Jimin stood unmoving, in a state of shock as his mind came to the realisation that this was all real.

Pretend? With .. her?

He could hardly imagine what they were supposed to do.

What if we were supposed to ki-
No Bang PD would never.

In his peripheral vision, Jimin saw Lisa leave the room, but paid her no mind. The higher-ups were sat on their individual chairs, glancing her way. Surely, they must have expected some sort of reaction by the way they were patiently waiting. Bang PD's face was expressionless and he'd gone back to examine the contact.

What am I going to do?

Rose made to follow after Lisa and the rest of BLACKPINK followed.

Jimin turned to his members.

'You guys know what this means?' He said, breathlessly. 'I'm going to have to fake date her?'

'I should have read the contract before I signed it,' Namjoon sighed, rubbing his face. 'I'm sorry but there's nothing we can do about it now.'

'Don't worry, you'll probably just have to go on a couple dates, be seen together a couple times, and before you know it, you'll be asked to 'breakup', 'Jungkook reassured, placing a hand on Jimin's shoulder who smiled at the gesture. Then Jungkook's expression changed to a sombre one. 'The only thing that will probably make it hard for you, would be the fact that you have to fake date, well..'

Jimin looked at him.

'Her.'

'And what, exactly, is the problem with her?' Hoseok came to Lisa's defense and Jimin rolled his eyes, annoyed again.

'If I listed it all, it'd be a long night.'

Hoseok glared at Jungkook. 'Don't you fuc-'

Namjoon placed a firm hand on Hoseok's chest and he stepped in between the pair, giving Jungkook a stern look.

'Guys, guys, come on,' he broke the two up.

Jimin's irritation of the group, especially her, only seemed to be increasing. He'd been lenient once the evening, when he didn't react to her stupid words, as an unspoken apology for leaving her during the practice alone, but she only seemed to be provoking him.

'There must be something we can do,' he said to himself.

Jimin turned around, intent on talking Bang PD out of this ridiculous idea. Out of all the things he'd been requested to do his entire career, this is the worst of them all. Bang PD will help them. He must.

Jimin scolded himself. Now he was just beginning to sound desperate.

Suddenly, the door flew open, and in came the girls of BLACKPINK, Lisa with exceptionally red cheeks. Without a hint of concern on his face, Jimin turned away.

'Could we please resume where we were before?' Manager Sungwoo announced, clapping his hands to grab their attention.

Jimin returned to his original spot, a step behind the girls, in a line with his other members.

'Lisa and Jimin, please step forward.'

Jimin winced when he heard his name. This was starting to feel all too real.

There is no way I'm actually-

'We will now list the rules to this, relationship,' the other manager announced, once Jimin had stepped out to the front, the two keeping maximum distance away from each other. The Manager, Jimin assumed was Blackpink's, pulled out a piece of paper and began reading it out loud.

'This relationship will be treated like any other publicity stunt, and therefore will continue indefinitely,' she started.

'Are you saying, that this could go on, forever?' Lisa voiced from beside me, a faint quiver in her voice.

'I doubt we would take such extreme measures, Lisa,' YG answered. She nodded, and Jimin and her both sighed in relief.

'You are to engage in skinship, when you are told to do so, such as holding hands, or hugs etc,' the woman continued.

'The two of you, and all the members of your respective groups, are not allowed to speak of this contract to anyone,' she said sternly, our CEO giving us a firm look. 'This stays between us and any staff that will be involved in the process.'

'No relationship nor romantic feelings are to be formed through these activities-

'As if I would-' Jimin's scoff cut off when their manager glared at him and Bang PD had given him a disapproving glance.

'For now, that is all,' the lady continued like nothing had happened. 'A sheet of the rules will be delivered to your dorms. Further instructions will be given later on,' she ended. 'You may continue your dinner.'

And that was that. They were dismissed.

The groups filed out and left the room. When they'd finally gotten back in their seats, the food began to arrive. There was no use for that though. Jimin doubted anyone of them an appetite left food.

Jimin stared at his plate, filled with food. He gripped a spoon and chopsticks in his hand but all he did was push the food around his plate.

He looked up and observed the people around him. The only ones who were actually eating were Jin and Jisoo, who were helping themselves to the food.

Not any later, Jimin came to the conclusion that this was what most of them were doing. Observing Jin and Jisoo.

***

When Jisoo finally noticed the silence, she paused, lifting her head slowly.

'What?' She looked at her members. They gave her questioning looks but didn't answer. Lisa laughed to herself inwardly.  'It's free food!'

The sound of amused laughter rose from the table.

'Girls, eat.' Jisoo ordered with a stern look. Unsurprisingly, they obeyed the older. It was wired into Lisa's mechanism to listen to the elder out of respect.

'You too, boys,' Jin added. Unconsciously, they picked up their chopsticks again.

'You too seem to be a great pair,' Hoseok commented.

Jin who had lifted his coke can to his lips, choked on his drink, quickly putting it back down, and Jisoo turned inhumanly red.

'Be quiet.' Jin ordered. Lisa felt a small smile form on her face when she noticed the pair avoiding each other's eyes.

'Aw, you guys are so cute,' Jennie cooed. 'Acting all shy and stuff..'

'I hate you.' Jisoo said. Jin was avoiding all their gazes, quickly gulping down the water in his raised cup.

The table became awkwardly quiet, filled with sound of spoons on porcelain.

All of a sudden, Namjoon placed his chopsticks down on the table.

'Listen,' he started. 'All of you.' When the sound went across the table, everybody paused, quickly putting their cutlery down. Lisa observed with a curious look on her face.

'I know we started on the rocks, and you girls don't have specifically good opinions of us. I just want us to start over.'

Silence.

Namjoon was right, Lisa had to admit. But there was no way he could actually believe the two groups could be friends. Not when they were now bind with a contract. And she had to fake date one of them.

Jennie spoke up and Lisa hoped she wasn't actually giving in.

'I'm sure we appreciate your efforts, on rebuilding the bridges between us, as groups. But while I'd love to be friends with some of you,' she paused. Then turned and looked straight at the pale man before her.

'I can't say the same about the rest of you.'

://:

happy new years!! <3