Back at the lodge
First Winter at Fire Lodge
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Dahyun found herself walking by Chaeyoung, with Lisa and Jisoo walking behind them. She and Chaeyoung known each other for several years, and Dahyun considered Chaeyoung a friend. Therefore she didn't feel that there was any reason not to tell Chaeyoung about her adventure with Lisa, including all the "good parts."
"So what are you planning on doing now?" Chaeyoung asked.
"I don't know," Dahyun said with a shrug. "She wants to break things off now. Part of me thinks she'd probably right, but another part wants to fight for her. Any suggestions?"
Chaeyoung laughed. "I'm probably the last person anyone should ask about relationship advice, especially for things that require perception and insight. Maybe when we meet up with Jennie you could ask her."
At the top of the next hill, Chaeyoung looked ahead and saw Jennie heading toward them. "When they met up with Jennie, she greeted Dahyun with a hug. "I'm so glad you're safe," she said.
"I wouldn't have been if not for Lisa," Dahyun told her. "She was a lifesaver."
"Lisa," Jennie called out, as Lisa and Jisoo were just joining the group. "Good job bringing our guest back safely."
Lisa blushed. "Thank you," she said, "but I really feel like I could have done better."
"That's possible," Jennie said, "and we'll discuss it later. For now, you brought Dahyun back, apparently unharmed. Just take the win."
Lisa nodded.
"Well," Jennie said, "I think we've got just enough daylight to make it back, so let's move out."
They headed out, walking single file so they could make better time. Jennie led the way, with Dahyun behind her, then Chaeyoung, then Lisa, then Jisoo bringing up the rear.
As soon as they reached a wide spot in the trail, Dahyun sped up so she could walk beside Jennie. "I've got to talk to you about something," she said. She told Jennie about what had happened with Lisa on the trip, and where things stood now, and how she wasn't certain what she should do from here.
Jennie walked in silence for a minute. Finally she said "Let me think about it, maybe talk to Lisa, and I'll tell you what I think before I go to bed tonight."
Dahyun had hoped Jennie would have a more definitive answer than this, but given that Jennie had only known Lisa for a week longer than Dahyun had, this was about as definitive as she was going to get.
"You talked to Chaeyoung about this?" Jennie asked.
Dahyun nodded. "She suggested I ask you. She also said that she was the last person anyone should ask for relationship advice."
Jennie nodded. "That makes sense." At Dahyun's quizzical look, she went on. "You remember that Chaeyoung and I used to date, right?"
Dahyun nodded.
"Well, she still blames herself for us splitting up, and in some ways she still hasn't recovered from it - she's no good at telling when someone's interested in her, because she doesn't imagine that anyone could be."
"That's so sad," Dahyun said. "I had no idea."
"Well," Jennie said, "I can't really go into detail about it, but I think she's starting to get better."
* * * * *
Lisa found herself looking at Jennie every chance she could. She couldn't believe that she'd never noticed how pretty Jennie was - apparently her new knowledge that she liked girls (or at least liked girls too) was coloring her perceptions. Thinking back over her interactions with Jennie, she supposed that subconsciously she must have known, and her efforts to make Jennie happy were in fact an effort to win her heart. Now there was just the matter of what to do with this new knowledge. She knew from what Jisoo had told her that Jennie was bi, but she didn't know how Jennie felt about getting involved with her employees, or if she was Jennie's type, or if she even wanted to try for this. She sighed - life was so much simpler two days ago.
Jennie maneuvered until she was walking by Lisa. "Penny for your thoughts," she said.
Lisa laughed. "Isn't it funny that we use that figure of speech even though we don't use pennies?"
"It sounds better than 'Ten won for your thoughts," Jennie said, shrugging. "And don't think I didn't notice that you're avoiding my question."
Lisa thought for a long moment. "I've got something that I'm going to want to talk to you about, but it'll have to wait until we get back to the lodge. I want to have some privacy when I talk to you, and I need some time to figure out exactly what I want to say."
"Fair enough," Jennie said. "Whenever you're ready, just find me."
Jennie fell back to walk beside Jisoo, leaving Lisa alone with her thoughts.
As they continued on their way back to the lodge, Lisa kept turning the situation over in her mind. She found herself replaying every interaction she'd had with Jennie. And as she replayed them, she noticed a pattern: Every single one of them was ambiguous. Every one of them could be consistent with Jennie being personally interested in Lisa, or instead consistent with Jennie being professionally interested in Lisa and just happening to be a very friendly person. She hoped that s
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