Every girl let out a held breath. PINKPUNK got to live another day. No one was eliminated this month. As expected, Lisa got all A's again. And surprisingly, Jennie did too. Lisa's save had looked completely natural to anyone that hadn't know what the original plan was. One of the judges mentioned that Lisa lifting Jennie up reminded him a bit of ballet, which was "a nice touch".

Jennie and Lisa decided they would hang out for the rest of the day, as of tradition by now. They separated at the dorms to take showers and change clothes. After styling her hair a bit, Jennie went to her bedroom and researched for local events happening on Friday. It was time to enjoy the summer, at least for a day.

When Jennie found the perfect match for them, Jisoo came home. Unnie entered the bedroom looking really moppy. Jennie knew that look too well. She had seen it a lot in herself and in others on days like these. "Hey..."

"Nyeongan..." Jisoo sat on her bed and glanced at her roommate. "How did your evaluation go?"

"Great, Lisa really saved my ass back there. Literally."

Chu smiled slightly, knowing what Jennie referred to. Last night, Jendeukie had been practicing her solo part in the group performance and Jisoo had caught her falling on her butt. "It's rude to laugh!" Jendeukie had told her, but then she started laughing with her.

"So what about you...?" Jennie asked carefully.

"Well, I got C's on dance and group performance. B on singing, thanks to you. I wasn't kicked out, but I was the one who ranked the lowest." Jisoo looked down. "The judges weren't nice about it."

Chu had told Jennie she wanted to sing Selena Gomez & The Scene's new song Who Says? since she couldn't get it out of her head. The thing was, Jisoo didn't know English, so she had asked Jendeukie for help with the pronunciation of the lyrics.

Jennie nodded. "Same thing happened to me when I first joined, but look at me now. You just need more practice and experience. This life is really tough to get used to."

"I'm really disappointed in myself. I really tried, Jendeukie." Chu was glad she had cried before coming back here, otherwise she might be doing so now. But she hated it when people saw her crying, they only offered her pity. Jisoo didn't need pity, just solutions.

"Trying is not enough here, but you will get there. Just remember why you're doing this."

Why Chu is doing this...? I want to be an actress. If I'm being honest, I really love singing and dancing too, even if I'm bad at it. Do I really wanna give up because it's a little too hard? I've only been a month here. I will catch up with the rest. I won't be left behind. "Thank you."

"Any time." Jennie stood up from her own bed. "We're free for the rest of the day. Wanna go out with me and Lisa?"

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" Lisa exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"Jisan Valley Rock Festival..." Jisoo read the banner slowly, putting her arm over her eyes, which were bothered by the bright sun. "Oh, oh, I heard of this!"

"It's amazing," Jennie commented. "I've seen hundreds of videos while I was in New Zealand, but this is my first music festival in Korea."

"How are we gonna do about translation?" Lisa asked, only understanding the beginning of Jennie's sentence. "It must be tiring to go over me and Jisoo."

"Hmm... From what I've seen, Jisoo will just keep talking to you in Korean, so I guess you'll have to try your best."

"I guess this is my first Korean test in the field." Lisa tried to remember her vocabulary, hoping the words would make sense together. "What music person you want to see first?"

A bit weird, but understandable. "Hmm, let's see," Jisoo answered, checking out the flier on the wall.

Jennie gasped. "We might be able to catch the last songs of The Chemical Brothers if we run to the big top stage now!"

Jisoo's eyes widened by the speed of Jendeukie's words, full of overexcitement. Chu was sure Lalisa didn't get any of that, it was like Jennie had been rapping. "Better run, then!"

Lisa didn't know what was going on, but she went along with the girls when Jennie grabbed her wrist and dragged her to a big crowded area. The Chemical Brothers had just finished a song and they were starting another right away.

"This is my jam!" Jennie exclaimed in English. Galvanize was the band's latest single and she was really into it. She was considering performing it for the next evaluation.

