[20] Gone Astray

Chapter 20

"Jennie, can you just stop wandering! You're starting to give me a headache!"

Lisa says grumbling, addressing Jennie who has not calmed down ever since they came back to the apartment and didn't sit down, she was either roaming around or finding something to do and now she is hastily pacing back and forth in the middle of the apartment, nibbling on the nails of her hand and putting the other hand on her waist.

Jennie stops and looks at Lisa with angry expression.

"No like, really, how can she just go with him?" She asks incredulously.

- "Mmm.. Isn't it normal for her to do that?"  Chaeyoung asks in wonder.

"No, it's not!" Jennie's firm reply comes back and she goes back to pace.

"She should have turned him down at that right moment!"  She adds while continuing to pace back and forth.

Lisa sighs and follows,

"I still don't understand.. Why so angry?"

She asks and Chaeyoung nods in agreement.

Jennie stops again, looking at them in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?! He blatantly declared that he cheated on her!"

- "Yes, but you also forgot something.. He made this confession in front of everyone and he apologized as well."  Chaeyoung reasons.

"So? That doesn't mean that he was sincere in his apology! Maybe he did that to sway Jisoo only to get back to her!"

Lisa helplessly rolls her eyes at that.

"What's our business in that? Jisoo is a big girl, aware of what she is doing and this is her ex-boyfriend. If they want to fix their relationship, we have no say in that."

- "What do you mean, we have no say? We're her friends! Of course we won't allow her to go back to someone like him." She pauses a second, and then, "You should have stopped her."

She says and points at them disapprovingly.

"We? Why didn't you stop her if it bothered you so much?!"  Lisa rety in a sharp, startling tone to Jennie.

-"I couldn't.." Jennie defends quietly looking the other way, she continues shrugging. "You know.. things aren't going well between us these days."

Silence reigns between them for a moment later, and Lisa sighs and turns to Jennie.

"Jennie.. you said it yourself; we are her friends.. only her friends, and this is her personal life and her personal relationships. We can't interfere with that."

She starts making Jennie look at her with dissatisfaction and annoyance because she knows that what Lisa is saying is true.

"Maybe he was really sincere in his apology. Maybe Jisoo wanted to give him another chance."

When she says that, Jennie feels a sting in her heart just imagining it happening.

"If she did, would you like.. stop her?  With what right would you do that? Ha?"

Jennie remains silent with her mouth pursed as she looks at Lisa with stubbornness and dismay.

"Jennie, you're. just. her friend.  Just a friend."

Lisa says every word sharply, emphasizing the word 'friend' as she looks straight into Jennie's eyes as if trying to make her remember her place in Jisoo's life.

"There's nothing you can do."

She continues, and Jennie keeps staring at her silently, as if she would like to object, but she doesn't have enough argument, so she just turns her face away and walks to her room. 

Lisa stays looking at the direction that Jennie went from, and then turns around and looks at Chaeyoung, who was looking at her helplessly and disapprovingly.

"Did you have to say it this way?"  Chaeyoung asks tiredly.

Lisa remains silent for a moment before she replies insightfully, "It was necessary."

As soon as says that, Jennie comes out, puts on her coat, and walks hastily toward the main door to open it and exit, closing it behind her with a surprising force.

Lisa and Chaeyoung stay still for a while, then Chaeyoung turns to Lisa, sighs helplessly and gets up to get her jacket.

"where?"  Lisa inquires when Chaeyoung gets out of the sitting area and walks past her.

- "I'll talk to her."  Chaeyoung says before entering her room.

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Jennie sits on one of the benches that's located on either side of the building in a dimly lit area, staring into the void with her hands inside her pockets. Taking steady breaths and soaking in the cold night air, it made her relax.

What Lisa told her was true, what she told her was nothing but the reality. Jisoo has her own life, who is she to interfere with?

She understand this very well.. she really do, but why is she still feeling bothered?  Why is she not taking it as well as Lisa and Chaeyoung? 

