"Dum, dum, dum, di, da, da..."

Rosé looks at her daughter whose holding her hand while they make their way to the backstage. "I see someone's excited to play the piano..." She teases.

"More like nervous." Her daughter clarifies.

"Come on, there's no need to be that nervous, don't think of it as a big deal."

"Mommy it's my first recital, of course I'm going to make it a big deal." Laura lets go of her hand and went ahead of her.

"Laura, wait."

As soon as Rosé joins her daughter at the backstage, she saw how chaotic it was. There was a side of it filled with children having their dresses checked and a little make-up applied, one corner was vocalizing, another children practicing their instruments and there was just this corner where children were endlessly and annoyingly whining- nearing on the verge of throwing a tantrum while their parents wipe of beads of sweat, trying to calm their offspring down. Amidst the chaos, she looks at her little one who looked like she just had realized something.

"I'm going to suck later."

"That's not true."

"Mom, seriously, take a look around." Her daughter gestures. "I'm going to fail."

"Hey look at me." She kneels down to meet her daughter eye-to-eye. "You're only going to fail if you allow it to happen okay?" She says. "I'm sorry for telling you that you shouldn't consider this as a big deal, because you're right. It is a big deal but, it doesn't mean you can't have fun."

"How can I have fun when I'm starting to worry too much?"

"Can you tell me while you like music?"

Laura nods her head. "I like that I can play my favorite songs. I like that I can play your favorite songs on Sunday while you paint. Music makes me more connected with you."

"Then focus on that reason..." Rosé chokes up the tears with what her daughter just said. "Sometimes, when we let our emotions take over for good reasons, the results can be pretty amazing."

"Were you also nervous before you perform?"

"I was always nervous honey. Seconds before coming up the stage there's a million reasons running in my head of the possible scenarios that I will fail."

"How do you overcome it?"

"I focus on the reason of how fortunate I am to get to do what I want to do in my life and back then, it was music." She smiles. "So, you just enjoy the things you get to do while you can Laura, you can worry later. Right now, I just want you to do what makes you happy." Cupping her daughter's cheek, she asks- "Music makes you happy right?"

"It does."

"Then there's no reason for you not to have fun later."

"Laura!" A girl appears wearing a bright yellow dress and her brown locks were beautifully wrapped with a yellow-mustard tone bow. "You're finally here!"

Rosé instantly observed how her daughter's stiffness disappear with the sight of the girl. "Hi Reese!" Laura brightly greets. "Mom this is Reese, one of my friends in summer class. She plays the violin."

Reese turns to her and politely acknowledges her. "Hello Reese, it's nice to finally meet one of my daughter's friends."

"I'm glad to meet you to Ms. Park."

"Are you alone? Where's your mother?"

"My mom is still on her way from a business trip. So, my neighbor dropped me off."

"What are you going to play for tonight?"

"It's kind of a surprise for my mom." The kid responds. "But I am going to play one of her favorite songs."

"Oh! You're going with the song that we practiced together?" Reese nods her head. "Wow! I'm sure she's going to be happy."

"And you? Are you going with the surprise song?" Laura nods her head. "I'm sure your mother will like it then."

"I see now why you two are friends..." Rosé speaks. "You two like surprising your mothers, don't you?" The kids just laughed.

"Feeling nervous about performing?" Laura asks her friend.

"A little, but my mom reassured me." Reese smiles. "She called to say that if I was nervous, I should just whip off a little prayer and breathe for thirteen times."

"Lisa let's go it's-" Rosé stops midway when she saw Lisa sitting on the corner of their dressing room with closed eyes and clasped hands.

After a few seconds, the latter finally opens her eyes and looked at her through the mirror. "Okay, let's go."

As they walk in silence towards the backstage, she notices the main dancer of their group was taking deep breaths and it suddenly got her worried. "Hey, are you feeling okay?"

Lisa nods her head. "I'm just taking deep breaths thirteen times."

Rosé looks at her with connected eyebrows. "And why the number thirteen?"

"I was originally going to do short breaths for one hundred times but it makes me look like I'm hyperventilating. Thirteen times felt right."

"Isn't thirteen usually a form of a bad omen?"

Her bandmate couldn't help but laugh. "Let's just say I'm making my own omen." She answers. "And besides, thirteen isn't bad at all... it's the number of songs we have right now."

