Chapter 8

 

 

 

 

 

 Lisa wakes up ready to start a new mission and does exactly as Jisoo advised her.

 

 

 Facing her fears.

 

 

 To her own surprise, Chaeyoung was not by her side when she woke up. It is strange because Chaeyoung is a heavy sleeper and doesn't wake up until ten in the morning if no one woke her up.

 

 Lisa rises quickly out of the room, looking around, when she goes to the bathroom and hears the sound of the shower, she knows that Chaeyoung might be in the bathroom.

 

 

 good.

 

 Because she is intending to go alone and without anyone knowing to solve the matter silently and without problems.

 

 

 She changes her clothes hastily and goes back to look around her room again, and this time she was looking for a piece of paper and a pen.  When she doesn't find what she is looking for in her room, she heads to the sitting area and looks in the inclusion of the furniture that carried the TV until she finds a notebook with a pen attached to it.

 

 

 She crops a small piece of paper, writes a note on it, puts it on the table and then heads out of the apartment.

 

 

 Thankful for not meeting anyone.

 

 

 

 .  .  .  .

 

 

 

The road down to the reception area of ​​the hotel where they was staying was calm and filled with the clamor of unrelenting thoughts in Lisa's mind as she was thinking about what to do or how to start.

 

 Lisa's steps accelerates as soon as she reachs the main door of the building and passes through it. She continues to walk, intending to reach the end of the street when a black figure suddenly comes out in front of her, making her jump in horror with a sharp squeal.

 

 

 "Chaeyoung! Jesus!" she exclaims, after catching her breathing and recognizing the figure in front of her with her hand on her chest.

 

 

 Chaeyoung was wearing a loose black coat, a black jeans and shirt. A black beanie, and around her neck a black scarf, which covered half of her face.

 

 Why all black?  Since when did Chaeyoung take on the role of a grim reaper?

 

 

 "Chaeyoung! What the hell you doing out here?"

 

 

 - "Tsk! I knew you would do something like this." She says confidently with a smirk as she shakes her arms smugly with her hands in her pockets.

 

 

 "What?"  Lisa asks extremely confused.

 

 

 - "I'm coming with you!"  She declares excitedly.

 

 

 Lisa takes a deep breath as her facial expressions goes serious when she understands what Chaeyoung means and adjusts her posture.

 

 "Chaeyoung.. you can't. I have to go alone."

 

 - "No way!"  Chaeyoung protests, looking at her seriously.

 

 

 "I think I told you that I needed more time to tell you, and as I remember, you accepted!"  

 

Lisa was looking at her furrowing, where was Chaeyoung's promise to her?

 

 Chaeyoung's face softens and stares silently at Lisa before she explains:

 

 "And it’s still as it is. I'm just coming along to be with you. I won't ask you anything, I promise!"

 

 Chaeyoung's tone was gentle, calm and sincere, so that Lisa would agree on her tagging along, and if She's like this, Lisa can't argue with her more.

 

 She exhales a breath grumbling helplessly as she massages her forehead. She does not know what will happen to this new development. 

 

She looks at Chaeyoung again and follows,

 

 "Aah.. How did you even manage to wake up at this hour?"

 

 - "Oh.. I never slept since yesterday!"  Chaeyoung proudly answers as if she had made the greatest achievement of her life.

 

 "What? Really? How?"

 

Lisa asks, shocked, this is completely different from Chaeyoung's nature because sleep for her comes second after eating.

 

 

 - "I kept slapping my face and drinking coffee."

 

 

Now Lisa knows the source of the sounds she heard when she was asleep.

 

 "And what if you faint on the way?"

 

 - "Oh please! Nothing will happen! I'm fully awake!"  Chaeyoung answers her making a fist with her hand, emphasizing her phrase.

 

 

 

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 "Chae..

 

Chaeng.. wake up, we've arrived."

 

Lisa says softly to the sleeping Chaeyoung on her shoulder.  

 

Once they got on the bus and took their seats, minutes and Chaeyoung was among the dead in a deep sleep.

 

After seeing that calling her quietly won’t work, she tries again with a louder tone,

 

 "Chaeng ah!"

 

 Chaeyoung flashes her eyes open strongly and blinks a few times in shock, trying to absorb her surroundings and when she does, she sighs and rubs her eyes drowsily. 

