« chapter seven »

•••

Lisa’s eyes snapped open and she jolted upright in her bed, the sixth time she had woken up that night from a nightmare. She groaned and reached out blindly, feeling for her phone in the dark, and checked the time.

The bright blueish light of the phone told her it was 4:29 in the morning.

Sighing, she lightly tossed her phone aside and very reluctantly slid out of bed. There was no way she was going to get to sleep, she realized. She might as well start her day early.

As she made her way across her room, she accidentally bumped into her dressing table, unable to see clearly in the dark and unable to think clearly, having just woken up. Something fell to the ground, and when she squinted she saw it was a pencil stand—

Jennie, slamming her hands on the desk—

Jennie, spinning the chair around—

Jennie, grabbing her by the chin—

Jennie, raising her hand—

Lisa gasped for air as she collapsed to her knees at the foot of her dresser. The scenes from her nightmare—no, reality—flooded her mind. She clutched at her hair as she tried to clear her mind and get a grip on herself. No way was she going to deal with Jennie today, she decided. If this confrontation was still affecting her, she didn’t even want to think of how bad the aftermath of the confrontation today would be.

... She couldn’t go today.

That was why, later that morning, Lisa found herself shifting her weight from one leg to the other, nervous as she stood outside the entrance to Chaeyoung’s house.

Almost a full, agonizing two minutes after she rang the bell, she heard the click of the lock opening. The door opened a crack, and a familiar pair of dark brown eyes peeked out.

“Lisa?” Chaeyoung called out, her voice raspy and slightly deeper. She must have just gotten out of bed.

Lisa took a deep breath, and then let it out in a loud sigh. “I don’t think I’ll go to class today.”

That snapped Chaeyoung out of her sleepy haze, and eyes more alert, the redhead opened the door wider to let Lisa in.

“Why are—oh. Right.”

Lisa didn’t want to recall the events of the previous day, even though they were only memories, so she followed Chaeyoung silently as she led them to her room.

“My parents left for work already,” Chaeyoung said as they headed toward her room. “They’ve been hanging back the past few days to—to watch over me, but now they need to keep their jobs.” She cracked a smile.

Lisa just followed quietly, unable to bring herself to smile as well. She still felt sick from all the possible outcomes she had imagined for this morning, and .

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Chaeyoung glance at her uneasily. “Lisa? Are you—”

“Can we go somewhere? I just—I really don’t want to be here right now.” Lisa gestured vaguely to demonstrate here.

Chaeyoung looked slightly taken aback by Lisa’s request, but she wasn’t opposing it. She opened the door to her bedroom and allowed Lisa to step in first. “Um ... yeah, sure. Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere, honestly,” Lisa said as she plopped down on Chaeyoung’s (still messy) bed.

Chaeyoung bit her lip in thought, but suddenly her eyes lit up, no traces of the previous confusion left on her face. “Oh, there’s supposed to be a really cool food exhibit a bit further downtown, and apparently it has food from everywhere!” she said excitedly. “I’ve wanted to go, but—with what happened—I—”

“Let’s go today, then!” Lisa said, grinning.

“Later today,” Chaeyoung corrected. “It doesn’t open till around evening time ... and in the meanwhile—since we’re ditching—we should actually practice dance,” she added, laughing.

«•••»

Lisa never realized just how badly the stress of the recent situations has been affecting her—and even Chaeyoung, for that matter—until she was in a stress-free zone, as was the case that evening as they made their way to the exhibit.

Even while they were simply walking, she jumped whenever people walked by too closely, and she found it hard to keep a normal conversation going without being constantly distracted by the surroundings. Chaeyoung was just as hypersensitive to everything, so Lisa was slightly relieved that it wasn’t an abnormal response.

By the time they reached the exhibit, though, they were more relaxed, gradually becoming accustomed to the busier environment. The sun had begun to set, and the streetlamps were only just turning on.

“Wow,” Lisa said, her eyes wide as she took in the exhibit. The exhibit was in a plaza, with multiple food stalls lining all sides. There were handmade signs being held up and banners draped across the stalls to indicate the country each stall represented, and string lights were hung to surround the entire plaza, giving the area a festive feel—a safe feel.

“There are supposed to be dishes from all around the world,” Chaeyoung explained, also in wonder at the exhibit. “The challenge is finding where to start.”

Lisa laughed. “No, the challenge is trying everything!” She stepped a bit away from Chaeyoung to fully look at the exhibit, slowly spinning around, still awe-struck. “Honestly, there are so many—” She cut herself off as an oddly familiar sensation of unease resurfaced. She looked around, turning in a faster circle, and Chaeyoung caught her by the arm before she tripped over herself.

