Jennie: Best of Me

Chapter 13

Jennie

The practice ended at 9 pm. We usually stay in the training room until midnight to practice more, but since we are meeting Elijah, who is coming back from Tokyo, they call it a night. I'm excited to leave as I miss Elijah so much, and I want to see him as soon as possible. The last time I saw him was five weeks ago. Elijah has been meeting a lot of people in the entertainment industry, not only in South Korea but also in Japan and China. 

We went back to our apartment after ordering Thai food for dinner when I didn't hear anything from Elijah. I keep on checking my phone, hoping his meeting is over. After an hour, I received a call from his assistant telling me that Elijah is still in a meeting, and it will take longer than expected. 

"You can sleep if you want. I don't think Eli Oppa will make it. He's still in a meeting." I told the girls, trying to look okay.

"I miss Eli Oppa. He will be in China tomorrow, right?" Lisa asked.

Jennie feels worse after realizing that he will be out of the country again for a week. "Yeah," I replied dryly.

"Why don't we watch a movie? It's been so long since the four of us had a movie night." Jisoo said, trying to cheer me up. The three girls look at me, waiting for me to agree. 

"How can I say no if you all look at me like how Dalgom looks at Jisoo unnie when he is asking for dog treats?" Jennie said, making Lisa jumps in happiness.

These three girls became my strength, especially during the time that we were still a trainee. I look at Lisa and Chaeyoung, who are bickering over what movie to watch, while Jisoo unnie tries to settle the disagreement between the two younger girls. I've been living with them for more than six years, and that's the usual sight whenever we watch a movie at home, the two fighting for what movie to watch, and Jisoo trying to end the bickering. Some things never change. 

I look for my phone after taking a shower. Our movie night ended at 12, but we still stayed in the living room for a couple of hours talking about random things before going back to our bedrooms. I check my phone, still no call or text from Elijah. I started to browse the web, and it's almost four when I receive a message from him. I quickly call him after receiving his text. 

"The meeting just ended. I'm sorry, baby." Elijah told me. 

He sounds tired and sleepy. "It's alright, Hun. I miss you so much. Where are you?" 

"I'm on my way to the airport. I need to catch my flight to Shanghai. But.." He said, stopping midway.

"But?" I asked him. "But what?" I asked him impatiently. I was waiting for his response when I heard a knock on the door.

"I missed my mandu so much, so I want to see her first before leaving." He said while waving at me from the door of the bedroom, looking so handsome in a maroon polo with a black tie.

I immediately get up from my bed and hug him tight. "I missed you so much." I cried on his chest while he kisses the top of my head. "I ruined your shirt," I said after seeing his polo got wet a bit because of my tears. 

He kisses me on the lips softly before answering. "Don't worry about it. What did you have for dinner?" He looks around the room and asks a question again. "Where's Jisoo?"

Jisoo is my roommate since we started living in this dorm. Miyeon and I used to live in this two-bedroom apartment when we became a YG trainee. When Lisa came from Thailand, she shared a room with Miyeon, who is the same age as her. Jisoo became my roommate, and Chaeng shared the bigger room with Lisa and Miyeon when she came here to Korea. Miyeon was forced to leave the company months before we debuted because she got caught dating another trainee. We were all sad back then, hating the CEO for not giving Miyeon a second chance. "She's in the other room. The maknaes fought again, and they refused to sleep in the same room, but no one wants to leave and sleep here. Jisoo unnie decided to sleep there."

Elijah laughs. He is used to the two younger girls bickering all the time. "I am 98% sure you had Thai food for dinner. I tasted some Tom Yum and Pad Thai when I kissed you. Let me kiss you again to make sure."

"Ya! I already brushed my teeth." I pushed him hard and covered my mouth, embarrassed.

He laughs harder and hugs me again. "I'm just messing with you. I saw a take-out container from Mum Aroy, that's why I know you had Thai food for dinner."

I hugged him back; he smells so good. He doesn't wear perfume or even cologne, but his natural scent is addicting.

"Ya! I've been out all day meeting people wearing this shirt all day. Stop sniffing me." He said, trying to pull away from my hug.

I hug him harder, refusing to let go. "Nah, you smell good. I want to hug you all night."

"The truth is you stink, that's why I'm trying to pull away from you." 

"I hate you!" I tip-toed a bit and bite his shoulder to get back at him for teasing me, making him shout in pain.

I quickly cover his mouth while laughing. "Shhhh! We already received a complaint from the neighbors for excessive noise." 

He removes my hand from his mouth and kisses me on the lips. I was surprised, but I kissed him back. He sucked my chin before licking the side of my neck. I cling to his neck and moan as his lips and tongue travel down to my shoulder. "Shhhh." He warned before carrying me to bed. He kisses me on the lips again, tickling my tongue with his. He is on top of me, sucking and licking my chin down to my neck when the door opened. They both looked at the door and saw Lisa's shocked face. Elijah stands on her feet, and I shout at Lisa. "I'll kill you the next time you skip knocking on my f*****g door!"