 

 "Let's get up. we've arrived."  Lisa repeats and gets up from her seat towards the bus exit, followed by Chaeyoung.

 

 

 

 .  .  .  .

 

 

They go down one of the sub streets in a neighborhood where they keep passing by a lot of houses, Lisa, her hands in her pockets, walking as if she knew where she was going, and Chaeyoung was just walking silently without complaining and without any questions as promised.

 

 

 Lisa's knowledge of this address was due to the fact that she had previously followed the woman and this was the reason she was actually late.

 

 Lisa suddenly stops in her tracks in front of one of the houses and all her focus becomes on it. The house consisted of two floors that rise above the level of the street with a short stone stairway and a front garden that had been placed as a balcony, the house front was filled with different types of plants and flowers and looked so beautiful with a big window that maybe opens to the inside lounge, and you can see an old woman folding one of the covers inside through the window.

 

 Chaeyoung continued to watch Lisa, not knowing whether she was staring at the house or at the woman, in any case Lisa was looking pale-faced and a little bit bewildered.  Chaeyoung steps forward so that she can touch Lisa's arm and, once she does, Lisa's attention returns back to her.

 

 Without speaking anything, she keeps tightening her grip around Lisa's arm and their eyes locked on each other insightfully.  Whatever was happening inside Lisa's mind, Chaeyoung was reminding her to pull herself together. And it seems that she succeeded because Lisa after that moves and guides them towards one of the benches on the other side of the street in front of the house and sat on it.

 

 

 Lisa pulls one of her hands out of her pockets and intertwines it with Chaeyoung's hand and then brings it to her lap without lifting her gaze away from the house in front of her.

 

 She continues to take regular breaths as she runs her thumb on the back of Chaeyoung's handas if she was trying to send her some calmness but she was, in fact, doing this to herself.

 

 

 

 .  .  .  .

 

 

 

 At the boxing club, Jackson throws one blow after another at the hanging punching bag. Alone and without anyone in the club, he throws his fists with all his might trying to get his anger and annoyance out on it.

 

 

 Of course his parents were not satisfied with what he did and his way to cancel the cooperation.  He understood this well from the slap he received from his mother when he told her, and the reprimand he got from his father later, punishing him by freezing his bank account until he fixes the mess he caused.  He couldn’t believe that his parents didn’t stand by his side. Is their company’s finical status that bad?  And what can he do anyway?

 

 

 To only sign the partnership contract without marrying Jisoo?  He is not that stupid to do that. He knows Kim Eun Ji well enough to know that they will get rid of them in a blink of an eye, no matter how much they put in the contract of fines. They are able to pay it easily if it was necessary and his marriage to Jisoo would have ensured that they wouldn't do so.

 

 

 "It will be torn soon at this rate."

 

 

 Jackson pauses mid-air when a man's voice interrupts him, he turns around to find out who the voice is.  It’s Jin Young.

 

 

 - "What are you doing here?"  He says in a slightly sharp tone as breathes rapidly and takes the towel off the weightlifting column.  He wipes his forehead and the sides of his neck and then puts it around it, directing his gaze tiredly at Jin Young, waiting for an answer.

 

 "Hmm.. just checking on the man who left his partner and fled," he says, nonchalantly, looking around.

 

 - "Not you too!" Jackson groans annoyingly as he returns to hit the punching bag.

 

 "I can't believe you've done such a low act."

 

 - "Oh really? Are you saying this instead of thanking me?"

 

 

 "What? Thanking you for what?"  

 

Jin Young looks at him quizzically.

 

 

 Jackson pauses again and turns his gaze at Jin Young.

 

 "I was really intending to go up there with her on the stage, a slip there and a mistake here, and the dance is done for.. but I didn't."  He finishes with a cold smile and then returns to throwing fists.

 

 

 Jin Yong remains silent, surprised by his friend’s reveal.

 

 

 "What an !"

 

 

 - "Well, that makes two if us." Jackson stops and he looks serious.

 

 

 "What's that supposed to mean?"

 

 Jackson turns round until he meets Jin Young and backs his arm at the top of the hanging bag before he answers wearing a subtle side smile,

 

 "C'mon, let's not fool each other.