Now she couldn't help but laugh with the latter's response. "You and your sheer randomness."

"Eh, you like me for it anyway." Lisa gloats as she intertwines their hands together. "And what about you Chae? Are you not nervous?"

Instead of answering right away, Rosé tightens her hold of Lisa's hand. "Not anymore."

"Mommy?" Hearing Laura's voice pull her back from reality. "Are you okay?"

"Of course, honey, I just remembered something that's why I spaced out for a moment." She adds in a smile to give her daughter the assurance. "Now that you found your friend, I will go and save myself the best seat of the house."

"Is daddy coming?" Rosé suddenly looked unsure and apologetic to which Laura just nodded her head. "It's okay mommy, I know he's busy."

"I'll try to call him and ask if he can swing by okay? We all can have ice cream later."

"Okay." She smiles. "That sounds good."

"Alright sweetie, I'm going to head off now. Good luck and remember- have fun okay?" She kissed Laura's forehead and smiles at the other kid. "Good luck to you too Reese."

__________________________________

"Where are you?" Right after leaving her daughter backstage, she grabs her phone from her bag and immediately calls the father of her child. "Have you forgotten what's the date today?"

"I didn't. I emailed you and said I couldn't come."

"You e-mailed me?"

"Yeah, didn't you check your inbox? I sent you one this week."

"Jacob, you could've just texted me."

"Now it's suddenly my fault?"

"I'm not saying that it's yours, all I am indirectly saying is I have a job, I do free-lance, I take care of our child and pay the bills. Did it ever occur to you that I might not have the time to check the e-mail you sent me?"

"It's not my fault."

She closes her eyes and let out a sigh hearing that familiar line. "Then can you at least tell me why you can't go to your daughter's recital tonight?"

"It's the same day of Denise's show."

Rosé stopped in her position with a slight opening of her mouth as she couldn't believe this was happening. "You picked Denise's stupid stand-up theatre show over your daughter's recital?!"

"Come on Rosie, don't be this petty. I'm the only one the Denise has right now."

"No Jacob, she has those fake silicones inside her boobs that you freely gave away to her."

"Look can we talk about this some other time? I'm sure Laura can understand our situation."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm certain that Laura will understand because I'm here to explain things to her in ways that she can't put the blame on her like how I explained things to her when we broke off our marriage because of you." She scoffs. "I will make her understand now, but when the time comes that she will say to your face that she doesn't want to do anything that concerns you, then please also understand." She ends the call with a harsh tap on the red button. Rosé knew her ex-husband was an idiot but it seems like even after their divorce there's always something new you learn about someone every day.

She closes her eyes for a few seconds to try and calm herself. She doesn't need this kind of energy right now. Her former husband doesn't deserve her frustration. With that, she shoves her handphone back to her shoulder bag and heads to the audience.

The program starts ten minutes later and the first batch to go were the kids in voice class. Rosé remembered how she wanted Laura to try out for this class first and how many days did it take her to try and convince her daughter however Laura seemed to have her attitude because once she said that she was going to take piano classes- she was really going to take piano classes.

Having Laura to be connected to music was something she didn't expect. Her daughter didn't show any kind of interest in music and mostly she was holding onto a soccer equipment her father used to leave in any corner of their house back when everything was okay. It was only until Laura heard her sing a song by the piano during their lazy weekend, she first showed her curiosity and when Rosé bough Laura a play piano when she was five to distract her from her parents' divorce, the rest brought them here today.

"Thank you, Aurora for that wonderful performance." The emcee steps back onto the stage and helped the little girl step off from the tall piano chair. "Now, for the last performer of the piano class told her piano teacher that she wanted to do this song because it was the song the song that made her like music, specifically the piano instrument." He says. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Laura!"

The lights dimmed down and Rosé was quick to pull out her favorite vintage camera recorder. She fixates the frame on her daughter, giving it a good zoom. Meanwhile Laura was looking at the crowd, looking ever more nervous yet still found the politeness in her to bow down to their applause. With the spotlight completely on her, she squints her eyes trying to find a familiar face and when her eyes looked at the red dot of the camera that her mother was holding, she lets out a smile and a cute little wave before sitting onto the chair and started to play.

And when Laura did start to play- Rosé was immediately moved to tears.

"Mommy?" The five-year old Laura pops her head right after Rosé played her song. "Can I come in?"

