Chapter IV

the moment i knew

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Flashback

“Jisoo-ah, do you remember Mister Kim, you know, my best friend since high school? You met him before, right?” Jisoo’s dad asked while peeling some oranges.

It was a sunny afternoon and Jisoo and her dad were currently outside their porch. Jisoo was reading a book she borrowed from her older sister, Joohyun. It was called “Every Last Word” by Tamara Ireland Stone. She was lying on the wooden couch while his dad’s sitting, while peeling the oranges, on the railings of their porch. She was only thirty pages away finishing it. She stopped reading when his father popped a question for her and she let herself explore her mind for a moment to recall his dad’s high school best friend whom she had met before when she was still a kid. She remembered that Mister Kim had a daughter, who was also the same age as hers, and that he was divorced with his wife.

“Yeah, I remembered him,” Jisoo answered, continuing to read the book.

His dad handed her the peeled oranges and she started munching on them.

“Apparently, he called me last night to inform me that he’s moving back here, just two blocks away from us, with his new family.”

“Okay, then what about it?”

“Well, he asked me a favor. He said he wants you to introduce her daughter, Jennie, to you and maybe you could also show her around the area.”

Jisoo stopped reading, putting a bookmark on page 156 before closing the book.

“I mean he said that Jennie is also around your age. I think it’s nice if you guys could get along with each other, right?” her dad said, throwing a piece of orange to his mouth.

“Yeah. I guess I could show her around. But when will they move here?”

“Tomorrow. Maybe next week you can give the girl a tour.”

“Sure, dad,” Jisoo gave his dad two thumbs up.

“Thank you, munchkin!” His dad stood up with wide open arms. Jisoo rolled her eyes and stood up from the couch and walked to embrace his dad’s warm hug. “Don’t worry Jennie is a nice kid.”

“I’m sure she is, Dad. Don’t worry I’m sure we’ll get along just fine!” Jisoo exclaimed.

“That’s the spirit!” his dad said, giving her a high five.

Jennie wasn’t such a nice kid at all. She was a brat. She’s cold and a bully. But that didn’t stop Jisoo from understanding her. When they first met, Jennie’s dad warned Jisoo about his daughter’s roller coaster attitude. Jisoo understood what her dad meant but she didn’t understand Jennie. At first, she was perplexed at how strange and odd Jennie was. In Jisoo’s perspective, Jennie had a nice family; she’s got a good father and her step-mother seemed nice, too, so she didn’t understand as to why Jennie’s acting like the world has turned its back on her when in reality it’s just fine. That’s what Jisoo thought. But then she got the opportunity to actually get to know Jennie. She realized that Jennie’s world was completely different from the one she’s living in. Jennie’s world was crumbling and was in the brink of extinction. Jisoo knew that everything would be never be the same, on that moment, when she decided to let Jennie inside her life.

When summer was over and school had started, Jennie and Jisoo became each other’s anchor. Jennie wanted to go to a public school, where Jisoo went. Although her father opposed to it so many times, since she was supposed to enroll in a international school, it didn’t stop Jennie from nagging and convincing her father from getting what she wanted. In the end, her father decided to let her do what she wants to do and so she enrolled in Jisoo’s high school. Jeju High School was welcoming and it frightened Jennie. She wasn’t used to the environment at first but as time went by, she realized that it’s what she needed the most. Her life in Jeju was completely opposite from the life she left behind in New Zealand. It was as if moving in Jeju was a fresh beginning to start with. It was as if her life’s finally going to be better. The Jennie she knew in New Zealand was completely different from the Jennie she had become in Jeju. If there’s one thing she’s thankful for, it was having the chance to restart again. Also, she was grateful to have met and known Jisoo. For she understood her when she couldn’t herself. For she was the light she thought she never needed in the darkness that she was trapped in. For she taught Jennie how to swim amidst all the mess that were floating around her. Even in the smallest amount of time, Jennie knew that her life would be never be the same without Jisoo in it.

But the past Jennie left behind continued to haunt her. There were nights when she couldn’t fall asleep. Most nights seemed relentless. It drained the energy out of Jennie. She started to fall back into her bad habits—into her old self. She tried so hard to bury all the she’d been through. She tried so hard to become the better version of herself. She tried so hard to kill her demons without realizing that she had lost herself into the past. Once again, she was caged inside the inevitable that was her flaws, mistakes, and regrets. When she thought her life was getting better, that’s when everything started to fall apart without her knowing and realizing. What she thought was a silver lining was actually a big storm disguised as a daydream. And most nights Jennie would go out and fall into the arms of Jisoo, who was the only safe haven she knew.

Jisoo, on the other hand, had grew fond of Jennie and her unique ways of letting people know that she was different than any of them. Jennie was, indeed, the complete opposite of her. Perhaps, it was their conspicuous differences that pushed Jisoo to Jennie and vice-versa. It was their differences that made them complement to each other. Jisoo was reticent while Jennie was outspoken. And there was a huge line that sets them apart from one another. Jisoo was loved by so many because of her delicateness while Jennie was often hated and feared upon by the masses because of her liberated actions that were misinterpreted and misunderstood most of the time. They were only a few people who understood and accepted Jennie for who she was. And Jisoo was just the rarest one of them. It was their differences that made them inseparable. Although both of them knew, too, that later on their differences would become each other’s simila