 

We both know that it was not Jisoo who played you, as the rumors say, or as you lead people to think.  She didn’t even know about our agreement if I had not told her!" He scoffs in disbelief sarcastically,  "I'm an , but at least I was honest with her and told her of my intentions from the start. I didytry to trick her into falling in love with me so she can let me -"

 

 

 Jackson could not complete his sentence because Jin Young swooped on him with a heavy blow that made him stumble backwards and falter.

 

 

 - "Don't! Don't you dare talk about her like that!" Jin Young hisses angrily as he tightens his grip.

 

 

 Jackson straightens his posture and wipes the blood that came out from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, looks at it  and then turns his gaze towards Jin Young and smiles again with malice. He didn't hit Jin Young back because he knew that Jin Young had no chance in front of him and he kind of excuses him because his talk was a bit provocative.

 

A bit.

 

 "This just proves how true my words were."

 

 - "This doesn’t prove anything!" Jin Young counters back, trying to calm himself down.

 

"But you're right, we both are scum. I know this now."

 

 He finishes wryly and turns around on his way out.

 

 It was the moment when Jisoo went up to the stage with the unknown girl, the girl he had glimpsed in his first studio appearance with Jackson.  He didn't know how upset he was about the fact that Jackson partnered with her until he felt the amount of relief that had overwhelmed him when he saw her dance without him.

 

 

 And just like that, his attempts to convince himself that she was not important to him and that she was just one of the tools on the way of success of his company went blown away by the wind.

 

 

 

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 "Haven't they came back yet?" Jisoo inquires walking out from her room, after changing her clothes. she has just returned from the company.

 

 

 - "No! Not yet!"  Jennie responds from inside the kitchen.

 

 

 The evening has come, and there is still no sight of Lisa or Chaeyoung and all she got from them is a small note that she saw after she had left the bathroom this morning, which had been written on it: 

 

'He will com bak later.. Lisa'.

 

 

 Obviously, she has to work on her grammar and spelling more.

 

 Well.. at least she wrote her name correctly.

 

 That reminds her to make them continue with their studies, and also her inability to reach them now reminded her of the importance of buying phones for them.

 

 She heads to the sofa and sits on it, adjusting her sitting to a more comfortable position when Jennie comes out of the kitchen holding two mugs with her hands, walking toward the sitting area.

 

 Jennie puts a mug on the table close to Jisoo's side, which turnes out to be a hot chocolate drink, and puts the other cup at some distance from it and apparently it is coffee.

 

 

 Jisoo doesn't miss the fact that Jennie had poured her one too when she didn't even ask her to do so, and it's her favorite drink on top of that.  Something that made her longing for Jennie to be close to her even more big than it had been all day long while she was at work.

 

 

When she sees that Jennie is about to sit a bit away from her, she reaches out and pulls her by the arm towards her in a sudden and swift move, husking out "Nope! You're sitting here.", so that she sits next to her, practically glued to her.

 

 The expression of surprise doesn't leave Jennie's face, neither does the redness of her cheeks, most likely as a result of her letting out a sharp gasp when she felt a hand pulling her out from nowhere.

 

Jisoo puts her arm around Jennie and pulls her closer, while with the other hand she takes Jennie's hand and puts it on her thigh, running her fingers lightly and playfully between and through Jennie's fingers.

 

 

 "Hey."

 

 Jisoo starts with a low voice and a relaxed tone, a loving smile on her face.

 

 Jennie was suffering a mental breakdown at the moment, unable to form words, and she can feel the heat as it crosses her neck and climbs up her ears.

 

 

 - "hhey."  

 

She's able to return the greeting at least when she turns her gaze to Jisoo and quickly returns it back to the table.  

 

If she turns her face toward Jisoo, her face will be few inches apart from hers, and she won't be able to say anything because Jisoo is constantly staring at her with dreamy eyes.

 

 In the end, she decides to keep her eyesight just in front of her.

 

 "How're you?" Jisoo asks, keeping the volume of her voice low, and her tone playful and calm.

 

It's so random and unserious but that's not the point of her question anyway.

 

 - "I'm..fine."

 

 Jisoo hums as an answer, nodding with an understanding, and her hand around Jennie continues to Jennie's arm in a soothing affectionate manner.

 

 "What did you do today?"  Jisoo asks her with genuine curiosity.

