Chapter III

“What do you mean you don’t have gamjatang*? I can clearly see it on your menu.” Jennie punched  the laminated card that lay on the counter with her finger, pointing to the dish.

The girl behind the counter, Seungwan - her nametag stated, recoiled slightly. Her thick eyebrows furrowed in trepidation and she looked as though she was about to take off her apron, throw it at Jennie and run away into the forest like a scared animal.  

“Uhm, yes, but we serve gamjatang on Thursdays,” Seungwan said meekly and indicated the small annotation written at the bottom of the menu. “On Fridays, we have samgyetang*.”

Jennie took the menu and brought it closer to her eyes. Indeed, at its very bottom, in small print, it was written that there was a different soup for each day of the week. Putting down the card, Jennie squeezed the bridge of her nose. She couldn’t believe that she had spent over thirty minutes in a queue just to find out that they weren’t serving the dish she wanted to order. 

“Hey, I’m sure that Lisa will eat whatever you buy her. She isn’t picky with her food,” Jisoo remarked, putting a calming hand onto Jennie’s shoulder.

Sadly, the gesture had the opposite effect.

Shrugging off Jisoo’s palm, Jennie shot her a fleeting glare. She wasn’t stupid. Of course she knew Lisa wouldn’t mind eating something else. But she also knew that gamjatang was Lisa’s favorite dish ever. Jennie would never forget her wide-eyed amazement when she tasted it for the first time. She ordered it following Jennie’s recommendation, during their first outing, shortly after they’d became friends.     

Jennie took a deep breath, trying to calm down her nerves and reorganize her thoughts.

“Okay,” she spoke up again, this time stretching her lips into what she considered a polite smile. “But is there a chance, perhaps, that you could make a small exception and prepare one serving of gamjatang? I’m willing to pay extra, and I swear I won’t tell anyone.”

“Well, uhm…” Seungwan chewed her bottom lip. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said, a shy smile gracing her lips.

Jennie returned the gesture in appreciation.

*  *  *

“Finally!” Rosé exclaimed, throwing her hands up.

She was sitting with Lisa beside one of the wooden tables at the back of the hostel. The nearby trees shielded the place from the sun, casting pleasant, chilly shade. Several other tables were occupied by some gruff looking boys and squealing girls.

“What took you so long? We’re starving,” Rosé continued her tirade.   

“Excuse me, but haven’t you noticed the long- queue in which we were standing?” Jennie retorted as she took her seat next to Lisa on a wooden bench.

“We would be quicker if you didn’t challenge the cook to five rounds of rock-scissors-paper just so that he would prepare gamjatang, which wasn’t even on the menu,” Jisoo shot back, pulling Rosé closer under her protective arm.

“It was,” Jennie seeped through her teeth. “Not my fault they choose to misinform their clients.”

“Aww how sweet,” Rosé cooed in her honey voice, gazing at Jennie as if she was congratulating her on her first baby. “You fought for Lisa’s favorite dish.”

Jennie furrowed her eyebrows at the statement. She was about to protest when a pair of arms wrapped around her, pulling her into a warm embrace.

“Thanks, that’s really sweet of you,” Lisa mumbled against Jennie’s arm, the corner of her lips hiding a bashful smile as she gazed at Jennie with her round, sparkly eyes.

And in that moment, Jennie was certain that those eyes could cure terminal diseases and end wars. But of course, she would never admit it out loud. Instead, she had prepared a curt ‘no problem’ answer, which never left , being stolen by Lisa’s swift kiss against her cheek.

If not for Rosé’s squeal, Jennie would surely fall into one of those embarrassing stupors known only to high school boys and girls that were going through their first puppy love. But thankfully, the dolphin shriek kept Jennie’s mind awake.

“Dork,” she snorted a chuckle, hoping it didn’t sound too nervous, and wiped her cheek, using it as a perfect opportunity to conceal her twitchy lips with her palm.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rosé’s smirk and it made her wonder whether the girl had been planting some ridiculous ideas in Lisa’s head while she and Jisoo went to get the food. But those thoughts were abandoned when a waitress arrived at their table with the said food.

Clapping her hands, Lisa cheered elated to finally taste her favorite dish. Her reaction brought smiles to everyone’s faces. Even Jisoo who had a frown stuck on her face after witnessing her display of affection, now grinned toothily at the blonde girl.

After the dinner, they decided to stay in their place for a little longer as listlessness overcame their bodies and minds. A side-effect of a hearty meal. Resting her head on the table, Jennie grunted inwardly once Rosé and Jisoo began sharing lazy kisses.

Lost in their own world, they weren’t even bothered by the whispers coming from the other tables. But that was hardly surprising. The couple was never one to hide their affections. Many of the older students at their university were already used to that, showing little to no reaction to it, but the freshmen obviously found it fascinating, or disturbing, depending on a person. 

As for Jennie, she had no qualms about being ‘out and proud’, she just wished her friends were a bit more considerate of her presence, understanding that she really didn’t need to witness their ostentatious lovey-dovey sessions. All those quiet smacking noises and airy giggles were making her cringe.

