vii. alcazar

alcazar ; a palace for royals

[ éric alfred leslie satie - gymnopédie I & III ]

JEN.

"So let me get this straight, she's not the Jen that I've dated since last year anymore?!" Lisa's hands were pointing back and forth to the two of us. "Mmhhm. You can go and ing forget the thousands of flowers you've sent her every evening because she doesn't remember anything now." Jisoo nodded in confirmation, she's not even feeling sorry for Lisa, their friendship is weird. It was a chilly afternoon in the docile streets of Greenwich Village in where the three of us decided to talk things down at the White House Tavern, an exquisite place found at the corner of an 11th Hudson street stoplight. I still can't wrap my mind around the truth that I was actually living in the 60s where vintage road bikes and old mustangs were the most advanced transportation you could ever get and The Beatles were still alive and young. Just imagine the culture shock that I am in. No. You can't.

Lisa pouted after she heard Jisoo's words,  maybe she was disappointed by the fact that her girlfriend just switched souls with a random girl from the future.  I mean who wouldn't flip right?

"But I know you from my other life though. You had the same face and name, the only difference is that you were a dancer and we had a . . . different relationship. " I told her with a skittish tone, it was awkward to be frank with her alright. "Really? These twiggy legs can dance? , I feel so lame right now." Her doll like eyes were covered by her crinkling eyebrows. I snorted a laugh out of what she said, I didn't expect her to be this light-hearted and bright. "Imagine how you'll be the lamest in the world if you didn't know photography." No one stopped Jisoo's savageness. I feel like the bickering has just started when Lisa changed gaze, she was ready to fire back alright. "At least I'm the best at one thing! And I'm not ing single." Lisa retorted the same attitude. I pursed my lips and tried holding back my laugh, I laid my back on the chair as I try to get a better view of this claptrap. "And what are you trying to imply? Gosh! This audacity of yours! If it weren't for me you wouldn't date Jen, you should be thankful." Jisoo's eyes rolled over. "I paid my debt remember? I wasted a whole day trying to get the model out of you. I even got your photos articled and printed on Times! You finally got the compliment you wanted from your family." Lisa stated in response. 

So according to Jisoo, It turns out that Lisa here is dubbed as the best city photographer in town. She started doing photography when she was young and decided to stop studying at 18 and pursued an early professional career. It was not a regrettable decision, I can say, because she's an in demand prowess. Jisoo said that we've met roughly a year ago when our family decided to take photo cards for the holidays and she purposely got Lisa for us because the gay desperately wanted to meet me. Since then she sneaks off the window and give me flowers every time. We had the whole night for ourselves. Talking about everything under the heavens. We always stayed hidden in the dark to protect the precious bond that we had. Hearing all of this about us, about her, and about our secret relationship made me thought of the great contrast that the bond Lisa and I shared from my other life. It gave me the glimpse of what we could've actually been if I didn't intoxicate our developing relationship with just lust and . Nonetheless, the dancer Lisa who smoked menthol and only smiles when she hears my name still haunts me every time. Her dominance, her cynic personality, and inhumanity just hangs me on the edge. Still a ing discourse to my heart. 

"Okay! Alright, I remember!" Jisoo's expression gave in to her guilt. "Anyways, let's talk about how we'll make this cover up work." The black-haired maiden's sudden seriousness shutted the atmosphere down. "We should help her do the things Jen naturally does or she'll send herself to hell with her mother always on her tail.  You know like, sort of a re-study." Jisoo further explained. I had to sip my macchiato at that moment just because I'm already nervous about the idea of pretending to be someone else. But I should be good at it right? Well, taken the fact that I acted straight and hetero for almost 90 percent of my life back then. I should do fine. I internally encouraged.

"Okay,  so who am I again?" I nodded with great determination. If I can't  go back to the life that I used to live before then I'll  just make sure I'll  live this one with no regrets, and that includes the acceptance of the fact that I am also another person. I am also Jen now.  Jisoo breathed out a deep sigh before muttering, "You're Jen Kim. You're 19. You are a business major in NY University. The only daughter and heiress of New York Railroads. You basically own Grand Central Terminal and all the trains that goes in and out of the city." A chilly sensation burned my skin again. Grand Central, why does it feel like it's following me everywhere?  "I-I own what?" My ears started to feel numb. "The Grand Central? That wide baroque style building at the center of Manhattan? Your family owns every train that runs there." She added with vicinity. I slowly nodded with my jaw hanging, I was barely catching up. I didn't want to overthink more and decided to keep all in the back of my head. I gave my attention back on Jisoo who was still talking. "Anyways, you don't drive because you have a driver on every twenty cars that you own. Obviously you're gay but no one knows that except for the three of us here. You like bright colors and you have a bizarre taste in fashion. You have asthma so if you don't wanna die, don't ing forget that. . . And lastly, you're the biggest Beatle fan that I know." Jisoo's chattering was as fast as my chest's in going heartbeat. I needed another sip of Macchiato before indulging all of that into my system. Being a Beatle fan isn't that bad though. 

So this is who I am now? I'm an heir to the throne again, a locked-up princess, a non-driving rich kid, a 1965 heiress, and a ing nineteen year-old girl with a one-syllable name who prefers to handle her teenage midlife crisis by wearing sparkles and polka dots. What a ing good day to cry and die all over again.  I was crumbling from the inside. These new information was too much.

Jisoo suddenly crossed her arms and laid support on the table, "Now listen up." We pulled ourselves closer. "So next weekend the Kims are having a playdate together with other business tycoons at your ranched mansion on Hudson Valley, my family will also be there so . . ." My black haired best friend started to narrate but her words made my face crunch,  " Play date?" I repeated the obscure word. "Oh I forgot you don't know our word codes anymore. Play date means family business meetings or informally known as rich people talking over who's buying who next. Actually, we don't get involve that much we'll just play with the other young elites and let the adults do the dealing." Jisoo implied. "What about Lisa?" I asked since she was not mentioned in the context. "Oh, I'll be there." A smudged smirk appeared on Lisa's lips while her arms were crossed. "I'll be taking photos for you and your family and post it on the daily newspapers. For the sake of publication and reputation of course. The rich always take careful documentations with their business rendezvous, in case something goes wrong. They need the media to always hang by their tail." she added knowingly. 

I barely know anything in this world and now I'm throwing myself to the pits of danger again. I puffed off a popping sigh as I relaxed my shoulders, hoping to ease the tension I was feeling, "Can I just ask one favor?" I was staring on a blank space while uttering that. "What is that?" Jisoo quickly replied. I directly looked at her with pleading eyes. "Can I change my wardrobe? Please?"

...

Saturday came like a swift blow of the wind, during my first week of living in 1965, I can say that you can't do everything here in an instant. Everything you do is