Olfaction 17

Angels Creek

Lisa leads Jennie to the place she had told her that she'd take her to that secret place where nobody in the town knows. They left the car behind since it couldn't pass through the grove of trees. A little trek and they will arrive at their destination. “We're almost there,” Lisa says, holding Jennie's hand, guiding her. “We're here,” She pushes through the shrubs and it flips back hitting Jennie's face.

“Ahh!” Jennie squeals in reflex, she could taste the leaves.

“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!” Lisa apologizes, cupping Jennie's face. “I'm so sorry,” She touches her face. “Are you hurt?”

“Not really,” Jennie blinks, watching the steam rising behind Lisa. “What is this place?”

“Hun, we're in a hot spring,” Lisa says, putting her bag on the ground. “I kept tracking if locals already found about this place but luckily none has, or not that I know of,” She takes off her shirt and her pants, leaving them on the ground. Jennie smiles and takes off her clothes too. When she’s taking off her shirt, Lisa steals a kiss which makes Jennie shriek and chuckle. Lisa jumps in the hot spring and jolts from its heat. She regrets jumping hastily without letting her body adjust to the heat first. She warns Jennie to get in slowly and steadily, so her body can adjust to the temperature of the water. When Jennie is in the hot spring, she splashes the water at Lisa which makes the latter retaliate, laughing. Lisa stops splashing and submerges down the water to approach Jennie, she emerges back, wiping her face. Jennie does the same, and when she rises, she kisses Lisa, slipping her tongue inside , playing with it. Lisa's hands are on Jennie's hips and slowly run them down touching her , squeezing them. She starts kissing Jennie's earlobes and her neck, and she stops when she hears a twig snaps. She immediately steps out of the water pulling Jennie out of there too. Jennie is surprised by the sudden action of Lisa, who hastily pulls the gun from her pants' holster that was on the ground. “Who's there?! Show yourself!” She warns whoever is there.

“What's wrong?” Jennie asks concernedly. Lisa hushes her but the latter doesn't hear anything. She gestures to Jennie to step back. Jennie picks up her clothes on the ground and hastily wears her shirt.

“I said show yourself. I know you're behind the boulder. I can hear you,” Lisa points the gun, sharply and steadily. Jennie thought Lisa was just paranoid but then she hears someone talk.

“Okay, we're coming out.”

Both Lisa and Jennie are wary of who they might be, and when the two people come out from the boulder, they are surprised to see Irene and her friend. They know Irene since she's the daughter of the police captain and a member of the church.

“Are you really going to shoot us?” Irene says. It wasn't really a question but a lowkey taunt, she's cautiously looking at her. She's quite surprised Lisa hasn't put the gun down despite knowing her. She couldn't believe Lisa has a secret lesbian relationship with the pastor's wife. What would the church people say if they will find out about this infidelity?

“I might be if you just–“

“–Keep quiet with your relationship with the pastor's wife?” Irene sneers, making Jennie tremble, being anxious about the situation that they are in. Jennie knows it's a sin for loving the same gender. She'll be punished for her sins according to the Bible. But what she dreads the most is being found out by the people and being ridiculed and judged by them throughout her life for being herself and loving the person who sees her as what she is. Jennie cowers behind Lisa, expressing her fear of being found out.

“Irene, stop scaring them,” Seulgi says. “They're scared.”

“How do you know that?”

“As I said, I can smell the scent. It's like fresh-cut grass.”

“Who are you?” Lisa points the gun at Seulgi, making the latter jerk in fear.

“Do you really plan to shoot us here in the middle of the woods? You know, killing us is a heavier consequence than having a secret lesbian affair,” She shows her phone to Lisa. Seulgi is surprised how Irene stealthily gets her phone from the bag that was a little far from reach. “If you'll shoot me straight ahead, one tap of this will notify my father. Either way, you'll go to jail,” Irene's words frighten Seulgi – How did Irene become like this? – she wonders. Lisa and Jennie are just silent, listening, assessing the best course of action. “Or, you can just put down your gun and have a conversation. You know deep down we're not going to tell a soul,” Irene tries to compromise.

“How would we know, you won't tell anyone what you saw today?”

“Because we need your help to find my missing friend.”

“Irene, the police are on it. They are doing their best to find her.”

“It's not enough!”

“Irene…” Seulgi says, trying to calm her.

“I'm sorry Irene, but Ms. Park fought with her father before her disappearance. Most likely she ran away from home. She won’t be far in town. As for now, we can't help you with that. Just wait for the updates–“

“–Until when? Until she’s really gone and not coming back for real?”

