Black, Blue, and Gold (Book 2)

One Step at a Time (Part 25)

"Yeah."

"Okay. Then we're off to hunt you a pretty dress tonight," Jennie told Jiyoon who grinned then ran out of the room again.

"Where are you going?!" shouted Lisa from her seat.

"I'll get her," said Irene, moving to go after the happy girl. "Thanks, Lis."

"No problem."

"Don't worry. It will be fine," Jennie said once she saw Lisa frowning again. "Security would be high since Chu and her family would be there too. You have nothing to worry about."

"Never say never, Jen. We must not let our guard down even for a second."

"I know but it's Irene's wedding. Let them have fun."

Another knock on the door interrupted them.

"Um... your guest has arrived, Miss Kim," said one of the waiters. "I've shown him to the table."

"Oh okay. Thank you."

"Well, let's go." Lisa stood up then watched Jennie hesitantly gather her stuff and shut down her computer. "Hey."

Jennie looked up and saw Lisa smiling gently at her with one hand extended towards her.

"You're doing the right thing and I'm very proud of you regardless of what's going to happen after dinner," said Lisa. "And no, I'm not expecting things to get fixed after one dinner but it's a step in the right direction."

Jennie took Lisa's hand and let the other woman pull her into a hug. "Thanks. Let's just get this over with," she mumbled against Lisa's shoulder.

—-

The meal started awkward and mostly quiet but Lisa did her best to liven up the atmosphere. She was relieved that Jiyoon was there with her antics that kept her busy. Although she was initially scared of the man, after a few minutes of watching him and hearing him being introduced as Jennie's father, Jiyoon seemed to be able to gradually warm up to him.

She asked him whether he liked ice cream and what his favorite flavor was.

He chuckled, gave her the answer and she began telling him about her favorite ice cream flavor then Lisa's then Jennie's too.

Towards the end of the meal, the man was comfortable enough to even help wipe Jiyoon's hand when she accidentally dipped it in her fruit bowl.

"She reminds me of you," he said, looking at Jennie after Lisa had taken over the task.

Jennie didn't respond. She tilted her head, watching him, gauging his sincerity.

He quickly turned awkward under the stare, cleared his throat and shifted before proceeding to finish his dessert.

"How was she when she was Jiyoon's age?" asked Lisa.

"Huh?"

Both Jennie and her father were caught off guard by the question.

He smiled a little when he saw Lisa's expression, knowing the reason behind the question. "She was a very cheerful girl," he said. "Always doing something either singing, dancing, talking or tinkering with one of our things. I remember coming home to see my wife scolding her for taking our alarm clock apart." He chuckled at the memory. "I thought she was going to be an engineer or something. She seemed to have a fascination for how things work."

"When was this?" Jennie had to ask, unsure of the event her father was talking about.

"You were around Jiyoon's age. Four years old. It was summer, I remember. You had no school and was probably bored."