Why does it hurt?

Is it because she is scared for Jisoo and worried that he will break her heart again?

Yeah.. that must be the reason.

There's no way it's for another reason, it can't be..

She is only worried about Jisoo..

Immersed in her thoughts, they get interrupted when she feels someone sitting next to her close by, she turns her head and finds that it's Chaeyoung.  She was looking at the street, at passing cars and people, with her hands in her pockets as well.

Jennie stares at her a little surprised, then looks back ahead, letting a soothing silence fill the air.

"Ever since we met Jisoo, we always saw her alone.." Chaeyoung quietly starts looking ahead, drawing Jennie's attention to turn to her. "We're used to her being with us always, being the only four of us.. and only us."

She falls silent, takes a deep breath, and follows,

"Therefore, I understand your feelings a little, to suddenly realize that it won't always be like that and to see her giving her time to someone else, it's normal for you to feel like this."

She pauses and turns to Jennie.

"It's normal for you to feel a little jealous. I will feel the same if it was Lisa."

She continues, and Jennie remains silent with her head facing Chaeyoung but her eyes staring into the void as she contemplates what Chaeyoung is saying.

"No.. I'm just worried about her.." she says hesitantly, looking back forward.

- "Denial only makes it worse."  Chaeyoung informs nonchalantly, turning her head forward, and exhaling a long breath that accompanies her phrase.

"I'm not!" She protests fiercely opposing as she turns to Chaeyoung, "You saw him, he literally did it in front of everyone to corner her so she can't turn him down."

Chaeyoung stays silent, she looks at Jennie, her features conceal a knowing smile.

"Okay, that means that Jisoo went with him just to get it over with. Why are you still upset then?"

Jennie stays silent as she stares at her, taken aback, not knowing what to answer to her surprising question, so she just ignores it and turns her head away, still looking displeased.

Chaeyoung smiles to herself and turns her head forward.

"Hmm.. don't you find yourself getting too attached to Jisoo?"  Chaeyoung remarks in a playful tone, looking teasingly sideways at Jennie.

Shocked, Jennie turns to her and looks at Chaeyoung with her jaw dropped.

- "What are you saying? This is not the case at all!" Jennie quietly defends as she lowers her eyes shyly.

"What do I know?" She sighs and smiles, "Up there, you were talking like you saw your boyfriend going out with another girl."

She says and chuckles amusedly.

Jennie doesn't answer her and she just remains silent, feeling lost, she no longer knows what she is thinking or how she feels at the moment.

"Anyway, don't worry, you won't feel that way for long."

Chaeyoung begins again with a cheerful tone as she looks ahead, attracting Jennie's attention again, looking at her intently and quizzically, "You will see, when the day comes and Jisoo introduce us to the person she loves, how your feeling will change into happiness and joy."

She pauses for a moment, and follows,

"You will feel it when you see her happiness as she would talk about him. Let's just hope that that person is.." Gradually, she turns her head towards Jennie. "Good enough for— Jennie?!  Are you crying?"

Chaeyoung quickly digresses when she sees Jennie with her eyes staring into the void, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Jennie takes notice of Chaeyoung talking to her when she puts her hand on her back, she looks at her for a while and then looks back away.

"Oh no.. it's nothing." she lies while laughing humorlessly, starting to wipe her tears and the more she does the more they fall.

While they are thus, they hear the sound of a car approaching and stopping and before Chaeyoung says anything, she hears the sound of the car door opening, she turns to the sound and sees Jisoo getting out of the car abruptly as she advances towards them and looks with eyebrows furrowed, frowning at Jennie's state.

"Jisoo?"  Chaeyoung gets up, looking confusedly at her, attracting Jennie's attention.

As soon as Jennie looks upward while wiping off the rest of her tears and sees Jisoo, she immediately wipes her entire face to look normal as she gets up too.

"Did something happen? Are you okay?"  Jisoo says in a firm and demanding tone, as soon as she reaches them, her eyes never leaving Jennie.