"Of course, honey, come on in." She encourages. "Where's your father?"

"He said he had to leave." She says with a pout.

Rosé sighs out of disappointment. "Don't worry, you guys can play soccer next time okay?"

"What are you playing?" Her child asks. "It sounds sad."

"Does it?"

"Is the song sad?" Laura then looks at her. "Or are you sad?"

Rosé just smiles and picks up her daughter to be put on her lap. "The song is sad."

"What does the song say?"

"They're saying good bye to each other."

"Why?"

"Because they need to." Rosé says.

"Do they not love one another anymore?"

"They do."

"So why say good bye?" She could feel that her daughter was starting to get sad too. "Why do people leave the people they love?"

"Laura do you remember Bobbie?" She mentions her daughter's first toy.

"Of course, I do."

"And do you still love Bobbie up until this day?" Laura nods her head. "But why did you give Bobbie away?"

"Well..." Laura connects her eyebrows as she tries to find an answer. "Because I know he can make other kid happy like he made me feel."

"Did you regret letting him go?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I know the kid who got him will love him as much as I did, or maybe even better."

"Then you know the answer now." She says. "People let go of the people that they love because it's a part of moving on. You can't keep everyone in your life Laura, sooner or later you would have to let go, because they know they were meant to belong in someone else's life."

"That's...sad."

"We can't be happy if we can't be sad after all." Caressing her daughter's hair, she tries to lift the mood but then her daughter's curiosity was faster.

"Have you done it?" She says as she meets her mother's eyes. "Did you let go of people that you love?"

"I did... multiple times."

"What was the most painful?"

Immediately, Rosé was reminded of a woman with black hair, brown orbs and plump lips. She remembered the last time she saw Lisa, and the conversation that followed the memory. "The most painful one was letting go of the person I didn't expect to leave..." She says. "It was painful because I wanted to keep her with me."

"If you could turn back the time and you get to keep her would you do it?"

Rosé stares at her daughter who was waiting for her response. "No."

"Why?"

"Because losing her gave me a chance to have new people in my life." She says this as she cups her daughter's cheek and caress it with her thumb. "And I would choose to let her go over and over again if it meant I get to keep who I have right now."

"Do you miss her?"

"I do, but just because they are no longer in your life doesn't mean you can't love them anymore." She shifts her attention to the piano and trailed its keys. "When you love someone so much, you can never let them go freely... a part of them will always stay with you. No matter where you are, or who you're with now."

When Laura's performance ended Rosé, together with the crowd inside stood up and applauded for the eight-year old wonder. Some clapped exaggeratedly, some were wiping the tears off of the edges of their eyes and mostly were left in awe of how much emotion the kid has with her piano cover. Laura looks over her mother who was feeling all the things that a proud mother should feel and she couldn't help but smile, knowing that her surprise went well. She throws a final voiceless 'I love you' to her mom before going back and the emcee went on with the performance.

With her daughter done performing, Rosé decides to excuse herself and head to the bathroom to fix the mess her tears had caused her. She takes in deep breaths, trying to cease the raging waves of emotions inside of her. She tries her best not to remember again the past, the longing, and the hurt that she had buried so long ago inside of her.

"I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for everything Rosie..."

"I'm sorry, but I believe this is where our story ends Rosie."

"Our Ending Page."

"Stop... stop..." Rosé swallows the lump on her throat. "Let go Rosie..." She looks at herself in front of the mirror. "Let her go."

Once she finally calmed herself down, she returns back to the auditorium only to find her seat being taken from her. She wanted to argue, but she did leave it unattended so it was entirely all her fault but there were still other performances and standing for another hour would probably be too much for her aging legs. In the end, Rosé decides to let the seat go all because she saw the woman pull out the very same vintage camera recorder as her.

"For the sake of the love for vintage things I will let this one go." She says to herself and turns her attention back to the stage.

"And now this next performer dedicates this song to her mother who just got back home after months of working away from home. She says that this is her welcome gift for her and she hopes that her mother will like this."

Rosé immediately recognizes Reese who was in front of the stage holding onto a customized bright yellow violin with a sunflower painting on it. She smiled widely in front of everybody and when she looked at her previous seat, she waves and Rosé assumed that this was her mother. She turns around to meet her teacher who was on the piano and gives her a little nod.

