28 Days || Jensoo

Chapter 28

It had been three days and Jennie hadn't heard from Jisoo. Three long, painful and silent days. Jennie had spent the days in quiet reflection, hanging at the beach alone and trying to reconcile the way she felt about all of this. For those who knew her, it would have come as a surprise. The rebel, the kid who cared about nothing, was finally caring about someone. Deeply. More than one person, actually.

The whole thing tore her up. On one hand, she was feeling desperately selfish, wanting Jisoo for her own. And something told her she could have it. But using her common sense...

You have common sense?? Where did that come from?

Using her common sense, she knew that, if she ploughed straight in, then she might get Jisoo, but she wouldn't keep her for long. This had to be right for everyone.

She was surprisingly indignant on behalf of Kai, too. When Jisoo had kissed Kai by the lake, Jennie had been furious. She'd liked Jisoo, had thought Jisoo liked her back and here was Kai stepping in on her territory. But this, this now was different. Now she knew for certain that it wasn't Kai's fault. Jisoo had practically admitted to using the boy.

How did you reconcile that in your head? The girl you love using your best friend, making you jealous and her family happy at the same time.

Yeah, because it's making her so happy. She's not broken up about this at aaaaalllll.

The voice in her head had that whiney sarcastic tone to it. Unfortunately, it was also correct. No-one was happy. Even if Jisoo was to choose Kai, Jennie knew she'd be miserable. And Kai would eventually figure it out, then he'd be miserable. All this for Jisoo's lousy family.

You can really talk. Your family is so amazingly functional. Wait, what family?

Jennie snorted.

She was sitting by the pool in her back yard. The beach had been nice but there had been too many people there. She'd wanted alone time, so she was at home. It was nice and big and thankfully empty.

She swung her feet lazily over the edge of the pool, watching ripples spread out from where her toe dipped. She was lost in the world of her head when she heard the noise behind her. She was just turning when the yells hit her ears and the meaning slowly dawned on her.

"How could you, you fucking bitch? How could you?"

It was the last thing Jennie heard before she ended up fully-clothed in the swimming pool. Surfacing, spluttering and shaken, she shook her head and yelled back, "Kai, what the fuck?"

Hauling herself out of the side of the pool, she pushed the jock backwards, water dripping off her clothes. "What the fuck are you thinking?"

Clearly, he hadn't expected her to fall in the pool because he was just standing there, mute. She watched him warily and he watched her and, then, to Jennie's surprise, Kai dropped to his knees and flung his arms around her waist. It took her a few seconds to realise that he was sobbing.

"Kai, Kai, Kai," she said, one hand cradling his head and the other trying to pry him away slightly. His embrace was like a vice and she couldn't quite breath. "Kai, stop. It's okay. What is it?"

"She left me. She told me it was over and she left," he sobbed.

Great big wuss, isn't he? Jesus, get him up so you can at least get dry. Clearly the voice was not representing her softer, more sympathetic side. She knew exactly who Kai was talking about: Jisoo. But hell, she hadn't expected him to react like this. They'd barely been dating for a few weeks.

"Kai, shh, shh, come on."

Kai abruptly stood and wiped his eyes, taking a few steps backward. Jennie shivered in her wet clothing and then winced.

"I have to get changed, Kai."

And, with that, she left him standing in the back yard and went inside. She took her time getting changed. She ran a quick, scalding-hot shower before she did so. There was so much whirling around her head, she wasn't sure she could make it all stand still.

First, there was the secret exultation that Jisoo hadn't chosen Kai. Clearly, she'd broken it off with him. Then, there was the understanding that it didn't necessarily mean Jisoo was hers. Then, there was the pained, misunderstood boy at the bottom of her garden stairs who was pouring his heart out in a rather unexpected manner. Jesus, the boy had been dumped before. He'd gotten over Jennie, and he'd seemed just fine when Krystal had left him for Jin. Why was Jisoo suddenly affecting him so badly?

Hey! Hang on a second! He really had gotten over Jennie. And much more easily than this. Pure, green-eyed jealousy flared through the brunette. Fuck that for a joke! He was not going to pine over Jisoo more than he had over her. He could just get the hell over it.

Wow, nice to see Jennie Kim is still alive and well. If all else fails, just bring it on back to you. Hey, wasn't that some sucky pop song a few years ago... Hey, look, her inner voice had ADD.

Throwing on some dry clothes, she stormed back outside, determined to get this set straight. Kai was sitting on a banana lounger, looking calmer at least and thankfully no longer crying. Jennie found the lounger opposite and sat, too. For minutes they sat in silence as the crickets started chirping in the evening light.

"What happened?" Jennie asked bluntly, sick of the silence.

"Did you tell her to dump me?"

"What??" Jennie started back in surprise. Those hadn't been her exact words, although she'd hoped it would be the outcome, but had Jisoo told him? No, she wouldn't have done that. "Jisoo said I told her to -"

"No," Kai cut her off. "She didn't say that. I guessed."

"Kai, why would I tell her to dump you?" Jennie skirted around the subject.

"Because you want her for yourself!" he accused.

She couldn't lie. She couldn't deny it. There had been too many lies between the three of them, too much pain to hold on to. Jennie was sick of it, but yet, she couldn't bring herself to say the honest truth to him. Instead, she took the skirting of the subject route again, or just being plain cryptic.

"What I want has nothing to do with you and Jisoo, Kai. And I never tell Jisoo to do anything. I never even suggested she should do something."

No, you just told her plain out to do the right thing. Well, that wasn't something, really. You were being cryptic then, too. All open to interpretation. Hey, maybe you should be a lawyer?

Kai ran a hand through his short brown hair.

"We slept together." Jennie said nothing in reply. The mention of it shot daggers through her once again, but she kept her mouth firmly shut. "I thought it was beautiful. Apparently it wasn't because she came over this afternoon and told me it was over. Maybe it's because I'm crap in bed."

Maybe. Actually the voice was wrong about that one, but there was enough jealousy and anger in Jennie for the thought to materialise. Then she shook it off.

"Kai, Jisoo isn't that sort of girl." At least that was the truth.

"I thought she liked me, Jen. I thought she really liked me. I've had such fucking bad luck with girls. First you go gay and then Krystal.." At the mention of her name, they both shuddered. "I just thought Jisoo would be... the one."

"Kai you're eighteen, you have a long time yet to find 'the one'," she said. But her heart was pointing out the obvious hypocrisy in her.

"I know, that's not what I mean... I mean that I thought she... we..." Kai sighed. "I wish I knew why everything changed so fast. Was it me? Was it you?" he asked, still not giving up.

"No," came a soft voice from the back door, "it was me," said Jisoo.

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