“Lisa?” she asked, a hint of alarm in her voice. She was also looking around, albeit not as anxiously. “Did you ... did you see some—something?”

Unspoken, the word hung in the air. Someone.

Letting out a huff of air, Lisa bit her lip, and then shook her head slowly. “No ... I’m still jumpy, I guess. Anyway,” she said, releasing her arm from Chaeyoung’s grip and instead taking her hand, “let’s start with Korea! I think I see gamjatang!”

Though she dragged Chaeyoung with her, Lisa still felt uneasy, glancing over her shoulder more than once as they walked toward the stall.

«•••»

“Chaeyoung, I swear, I really can’t eat anymore,” Lisa protested as Chaeyoung dragged her toward the Belgium stall. It had been over an hour, and the sun had completely set. Only the artificial lights now illuminated the plaza.

“Ah, come on,” Chaeyoung said, tugging Lisa along. “This is chocolate! No matter how full you are, you always have room for chocolate.”

As they approached the stall and the sweet aroma of the chocolate wafted toward them, Lisa’s protests grew weaker. It smelled delicious, and Lisa realized that she suddenly didn’t feel that full anymore.

At the very least, she knew she had room for some chocolate.

The source of the aroma was the pot of melted chocolate over a stove, which was being occasionally drizzled onto some ice cream that was being handed out to guests at the exhibit. The rest of the stall consisted of a collection of small, delicately wrapped sweets, as well as packaged chocolates to buy to take home. There were so many options, but at the food exhibit only one item, however big or small, was available for free. Lisa was torn.

Chaeyoung must have been in the same dilemma, because she met Lisa’s eyes and grinned, a glint of mischief in her eyes. The next moment she glanced up with wide eyes at the stall owner, a middle-aged and sturdily built man.

“Uh, excuse me, sir?” she asked, her voice a bit higher and more singsongy than usual.

Lisa bit back a smile—it would only have ruined the impact.

“Yes?” the man replied gruffly, eyes moving between Chaeyoung and Lisa for only a second before he resumed stirring the pot of melted chocolate.

“We were wondering if we could try both of these?” she asked sweetly, pointing to a dark chocolate piece in the back and a lighter, more milky variety near the front.

“The rule is to choose only one, miss,” he said, his voice still gruff, but he had stopped stirring the chocolate, silently signaling one of the assistants to take over.

Chaeyoung pouted, and despite the hilarity of the situation, Lisa followed suit, making her eyes wide to appear younger. “But,” Lisa started, her voice a few pitches higher due to her trying to act cute and also resisting the urge to laugh. “We don’t know which one we’d like better ... it’s only two, could you allow it for just us?”

Simultaneously, and completely unplanned, the two girls blinked innocently and pouted, asking please, and the man sighed. “Go ahead,” he said, his voice laced with reluctance despite the slight smile on his face. “Only two, no more,” he added sternly before turning away.

Lisa had to grip Chaeyoung’s hand tightly to keep from squealing with excitement right there. She and Chaeyoung quickly took two sweets each, much to the chagrin of a few bystanders who looked on with jealousy. When they were far enough to be out of earshot, they burst out laughing.

“Oh my god,” Lisa said in between breaths, resisting the need to double over in laughter. “Did you see his face?”

Chaeyoung shook her head yes, her face a light pink shade from laughing. “I feel bad!” she admitted once she managed to catch her breath. “We were supposed to pay for the extras.”

“But we did it, thanks to your acting,” Lisa replied, lightly nudging Chaeyoung’s arm.

“Do you think we should—Lisa?”

Lisa had frozen in her tracks, her eyes trained on a spot at the edge of the plaza. A familiar figure was leaning against one of the bike rails.

He was staring straight at them.

“No way,” Chaeyoung breathed out. She froze in her spot, just as she did the day he had broken in.

Lisa, having felt uneasy most of the time when they had first arrived, though, was better prepared. “We’re in public, he can’t do anything here,” she said quietly, eyes still focused on Junhwe. He didn’t seem to be making any effort to move, so Lisa made Chaeyoung turn around so they were not facing Junhwe and began to lead them away from the plaza. She glanced over her shoulder every few seconds to keep sight of him. “Let’s just walk back and stick to the crowd—there are a few shops that should still be open, and—”

She paused, her hand suddenly brushing against something in her purse as she reached in there for her phone. Something that she had forgotten would always be with her.

The earpiece and mic.

