A couple of hours later into the day Lisa and Ella were ready to go. The Thai had gone home to feed her cats and change her outfit into something she could actually wear in public. Lisa wasn't vain or anything like Jennie definitely was. But she did not go into the city in her sweatpants either. Although Jennie thought Lisa looked hella cute in her casual home outfits.
So when Jennie opened the door for her for the second time that day, she literally had to do a double take. Lisa stood in front of her in light blue boyfriend jeans, a black cropped top with long arms but Jennie could still catch a glimpse of her toned stomach. She held her puffy winter jacket in her arms and she wore the grey beanie that Jennie had also had the pleasure of wearing not too long ago.
"I'm back." Lisa chuckled slightly and Jennie smirked back.
"Welcome back."
Jennie's eyes roamed Lisa's appearance from top to bottom and back up. She didn't even care anymore at how obvious she was checking Lisa out. The latter's eyes sparkled amused and flattered and she reached for Jennie's hand.
Jennie wanted to step in close to get a kiss but Ella rounded the corner right at that moment and Jennie stopped herself reluctantly.
"Ready to go Unnie? It's gonna be so much fun." Ella squealed with excited eyes up at Lisa as she was putting on her warm winter shoes, ignoring the fact that both women were holding hands.
"Ready. I actually haven't been shopping in ages. We're gonna find some fun christmas presents!" Lisa assured the thirteen-year-old and pulled on Jennie's hand absentmindedly, making her stumble closer towards her and kissed her cheek.
"Lisa..." Jennie mumbled embarrassed and blushed for what was probably the hundreth time today. Lisa just smiled at her. "We'll see you later." She told her softly and it made Jennie's heart skip a beat.
"Come on Unnie, let's go!" Ella walked past them and pulled on Lisa's other arm to get her outside the door.
"Don't worry, I'm not letting her escalate with the shopping." Lisa looked back at Jennie and squeezed her hand not letting Ella move her one inch away from Jennie.
"You better not." Jennie raised a playful eyebrow at the taller woman and their fingers slowly left each other.
"Unnie!" Ella called her impatiently with a very Kim-like eyeroll.
"Bye." Lisa whispered almost apologetically at Jennie for leaving her. The korean woman really wanted a proper kiss but she didn't dare do it in front of Ella. Lisa must have realized that because she sent her an in audible air kiss that Ella couldn't see.
"Bye." Jennie almost giggled at the other woman's cuteness.
*
"You got any idea what you want to get your Mom?" Lisa asked as she and Ella strolled along the streets of Hongdae, the hippest quarter in Seoul.
Ella's head snapped to the Thai and she looked thoughtful. "I don't know yet... something pretty. Mom is pretty, she needs a pretty present."
Lisa laughed a little and nodded. "Yep, your Mom is really pretty."
Ella smiled under her breath, then her eyes wandered to a shop to their right. "Unnie can we have bubble tea first?"
"You like bubble tea?" Lisa asked with a glance over to the shop.
"Yes, you don't?" Ella asked back, screwing her eyes to slits disbelievingly.
"No, I do. But I don't know many people anymore who like it since the hype has gone down a little." Lisa told her honestly and stirred them towards the bubble tea shop.
"Mom likes it too." Ella smirked at Lisa a little and the Thai just nodded, mentally noting down that information.
Lisa got them two classic milk teas with tapioca bubbles. She didn't let Ella pay for hers because she promised Jennie. Besides she wanted to treat Ella while they spent this quality alone time together.
"I kinda knew that Mom liked you..." Ella pointed out obnoxiously casual as they sat down on one of the tables because they couldn't shop properly anyway when one hand was constantly occupied by a cup.
"You did?" Lisa's eyes went a little wide and she watched Ella's face closely.
"She kept blushing and shit when you were there. I just... I don't know... didn't really realize that you liked her back." She shrugged and sucked a bubble through her straw lazily. Pre-teen Ella was back and Lisa acknowledged that with a nod.
"I do. More than that I think..." She told the cat-eyed girl with warm honesty, completely ignoring that Ella said 'shit' and that she wasn't supposed to speak like that if Jennie were here.
