TWO PLUS TWO | JenLisa AU

One, two, three, four.

This was Lisa's first time setting foot in a foreign country alone. Even though she had been preparing for this trip for a year, it couldn't be denied that Lisa now felt a little anxious. 

Okay, maybe not a little, but very nervous.

*beep*

Lisa tried to ignore the notification sound from her phone. One, two, three, four. Lisa's thumb touched the tip of her other finger, and silently counted to twenty.

*beep*

One, two, three, four. 

Lisa grew impatient because her suitcase hadn't appeared. After her count reached another 20, Lisa raised her right hand to check whether she was still on the schedule.

2:38 PM. Lisa only has 7 minutes left before she orders an airport taxi to the hotel she will be staying in temporarily until her place ready.

At 2:39 PM, Lisa's gaze fixated on her bright yellow suitcase as it emerged from the baggage carousel. She carefully retrieved it and made her way toward the arrivals lobby, mentally calculating how long it would take her to hail a taxi and start her journey.

One, two, three, four. Four. One, two, three, four. Eight. One, two, three, four. Twelve. One, two, three, four. Sixteen. 

As Lisa grabbed her suitcase, she instinctively adjusted the headphones resting on her head. The bustling noise of the airport made her uneasy, but she had learned to manage it in the past year by listening to similar sounds from YouTube. With a firm grip on her luggage, she began walking towards the arrival lobby, navigating the crowds with ease despite the sensory overload.

*beep*

As Lisa hailed a taxi, her phone beeped another notification and she felt a jolt of unease. She made a mental note to silence it later - the last thing she wanted was to draw unnecessary attention to herself. With too many prying eyes around, she knew better than to check it now.

At exactly 3:00 PM, Lisa was already sitting in the passenger seat and had just told the driver the address of the hotel she was going to.

"Your Korean is really impressive! Are you Korean?" the driver exclaimed with amazement.

One, two, three, four. 

Lisa found herself in a taxi with a chatty driver. While she had prepared for the possibility, she couldn't help feeling a little annoyed. 

"I'm Thai, but I lived in Switzerland recently," Lisa answered curtly when the driver asked about her nationality.

"Woah, but your Korean is so good. How long have you been studying Korean?" the driver replied, still amazed by Lisa's fluency in Korean.

"One year," Lisa answered as her fingers touched each other's tips.

"What made you come here? Are you a student? Or perhaps you want to see a concert? I didn't expect SNSD to be able to boost the level of tourists coming here,"

What the heck is SNSD? Lisa was confused as she didn't know what SNSD was. Despite her efforts to remember the latest trends in Korea, she couldn't figure it out. The silence in the car was uncomfortable, and the driver seemed to be waiting for her response. Lisa counted to 20 for the third time, still unsure what to say.

"What's SNSD?" Lisa suddenly asked.

"There's no way you don't know about SNSD!" The driver exclaimed and caught Lisa off guard. "Taeyeon-shi? Yoona-shi? Oh, come on! Everyone knew them!"

One, two, three, four. Four. One, two, three, four. Eight.

Lisa hated this situation. The driver's voice was too loud and caught her off guard.