Short Story Title: See You On The Next Trip

Chapter Title: Something Just Like This

Sorry I took so long to update. I blame our internet provider for not fixing the wifi sooner. But here. I do apologize if there are typos or something there.

Also, just a reminder, that this fic will end. Two more chaps.

Anyway, as always, enjoy! Merry Christmas!

ps. the wifi isn’t back yet, but I had to post this.

Surrounded by the vintage colored shelves and the smell of the books filling their noses. She stood there. Mouth agape. Heart beating fast. Astounded by the bluntness of the person in front of her. She’s lost. A good kind of lost. The kind of lost wherein no one wants to find the exit. She wants to stay there. Forever if possible. She holds the book with her two hands, staring at it, making sure she didn’t read it wrong. She grazes on the words embedded on the book. It is real. The words are there. Speaking to her louder than anyone who speaks with microphones in their hands.

To you…

That’s what the book says. And that’s what Jennie says as well.

In any time. Any place. Jennie would want to go to her. Always. Be it in the mountains. Be it in an isolated rooftop. Or even in a place with no windows. She would go. To her. To the ends of the world, she would go. As long as it leads to her. Because that’s what her heart tells her. As cliché as it seems or as cheesy as it sounds, that’s what she feels and that is what she’s going to act upon, if she’s given the chance. She looks down, on her pastel pink shoes. She taps on the floor using the tip of her shoes, waiting for Lisa to say something. Waiting for her to put a stop to the anxiety that she’s feeling.

The silence is killing both of them. The fact that Jennie doesn’t know whether it’s a good kind of silence or not, kills her. Once again, she wishes she could read Lisa. She wished that the latter could at least open a little bit of her, so she could have an idea of what she’s feeling or what she’s thinking. But she can’t. And she thinks she will never be able to read her like an open book. It would always be her, guessing— wondering.

It was agonizing. The way the time seemed to freeze. The way it felt suffocating when their breaths hitched.

Lisa clears the invisible lump in . Working like magic, it clears the impending awkwardness between them.

Jennie finally looks up, hearing Lisa’s obvious fake cough. She sees Lisa smiling softly at her. She smiles, feeling the anxiety diminish in a second.

“That’s cool…” Lisa says, gazing sweetly at the book, she looks up— slowly, then says, “…because to you is where I wanna go too.”

Jennie purses her lips, stopping them from smiling too wide. She turns around, not wanting Lisa to see the shade of pink invading her soft cheeks. “You ,” she snickers, walking a few meters away from the latter.

Lisa giggles. She puts the book back to where Jennie got it.

The feelings were there. For the both of them. Indirectly spoken.

The time passes and before they even know it, they were already sitting on the floor, with a book between them. Giggling. Forgetting all about the worries. The impending sadness. Forgetting about the ticking clock. The 9632.25km distance. They forget. For a short while.

The romance novel, shared by the two of them, was one of Jennie’s favorite. She had read it a couple of times and she wouldn’t mind reading it again— for it is something that could tell everything she couldn’t say right now. She glances over Lisa, in awe. And as the sunlight hits the latter’s face while reading one of her favorite lines in the book, with so much emotion— she falls.

It is not wrong. Jennie knows it is not wrong. There’s no right or wrong with falling for someone. There’s just nothing but the reasons a person has. It is like a space of pure abyss. Right now, that’s what it is. A space made up of nothing but feelings entangled with uncertainties and risks. She looks at her. For the thousand time, she stares at her. Not giving a single care anymore to what Lisa reading now. For all she cares about is how smooth the words roll off Lisa’s lips. How carefully Lisa reads each word. How she effortlessly gives meaning to everything in the book. How she says the word ‘love’ like it is a piece of diamond— precious and priceless.

“Lisa-yah…” Jennie calls out, sweetly.

Finishing the last sentence of the paragraph, Lisa slowly shifts her head to face Jennie.

Jennie didn’t spare a second and just went to cup Lisa’s chubby cheeks. And for a few seconds she stops, to admire Lisa’s visuals. One would immediately assume what the next thing would be. The universe knows what is supposed to happen when a person cups the other’s face. And Lisa, wouldn’t deny that she expected something romantic. Something that seals the deal. But she gets nothing from Jennie but a hard pinch on each sides of her cheeks.

