"Sorry, traffic was uncooperative." Lisa said whilst giving Nayeon a brief hug.
The bunny teeth lass shakes her head in understanding, she had only been waiting for about twenty minutes anyway. "Totally fine." She then stares at Lisa up and down for a quick minute before grinning.
"You were like nowhere from the woman I saw on the stage couple of hours ago."
Lisa finally takes a sit across Nayeon's. "You expected me to wear that outfit coming here?"
Nayeon wiggles her eyebrows, automatically receiving a disgusted facial expression from Lisa. It resulted to a laughing fit for the both of them though.
"Have you ordered?"
"Not yet, was waiting for you." Nayeon replies.
Lisa raises a hand to attract servers. "Then let's order."
Lisa and Nayeon had been on casual video calls for the past two weeks as per Nayeon's request. Apparently, the woman can no longer wait until they see each other physically the day after their first call. Other than that, Jennie had been telling her that Lisa was nowhere near how she looked like back then. Well, considering they were toddlers way back, of course puberty is inevitable however Jennie's way of describing Lisa made Nayeon so so damn curious.
As soon as Lisa's face appeared on the screen that one afternoon, Nayeon had to agree that Lisa had indeed changed a lot. Just two years of no contact, Lisa's puberty hit her to the right places more than as it should be — whatever that it should be is. Her fluffy cheeks are somewhat still there but her facial structure had developed so well.
Two years ago, Nayeon was still towering Lisa but two years after, there's no signs of that at all. Lisa's height used be around the mid-section of her face but now she's just right under Lisa's chin.
All in all, Lisa had truly become a beautiful, charismatic and stunning woman — nowhere near that snotty kid back when Lisa just turned eleven that Nayeon used to giggle at.
"Are you staying for good?" Lisa asks, she just finished her main dish and now slowly devouring her dark chocolate mousse cake.
Nayeon takes a sip from her juice before she replies. "Unfortunately, no. I have good college offers back in Auckland and it's too good to say no."
"Good for you. Are you still going to pursue law?"
Nayeon's eyes suddenly lit up and Lisa had to smile. It's always been Nayeon's dream to be able to practice law. "Uh huh, and I passed."
"Oh my God! Congratulations! Why didn't you tell me? We could've celebrated more than just this!"
Nayeon shakes her head while smiling. "It's just an entrance exam, no big of a deal. I'd take that celebration when I pass the bar though."
Both of them grin. "Oh sure you could!"
"By the way." Nayeon places her glass back down. "How's Aunt Faith?"
Lisa smiles, a smile that Nayeon had grown to love ever since they became friends. A smile full of affection, trust and loyalty that is only visible when the topic is about Faith. "She's good. Just having fun and enjoying her retirement in her hometown."
"Have you visited her?"
"Not yet but I plan to during the fall break."
"Ah, I wish I could see her before I fly out next week. I miss her apple pies."
"I could give her a call if you want to though. You can just ask around, their family is pretty well known there."
"She's a Lee so I am not surprised."
"True so would you want to?"
Nayeon takes a bite from her cake. "I'll think about it. I might be busy this week before the flight. Too many family reunion as if we did not see each other for decades when it had been just a year."
Lisa laughs. "You're lucky you're not part of a Southeast Asian family or else you'd be stuck in family reunions and outings every chance they get."
Nayeon snorts. "Reminded me the first time I saw how your pops and nana hugged you when we were little. I was convinced you'd never seen each other for years only to find out it was just a week."
Lisa laughs again. "True. I miss them, they were the only ones that made me feel like I'm a family." The longing in Lisa's eyes is still very much evident even after years.
Her grandmother passed away when she was 11 and her grandfather followed two years after. It was trauma after trauma in her early teenage years and it broke her because those two are the only grandparents she got. Her father's parents had both long gone even before she was born.
Others would've turned rebel at some point when shit happens to your life almost simultaneously but with the guidance of Faith and her promise to her grandparents that she would never do anything that will make her regret later in life, Lisa strived to become a better human.
"You have any clue about your parents though?"
The affection and longing in Lisa's eyes are gone right in an instant. "Dad is still married to his casinos and Mom? Last time I heard she went to Australia, that's what I got a day after I landed here. Never heard from them since."
"Oh. I see. I assume they're still somewhat like parents to you, financially wise. No?"
Lisa hums, she just cleared out her dish and just finishing her drink. "That's what they do best. Bribing me with money like as I needed that more than I needed a parent. Which reminds me, I need to find a part time job."
Nayeon raises her eyebrow. "Part time? Girl, you probably can pay like three college students' full semester tuition fees with just a month of your allowance. You don't need one."
"First of all, that's an exaggeration and secondly, living off from my parents' money just doesn't sit right to me somehow. I want to get rid of any attachments I have of them."
"Lisa, they're still your parents."
"Their blood only runs through my veins but they never once became parents to me."
"Then at least let their finances be. You're still technically their responsibility, you're their only child. Worst comes to worst, everything they have will be on you."
Lisa shrugs. "I still want a job. I need to learn things that way."