"Are you in love with my Mom?" Ella burst out the question that made Lisa's hands sweat. She huffed out air nervously before looking at Ella. The girl had a real poker face and her eyes just reminded her of her mother. She got her beauty from Jennie, that was clear as day to Lisa.
"Wow, you're not going easy on me, are you?" Lisa laughed out nervously.
Ella shook her head but she squirmed on her seat a little. "I'm sorry Unnie... but I need to know... you kissed the blonde woman... and then suddenly you kissed Mom...."
Lisa's eyes swept over Ella, realizing that she was nervous too even having this conversation and how incredibly grown-up she suddenly seemed. Like she was protecting her Mom.
"Ella?" Lisa made the girl look at her again with a feathery soft voice. It worked. Young cat eyes met Lisa's big doe eyes but she didn't say anything, so Lisa took the lead.
"The blonde woman... was a date. It didn't work out though. We didn't have anything in common. And after I met you guys, I instantly liked the two of you and... your Mom was all I could think about... for days." The Thai woman admitted. She wasn't sure how far she could go telling Ella how she felt without making the pre-teen uncomfortable.
"I just... wasn't sure if she... swung my way... you know....?" Lisa phrased it as a question, trailing off a little embarrassed but once again Ella reacted completely different than Lisa thought she would.
"Mom likes men and women. She said it depends on the person inside and not the outside shell... Auntie Jisoo doesn't like men at all." Ella told her quietly, lips never quite leaving her straw. "Do you like men too?"
Lisa almost choked on a bubble but swallowed it whole in the process. "Uhm... I'm actually on Jisoo's side there. One hundred percent gay."
Ella just nodded. Lisa thought how well of a job Jennie had done at showing her daughter that loving the same gender was nothing abnormal.
"Are you going to be over even more now?"
Lisa eyed Ella to try and break her poker face but she couldn't. The girl was too good at it. She probably learned that from Jisoo, Lisa thought. She has only met Jisoo once but she recognized the same inquisitive behaviour from Ella that Jisoo had displayed without giving too much of her own opinion away.
"Would that be ok with you?" Lisa turned the game around on Ella.
"Yep." was the girl's short answer, meeting the older one's eyes.
"Is it also ok for you if I kiss your Mom in front of you occasionally? I don't like having to sneak around... you know...?" Lisa tested the water carefully. Sure, she wanted those private moments with Jennie but she also didn't want to pull herself together all the time and refrain from kissing Jennie whenever she felt like it just because Ella was around. Jisoo and Rosie had kissed in front of her several times, Lisa recalled. And Ella seemed completely fine with that.
"I guess..." Ella rolled her eyes but a tiny smile tugged at the corners of her mouth when she eyed Lisa. "Just don't suck her face like you did this morning in front of me." She scolded the grown woman teasingly.
Lisa let out an amused, yet disbelieving laugh at Ella's moxy and her language that Jennie probably wouldn't approve of again. "Just wait until you want to suck someone's face and then we'll talk!" Lisa fire back smiling at Ella. "But, yeah, you got yourself a deal. No face sucking when you're in the room."
"Good." Ella smirked.
"Good." Lisa smirked back and finished her tea. Only a couple of bubbles were left at the bottom of her plastic cup.
"So... what are you going to get my Mom for christmas?" Ella shot another question bomb at Lisa and hit her completely unprepared. Lisa even felt herself pale a little and an unwelcome weight settled in her stomach.
"Fuck... "
Lisa had confessed her feelings for Jennie and it would be christmas in about a week's time. She definitely had to get her a present, right? And Ella too. Not because she had to, but because she realized that she wanted to. She just hadn't thought about it until now. She had only kissed Jennie for the first time last night and now everything was already going so fast.
Lisa did not mind things going fast. She knew her feelings for the young mother and her daughter by extension were strong and genuine, but she felt just a little overwhelmed having to think of christmas presents now.
"Oh my god, sorry Ella! You're not any better off with me than you are with Jen in the cursing department, aren't you?" Lisa realized her slip of words and reached her hand out to squeeze the girl's arm.
"I don't fucking care." Ella waved at her apology dismissively.
"Ella!" Lisa scolded with amused, yet dark eyes. She didn't want Jennie to get mad at her for letting Ella curse freely around her.
