Midnight Angel [Jenlisa FF]

~'~'~ Chapter 22 ~'~'~

Jisoo flopped back against the couch in Lisa's living room and dropped her feet onto the coffee table. "Ahhh," she sighed in relaxation. "I really needed a day off. Sometimes, I think owing a business is more trouble than it's worth."

"It must be nice, though. Having something that's all your own," Jennie clarified. She sat on the opposite side of the couch and pulled her feet up to sit cross-legged.

Ten minutes earlier, Jisoo had arrived to spend a couple of hours hanging out with Jennie while Lisa and Jin went to Mr. Kim's house to pick up some more of Jennie's things. Jennie had tried to convince herself to go with them. After all, it would be easier for her to get the things she wanted if she went. But she just couldn't go back there. At least not yet.

Jennie glanced over at Jisoo and smiled. She was glad to have her there for the afternoon. She was glad to have her best friend back in her life period. After going so long without anyone to talk to, to have a girls' afternoon with, it was just nice to do something so normal.

"It can be kinda cool to own a business," Jisoo answered Jennie's question. "But it's a lot of work, all those rules and regulations, ordering stock, the accounting, and all that stuff."

"Why did you open up the cafe here?" Jennie asked, having wondered since she'd first heard about Jisoo and Jin's business. With everything that had happened in the past, she would have thought her friends would have wanted to go elsewhere.

"Money," Jisoo stated plainly. "We couldn't afford to move and open a business. Plus, my Dad was our financial backer, and he wouldn't help out if we moved. He wanted me to stay here."

"But wasn't there...," Jennie trailed off, not sure how to put her thoughts into words.

"Trouble?" Jisoo filled in. "Yeah, at first. Camaron's family put pressure on their friends to stay away, and they tried to throw up roadblocks for us, but we stuck with it. We had a decent amount of business from the start. The high school kids came in, tourists, plus newcomers. It's worked out well enough."

"I'm sorry that...what happened to me caused you guys problems," Jennie apologized solemnly. Her friendships with Jisoo and Jin had put them at risk. She hated that all her friends had suffered because of her.

"It's not your fault, Jennie," Jisoo assured her sternly. "You never did anything wrong. Camaron's family, the mayor, and whoever else are to blame for all of this."

Jennie sighed. She knew Jisoo was right. She hadn't done anything wrong. She hadn't asked Camaron to rape her, or for everything that had happened afterward. But everything that had gone wrong in her life, and her friends' and families' lives, went back to that day in the girl's locker room. If only she'd stopped him. If only people had believed her. If only.

That was a useless line of thought, and Jennie knew it. The past was the past. She couldn't change it, and she couldn't forget it. Unfortunately, she still as of yet had been able to move past it. She wouldn't be able to move past it until everything with the deaths of her family had been settled. What were the chances of that happening? Jennie wondered.

"Do you think Lisa's right? That we'll be able to find out who did it?" Jennie asked, putting her worries into words.

"Honestly?" Jisoo looked directly at Jennie, trying to decide what she should say. The truth seemed best. "I don't know. I hope so, and I think it's definitely possible. But I just don't know."

"What will I do if this doesn't get worked out?" Jennie didn't really want to think about that, but she knew it was something she needed to consider. "Lisa talked to her friend last night, and the guy seemed to think Lisa was nuts for asking her to look at the information. What if he won't help? Or if he doesn't see what Lisa saw in the file?"