The Tiger King (Chaelisa)

70| Lost

previously: jenlichaeng woke up at the vault with ella returned safely, lisa had a meltdown, jennie did crisis control then broke down, somi and dahyun are dead.

The pre-funeral for Somi was about as hard as Jennie expected it to be: hushed voices, bowed heads, tearful mumbles, pinched mouths, scrunched tissues, empty words.

Like a faithful shadow, Lisa never left her side. She was mute, her movements stiff, as though she had forgotten how to function at all. Jennie had to prod her to take off her shoes at the door and to bow and write her name in the guest book.

She stood perfectly still in front of Somi's portrait set upon the jaesang (altar) surrounded by flower arrangements. She stared at it as though she was going to shoot lasers out of her eyes and burn holes. Jennie had to tug her from the arm and keep her moving, wary of people noticing them and cornering them to talk about Somi.

She had spotted Chaeyoung with what she presumed to be her family, crying her eyes out in as dignified a way she could muster, but Jennie didn't approach her. 

They didn't linger; Jennie suspected Chaeyoung and her family were going to Dahyun's wake as well, held on the same day. Jennie had debated going to Dahyun's pre-funeral, a prickle of guilt and shame nagging her like a thorn in her side. In the end, she had decided not to go.

There were lots and lots of flowers. Everywhere she looked, Jennie was assaulted by colourful arrangements or flower wreaths. The heat made them wilt, their scent sickly sweet and cloying. Jennie had managed to put in a last minute order for a flower wreath and send it to the funeral place where the wake was being held. She also had sent an identical one to Dahyun's pre-funeral venue.

But the abundance of blooms made it impossible to find their flower wreath at Somi's pre-funeral, buried beneath many others that piled in. Somi was well-liked and popular, it was clear to see. 

Jennie felt like she and Lisa were mere footnotes in her story, shunned aside, tiny and negligible, just like their flower wreath.

She hadn't seen Matthew yet and she was delaying that meeting as much as possible, dreading having to face him with the image of Somi's dead body stamped in her mind. 

They hadn't even noticed she had fallen until Jinyoung pointed it out. Remembering that caused a sharp pang in her heart.

Irene eventually found the pair of them, her eyes red-rimmed. Seulgi was with her, her face grave as she supported Irene, rubbing her back.

"Why Somi?" Irene kept asking. "She never harmed a fly. It' so unfair. Why her?"

"She just happened to be at the wrong place, wrong time. It happens to anyone, Hyun," Seulgi said softly, holding her sniffling girlfriend close. "Doesn't make it any less unfair though."

From snatches of conversation she had overheard, Jennie got the general picture people seemed to be clucking and tutting about:

Didn't she know it's unwise to wonder around at night, a young girl all by herself? Got too cocky and confident. Who knows what depraved wicked rapists are out there, lusting after pretty girls? Haven't you heard all the crime rings the police cover up? Corrupt lot, all of them. And her father gave her too much free rein. What have we gotten to? Back in the day.... 

and so on and so forth.

It almost made Jennie want to scream and kick them all out because they had absolutely no fucking clue and were only driving the sword in her heart deeper and deeper.

"Oh Detective Park?" Jennie heard Matthew say nearby, sounding surprised. "What brings you here? Is it...do you have news?" he added, hope colouring his voice.