Jennie is silent while staring at Jisoo, she turns to Chaeyoung and gives her a pleading look, not knowing what excuse to use.

"Uh, no.. nothing happened." Chaeyoung comes to the rescue as she says with a cheerful tone, looks at Jennie first, and then looks at Jisoo, "We were just talking about the past and retrieving some memories about our families, and that made us a little emotional."

Jennie nods affirmatively to Chaeyoung, forcing a smile as Jisoo's eyes wanders between them and stares at them skeptically.

Is she talking to Chaeyoung about these things now?

Did they become that far from each other?

"Anyway, I'm happy that you came." Chaeyoung adds, changing the topic and grabbing Jisoo's attention and pulling her out of her thoughts. "I thought you would return to your other place."

- "Uh.. yeah.. I just came to check on you."

She says, partially true, smiling weakly.

Aah, right, why did she come back here? 

Why did she try to end her dinner with Jin Young as quickly as possible to come back?

All she knew was that she hadn't been feeling comfortable since the last time she saw Jennie looking at them as she was standing with Jin Young.. something about her expression at that time stuck in her mind and it became constantly bothering her as if she was doing something she shouldn't.

"What? Won't you stay?"  Chaeyoung asks her frowning.

- "No. I have to go." Jisoo responds softly, "Where is Lisa? ''

- "She's still in the apartment," Chaeyoung answers, pointing her head toward the building.

Jisoo nods with understanding and follows,

"Well.. don't stay outside, it will get colder."

- "Actually, I'll be back now, what about you?"  Chaeyoung asks as she turns to Jennie, who was standing quietly listening to them.

"Me too."  Jennie answers, nodding weakly, licking her lips, and wearing emotionless expressions.

For some reason, her conversation with Chaeyoung made her more aware now, more aware that she needs to pull it together and stop acting childishly.

She's just a friend.

"Okay, we'll go, then." Chaeyoung declares, turning to Jisoo and waving goodbye to her, and starting to steadily walk toward the entrance to the building, followed by Jennie.

"Chaeng ah!" Jisoo calls her suddenly, pushing them to stop, and to partially turn around looking quizzically, Jisoo quietly continues, "From tomorrow on, there will be a special driver here in front of the building. If any one of you want to go out, go with him."

Chaeyoung smiles broadly at her and nods happily as she says cheerfully before continuing on her path,

"OK!"

Jisoo remains standing, watching them on their way to enter the building, until they do, she lowers her gaze down and stays like that for moments. She sighs tiredly, turns around and heads to her car.

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On the evening of the next day, Jisoo is in her apartment sitting at one of the chairs attached to the dining table while she is eating her dinner that consists of noodle soup, Kimchi and some other side dishes, which she ordered from the restaurant.

She would lie if she said that she wasn't expecting Jennie to come over again, despite Lisa having previously told her that she would not, because she and Chaeyoung would go with her to Nayeon's home party, after she had invited them in the morning. Lisa told her to come with them too, but she refused.

Jisoo keeps staring at the soup bowl as she plays with it with a spoon. She feels bored, emptied and frustrated. She is still not used to living alone as she used to or as she had hoped when she decided to move out and her mind continuing to think of Jennie never helped.

On mentioning Jennie, since yesterday she hasn't been herself, and she doesn't mean it in terms of health, but she was.. quiet?

And different.

Different from the Jennie who she had argued with several days ago, different from the Jennie who came to her apartment the night before, as if she had built another wall around her.  Leaving Jisoo to plunge into bewilderment. How could she change overnight?  If only she knew what was going on in her mind!  Even one hint would relieve her from the cycle of questions in which she is in.

Jisoo leaves the spoon and breathes a long, exasperated breath as she ruffles her hair and brushes it with her hand backwards and stares back at the emptiness.  She stays that way for a while, and then looks at her phone, which is set aside on the table.