A wave of confidence washed over Lisa as she took the earpiece out of her purse and discreetly put it on. She pressed the small button at the base to turn it on.

The voice that she had previously heard in her living room was now in her ear. “Lisa?” Chen called, slightly puzzled that she had her earpiece (and with it, the tracker) at this time. “Anything the matter?”

“We’re at the food exhibit in the main plaza,” Lisa said. “We ... we see Junhwe.”

The other end, previously noisy with some background chatter, became deathly silent—it only lasted for a quick second, though. “All right, we have a unit stationed near there for security, we’ll route them to trail you,” Chen said, his voice smooth and methodical. “A few officers will be sent for the sole purpose of trailing Junhwe as well, so that we can—”

Lisa was suddenly yanked forward by a terrified Chaeyoung. “Run!”

A quick glance over her shoulder, which she had forgotten to do while talking to Chen, was explanation enough—Junhwe was no longer standing against the wall.

He was only fifteen meters away.

Not needing any more motivation, Lisa began to run as well, fear and adrenaline fueling her speed.

If only the path had been clear.

Instead, the two dodged through people left and right, bumping into many and ignoring the angry shouts and insults thrown at them as a result. At one particular obstacle, though—a small fountain crowded by people—Lisa’s hand was yanked from Chaeyoung’s, and she lost sight of the redhead in the crowd. Disoriented when she finally made it past the fountain, Lisa looked around in alarm for a few seconds before fear overtook her and she continued to run, alone.

She finally slowed to a stop as she reached a dead end—or rather, an entrance to a park. It was only then that she remembered that, in the midst of their mad escape, Chen had still been on the line. “Lisa?” she heard him call.

She took a few breaths to calm her heart, and then swallowed, wincing as she realized that was painfully dry. “Yeah,” she gasped out. “I’m here.”

“Was Junhwe after you?”

“I—he—yeah, he was chasing us. I think,” Lisa added, remembering that she hadn’t looked back after she saw him so close. “I lost Chaeyoung.”

She thought she heard Chen swear, but it wasn’t directly into the mic so she couldn’t be sure. “That’s all right,” he replied. “She has her own earpiece—we’ll find her. You were both at the food exhibit, so she can’t be too far ...”

The line quieted, and Lisa took that moment to gather her bearings. Looking back once, and remembering vividly the image of Junhwe within sprinting distance, she took a deep breath. Mustering the courage she didn’t expect herself to have, she stepped forward, opting to head into the park over risking another encounter with Junhwe. Besides, she knew this park—walking through it was a longer way home.

A few minutes later, her earpiece came to life again. “All right, all right, where are you now?” Chen said tersely. “Are you near any public spaces?”

“No,” Lisa said slowly into her earpiece, forcing her voice to remain steady. “Not exactly. I’m in—”

Lisa was cut off as the earpiece cackled with static. Jumping, she ripped it out of her ear, grimacing.

“What the hell?” she muttered to herself. Experimentally, she lifted the earpiece closer to her ear, but pulled it away as the sound of static continued. With a sigh, she decided to just keep walking, knowing that she was almost across.

As she walked through the park, though, the light from the streetlamps wasn’t enough to counter the shadows from the trees. The branches that would have appeared beautiful in the daylight hours were crooked and ominous in the night, and Lisa shivered even though there was no breeze.

Suddenly, there was a crunch of leaves, and Lisa whirled around. Eyes straining to see past the radius of light provided by the streetlamp and heart pounding in her ears, she froze in her spot, waiting.

There was no sound.

It’s nothing, she thought to herself. You’re outside—it could have just been a squirrel.

But she let a minute pass, and when there was still no sound Lisa hesitantly turned back around.

A shadow quickly moved out of the light of the streetlamp.

Lisa clamped a hand over to hold back a scream.

Breathing heavily, her eyes refocused onto the dark spot just outside the circle of light, and her shoulders relaxed as she recognized that it was just an animal—a cat, it seemed, though a large one at that.

She let out a deep breath. “God, Lisa,” she scoffed quietly. “You’re such an—”

A hand clamped down on her shoulder, yanking her backward.

Lisa screamed, and another hand clamped over .

•••

Author’s Note:

*hides from all your pitchforks and knives* HEY HEY HEY I ADDED SOME CHAELISA FLUFF LET ME LIVE

final exams are almost here, but don't worry i'll update about a chapter a week ... break starts the 22nd of december though so YAASSSS

let me know what you think / what you expect cuz i'm genuinely curious as to where you all think this story will go lol

~ thana