---
The first morning in the penthouse started like any other morning in Rosie's life: with her having absolutely no idea where she was.
She woke slowly, consciousness returning in fragments. The bed was too comfortable. The sheets were too soft. The pillow was doing things to her neck that pillows had never done before—supportive things, luxurious things, the kind of things that made her want to stay here forever.
Then memory crashed back.
The party. The kisses. The CEOs. The moving day. The boobs.
JISOO'S BOOBS.
Rosie's eyes flew open.
She was in a bedroom the size of her old apartment. Sunlight streamed through floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating furniture that probably cost more than her entire life savings. Her suitcase sat in the corner, still unpacked, a silent testament to how exhausted she'd been the night before.
"I live here now," she whispered to the ceiling. "I actually live here."
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand.
Nayeon Unnie: GOOD MORNING HOW'S THE PENTHOUSE??? ARE THE CEOS NAKED??? DO YOU NEED ME TO COME RESCUE YOU???
Nayeon Unnie: I'M COMING OVER BY THE WAY
Nayeon Unnie: AROUND 10
Nayeon Unnie: DON'T DO ANYTHING WEIRD BEFORE I GET THERE
Nayeon Unnie: ACTUALLY DO WEIRD THINGS I WANT VIDEO EVIDENCE
Rosie groaned, typed back a quick "Kill me now" and rolled out of bed.
She needed coffee. Coffee was the priority. Coffee would make everything better. Coffee would give her the strength to face three women who had seen her at her absolute worst approximately forty-seven times in the last week.
She grabbed the nearest clothes—which turned out to be nothing, because she hadn't unpacked and her suitcase was across the room and that was SO FAR AWAY—and made an executive decision.
The penthouse was huge. The CEOs probably weren't even awake yet. She could sneak to the kitchen, make coffee, and be back in her room before anyone noticed.
This was a solid plan. A foolproof plan. The kind of plan that could not possibly go wrong.
Rosie opened her bedroom door and crept into the hallway wearing nothing but her underwear.
In her defense, it was very nice underwear. Matching set. Black lace. The kind of underwear you buy when you're feeling confident but then never show anyone because confidence is temporary and anxiety is forever.
She padded down the hallway, past the library, past the media room, past the room that she still didn't understand the purpose of but had big "secret BDSM dungeon" energy.
The kitchen was bright and warm, sunlight pouring through windows that overlooked the city. And there, sitting at the massive island counter, were three women who made Rosie's brain immediately short-circuit.
Lisa was perched on a stool, wearing what appeared to be one of Jennie's silk robes, her hair adorably messy from sleep. Jennie sat beside her, somehow elegant even in pajamas, sipping tea like she was posing for a magazine. And Jisoo stood at the stove, flipping pancakes in a matching silk robe that was slightly untied in a way that made Rosie's mouth dry.
None of them had noticed her yet.
Rosie's survival instincts screamed at her to retreat.
Her feet, apparently on strike after yesterday's humiliation, refused to move.
Instead, she did the only thing her sleep-deprived brain could think of: she walked toward the coffee maker like this was completely normal. Like she always strolled into kitchens half-naked. Like three of the most beautiful women in the world didn't exist.
She made it to the coffee maker. She found a mug. She poured.
The coffee was perfect. Of course it was. Even the coffee here was better than anywhere else in existence.
Rosie took a long sip, sighed contentedly, and turned to find a seat.
That's when she noticed three pairs of eyes staring at her.
Lisa's mug was frozen halfway to her lips. Jennie's tea had stopped mid-sip. Jisoo's pancake was burning on the stove, completely forgotten.
Rosie blinked at them sleepily. "Morning."
No one responded.
"The coffee's good," she added helpfully. "Really good. Like, life-changingly good. What brand is this? Do you have it shipped from somewhere? It tastes expensive. It probably is expensive. Everything here is expensive. Including me now, I guess. I'm expensive. Living in an expensive place. Drinking expensive coffee. In my—"
She stopped.
Looked down at herself.
Looked back up at the three CEOs.
Looked down again.
"Oh no," she whispered.
"Oh YES," Lisa breathed, her expression shifting from shock to pure, delighted amusement.
"Rosie." Jennie's voice was remarkably calm for someone who'd just been handed a eyeful of their new roommate in lace underwear. "Are you aware that you're only wearing underwear?"
"Yes. No. I don't know anymore." Rosie's voice was climbing in pitch. "I woke up. I wanted coffee. My suitcase was far away. It was a decision. A bad decision. A terrible decision. The worst decision I've made since—actually no, kissing Lisa at the party was worse. But this is a close second. Very close. Neck and neck."
