Chapter Text
Jennie’s morning was already a contender for top ten worst mornings of her life even before a stranger crashed into her. She was already late for her flight after waiting twenty minutes in line at one of the airport’s many Starbucks for the most expensive coffee she had ever paid for. She begrudgingly forked over her money when she realised she didn’t think she could physically make it through a seven hour plane ride with the worst hangover of her life without it. Her head was pounding as the unnecessarily loud, disembodied voice mockingly reminded her that it was the second boarding call for boarding class E (she was supposed to be in Business Class).
She picked up the pace, practically sprinting with her suitcase flying haphazardly behind her. That was when a force of a person collided with her, hard enough to cause Jennie to drop everything but the stranger managed to somehow keep them both upright.
“Fuck,” Jennie hissed, as her belongings scattered to the floor in the process along with her overpriced coffee. She stared mournfully at the eight euro puddle, barely paying attention to the offender.
“Shit,” the perpetrator groaned, falling to her knees immediately, trying to save Jennie’s belongings before the coffee reached it. Jennie joined her, trying to stuff all the things that belonged to her back into her bag.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jennie said through gritted teeth. She almost felt bad but without coffee in her system, she didn’t have the restraint to stop herself from snapping at this woman.
“I am so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going an-”
“You’re sorry? Fuck, that makes everything better, thanks,” Jennie interrupted her rambling.
“Can I buy you a new coffee?” The girl asked, and it caused Jennie to actually tear her eyes away from her spilled coffee to take a look at her and almost all her anger dissipated immediately. She was gorgeous, with short jet black hair, tanned skin, big, brown doe eyes, an infuriatingly sharp jawline and a hesitant smile.
She almost took her up on the offer, and would have too, if not for the extra mocking voice echoing through the airport speakers telling her it was the final boarding call for the flight to Seoul. Jennie sighed, closed her bag and got up, “Forget it, I have to go.” She allowed herself one last glance at the girl, who was still watching her. She tore her eyes away and brushed past her, hurrying in what she hoped was the direction of the gate.
-
She made it, barely. By the time she sunk into the luxury of Business Class, she was officially in the worst mood of her life. She asked the air hostess for two espresso shots stat, and even though it wasn’t the overpriced coffee she had wanted, it was enough to inject some life back into her.
She sighed and got her phone out of her bag, ready to text Jisoo that she had made it on the plane and to start listening to the playlist she had spent time making instead of sleeping last night. She had planned the music to distract her from the monotony of having to read through the contracts that she had been ignoring all week. She knew she’d get an earful from Jisoo if she didn’t have them done by the time she landed even if all she wanted to do was sleep despite the caffeine running through her veins.
It was only then that she realised that it wasn’t her phone.
-
Lisa walked out of the airport and let out a content breath as she looked around. Despite the incident in the airport, she was in a good mood. How could she not be? She was in one of her favourite cities and she was pretty much free to explore it after the shoot for the whole three weeks she was there.
She knew she should message Chaeyoung she’d landed safely before she started getting dramatic. Chaeyoung often had the tendency to overreact ever since that one time Lisa had lost her phone when she was in New York and had nearly caused an international manhunt to be conducted for her before she managed to get in contact with Chaeyoung through a payphone. Despite the fact that her best friend was even worse at replying to text messages than her, Lisa missing one check-in could cause a near disaster if she wasn’t careful.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and immediately something felt off. It was slightly bigger, the case was black like hers but the back of it wasn’t covered in the rainbow stickers her and Chaeyoung had stolen from a kid’s magazine left out at a doctor’s office when Lisa had nearly cut her finger off in her first and last unsupervised kitchen adventure. It all led to one unmistakeable conclusion. This wasn’t her phone.
“Shit,” she muttered, tapping at the screen, hoping it wasn’t password-protected so she could at least call someone but to no avail. She sighed when she saw the lockscreen. It was of the angry woman from the airport who looked a lot less angry in the picture when she was dressed in a comfy looking oversized sweatshirt and holding what she assumed was her dog, but looked more like a ball of fur with some eyes and a nose. Lisa felt the corner of her lips twitch for a moment as her eyes lingered on the woman’s smile.