Lisa recovers and answers back. "Unnie, you should lock your "f*****g door" when you're going to do something dirty."

I looked at Elijah, who is laughing hard with Lisa's savageness before responding. "I'll kill you, Lisa. I promise I will." I threatened her while smiling.

Lisa looks at Elijah, who is still laughing hard. "Ya! You've been away for so long, and the first time my eyes laid eyes on you after five long weeks, you're sucking Jennie unnie's face?" 

"Language, Lisa! Where did you learn that?" I scolded her, trying to hide my smile. 

Lisa looks back at me before shaking her head, looking like a mom who caught her daughter doing naughty things. She looks at Elijah. "Ya! Eli-ya. Make sure to bring condoms whenever you plan to meet her. Tsk!" She said before running away after seeing Elijah's shocked expression after talking to him informally.

"That kid. Did you hear her calling me Eli-ya? I'll make sure to tell Jisoo how that kid talks to me." Elijah told her while shaking his head in disbelief and amusement. 

"So, you are more worried about the maknae talking informally to you than her thinking we're doing something dirty in here?" I asked him while laughing.

He looks at me with a grin. "Hun, we can do something dirtier than what we did earlier." 

I threw a pillow at him and pulled the blanket to cover my body. I covered my flustered face. "I'll kill you, Elijah!" I heard him laughed.

"I need to go, babe. I have a flight to catch. I'll see you as soon as possible." He kisses my forehead before leaving. I don't want him to go, but I know it's about work. I'm still happy somehow that I was able to spend some time with him, even with just an hour.

Elijah

The day before Elijah goes back to Seoul.

Elijah has been in and out of Korea for the past first five months of the year. He took over Kia Motors Corporations last year. Kia Motors was a struggling automobile manufacturer when Yunjin Group acquired it in 2010. The business is stable since Yunjin Group obtained it, but never came on top. Elijah is working on expanding Kia Motors in the neighboring Asian countries. If everything goes as planned, he plans to reach the European market with the help of Jamie, his British best friend he met while studying abroad. 

Elijah, at the same time, supervises the preparation for Blackpink's debut showcase in Japan as well. He is onhand when it comes to Blackpink's activities; from a simple SNS advertisement, up to the most significant endorsement, he is in charge. He received the song Blackpink will release this June. It has a different vibe than their past releases. It is vibrant and youthful, flirty and lovely, cute, and bouncy. Everything the girls are when at home, the Pink side of Blackpink. One of Lisa's part that he is excited to see is her all-English rap. She is uncertain at first when Elijah asked her to rap in English, but checking the recording, she did an excellent job. 

 I look for my phone to send a group message.

"Uh, I'ma fall in love baby

You gon' finna catch me." 

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaa. You have the recordings already, Oppa? Noooooooo." Lisa replied, embarrassed.

Jennie joined him on teasing Lisa. 

"Uh, give you all of this baby

Call me pretty and nasty."

"Unnieeeeeee. No." Lisa replied.

I laugh as I imagine Lisa's voice with her reply. Rosé teased Lisa as well. 

"'Cause we gonna get it

My love you can bet it on

Black we gon' double, the stack on them whoa!"

I sent a laughing emoji before turning the front camera on to see them. The three joined the video call, and I rapped the last part of Lisa's rap upon seeing her face.

"I be the Bonnie, and you be my Clyde

We ride or die

Xs and Os"

"Nooooo. No. No. No. Nooooooooo." Lisa said in a high-pitched voice that made us all laughed.

"Where's Jisoo?" I asked the three.

"Inkigayo recording." Rosé answered.

"I'll be back tomorrow. Let's go with Jisoo next week and watch Inkigayo live. I don't have any schedule abroad. I'll be joining you in the studio as well as the promotional activities for this comeback." I said, making the three girls smile in happiness.

"Oppa, let's go boxing. We were already asked to get back in shape. I want to do boxing. Lezz go, lezz go!" Lisa said with her usual energetic self.

"Why boxing? Join your Unnies in yoga, or do pilates with Chaeng. Did Trainer Hyung allow you to box?" I asked her. The last thing he wants is for the girls to get hurt.

Lisa pouts her lips. "Oppa. Ask Trainer Oppa to let me do boxing. I want to do it. Eli-Oppa."

I shake my head and said, "If Trainer Hyung said no, then it's a no."

"Oppa," Lisa said, trying to convince me.

 "I said no, Lisa," I said. She looks away, unhappy. "Stop acting like a child, Lalisa," I shout after seeing her walked out and went inside her room.

 "I'll go try to talk her out of it, Oppa." Rosé said before following Lisa.

 "Nothing can stop her when she decides to do something, so stop frowning," Jennie said while laughing. "Why don't you ask Trainer Oppa to let her do boxing?"

"You and Jisoo are spoiling the maknaes, that's why they are becoming stubborn, especially Lisa." I shake my head.