Lisa stared at her as Jennie started rapping along with Ed Simons. The Thai girl easily felt the beat and began dancing as well. Jisoo was already enjoying herself while she hyped the girls beside her, who were showing off their talents unconsciously. The three were completely unbothered by the fact they were in the back of the arena, having the time of their life. It was as if that morning never happened.

The Chemical Brothers played two other songs before ending their set. The girls stayed for the next act by , a South Korean hip-hop trio. Everyone there recognized the first song, even Lisa. Run To You was a 2007 classic. Both Jennie and Jisoo sang along to every single word while Lisa backed them up with all of the English bits.

After a few more songs, some people started leaving to catch another set, so the girls got closer to the stage. Seeing and hearing the artists up close was incredible, you could feel every note hit your body. The only downside to this was the amount of heat formed due to being in the middle of a crowd and, of course, the hot summer weather. That's why the girls decided to take a break once DJ. DOC's set was over.

They found the food court on their way out. Lisa spotted a chicken skewer post immediately and looked at her friends with puppy eyes.

"Dalg kkochi julkka?" Jisoo asked, sounding sort of like a mother.

You want chicken skewers? Lisa nodded repeatedly, understanding the older girl for a change.

"Great, I love chicken!" Jisoo high-fived the maknae. "You too, Jendeukie?"

Jennie mimicked Lisa, even raising her fists enthusiastically. Two children indeed.

Jisoo walked up to the food post confidently. "Give me three chicken skewers." She turned to the children. "Drinks?"

"Ye!" Lisa answered. "Milkeu chokollis!"

"And give me two chocolate milk as well."

"And strawberry juice for me!" Jennie added and then looked at Jisoo. "You know Lisa can order that herself, right?"

"No clue, but this is fun." Jisoo recollected the money from each girl and paid for everything.

"You drink chocolate milk with meat too?" Jendeukie asked as they waited for the food.

Chu shrugged her shoulders. "It sounded weird, so I wanted to try it."

"That's the spirit!" Lisa cheered. Yes, she had looked for encouraging phrases just in case one of her members was feeling down. After seeing Jennie be upset earlier, Lisa wanted to be prepared next time.

"Well, at least she knows it's weird..." Jennie mumbled in English, obviously meant for Lisa.

"Ani, aniya!" Lisa argued.

Right on time, the girls received their orders. Jennie and Lisa stared at Jisoo expectantly, waiting for her unbiased opinion.

Chu had a bite of the chicken skewer first, having a positive reaction. Delicious. Then she tried the chocolate milk after. Chu raised her eyebrows in surprise and then nodded repeatedly, making an mmm sound.

"You guys are sick," Jennie concluded.

"Try it, try it, try it!" Lisa chanted in Korean. Jisoo joined her shortly after, now in unison.

Jennie felt like Nemo when his fellow fish tank members shouted, Sharkbait, ooh-ha-ha! Should Jennie give in? Well, it was more like giving up so they would stop, not because she was genuinely curious and wanted to join them. Yeah, let's go with that. "Fine."

"Yay!" Lisa cheered and offered her her own chocolate milk drink.

Jennie grabbed it hesitantly. There was no way this would be good for anyone's stomach. Milk was thick and meat was greasy. "Here I go, I guess..." She wouldn't be stuck in the bathroom if she just had a bite. Crunch, crunch. Sip, sip. At first, it wasn't that bad. It's the aftertaste that made it gross. "Ugh, no. I can't."

Lisa hugged her side and gave her multiple kisses on the cheek, making Jennie close her eyes out of panic. "But you've had it now. I'm proud of you!"

Jennie couldn't really push her off. They were in a position where Jennie didn't wanna drop her food while Lisa was making sure her chicken skewer stick didn't touch Jennie's hair or clothes. "Aah, stop, it's not a big deal!"

Jisoo slurped her drink. "So Jendeukie doesn't like when others are clingy with her?"

"It's not that, Lisa is just... showing her gratitude or something."

Lisa didn't get much out of that conversation, so she let go of Jennie. "What's a Jendeukie? Sounds cute."

"Jisoo's nickname for me," Jennie explained in English. "She combined my name with Jjindeuk, which means clingy."