She groans. Feeling the painful sensation around her cheeks.

Jennie laughs. Finally, she had put an end to the temptation of pinching Lisa’s chubby cheeks. She gets up, dusting off her clothes. She looks down on Lisa, who was still rubbing her cheeks, she smiles. She extends her hand out towards Lisa, and with a soft smile on her face, she says, “Let’s go.”

Lisa looks up, her cheeks still stinging. “Where?”

“Anywhere, c’mon.” Jennie says.

Lisa takes Jennie’s hand. She can’t remember if this was the first time she had ever touched the latter’s hand, if it was, then this is the first time she felt how soft Jennie’s hand is. How warm it is. How securing it felt when the latter’s fingers fit perfectly in the spaces between hers. It feels nice— so nice that Lisa became so sure that she would run away with Jennie if the latter asks.

It was in the middle of the day, sun scorching, when they both decided that it was a good idea to run around the streets, laughing. It was in the middle of the day when they both decided to stop by small stores, checking out crafts, trying on hats, mocking each other. It was in the middle of the day when the two decided to cross the road with ice creams in their hands, arms linked. It was in the middle of the day when the two of them rode busses and alight in places they’re not that familiar with.

They walked around streets, arms still linked. Giggling and laughing. Nudging and pinching each other softly. Holding each other’s hands with so much security.

Lisa was leading the way, in the place she barely knows. But she doesn’t care, neither Jennie. Because people would rather be lost in a place with the person they’re completely attached to than roam around a place they know so well but with no one with them. She spots a playground, just across the street. She smiles, widely, knowing that her inner childishness has woken up. She fastens her pace, surprising Jennie in the process, but the latter just smiled.

Rusty metals clanking. Kids running around and screaming. Lisa loves it. She leads Jennie on a nearby bench, just under the shade of a huge oak tree, and there they sat. Watching kids play around. Somehow, it reminded Lisa of how her childhood used to be like one of those kids. How she ran around, playing tag with a kid she barely knows. How she would get random bruises. How she would wipe the dirt on her shirt. Nostalgia hit her. But she stops. She stops at the exact moment where she needs to. Because that’s the only memory she wanted to preserve and keep remembering. Nothing else.

Jennie almost jump off her seat upon seeing a kid fall down right in front of them, but she immediately smiles when the kid gets up, then laughs while running after his friends again.

“Don’t you just get so nostalgic watching kids?” Jennie says, leaning against the cold metal.

“Yeah… they are so… pure and innocent.” Lisa replies, her eyes glued to the boy with a teddy bear in his hands, laughing with his small voice. “I wish I was still a kid.”

“But you still look like a kid…” Jennie says, earning a glare from Lisa. She chuckles, raising her hand to show a peace sign.

“You’re shorter than me…”

Jennie gasps, her hand on her chest, pretending to be shocked, “how dare you Lalisa ‘Cinnamon Roll’ Manoban.”

Lisa laughs then grabs Jennie’s knows, shaking it lightly, then says, “You are such a kid, Jennie Kim.”

They both burst out laughing. Lisa and Jennie can’t remember how many times they laughed with and at each other. No one is counting. But if they get a dollar for each laugh, giggle, and smile that they earn from each other. The two would probably be millionaires now.

And as their laughs die down, it was in the middle of the day, when Jennie knew she want something just like this.

6:12PM

The cars on the road are starting to pile up. Students are getting out of schools. Busses getting filled. Bus stops getting jam-packed. The street getting crowded. Cars honking at each other and whispers of gossips and giggles made the street busy. But none of it mattered— at least for the two of them, it didn’t. The two were sandwiched between people from either work or schools. Being the taller one, Lisa held onto the metal rail to gain balance and prevent herself from falling. Jennie, on the other hand, slowly wraps her slender arms around Lisa’s waist. Closing the gap between them, she pressed herself against Lisa’s body.

She was no longer holding onto her for balance or to prevent herself from bumping against the other passengers. She’s hugging her because she wanted to. She wants to feel her warmth. She wants to breathe in her scent. She closes her eyes, resting her head on the latter’s chest then tightening her hug. She smiles, feeling Lisa’s free arm make its way around her waist.