Just like her daughter, as soon as she recognizes the song- she was once again reminded of the girl she earlier promised herself to let go.

"And Rosé what will you be performing for the Japan concert? Are you going with the same set?"

"I was kind of thinking just singing one song." The artist says to the staff. "It's called Someone You Loved."

"Did you tell the band already?"

"I did and we did some practicing in the studio before."

"Okay, well if you're confident with doing that one then I guess everybody's solo stage is set." He looks at everyone who just nodded their heads. "Shall we start organizing everything before we fly to Japan? I want everyone to be just polishing and doing minor changes once we get there." They all replied affirmatively. "I'm going to end the meeting here and I'll just call you very soon for follow-ups."

"Rosie want to go and eat ice cream together?" Jisoo invites her as soon as the staff leave the room bit by bit.

"What about Jennie?"

"She has solo schedule but she told me to wait for her nearby because we already booked a restaurant together."

"Jisoo am I just an option to you?" She acts which Jisoo understood.

"You're not an option Chaeng, you're the only option." She smoothly says making Rosé and even Jennie scream out of surprise. Jisoo then turns to Lisa who was looking at her phone. "Lisa where's your reaction?"

"What you said made me cringe so much that it left me speechless." She looks at the oldest member of the group. "How's that for a reaction?"

"You're no fun Lalisa." She lets her tongue out. "Do you want to hang-out with me and your girlfriend and make me the third wheel while I wait for my girlfriend?"

"I have to meet up with my friends."

Jisoo looks at their main vocalist who just nods in understanding. "Lisa, can we talk?"

Lisa stops with what she was doing after noticing the change of tone in Rosé's voice. "Uh, sure."

Jennie immediately pulls Jisoo away. "Jisoo will wait for you in the van Rosie."

"So... what do you want to talk to me about?" Lisa asks as soon as they were left alone in the meeting room.

"I just want to talk to you; I hardly see you at home nowadays."

"Well, we're both busy. You with arranging and preparing your solo and me with my solo commitments..." She says like it was the most obvious thing.

"Yeah but we barely talk even on the phone now I-"

"Okay, what are you trying to say to me honestly?" Rosé looked like she wanted to say something, it was on the tip of her tongue and all she had to do was to say it. "Well? Are you going to say it or not?"

In the end, Rosé just smiles thinly. She then shakes her head and tried to give the latter a big smile. "Nothing, it's no big deal."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it was literally a small thing. Like really- it's so small that I already forgot about it." She dryly chuckles.

Lisa eyes her one more time. "If you say so." She stands up and puts her jacket on. "I'm going to meet my friends, don't wait for me okay?"

"I probably wouldn't be home anyway." Rosé said it just in an above the whisper tone but it doesn't slip from Lisa's hearing knowing just how attentive she is when it comes to Rosé. "Go, your friends are probably waiting for you now."

"Rosie is everything okay? Are we okay?"

"Yeah." She bites her lower lip as she continues to nod. "Yeah, we're okay."

"O-okay... I'll take my leave now."

"Take care."

Lisa leaves the room and within a minute or so both Jennie and Jisoo resurfaces. All it took for them was one glance at Rosé's tearing eyes and they both huddled up to hug their member. "There, there Rosie..." Jennie comforts.

"Did... did you tell her?" Jisoo asks after a few seconds of letting Rosé cry. "Did you confront her?"

"I... I couldn't do it." The latter answers.

"Rosie, Lisa has to know." The member with cat-like eyes says. "She has to be aware that you knew about the cheating act she did."

"How- how am I supposed to ask her Jennie? How can I face the truth that she could do that to me?"

"You have to, otherwise you're just going to carry this weight on your chest and that's not good. You need to hear her side of the story. I know it hurts but pain can be a great lesson sometimes."

"And what do I learn from this?"

"That even if you give everything to someone you love they will still end up choosing to hurt you." She says in English and Jisoo just nods in support. "Everyone you let in your life is bound to hurt you Rosie, you just have to keep the people who are worth the pain."

"It's going to hurt but I think that being stabbed with the truth rather pretending that everything is okay is better Chae." Jisoo adds. "If she loves you like you believe she does, then she will tell you the truth."

"If she loves me, she wouldn't have done it in the first place..." Rosé says with tears falling down her cheeks. "But see that's the thing, to Lisa- I'm just someone that she used to love."