"The decision-making is certainly consistent," Jisoo observed, finally remembering her pancake and flipping it onto a plate. It was slightly burned. She didn't seem to care. Her eyes hadn't left Rosie.
"I should go," Rosie said. "I should definitely go. I should run. Running is good. Running is healthy. Running is—"
She turned to flee.
Ran directly into the kitchen wall.
Bounced off.
Stumbled backward.
Tripped over the sofa that was DEFINITELY not there a second ago.
And went down in a tangle of limbs and lace and absolute, complete humiliation.
From the floor, she could hear them. Laughter. Three kinds of laughter—Lisa's bright cackle, Jennie's helpless giggle, Jisoo's warm chuckle—all mixing together into a symphony of mockery.
"I'm fine!" Rosie called from the floor. "I'm totally fine! This is fine! Everything is fine!"
"You're on the floor in your underwear," Jennie pointed out.
"A conscious choice! Very intentional! Floor-sitting is trendy now!"
"You hit a wall."
"The wall hit me first."
"And tripped over a sofa that's been in the same place for three years."
"The sofa moved! It's possessed! This whole place is haunted by fancy ghosts!"
Lisa appeared above her, grinning down with a expression of pure joy. "You're ridiculous."
"I'm aware."
"You're also very cute in that underwear."
Rosie's face went nuclear. "DON'T—don't say things like that when I'm on the floor! I'm vulnerable! I'm at a disadvantage!"
"Should I wait until you're standing?"
"YOU SHOULDN'T SAY IT AT ALL!"
But Lisa was already offering a hand, pulling Rosie up with surprising strength. Once standing, Rosie found herself face to face with the youngest CEO, close enough to count her eyelashes.
"You know," Lisa murmured, her voice soft, "you could have just asked for coffee. We would have brought it to you."
"That would require social interaction. I don't do social interaction before coffee. It's against my religion."
"What religion is that?"
"The Church of Caffeine First, Humaning Later. Very popular. You should try it."
Lisa laughed, and the sound was so warm that Rosie almost forgot she was standing in a kitchen in her underwear in front of three women who had seen her at her absolute worst.
Almost.
"I'm going to go now," she announced, backing away carefully. "I'm going to go put on clothes. Real clothes. Many clothes. Enough clothes to never be in this situation again."
"That's disappointing," Jisoo said, and there was a teasing note in her voice that made Rosie's knees weak. "I was enjoying the view."
Rosie made a sound that was somewhere between a squeak and a scream and RAN.
This time, she made it all the way to her room without hitting any walls.
---
Twenty minutes later, fully dressed in approximately seventeen layers (okay, a sweater and jeans, but it FELT like seventeen layers), Rosie crept back toward the kitchen.
She could hear voices. Laughter. The clink of plates. The sizzle of more pancakes.
She paused at the doorway, peeking around the corner.
The scene inside made her heart do something complicated.
Lisa was standing behind Jisoo at the stove, her arms wrapped around the older woman's waist, her chin resting on Jisoo's shoulder. Jisoo was still making pancakes, but she'd tilted her head to press a gentle kiss to Lisa's cheek. It was soft, intimate, the kind of casual affection that spoke of years of love and comfort.
"You're distracting me," Jisoo murmured.
"I'm being supportive," Lisa countered. "There's a difference."
"Your version of support involves making it very hard to focus on pancakes."
"Pancakes schmancakes. I'm more important."
Jisoo turned in Lisa's arms, facing her fully. "Are you now?"
"Obviously." Lisa's voice dropped, playful but warm. "I'm the most important thing in this kitchen."
"You're certainly the neediest."
"And you love it."
"I do." Jisoo's hand came up to cup Lisa's face. "I really do."
They kissed. Soft and sweet, the kind of kiss that wasn't about passion but about connection. About love. About the deep, comfortable intimacy of two people who knew each other completely.
Rosie felt like she was intruding on something sacred. She also couldn't look away.
The kiss ended, and Lisa rested her forehead against Jisoo's. "What do you think about our new roommate?"
Jisoo's lips curved. "I think she's going to be interesting."
"Interesting good or interesting bad?"
"Interesting fascinating. Interesting unexpected. Interesting..." She glanced toward the doorway, and Rosie ducked back just in time. "Interesting in ways I didn't expect."
"Me too," Lisa agreed softly. "She makes me laugh. Really laugh, not just polite laugh."
"That's rare for you."
"I know." Lisa pulled back, reaching for a plate of pancakes. "Jennie! Coffee's ready!"
Jennie appeared from somewhere Rosie couldn't see, sliding onto a stool at the island. Lisa brought her a cup, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as she passed.
