Chapter Text
Jennie got dumped.
It was not exactly the cordial, amicable parting of a good relationship coming to an end. There were no hints, no warnings, nothing to indicate that Jennie was about to become single in the span of fifteen minutes. It wasn’t a mutual agreement either; Jennie had not been planning on breaking up with her boyfriend of three years, much less when they lived together and pretty much had their future together figured out.
She didn’t see it coming.
Had she known, she would have DEFINITELY dumped him first.
Jennie hated it. She hated the fact that she had let someone get rid of her like she was a nuisance. She hated that she had no say in the breakup. She hated that someone like her was considered not good enough .
But more than anything, she was pissed.
After screaming and yelling at her now ex-boyfriend for a little over an hour, Jennie was left walking on the busy streets of Seoul with nothing but a bruised ego and a broken heart.
“Screw him,” she muttered angrily under her breath as she pushed past the crowds of people enjoying the city’s nightlife. She didn’t really care about the looks of annoyance sent her way, her scowl was enough to make anyone look the opposite direction.
Happy people made her feel sick. The two friends sat having drinks and giggling like teenagers; the couple eating ice cream and holding hands in the middle of the street like they were the only people on this earth; even families with over-excited kids driving home in their stupid family-friendly cars. Jennie scrunched up her nose as she walked past them. Why were people so fucking happy around others? Why couldn’t she be alone and happy just like the rest of them?
Of course, being dumped hurt. As much as Jennie tried to convince herself that she was better off without him, she still despised the feeling of… well, not being the dumper . It was selfish, she knew that much. But how could she not feel that way when she was the one walking alone in the middle of the night while her ex-boyfriend had the right to stay in the comfort of their house?
He should have been the one to walk out. It would have been polite.
Regardless of how much Jennie thought of it, there was still nothing she could do. She didn’t really have a place to go. If she called her friends and asked to stay over, there would be a questioning session for sure. Jennie wasn’t really up for that conversation just yet, especially considering how much her friends liked her ex-boyfriend. After all, she couldn’t really explain why she got dumped out of nowhere when she didn’t expect it herself.
After realising that she had been walking for a while with no clear destination, Jennie paused and took a quick look at her surroundings. Most places that were open were mainly bars and fancy restaurants, certainly not what Jennie needed. She stared at the various neon signs and wondered if there was somewhere that wouldn’t have been filled with people after 9 p.m. on a Friday evening. Weirdly enough, her eyes stopped at a dirty Kim’s Fried Chicken & Burgers banner outside what seemed to be a fast-food shop. The building itself was clearly not in the best shape, and there were quite a few people that passed by and didn’t bother to even glance inside. The windows and glass door allowed Jennie to scan the place and confirm her assumption—no customers.
Perfect.
Without waiting for a change of mind, Jennie walked away from the crowded area and headed towards the secluded building at the end of the road.
With her long black coat and high heels, Jennie presumed that she was probably overdressed to walk into a fast-food place, but that didn’t stop her from pushing the door open and making her way to the front counter with the utmost confidence.
Waiting at the other end was a girl in her mid-twenties at most. Although Jennie did not exactly have the friendliest look on her face, the girl didn’t seem too bothered. She was standing with her arms crossed on the counter, her back bent as she comfortably leaned on it. The red apron she was wearing was far from clean, and her black cap looked fairly wrinkled, as if it had just been taken out from a back pocket.
“Welcome, what can I get for you?”
Jennie squinted her eyes and stared at the small menu hanging above. The options were basic and plain. No special deal, no meal of the day, no recommended combo. Chances were that the customers all ordered the exact same thing, and the menu was just for show. Still, that didn’t stop Jennie from getting what she wanted.
“How healthy would you consider your food?”
“Wait, what? Is this a hygiene inspection? Another one?” The girl went from being relaxed to a state of complete panic right in front of Jennie’s eyes. “Oh, c’mon! Not even the decency to at least let us know? I didn’t prepare for this!”
