The Tiger King (Chaelisa)

72| Jennie's Story

"But nothing. I'm not looking to get anything back from this. You needed help, I can give you that help. That's all. Main point is, nobody knows you're here. You're covered. The staff are duty bound to keep things hush hush. Don't worry, whoever did this to you won't hurt you again."

Jennie leaned back against the pillows, relief rushing through her like a delicious swig of energy drink that rejuvenated her spirit as she processed Momo's words. "Oh...oh wow. So the cops, they don't—"

"Irene is still insisting we need to bring them in, she's been hounding me and that Rosé girl but Rosé stood her ground and didn't speak a word. She said we'll wait for you to wake up before we decide what to do. She's...quite something."

Another shot of good news, sweet and welcoming. She kept underestimating Rosé, and the younger girl kept surprising her each time. But then the bitter realisation that Momo never once mentioned Lisa in her narrative had Jennie swallow, remembering the eyes of death looming over her.

"Water," she croaked. Momo leaned over and brought her a cup with a straw from the bedside table.

"Nurse said to give you this when you wake up. Seems like they knew it was time. I should go get them too."

"How long was I out?"

"Three days. Aside from the concussion, they said you were really sleep deprived, dehydrated and malnourished. You needed the rest, you looked rough."

Three days. Jennie bit down on her lip, the tension that had seeped out of her body roaring back full blast.

She needed to be out of bed searching for Jisoo, not languishing like some invalid. Surreptitiously, she rubbed her thumb with her pointer finger. Someone had applied a fresh plaster to it.

Momo's face was carefully blank when she put the cup back on the bedstand and clasped her hands together. "Look Jen, I know something fishy is going on," she began. "For starters, Irene said Matt is blaming y'all for Somi's death, that's why he kicked you out of the Vault. But there's other stuff I can't quite put my finger on."

"Congratulations on your powers of deduction." Jennie clenched the sheet that covered her lower body. "What—what else did you learn?"

Momo pursed her lips. "Rosé wouldn't speak to me. Not that Irene or her girlfriend—which by the way, she got a girlfriend too? Everyone is fucking gay now?—not that they spoke with me much either but...Irene said there was an incident at the Vault, which is how you ended up looking like a turnip is growing on your eye. What happened?"

Jennie sighed. "Take a wild guess."

"Don't play coy," Momo said, frustrated. "I'm not that daft. Lisa is nowhere around. And I haven't seen your girlfriend at all. Jisoo didn't strike me as the type to up and quit in so short a time. What the hell happened Jen? Was it—was it Jinyoung?"

At the mention of Jisoo and Jinyoung's names, Jennie felt her strength crumble. It had been close to a week since she last saw or heard of Jisoo, and the last thing Jisoo had said was that she loved her.

And here she was, returning that love by doing absolutely nothing in return at the time when Jisoo needed her most. Jennie clenched her teeth, refusing to break down in tears in front of Momo.

"I know last time we spoke didn't end well but I'm here to help now," Momo said quietly. "I swear Jennie. Believe me. But you have got to stop bottling it all up by yourself. You've been doing that forever. I know you."

Momo was right. She had bottled up too much, shouldered more weight than she ought to have carried. Was it truly time to shrug it off and let other people bear the burden?