"Thank you, baby."
"Anything for you."
Jennie caught her hand, pulling her closer for a proper kiss—slower than the one with Jisoo, deeper, the kind of kiss that made Rosie's face warm just watching.
When they broke apart, Jennie's eyes were soft. "You're in a good mood this morning."
"I have reasons." Lisa settled onto the stool beside her, curling into Jennie's side like a cat. "Two of them are in this room. One of them is hiding in the hallway."
Rosie froze.
"She's been there for like five minutes," Jisoo confirmed, not even looking up from her pancakes. "Very committed to the spying. Very bad at it."
"I'm not spying!" Rosie burst out, stepping into the kitchen with her hands raised. "I was... assessing the situation! Strategic observation! Military tactics!"
"You were watching us kiss," Jennie said flatly.
"I was appreciating affection! There's a difference!"
Lisa snorted. "You're such a liar."
"I'm an HONEST liar. Which is a thing. It's a personality type."
Jisoo set a plate of pancakes in front of her. "Eat. You need fuel for more embarrassing moments."
"I don't PLAN the embarrassing moments. They just HAPPEN to me. I'm a victim of circumstance."
"You're a victim of your own chaos," Jennie corrected, but she was smiling. "Sit down. Eat. Nayeon's coming soon, right?"
Rosie's eyes widened. "How do you know about Nayeon?"
"She texted us. Asked if we had a pool and if she could bring floaties."
"She WHAT?"
"She also asked if we had any single friends who liked dancers. And if we could make sure you were dressed before she arrived because and I quote 'Rosie has a habit of forgetting clothes exist and I've seen enough of her ass to last a lifetime.'"
Rosie buried her face in her hands. "I'm going to kill her. I'm going to murder my best friend and hide her body in your expensive penthouse."
"That's against the rules," Jisoo said mildly. "No corpse disposal without prior approval."
"There's a RULE about that?"
"There's a rule about everything. You'll learn."
Rosie picked up her fork, pointed it at Jisoo. "I'm going to need a manual."
"We prefer hands-on learning."
The way Jisoo said it made Rosie choke on her first bite of pancake.
---
Nayeon arrived exactly at 10 AM, carrying approximately seventeen bags, a camera, and the energy of a hurricane.
"I'M HERE!" she announced, bursting through the door that Hana had barely opened. "THE PARTY HAS ARRIVED! WHERE ARE MY FAVORITE CEOS AND MY FAVORITE DISASTER FRIEND?"
"Living room," Rosie called from the couch, where she'd been strategically positioned between Lisa and Jennie to prevent further escape attempts.
Nayeon swept in, dropped her bags, and immediately pulled out her phone. "Okay, first things first: evidence."
"Evidence of what?"
"Of you living here! With them! Being all domestic!" Nayeon started recording, panning dramatically across the room. "Day one of Rosie's adventures in polycule-land. Subject appears comfortable. Possibly too comfortable. Note the casual proximity to CEOs. This is unprecedented footage."
"Nayeon, put the phone down."
"Never! This is for posterity! For history! For blackmail purposes if you ever annoy me!"
Lisa was laughing, clearly delighted by Nayeon's chaos energy. Jennie looked mildly concerned about her privacy. Jisoo just watched with an amused expression, like this was exactly the entertainment she'd been hoping for.
"The pool," Nayeon demanded, lowering her phone. "Where is it? I brought floaties."
She produced from one of her bags an inflatable swan. A massive one. The kind that took up approximately the entire space of a normal person's living room.
"You brought a swan floatie," Jennie said slowly.
"It's not just a swan. It's a LUXURY swan. It has a cup holder."
"Of course it does."
"Can we use it? Please? I need photographic evidence of Rosie on this swan. It's for my personal collection."
"I'm not getting on that thing," Rosie said firmly.
"You absolutely are." Jisoo stood, offering her hand. "Come on. Pool time. Doctor's orders."
"You're not a doctor."
"I play one in your imagination. Same thing."
Rosie took the hand, because apparently she had no willpower when it came to this woman. "Fine. But if I drown, I'm haunting all of you."
"The swan has floatation devices built in," Nayeon assured her. "Probably. I didn't read the instructions."
---
The rooftop pool was even more ridiculous in daylight. Crystal clear water, infinity edge overlooking the city, loungers that probably cost more than cars.
Nayeon immediately launched herself and her swan into the water with a shriek of joy. "THIS IS AMAZING! ROSIE, GET IN HERE!"
Rosie stood at the edge, suddenly self-conscious. She'd packed a swimsuit, but it was just a regular swimsuit. Nothing special. Nothing that belonged in a place like this.