Lisa, on the other hand, displayed a quite different sentiment. Resting her head on the table in the same manner as Jennie, she kept stealing glances at the couple - glances lined with obvious longing and envy. Jennie found it bitterly unfair that a person who had so much love to give didn’t have anyone to give it to. It was painful to watch, so she decided to put an end to it. At least for now.

“Okay, enough of this.” Slamming her palm against the table, Jennie startled the couple as well as Lisa. “Let’s do something. I’m bored,” she drawled and left the table, not waiting for the rest to follow her.

*  *  *

Jennie splashed water onto her face and looked at her worn out expression in the mirror. She was tired and she would love to go to sleep. Unfortunately, it was only eight o’clock in the evening, meaning that all the activities: bonfire, singing, drinking and god knows what else, were just about to start. And they would probably last until the morning. She hoped that none of the freshmen would end up catching fire, or burning down the whole camp by chance. 

“You look wasted, mate,” Rosé snickered as she left the toilet and joined Jennie by the sink, “and you haven’t even had your first drink yet.”

Jennie slanted her an unaffected glare. She wasn’t in a mood to bicker with the girl again. Though as she looked around and realized that they were alone in the bathroom, she decided to voice out her earlier suspicions and do a little bit of questioning.

 “What have you been talking about with Lisa when I and Jisoo went to get the food?” She asked as she turned around, leaning against the sink.

Rosé arched her eyebrow. “What do you mean officer? Am I in trouble? Should I call my lawyer?” She said in a formal tone, obviously finding the situation amusing.

“Quit fooling around, Rosé,” Jennie shot impatiently. “You know what I mean. Have you told her what you’d told me?”

“Wait.” Rosé raised her forefinger, stifling another chuckle. “Is it about that innocent peck she gave you? Do you think she did that because I enlightened her to the idea of you two dating?”

Crossing arms at her chest, Jennie frowned. “Well did you?”

Rosé shook her head, her shoulders dropping. “Oh Jennie, Jennie. Tell me, was this the first time when Lisa kissed your cheek?”

Jennie gnawed on her bottom lip, her gaze veering to the side.

No, it wasn’t the first time. She actually lost count of all those innocent kisses that Lisa pressed against her cheeks. Once that realization sunk in, Jennie felt like a complete moron. What was she thinking, really? It was just one of the many ways in which Lisa expressed her gratitude, happiness, or even compliments. Why that one kiss was supposed to be different than the rest?

“As far as I remember,” Rosé tapped her chin pensively. “She once kissed you on the cheek while she was still dating Seulgi. So wasn’t that just Lisa being, you know, Lisa?”

“Right,” Jennie mumbled, rubbing her neck. “Forget I asked.”

She was about to step away from the sink when Rosé blocked her way. A shadow of a smirk ghosting on her lips.

“I haven’t told her anything, but it’s nice to know that you slowly begin to see things from a different perspective,” the redhead remarked vaguely then spun around, heading for the exit.

Frowning in puzzlement, Jennie had no idea what her friend meant. She was never good at guessing games. So she ran after Rosé to seek further explanation, but once she found herself outside the bathroom and noticed a black serpent in the grass, she shrieked in terror and retreated under the building’s wall.

“What the hell Jen? What happened?” Rosé asked in alarm.

Pressing her cheek to the cold wall, Jennie pointed her shaky finger at the ground. “S-s-ssnake,” she stammered out from between frantic breaths.

“What? You mean this?” Rosé heaved a sigh. “It’s okay you can look. It’s just a rubber hose.”

Slowly, without moving her head, Jennie diverted her gaze to the side. And as she realized that Rosé indeed held just an inanimate object in her hand, she slid down the wall and tried to calm down her breathing.

Rosé crouched in front of her and fixed a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

“I ing hate snakes,” Jennie muttered, staring blankly at her friend. The crisp, evening wind cooled off her perspired forehead.

“I know, honey, I know,” Rosé said softly and helped Jennie to get up.

“Guysss!” Lisa’s voice caught their attention, and they saw her running to them with a megawatt grin on her face. She had changed into a pair of ripped jeans and covered her top with a flannel shirt. “Come on, there’s a dance battle going on,” she said, excited like a five year old on a sugar high.    

Jennie and Rosé couldn’t help but to chuckle at her.

The tension left Jennie’s body along with the mind-numbing thoughts regarding hideous, slithery reptiles. She grinned when Lisa grabbed her hand, leading her towards the noisy crowd that gathered near the campfire. And as they fingers instinctively interlocked, Jennie felt as though she was the one who ended up catching fire. 

*  Gamjatang - pork spine soup, a spicy Korean soup made from the spine of a pig. Lisa’s favorite dish.

* Samgyetang - warm soup for hot summer days, consists primarily of a whole young chicken - filled with garlic and rice -, scallion and spices, among them jujube and Korean ginseng.

A/N: I’m not entirely pleased with this chapter, but I promise the next one will be better :D Thank you for all your kind comments! They mean a lot to me and really motivate me to write this story ^^