 

 

 - "Hmm.. nothing specific, there is nothing to do anyway." She answers and chuckles awkwardly, matching Jisoo's tone, looking at the movement of their hands together, the movement that constantly makes her stomach flip.

 

 

 "And what else?"

 

 

 It's obvious that Jisoo is not listening, or rather, she is listening, but she really just has nothing to talk about and only saying anything that comes to her mind.

 

She just wants to talk with her and hear her voice, be it a gibberish conversation or not.

 

 

 -"I watched television."  Jennie answers with an uncertainty, and this time she looks at Jisoo, who has been nodding slowly affirmatively.

 

 

Both of them don't really know what they're talking about.

 

 

 Silence reigns between them, and Jennie looks back at the table, and here she glimpses the newspaper that was placed on it. She smiles enthusiastically, glad she found a topic to talk about.

 

 

 "Right! Did you see what was written in today's newspaper!"  Jennie exclaims with great enthusiasm surprising Jisoo as she bends her upper half to pick up the newspaper and hands it to Jisoo.  Something she regretted immediately because Jisoo had to let go of her hand to hold the newspaper and at the same time gave her some relief because her mind had partially returned to her.

 

 

 Jisoo adjusts the newspaper in her hand to observe it and see what Jennie is referring to.

 

 

 The home page contained a snapshot of her and Jennie with them performing at the ceremony with a big bold title: 'Kim Jisoo and the mysterious Girl with Her, Stealing the Spotlight from everyone at Inkigayo Party'.

 

 

 "Oh. you mean this. yeah, I saw it."

 

- "Will my sudden appearance cause any problems for you?"

 

Jisoo turns her head to look at her thoughtfully, taken aback by her question. Regarding it and her genuine concern before flashing her an affectionate smile.

 

Even though she's the one who has people chasing after her, she's worried about what if her appearance caused her any problems.

 

And Jisoo doesn't know what to do with this information, there are just a lot to take from this question alone. A lot of what makes her heart do small jumps and giddy little dances. 

 

She looks at her in awe.

 

 "Hmmm.  it was surprising yes, but I also did not intend to hide you forever so there is no reason to worry about," Jisoo reassures her and it's true, "I have taken care of everything beforehand."

 

 

Jisoo falls silent a bit while looking at Jennie, who was listening intently and then looks back at the newspaper and quips,

 

"Actually, I think you should be happy, you have become famous."

 

 She ends her last sentence glancing back at Jennie and smiling amusedly.

 

 Jennie rolls her eyes on that indifferently as she imitates Jisoo's smile and follows,

 

 "Not really. they don't even know my name! They called me 'the mysterious girl'." she says, making a quote sign with her fingers on her last phrase.

 

 -"That's for them.

 

but for me.."

 

Jisoo pauses, then puts the newspaper aside and goes back to hold Jennie's hand and makes the same playful movements as before, she continues after focusing her gaze on her, 

 

"You are my Jennie."

 

 Jennie doesn't know why this made her take a deep breath and made her suddenly thirsty, like genuinely thirsty.

 

 Jennie turns her head and leans forward again, this time to pick up her cup of coffee to drink a little.

 

And as she does, Jisoo keeps staring at her face, meditating. She brings her head closer, specifically her nose, to touch the strands of Jennie's hair and part of her neck slightly to the extent that Jennie didn't notice her while she was doing that and she inhales those areas.

 

 "I love how you smell."  Jisoo whispers out of nowhere, making Jennie almost choke in her coffee hearing that. she quickly puts the cup back on the table, followed by a few coughs.

 

 

 "Are you okay?"  Jisoo checks on her immediately and rubs her back, her tone filled with worry.

 

 

 -"Yea- yeah!."  Jennie responds after recovering, her face looking a little bit flushed.

 

 

 "Sorry.. bad timing."

 

So.. she was still gonna say it. 

 

 - "No, no.." Jennie protests waving her hand dismissively. "I just.. " She pauses, doesn't know what to say next and Jisoo precedes her to that when she sees her turning into a fish as she keeps opening a little and then closes it again.

 

 "Am I making you nervous?"  Jisoo asks teasingly in a low voice, feeling amused by Jennie's reaction to her.

 

 -"what? No!"

 

 Her answer was  immediate and spontaneous, untrue and true at the same time gaining a soft laugh from Jisoo.