“This is so cliché, it feels like a scene taken out of a movie…” Lisa whispers.

Jennie tries her best to keep her laugh to herself. She didn’t want to disturb the other passengers. “Shut up, you’re ruining it,” she replies.

“Chaeng is going to kill us if she finds out that we went out on a trip without informing them,” Jennie says, as they alight the bus full of people wanting to get home already. She immediately holds Lisa’s hand, and the latter didn’t protest.

Lisa shrugs, “It’s not our fault they didn’t call.”

“You turned off your phone Lisa.” Jennie says, her expression dropping.

Lisa shrugs once again, then grins as she grabs Jennie hand. “It’s fine.”

The night deepens and the two continued walking in the streets as if it’s unending. No one seemed to get tired. Of the walking. Of each other. Everything felt new for the both of them. They’ve been walking around the streets of Seoul but no one seemed to get used to it. Who knows how many times they had passed by that ice cream shop just across the bookstore. Who knows how many times the flower shop owner had smiled at them and how many times they smiled back.

No one counted. But that doesn’t matter. Counting isn’t anyone’s concern. No one in the world remembers how many moments they have made with the person they have feelings for. Lisa tightens her grip on Jennie’s hand, and the latter couldn’t help but let the butterflies in her stomach party. She smiles through her tightly closed lips. Trying not to show how much she likes the way Lisa holds her hand.

The way their fingers entangle with each other feels like no one wants to let go. And it’s true. Who would want to let go of something that seems great. That feels great. The more Lisa realizes how great these feelings make her feel, the more she wants to hold on to her. Hold on to the feelings, she hopes, they both share. Hold on to the idea that there could be something far more wonderful than the moment they have right now. And although it is too farfetched, she’s holding on to it. With grins on their faces, they walk down the street that is softly lit with streetlights.

“Let’s have the last stop of this trip at the hotel’s rooftop,” Jennie says.

“Are we even allowed to go there?”

“No…” Jennie answers with a smile that suggests an idea of breaking the rules like how teenagers would. “But is that going to stop us?”

And they did. Without second thoughts, they did. They broke the rules as they sprint on the hallway of the hotel towards the fire exit stairs. Lisa gave a last glance to the empty hallway, making sure that no one saw them. They sneaked their way up to the rooftop of the hotel and they giggle as a way of celebrating the accomplishment.

“This is so high!” Lisa exclaims, moving away from the rails as she is afraid of looking down and seeing how high they are up.

But she did not dare to leave the place. That is the last thing she would do right now. She knows Jennie loves this kind of place. She loves the higher grounds and she knows the latter finds comfort in this. And she wouldn’t dare take this moment from her. After all, this will be another moment shared only with the two of them. And sometimes, this is enough.

“I was so excited when I first found out that we were going to a new place…” Jennie says as she stare down the buildings below them. She could almost touch the sky. She traces the outlines of the buildings as she leans her chin on top of her arms that was resting on the railing. “I bragged about it to the kids at school because it sounds cool, but I didn’t realize I was going to be so far. I only realized it when my mom told me to say good bye to Jisoo and Chaeng. I cried but our parents made it seem like we aren’t really far. Now I don’t know how to feel about going back to the place I’ve been living my whole life in…”

Lisa turns around, leaning her back against the rail as she looks up the sky— listening to Jennie tell a part of her story.

“…I don’t know if I want to go back anymore.” She adds.

The stars twinkle right above them and they both loved it. They love how it seemed like the stars twinkle just for them. They love how everything so peaceful. They love how their presence marry the comfort that the rooftop brings.

Serene.

That’s how it feels like. But they both know it’s more than that and no words in the dictionary could ever describe how this moment feels like. No word could amount to how blissful and serene it is. And one could only conclude, that if a person loses words to describe something, then it is true. It is reality.

The wind blows, grazing softly onto their skin, leaving them shivering for a little bit inside. Lisa glances at Jennie, and once again, she sees the girl completely astounded by the stars. Her heart beats softly for Jennie. It’s weird, because normally she would feel her heart beating uncontrollably like it wants to breakout of her ribs. But right now, her heart beats softly with that familiar tug that makes her s