The Beginning of the End - Jenlisa

Chapter Eleven

"Tossing the blame around won't help. Neither will dividing it, nor will trying to find explanations for things that happened so much time ago. What I said... a few days ago, about how I wanted nothing to do with you... That was stupid. You are the other mother of my child, and I... There is something binding us, as much as I'd like it not to."

"And we have to get along." Lisa agreed with a nod.

"We do. Regardless, I'm leaving." Jennie announced, already taking a step away. "Don't retain Riley too much. We –"

"You're leaving?" A little voice inquired, surprised.

Jennie froze at the sight of her son, with sand on his feet and pants wet up to his knees. The brunette raised an eyebrow. "You sincerely thought it would be a good idea to just – take off running in the water. " Jennie stated.

Riley giggled. "Yeah~." The handsome boy admitted.

"Arrasseo~." Jennie breathed in deeply."Yes, I'm leaving. Try not to be late, because I want you to do your homework today –"

"What?" Riley demanded, eyes wide. "Why?"

His NINI placed her hands on her hips, gazing down at him with a visible well-known Resting Bitch Face look on her pretty face. "You know I have to be in Busan tonight."

"Oh, yes. I forgot."

"I am not surprised."

"But I can do my homework on my own!" Riley offered. "I did it before!"

"Don't remind me." Jennie advised.

Lisa laughed as she joined the conversation. "I can help."

Jennie spared the tall blonde a sideward glance. "You?" The brunette jeered.

"Yes." Lisa answered. "Why not?"

"Why do you think?"

"Come on." Lisa said. "I grew up. See I'm much taller now."

Jennie raised her eyebrows. "Did you, now?"

Lisa rolled her eyes playfully. "You're still the Jennie –meannie~..."

Jennie heaved a sigh. "Yes. The truth hurts. Regardless." The brunette said, turning her attention back to Riley. "You –"

"Let me take him to my place tonight." Lisa suggested, interrupting the brunette's impending sentence.

"Why would I do that?" Jennie countered, raising an eyebrow. "I will be home in the morning. And he already knows – "

"I know. I don't doubt that Riley can take care of himself. But... Come on, let him."

"I can't." Jennie answered, crossing her arms over her chest. "You don't know what he eats, what he –"

Lisa almost rolled her eyes. "He has a mouth."

Jennie was about to retort, but then she changed her mind. Closing her mouth, Jennie turned to Riley.

"Do you want that?" Jennie asked the boy, her voice was gentle.

The handsome boy shrugged. "I don't mind."

"You're still doing your homework tonight." Jennie warned, but her words lacked conviction.

Lisa wondered if Riley could feel that as well as she could.

Riley rolled his eyes. "I already knew that."

"Fine." Jennie said, before swiftly side-stepping them.

Jennie was already halfway the distance to her car when Lisa made up her mind, running after the brunette. Lisa called out the brunette's name before she came to a stop beside her. The brunette frowned as she tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, looking up at the tall blonde suspiciously. Opening her mouth, Jennie was about to demand explanations, when Lisa's next words knocked the breath out of her.

"Let him spend the whole weekend with me."

"What?" Jennie spluttered.

"Let me spend Sunday with him, too."

"Lisa, I..."

"Come on." Lisa pleaded. "Use the time to rest, to relax... anything." The tall blonde shrugged. "I'll bring him on Sunday evening, I swear."

Jennie hesitated for a while. As a silent battle seemed to take place in the catlike eye brunette, realization slowly dawned on the tall blonde; this wasn't easy for Nini~. For Lisa, the situation was as simple as it could get at this moment; all Lisa had to do was ask. But Nini? Jennie had to give. Give and give until almost nothing remains for her.

Eventually, after a long, tension-filled pause, Jennie nodded. "Okay."

As Jennie turned without another word and walked the remaining distance to her car, Lisa almost felt sorry for the proposition she had made to the brunette. Lisa should have been more considerate. Riley was the only family Jennie had, and the brunette had never made a choice to share him with anybody until now.

But there was a selfish part on the tall blonde, a much larger, dominant part, which told her that perhaps she had the right to spend time with her child much more than Jennie did – or ever would, now.