 

 She is very nervous, but it's not that kind of unwanted nervousness, but rather the kind that causes her heart to beat quickly, her head to feel dizzy and an overwhelming, tingly and beautiful feeling to run throughout her body.

 

She actually doesn't know if it's normal to feel like this. Well, she never had friends to begin with, let alone be this close to anyone before. So she really doesn't know. She guesses it is, seeing how Lisa and Chaeyoung act around each other all the time. They basically don't know the term 'personal space.'

 

 Jisoo doesn't comment on her answer and only brings her head closer so that the side of her face is parallel to the side of Jennie's face and touches it slightly.

 

 "I can move away if this makes you uncomfortable.." Jisoo coos.

 

 Once again, Jisoo is teasing her again and she can swear that she's doing it on purpose.

 

 - "No.. don't."  She answers shyly in whisper.

 

Because that's the only true answer.

 

She likes being close to Jisoo, in her arms. She likes this feeling. 

 

She won’t trade this for anything.

 

 Jisoo pulls her head away from her, so she can eye Jennie's face, she looks at her and smiles knowingly.

 

 

 "What?"  Jennie asks softly, genuinely curious.

 

 

 Jisoo continues to look at her for a while, and then chuckles lovingly as she turns her eyes away from her.

 

 

 "What is there?"  She asks her again, in a more subtle whiny tone, as her curiousity to know the reason for Jisoo's laugh increases even more, causing Jisoo to laugh again which also causes her to smile too.

 

 "Nothing. you're just.. so cute."  She says as she stops laughing gradually, returning her attention to Jennie.

 

 

 - "Ah.. really? I didn't know." Jennie quips in a faux annoyance as she tries to hide her shyness and wide smile.

 

 "Well, now you know." Jisoo adds and nudges the tip of Jennie's nose with hers lightly.

 

 They go back to gazing at each other, and Jennie doesn't know when her leg got on top of Jisoo's leg, or when she got to hold Jisoo's hand with both of her hands.  She doesn't know and doesn't have the slightest intent to remove them either, even if she is aware of that very well now.

 

After prolonged moments of looking at each other, Jisoo's expression suddenly wrinkles and she frowns turning her head to the other side breaking their eye contact.

 

 

 "Do you smell something?"

 

 

 She asks and takes moments for Jennie to grasp Jisoo's question and the source of the smell.  

 

She completely forgot the pot on the stove on high!

 

 - "Oh !"  Jennie panicks and jumps off the couch and dashes toward the kitchen leaving a confused and smiling Jisoo looking in her direction.

 

 

 As soon as she disappears, Jisoo hears the doorbell and she gets up to get it.

 

It's Lisa and Chaeyoung.  Lisa looks like she's in another world and Chaeyoung..

 

 

 Well, Chaeyoung, since the first time she saw her and she looks like she's in another world.

 

 

 "You're back! What took you so long?"  Jisoo asks closing the door behind them.

 

 

 - "Oh..nothing. we just kept walking around here and there and we didn't feel the time."  Chaeyoung answers awkwardly and Lisa nods weakly in agreement.

 

 

She wants to ask them more, but one look at Lisa makes her understand that this is not the time and so she doesn't push it.

 

 "Well, change your clothes and come up for dinner." She falls silent a little before she elaborates, "Which I think, will be a little bit burned."

 

She finishes stretching her head so she can see what Jennie is doing in the kitchen.

 

 And it seems that she has controlled the situation.. maybe?

 

 

 "Okay! we won't be late."

 

 Chaeyoung says as she takes Lisa's hand and guides her towards their room.

 

 Throughout the day Chaeyoung was just sitting watching lisa as she sometimes gets up wearing a determined expression as if she was about to do something and then returns to sit and returns to shake her leg nervously and so on.

 

 Other times, Lisa was only following the woman with her gaze when she went out of their house to water the plants or to play with her little girl and quickly turns her head away if the woman looked in their direction.

 

 

 Until Chaeyoung became fed up and snapped at her. She didn't want to interfere, but the situation was getting intolerable and she was doing nothing, so she forced her to get up and walk around other places to clear her mind without asking her about the truth of the matter or trying to withdraw words from her.

 

 

And Lisa actually was really grateful to her for doing so.  

 

She still needs courage and time.

 

 

 Maybe she couldn't do anything today, but she will definitely do tomorrow.

 

 

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To be continued 

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