__________________________________

"Mommy!" Laura calls for her mother who was looking for her backstage after the recital.

"Hey there gummy bear." Rosé safely catches her daughter in her arms and hugged her tightly.

"How was my performance? Did you like it?"

"It was the best performance all night love, I can't believe how talented and amazing you are, I am so proud of you honey."

"Thank you, mom, I really practiced hard during my practice time and tried my best to keep it from you."

Rosé then eyes her daughter playfully. "Are you planning to keep secrets from me now?"

"Of course not! I will always tell you everything, I promise you that."

"Yeah, watch me as I say this to you when you're going to be a teenager." She says as she pinches her nose.

"Daddy couldn't come right?"

"I gave him a good sermon Laura, don't worry. I'm sure your father would make it up to you."

"It's okay, I understand that he's trying his best to be there for his new girlfriend." She says. "I think he's being there for her just so he can feel less guilty for himself after he left us. That's okay though, because I have you, and that is enough for me."

"Trying to make me cry again for the second time, are you?" Rosé teases and she ruffles her daughter's hair. "Nice try, but it's my turn to make you cry after I beat you at our ice cream competition."

"You wouldn't!" Laura says as she widens her eyes. "I'm going to beat my personal record!"

"Well then, shall we have a go at it?"

"You just set yourself for disappointment mother."

Rosé gasped at her daughter's choice of words. "That's it, no more drama series for you, young lady."

Hand in hand they leave the venue with Laura still narrating how she successfully came up with a plan from the very beginning with Rosé listening to every bit of detail that she was telling. She still couldn't believe the fact that an eight-year old managed to leave her in the dark for three weeks and have her gloat about it obviously hurt her competitive spirit, especially knowing that it was her own blood that successfully tricked her.

"And do you remember when we were having picnic by the beach I slipped-"

"Laura!"

"Reese!!!" Her daughter says with a wide smile and chased after her friend who held onto the hold button of the lift.

"Laura wait up." Rosé catches up with her daughter who remained standing there by the entrance of the elevator. "What did we talk about running in the hallways?" When she looks at her daughter and saw her completely surprised- she then turns to the person that her daughter was looking, only to have her the exact expression her daughter has.

"Oh right! I forgot to introduce to you my mom." Reese grins. "Laura, this is my mom-"

"Lisa..."

"Hi Chaeyoung." Lisa says with a smile.

The elevator ride was silent.

She looks up at the ceiling, trying to distract herself but the lousy jazz music and the thickening of the atmosphere wasn't really helping her. It was literally one of the most silent lift rides Rosé had been into and she cannot believe that the only encounter she can ever compare it with was still with the woman who was busying herself in listening to her daughter's story.

She couldn't believe it.

But she knew Laura couldn't believe it more.

Laura.

Rosé turns to her daughter who was eyeing Lisa from head to foot and never left her eyes off of her and right off the bat, she holds onto Laura's hand, gaining her attention and without any use of words, told her to refrain from looking at the other woman which the kid obediently does. Now without Laura eyeing her former member like some real-life action figure, she sighs in relief, thanking that Lisa and Reese was completely lost in their own world.

The elevator finally puts them back to the basement parking where either Rosé was hurrying herself to be removed from the atmosphere or Lisa just feeling the same way without even expressing anything that caused them to bumped into one another as they made their way out.

"Sorry!" Both of them say at the same time. "Are you okay?" This time Lisa and Rosé looked at one another for the second time since they met again.

"Jinx! You both owe me and Laura an ice cream!" Reese cuts off the awkwardness with a giggle.

"You were going for ice cream?" Laura asks.

"Mom usually treats me with ice cream because she knows it's my weakness. She does that whenever I'm playing hard to get or I did something really good."

"Mommy and I were heading out for some scoops too."

"Really? Then the four of us should just go together!" Reese suggests, making the adults stiffen. "What do you think mom?"

"Uh..." Lisa nervously chuckles. "Maybe they want to enjoy their time together so I think-"

"I wouldn't mind." Laura butts in. "Do you?" Rosé shoots her daughter a look which Laura completely ignores. "I guess she doesn't mind too."

"Cool! Do you guys have a favorite ice cream parlor?"

"We like the ice cream at Tasty towns. Have you been there?"

"Not yet."