She had a feeling that the woman wouldn’t be smiling like the picture when she figured out Lisa had accidentally stolen her phone. Then she realised that it was likely that the woman had her phone and therefore would be subject to Chaeyoung’s interrogation. She thought back to the initial angry glare that she had thrown at her and grimaced. Poor Chaeng didn’t know what was going to hit her.
-
Jennie landed a very long fourteen hours later and she had spent most of the time examining the phone, wondering if there was any way of unlocking it, which she had to give up on after being locked out after trying some common passcodes. She instead found herself staring at the lock screen- a picture of the woman from the airport with her arm around a disgruntled-looking blonde woman’s neck, while her other hand ruffled her hair. It was a cute picture, Jennie had to begrudgingly admit, her eyes lingering on the airport woman’s wide grin.
As soon as she landed and struggled to get her suitcase off the carriage- she always packed way more than she needed, fashion emergencies were a real thing when million won contracts rested upon appearances- she decided to turn off airplane mode.
There was a moment of peace before the phone managed to get service and then she was suddenly affronted with vibration after vibration as all the texts and calls started to come through. She could barely keep up but then realised in horror that they were all coming from the same person. She skimmed through the countless notifications from so-called ‘Chaengie’.
Chaengie 🌹
I checked and it says ur flight landed ten minutes ago but can you let me know that you’ve got there safely
Where are youuuuu
Replyyyyyyyyy
Lisayahhhhh
Why aren’t my calls going through? Have you switched off your phone?
Come on, let’s not have a repeat of NYC ‘18
Just let me know if ur safe
I’m going to work but I’ll keep my phone on me so call me
Just tell me if you’re at the shoot and you want me to fuck off, I just need an answer
Even a thumbs up will do Lisa
Lisayah this isn’t funny, reply
I will actually call the police this time, Lisa
This isn’t a joke, Lisa.
Lisa, it’s been hours. I haven’t been able to sleep.
Lisa. Call me back when u get this.
Please.
Jennie rolled her eyes. Whoever this ‘Chaengie’ was, she was certainly dramatic. There were actually a few texts from other people amongst the flood of messages.
Mae 💖
ลลิสา ฉันหวังว่าคุณจะเดินทางปลอดภัย ❤️ ฉันรักคุณ ช่วยตอบกลับแชยองด้วย เพราะคราวนี้เธออาจจะโทรหาตำรวจจริงๆ
She squinted at the text, trying to place the foreign alphabet. Then she saw that a text message underneath was written in Hangul. How many languages did this Lisa woman speak?
Suzy Unnie 🫡
My girlfriend is losing her mind right now and it’s your fault, so will you please reply?
Because - and don’t tell Chaeyoung this- she’s driving me crazy and I can’t stop her from calling the police much longer, I just want to go to sleep Lisayah
Jennie faintly wondered if she was about to be arrested any minute for having this ‘Lisa’s’ phone just as another text came through, the time telling her that this was one sent now and not during the flight.
Chaengie 🌹
Your location says you're in Incheon, why are you still in Korea?
I’m going to call and if you don’t pick up i stg Lisa I’m going to call the fucking police.
At least Jennie got some warning before ‘Chaengie’ started calling, a picture of the blonde from the lockscreen poking her tongue out at the camera suddenly flashing on the screen. She considered ignoring it since she had a feeling this was going to be someone who she needed a lot more caffeine and sleep to deal with. However, the threat of the police being called was looming over her head, along with the fact that this woman might be her only hope of trying to get into contact with Lisa and getting her phone back. She braced herself before she finally accepted the call.
“What the hell do you think you’re playing at, Lisayah?” A voice came through the phone loud enough for her to pull the phone away from her ear and still hear her loud and clear. Jennie rubbed her temple as she wondered if she was just sleep deprived or if the woman really did have an Australian accent.
