Jennie parks the car right in front of the house before she walks, almost runs, to the passenger door. When she opens it, her eyes immediately meet Jisoo's with Rosie still clings tightly at the older one. Jisoo takes deep breathes and exhales, trying to push down every frustration she felt as much as she can.
After nearly an hour without able to persuade the other girl to let go of her, Jisoo decided that she needs help so she called the first person she had in mind, her younger sister. After a quick but effective explanation (which consist of Jisoo pulled her hair in frustration, pointed to the girl in her embrace, and let out gibberish sound with no real words uttered yet Jennie understood the message anyway) the younger Kim drove to their house and that's how three of them end up in here.
Jisoo looks down at the girl in her arms who's still shivering with mouth keeps moving against the brown haired girl's shirt "I can hear him. Still hear him. Whispering in my ears."
"Can you carry her inside?" Jisoo looks up at her sister because of that question before she turns her eyes back to Rosie. With a deep breath, she tightens her arms around the other girl and tries to get up but she's only able to lift her butt an inch off the seat before it returns back to the passenger seat. Jennie rolls her eyes. "You're so weak."
Jisoo glares at the younger Kim as she moves her finger to point at the shivering girl in her embrace, then moves that finger to Jennie, and, with the same finger, points to herself and Rosie. Once again there's no words uttered but once again Jennie still gets the message so she says, "How come we carry her together with the way she keeps clinging at you?"
A groan makes its way through Jisoo's throat but then Rosie's hold on her gets tighter and the groan ends up come out as choke sound instead. Jisoo curses out loud in her head. Don't get her wrong. She understands this girl is scared but that doesn't mean she appreciates to be squished like a teddy bear. Unlike teddy bear, she's made of meat, skin, and bone, which can break if the grip just gets tighter and tighter.
To make matter worse, Rosie suddenly moves her face to Jisoo's neck, burying it into the bare skin while Jisoo now can feel the lips that keeps continuing their hurried whisper "Mom. Mom, where are you? I want you here. The boy. The whisper can't stop. It can't stop. In my ears." and something wet touched her skin. The older girl frowns at the last one. What is that? Tears?
One of Jisoo's hand moves to the younger girl's shoulder, trying to separate the latter from her, but when she realizes she's unable to, Jisoo stifles a frustrated groan. That hand then rakes Rosie's hair while the older girl moves her head down to whisper at the former's ear, "Rosie, can you hear me? Come on, I know you can hear me. Focus at my voice. Just focus at my voice, just at Jisoo's voice."
Rosie finally reacts. Jisoo can see the other girl turns her head a little and her fear filled eyes (with slight tears clearly visible) meet Jisoo's. The girl's lips then part to mutter softly and brokenly, "Jisoo."
Jisoo moves her lips closer to the younger girl's ear as she whispers again, "You'll be all right. I'll make sure of it, you'll be all right, but now I need you to cooperate. Can you understand me, Rosie?"
Rosie's scared eyes don't leave Jisoo's while the former says again, "Keep talking. Please keep talking."
That's not an answer Jisoo hopes for but at least they get somewhere so she keeps talking, "I'll keep talking and I'll help you more but I can't do this alone. Can you walk, Rosie? We need to go to somewhere better than this."
Her eyes are still wide but Rosie makes a slight movement of nod and, even though it's only a little, her death grip on the older girl slackens. Jisoo quickly looks at her sister who, as usual, gets the message. She knows she's never amazing at words so what Jisoo can whisper to Rosie's ear is the same things over and over again but somehow they're able to ease the girl, making the latter more cooperative. That and the sister's teamwork make Jisoo and Jennie able to half carry Rosie to Jisoo's room. The oldest girl is just about to put Rosie on her bed but the girl pulls the brown haired girl with her, making those two tumble down to the mattress. Sound of heavy breaths is the next thing that can be heard after that.
Jisoo breathes out while the girl beneath her slowly sneaks a pair of arms around her and, because of the close proximity, she also can feel the way the other girl shivers from head to toes. She lets out another breath, "Jennie, I think I can handle this alone from here. Thanks for your help."