“I think there’s a mis—”
“PLEASE don’t ask for my manager ‘cause she’s out on a date and I promised I’ll cover for her, but the boss doesn’t know and I don’t wanna get fired.”
This time, the girl took off her cap and held it between her joint hands. “Please let this slide, come back tomorrow and we’ll be ready! I swear we’re not filthy, just VERY disorganised.”
Jennie couldn’t help but roll her eyes at that point. “I’m not a fucking hygiene inspector.”
She received a blank stare from the worker. Jennie remained with her eyebrows furrowed and her arms crossed, waiting for the dramatic reaction to her question to be over. Slowly, the girl put her cap back on and went back to her original position.
“Welcome, what can I get for you?”
“I already asked. How healthy would you consider your food?”
“I dunno,” Lisa shrugged, “how healthy do you reckon fried chicken and burgers are?”
Jennie nodded. “Perfect. I want the greasiest, calorie-filled burger you can make in…” she glanced at her wristwatch, “ten minutes max.”
“Uh, sure?”
Jennie left a few notes on the counter and walked towards the closest table. Noticing the amount of money that was handed to her, the girl cleared her throat and hesitantly spoke up.
“Excuse me, you forgot the change.”
“Keep it all.”
“But… this money is worth at least ten burgers. And fries. And probably a drink, too.”
Jennie tried her best to not groan.
It wasn’t her money. For some reason, her ex-boyfriend thought it would have been considerate to leave her with some pity money right before she stormed out of the house. Logically, Jennie did not even think about spending it on a place to stay the night like he probably wished she would. No, following his wishes was far from what she wanted to do that night.
“I asked for one damn burger. Can you do that? Or shall I go elsewhere?”
Jennie knew she had nowhere else to go, but the last thing she needed was a stranger questioning her when all she wanted to do was to scream in frustration.
“Oh, no. That’s… okay, I guess. I’ll get your burger.”
It didn’t take ten minutes for Jennie to receive her order. Considering the term fast-food , Jennie didn’t expect anything less, and somehow the soggy looking burger was not as appalling as she would usually think on a good day. A day where she didn’t get dumped.
“Uh, enjoy… I guess.”
Jennie knew she was probably being extremely rude to this poor worker that had likely been standing behind the counter the whole day, but all she could do was focus on the greasy burger and ignore everything else.
A burger.
How long had it been since Jennie ate one? Probably three years. Maybe less, if she counted the times where she secretly stopped by the burger place next to her work building during the first few months of her relationship.
Her ex-boyfriend hated junk food.
He was the typical gym guy addicted to protein shakes and morning runs. He had a charming smile and muscles to die for, and Jennie was young and stupid to actually fall for him. Stupid enough to change parts of her lifestyle to suit his.
She continued to stare, glare , at the plate in front of her without realising that a few minutes had already passed since she received it. Jennie didn’t have to look up to know that the girl at the counter was stealing curious glances, but luckily, she had not opened her mouth to make any more stupid questions that Jennie wasn’t willing to answer.
Then, Jennie picked up her burger and squeezed it between her fingers a little harder than what she was supposed to. Some of the sauce had started to drip from the bottom and get on her hands, but Jennie couldn’t care less. She hesitated a split second before opening her mouth and taking the biggest bite she could muster.
It tasted like oil and fat and everything unhealthy all at once. And at the same time, it tasted pretty fucking amazing.
Jennie let out a quiet laugh as she continued to chew her bite, but soon after swallowing it, the lump in her throat remained.
And for the first time since Jennie left her house, tears ran down her cheeks as she finally let out a sob. She really tried her best to hold herself back, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth as she continued to be pathetic and cry over a breakup. But she had been dumped and called not good enough and she hadn’t eaten a burger in years just to be good enough and yet… that still wasn’t, well, enough.