“Um, thi-”
“I was worried sick, you bitch, is this your idea of a joke?” The Australian accent was definitely real.
“This isn’t-”
“What the hell happened? Did you miss your flight? Did you get distracted taking pictures again? Did you forget to charge your phone? Or did you break it? Don’t tell me you lost it again? You can be such an idiot sometimes, Lisa. I’ve told you, you need to pay attention to your surroundings.”
“No, you see-”
“I haven’t heard from you in over twenty four hours, Lisa, I was worried sick! I haven’t been able to sleep all night! Wh-”
“This isn’t Lisa!” Jennie finally snapped, aware of the strange looks she was getting from people. She couldn’t take being scolded for something she didn’t do any longer and the girl clearly was never going to let her get a word edgewise.
There was silence for a few precious moments before the woman spoke again.
“Who the hell are you and what have you done with Lisa?” The woman’s voice was icy cold and Jennie would be a little more intimidated if she wasn’t so fucking tired of this whole debacle.
“I haven’t done anything to her, if you’d shut up for two seconds and let me explain you would know that already. Your idiot friend has most likely taken my phone and I have hers,” Jennie explained, rubbing her face. “Do you know her passcode so I can fucking contact her?”
“Hey, she’s not an idiot!”
“You called her an idiot like thirty seconds ago,” Jennie retorted, throwing an arm in the air.
She could hear the sound of an affronted scoff on the other end of the line. “Listen, I am not giving you her passcode until I know you’re telling the truth.”
Jennie pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath in. Her patience was really beginning to reach its end and she didn’t want to lose her cool in the middle of this airport where anyone could see or record her. “Call my phone then,” Jennie said, rolling her eyes hard enough that it hurt. “But please call me back with the passcode. I need to contact Lisa.”
She heard murmuring between ‘Chaengie’ and another voice that she guessed was the girlfriend- ‘Suzy’ - before she spoke again. “Give me your number.”
“A please wouldn’t hurt,” Jennie muttered, before she told her her number- twice because she didn’t write it down the first time. She didn’t often give her number out to just anyone. Only a handful of people close to her had access to it and now it had to be extended to a stranger while another stranger was in possession of her phone. Needless to say, it was kind of her worst nightmare.
“If Lisa is safe and not tied up in your basement, then I will ring you back, if she doesn’t answer I’m calling the cops on your ass,” she was told before she hung up on her. Jennie stared incredulously at her phone. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had hung up on her or spoken to her in such a manner. She shook her head as she prayed that Lisa would pick up the fucking phone so she wouldn’t have to explain to Jisoo why she was being escorted out of the airport by the police.
-
It really was difficult to get to places without a phone since she didn’t make it a habit to memorise the addresses of places she needed to go to on trips. Somehow, she managed to get to the shoot on time after a lot of talking with different taxi drivers in varying combinations of English and what little French she knew until she somehow found a Thai taxi driver who somehow knew where she needed to go with her vague descriptions.
The shoot went on for a lot longer than planned since her model decided to choose today to try out being a huge diva. Lisa was pretty easy-going. Actually, she was the most easy-going person she knew, it took a lot to get on her nerves - unless your name was Chaeyoung, then it was very easy to get on her nerves. However, this woman was pushing her to her limits when she kept stopping the shoot every five minutes to complain that the lights were too bright or to get her make-up touched up. She nearly snapped at the woman more than once before she reasoned that she was probably having a bad day too if she was acting this touchy. So Lisa plastered a smile on her face and acquiesced to most of her demands before she was finally finished for the day.
She walked around the city for a little bit, stopping to talk to the locals and take the occasional photo, but she was there for what the majority of the tourists were there for. The shot of the Eiffel tower. It was definitely not her first time in Paris nor the first time that she’d taken a picture of the monument, but there were so many places around to take a picture depending on the angle and the composition she wanted, not to mention that the Eiffel tower had something inherently romantic about it. She had been to Paris so many times and it never got old.
