Chapter Text
“I’ve been hearing things around the neighbourhood.”
Jennie turned her back to her father as she opened the kitchen fridge, successfully hiding her far-from-subtle eyeroll.
“And?”
“And?” her father repeated with annoyance. “Things are being said about you. My daughter.”
“I have no control over what people say. Rumours are rumours.”
“Oh, well. They’re all lies either way.”
Her father re-opened his newspaper, and Jennie was thankful that she could escape his judging stares. She closed the fridge and placed the bottle of juice she took out on the kitchen counter.
“Because it’s not true, right Jennie?”
The neat bow of her uniform started to feel a lot tighter on her neck. She didn’t have to face her father to know he was watching her, newspaper lowered and his eyes pointed at her behind his reading glasses.
Jennie didn’t hesitate. Not even a second. “Of course not.”
“Is this your boyfriend?”
Given that Jennie had been welcomed (asked) to stay a little longer, she had taken the freedom to take a closer look at the framed pictures she had spotted previously. Her bagged clothes were at the foot of the coffee table, long forgotten after Jennie had found herself in comfier and warmer clothing. The faint sounds of water boiling in a kettle from the kitchen avoided complete silence in the house, but Jennie was never the type to keep quiet when there was someone to talk to.
“Nope,” Lisa replied briefly. Jennie couldn’t see her, but she could still hear the movement of mugs and spoons, meaning that their drinks were getting ready.
The pictures Lisa had on display were very few, but the most recent looking one was of her next to a rather handsome man who was smiling brightly. His hand was loosely wrapped around Lisa’s shoulders, and Lisa’s arm also disappeared behind them, probably circling the guy’s waist. It must have been taken in Korea, Jennie thought, as she noticed the familiar writing on the street signs behind the pair.
“You don’t even know which picture I’m referring to.”
“The answer would still be no.”
“That could mean a lot of things.”
Lisa laughed amused. “Have fun figuring that out.”
Truthfully, Jennie had a hard time figuring out anything about Lisa. The immediate nope sounded rather confident, and if Jennie read into it a little deeper, she could think of a few reasons to justify it. The pictures on the wall were the only insight into Lisa’s private life she had so far, and Jennie’s curiosity got the best of her.
“Do you want me to list out what I’ve come up with?”
“Go on.”
“Right,” Jennie started with crossed arms, still standing in front of the framed pictures with the sound of hot water pouring into glass cups in the background. “Option one, you know that none of the men in the pictures are your boyfriend.”
“Very good guess,” Lisa commented from the kitchen, “what’s next?”
“Option two, you don’t currently have a boyfriend. Or possibly, never had one.”
So many options, and none of them were Jennie’s business. She was definitely trying too hard to piece together the life of someone she only met twice, even more so when she had very little to go on.
“Interesting.” Jennie could almost hear the smile from Lisa’s tone. “Anything else?”
Jennie was not really sure about whether or not to voice her last thought out loud. Once again, it was truly none of her business. But Lisa sounded quite entertained by her thought process, and so Jennie went on to her last possible conclusion.
“Well, my last guess is that you don’t date men at all.”
And at that, Jennie clearly caught Lisa’s stifled laugh as soon as she finished speaking. She was relieved that her answer didn’t offend her or piss her off. Based on her personal experience, some people would not hesitate in lashing out at her with all kinds of insults. Her parents included.
Holding two cups of hot tea, Lisa finally joined Jennie back in the living room. She held one of the drinks out to the girl, who in turn accepted it with a smile and a thank you. Jennie didn’t leave her spot as she stood with her hand holding the saucer of the warm cup, but Lisa moved behind her to half-sit, half-lean on the sofa’s armrest.
“Did I get anything right?”
“Maybe.”
“That’s more than nothing at all, I’m happy with that.”
“Do you work as a detective?”
Jennie snorted. “I’d be a shit one if I did.”
“Journalist? Author?”
“Any reason for these guesses?”
Lisa shrugged. “You just seem really determined to read me inside out.”
“That’s because I don’t know you,” Jennie pointed out. “And we didn’t meet under normal circumstances.”
Lisa brought her tea up to her lips, taking the smallest of sips. “You know where I work and who my manager is. You know where I live. And you also used my shower,” she started listing. “That’s more than what most people find out about me.”
“Fair point.”
When silence surrounded them, Jennie looked back at the pictures. She still had not received a clear answer to her question.
“Is he your brother, then?”
Lisa shook her head, a small smirk appearing on her lips. “No, just a friend.”
“A close one?”
“He wouldn’t be on my wall if he wasn’t.”