Even though her vision had gotten extremely blurry, Jennie noticed a hand come into view holding a box of tissues and a bottle of water. She refused to look up at the girl knowing full well that her cheeks were flushed red, and her eyes were probably not any better. After her breathing had returned close to normal, she left the now deformed burger on her plate and grabbed a few tissues to clean her hands. She then uncapped the brand-new water bottle and took big gulps, drinking in approximately half of the water. She reached for a couple more tissues to dry her stupid tears and try to look a little less miserable.
“Thank you,” she managed to mutter really quietly. It wasn’t really an issue since Jennie was the only customer and the counter girl most likely had her full attention on her.
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she shrugged it off. Jennie somehow couldn’t sense any awkwardness as the girl stood with her back pressed to the front of the counter and her arms comfortably crossed. When Jennie grew confident enough to meet her eyes, the girl grinned. “It’s not every day that my food makes people cry. I knew I was good, but damn. I’m really flattered.”
Maybe it was because she was expecting fake words of reassurance and more looks of pity, but Jennie raised an eyebrow in amusement at the cheerful response. This time, she wasn’t able to hide the hint of a smile, and she didn’t miss the way the girl’s grin grew wider.
“It was a good burger.”
“Thank you. I make even better ones when I’m not ten hours into my shift.”
Jennie looked back down at the disaster she made and pressed her lips together. “Sorry, I kinda destroyed it. I don’t usually… do this.”
“Do what? Barge into fast-food places, aggressively order a burger, or squeeze the shit out of it while in tears?”
“All of the above,” Jennie sighed. She once again took a sip of water from the opened bottle. “Also, I’m sorry about the aggressive side of it all. I had a bad day.”
And Jennie really was sorry. She knew that when she was in a bad mood people avoided her like the plague, and she still couldn’t believe she hadn’t been kicked out of the place as soon as she stepped in.
“I figured.” Jennie watched as the girl hesitantly stepped towards her, cautiously taking a seat on the opposite side of her table. Once she didn’t receive any words of protest, she relaxed and leaned back. “I don’t want be the person to ask do you wanna talk about it when you clearly don’t. But is there anything at all I can do to make your day a little less bad?”
Her tone was extremely comforting, and Jennie momentarily forgot that she had spent the last few hours wishing that someone would have the decency to hit her with a car.
She was right. Jennie didn’t want to talk about it. That was the reason she didn’t call any of her friends in the first place. Talking wouldn’t make her feel better that night. Maybe the day after, or the day after that. Talking about it would have worked if she was sad. But she wasn’t sad yet, she was still fucking pissed and all she wanted was to find a way to take all the built-up anger outside of her system.
Of course, the girl in front of her didn’t know a thing about Jennie’s life. It was some kind of advantage given that Jennie had no intention to explain why she was feeling pissed, or whether or not she had the right to be.
Strangers didn’t need to know details. Jennie could just go straight to the point.
“Tell me, what would you do to teach your ex-boyfriend a lesson after you’ve been dumped?”
The girl parted her lips in surprise, but then proceeded to clear her throat rub the back of her neck. She laughed awkwardly, “you mean like… throw eggs at his house or wreck his car with a golf club like they do in movies?”
The question was rhetorical and clearly was not meant to be taken seriously, but to Jennie, it sounded like pure genius.
She snapped her fingers and sat up straight. “Bingo!”
“Huh?”
Without waiting a second longer, Jennie reached into her bag and pulled out her purse. She fished out a few notes and placed them on the table, sliding them towards the girl in front of her.
“May I hire you to do something close to crazy tonight?”
The girl’s cheeks turned pink as she held up her hands. “Whoa, whoa, hold up. Listen… ma’am, I don’t really offer that kind of service.”
Jennie rolled her eyes at the implication. “I meant your assistance. I’m not looking for… that… service .”
“Oh.”
Maybe she was being too forward, but Jennie didn’t have much time before the spark of insanity disappeared. At the tender age of twenty-six, Jennie was going to be petty and feel proud about it regardless of what anyone had to say.
“So? Are you in?”