She wandered around until the jet lag finally caught up with her. Then she had the hassle of trying to find her way to the hotel and she kept nodding off in the taxi when she finally found one that could figure out where she needed to go. She didn’t even remember checking in or getting into bed.
By the time she woke up, it was dark outside and she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep for the rest of the night. She loved travelling more than anything. But jetlag was a real bitch. She’d take it though if it meant she could keep living her dream, even if she was going to be bleary and tired for most of her time here.
She pulled the phone off the nightstand and looked at the time. 10:30PM. Then, she took some time to look at the picture of the woman again. She had spent a lot of the shoot doing that. There was something about her smile that took Lisa’s breath away. The way it pushed her cheeks up and turned her eyes into little crescents and the way it showed off a little bit of her gums made her look young and carefree. It had Lisa’s fingers itching to take a picture of her, even though she didn’t even know who she was or where she was. Sure, she had already known the woman was beautiful when she first saw her. She looked elegant and put-together in an outfit that probably cost more than Lisa’s entire wardrobe given how many Chanel logos she managed to catch a glimpse of but something about this picture made her wish that they had got acquainted on much better terms, or perhaps that she would have had time to accept Lisa’s offer for coffee.
She was broken out of her staring when she realised that the woman had received a few messages, written in Hangul, while Lisa was asleep.
Jisoo Unnie
Jendeuk I’m in arrivals, where are you?
You better have slept on the plane, I know what you’re like so I have no hope that you did
Irene Unnie
Jennie, I talked to Alice and we have some amendments. We’ll talk tomorrow. Get some rest.
Text me when you land so I know you landed safe.
Mino Oppa
Jennieyahhhhh, your dog is fucking wild when you’re not here to calm him down
I told you, he hates men, why did you get me to dogsit?
I think you did it on purpose, how many times do you want to apologise for spilling that wine on your Chanel bag? I bought you a new one and everything.
Anyway, you better have brought me back a souvenir. You owe me so bad.
Omma
Heard back from the investors and they’re all very excited to hear about the pitch. I never doubted you. Always so proud of you Jennieyah.
I miss you and I love you
Nayeon Unnie
I’m throwing a surprise party on Friday for Hoyeon’s birthday
Please come, we miss you! It’s been way too long, Jennieyah!
Jongin
Dad told me you'll be back tomorrow.
I'll be dropping by to talk to you. It's important.
Just hear me out.
Lisa managed to use her deductive skills to figure out that the pretty stranger’s name was Jennie and that she must be from Korea, given the Hangul messages, which was conveniently on the other side of the country and where Lisa had just come from. Jennie, she mouthed the name as she looked back at the picture. It suited her, pretty name for a pretty girl.
She was interrupted by the phone suddenly ringing. An incoming call from an unknown number. She just hoped that somehow it was Jennie calling.
“Hello?”
“Oh my God, Suze, she wasn’t lying, it’s Lisa!” Lisa frowned as a familiar voice came ringing through and wondered if she was hallucinating or if that really was Chaeyoung.
“Chaeyoung?” She questioned, feeling kind of stupid.
“Lisayah, you had me worried sick, you absolute asshole.”
“Miss you too, Chaeng,” Lisa deadpanned, rolling her eyes. “How the hell did you get this number?”
“I rang your number because your location said you were still in Incheon for some reason and managed to get this number from the girl who has your phone.”
“Stalker much?” Lisa muttered, but it was with fondness.
“Hey, Lisayah, you owe me eight hours of sleep.” Suzy’s voice came through the phone and Lisa chuckled. She could only imagine what a fuss Chaeyoung had kicked up. “So, who’s phone do you have? How did this even happen?”
Lisa frowned. “You didn’t ask her what her name was when you rang her? How did that not come up?”
There was a beat of silence and then Chaeyoung’s sheepish voice came through. “In my defence I was really worried about you.”