"It's decided then." Laura smiles at Lisa. "You're coming with us."

And as if fate was had planned this all along, both Lisa and Rosé's car were parked side by side.

On the way to the ice cream shop Rosé was completely on a different headspace. She was even surprised that she still had the ability to drive through the store if she was being honest. Her heart was rapidly beating against her chest as they draw near to their destination. Her mind was trying to think of possibilities that could happen or how would she even respond if Lisa starts the conversation? What if Lisa doesn't start the conversation? Does that mean she would have to do it?

"Mom." Laura calls her attention while they were at the stop light. "Stop making it obvious."

"Obvious? About what?"

"That you're nervous... seriously, you look like an eighteen-year-old going onto her first date with her high school crush."

"I am not acting like that-"

"She's looking at you right now."

"What?" When Rosé turns to her left and saw that Lisa still has her full attention on her daughter, Laura laughs her heart out. "Laura!"

"Mom you're so funny." She says with giggles as she claps her hands like a seal would do.

"Stop teasing me it's not funny!"

Little did Rosé know, now when it was her turn to have her attention on Laura, it was Lisa's turn to look at her.

When they arrived at the parlor shop the line was still surprisingly long despite nearing its closing hours. Lisa then volunteers to grab an order for them while Rosé took the kids to save themselves a seat. After minutes of entertaining and listening to the endless stories of Reese and Laura's time during summer class, Lisa arrives with four cups of ice cream completely surprising both Rosé and Laura.

"What?" Lisa noticed that the two were still looking at their cups. "Did I get you guys the wrong flavor?"

"That- that's not it." Rosé coughs as she scolds herself mentally for stuttering right there. "I thought that we would just take turns in making an order.

"Oh." Lisa blinks in realization. "I thought of saving us both some time." She says. "Wait, that's still your favorite right?" She asks to her former bandmate.

"Y-yeah... it still is." In the end, Rosé just shifts her focus on eating her Chocolate-chip ice cream to stop herself from further embarrassment.

"But how did you know about my favorite ice cream flavor?"

"I told mom." Reese butts in.

"You still remembered the time where I told you my favorite flavor? But that was months ago when we first talked."

"I take notes of the things you like I guess." Reese shrugs and then proceeds eating ice cream.

After minutes of quickly eating their prizes, Laura does her mother a favor and asked Reese if they want to head to the play corner which the shop had for the kids. Reese immediately says yes to anything Laura offers her and just by the blink of an eye, the kids were off, leaving the adults to do their 'thing.' As soon as the kids were gone Rosé's previous worry then starts to re-appear. She stayed there in silence trying to figure out what to talk about or how does she even start a conversation all of that and still trying to process that the woman she hasn't heard for years was now seated in front of her, having ice cream together like it was their weekend get together.

In the end, the silence that she tried so hard to break was done by Lisa's chuckle.

"I'm sorry. I was kind of hoping that I would meet you again. I... I uh- just wasn't expecting to be this way." She chuckles again.

"Did your mind imagine better ones?"

Lisa smiles at that familiar line. "I've imagined better ones."

Rosé smiles, feeling thankful that Lisa was exerting effort to talk with her. "What happened to you?" She couldn't help but ask. "I mean, you just disappeared all of a sudden."

"I went back home and just stayed at home for months." Lisa says. "Then my mother gave me the good old scolding that I was throwing my time away just staying in bed and playing with my cats. She literally threw me out of the house for a week because she was worried, I didn't get enough oxygen."

"That sounds like something your mom would do."

"Yeah so when she threw me out of the house, I was forced to see the world because she wouldn't welcome me home until it was eleven in the evening." Rosé laughs. "I was very cautious at first because I knew everyone knew me from a mile away. So, in order for my mother to not nag at me for wasting my life and for me not to worry about being seen, I decided to do volunteer work in rural areas."

"It was hard to find a group that doesn't have any idea who I was but I did eventually and I started doing work for them for months by taking pictures and making kids smile. After that it just became a passion so I joined other groups that traveled to rural areas in different countries and I enrolled myself in a limited online class in college." She shares. "When I decided to come home and give my family and friends a visit, I was surprised that nobody paid attention to me at the airport. People bump to me in the market and not apologize. I can finally eat peacefully on a restaurant and not to worry of having my pictures taken."

Rosé nods her head in understanding. "But what brings you here in Australia?"

