Short Story Title: See You Soon

Chapter Title: Le Coucher

PS: I really don't have much time to write, let alone, proofread. So I'm sorry for the typos and errors you'll notice. I'm at work sooooo

"I miss you..."

Were the first three words that came out of Lisa's mouth when she saw Jennie on the screen of her laptop. It's almost 7pm in Seoul, which means it's almost 10pm in Auckland.

"Tiring day?" Jennie says, typing frantically, trying to finish her paper before she sleeps.

"Tell me about it. I had a long defense for my research earlier. Turned out well, but still, that took a lot of time to finish."

"Proud of you Lili,"

"Thank you. Are you finishing that paper tonight?"

Jennie didn't say a word, instead, she hums slowly, her eyes fixed on the screen. She's busy and the latter knows that.

"Is that due tomorrow?" Lisa asks.

"Not really. But I want to finish this soon, so we could talk more in the coming days,"

Melting. Lisa's heart could melt right now if it was possible. She purses her lips, not wanting to grin as wide as she can, for the latter might again. But she couldn't help it. Thinking about how Jennie would spend hours trying to finish a research that is not even due the next day, makes her want to jump towards the girl and give her the tightest hug she deserves. She looks at Jennie, who seems to be engulfed in writing, and admires the girl for the nth time. She could feel herself falling over and over again for Jennie and she's not complaining. Her soft smile suddenly turns into a slight frown, remembering how far they are from each other right now.

She sees Jennie yawn and the next thing she sees are the tired eyes of the latter. How long has Jennie been writing? Sitting there, eyes glued on her laptop, flipping pages and switching tabs looking for references.

"Babe it's past 10pm. You should get some rest," Lisa says, her voice almost pleading to get her girlfriend to stop from writing.

"It's alright, I'm almost done here,"

Lisa sighs, "are you sure? You look tired."

"I'm fine babe," Jennie looks at the small camera of her laptop, assuring Lisa that she's fine. She smiles genuinely and her heart almost dropped when she sees Lisa frowning. "You look mad." 

Jennie closes the book beside her laptop and finally turns her attention towards Lisa. 

"I'm not," Lisa says, leaning against her chair. 

"But you're not okay. You don't sound okay." 

"I'm just worried okay. I feel like your pushing yourself way too hard to finish a research that needs a lot of time to work on."

"I told you I'm fine. I want to finish it soon." 

"For what? For us to have more time?" 

"Yeah. Isn't that what we both want? More time for us?" Jennie says, her tone raising a little bit out of frustration. 

"At the expense of what? Your sleep? Your health?" Lisa, who seems to be on the same page as Jennie, replies back. She forwards a little bit, as if trying to engage in a debate. 

"Yes. I would rather lose sleep tonight just to have more time with you tomorrow. But I guess you don't see the effort I make for us to have more time." 

"Jennie I'm thankful enough that I get to have at least an hour with you. I see the effort, all of it. I appreciate it. But I also can't ignore the fact the negative side it would cause on your part." Lisa says, pleading. "You say you're fine tonight, but what if tomorrow you're no longer fine? What if you get sick? How am I gonna run to your side if something happens to you?" 

Jennie doesn't say a word. She looks down, eyes avoiding Lisa's even though she loves the latter's brown eyes so much. It was her welfare Lisa has always been protective of. Even though she makes sense, she can't avoid the fact that Lisa makes more sense at the moment. Now she can't help but wonder who's trying to become a doctor in the future.

She sighs. A sigh that signals defeat in the debate they created. But at the back of her mind, until when is an hour going to be enough for the both of them. Jennie knows it's not enough for her, but she's taking whatever she can for them to work. 

"You're right," Jennie says, softly. "I'm sorry." 

"No you don't have to apologize." 

"Hug?" 

Lisa smiles, finally, seeing how cute Jennie is after their small fight. 

"Hug. But also, don't forget when to pause and take a rest." 

1 AM

Lisa grabs her head. She could feel pain. She could feel her brain almost beating. She gets up, rubbing her head hoping it would soothe the pain. But it didn't. She gets out of her bed, trying to make it to her small medicine box placed on top of her study table. She knows she has a couple of medicines for headaches. She reaches for it, groaning as her body grow heavier with each second.

But she out even before she could take a step. 

Beep. 

Continuous beeping sound woke her up. 

Her back aches, her head throbs. Suddenly, she feels like a 70 year old grandma. She groans, shifting to her left side, while using her right arm to push herself up. She's on the floor and as soon as she realized that-- she remembers the incident she had a few hours ago. She remembers trying to reach her small box of medicine. She remembers the sound she made when her body hit the floor.

What caused it? She doesn't know.

"Weird night," she whispers, finally standing up to open her laptop. 

She opens her Skype, waiting for Jennie to call, but that didn't take longer than a minute. As soon as she went online, Jennie was already calling. 

"You look weird," her girlfriend greets with a bowl of cereal on her hand. 

"I had the weirdest dream. I feel like I was sleep-walking I ended up sleeping on the floor." 

A complete lie. Lisa feels bad about hiding what actually happened, but at the same time, she doesn't want to worry Jennie. Especially when they just had a debate about one's health last night. She thought it would be okay to let this one slide. 

Just this one. 

"Your classes starts at 11, right?" 

"Yep," Lisa replies, walking over to her closet to get some clothes for later.

"Well it's only 6, do you want to sleep some more?" 

"No it's okay, I'm just gonna get some breakfast, stay here," Lisa makes a quick run to her laptop, giving Jennie a virtual kiss, before running to the door. But before she gets out, she turns around one more time, "Hey Jennie!" 

Jennie, who was still giggling at how silly Lisa is, stops for a second to look at her girlfriend. "Yeah?" 

"I love you," Lisa says, throwing finger hearts at her girlfriend, who, by now, is catching all the hearts she could catch while laughing. 

"I love you too, you stupid," she says. 

This is their morning. For the past few months, this is how they spend their mornings. Sitting in front of their laptops, with either a bowl of cereal or toasted sandwiches on their hands, enjoying breakfast together. Hoping it was like before. Hoping they could make each other breakfast or make each other coffee. Jennie smiles at the thought