence on the second floor today.

They were sitting around the kitchen island and devoured the cold pancakes over a hot cup of coffee and chocomilk (Jennie insisted that she would reheat the drinks). Lisa excused herself and went for the door. She took a peek at the peephole to check if it was Bobby, her assistant, or some mailman and was surprised to see a group of people she had never expected to show up at her place altogether.

"Who is it, Lili?" Jennie called from the kitchen.

"Surprise guests, I guess?" Lisa replied and pushed the door open, revealing the three women in satin pajamas and all of whom were looking anything but comfortable at the sight of her.

Jisoo was staring at her with wide eyes and mouth agape. The Chipmunk looked like she was still contemplating whether she would offer Lisa her usual sunshiny smile or a hesitant hello and then settled with a too-jovial "Hey, Shutterbug!" And Doona... Doona Bae looked harassed. Her short hair was crumpled, the set of buttons of the pair of pajamas she was wearing, which Lisa recognized at once was Chaeyoung's, were uneven and without ado, Doona walked past Jisoo and Chaeyoung, walked straight into Lisa and her confused look, darted her eyes behind Lisa's shoulder where Jennie was standing and then brought her bloodshot, weary eyes back to Lisa.

"What's up?" Lisa asked.

"We have a problem, Shutterbug," Chaeyoung instantly proclaimed and admitted herself in, pulling Jisoo with her.