“What did you do?”
“She accused the other girl of keeping you tied up in her basement, threatened to call the police on her then hung up,” Suzy answered when it became clear Chaeyoung wasn’t going to.
Lisa fell backward into her pillow, letting out a little groan. “Chaeyoung!”
“I’m sorry I care about you.”
“Call her back before she throws my phone in the fucking Han river!”
“She wants your passcode.”
“Yeah, give it to her, then maybe we can organise a way of getting our phones back,” Lisa said.
“Okay, I’m glad you’re safe, love you,” Chaeyoung called out.
“Love you also,” Suzy added.
“I love you guys too even if you’re so embarrassing.”
“You better ring us later and tell us about your travels.”
“I will, I promise, as long as you go now and apologise.”
She heard the line click as Chaeyoung hung up. She had a feeling that she wasn’t going to but she wouldn’t be her best friend if she did either. Now, to wait for Jennie to contact her. She didn’t know why she was feeling the tiniest bit of nerves at the prospect of getting to talk to her again. It was like the universe giving her a second chance to be able to see her real happy smile one day. But she was getting ahead of herself. She’d just take a text message for now.
-
She had managed to find Jisoo and was situated in her car by the time she received the call back from Lisa’s overdramatic friend. She had already gotten laughed at by Jisoo when she had to explain the phone situation to her and was munching on the macarons she had gotten for her from France as retaliation.
“Yah, leave some for me, Jendeuk,” Jisoo complained, slapping her hand away. “I just can’t believe that some random woman has Kim Jennie’s phone. Do you know how much the media would pay for that? And you gave it away for free.”
“I didn’t give it away willingly, she stole it from me.”
“Is it stealing if you stole her phone too?”
Jisoo was saved from whatever retort Jennie was going to deliver by the sound of a guitar riff and the reappearance of Chaeyoung’s face on the screen of the phone that she was holding in her hand. She braced herself for what she could already tell was going to be an aggravating experience as she picked up and brought the phone to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Lisa wants me to apologise, I came across a little aggressive apparently,” Chaeyoung said, and even though she doesn’t know the girl, Jennie was sure that she definitely was not going to get an apology. She also wasn’t the type of girl to say a greeting before diving into a phone call apparently.
“Save the apology, can I get the passcode now?”
“It got me thinking that perhaps we got started off on the wrong foot,” Chaeyoung kept talking like she hadn’t even heard Jennie say a word. “I'm Chaeyoung, Lisa’s best friend, and I’m here with my girlfriend, Suzy.”
“Hey!” She presumed ‘Suzy’ was the one who chimed in.
Jennie looked up at the sky through the sun-roof of the car and wondered what she had done to deserve this. “Can we please cut the small talk? I need that passcode.”
“It’s polite to give me a name too, you know,’” Chaeyoung said.
Jennie sighed long and exasperated. “Jennie,” she finally said through gritted teeth. Jisoo leaned her head in to hear what was being said on the other line to make Jennie react like this. Jennie pushed her head away and pointed firmly at the road. She did not want her last moments on Earth to be spent talking to this frustrating woman.
“Now that wasn’t so hard was it, Jennie?”
“Passcode.”
“You’re not going to sell her information are you?” Chaeyoung said.
“Who on earth would want your friend’s information?”
“Chaeyoungah, stop annoying her and just give her the passcode.”
“Listen to your girlfriend before I throw this phone away.”
Chaeyoung hummed contemplatively. “You seem harmless enough, but keep in mind I have your location, so be careful.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Yep,” Chaeyoung replied. “Anyway, her passcode is 970327.”
Jennie sighed. “Finally.” Then she paused, and huffed. “Seriously? Is that her birthday? You were worried about me stealing her information when she made her passcode her birthday?”
“Goodbye,” Chaeyoung sang before she hung up on her again.
