Lock & Key (Chaelisa)

11| Discovery

Lisa didn't know what possessed her to gallop back to Snowdrop. She hadn't the faintest trace of an idea of why she had the desperate urge to tell Jisoo and Jennie about her encounter, or even how she would articulate herself and explain that Jimin had threatened her and Honey because he had discovered her feelings.

All she knew was that they were the only people to never judge her, never press her about her past and right now, she could do with their listening ear and comforting reassurances.

But Lisa only made it through the door, which jingled the bell to announce her presence and then she stopped, bent over her knees and panting hard as she fought to calm down. Jimin's taunts echoed in her ear.

"Jisoo? Jennie?"

The bakery shop was deserted. Lisa frowned but assumed the two of them were just beyond the alcove area with the ovens, preparing the dough for tomorrow's batch of bread and pastries before they closed shop for good. It was late after all.

But neither girl was in the oven area either.

Lisa was starting to worry. Usually, they would have either closed shop by now to retire to their living quarters situated above the bakery, or else be putting in some last minute preparations for tomorrow's work.

Lisa walked to the ajar window overlooking the small back garden attached to the property and heaved out in relief—in the twilight stealing over the land, she could make out two figures standing very close together. They looked very much like Jisoo and Jennie, and they weren't moving.

She was about to push the window open further and call out to them when Jisoo moved and pressed her forehead to Jennie's, making Lisa freeze.

She now noticed that they were both embracing, arms hanging loosely around waists, gazing into each other's eyes so deeply, Lisa was starting to doubt if she was physically still present in this plane, because they looked at each other as though nothing else existed.

Then Jisoo moved, breaking the hug to crouch down and snap some flowers from their stem and present them to Jennie. The flowers hung their white buds, still not yet blooming, but Jennie seemed delighted all the same.

Lisa recognised the flowers to be snowdrops.

"I thought you had forgotten this year," Jennie giggled. Jisoo smiled at her fondly as she returned to embracing her, pulling Jennie closer until they were practically nose to nose.

"Forget your flowers? I'd sooner forget my name."

Something was telling Lisa to quietly walk away from the intimate scene, but Lisa's legs had taken root and she couldn't tear her eyes away.

"Jisoo?"

"Yes, jagiya?"

Lisa almost fell back on her backside at the tender words—tender wasn't something she'd normally attribute to Jisoo, who was loud and brash and seemed to delight in exasperating Jennie, though she had her sombre moments.

But Lisa's employers seemed bent on surprising her tonight as Jennie now cupped Jisoo's face with one hand and stroked her cheek with her thumb.

Lisa watched, breathless and stupefied, unable to process what was happening all of a sudden.

She wracked her mind, trying to think back on all the interactions she had seen of the two girls, now looking at them from a new perspective. 

Clarification hit her like a bolt out of the blue— the clues had been there, had she looked closer: how they never seemed interested in other people romantically; how they stuck by each other's side like glue; how they backed each other up; how they lived together and never spoke about their respective families...

"Another year of us," said Jennie softly, making Lisa strain to hear, "and I'm still learning every day, with you by my side. Isn't that marvellous?"

"You thought it would get boring? Not a chance," Jisoo said with her familiar smirk, but her face softened again as Jennie leaned in and connected their foreheads again. They stood together in the tranquil silence of the oncoming night, eyes closed and smiling once more.

It was such an innocent but heartfelt display of affection that Lisa swallowed down the brittle lump in her throat and moved, silently escaping back the way she came and fleeing the scene to give the lovers their privacy.

She didn't look back.