Just Friends ; Chaelisa

4

It's been two weeks since Chaeyoung left New York, and she and Lisa have been in a long distance relationship that mainly consists of facetime calls and the occasional Zoom session so that they can watch movies together. They've discussed Chaeyoung moving to New York, and the possibility of her moving as early as the beginning of the school year rolls around.

"Hey!" Lisa smiles brightly when she sees Chaeyoung's face come into frame. But the smile quickly disappears when she see Chaeyoung's grim expression.

"Hey."

"What's wrong?" Lisa asks, voice full of concern.

"I heard back from Columbia."

"And?"

"I didn't get the job."

"Oh."

"Which means, I think I'm gonna stay in Korea."

"What? No, no, you can't!"

"Lisa, I have to."

"No, remember our plans? You were gonna move here and we weren't gonna do this long distance thing anymore."

"Lis, I can't move there. I don't have a job, or an apartment, or even friends besides you, Jennie and Jisoo."

"You can move in with me! I'm so close to getting an apartment, we could move in together and-"

"I already told you I can't do that."

"I'm being serious Chaeyoung, I make enough to support the both of us, at least for the time being. You can look for a job and I can cover all the costs, there's no reason you can't move to New York."

"I can't do that to you, Lisa. I'm not going to put that on you."

"Well then, what do we do? I hate this long distance thing, and I know you do too. It was bearable when we thought you were going to come to New York, but now you're telling me you want to stay in Korea?"

"Lisa, please, I don't want to talk about this right now. I just called to tell you about the job. We'll discuss things later."

"Chaeyoung, I love you, let me take care of you." Lisa begs.

"I know you do."

The video calls ends and Lisa slams her laptop shut. She trudges from her room to the living room where Jennie and Jisoo are sitting on the couch.

"Hey Lis." Jisoo says.

"Hey." Lisa says as she flops face down onto the couch.

"What's wrong?" Jennie asks.

"Chaeyoung didn't get the job."

"Aw, that sucks. I'll call her later."

"Why are you so upset?" Jisoo asks.

"Because,"  Lisa sighs and turns her head to the two girls "I don't know if we'll be together anymore."

"What?!" Jennie cries.

"Both of us don't like the long distance, and we both thought that she was gonna move here. Turns out, she didn't get the job and now she's hesitant to move."

"Aren't you working on getting a place lined up?" Jisoo asks.

"I am, and I told her that. I told her that I could take care of her until she gets a job and that we could live together, but- but she said no. She said she can't put that on me."

"Tell her that you don't mind taking care of her."

"I did. She still said no. I don't know what to do."