Midnight Angel [Jenlisa FF]

~'~'~ Chapter 14 ~'~'~

Long hours, days, he'd spent agonizing over how to handle it. She had already been so fragile because of the rape and the ensuing treatment by the town and its people. And she'd broken once, that night while her family sat watching a movie. He just hadn't been able to push her, to ask her, about what had happened. So, he'd said nothing. Nothing at all.

Not that it would have done any good, he supposed. For the last four years, his daughter had been virtually silent, saying very little him. Only a couple times had he dared to mention the deaths of his wife and other two children. And when he had, she'd never responded, going almost catatonic at the merest mention of that night. So, he'd never pushed. And she'd never known why he kept her here in the house. A fault, maybe, if the action had led her to believe he was ashamed of her or hated her. But now it appeared the time had come to reveal all. He only hoped she could handle it, though he doubted there was any way a person, let alone Jennie, could handle being told they'd killed their family.

Before he could form his response, Jennie spoke again. "Why did you let everyone believe that I was dead, that I'd killed myself?"

"How did you know that?" Joo Won asked, confused because she had no way of knowing such a fact.

"Lisa told me," Jennie answered honestly.

"Lisa?" Joo Won frowned, tried to figure out when his new employee could have told Jennie such a thing, and why. "You've spoken with Lisa?"

"Yes. She...she's nice to me," she said quickly, averting her eyes. When she looked up, her eyes were again pleading. "Why, Daddy? Why did you do it?"

"Jennie," he began with a sigh, hating what he was about to tell her. "I asked you to stay in the house because if anyone knew you were here, that you were alive, they would arrest you." That was the short answer, he thought, and called himself a coward.

"Arrest me?" she repeated, her brow furrowing in confusion. "What for?"

"For murder," Joo Won responded bluntly, then cursed himself as shocked horror filled Jennie's eyes.

She opened her mouth to speak, but words failed her. Murder? She would be arrested for murder. It made no sense. Why would her father think that? Why would anyone think that? She hadn't killed anybody. There was no possible...

Her thoughts trailed off as a new horror dawned on her. "No," she gasped, stumbling back a step. She shook her head, trying to force the unfathomable thoughts from her mind. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. But yet...as she looked up into her father's eyes. She knew it was. She knew he believed it.

"Jennie," Joo Won said softly, taking a step toward her. He wanted, needed, to comfort her, though his emotions were torn. She was his daughter, and he loved her, but the pain at losing his wife and Donna and Owen, by her hand, threatened to overrule.

Seeing his advance, Jennie backed away from him, her eyes darting around the room in a silent plea for anything but the truth. "No," she whispered again. And then again. "No."

"Jennie, please," he begged, taking another step in her direction.

Her only desperate thought was to escape, to get away from the accusation, the horrible truth, her father was pushing at her. She couldn't stay in this room, in this house. She couldn't look at him. As he took another step toward her, she bolted toward the door, dashing through it before Joo Won could even shout her name.

~'~'~

After an hour of reading through articles and jotting down notes, Lisa tossed her pen down and reached up to rub her neck. She winced at the stiffness that had build from leaning over her workspace, intent on the papers. She'd need to take a hot shower in hopes of erasing the protests of her muscles. Glancing at her watch, Lisa groaned. It was getting late, and she needed to get some sleep.