She holds it, unlocks it, swipes through the apps a little in boredom, then presses the contacts app and starts scrolling between them, and as she does, Jennie's name appears in front of her and she stops for a moment as she stares at it, specifically at her profile picture.

She sighs and continues scrolling until she reaches the name Matthew, hesitates a little, then presses call and raises the phone to her ear.

The phone rings for a few seconds, then the line is picked up.

/"Jisoo?"

- "Oh, hi.." Jisoo says calmly and hesitantly.

"Hi!" He replies with a cheerful tone, "How's it going? All good?"

"All good, you?"

-"Same here." He says and chuckles softly.

"Mm.. I hope I didn't call at an inappropriate time," Jisoo says after hearing some noise from the other side.

"Oh no.. not at all." He answers quickly.

"um..if you're free, do you want to go out somewhere? Just a change of a weather." She says and remains silent while waiting for his answer, which is somewhat has took long, "Matthew?"

"Yeah!  Yeah sure!  Just send the address and you will find me there!" He replies enthusiastically.

"Okay.. see you there then." she adds calmly, smiling to his excited answer.

"See ya!"\

She takes the phone away from her ear and hangs up.

.  .  .  .  .  .

Jennie, Lisa, and Chaeyoung stand in front of Nayeon's house, a little surprised;  looking at Nayeon's personality and simplicity, she is truly from a well-off family.  The house consisted of two floors, modern in design and decorated with early Christmas decorations, and they could hear the sound of songs from outside, in addition to some strangers entering and leaving the house, whom they had not seen before.

Jennie looks around a little, before walking towards the entrance to the house, followed by Lisa and Chaeyoung. They enter the house and continue walking until they reach the wide hallway in which most of the boys and girls were present and in one of the corners the DJ was standing with his equipments.  Jennie stops, Lisa and Chaeyoung behind her as she searches for Nayeon in the crowd until she finds her at the stairs talking to someone.

Jennie raises her hand and begins to wave to attract Nayeon's attention, and with several attempts that succeed at last, Nayeon comes over to them quickly.

"You've come!!"  Nayeon exclaims surprised when she's near them and starts greeting them one by one and gives them a sweet and short hug.

"Where's Jisoo?"  Nayeon asks as she looks around for her.

- "She couldn't come, her work keeps her busy."

Lisa replies, smiling, and Nayeon nods with understanding. Jisoo simply wasn't in the mood to attend any party, yet Lisa didn't want to tell Nayeon this in case she would take it personally.

"Anyways, act as if you were at home! Have fun! On that side there is an open buffet for food along with drinks."

Nayeon says pointing to the other connected hall, making Chaeyoung's face light up, that's exactly what she came for.

"If you are looking for alcohol, don't bother. Only beverages and soft drinks are here." Nayeon adds playfully.

- "Jisoo doesn't let us drink anyway." Lisa quips as she starts walking with Nayeon towards the food area, Chaeyoung and Jennie following her.

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Jennie and Lisa were standing at one of the high bar round tables when Jennie saw Nayeon with three girls walking with her and laughing coming towards them. Before they arrive, Jennie looks around and turns to Lisa.

"Where's Chaeyoung?"

- "She's still standing at the buffet."  Lisa answers, bringing her head closer so Jennie can hear her.

"Call her before she makes them spend the rest of the party only on water."

- "And Nayon stops inviting us again.." Lisa jokes along as she turns away and goes after Chaeyoung.

Jennie laughs to herself, turns to Nayeon and finds her approaching and smiling at her.

"Hello again." Nayeon begins as soon as she arrives, "Let me introduce you, these are my friends from other campuses."

She says while referring to her friends and starts by introducing them one by one, and then she adds, after they finish the introduction, "They really wanted to know you."

Jennie furrows her eyebrows in confusion and asks, "Me? Why?"

- "Oh C'mon! you're Kim Jisoo's mysterious friend!" One of them reasons with an excited tone, as if to say the clearest thing ever,

"I mean, I didn't believe at first when I heard from Nayeon, but now that you're in front of me.. woah, you are really beautiful. '' She continues, looking amazed, gaining unanimous approval of her friends.

