Limerence (Chaelisa)

Chapter 7: Why I Hate Elevators

Lisa and I don't have work today. I spend the first half of my day studying for any upcoming tests.

"Chaeyoung," Youngmi calls out to me from across the room, "I'm hanging out with a few friends today at the mall. Wanna tag along?"

Kim Youngmi. My friend. I met her after Lisa and I split apart. Out of all the friends I made after Lisa left, Youngmi was the only real one. We've been living together since we started college last year.

And she knows something about me that no one else does.

That I'm a lesbian.

She's a good person and I trust her enough to keep it a secret.

But now that Lisa is reentering my life, I doubt that it'll be a secret for any longer. I bet Lisa's friend, Jisoo, has already figured it out.

Oh, my god, I want to quit work so bad. But in Seoul, it's hard for a student to get a good job.

"Okay, sure," I answer, "I have nothing else better to do."

Youngmi and I get ready and we meet up with the rest of our small group of friends thirty minutes later at the mall's entrance.

After a few minutes, I sneak out of view from my friends for some alone time.

I'm pretty sure they have a soda shop on the second floor of this place. I speed walk over to the elevator

Luckily, there was no one inside—

I see a brown-haired girl with bangs run toward the elevator doors. At the last second, she squeezes herself inside.

"Oh, hi, Rosé," Lisa waves at me, "what floor?"

What bugs me about Lisa is that she's kind to me no matter what I do.

"Second."

"Same. I'm here at the mall today because I need to find a gift for my mom, her birthday is coming up soon."

"Anyway, I know Jisoo talked to you the other day."

My body temperature drops to negative two-hundred degrees.

"She refuses to tell me what the heck you guys were talking about."

Okay, never mind.

"But I hope that she didn't say anything mean to you. I'm sorry if she did. Jisoo can be really hard to talk to sometimes. She's not a mean person, she's just overprotective."

"Yeah, it's all—"

The elevator comes to an abrupt stop.

Oh no, this cannot get any worse.

The lights flicker on and off for a few seconds before completely turning off, leaving us in total darkness.

I always speak too soon, don't I?

"Uhhh...Rosé? Help?" Lisa says, her voice was quiet and I could tell that she was terrified.

I remember how Lisa was. She hates tight spaces and the dark. A malfunctioning elevator is the perfect example of a tight and dark space.

I move closer to her and she instantly grabs onto my arm.

"S-sorry, b-but can I just hold onto—"

I'm not cruel. "Yeah, sure."

I pull out my phone and turn on the flashlight. A bright light fills the room and Lisa loosens her grip on my arm.

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

I turn my head towards her and gasp at our proximity. Her face was just mere centimeters from mine. If I leaned in just a little bit more we would be—

The elevator shakes.

The movement forces my head to move forward and for about two seconds Lisa's lips are on mine.

Lisa falls backward and I end up smushing her onto floor.

I quickly roll off of her body and lift myself into a standing position.

The lights turn back on and Lisa's looking up at me. Her eyes were staring back at me with shock in them. She places the tips of her fingers on her lips .

"Chaeyoung, I'm sorry—I didn't mean to—"

The elevator doors open and I quickly run away from her out of panic.