Chapter 29.

"Where are we going?" Jennie asked, more and more annoyed. Jisoo and Rosé were taking her somewhere and they didn't even want to tell her where. "I hope this is not some stupid joke-"

"Would you relax? You'll love it, you'll see." Jisoo assured.

"Maybe not at the beginning-" Rosé said.

"What do you mean by 'maybe not at the beginning'? Now I'm scared!" Jennie whined.

"Good. Because you should get over your fear."

"What? I don't understand! What's with the conspiracy? Why are you both being so secretive?"

"Just trust us." Jennie flinched at Jisoo's words feeling increasingly nervous. If only they knew how difficult it was for her to trust anyone.

Two minutes later they arrived at the auditorium. Rosé opened the door and Jisoo pushed Jennie inside.

"Hi, you must be Jennie." A friendly looking girl welcomed her with a bright smile. "I'm Somi and all these people are just a cool bunch who enjoy good music." she said pointing to the group of students behind her. Most of them had various instruments in their hands and were looking amiably at the new girl.

Still perplexed about what she was doing there, Jennie turned back to Rosé and Jisoo, only to see that her friends already headed out. She was alone.

"Nice to meet you." she stammered out. "I'm sorry, I really don't know why they brought me here..." Jennie said and Somi immediately noticed how awkward she seemed and how little confidence she had. She looked like she was apologizing for even being there.

"I don't know that either, but now that you're here, maybe you'll like to stay? You can just listen to us playing." Somi gestured invitingly for Jennie to sit down. But the brunette was still hesitating. In fact, she was surprised that she hadn't stormed out of there already, because meeting so many new people at once wasn't something she was even remotely comfortable with. But... music was her hidden passion and deep inside she was curious. And Somi seemed like a genuinely warm and friendly person.

"Okay, I guess I can stay just for a little bit." Jennie agreed shyly and sat down.

"Great!" Somi exclaimed enthusiastically. "Do you play any instrument yourself?"

Jennie shifted nervously.

"No... yes... I mean... I tried to learn guitar some time ago." she confessed.

"Really? I play guitar myself, maybe one day you'll show me what you learned." seeing that Jennie suddenly got defensive Somi quickly added: "But for now let's just enjoy others play. See this boy? He plays violin and he's crazy talented. Just fifteen years old. If he keeps his progress, he can be really good in just two, three years." She gave a sign to the boy who started playing. The melancholic sound of the violin immediately captivated Jennie's attention. The more she listened to those calming sounds, the more her anxiety was dwindling down.

Meanwhile Jisoo was standing outside the auditorium with a happy smile on her face. She just composed the message to Lisa: "Mission success. Somi worked her magic and J stayed inside." She pressed "send" and five seconds later the reply from Lisa appeared on the screen: "Great, thank you so much!!! Love you both!"

She showed the message to Rosé, who shook her head and smirked.

"Even by reading her message I can sense how whipped she is. Do you think her plan will work? I mean Jennie has such a complex character, who knows how it turns out..."

"I know, I'm a little worried that Lisa is in for a really turbulent ride. But... I feel that their story has a happy ending. I don't know why, I just feel it."

Rosé looked at her affectionately. "Always an optimist. That's why I love you. You make me feel better about the future."

"I thought that you love me because of my funny jokes." Jisoo teased.

"Your jokes aren't always that funny." Rosé teased her back.

"Oh really? Then why do you always laugh like crazy when you hear them?"

"I just don't want you to feel bad."

"Yeah, sure, one time you kept squealing for a full minute like a chipmunk on steroids-"

"I don't remember such a thing-"

"Please! You can't live without my jokes and you know it."

"Why don't you stop joking all the time and we'll see."

"Fine, in two days you'll be begging me to make you laugh!"

"Begging you? Hah!"

"Did you just laugh at my joke again?"

"It wasn't a joke and I wasn't even laughing..."

They kept teasing each other like that for another five minutes before they finally left, walking closely side by side, feeling comfortable enough to put their arms around each others' waists.

***

"So, it was fun wasn't it?" Somi asked Jennie when the meeting of the Music Club ended.

"Yes, it really was." Jennie replied, in a tone that by her standards could be almost described as enthusiastic. It was true, she thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. Not only listening to music, but being surrounded by people with similar interest. She had never realized before that sharing a passion with others could make her feel so good. Jennie was astonished that she gathered the courage to even talk to other members, comment on the performances and discuss music with them.

"You keep glancing at my guitar, try it if your want." Somi handed her the instrument and Jennie shyly took it from her. Then her eyes flashed briefly when she touched the strings... It's been so long since she did that. And she missed it. She deeply missed playing.

"It's beautiful." she said, her eyes zooming on the instrument.

"You're longing to play it, I can tell." Somi said encouragingly.

"Maybe... maybe one day I will." Jennie gave her the guitar back. "Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome, girl." Somi chuckled. "So will you come see us next week?"

"I definitely will." Jennie didn't even recognize her own voice. It sounded so... firm. She couldn't remember the last time she was so enthused about something.

On her way out of the auditorium Jennie bumped into Irene.

"Oh, are you in the Music Club? I didn't know!" Irene seemed to be a person who was easily getting excited about the smallest things.

"No, I'm not an actual member. I just love listening to music."

"Oh, okay. Actually, that's why I wanted to talk to you. If you like music so much, why don't you come to the karaoke night? It's next week at my house."

"Really? Me?" Jennie was stupefied. Why is everyone suddenly so friendly? What's happening? It kind of feels like someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes to make everyone nice to her.

"Yeah, why not? You don't have to sing, you can just listen to others." Irene encouraged her. "And it would be cool if you could ask Jin to come too." she added quickly.

"I don't know him that well..."

"Please? Come on, you can do it, do you remember what he said to you at the concert? He practically confessed that he was interested in you. Of course he'll agree if you ask him."

Jennie couldn't help blushing for a moment. Irene's invitation was a truly nice gesture... So maybe she should ask Jin... as a thank you to Irene.

"Okay, I guess I can try." Jennie agreed.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" Irene jumped and hugged her. "I can't believe Jin will come to my party! This is the best day ever!" Her childish enthusiasm was so sincere that a faint smile appeared in the corner of Jennie's lips. When Irene hurried away excitedly, Jennie still stood in the same place. She blinked several times, not recognizing the pleasant sensation that was filling her at the moment.

"Wait, is this what it feels like to be accepted? To have friends? To be liked? To be normal? To be... happy? Oh my god, do I really feel happiness?" Jennie's excitement rose quickly but then it vanished. No, there was something that was still bothering her. She couldn't feel happy yet. What was the reason? Jennie closed her eyes and focused. And the only image that came to her mind was a blonde girl with a sad face and brown, doe-like eyes.

Lisa.

The image of sad Lisa made Jennie shudder. What Lisa did wasn't right, but maybe she overreacted? Was she too harsh? Jennie took out a phone and hesitated for a full minute before she looked up Lisa's name in her contact list and dialed.