Jennie stays silent for a moment, feeling surprised and flattered, before lowering her head bashfully.

"Thank you.. it's nice of you to say that."

She says smiling, to then Lisa and Chaeyoung, who were surprised at first by the new companionship, until Jennie introduces them to each other and end up chatting and talking about several general and superficial topics about the party or university.

"So!" One of Nayeon's friends starts when there is silence between them for a few minutes, "What's the matter about Jin Young and Jisoo. Did they come back to each other?"

She continues, making Jennie's cheerful expression fall drastically.

- "No, there is nothing new about them."  Jennie inserts in a stressed, indifferent tone.

"Really? I thought, after what he did for her, they would reconcile quickly," says the other one.

"Some students recorded Jin Young apologizing to Jisoo and the video went viral on social media." Nayeon quickly adds, after seeing Jennie's bothered and puzzled expression.

- "Woah, people are really wasting their time on things like that." Lisa remarks scoffing.

"But they're really cute things! He embarrassed himself for her! Like, who would just do that to get his girlfriend back?!"  One of them girls says in a touched tone.

- "She's not his girlfriend!" Jennie suddenly rebukes her involuntarily, causing the girl to stare in shock, she quickly catches on the situation and change her tone to a softer one, "I mean, they didn't make up." She continues, and the girl's expressions returnees natural and smiles.

"How do you know?" In my opinion, it won't take long for that to happen." The girl says and laughs with her friends while Jennie was trying to fake her smile, but she could not.

"You should have watched Krystal's reaction when she found out!" Nayeon says laughing and snickering, "It was about to explode at any moment!"

"What? what does Krystal have to with that?"  Jennie asks furrowing.

- "What does she have to with that? Girl.. the main reason of her enmity with Jisoo is this, She loves Jin Young too."

Nayeon says, feeling amused, while Jennie, Lisa and Chaeyoung were shocked by the information, Jennie actually got stuck up on the word 'too' added by Nayeon.

"Well, maybe it is time for her to change her goal since Jin Young is no longer available."  Says Nayeon's friend.

- "Why are you constantly talking as if Jisoo has already accepted him back!"

Jennie snaps impatiently as she tries to keep her tone steady.  Laughing sarcastically she follows, "so what if he apologized ?  That doesn't mean anything."

- "Well.. that's is true in a way but also, it is up to Jisoo." Nayeon says seriously. "About what happened, there are a lot of people talking about the possibility of them coming back to each other, especially since they saw how happy Jisoo was with him before they broke up and how much they fit together."

Nayeon was going on talking, looking at her friends, oblivious to the way Jennie was tightening her grip on the glass as she looks at her with straight expressions.

"It's true, I won't be surprised if they have already reached that level in their relationship, if you know what I mean." one of them says as she covers her mouth as if she was saying something secret and intimate, looking at them mischievously.

Jennie's expressions falter at that as she stares at them, unaware of herself, silently and in panic of the idea, and wanders off with her thoughts.

** "My first time being naked in front of someone."  **

"They didn't!" Jennie declares in a clear and serious tone, staring at the glass, cutting off the girls' laughter and attracting their attention, "They haven't reached that level." She adds quietly and takes a sip of a glass of water as she feels her annoyance reaching the ceiling.

"Really?" Says the same girl seems upset because her theory was wrong.

- "She told me."  Jennie quickly counters as she looks at her and gives her a wide, cold smile.

"Lisa, Chaeng.. I'll go to the bathroom for a while and go out to the balcony to breathe some air." Jennie adds, before they talk about it any more, feeling herself getting suffocated and restless the more their mouths open.

- "Okay .." Lisa says to her calmly and presses her shoulder lightly before Jennie leaves them.

.  .  .  .  .  .