Jennie involuntarily started to shake her leg up and down as she waited for a response, but the girl simply looked down at the cash and then back up at her. She tapped her fingers on the table as she gave Jennie a look she couldn’t quite decipher.
“Okay, deal.”
Jennie let out a small breath of relief. “Great, I didn’t really have alternatives if you had turned me down.”
The girl didn’t really reply to that. She nodded stiffly and looked behind her at the wall clock. “What exactly do you need me to do this late at night?”
“Oh, you’ll see soon enough. Do you happen to have eggs in here?”
“It’s a fast-food place, not a diner. But… I have some at my apartment.”
“How far is it from here?”
The girl held up her index and pointed upwards. “The floor above.”
“You live in the same building as your workplace?”
“It’s convenient,” the girl shrugged, seemingly not really bothered by Jennie’s doubtful gaze.
“Cool.” Jennie barely started to get out of her seat before she sat back down abruptly. “What’s your name?”
Under any other circumstances, asking for a stranger’s name would have been among the first things Jennie would have done. Those, however, were not exactly normal circumstances , and Jennie completely overlooked the fact that she had no information about the person in front of her other than that she worked at a cheap fast-food shop with very long shifts.
She watched as the girl bit her bottom lip nervously, although Jennie couldn’t quite tell where the nerves came from. “Uh, Lisa.”
“Lisa?”
The name wasn’t really common in the country, but Jennie didn’t find it strange at all. It fit the girl perfectly, somehow.
Lisa nodded hesitantly, and Jennie smiled reassuringly.
“That’s a nice name. I’m Jennie.”
----
Golf clubs were not an option. Not only because Jennie didn’t own any, but surprisingly, she wasn’t really planning to get arrested that night. Jennie knew that anyone else would have thought the opposite as she walked back to what used to be her home with a pack of eight eggs in her hands.
“This doesn’t feel quite legal.”
Lisa had left her apron and cap behind, leaving her in her light blue jeans and black hoodie. Jennie could hear her slow steps as she followed her lead, but never turned once to check if she was still there. Lisa’s complaints were enough of a confirmation.
“I never said it was.”
“So… it’s illegal?”
“I haven’t said that either.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
Jennie stopped walking, causing Lisa to slightly crash into her from behind. She turned around with a stern look and eyed the taller girl with a half glare.
“I told you that I am taking full responsibility if anything happens, which, by the way, would probably be a moderate fine at most. Now, would you please keep it down?”
Lisa gulped and nodded.
They reached Jennie’s area a few moments later. It was quite a contrast compared to where Lisa lived, and Jennie wasn’t the only one that noticed.
“Well, you’re kinda rich, aren’t you?”
Jennie turned her head to the side, observing how Lisa scanned their surroundings with a straight face.
“Not exactly. I only pay…” Jennie sighed as she corrected herself. “Used to pay only half of the living costs.”
“Still, it’s impressive. That’s more than what I could ever afford either way.”
Jennie tried to search for any sign of envy or jealousy in Lisa’s tone, but she found none. She just seemed… at peace. Jennie had received countless digs from colleagues that merely pretended to admire her for what she had achieved in her mid-twenties, but Lisa sounded nothing alike.
“Why do you think that?” she dared to question.
Lisa glanced at her surprised, but a small smile appeared on her lips. “You’ve seen where I work. And you technically know where I live, more or less. Wouldn’t you think the same if you were in my shoes?”
Jennie probably would have.
“Doesn’t mean you can’t hope for more.”
“Yeah, sure. Does hope fix a lot of things in your life?”
Jennie stayed silent as the two kept moving forward. Once she spotted the familiar front gate she walked out of a few hours prior, she stopped walking and gently held Lisa’s arm to halt her movements too.
“No,” she finally answered. “But it does let me sleep at night, so I’m not opposed to it.”
Jennie was still staring at her (old) house, and her eyes paused at the left window on the upper floor. The lights were clearly off in every room.
“Seems like the fucker’s gone to bed with no issues,” she muttered quietly to herself.