"Do you want me to help you to get something for her?" The girl offered, smirking just a little.
"Would you?" Lisa's eyes were pleading.
Ella sucked the last bubble through her straw, chewed on it and put the cup down on the table audibly. "Let's go shopping Unnie." She told her with a mouth full of bubble.
*
Lisa felt a lot more pressure now than she did before. She wanted to get something good for Jennie but nothing over the top. She already knew that that wasn't Jennie's style, growing up with almost nothing. On christmas day they would be dating for roughly one week. What in the world did one get for someone you dated only one week!?
Ella was also unhappy with all the choices they found so far. When they left the third store empty handed, Ella stopped on the street and fished out her phone. "What are you doing? Did Jen call?" Lisa asked and went to rummage around her own bag to find her phone. Ella just shook her head and shushed Lisa with a finger to her lips.
"It's ringing." She told Lisa and handed her the phone. The Thai was confused as hell but Ella nugded her and she took it out of her hands. The screen said Auntie Rosie and the call connected before Lisa could even think about giving Ella the phone back.
"She'll know what Mom likes." Ella told her grinning, stepping from one foot to the other. The girl really had a lot of mischieve today, behaving like that with Lisa.
"Ella bear!" The Thai heard Rosie's sweet voice coo through the phone. "Everything alright?"
Lisa cleared her throat a little awkwardly. "Uhm... hi Rosie... it's actually Lisa here..." Her hand went to rub the back of her neck nervously. This was awkward. She shot Ella a little scolding look but the girl just gave her a silent thumbs up and an encouraging nod.
"Hey..." Rosie sounded confused and a little alarmed on the other side of the phone. "Are Ella and Jen alright?"
"Yeah, everything's fine. Sorry if I scared you... The thing is... Ella and I are in Hongdae, looking for a present for Jen and... we're both having a little trouble..."
Suddenly Rosie let out a relieved little laugh. "Oh my, don't scare me again like that Lisa!"
"Sorry... it was El's idea to call you..." Lisa admitted with another helpless look at the young girl.
"Oh that's completely fine! Hey, uhm... Jen told me... and I just wanted to say that I think you're really good for them both, so... don't you dare mess it up, ok?" Rosie low key warned Lisa but it didn't sound threatening at all since Rosie wasn't really capable of sounding stern.
"I don't intend to..." Lisa admitted, feeling nervous all over again. "And the first step of not messing up would be to get a good christmas present. Can you help us...?" Ella threw her a dark look and pointed at Lisa, mouthing 'you'" "help me... most of all..." The Thai corrected, feeling embarrassed but managed to smirk back at Ella for playing her like that.
"Uhm... let's see.... Wait a second, one question: Have you and Jen... talked already today?"
Lisa scrunched her nose up a bit confused. "Yeah, why?"
"That little shit... she didn't even tell me like I told her to...!" Rosie sounded amused and a little mad at the same time.
"So she tells you stuff?"
"Yes, but I don't further sensitive information Lisa, so don't even try."
Lisa snorted at that.
"Anyway, what's the deal now? Are you guys dating?"
"Uhm... we haven't used that word... yet, but... initially yes... we are."
"What d'you say to her?" Rosie prodded even further shamelessly and Lisa understood that privacy wasn't so much of a thing between Jennie and her girls. So she caved and told Rosie what she normally wouldn't tell an outside person.
"I... told her that I was all in... with everything that comes with being with her..." Lisa said a little more quietly, feeling herself blush hard. What she didn't expect though was Ella suddenly crashing into her side and wrapping her arms a little around her middle and cuddling closer. Lisa looked down surprised and switched hands on the phone instinctively so she could wrap an arm around Ella too. The girl who had her mom's eyes beamed up at Lisa warmly and she couldn't help but mirror her expression. The poker face was gone and Lisa felt her heart clench at Ella's freely displayed affection for her.
Holding Ella softly to herself and getting advice on the perfect present from Jennie's close friend, Lisa thought that she could get used to this. They were like their own little family and they were welcoming Lisa warmly and openly.
It only corroborated Lisa's decision more, that jumping off this cliff for Jennie and her smart and way too witty daughter, was the right thing to do.
She was in fact all in.