Jennie walks out of the house to stand on the balcony to inhale some air, after she has washed her hands and wetted them a little before wiping her neck in an attempt to let herself relax as everything at this party became suffocating for her.

She hates it.. she hates this..

she hates what everyone is engulfed by these days.  Tired of everyone talking about only one topic, even this morning at college and until the end of periods, she kept hearing so-and-so talking about Jin Young and Jisoo and how they will become the season couple! As if they were not talking about her badly only the day before, and as if they were not waiting for the opportunity to blame her with false accusations and slanders.  And while she decided that a party like this would be a good change, it followed her here.

She hates this!  She also hates how upset she is.  If Jisoo herself doesn't pay that attention, why does she?

Jennie breathes in a long breath of despair as she stares into the void, takes a deep breath, and repeats the process and as she does, she sees a girl and a boy walking next to each other as they intimately hug each other on their way to the house.

She kept staring at them as they walked until they entered and disappeared from her field of vision and went back to look ahead.

And a realization hits her.

Everyone is going on with their life.. everyone has their own life, even her. She also has her own life. Why should she spend her time worrying about Jisoo and her relationships when she herself doesn't?!  While Jisoo is busy going out with whomever she wants, why should she worry about her? Why does she let it bother her?

Enough, that is enough. From now on, she will only worry about herself, the time has come to think about her own personal life as well and only take care of her love life.

She sighs again, turns to face the house, looks out the window, inside, at the audience, and at the party atmosphere in general, there's no way she would come back next to these foolish girls

She breathes in annoyance and leaves the balcony.

.  .  .  .  .

Jennie gets out of the house and walks across the front yard on her way to the sidewalk and when she arrives she stops and looks left and right until she sees the car and their chauffeur sitting inside, on the other side of the street.

She crosses the sidewalk and turns to the car on a hurry and climbs up with a sudden speed that makes the driver look at her surprised through the front mirror.

"Miss—"

- "We'll go somewhere."  She cuts him off before he can speak.

"to where?"

She pauses a little and follows,

"The Octagon Club."

"Uh.. what about the others?"  The driver adds hesitantly.

- "We'll come back to take them later."

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"Would you tell me why all of your date suggestions are so onerous?" Matthew asks, walking tiredly on the sidewalk.

- "And whoever sees you thinks you have high stamina."  Jisoo replies sarcastically as she walks beside him at some distance, her hands in her Jacket pockets.

"You literally made us walk around three local neighborhoods!"

- "And all of them was fun, admit it."  She challenges as she turns to him and feigns seriousness.

"Yeah Yeah.." he dismisses playfully, "Especially since you didn't leave a store or booth without stopping by it, under the pretext that we should just have a taste, and now I don't think I will eat anything throughout the next week!" He groans putting his hand on his stomach, feeling full.

Jisoo chuckles amusedly at his reaction and follows, "This is what make these places special, you are not aware of yourself until you get out of them. They take your mind out of things."

She continues and smiles to herself with a distant gaze as they keep walking, and silence reigns between them. Matthew turns towards her and stares at her for a moment in contemplation, and then chuckles to himself and shakes his head with helplessness, attracting Jisoo's attention.

"What?"  Jisoo asks in wonder.

- "Nothing." he says, but he continues to chuckle quietly.

"What?!"  Jisoo insists with growing curiosity.

"Hmmm.. it's just.." He starts looking at his walking steps, smiling thoughtfully, "I didn't expect that you would be this type of girl."

He says, making Jisoo look with question to then he follows as he stops walking, prompting Jisoo to stop as well.

"The type who likes to wander around in the slums or eat those traditional dishes. I mean.. whoever sees you for the first time will think that you only like luxurious places and the like."

He adds the last sentence in a soft tone so that she doesn't get his point wrong.

Jisoo remains silent as she looks at him, and then smiles for a moment and starts walking again.

"Well.. now you know." She starts with a lighthearted tone before adding, "Have it not met your expectations?"

She speeds up her steps, surprising him, so she can be in front of him.