"Are you clingy...?" To Lisa, Jennie was the type of person who enjoyed her own company, the only times she could think of were... "Ah, in the mornings."

"Yeah, yeah."

"I think you should give Jisoo an equally cute nickname."

"Now that's a great idea." Jennie smirked at her unnie, who just looked confused after hearing too many English words.

Chu stopped eating her chicken. "Huh?"

"Jisoo... Jichu... Oh!" Bingo, "Chichu!"

"Uh? No!" Jisoo shook her head, her expression filled with horror. "That's too aegyo!"

Lisa started poking Jisoo's nose and talking in a baby voice, "Ooh, who's Chichu? You are Chichu and Chichu is so cute!"

Jisoo broke her poker face and started growling at Lisa like a dog, which scared her away. "Don't ever call me that, Nallalisamang."

Lisa took some steps back and looked at Jennie with fear. "What did she just call me?"

"I'm not... sure." Even Jennie was surprised by the nickname. Nallali means delinquent and samang means death. Was Jisoo insulting and threatening Lisa at the same time? If so, that was some clever nicknaming skill. "I would stop calling her Chichu though."

"Good girl," Jisoo suddenly said in English.

Jennie and Lisa glanced at each other instinctively and then burst out laughing. Her accent had sounded so cute, Chichu worthy, but they saved their comments for themselves. Otherwise, they might get killed.

Moments later, they finished eating their food and were headed to the green stage. Jisoo was guiding them back to the big stage though, even when she'd said she wanted to hear Apollo 18 in the green stage.

"Yo, Jisoo. Not there," Lisa tried saying.

"Oh, you're right. Nice catch!" Then Chu turned to a different area and found the right stage. You see, Jisoo was really bad with directions, even when they were perfectly clear. For example, she took the train to the same school for 3 years and every once in a while, she would get off at the wrong stop.

Seeing Jisoo air drum to Apollo 18's deadend made it clear to Jennie that unnie enjoyed that kind of angsty and grungy music. People at YG tended to be more into pop and hip-hop, but having a rock head in the company was really fresh. The three of them had a wide variety of music taste. They should show each other their favorite groups someday.

Lisa played the air guitar and Jennie joined in with the air bass, the three of them banging their heads to the rhythm. This reminded Lisa of the time she went to Hongdae with Jennie and they saw the live band together. Even though she'd been in Korea for four months now, that day was still her favorite. This one is definitely taking second place, and the best part was that the day wasn't over yet.

After Apollo 18's set, they headed back to the big stage to see 9mm Parabellum Bullet. The j-rock band opened with Survive. You just knew from the guitar riff that the song was a banger. Jisoo sang along to all the Japanese lyrics and it sounded very sweet over Sugawara Takurō's rough vocals. In their elective language class, Jisoo had told Jennie she had learned a lot of words and phrases by watching anime and listening to Japanese music.

"The last song is Kamome from our new album Movement!" Takurō yelled. "Thanks for coming, everyone!"

Jennie turned to Lisa. Another dissonance, how someone could look so cute banging her head to the rhythm of the heavy drums. The Thai girl was wearing a sleeveless crop top with a yok dork pattern and light blue jean shorts with brown gladiator sandals. A beautiful summer outfit. The only thing that matched the rock atmosphere was her short black hair. It was kind of funny.

Lisa noticed Jennie was staring at her with a smile, so she walked even closer to her and took her arms from behind, waving them side to side in the air.

Again, dissonance. Lisa's happy attitude in their daily life. How she didn't listen to rock this heavy but would go with the flow. How she had the patience to teach Jennie and the members how to dance, even if it was past practice hours. How she probably missed her parents and friends so much, yet got up with a smile every day. Lisa... She just loved what they were all doing, regardless of the pressure for perfection. Lisa didn't know how much Jennie admired her.

Lisa gave Jennie a back hug when the bridge of the song came. Her skin was warm in comparison to Jennie's, which had gotten a bit cold due to the sudden afternoon wind. Kamome had a really nostalgic melody and it made them think about how one day they could be the ones on stage, expressing these feelings to the world.