Nayeon sighs. "Hard headed little prick."
"I'm talking with one too."
"That's why we're friends."
They both ended laughing. Lisa ordered another cake while Nayeon checks her phone for emails and texts. When Lisa was done, Nayeon finally addresses the elephant in the room.
"How are things going on with you and Jennie?"
Lisa thanked the server and looked back at Nayeon. The image in the parking lot suddenly woke her up with a start. "Same old."
"Still have no plans on coming clean?"
Lisa shook her head. "Maybe not now."
"When then?"
"When I think it's right."
"When?"
"I don't know."
"Have you thought through what I told you over the phone?"
"Yeah, it's probably already too late."
Nayeon immediately sighs. She saw this coming. "Lisa.."
"I know. I know. It's not like I wanted this, I tried."
"I guess I was right."
"Right about what?"
"That the bullying for two days meant you had a crush on her, your in denial kid ass just didn't know yet and now that she's right within your reach, that feeling just came back. You're probably unconsciously thanking the gods that she does not remember you. Kind of like, fresh start."
"Stop analyzing me."
Nayeon smirks. "So I was right. You had a crush on her when were kids."
"Maybe? I don't know. I was a kid, remember?"
"True and in denial too."
"Shut up."
Nayeon's chuckles died down soon though. "Be careful, Lisa. Don't let yourself get hurt all because of this."
Too late. Lisa smiles. "I know. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure this will be gone soon. It's just infatuation anyway."
"I'll take your word on that." It's the least thing Nayeon could do for now, warn both of her friends from an impending heartache and mess.
***
Jennie slumps herself on her bed after she took a shower. Today has been very eventful to her, to say the least. From getting late because he got stuck in the traffic to basically ending it in nearby luxury hotel.
That has been their routine for the past year. They hook up whenever they get a chance, whenever they're both not busy to meet up — have a date and seldom ending it in bed.
He'd been courting her for more than a year, he was a senior then and Jennie was a freshman when they first met, and yet Jennie still has no plans of getting official with him.
She has reasons: One, distance. Two, time — could be associated with distance too. And three, she's not that attached enough to say yes. They both agreed on this casual friends with benefits though and only Jisoo and Joohyun know about it. She suspected that the observant and smart Chaeyoung had already caught on but who knows. Telling your friends about this entire ordeal is unnecessary anyway.
Jennie's thoughts went on different directions until it traveled straight to that brief eye contact couple of hours ago. Jennie had no idea why her body temperature suddenly went up and she didn't need a mirror to know she was blushing that time — thank God it was dim and her friends were all eyes on Lisa or else Jisoo will not stop nagging her about it until she tells her everything.
Her mind kept replaying that moment and found herself unable to sleep and it's already one o'clock after midnight. She tossed, turned and transferred position but she still couldn't sleep. So she grabbed her phone, connected it to the wifi to scroll through her social media platforms.
Her feeds were almost all related to the event earlier, some were just random animal clips that she couldn't help but retweet and share. It seemed to be effective though because Jennie's slowly feeling her eyelids getting heavy.
"One scroll." She thought to herself as she switches to Instagram.
When her feed refreshed, Nayeon's instagram post effectively erased her drowsiness. Nayeon uploaded four different photos of her and Lisa having dinner with a caption, "Ghost no more. Missed you, my crackhead.", it was posted three hours ago. That means Lisa went straight to that place from the event to meet up with Nayeon.
Nayeon also tagged Lisa's username and to her dismay, Lisa's profile is on private. To make sure that her plan will work, she stopped herself from tapping the request follow button and switched to her messaging app instead.
"Hey! You're probably asleep by now but I just wanna tell you that you did such a good job earlier! All of you! It was a spectacular show! Well, that's all. Good night, Lisa."
Jennie was about to switch her phone to silent when a reply came. "Hello, lucky you I am still up. Aw, thanks Jennie. All of you did a great job in organizing the event too."
"Thank you and no problem. It's our duty to make things as great as we could but wait until the sports fest, it would be hundred times better than this."
"Oh, now I am getting excited. By the way, why are you still up?"
"Oh, just got home about an hour ago and couldn't sleep even after shower."
Lisa's thumbs hovered as her eyes couldn't stop reading the last bubble.
So she just got home. That means.. she.. he... okay fuck Lisa stop being so ridiculous. Of course! She's fucking straight and grown up, what the hell are you even thinki—
"Still there?" Jennie's follow up message came.
"Oh. Yes yes. Sorry, just went to the bathroom."
"Oh. Well, I should not hold you for long. You need a rest. See you next week, Lisa."
"See you. Good night, Jennie."
"Good night, Lisa."
Jennie stretchs her limbs and surprisingly enough, she went straight to her dreamland without her even realizing she had fallen asleep almost instantly.
Meanwhile Lisa.. is staring at her ceiling muttering cusses towards herself.
Why must I fall for someone not only was the person I had been dying to apologize for years but worse, a straight damn fucking beauty.
Why!
This is fucking suicide. Fucking suicide.