Another fair point, Jennie thought silently. She moved her gaze to the remaining pictures, ones that looked a lot older. Colours were faded and a few fold marks ran across the photos, but Jennie had to suppress a smile when she spotted a seemingly mini-Lisa standing between a beautiful woman and a very tall man.
“Is that you? With your parents?”
“Correct.”
“Your mum is really pretty.”
“You should see her daughter.”
“She’s not bad either,” Jennie giggled. She took a closer look at the photo, but she couldn’t make out what the background of the picture was. “Is this in Korea?”
“No, that was taken in Thailand.”
“Is that where you’re from?”
Lisa nodded.
“Very cool. When did you move here?”
“I was probably around thirteen at the time.”
“You went to a high school in Seoul?” Lisa nodded once again. “Which one?”
“Shouldn’t it be my turn to ask questions?”
Jennie hummed. “You’re right. What would you like to know?”
Frankly, Jennie was far from an open book. She had to take the time to get to know people before revealing too much about herself. Some parts of her life were just not meant to be shared over small talk. And although she only met Lisa a couple of times, she still had done more with her than with any of the acquaintances she had known for years. Jennie felt like Lisa was an easy person to trust, and that thought scared her quite a bit.
“How are you feeling?”
Jennie paused. “Pardon?”
“The last time we met, you cried while eating a burger. And then you took revenge on your ex accompanied by a complete stranger,” Lisa explained. “So, how are you feeling two weeks after that?”
Right. That was what nice people did. No personal questions, just a genuine check-up on her situation. Jennie should have known.
She wrapped a finger around the handle of her tea cup and picked it up, trying to delay her response. Surprisingly, her hand remained steady enough to take a sip without any spilling.
“I am… somewhat fine.”
What a lie.
Jennie didn’t mention the few days she spent crying alone in her hotel room. She didn’t share how she went through her whole gallery looking at old pictures and wondering when it all went wrong. She didn’t bring up the time where she almost went back to their house after work, not because she wanted to, but merely because that had been her routine for years.
She didn’t have to say any of that for Lisa to somehow know that she was far from fine.
“That’s okay. Moving on takes time.”
“It’s not just that. I think he—” Jennie stopped. The words were not coming out.
Lisa waited. She wasn’t encouraging Jennie to finish her sentence. She probably wasn’t expecting anything at all, and that somehow made Jennie want to blurt out everything. It couldn’t be that bad, Jennie thought. After all, Lisa seemed to always be in the right place at the right time.
“I think he might be seeing someone.”
It was awful.
Jennie had not let that thought out of her head up until that point. Not even to Chaeyoung. It was terrifying how much it hurt. How could it not? Jennie had been his long-term girlfriend. They had celebrated their anniversary two months prior. Three years. How could he move on so quickly while Jennie’s heart sank whenever the thought of him crossed her mind?
“Does that upset you?” Lisa questioned.
“Shouldn’t it?”
Lisa shrugged. She gently placed her almost empty cup on the coffee table, leaving the sofa armrest in favour of sliding down until she could sit comfortably on the cushioned seat with her legs crossed. She leaned her head on her opened palm, supported by her elbow casually resting on the armrest she previously occupied, her eyes staring at the standing girl rather intently.
“I don’t know enough about you or your relationship to answer that.”
Oh.
Jennie seemed to have forgotten that Lisa was not a close friend. She knew nothing about Jennie’s life outside of the first night they met. And although Lisa witnessed how pissed she was when Taeyang broke up with her, she still had no clue about why that was. Back then, Jennie was relieved by the fact that she wasn’t obliged to share that information, but weeks had passed. She had the time to think and overthink things through.
“Should we fix that?”
“We don’t have to.”
They really didn’t. Jennie could leave and never see Lisa again, but that was exactly what she had in mind last time and things took quite the opposite turn. And technically, Jennie had to see her for a third time either way to return the clothes she was currently wearing, so it was pointless to pretend it was going to be the last time they were going to meet.
“My name is Jennie Kim. I’m twenty-six, twenty-seven in January.” She started with the basics. An introduction that seemed to have caught Lisa’s attention as the corners of her lips turned upwards. “I’m not a detective, nor a journalist, nor an author. I work in the fashion industry.”
“My guessing game is not as good as yours, then.”
“Not quite,” Jennie smiled. “But you had me figured out in a lot of other ways.”
“Such as?”
“You knew I needed to key Taeyang’s car to feel slightly better about being dumped.”
Lisa chuckled. “That was all you.”
“It wasn’t. Even after what he did to me, I still tried to be considerate when he sure as fuck didn’t deserve it.”
Lisa’s lips pressed together as she averted her gaze. “So, we’re back to the start. You’re… upset.”