Jennie stared at the phone incredulously before she shook her head. Hung up on twice in the space of an hour. She ran a hand through her hair with another sigh before she unlocked Lisa’s phone. She was greeted with a picture of a grey and white cat lounging on a windowsill watching the sunset over what she recognised to be the Seoul skyline. Cute, but there was no time to admire it.
She quickly pulled up the messaging app, which had over twenty unread messages- which was just anxiety inducing- opened a new chat and plugged in her own number.
+82 10620 33087
hello, this is Jennie, the owner of the phone you stole.
my passcode is 180325.
She thankfully only had to wait a few seconds for a typing bubble to pop up.
+82 1039 3813
Lisa here. I’m sorry about the theft
But in my defence, you kind of stole my phone too
Jennie
only because you ran into me and made me spill my eight euro coffee and all my things
+82 1039 3813
Eight euros??? For coffee???
Jennie
don’t. it’s a sore subject
+82 1039 3813
Fine, i’m sorry for the theft and the coffee
And also for Chaeyoung
Jennie
yeah, she’s something else…
but sorry doesn’t bring back my coffee :/
+82 1039 3813
I owe you one coffee then
Jennie
i will hold you to that. when will I get this coffee?
+82 1039 3813
The minute I come back to Seoul in three weeks
Jennie
and I’m supposed to trust the words of a thief?
+82 1039 3813
There’s honour among thieves, don’t you know?
Jennie snorted, drawing a questioning look from Jisoo, which she ignored as it sunk in that Lisa wasn’t going to be back for three weeks.
Jennie
Three weeks without my phone? damn it…
+82 1039 3813
I’m sorry! But we can work out an arrangement. I can send you anything you need and can pass on any messages!
Speaking of, you have a few already
Then she sent a screenshot of her notifications. She wanted to groan as she saw the last one.
Jennie
i’m with Jisoo unnie right now
but do you mind giving the others this number? and explaining the situation
+82 1039 3813
Yeah ofc, no worries
Jennie
not Jongin
just ignore him
+82 1039 3813
Oooooh, what’s the story there?
Jennie
none of your business
+82 1039 3813
:(
Jennie
thank you btw
+82 1039 3813
:D
No worries. Happy to help! I owe you after all
I’d ask you to do the same but Chaengah probably called everyone I know to explain the situation already
Jennie quickly changed the contact name as she thought about what Jisoo had said earlier. She typed another message.
Jennie
don’t go through my phone.
Lisa
Sounds like you’ve got nudes hidden on here
Jennie rolled her eyes, but her lips turned up into a smile on their own accord.
Jennie
i wish. just boring classified information.
Lisa
Wow, way to make someone want to snoop
I won’t though because I’m a nice person
Jennie
i bet you are
all self proclaimed nice people go around stealing phones and spilling overpriced coffee
Lisa
Will you let it go already?
Jennie
did you not read eight euros???
Lisa
Are you more upset about the coffee or your phone?
Jennie
the coffee obviously
Lisa
Yeah that was a dumb question
You can afford all that Chanel but draw the line at an eight euro coffee?
Jennie
it’s the principle of the thing, Lisa.
Lisa
I guess…
Don’t go through my stuff either then
Jennie
nudes?
Lisa
Yes.
Jennie blinked. But then another message came through a few seconds later.
Lisa
Nah I’m kidding, just an embarrassingly high amount of selfies
Got you for a second though right?
Jennie
goodbye, lisa.
“Well?” Jisoo urged, when Jennie locked the phone and put it down.
“Sorted. She’ll be back in three weeks. I guess I’ll just use her phone until then.”
“And she’s going to use yours?”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
Jennie shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I be? She seems fine.”
“Based off one text conversation?”
Jennie shrugged. “Yeah. I guess so.”
Her (for the next three weeks) phone buzzed. She looked down to read Lisa’s reply.
Lisa
HA I totally did
Bye Jennie :D
She could see Jisoo keep glancing at her with bemusement but she turned away to look out of the window so she didn’t catch her smiling.
-