Seulgi thinks she's not the best choice to find Joy Park. She couldn't do something impossible by herself. What does she know about finding a missing person? It’s better to leave it to the hands of the adults. But she has something special that normal people don’t have and it might help them find Joy quicker. “Officer, I can help the police to find Joy Park,” Seulgi steps in front of Irene, guarding her.

Jennie holds Lisa’s hand to put the gun down. She feels bad for the teenagers’ situation. It’s not good to threaten them with a gun. Irene was right, taking the lives of others is the worst rather than the affair she has with Lisa. She knows Lisa isn’t going to shoot them; she’s just as scared as her. Lisa looks at Jennie who is nodding at her to hear the teenager out.

“How can you help the police then?” Lisa puts the gun down

“I’m not a tracker but I think I can smell people’s aura.”

Lisa gives Seulgi a baffling look. “You can smell aura?” She looks at Jennie whether to believe what the teenager was telling.

“I know it’s ridiculous to hear this, even myself I couldn’t understand it at first but circumstances led me to realize that something is going on with my senses. I thought it was just an olfactory disorder, I smell something that isn’t there.” Seulgi pauses to smell them. “Right now, all of you are emitting a smell. I recognized the scent of fresh-cut grass as fear.”

“How am I supposed to believe two teenagers?” Lisa raises her brow.

“Take us to the precinct then,” Irene says.

“And why would I do that?” Lisa replies, she thinks it was a ridiculous demand.

“We all know you want to solve the disappearance of Joy Park. As you said, she’s not far from the town. Won’t it be nice we help you find her? But there’s a great chance of finding her if you let Seulgi help you. She is your best asset. She doesn’t just smell fear, she can also smell those people who have ill intentions. Or there might be other things she can smell but she hasn’t fully recognized what her abilities can do yet. That’s why we need your help.” Irene tries her best to persuade; she learned it from her father.

Lisa grunts, she’s questioning herself what she was doing. The girl was right, she is frightened. She doesn’t want her relationship with Jennie to be jeopardized by teenagers. But she doesn’t think the two would do something like that, especially not Irene. She’s just being cautious, but being cautious does not require pointing a gun at innocent teenagers. She feels ashamed of what she did. She couldn’t imagine pulling the trigger at them just because they were caught. She makes a fist, rubbing her forehead with her knuckles in frustration. Jennie notices that. She hugs Lisa to comfort her. “Lisa, help them. I know they won’t be telling others about this.”

“I know. It’s just…” She sighs and puts her hands down. “I care so much about you. I just don’t want everyone to find out about us.”

Seulgi smells of a coconut timber scent from Lisa. She wonders what it means. Is it being protective or cautious? She doesn’t quite know it well.

“Tomorrow. At five in the afternoon, meet me at the police station,” Lisa picks up her bag on the ground as well as her clothes. She and Jennie walk out of the place leaving Seulgi and Irene behind. Lisa went there to show Jennie her secret spot but the circumstances turned sideways. She isn’t happy about it. She couldn’t believe she walked away believing the words of the two teenagers. She just hopes they’ll keep their words. But the priority, for now, is to talk with Jennie and figure things out in case it goes out of their hands.

As for Irene and Seulgi, they stood there for the meantime processing what just happened. It’s not every day they happen to catch something and get threatened by a gun for seeing something they weren't supposed to. Seulgi looks at Irene who is trembling in fear. She knows she was scared but it just amazes her Irene kept her cool despite what happened. She wants to comfort her, she slowly reaches Irene’s hand but Irene immediately hugs her. “I was scared,” She’s a little relieved that she was able to talk it out. Perhaps acting tough was just her defense mechanism. Surprised, Seulgi hugs back trying to ease Irene’s distress from the situation. Now she is certain that she can rely on her sense of smell. Then her thoughts go back to her father’s odor, she wants to know what it was.

 

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!
chashuramen
I'm wondering what are your thoughts and speculations of the story... I'm curious :)

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
leaguepro #1
♥️
juilletdeux #2
Chapter 20: someone named giselle broke my heart but this story didn't stop me from loving giselle's character here.

also, hoping for more seulmina in the future chapters pls. thank youu
seulginismn
#3
Chapter 20: Joy T-T
rabanoseul
#4
Chapter 20: Seulgi's dad is definitely involved in some way
XSwagger
#5
Chapter 20: Oh shiet...
This is so good!
XSwagger
#6
Chapter 20: Oh shiet...
This is so good!
_Mira_
#7
Chapter 20: Lol, I need more Detective Seulgi moments 😂
_Mira_
#8
Chapter 20: Lol, I need more Detective Seulgi moments 😂
QuietLifeHQ
#9
Chapter 20: Why’d you do that?!? 😭