When the song ended, Jisoo told them something in Korean Lisa couldn't figure out.

"Jisoo says, Even though we can't understand each other properly, music connects us all beyond language," Jennie translated.

Lisa nodded in agreement. Two Koreans and a Thai jamming to a Japanese band was certainly an interesting mix, 5555. Even though she and Jisoo hadn't spoken that much today, they felt closer somehow.

While deciding whether to stay on the big stage or move to another for the last act of the first day, Lisa tried reading some of the band names. "Goonamguayeoridingstella," she pronounced very slowly. "Doesn't that mean old man and woman riding a... stella car?"

"Stellar car. You're correct!" Jennie clapped proudly. "Everyone just calls them Goonam because their name is too long and confusing, even for Koreans."

"Goonam... Oh, I think I actually know them!"

"You do?" Jennie gasped. They were a really underrated dreamy rock band. They were really chill in comparison to all the other groups they had seen today.

"I tried looking for the name of the local band we saw the other day in Hongdae and I came across them. It wasn't Goonam, but they are really cool!" Lisa exclaimed.

"Let's go see them, then." Jennie updated Jisoo and then they headed back to the green stage. It was only fair they saw an artist Lisa liked, Jisoo and Jennie had been picking because Lisa didn't know of the bands. The Thai girl could only recognize the global acts of days two and three.

The sun was close to setting as Goonam opened with Shadow Dance. They played a lot of songs from their latest album Woojung Motel, which was very relaxing and gave the girls a break from all the running around they'd done all day. It was just the right mood for that moment.

They left the festival feeling ethereal. It had been so weird to step back into the real world after that whole experience. They were walking without direction at first. Surprisingly, it was Lisa that suggested they should find somewhere to sit because they might get lost.

The girls found a park around the block and sat on the grass beside a tree. Jisoo let out a breath as she laid down. "Wow, it was so cool!"

Lisa nodded repeatedly. "I'm... no words," she said in Korean.

"Naega mal-eul haeyo," Jennie said, sounding like she was still processing the experience. She had rested her back against the trunk of the tree, staring straight ahead. "I'm speechless," she translated.

"Naega mal-eul haeyo," Lisa repeated. She decided to use Jennie's lap as a pillow for her head, settling comfortably. The Thai girl smiled at the thought of how funny they might look, Jennie was really small in comparison to her.

Jennie started massaging Lisa's scalp subconsciously, her fingers finding Lisa's short hair very fluffy and nice. "I wanna perform on big stages," she said in English. Jennie already had a conversation like that with Jisoo unnie.

"Me too!" Lisa exclaimed, lifting one arm towards the sky, seeing its fading color through the leaves of the tree. "I see our group in bright lights. I... I see you next to me." Lisa bent her arm back to its former position, embarrassed.

"I see you too..." This is kind of weird to admit, but Jennie couldn't imagine her future without Lisa. They had completely turned PINKPUNK's fate upside down. The girl laying on her lap was made for this life and Jennie wanted to experience it together.

"Thank you for inviting me," Jisoo said in Korean. She'd been very bummed out earlier, but now it felt like that had happened ages ago. "I will never forget this day."

"I'm glad you came—"

"Jennie, does it rain in summer?" Lisa suddenly asked. She'd been trying to take a picture of the pretty sky with Jennie's film camera, but everything had gotten dark in a matter of seconds. "The clouds are—"

Jisoo might have understood the word rain in Lalisa's question, probably thanks to Selena Gomez's song A Year Without Rain, but unnie immediately got up and yelled, "Changma!"

As if on cue, raindrops began falling. Jennie looked at Lisa with panic. That's when the Thai girl understood the situation. They had to go now, otherwise they will get soaked. The two stood up in a heartbeat and flee the park.

Out of the three girls, Jennie was the best equipped to guide them to the nearest train station. As demonstrated before, Jisoo was awful with directions and Lisa just simply didn't know the city enough.

