You Captured By Me

Chapter 14

Jennie woke up alone in the couch
with her arms empty.

She didn't even say goodbye.

She hugged her knees and squeezed her eyes shut, trying her hardest not to remember how good and how peaceful she slept, caged inside Lisa's embrace. But it was all too vivid-her strong arms, her intoxicating scent, her heartbeat.

When she forced herself to get up, her right foot stepped on something on the carpet and she lightly gasped. A black leather wallet. Lisa's wallet.

Opening it, she found cash and her
credit cards as well as some of her
IDs. And then, there was the polaroid photo. A teenage girl had her arms wrapped around Lisa's neck while planting a kiss on her cheek. There was a glimmer of happiness in Lisa's eyes and in her smile and Jennie found herself clutching her chest because even without words or explanation, she knew:

She lost her.

Thirty minutes later, after a swift
change of clothes and dashing for a
cab ride, Jennie was trying to work
out the nerve to ask the information officer at the reception lobby of the hospital where Dr. Manoban's office was, but ended up asking which floor was the cardiology department
located, to not appear so obvious.

"Jisoo, Lisa's not going to lunch out with us later. maybe she's going out with the girl she's fantasizing,"

a woman
wearing a doctor's coat approached
the reception counter and told the
information officer. Dr. Park, her
nameplate reads.

Jennie gulped.

"Let her be, She's going back to work next week, right?
let her spend her time to her love life while she has time. You know her. She's a Workaholic."

"You know, her vacation's not yet over but she did minor surgery a while ago. Emergency call, but she
came running here even though she's on leave."

Jennie took the elevator and went
down on the fifth floor then asked
for directions at the Nurse's station.
Immediately, she felt an air of
hostility among the nurses when she mentioned that she was looking for Dr. Manoban. She was told to wait at her office.

Five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen
minutes. Still no sign of Lisa. Jennie
studied Lisa's neat and organized
desk and found not a single clutter.
There was a clean stack of patient
file folders and a jar holding several pens. On her wall, there were several post-its for appointments and reminders. Just before she could look
away, a small handwritten birthday
card caught Jennie's eye. A large
lavender-colored heart was sketched on the entirety of the card cover and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA UNNIE! was written in swirling black letters at the bottom. She found herself drawn to the card because somehow, her mind was finally putting the puzzle pieces
together. There was a short message and a sketch of a man in a black formal suit and a woman in a red dress.

Briefly, she remembered her own
scarlet gown that she had worn on
the evening when Lisa came back to her life.

Lisa Unnie!

Sorry, the heart infront was
lavender, I used up all the red
crayon for your future wife's dress haha. Yes, unnie, you will one day meet the love of your life and this is my birthday gift to you: a glimpse of the future. Unnie, thank you for being so good to me. I know you've
done everything you could do so
that I could live longer but maybe this is really it. Unnie, please, don't be sad if one day I won't be here anymore. It's none of your fault. You've been the best sister ever and if God would give me another chance to live another life, I would still pickyou as my sister. Anyway, you're 29 now and yuck you're old and single, go find my future
sister in law, please. I want to
make sure that someone will take care of you and look after you. You loved me too much you have forgotten to love yourself. When you find the love of your life, marry her right away, okay? I don't want you to be sad anymore. And I hope she will know how lucky she is to have you. I hope she makes you happy, Unnie. I hope she makes you smile all the time.

Love always,

Lia

Lisa found Jennie wiping away the tears streaming down her face. She hugged her from behind, wanting to protect her from her own pain.

"Her heart stopped functioning three days after she gave me that birthday card," she told her.

"Her heart..is lavender and beautiful, Lisa." she whispered, hugging her back.

"I wrote to her every single day since she died. The last letter was the one you picked up."

"Do you miss her?"

"I do. Every time during surgeries
and check-ups, I think of her. I always feel like a hypocrite because I keep on saving other people when I failed on keeping my own sister alive. And I thought: these kids deserve a better doctor than me. You know? They deserve someone who's strong enough not to succumb to depression, someone who does not think of quitting everyday...of running away."

Jennie wiped her tears away and
enveloped her in her tiny and frail
arms.

You are stronger than that, Lisa.

"But you..you taught me not to run.
You taught me...to begin again," Lisa told her, finally smiling.

Just when they were about to lean in for a kiss, a knock came on the door.

"Dr. Manoban, here's the MRI results of Alexis Celine Lee" a nurse
sternly announced, glaring at Jennie when she saw the scene she just interrupted.

"Lisa..uh...why do the nurses here all seem to hate me with a passion?"

She just chuckled and kissed her on
the forehead again.

"Oh my god, they all have a crush
on you?!" She exclaimed after the
realization finally sunk in that the
nurses were all jealous of her.

"Doesn't matter to me. You are my only crush, Jennie."

Five minutes later, as Jennie walked out of Lisa's office and past the nurses station, Lisa shouted at her, loud enough for everyone on the floor (especially the nurses) to hear.

"Thank you for sleeping with me!"

And just when Jennie felt like shrinking from the sheer embarrassment of it all, Lisa concluded it with an even louder yell:

"PIKACHU..I CHOOSE YOU!"

Later, when she finally comes back to her apartment to take a shower, she would belatedly find Lisa's message on the inside of her upper left arm. In the absence of paper, she apparently still left her a makeshift note that morning
on her skin.

Jennie, all I want is a lifetime of
falling asleep and waking up next
to you.

Her phone beeped. A message from
Lisa.

10:37 AM

Based on my highly reliable, purely
scientific and extremely accurate
diagnosis, you're wearing pink
cotton underwear.

I miss you already, Jennie.