He stays taken aback for a moment, then laughs and follows her before he answers excitedly,

"Rather, it exceeded it many times."

.  .  .  .  .  .  .

🎶 ▶ Exo - Obsession

Jennie enters the club and starts to walk slowly through the narrow corridor that connects inside the club and the main door, while she is walking, she looks at her surroundings cautiously, seeing people passing by or bumping into her carelessly, and every one of them was staring at her suspiciously with menacing looks.

Which made her scared a little, she didn't feel like this when she came with Jisoo, Lisa, and Chaeyoung the last time.  Maybe it's because this is her first time alone in a place like this.  In any case, she need to pull herself together and not show herself as new here.

She continues walking until she is in the center of the club and stops, watching its surroundings;  The club atmosphere was dark and noisy and the multitude of colors and night lights made the atmosphere exciting and intriguing, some of them were sitting on the side drinking, others busy dancing by themselves.

She sighs and begins to walk past people with difficulty, trying not to bump into them, wanting to reach the bar. When she does, she takes a seat on one of the stools and looks around nervously.

"What can I bring for you?"  Says the girl at the bar while looking at her with question.

She still remembers Jessie, and this's not her, she must be one of the workers here.

- "Ahh..umm.. Any free-alcohol drink will do." Jennie tells her hesitantly, and the girl nods and starts preparing.

While she was waiting for her drink, she slowly began to look around her, studying the faces of people, and to her own surprise, she caught a glimpse of some men who were also looking at her and checking her out in a suggestive way, for some reason they didn't attract the slightest interest from her.

No one caught her eye.

Although they were wearing fancy, they all seemed below the average to her, below the standard even.

The standard being..

No. 'Focus Jennie.'

She continues to look until her gaze falls on a girl sitting at the end of the bar with a coupe in hand containing red liquid.  The girl was wearing a black dress tight to the lines of her body, showing the cleavage in a scandalous way, she was looking at her as well.

"Here you're."  Says the bartender surprising Jennie, making her quickly turn her head as she realizes that she was staring at the girl for so long.

She drinks from her glass a little and then slowly turns her head back towards the girl and finds her still looking at her and this time she was smirking devilishly.  Jennie stares at her in shock and then looks back at her drink.

That's weird.. Why is she looking at her like that?  Can it be..

no, not possible.

She kicks those thoughts out of her mind and lifts her glass to take a sip.

"looks like you're new here."  A sultry girl's voice interrupts her, making her almost choke on her drink.

Jennie turns towards the sound after she has recovered to find that it's the girl herself, and this time she is sitting on the stool next to her, resting her head on her hand and looking at her in the same seductive way.

-"Pardon?"  Jennie asks calmly, not knowing why she is so uncomfortable and nervous.

"Tell me.." The girl starts with coquetry, "What is a pretty girl like you doing here?"

She says as she runs the back of her other hand over Jennie's hand, who is holding the glass softly and as she does, Jennie pulls her hand away slowly so that she doesn't appear rude.

Jennie keeps staring at her glass for a while as she feels the gaze of the girl penetrating her skin, she has no idea how to act in such a situation.. and with a girl!

"Aah.umm.. not for a specific reason." Jennie replies as she looks back at the girl.

The girl scoffs in disbelief and follows as she brings her head close to Jennie.

"Just so you know.." She begins quietly and then continues in a sensual tone, staring straight into her eyes, "I saw how you look around, and let me tell you.. we're both here for the same reason—"

"Soojoo!"  Jessie interrupts her in a sharp, disapproving tone as she stands close to them, arms crossed to her chest, drawing their attention.

"Leave the girl alone." Jessie demands on the same tone.

- "Jessie! You're late!"  Soojoo exclaims grimly as she turns away from Jennie and looks at Jessie.

"I had some business with the management."

Jessie explains, and then turns to Jennie and follows, "Aren't you the girl who came with Jisoo that day? Jiny.. Jenn.."