“I guess.”
“You guess,” Lisa challenged.
It was hard to hide a tired sigh. Jennie felt too much to know exactly how she felt about the prospect of Taeyang moving on. All she knew was that it was too soon to not feel anything at all.
“I’ve been with him for a long time. I suppose it does make me feel like shit sometimes to hear about what he’s up to.”
“Hear?” Lisa repeated amused. “Is that how you found out? Rumours?”
Jennie didn’t know why her face started to heat up. She had wanted to make a decent impression with her mini-introduction, but now she just appeared to be a woman that liked to gossip in her free time.
It wasn’t like Jennie had intentionally sought that kind of information. She was not the crazy, obsessed ex-girlfriend that she probably gave the impression of being after her little stunt. However, sometimes she just happened to receive bits and pieces of incomplete stories that she eventually started to put together.
It had started with her old neighbour sending her a message. Sweet, old Mrs Choi was not exactly Jennie’s closest friend, but they sometimes had tea together or brief talks from their adjacent back gardens. Considering this, Jennie had not expected Mrs Choi’s text in the middle of a work meeting. She had only been able to glance at the preview of the notification, but that was enough to make her subtly unlock her phone from under her table as she convincingly pretended to still be listening to her boss.
The message was rather lengthy, almost resembling an email, but it took Jennie a few seconds to get the gist of it.
Mrs Choi wondered why an unknown vehicle kept parking outside Jennie’s property. She had asked if Jennie had started driving, which she definitely had not. Well, Mrs Choi did not know about the breakup, and Jennie didn’t even think she would have to inform her of it. It made sense that she’d notify Jennie of suspicious activity around her house, except that it was not really Jennie’s problem anymore.
After Mrs Choi came Jennie’s cousin, Yeri. Unlike her neighbour, Yeri had known that she and Taeyang were no longer together. Jennie had met her cousin for breakfast one morning, who happened to casually mention that she had seen Taeyang entering the flower shop in front of her workplace, and also added that he came out holding a really pretty bouquet. Yeri made it clear that she was merely passing information, and not making any accusations. Jennie received the signal loud and clear, though.
Taeyang’s social media was also a big giveaway of his intentions. Jennie had unfollowed him pretty much everywhere, but his profile was public. It wasn’t surprising that she’d scroll through it in moments of weakness. Pictures of him at the gym, working out and showing off his physique… those started to appear on his feed a lot more frequently.
It was not the most difficult thing to put the clues together.
Lisa still stared at her with her teasing smile. Jennie wondered if she was that easy to read. Lisa made her feel like she was, even when she was trying so hard not to be.
“I didn’t ask for anything. People just… saw things and, well, told me about those things.”
“I wasn’t insinuating anything.”
“You were thinking about it.”
“Maybe.”
Jennie groaned frustrated. “This is so annoying.”
“What is?”
“This,” Jennie gestured between them. Lisa’s eyebrow rose in confusion. “When I meet new people, I can be very charming, okay? I don’t— well, normally , I don’t follow strangers into their homes, nor get drenched with rainwater in front of them. And all I wanted to do was to be nice to you because you’ve been an angel to me, but this breakup is making me look like a mad woman.”
Regardless of Jennie’s temporary breakdown, Lisa still grinned at her. Jennie called herself a mad woman, and Lisa still looked at her like she had just finished performing on the biggest stage.
“I think you’re pretty charming.”
Lisa did it so easily. One moment Jennie was filled with rage and frustration, and the next, she felt an incredible urge to smile.
She didn’t know how to describe it. Something like… being on a busy train and reaching the station where everyone else got off, ending up with the comfort of an empty carriage. Or… waking up early in the morning for a meeting to then find out it had been cancelled, falling back asleep without an alarm set. The way Lisa calmed her mind was simply crazy.
Taeyang had dumped her and made her feel like shit in every way possible, but maybe meeting someone like Lisa made it suck a little less. They would get on really well if they became actual friends, Jennie thought.
“Which one?” Jennie questioned with a playful smirk.
“What?”
“Pretty or charming, which one am I?”
Lisa was stunned, to say the least. Jennie found it very pleasing to see.
But then, Lisa’s eyes softened. Her smile was still there, a little smaller but a little more sincere. She looked at Jennie, a warmth in her gaze that Jennie had missed completely, just like the last time she received such a gaze.
“You’re both, Jennie Kim.”
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Walking towards Chaeyoung’s apartment wearing clothes that were not her own made Jennie feel slightly uneasy. She didn’t do anything wrong, but having known her best friend for some years, she knew that as soon as she got home, she’d receive the look — one eyebrow slightly raised above the other, eyes sparkling with mischief, and a smirk that would make Jennie want to walk right out the door.