Jisoo glances to her sister after those words left her mouth. Jennie still has her eyes on them when she gives a reply, "I'll be in my room if you need me."
The older Kim nods in gratefulness. Jennie looks at the two older girls for a little longer with worry visible on her face before she makes her way out of the room. Jisoo watches until her sister closes the door behind her then she turns her eyes to the girl beneath her. She lets out another breath.
The brown haired girl slowly moves her hand to touch the other girl's cold cheek. "Rosie?" She then moves the girl's cheek so she faces Jisoo. "Rosie?"
Rosie opens her eyes weakly and Jisoo can see the girl's lips keeps mouthing, 'whisper, he keeps whispering, it still doesn't stop'
"Is the boy still here?" Rather than answering, the girl keeps mouthing the same thing over and over again so Jisoo decides to go straight to the point. "You need to talk to him."
Rosie's eyes widen but Jisoo determines to get her points out. That's why she then says, "You're scared and, even though maybe you won't believe me, I understand that pretty well, Rosie. You're afraid but it's normal. There's nothing wrong with feel fear yet you also need to know that fear only live inside your head." Their eyes don't leave each other's while Jisoo continues, "I'll help you, I can give you my all, but what's the point of helping if the one that been help do nothing about the situation they're in? The only one who can free you from your fear is yourself. It's okay to feel fear but don't let fear tell you what to do. Don't let fear constraint you. Don't let fear enslaved you."
Rosie's big eyes look straight at Jisoo although the latter can see those eyes soften a little seconds later. The younger girl takes a deep breath before she turns her eyes to behind Jisoo's shoulders but suddenly she stifles a scream and her hands tighten the hold on the older girl, once again trapped the latter in a death grip embrace. Jisoo immediately clutches the sheet around them when Rosie's nails sink into her cloth covered back. Even with a shirt protecting her it still hurts.
Rosie buries her face again in Jisoo's shoulder while the latter tries to hide a flinch when the other girl's hold on her gets too tight it begins to hurt. Sound of another intake of breath can be heard in the room before Rosie slowly moves her face away and says lowly to something behind Jisoo's shoulder, "W-Who are you? What d-do you want from me?"
Silence is what followed after that although Jisoo knows it isn't a complete silent, she just couldn't hear the conversation that happened. One of Rosie's hands suddenly moves to Jisoo's neck while the other tightens its grip as shivers attack the younger girl's body. The hand on the neck then moves down and scrapes the back, making Jisoo move her head down to bite the pillow when the nail really breaks the skin. Other than that though, the older girl doesn't do anything else. She doesn't know what the other girl is seeing or hearing but she knows this girl is trying whatever she can to collect strength so Jisoo just lets her be.
"W-what?" The sudden word makes Jisoo glance to the other girl who says again, "Found? What do you mean by that?"
Another silence (or a one side of conversation Jisoo can't hear) followed after that. The older girl sees Rosie frowns but the latter keeps being silent, letting the boy say whatever he wants. After a while, Jisoo can feel the other girl's body starts to loose up while the grip begins to slacken although all of a sudden Rosie's hands shoot up to Jisoo's head and shoulder, pulling the older girl really close to her, while a scream comes out from her parted lips. But the scream stops midway and Jisoo blinks.
Rosie looks with wide eyes at something behind Jisoo's back. Despite knowing she won't be able to see anything, Jisoo still wants to look at behind her. Yet she's unable to because the embrace she trapped at is too tight, preventing her to move even a little, and it just gets tighter when Rosie moves her arms a little (is it just her or the embrace this time actually feels like a protective one?) The younger girl doesn't say anything after that and so does the girl above her, making the sound of heavy breaths become the only sound that can be heard in the room. It feels like a long time but finally Rosie's grip on Jisoo loosens up although the hands still stay on Jisoo. That gesture gives the latter some space so she pushes her body up.
"Did that boy already leave?"
Rosie just lets heavy breaths after heavy breaths. Maybe this is girl is still trying to calm herself down and Jisoo lets her be. She doesn't mind waiting a little longer for an answer even though she's also fully aware with they way the younger girl's hands creep up to her neck. All of a sudden, with strength Jisoo doesn't know this girl still has, Rosie pulls the older girl down again and buries her face at Jisoo's neck. The latter widens her eyes.