They arrived to the station with their upper bodies and shoes wet. Of course they should have brought umbrellas, it tended to rain a lot during this time of year. But since the girls spent most of their nights training or sleeping at the dorms, they forgot that the weather was something they should worry about.

Lisa saw her reflection in a metal pillar and burst out laughing. "My hair!" In any normal circumstance, Lisa would be really touchy with how her hair looked, but right now it was sticking out in a funny way.

"Jeongjeog Lisa," Jisoo commented, giving the maknae yet another nickname. She took a picture of Static Lisa with her cellphone before she could do anything about it.

"Hey..." Lisa pouted like a sad puppy in response.

"Don't you have towels in your backpack?" Jennie asked in English. Yes, Lisa had brought that thing again. Jennie couldn't complain though, it proved to be useful yet again.

"You're right!" Lisa quickly took two towels out and handed one to Jennie. The Thai girl dried her skin first, figuring her hair would get wet on their way out anyway. Her feet were also very cold, wearing these gladiator sandals hadn't been a good choice after all.

Jennie offered the towel to Jisoo since she was her unnie and looked soaked as fuck. Chu had been slower than the younger girls, even if she had been running for her life. It just showed how out of shape she was.

God, Jennie was tired. Thirty seconds of trotting and she was done for, but she had to pull through to reach their destination and get her friends to safety. Jennie kneeled down, feeling like she could pass out.

Lisa saw how Jennie made herself seem even smaller. She shyly kneeled down next to her and dried her face carefully with the towel she had finished using.

"Thanks..." Jennie trailed off, looking down. I can do it myself, her inner self wanted to say, but right now she felt vulnerable and being taken care of for once was something calming.

All dried up (or at least as dry as they could get), Lisa remembered she had packed a jacket in her backpack as well. Always prepared. She took a glance at Jennie. The Korean girl was wearing a white sports bra and a silver necklace. Her jeans reached just above her ankles and her short converse were all wet.

Lisa didn't want to say out loud that the bra's fabric sucked and it was a bit see-through right now. "Here."

Jennie looked at Lisa with a dumbfounded expression. "Won't you get cold?" Lisa was wearing more revealing clothing than her.

"I'll be okay. I have strong Thai genes." Lisa flexed her muscles as a statement.

While her friend was still not making sense, Jennie decided to accept the jacket. Her cold sensitivity was becoming too already, that's why she got sick easily. Jennie couldn't risk it during her training days. At the same time, Lisa couldn't either... Ugh, she felt bad. But Lisa was trying to act tough for her, even if she just looked like an idiot. Jennie deeply appreciated it.

"Don't you have another one of those?" Jisoo teased, giggling, and earned a shoulder bump from Jennie.

The train arrived a few minutes later. It was warmer inside, so they could get a proper breather in there. Jisoo sat by herself while the younger girls were next to each other.

"That Changma came out of nowhere!" Jisoo exclaimed.

"Right? It had been so sunny early. I forgot how crazy the weather was in Korea." Jendeukie turned to Lisa, who was resting her head on her shoulder. "Is it as crazy in Thaila—?" Oh. Lisa had fallen asleep. Cute... "I swear she can do that anywhere."

"I'd be freezing, wake up frozen like Captain America." Chu was currently hugging her own body, wishing she could be home already. Making jokes would be the only thing distracting her from the cold. "Ice Cube Lisa."

What Jisoo said was completely unrealistic, but Jennie decided to interlace her arm with Lisa's in an effort to keep her a little warm. No Ice Cube Lisa tonight. "She's like a kid that played too much, kekekeke."

"Oi, Jendeukie, can you teach me how to say something in English?" Chu whispered the sentence and Jennie scoffed.

"You wanna scare her?"

Jisoo unnie nodded with an innocent smile.

"Alright, alright."

Jennie shook Lisa's shoulder a bit. "Hey, sleepyhead, wake up. We're here."

Lisa opened her eyes slowly, all the city noise infecting her ears gradually. Jennie stood and helped Lisa get up. The reality of their situation hitting them again once they were out of the train, the humidity in the air was overwhelming and you could hear the rain pouring harder than before.