Chaeyoung sported that exact look whenever the topic of Jennie potentially showing interest in someone came up. Jennie knew, deep down, that all Chaeyoung wanted was for her to forget Taeyang ever existed. She had subtly tried to push Jennie into the dating world again, but Jennie genuinely felt as if she was not going to find anyone good enough in the foreseeable future.
With that thought in mind, Jennie mentally prepared herself for Chaeyoung’s interrogation session about her stay at Lisa’s apartment. There was nothing to hide about it, but that didn’t mean that Chaeyoung would let it go easily.
Jennie turned the key to open the front door as quietly as she could. Chaeyoung usually waited for her in front of the television whenever she worked late, but Jennie had to frown at the sight of a completely dark apartment.
She blindly navigated through the living room and made her way to the door of Chaeyoung’s bedroom, knocking softly to make her presence known.
“Rosie? It’s Jennie.”
No response.
Growing a little worried, Jennie pushed the door open and walked inside. She silently made a few steps forward until she bumped into Chaeyoung’s desk, touching around to find the small lamp that was normally there. Once she turned on the switch, she placed the plastic bag with her damp clothes on the desk as the room became more visible. Then, Jennie finally noticed her best friend sleeping on the bed.
Chaeyoung was lying face down, her head buried into her crossed arms on the pillow. She didn’t have a blanket on, and she still had shoes on her feet. It was definitely unusual.
Jennie approached her sleeping friend, taking a seat next to her on the side of the bed. Chaeyoung probably felt the mattress dip as she started to gently move unconsciously. Her head turned just slightly, enough for Jennie to take a clear peek at her face.
A deep frown formed on Jennie’s face.
She had spent enough time with Chaeyoung to know how she looked like after she cried. And Jennie was certain of it—her best friend had been crying that night.
Jennie didn’t even bother wasting time to figure out what happened. She wrapped her hand around Chaeyoung’s arm and kindly tugged. A few seconds of annoyed whines later, Chaeyoung finally blinked her eyes open. She turned on her back and rubbed them with the palms of her hands, but Jennie had the time to notice the redness that surrounded them.
“Chaeyoung,” she called softly, moving the girl’s hands away from her face.
“Jennie?”
Chaeyoung’s voice was slightly hoarse, but Jennie wasn’t entirely sure it was from the sleep. She hummed in reply, her thumb stroking Chaeyoung’s sweater-covered tummy as she waited for the girl to fully wake up.
“When did you come home?” she questioned, slowly pushing herself up until her back could lean on the headboard.
“Just now. I didn’t see you when I came in, so I wanted to check up on you.” Jennie wordlessly reached for Chaeyoung’s feet, untying her shoelaces and removing both her shoes before dropping them gently on the floor beside them. She then proceeded to take off her socks and tuck them into each shoe neatly.
Chaeyoung let out the saddest chuckle that Jennie had heard, which didn’t help her growing concern. Jennie moved her hands up until she could hold Chaeyoung’s face between them.
“What’s wrong?”
Her question was met with silence. There was no need for Chaeyoung to speak, Jennie could tell she was upset just by looking at her dull eyes.
For the longest time, Jennie had admired how Chaeyoung could always smile brightly with sparkling eyes even when she was crushed on the inside. It must have taken a lot of practice to be able to hide her feelings behind a happy façade that well. And it was pretty ironic considering how easily Chaeyoung cried—even a documentary about animal shelters had her sobbing at 2 a.m., among other sappy films.
The thing with Chaeyoung was that she was too kind. Too kind for her own good, Jennie believed. She didn’t like when people worried about her. Jennie would know since Chaeyoung actively avoided sharing her relationship problems to not put a burden on her. As soon as she let something slip, she’d soon follow with excuses about how everything will sort itself out . She was always the first to comfort her friends when they were at their lowest, but she never expected the same care in return.
Always giving, never taking.
“Is it your girlfriend again?”
Again.
Jennie made sure her words came out softly for her friend’s sake, but frankly, she was rather pissed at Chaeyoung’s girlfriend. For the past week she had heard nothing but complaints about the girl’s shitty attitude. Jennie had enough of it.
Hearing no response once again, Jennie took off her boots and made herself comfortable beside her friend. She wrapped an arm around Chaeyoung and gently moved the girl’s head until it could lie on her shoulder.
Chaeyoung’s bottom lip started quivering, and Jennie didn’t hesitate a single second before she was enveloping her friend in a hug. She held her close, gently patting Chaeyoung’s head as the girl sobbed into her chest.
.
.
.
“I broke up with her.”
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