"You're the one responsible for Lisa's stubbornness. You've been saying yes to her ever since." Jisoo said, who just came back from her schedule.

"But you're the one who lives with her for six years, punk. I feel like the three of us are raising two kids." I laughed.

The three of them laugh hard after realizing it. I look at the two laughing after Jisoo tells something that happened in the recording. We ended the call after their manager arrived to pick them up for their training.

A few hours later

I was waiting for Jennie's training to end when I receive a call from Nathalie asking me to meet her for an early dinner. Nathalie is a good friend I met when I studied abroad. She studied Fashion and Textile Design at Oxford Royale Academy, a 15-minute drive away from the University of Oxford, where I studied. We worked together on several projects when I joined the fashion industry abroad. She is a model, a fashion designer, and recently, an entrepreneur venturing into bags and jewelry, and she is also Scott's twin sister and business partner.

I arrived at the Imperial Hotel, the place Nathalie is staying in. I waited for 15 minutes before I saw a woman in a dress walking towards me. 

"How long have you been waiting? I'm sorry." She said apologetically before kissing me on the cheek.

I pulled a chair for her before answering. "I arrived 15 minutes ago. It's nothing compared to a three-hour waiting time I endured with Scott when we picked you up from the airport before." 

Nathalie laughs after remembering all the times she made him wait for her. "El, Karl is trying to reach you. It's about the Paris Fashion Week this coming June."

"I don't think I can, Nat. I'm busy with the business stuff." I said as I start to eat.

She leaned on me and whispered something in my ear. "Let me steal you away from your boring life, even just for a day." She returned to her seat and reached for my hand when she heard me chuckled, not giving up in convincing me to attend the fashion show. "Let's relive the good old days of our college life. Come on, El. Scott will be there, and I heard Brad and Jamie too."

I pulled my hand from her when I noticed someone trying to take a photo of them. "Brad and Jamie?"

"Scott told me they'd come, so he asked me to convince you. He knows that you never say no to me." She winked at me, using her charms.

Nathalie and Scott Wertheimer are the children of Alain Wertheimer, who owns the controlling interest of House of Chanel. 

"I'll try, but I won't promise. Blackpink will release a new song this June, so I'll be busy for the promotion." I explained to her.

Nathalie nods. "Make my future models famous. My luxury goods are waiting for them." She winks at me.

"I'll make them so famous that you won't be able to afford them," I said, making her smile.

Nathalie and I had a great time together. We went straight to the bar to drink after having a great meal. It was almost 4 am when I arrived at my hotel room after bringing her back to her room. I took a quick shower and charged my dead-batt phone to send Jennie a message, but I fell asleep.

I turned on my phone after only having three hours of sleep. My phone beeps continuously, making my head hurt more. He can't remember the last time he had a hangover. I received multiple messages from Jennie, updating me about her whereabouts, and I received a text message from Scott and Nathalie, as well.

I read Scott's message first. "You already said yes. I'll see you in Paris next month, mate." Nathalie and I ended up calling the boys to drink with them, even just over a video call. They used to drink every night, but right now, talking on the phone about lives is already a luxury. The four of them are now busy living the real-life, a completely different life they had in college.

I checked Nathalie's messages next. It's just pictures of them drinking, and some are the two of them with the boys' faces on the screen.

I was packing my clothes when my assistant calls me, reminding my flight back to Seoul. I'll be home after spending the past five months flying in and out of Korea, living in Tokyo most of the time, then flying to Shanghai for some business meetings. I sent Jennie a message telling her my flight details. I don't expect a response from her as it is 3 pm in Seoul right now, she is in the training room practicing dance routine for their new song. I went to the airport after gathering all my things in the hotel room I stayed in and texted Jennie before I fly back to Seoul.

It was almost 7 pm the next day when I reached my place after 13 hours of flight from Paris to Seoul. I went to the YG building after an hour with a bag full of snacks and chocolates I bought in Tokyo for the girls and the staff. I arrived at the training room right before the practice ended. Everyone in the team is here, and they are all busy. The girls are checking the outfit they will wear for the shooting of the music video. I waved hello to their make-up artist. "Maeng noona, I asked the make-up team of YG Japan to help you with the products you are looking for." Maeng nodded at me and bowed shyly. "I've been working with you for almost a year, but you're still shy when I'm around." I pout, making her smile. "Hey, everyone. Get something from this bag. I have snacks and chocolates for everyone. Thank you for all your hard work while I'm away."

I put my arm around Chaeng's shoulder, who is busy fixing the clothes Lisa was wearing when Teddy talked to me.

"I sent you the final version of Lisa's part in the song. Chaeng's part is almost done, I'll send it to you later." Teddy said.

"Yeah, I checked the one you sent me this morning. Who's that girl who rapped in straight English? Let's sign her." Teddy and I laughed, making Lisa pouts. "I'll wait for Chaeng's final voice recording, Hyung. Just send it whenever it's ready. Thanks for the hard work."