Arms wrapped around her from behind. Lisa.
"You're thinking too hard," Lisa murmured against her ear. "Stop it."
"I'm not thinking. I'm just... standing here."
"You're standing here looking like you don't belong. But you do. We want you here. All of us."
Rosie leaned back slightly, just a little, letting herself be held. "You're very good at that."
"At what?"
"Making me feel like I'm not a complete disaster."
Lisa pressed a kiss to her shoulder. "You're our disaster. That's what matters."
From the water, Nayeon yelled: "ARE YOU TWO KISSING? I NEED FOOTAGE!"
"We're not kissing!" Rosie called back.
"YET!" Nayeon amended. "YOU'RE NOT KISSING YET!"
Jennie appeared beside them, two glasses of something cold and fancy in her hands. "She's very loud."
"She's very Nayeon," Rosie agreed. "It's the same thing."
"She cares about you. It's obvious." Jennie handed her a glass. "That's rare. People who care that much."
"Yeah." Rosie's voice went soft. "She's been there since... since everything. Since the orphanage. Since I had nothing. She never left."
"Neither will we." Jennie's eyes met hers, steady and sure. "If you let us stay."
Rosie didn't know what to say to that. Fortunately, she didn't have to, because Jisoo chose that moment to cannonball into the pool, soaking all of them.
"JISOO!" Lisa shrieked, her robe now completely wet.
"What? It's a pool. You're supposed to get wet."
"In a CONTROLLED manner!"
"Where's the fun in that?"
Nayeon cheered from her swan. "I LIKE HER! SHE'S MY FAVORITE!"
"You said I was your favorite!" Rosie protested.
"That was before she did a cannonball! Priorities change!"
The afternoon dissolved into laughter and splashing and the most fun Rosie'd had in years. Nayeon's swan floatie was deemed "pool royalty" and given its own section. Lisa challenged everyone to underwater breath-holding contests and won. Jennie floated serenely on her back, somehow elegant even with wet hair. And Jisoo kept splashing Rosie whenever she got too comfortable, just to see her shriek.
By the time they dragged themselves out, sun-kissed and exhausted, Rosie felt something she hadn't felt in a long time.
Happy.
Actually, genuinely happy.
---
Later that evening, after Nayeon had left with approximately five hundred photos and a promise to return "soon" (which in Nayeon language meant "tomorrow"), the four of them gathered in the living room.
"So," Jisoo said, "there's one room we haven't shown you yet."
Rosie perked up. "The secret BDSM dungeon?"
The silence that followed was deafening.
"I mean—" Rosie backpedaled desperately. "I just—the door looked—it was very—I didn't mean—"
"The what now?" Jennie's voice was dangerously calm.
"The room! The room near the media room! With the door! It looked very... private! I assumed things! Wrongly! I assumed wrongly!"
Lisa was already laughing, her face buried in a pillow. Jisoo's shoulders were shaking. Even Jennie's lips were twitching.
"That," Jisoo said carefully, "is the quiet room."
"The quiet room," Rosie repeated weakly.
"For meditation. And reading. And sometimes..." She glanced at her wives. "Other activities."
"OTHER ACTIVITIES," Rosie squeaked. "Right. Of course. Other activities. Very normal. Very standard. Nothing kinky at all."
"Would it bother you if there was?"
Jisoo's question hung in the air.
Rosie considered it. Actually considered it.
"I mean," she said slowly, "I've never... I don't know much about... but I'm also not... opposed? To things? In theory? With the right people? In a consensual, well-communicated, safe-word-having kind of way?"
Three pairs of eyes watched her carefully.
"Are you asking if we're into that?" Lisa finally said.
"I'm not asking anything! I'm just—I'm existing! In this conversation! That I started by accidentally accusing you of having a BDSM dungeon!"
"You didn't accuse," Jennie said gently. "You just... observed."
"I observed incorrectly!"
"Did you?" Jisoo's smile was mysterious. "We never said you were wrong."
Rosie's brain officially left the building.
"I need—I need to go," she announced, standing abruptly. "I need to process. I need to lie down. I need to think about what I've done and said and implied."
"Running away again?" Lisa teased.
"Strategic retreat! There's a difference!"
She made it three steps before turning back. "For the record—whatever that room is actually for—I'm not judging. I'm open-minded. Very open-minded. Almost too open-minded. Some might say dangerously open-minded."
"We'll keep that in mind," Jisoo purred.
Rosie ran.
From the living room, she could hear their laughter following her all the way to her room.
And for the first time, it didn't sound like mockery.
It sounded like home.
---
END OF CHAPTER 5
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To be continued. Please vote and comment.