The hold doesn't hurt this time but this is too intimate to be comfortable. They're too close to be comfortable. Jisoo wiggles her body a little, trying to give warning sign, but the girl beneath her just pushes her nose closer into the bare skin while slight tremor still can be felt from her body. Maybe this girl finds comfort in touch, maybe somebody presence can make her feels more at ease, but still...
This is awkward.
"Rosie?" Jisoo calls out while tries to fight tremor herself when she feels hot breaths hit her neck. "Rosie?"
The girl only responds with pulling the brown haired girl closer to her. Jisoo bites her bottom lip to stifles an exasperate groan but then she feels Rosie mouthed something against her skin that close to, 'Thank you.'
Jisoo looks down to the other girl who says again with louder voice, "Thank you. Thank you so much." The girl then finally moves away from Jisoo's neck and turns her head to her left and says to the empty air, "Thank you for you too."
The brown haired girl glances at the same air although she looks back to the girl beneath her when she talks again, "The ghost who follows you. He helped at making the boy leave."
"Why he just helped now? Why he didn't help at the very beginning?"
Rosie is silent but she keeps her eyes at the empty spot. There's a high chance she's listening to the answer right now. Jisoo looks at the girl again when she suddenly lets out a cold sneer before she says, "Now I understand why you two stick together. You guys are alike." Hey, it's not like she has a choice about that. Jisoo doesn't have chance to let out any sarcastic comment though because the younger girl quickly says again. "Same like you, he thought I needed to talk to him and, from his choice of words, I think he finally decided to help only because that boy was about to do something to you."
Now that Jisoo thinks about it, Rosie always looked behind the brown haired girl's shoulders when she talked to that boy. Where did that boy be at that time? Jisoo decides not to ask that though, maybe it's better if she doesn't know.
The brown haired girl lets out a sigh before she looks down again. "Uh, Rosie, can you let go of me now?"
That question is able to catch Rosie's attention as the girl slowly turns her head to Jisoo. The former's arms then let go of the older girl and Jisoo quickly pushes herself up. She takes a seat on the side of her bed while trying to ignore the pain at her back even though she can hear rustle sound from behind her. The next thing she knows is she can feel a back leans against hers (and Jisoo immediately tries to hide a flinch because the wound been rubbed unknowingly) while a head that cushioned by thick hair rests comfortably on her shoulder. Jisoo is about to move away a little but hands suddenly grab hers, preventing her to go anywhere. The brown haired girl shoots the white wall in front of her a bewildered look.
"Is this your room?" Jisoo glances at the other girl who looks around the room before her eyes land on a shelf. "You have pictures of Lisa in here."
The older girl turns her eyes to what Rosie is seeing, a bunch of photo frames on a shelf. Despite what this girl just said, Jisoo actually doesn't pictures of Lisa alone. Most of the pictures on the shelf are she and Lisa. When they were just kids, when they were teenagers, when they already reached adulthood. When they laughed and smiled with no space between them. When they were able to understand each other only with a smile and a look.
Jisoo closes her eyes while tries to push down the memories (because although the memories filled with laugh and smile, they also filled with tears and death and sometimes we remember the bad things more than we remember the happier one) before she says, "Are you always this touchy when you're scared?"
"Am I making you uncomfortable?"
Yes. "A little."
"Are you in a relationship?"
Jisoo glances at the other girl with an eyebrow raised. Why is this suddenly become a question and answer time? "What does that have to do with anything?"
The younger girl shrugs. "I just think it's normal if you feel awkward being touch by others if you're already in relationship with someone else."
True but it also can be because not everybody is comfortable being touched by somebody they barely know. Rather than say that though, Jisoo says instead, "No, I'm not in any relationship."
Rosie nods although she doesn't say anything else after that. After seconds without any words, Jisoo turns her head back forward....
"Choi Minho and I'm in."
...Only to look back at the other girl who stares at the room wall as she talks again, "His name is Choi Minho. He said he wants to play hide and seek and he also wants to hide first, so it's my turn to seek." Rosie then lets out a breath. "I'm in."