Waiting to explode

Second Winter at Fire Lodge
Please Subscribe to read the full chapter
Jisoo looked around as they left town and suddenly realized how long it had been since she'd gotten up that morning.   "Will you be okay if I take a nap?" she asked Chaeyoung.   "Sure - I'm wide awake. You get some sleep so you're rested when we get to the lodge."   "I think I will."   Jisoo leaned the seat back to get more comfortable. As she drifted off to sleep, she found herself thinking of the people who'd be meeting them at the lodge. She wondered if Jennie and Lisa would be getting back together. After all the drama they'd gone through in the process of getting together, she couldn't believe that Lisa had broken up with Jennie. Actually, she could: That was exactly the sort of practical thing Lisa would do. Just like not getting involved with Dahyun. Lisa had a knack for doing things that were perfectly right and practical but still made absolutely no sense.   Oh well, regardless of what happened, that was their problem to deal with. She just yawned and drifted off to sleep . . .   Only to awaken in a panic, struggling to catch her breath as her mind struggled to process where she actually was and what was actually going on.   "Bad dream?" Chaeyoung asked.   Jisoo nodded. "Yeah. It seemed to real. I dreamed the lodge caught fire and you were stuck in the kitchen and I couldn't get to you and . . ." Jisoo was on the verge of working herself back into a panic when Chaeyoung took her hand.   "It's just a dream," Chaeyoung was saying. "You're fine. I'm fine. The lodge isn't - oops, I need my hand back for driving - the lodge isn't on fire. It's just a dream."   "It seemed so real," Jisoo said, leaning her seat back up again, as she felt sure she couldn't get back to sleep. "You were screaming, and I couldn't get to you, and . . ."   "And it was just a dream," Chaeyoung repeated. "And if it makes you feel better, before we fix dinner tonight, we'll go over the lodge from top to bottom, making sure all the smoke detectors work and all the fire extinguishers are charged."   "That would - that would make me feel better," Jisoo said, finally starting to calm down. She looked around at the winding mountain road, cutting back and forth over switchbacks. So long as she wasn't the one trying to drive, so could take time to notice how beautiful it was. So long as it wasn't snowing. She laughed. Chaeyoung responded with an interrogatory noise and a raised eyebrow. "Oh," Jisoo said, "I was just thinking how funny it is that I work at a ski lodge and I'm afraid of snow."   "You're afraid of snow storms," Chaeyoung corrected her, "which is another thing entirely and probably a good idea. By the end of last season, we had you out on a snowboard, remember?"   "I've probably forgotten how to do that by now - the knowledge has been overwritten with instructions for how to make 10 different sauces."   "I'll have to make a point of getting you out on the snow early and often," Chaeyoung said. "By the end of the season you'll be able to snowboard and also make 10 different kinds of sauces."   ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^   Lisa looked around the lobby. "The place looks exactly the same," she said.   Jennie shrugged. "Once the insurance company weaseled out of paying me, there wasn't money left for redecoration. There was barely enough money to keep the lights on all summer. I did all the repairs that I could myself, and even that backfired, because I screwed up fixing the upstairs plumbing and ended up having call out a plumber to fix the pipes and a carpenter to fix the ceiling that got flooded by my botched-up attempt at a repair." She pointed to an almost invisible patch in the back corner of the lobby. Lisa noticed that Jennie's eyes had started to glisten. "It's been so hard," Jennie said. "First I lost my parents, then I lost you, and I've been struggling to do all of this by myself and it's more than I can do."   "But I'm back now -" Lisa began.   "You're back," Jennie interrupted her, "but you're not 'back back.' Every time we've talked on the phone or exchanged emails has been a chance for you to tell me that you still love me, that we'd be together again, but you never said it. And now you're here and I just don't know. I can't tell where I stand with you, Lise." The tears that had been threatening to overflow her eyes finally did, running down her cheeks and smearing her makeup. "I just don't know where we are. And I'm sorry, I didn't want today to go like this, but I've been holding these things inside for months now and apparently I can't anymore."   Lisa took a step toward Jennie. She reached out to put her hand on Jennie's shoulder, but Jennie flinched away, so she put her hand down. "I'm here, Jennie." She began, speaking slowly and quietly. "I'm here. Maybe
Please Subscribe to read the full chapter
Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!
brithistorian
Much to my surprise, I'm back to writing Second Winter at Fire Lodge! A lot happens this chapter, but mainly centered around the minor characters.

And I promise all you Chaesoo shippers I'll have something good for you next time - there just wasn't room for it this time around!

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
Astraea21 #1
Chapter 1: Starting this story now. :)
Craazy_hippo
#2
Chapter 1: ohh this is going to be good
Soshi1590
#3
Chapter 43: A mini Asia tour lol
Soshi1590
#4
Chapter 42: That a beautiful wedding. My chaesoo babies finally
iph1318
#5
Chapter 41: I enjoy how domestic they are lol.
Soshi1590
#6
Chapter 41: Don’t mess with Chaeyoung’s kitchen lol
Nice update
Soshi1590
#7
Chapter 40: Sunmi and hansol are cute
Jennie and Lisa are cuter
Chaeng and Jisoo are the cutest
Soshi1590
#8
Chapter 39: Saida reliving the memories lol
Soshi1590
#9
Chapter 38: Lisa is some kind of genius, isnt she? Planning ahead, saving money. She is the good luck charm of the place it seems

Chaesoo are the cutest