She really should not have expected anything. Of course, he was not going to be waiting awake for her to come back when he even provided her with hotel money. And yet, Jennie still hoped he cared. Even a little bit would have been enough to keep her pride intact.
“Careful with the eggs.”
Jennie had barely registered Lisa’s voice before she felt a hand wrap around her wrist. She glanced down to see her own fingers tightly gripping the carton of eggs. She took a deep breath and relaxed her hold, frowning when she noticed the dents she left behind. Luckily, no eggs were harmed.
Lisa withdrew her hand, and Jennie felt her staring quietly. Once again, Lisa did not ask any questions, and Jennie felt grateful.
“Right. We’re here.”
“Great.” Lisa took a step forward and faced the house with her hands resting on her hips. “We’re vandalising this place?”
“No.”
Lisa’s head snapped in Jennie’s direction. “Huh? We came all this way just to stare at your pretty house?”
“Again, no.”
“Then?”
“The house is not ours. It’s rented.”
“So?” Lisa scoffed, “even better. Let him deal with the damage.”
“I can’t. My name is also on the contract, so the house is off-limits.”
“Okay, got it.” Lisa nodded, although she pursed her lips in obvious disappointment. “What are we doing with the eggs?”
Jennie took one last glance at the main bedroom’s window before turning her back to it. She faced the familiar white vehicle on the other side of the one-way street and let her lips turn up into a smirk.
“This bad boy right here.”
The car was her ex-boyfriend’s greatest love. Once upon a time, Jennie believed she came first, but at this stage she figured the four-wheeled beauty had taken over her spot. She had been there when Taeyang first brought it home, proudly twirling the keys around his fingers as Jennie pretended to be impressed by his purchase. She wondered how many times he had used that stupid car to get away from her when he didn’t feel she was enough for him.
When Lisa laid her eyes on the vehicle, she let out a low whistle and shoved her hands in her jeans pockets. “Well, this works too. Go ahead, hit hard and fast.”
“We can’t do that.”
Lisa groaned and followed Jennie as she crossed the street. She mumbled a few words of annoyance that Jennie couldn’t quite hear.
“I don’t get it,” Lisa huffed. “When do we start going crazy and throwing eggs?”
“If we hit the car too hard the alarm could go off, and that’s not exactly ideal, is it?”
Jennie wasn’t happy about it either. She wished more than anything that life could be a movie where she could completely destroy her ex’s belonging with a baseball bat and leave with no consequences, but unfortunately, life was a gigantic bitch instead.
Lisa walked around the vehicle inspecting the fancy interiors. She noticed a keychain hanging from the rear-view mirror.
“So, your ex’s name is…” Lisa squinted to read the three syllables on the keychain, “…Yoo Taeyang?”
“Yeah,” Jennie confirmed dryly.
That keychain used to be hers. Now she felt sick just at the thought of carrying his name around.
Taking a single egg, Jennie passed the carton over to Lisa and approached the side of the car. She made a crack on the egg and hovered it at the top of the windshield before pulling it open and letting the gooey contents slide down the centre of the glass. It was nowhere near as therapeutic as smashing the car to pieces, but it was a start.
“I guess that’ll do.”
Lisa joined her and also took out an egg from the container she still held. She cracked it open with one hand only and just like Jennie, she let the raw egg drop on top of the white hood. “Hope Mr Yoo likes his eggs sunny-side up.”
Jennie snorted and reached to grab her second egg. “He likes them scrambled.”
Using the broken shell, Lisa broke the round yolk apart and spread it around the hood in circles until it was a mess of yellow. “Even better.”
Even though it was long past midnight and everyone in the neighbourhood was most likely deep asleep, Jennie still did not want to risk getting caught in the act, especially not with Lisa. The girl was merely doing as Jennie asked, or better, paid her to do. As she glanced up, Jennie smiled slightly at her partner in crime’s wide eyes filled with amusement. She was a stranger, and yet Jennie couldn’t be more glad that she didn’t have to get her petty revenge alone. She concluded that being dumped was awful, but being dumped and alone was even worse.