"My professor wanted me to work for him once I completed my course. I thought that it was a nice opportunity because I've always wanted to live a few years here and so I grabbed the opportunity." She answers. "Before I used to live in an expensive apartment and I realize it wasn't realistic especially with Reese now so I looked for some affordable homes and found ourselves here."

"And by ourselves you mean, you, Reese and uh..." Rosé scratches the back of her neck. "Y-your husband?"

She was once again surprised when she heard the latter chuckle. "Reese is my adopted daughter. I saw her in one of the homes I visited a couple of years ago in Thailand and I fell in love with her from the very first time I saw her."

"So... You're not married?"

Lisa shakes her head. I've only been in love with one girl since I was eighteen." Hearing that made Rosé blush and unsure of what to respond, so she was thankful that Lisa immediately changes the topic. "Enough about me. What brings you here? Last time I heard you guys were living in Sydney. Did Jacob decide that the media was too much of an attention to your daughter?"

"Actually, I'm not married to Jacob." She answers. "Well, not anymore."

"What? But I thought that you guys were doing well... At least, that's what I heard from Jisoo." She says. "Although Jisoo and I haven't talked in months." Lisa says in realization. "But- what happened? How long have you been done with him?"

"He cheated." The Australian woman casually says. "I guess I'm never good enough for someone." She says with a dry chuckle but she was instantly caught off guard when she felt Lisa's hand squeezing hers. "L-Lisa."

"Don't say that." She looked at the latter's eyes and they looked like they were also hurt with what she just said. "You are enough for someone Chaeyoung, anyone who doesn't have you in life is missing the time of their lives." She says. "Trust me, I've missed my own share of time."

Rosé blushes again and looks away from Lisa's intense gaze. "D-do you mean that?"

"Every word." She says with her tone that Rosé finds comfort to. "I was about to ask you about your married life but scratch that- I want ask about your divorced life."

"Where do you want me to begin?"

"From the very beginning."

She looks at the clock. "We only have a few minutes left."

Lisa smiles, her hand never leaving Rosé's. "Then I'll take a few more minutes with you."

__________________________________

"Mommy I'm tired..."

"Me too mom."

Both Rosé and Lisa looked at their tired children before looking at one another. "I guess let's hit bedtime then."

"Alright come here princess- let's get you ow-"

At the sound of Rosé wincing, Lisa was quick to her footing and stood beside the latter. "What's wrong?"

"My back hurts." She chuckles. "I guess I really am growing old."

Still despite her joke, Lisa looks at her with worry. "I'm taking you home."

"What? No there's no need-"

"You're not the only one who's growing old here." She states in a matter of fact tone. "I know that bitch can be painful when it wants to be."

"But what about my car?"

"I'll pick you up tomorrow morning and drop you off here." Lisa proceeds to carry both of their daughters in her arms. "I'll get the engine running and kids at place while you recover. Stay here, I'm going to come back for you okay?"

Somehow hearing the last sentence hit Rosé differently this time around. As she watches Lisa leaves, she tries to recover from the stinging back pain when one of the staff approached her. "Miss are you okay?"

"Yeah, just old woman problems with her old back."

"Where's your wife?"

Rosé's eyes widened at the label. "My-my wife?"

"The woman you're with earlier, isn't she your wife?"

"She-she's not my wife."

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's just that you guys looked like a family when you walked in so I thought you guys were married."

"We're not... We're friends."

"Well then you're one lucky individual to have a friend like her." The staff smiles and then resumes with her work.

"Hey." Lisa announces her return. "Can you walk?"

"Yes, I can."

"Want me to assist you?" Rosé nods her head and Lisa carefully assisted her out of the shop back at Lisa's car where the latter was even the one who placed her seatbelt on before going to the driver's seat. "Tap in the directions and try to sleep. I'll wake you guys up."

Rosé was too tired to argue so she taps in the coordination of her house and tried to sleep the wincing pain.

Forty-five minutes later they finally arrived at Rosé's humble home. Lisa still insisted of helping her in putting Laura to sleep but she was far too embarrassed for dragging her former member into such nuisance even with a minimal pain on her back, she told Lisa that she was fine and that she can handle it from here. Finally, after giving out multiple reassurance that she would be fine, Lisa drops the topic and lets her be. In the end, their conversation ended with them exchanging numbers and agreeing on a meeting time for them to pick up Rosé's car from the shop.