"Yo, Lalisa," Jisoo said, making the maknae turn around. "You drooled all over Jendeukie."

Lisa's eyes widened, making her turn to Jennie immediately. "I'm so sorry, I'll buy you a new jacket!" But the more Lisa analyzed Jennie's expression, the more it looked like she was holding in a smile. What was weirder though, was that Jisoo had talked to her in English. As far as Lisa knew, all the English Jisoo could speak were song lyrics. "You, guys!" Lisa whined, realizing she was being pranked.

"I'll buy you a new jacket?" Jennie chuckled. "It's your jacket!"

Jendeukie translated what Lisa said in between laughs and Jisoo easily joined her.

"Anyway," Lisa said a bit loudly. "We gotta get back to the dorms."

"Right..." Jennie hummed. She looked around the station and found a sign that read Lost & Found in Korean. She held her index finger up, indicating the others to wait for her.

"What she doing?" Lisa asked in Korean.

"Umbrellas are cheap but, because they're so cheap, people don't care to lose them. She's probably asking if she can have some of them. Smart."

None of Jisoo's words really registered, but it made a bit more sense when Jennie returned with three umbrellas and gave one to each girl.

Chu pointed at the umbrella, looking at Lisa. "Usan."

"Ah." Lisa's mouth stayed half open for a second. That's easy to remember. "Usan."

"They were ilh-eobeolin usan," Jennie said sadly. "But not anymore."

If Lisa remembered correctly, ilh-eobeolin meant lost. She had learned phrases just in case she became a lost umbrella. Fortunately, Jennie had found her.

While they could go slower now, the girls were still very underdressed for the rainy night. Just imagine them walking hurriedly as they mumbled things like "cold, cold, cold" and "ice cube Chu".

Once they reached the YG dorm lobby, they were welcomed with AC warmth and worried looks. The girls decided they should hurry upstairs and have hot showers before anyone could question them.

In her dorm's bathroom, Lisa glanced at herself in the mirror. She looked... terrible—her eye makeup made her resemble a raccoon, her hair was all over the place and her expression lacked confidence. She stepped in the shower. Let's just get on with it.

She reunited with Jennie and Jisoo after an hour at their dorm. Lisa was now more comfortable in a bumblebee yellow hoodie, black pajama shorts and long socks.

"Beol Lisa," Jisoo said when she opened the door.

"Annyong." Lisa entered the dorm and sat on the kitchen counter, where Jennie was making tea for everyone.

"Aren't you overdoing it a little?" Jennie commented, pouring the tea in their cups. She had chosen a lilac cup with a puppy for Lisa, a galaxy design for Jisoo and a floral one for herself. "You've given her like four nicknames today, unnie."

Chu shook her head. "That's the normal amount, Jendeukie. If she only had one, then that would mean she's boring."

"Wait, don't I have one—?"

"Oh, cute!" Lisa beemed at her puppy cup. While she preferred cats, Jennie saw her as this little dog wailing its tail happily. At least that's what Lisa hoped.

"Right?" The other day Jennie had gone to the supermarket and there were these adorable mugs on sale and Jennie couldn't stop herself from buying them. I mean, her dorm was getting crowded lately. It was totally justifiable... Okay, being honest, Jennie was running out of money quicker now that she had friends, but the difference was that nowadays she felt more whole.

You know when in concerts you tend to sing your lungs out because everything is too loud and you're just having fun? Jennie, Jisoo and Lisa hadn't known that.

"Good morning," Jennie tried saying, but her voice came out really hoarse and raspy.

Jisoo chuckled, but even her laughs sounded faint. They looked at each other with fear.

The two girls ended up going to classes anyway, even with their colds. Jennie couldn't miss the first PINKPUNK meeting of the month and Jisoo needed to improve so much it wasn't even a choice. Lisa skipped like any other month and hoped to heal by the end of the day. Besides the sickness, they all had another thing in common: They didn't have a single regret.