When Lisa noticed that Jennie had stopped moving, she lifted her head and looked up to meet an already waiting gaze. “You’re done already?”
“I think we could spend the whole night here and I still wouldn’t be done,” Jennie sighed, but she managed to pull a faint smile. “And I’m sorry I dragged you with me.”
“Oh, don’t. Are you kidding? I’m getting paid to have fun.”
“I just wish there was more I could do. This…” Jennie vaguely gestured around her chest area, “ …anger is not disappearing.”
“That’s gonna take a while I’m afraid,” Lisa hummed. She took a few steps back from the car and stared at their work of art. There were plenty of spots covered, leaving the carton with one remaining egg. Her brows furrowed at some point, making Jennie stare in wonder.
“You know, I think we can step it up a notch.”
“How?”
Looking back at the other girl, Lisa let a somewhat mischievous grin appear on her lips.
Jennie’s eyes widened in surprise as Lisa pulled out a set of three keys from her jean’s back pocket, holding them up proudly.
“W-we can’t possibly—”
“Oh, hell yeah we can,” Lisa chuckled as she walked over to a rather panicked Jennie. She stretched her free arm to grab one of Jennie’s trembling hands, placing the set of keys right on top of her palm. “Do the honours.”
Jennie pressed her lips tightly together as she stared down at her hand. Out of all the things she had wanted to do that night, keying her ex’s car shouldn’t even be a shocking option. And yet, she still found herself hesitating. Eggs could be washed off pretty easily. Taeyang would be fucking pissed in the morning, but it was nothing that a few scrubs and hot water couldn’t fix. Scratching the car would, however, be a little more serious than that. Why did her conscience have to act up right then and there?
“Jennie, I think we should stop with fairy-tales and get realistic for a moment. You know this is not working anymore.”
Her palm started to tremble more and more. This time it was not with panic.
“You need to understand that I really tried. A relationship is formed by two people and honestly… you’re not giving me enough.”
She curled her fingers and held the keys tightly in her hand.
“It’s not anything that you did, but rather… what you haven’t done.”
She already heard it once. Why did his words echoing in her head hurt just as much they did in real life?
“Take this as a chance to grow and—”
“Hey, hey, come back here.”
Jennie took a sharp intake of breath as her thoughts were interrupted. She glanced up to see Lisa’s kind eyes staring down at her, finally realising that she had let herself get caught in her recollection of events. She felt hands holding both of her shoulders, probably after she was given a slight shake.
“Are you all good? I think I’ve lost you for a minute.”
“Yeah, yeah, I…” Jennie let out a long sigh, dropping her head and staring at the ground. “I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing.”
It was the typical crazy ex scenario, and Jennie wouldn’t be surprised if in a few days she started to receive reprimands from their friend circle. She would be seen as the one to blame. But… was she? Had she been the whole time?
“Jennie.”
Hearing her name leave the girl’s lips for the first time since they met, Jennie couldn’t help but look her in the eyes as she spoke.
“I honestly don’t care about whether or not this is the right thing to do. Heck, I don’t even know if I’ll see you again after tonight.” Lisa still hadn’t let go of Jennie’s shoulders, and somehow her hold was a lot softer than her words. “The only thing I know is that you were the one walking into my workplace and breaking down into tears while your ex is right over there getting his beauty sleep. So, I think you have every fucking right to do whatever you want to do. Be it the right thing or not, that’s not your problem tonight.”
It felt nice.
As selfish and guilty it made her feel, Jennie couldn’t help but admit that having someone back her up was really fucking nice.
Without waiting a second longer, Jennie held one of the keys between her fingers and stepped aside. She pressed the tip to the driver’s door and then… she stepped forward.
Jennie wasn’t in a rush.
With each step, the high-pitched creaking sound that followed was music to her ears, leaving her with no choice but to let out a rather evil chuckle. No guilt whatsoever, just pure satisfaction.