After seeing Lisa leave her driveway, she mustered up all the strength that she had left to give her daughter a warm bath, brush her teeth and finally put her to sleep. After safely tucking Laura to sleep, she kisses her daughter good night and heads to leave the room when she hears Laura's voice all of a sudden.

"Yes princess?"

"What did I tell you mommy?" Laura says half-asleep. "I was right, your connection with her was meant to last for a lifetime." She doesn't say anything and lets her daughter continue. "Reese was surprised when I told her the story you gave me, but in the end, she agreed with me."

"Reese sounds like a very supportive friend."

"More like a supportive sister."

Rosé shakes her head and goes back to lightly pinch her daughter's cheeks. "Good night to you lady bug."

"Good night mommy, I'm happy for you."

After putting her daughter to sleep and with her back aching, Rosé decides to finally call it a day when all of a sudden, she hears her phone vibrate and so she takes it out of her bag and answered the unregistered number. "Hello?" She answers with caution. "Who's this?"

"Relax, I'm no stalker." Lisa's echoing voice brought relief to her. "What happened to not answering unregistered numbers?"

"We're no longer idols Lisa, I think it's safe for us to receive unregistered numbers."

Lisa chuckles to her remark. "Is Laura asleep?"

"Yeah, I just put her to bed."

"And you? Are you sleeping soon?"

"It's been a long day so I might hit the sack soon." She answers. "Why? Do you need someone to keep you up on your way home?"

"I think my mind is still in the process of registering the fact that I saw you again after a long period of time."

"Hey, don't make it look like I was the one who magically disappeared."

"I'm sorry for not talking to you for years."

"It's alright, a few minutes with you already made up for it."

Rosé finds her smiling widely hearing Lisa's laugh. "You know they're going to be best friends forever, now right?"

The latter hums in agreement. "Your point is?"

"I mean, if you want to grab a cup of coffee and hang out while we wait for them to be out or something... I just want you to know that we can do that. I'd be willing to do that." She could tell that Lisa was nervous. "Or whatever." She nervously chuckles.

"There's going to be a parents' meeting this weekend for the up-coming academic year of the kids." She says. "Maybe we can do your cup of coffee or hang-out or whatever."

In the end, they just both laughed the awkwardness off. "Hey, do you still have the necklace I returned to you at your wedding?"

"Yeah, it's in a safe place. I plan to give it to Laura when she turns eighteen."

"Did you open the enveloped inside the box?"

Upon the mention of the foreign object, Rosé immediately furrows her eyebrows. "What envelope?"

"Ah..." She chuckles. "Never mind." The line was silent for a few more seconds when Lisa speaks up again. "Good night Chaeyoung, it was really nice to see you again."

"You too Lisa."

The call ends awkwardly, having Rosé wonder what envelope was Lisa talking about. After deciding that she wasn't going to let this night end with her not knowing what that envelope thing was, she makes a detour and returns to the art room. She pulls the third drawer where the same velvet box lies together with some of her prized jewelries, she had gotten herself over the years. Opening the box, she did notice that there was a small piece of paper tucked behind the back portion of the box. With careful hands, Rosé slowly pulls the paper and right before her very eyes was the envelope Lisa mentioned earlier.

Ignoring the sudden dryness of her throat and the rapid beating of her heart, she slowly opens the envelope, only to find a small piece of paper. With furrowed eyebrows, Rosé reaches for the paper and read out its content that says-

"If this is our ending page... Then I hope we will have a sequel."

It was such a simple letter yet it somehow it warmed her heart so much and now everything just made sense. Lisa did give her that closure on that day, but she wasn't giving our love story a closure just yet. Instead of putting a period on the chapter of the story, Lisa replaces it with a semi-colon, with a belief that someday they will meet once again. Lisa held on without having certainties that they were going to meet, but maybe her daughter was right. Maybe their connection with one another was bound to last a lifetime. That they were just separated because it wasn't the right time for them yet. That somehow, in some kind of a romantic yet unbelievable way-they will have their second chance. Their sequel to a page they once ended.

Rosé couldn't help but place the letter in her heart and looked at the painting in front of her. With a smile on her face, She says to no one-

"I guess this is the sequel you were talking about Lisa."

Fin.