- "Jennie.. yes, it's me."  Jennie quickly adds, seeing her trying to remember her name.

"What are you doing here alone? Where is Jisoo?"

- "She has work, she couldn't come."  She lies hesitantly, and lowers her eyes.

Jessie sighs as she looks at her.

"Anyway.. I don't advise you to stay here for too long.." She says, and Jennie nods understandingly to then she turns to Sojoo.

"And you!"

Soojoo looks at her with anticipation and is amused.

"Stop annoying her."

- "What? I was just playing with her!"

Soojoo whines, frowns for a moment, then changes her facial expression to look playful and follows, "But since you are here now.."

She gets up, steps close to Jessie and whispers something in her ear, Jennie notices Jessie's expression as they soften as Soojoo does that.  Soojoo then turns away, running her hand over Jessie's arm seductively.

"Don't be late."

She adds, gives Jessie a side smile and goes.

Jessie and Jennie remain quiet for a while, Jessie is still under the influence of whatever Soojoo has told her, and Jennie is trying to process what she just saw while feeling lost.

"Um..Jennie.." Jessie says on a hasty tone, "If you need anything, just call on me, 'K? I'll go now."

She pats Jennie's shoulder lightly and dashes the same way Soojoo went from without waiting for an answer, leaving Jennie staring with straight expressions.

What the hell just happened?

🎶⏸

.  .  .  .  .  .

"Woah... I didn't think you knew all that about stars."

Jisoo remarks, staring at the sky, sitting at one of the terraces on the sidewalk while Matthew was standing.

"You can't imagine the topics that I have knowledge on."  He says in a prideful tone as he sits beside her.

Jisoo laughs sarcastically and follows,

"Oh you're such a show off."

"Okay okay, I'm kidding. All I know about the stars is all my mom told me." he says calmly, looking at the sky.

And Jisoo stares at him thoughtfully.

.........

"Two glasses of whiskey please on the rocks." Says the man who suddenly sits next to Jennie as he looks at the bartender at first and then turns to Jennie.

Jennie keeps staring at him for a moment, surprised, and then gives him a once over, his face, his clothes and his facial expressions.

He wore an elegant suit that included a maroon jacket, a dusty blue shirt, and black trousers, his hair was brushed straight back. He looked like a business man, his looks at her were not dirty, and he was clearly a foreigner, and despite that, he spoke Korean well.

"Would you allow me to offer you this drink? It's on me." He says while extending a glass of whiskey to her, after it was put in front of him by the barman.

- "Thank you, but I don't drink." She declines calmly and with a polite smile.

"Well then, let me invite you for something else." He adds smiling and gestures to the bartender to come. Jennie was looking at him as if to analyze him.

Maybe this is it.. what she is looking for, a respectable man with a nice demeanor, in the end people like him do exist in a place like this.

She needs to get to know him first.

.........

Jisoo smiles to herself after staring at him for a prolonged moments and shakes her head helplessly and says sarcastically as she looks ahead, "That's a pity.. I would have liked to brag about being friends with a scientist.."

He stares at her extensively, his expression conceal a smile.

"I can be one for you." He says quietly, making Jisoo turn towards him so that their eyes meet. "A scientist.. a pilot.. an astronaut.. whatever you like if that keeps you always in touch with me."

He was talking while slowly bringing his head closer, staring into Jisoo's eyes, his gaze sometimes falls on her lips, until he is very close to her face.

He stills for seconds, studying her, he can't really figure out what's that in her eyes, but she isn't pushing him away either.

He want to kiss her, he's so close from doing that.

He probably will..

...........

"Here.." He says sliding the Pepsi he asked for in front of her.

-"Thank you." Jennie says softly, she falls silent as she looks at the glass, "By the way, I'm Jennie." she adds, turning to him.

"Jonathan." He inserts, looking at her smiling, his blue eyes flickering due to the warm lights, "And I'm Jonathan.. you can call me John."

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To be continued

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