hues (chaelisa)

Chapter Five: In where Chaeyoung starts to worry

Chaeyoung

It's been a few hours since the sunset and the concert ends late into the night. "Good job, everyone!" I shout once everyone is backstage. I look over to Jisoo. "What's the plan, Manager Kim?" I ask jokingly, wiggling my eyebrows.

"Don't call me that, it makes me feel old," Jisoo frowns before turning to everyone else. "We have a flight to Singapore in four hours. Let's all get changed and pack up. We'll be in Singapore by late tomorrow morning."

It takes a good thirty minutes for me to get rid of all my makeup and change into comfortable clothes. The release of "Goddess" kicked off into a mini tour that would stretch into early next month. We're in a van and on our way to the airport when Jisoo nudges me from beside me. I'm so tired that I didn't even notice that she's sitting in the backseat with me, which is an oddity since she usually calls shotgun.

"Chaeyoung," Jisoo pulls out a device from her jacket. It takes me a few seconds to realize that it's phone. Surprisingly, I was able to get through this week without constantly checking my phone during my freetime. "I was checking your messages during the concert. Your mother has news."

My blood runs cold when I hear Jisoo's tone of voice. Whatever is going on, it can't be good.

I nervously take the phone from Jisoo's hands and stare at all the messages that I've received in the past couple hours. Most of the messages are from my mom, instead of reading through the bad news, I decide that I'd rather hear it directly from her.

"Mom?" I ask when she picks up on the second ring. "What's going on?"

"Chaeyoung," her voice is solemn over the line, "I'm so sorry. I hate to be the one to tell you. I was on the phone with Lalisa's parents a couple hours ago. Lalisa has been in a car accident. She's been in the hospital since last morning. I know how close you two were. Lalisa is having trouble remembering... things. She can't remember what university she goes to, and when I asked, she... Lalisa said that she didn't know who you were."

I stop breathing. I glance over at Jisoo, and she's looking at the window. She can hear our conversation, as the volume to my phone is loud, she doesn't know how to react to the news and to be honest, I don't either.

"W-what?" I ask. My voice is trembling and I just know that I'm about to cry.

"Chaeyoung, I'm--"

"I'll talk to you later, mom," I quickly interrupt her and end the call. I scroll through my contacts until I find Lisa's contact.

"Chaeyoung," Jisoo gently grabs my wrist. "That's not a good idea," she warns me.

I sniffle and shake her grip off. "I--" I start sobbing right at that moment. Jisoo leans over and wraps me in her arms, the other managers who are in the van have noticed the commotion by now and are whispering words of comfort, but nothing really seems to help because I'm still uncontrollably crying.

"I need to call her," I manage to gasp out in between sobs.

"Chaeyoung, don't; you're not in your right mind. You're only going to scare her," Jisoo tries to warm me but I ignore her.

I press on the bright green button and the phone starts ringing. It takes a few rings but Lalisa picks up and I press the phone close to my ear.

"Hello?" Lalisa's voice is small through the line and it makes my heart clench with worry.

"Lisa. It's me: Park Chaeyoung."

A few moments of silence before Lisa says, "I'm sorry. I don't know you."

I feel my heart shatter into pieces. The pain is so strong that it hurts to breathe and I think I'm going to suffocate. "It's me. Rosie. Rosé. Roseanne."

"Sorry," is all Lalisa says. "You know the details of what happened to me, right?"

"Yeah," I nod even though she can't see me.

"Who are you to me?"

"An old friend," I carefully answer. "Can I come see you?"

"Yeah, maybe that'll trigger something," Lisa says. I notice that despite her disposition, she sounds... okay. She doesn't seem sad or upset. But it might be because she doesn't know what she's lost. She only knows what she has. "I've been seeing people all day and it's been helping a little. Come whenever you want. I'm really bored."

I find myself smiling at her voice. "Okay. See you soon."

Lalisa ends the call after a few seconds and Jisoo speaks up immeiately afterwards.

"Chaeyoung, how are we gonna make time for you to go to Korea? We're in the middle of a tour," Jisoo reminds me.

Annoyance flares up within me and I snap at her, "Lalisa just got into an accident. You think touring is more important than her?"

"It's your responsibility. Think of all those fans who've spent their money on tickets and travel. You can't just have everyone reschedule everything to fit your time. And Lalisa's going to be okay. She's not gonna go anywhere."

"You don't know that."