a misty gashed aperture

the spark/the static shocks

Jisoo elbowed Lisa then covered her mouth with the back of her hand as she leaned closer to the taller woman. "Okay, now that's a scary kid to punch. Are you ready for his inquisition about us two failing our mission?"

"We didn't fail exactly." Lisa waved a hand to her brother.

"Half-and-half, I guess. I already hate the part where he's going to say, he's taking over as the captain of this plane."

"Fucking hop in, kids!" Bam called out impatiently.

A knock stirred her from her trance. Roseanne appeared by the door in a navy-blue Sandy Liang pilot dress worn over a white t-shirt, paired with derby shoes and white socks. She was wearing light makeup and a smile so pure it was reminiscent of the feeling Lisa had when her first crush smiled back at her.

"Is that...?" asked Lisa whose eyes immediately fell on the plastic bag that smelled so good.

The smile not leaving her lips, Roseanne nodded and sat beside Lisa. "So, I'm sorry for sort of breaking my promise because I had to get this makchang first before coming here."

"Easily forgiven." Lisa kissed the blonde on the lips briefly. It was becoming her favorite way of hello.

Taking a deep breath, Roseanne never realized she missed Lisa's lips until they were on hers. It electrified her insides that she went for another kiss, long enough to know her skin and hair had accumulated more of Lisa's electric charges since Paris. "What's that you're working on?"

"Just what I felt after what happened."

Patting Lisa's shoulder to comfort, Roseanne nodded casually. She looked around the studio, remembering the day they first met. It felt surreal to be back when she decided five months ago, she would not. When her gaze landed on the huge canvas that faced the wall behind Lisa, something kicked her in the gut.

Lisa did not have to check what it was the supermodel was looking at. The unfinished painting had always been there, and it was the first time she touched it since that day. "Yeah, that's the painting..."

Roseanne found it thoughtful of Lisa to turn the painting around to avoid any triggers on her part. "Should I take offense that you did not clean your studio tonight?"

Lightly poking Roseanne's tip of the nose, Lisa chuckled. "Are you forgetting that you're supposed to do that?"

"Oh, right, but you never gave me the advance payment, so it got bumped off my to-do list. But," Roseanne paused and gestured at the stains of paint all over Lisa's hands, forearm, and cheek, "let's get you cleaned up."

Before Lisa boarded the plane, she called Roseanne to tell her about what happened. It was not a shocker how the supermodel reacted—surprised at Lisa's behavior, claimed to have won the argument about the bodyguards, and was swift about taking responsibility.

While Lisa was sweet about standing up for her, Roseanne told her, one way to deal with the paparazzi was to ignore them. It was a quick conversation since Roseanne was about to walk the red carpet, but she gave Lisa the assurance that she would fix the mess.

Sitting on the high stools, Lisa was teaching Roseanne how to remove the oil painting on her skin. The supermodel soaked a cotton ball with baby oil and then started rubbing gently at Lisa's cheek.

"You have to be more vigorous."

"Okay." Roseanne did as instructed, focused on taking the small stains off Lisa's face. "Can't you wear gloves and face shield when you paint?"