The sound continued until she reached the back of the car, sliding the key off with one last scratch to finish off the job. When she turned around, she was greeted by Lisa’s relaxed figure leaning back against the only clean spot on the car hood. Jennie matched her grin.
“So…” Lisa breathed out as she traced the long scratch with her fingers, “are we good to head back?”
“Not just yet,” Jennie mused as she walked back to Lisa. She returned the keys with a pleased smile, but soon after, she picked up the last egg left in the carton. “I have one last thing I want to do.”
Lisa raised an eyebrow in both surprise and anticipation. She trailed behind Jennie as the girl made her way back to the front gate of the house. “You said the house was not on the table.”
“It wasn’t,” Jennie replied as she pulled out her own keys from her coat pockets. “But one egg can’t hurt, can it?”
Lisa only shrugged. She didn’t have any protests, and Jennie was more than happy to continue. She picked out the gate key and opened it as quietly as she could. Once she had the front door before her eyes, she smirked.
“Hey Lisa,” she called, getting a hum in response. “Once this egg leaves my hand, we run. Got it?”
Jennie heard a small laugh. “Sure thing, captain.”
After she got her confirmation, Jennie spread her legs and got into a steady position. She raised her arm and got ready to make the throw.
“Three.”
A single, strong hit. Not hard enough to get her in trouble, but definitely loud enough to wake up sleeping beauty upstairs and scare the shit out of him.
“Two.”
The smirk never left her lips. Jennie never imagined that her night would end like this, and yet, she couldn’t complain. She had done enough of that after the asshole dumped her.
Jennie Kim was not someone you could ever dump.
“One.”
The egg smashed right in the middle of the door, creating quite some noise from the collision. Any other time Jennie would have cheered at the precision of her throw, but at that moment the only thing she could think of was run .
Lisa had already taken off, and just when Jennie was about to follow, she glanced down and cursed under her breath.
Fucking heels .
She bent down to slip off the obnoxious shoes as fast as she could, but from her peripheral view she had already seen the light of the main bedroom turn on.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
She had to hold her heel in the same hand that were holding her keys as she took off the second shoe, silently praying that Taeyang wouldn’t come out to see her in such a pathetic state. That would ruin everything that she had done up until that moment.
Right when both shoes were off, Jennie stood up straight again only to be face-to-face with a flushed Lisa. She had seemingly run back to her in a rush.
“What the heck are you doing?”
Before she got a chance to reply, Lisa held her free hand and pulled her along as both girls started running. Despite being barefoot, Jennie couldn’t feel any pain as she sprinted with her heels in one hand and Lisa’s hold on the other.
Jennie was never the athletic type, hence her lungs didn’t take long before giving up on her. By then, they were already out of Jennie’s neighbourhood, and Jennie had to slow down her steps with heavy breathing, pulling Lisa to a stop with her. She closed her eyes as she bent over to catch her breath, dropping her shoes and keys in favour of holding herself up by pressing her hand on her knee.
Lisa was also breathing heavily, taking a few steps until her back was flat against a nearby wall.
“That was… absolutely… insane,” she let out between breaths, unconsciously tightening the hold on Jennie’s hand.
For reasons she couldn’t explain, Jennie felt an immense urge to laugh. The breakup, the burger, the car getting keyed… it was all absurd. And so, with whatever amount of oxygen she had left in her lungs, Jennie threw her head back and started laughing freely. Her body felt so light and weak that she almost fell to the ground, but Lisa held her side and forced her to stand up.
“Scratch that,” Lisa breathed out once Jennie calmed her giggles down. “You’re insane, Jennie Kim.”
Jennie’s head was probably up in the clouds. She had gone through heaven and hell in the past hours, leaving her mind into an absolute mess of thoughts. She was still laughing quietly as Lisa eyed her with an unexplainable warm gaze. A gaze that had gone completely unnoticed by Jennie. Because, if her head and mind were in the right place, she would have noticed it.
Just like she would have noticed that she had never given Lisa her last name.