Chapter 17 – Lisa·Watching-Husband-Stone[1]·
Even on the road, the granny could not stop thanking them.
Jungkook was in front pushing the cart. Lisa stayed by the grandma, saying, "There's no need to thank me, it's compulsory for children to be educated nowadays, there was no need for school fees to begin with."
"I know." The grandma sighed. "But they say that I don't have some passport or something, I don't understand either. Whichever way they say it they refuse to let my grandson go to school."
The grandma's grandson looked smaller, thinner and frailer than most others his age. When he saw them, he called them brother and sister a little timidly, before running over to his grandma and saying, "Grandma, tomorrow I can push the cart out to the sell things, I'm strong enough to do that."
The elderly was a good senior, and the child a filial grandson. The two of them were the pillars of each other's life.
Lisa did not say more, leaving after saying goodbye.
She remembered the address just as Jungkook came out and said, "Let's go back."
....
In the car, Lisa turned on the radio.
She discovered that Jungkook did not like listening to music while driving, and she had never seen him honk before. He had such amazing driving habits.
She told Jisoo about the grandma, and sent the address over.
[Goddess Lisa: And when it's cold, help me send some blankets and food over.]
[Jisoo: Isn't it enough to just give them money, why go to all this trouble?]
[Goddess Lisa: No. Goods only.]
[Jisoo: Got it, have you thought about how you intend to explain yourself when you come back?]
Lisa did not reply, turning her head to the side instead and humming along to the music.
The happenings had not really affected her, actually. There were too many pitiful people in the world, if she felt sad for every one she came across, how would she live?
At the red light, Jungkook stopped his car and asked, "Send you home?"
"Let's exchange phone numbers," Lisa said, out of the blue instead as she turned around and met his eyes. "Keeping to WeChat is quite inconvenient."
Making it seem as if they were dating online.
She did not want to date Jungkook online, she wanted to properly date Jungkook. The sort of dating where she could just kiss him whenever she wanted to.
By now, Jungkook was used to the person in front of him not sticking to conventions. He unlocked his phone and handed it over. "Save it."
Lisa's eyes brightened immediately.
She licked her lips, happily taking the phone from him.
They had the same brand of phones!!!
Ignoring the fact that her phone was from some commonplace fruit brand, she felt extremely satisfied. Once she had keyed in the number, she hesitated at the contact name before quickly typing something and saving it.
She did not go through Jungkook's phone. After saving her contact, she just held on to the phone tightly. It was only when they reached the parking lot that she finally put it down in the caddy between their seats.
She was getting ready to get off the car when she realised there was no vibrations in the car – the guy had turned off the engines.
Jungkook unbuckled his seatbelt, getting off the car before her.
"I'll send you up."
Lisa wished she could take three steps to cover every distance that would have taken her one stride to cross.
When waiting for the elevator, she leaned against the wall and tilted her head up to look at him. "You're busy recently?"
She was still wearing that rabbit headband, her two hands clasped behind her, tugging at the fabric of her blue and white blouse from behind. The top buttons were unbuttoned, allowing the guy a peek at the snow white skin and the beautiful collarbones.
Jungkook said, "I'm not busy."
Lisa, about to start filming smilingly said, "I'm not busy either."
If Jisoo were to hear that, she would want to hit someone.
In the elevator, while Lisa was thinking of how to ask for a next date, a 'ding' announced that she had reached home.
...those tv shows with male and female leads who could take a never-ending elevator were liars, liars, liars.
Jungkook walked out of the elevator and waited on the spot, waiting for Lisa to enter her house before leaving.
Lisa entered the password. As she opened the door she asked, "Do you want to have some honey water?"
From inside the house someone said, "No, thank you."
"..."
Jisoo was standing at the entrance, arms crossed she walked over to the door. She waved at Jungkook, saying, "Director Jeon, thank you for watching over her."
Jungkook raised an eyebrow, and walked back into the elevator without saying anything.
Lisa leaned against the door, watching as the elevator doors closed slowly.
Jisoo asked, "Still not coming in, what are you staying at the door for?"
Lisa asked, "Have you heard of the Watching Husband Stone?"
"... Right now I really want to take your stone and go fix the sky," Jisoo said. "Do you know how many phone numbers I have had to field from the company today?!"
Lisa entered the house, changed into her slippers. "It's not as if I was meant to be some pure innocent lady, what's wrong with wanting to date someone? The company cares about this?"
"Whatever you're meant to be, you can't be having an affair with two different men in two days!" Jisoo said, sounding as if she was in agony. "One's celebrity, one's boss, do you know how many versions of this there are online now? Love triangle, an affair, cheating... your Weibo is almost drowned by Mingyu's fans!"
"Hey, this is their fault." Lisa sank onto the sofa. "Mingyu was the one who tried to court me, why are they attacking me? Isn't it time to be rational and say goodbye?"
Jisoo found herself speechless.
Lisa opened an alias and went to check her Weibo.
"Disgusting! Such a cheater, afraid of losing that boss after being discovered and drawing a clear line with our Mingyu on livestream! Slag! Trash!"
"I've seen Lisa's face, there's evil in her eyes and brows. With her full forehead, she has the typical face of someone who would harm her husband and not obey the principles of being a wife."
"Boycott that slag, kick her out of the entertainment circle! Don't harm my Bo!!"
Lisa found it all rather tedious. "These fans really can't make it, they're nowhere near as harsh as those regular haters on my Weibo."
Jisoo got up, knocking her head gently. "How is it between you and Jungkook at the moment?"
Hearing that, the cold indifference on Lisa's face vanished completely. She lay down on the sofa, hung her two legs off the armrest, closed her eyes and revealed her rows of shiny white teeth through an unrestrained smile.
"..." Jisoo placed a cup of honey water in front of her. "Got it, wipe that silly smile off your face."
Lisa opened her eyes, saying, "Oh yeah, why are you here?"
Jisoo propped her chin up. "Tell you a piece of good news."
"Hmm?"
"Not only did I come in person," Jisoo said. "...my luggage has come too."
???
Lisa immediately straightened up.
"I have already written to the company. Other than you, my celebrities have been all handed off to others," Jisoo continued. "Jin has proposed, so I'm renovating our house. He's staying with his parents, I'm staying here. I'll go with you to the set, and make sure someone's watching you closely."
Lisa was originally rather sad; with Jisoo's arrival, her chances of sneaking away had immediately fallen to one percent.
But at the end, her joy immediately drowned out her sadness.
"Really?" Lisa stood up and sat herself down beside Jisoo, saying, "How did he propose? When are you getting it certified? Which month is the wedding? No, I want to be the bridesmaid."
"Can you not ask one by one?" Jisoo could not help laughing. "He just gave me a call, saying that his parents want him to get married soon, and asked if I'm up for it."
Lisa raised her head, looking rather dissatisfied. "That's it? What about the ring?"
"He said that he'd patch that in the future. We've been together for so long, who cares about the ceremonial stuff."
Lisa's frown was rather severe.
She opened her mouth, intending to say something when a tone rang from her phone. She glanced at it – it was a message from Jimin.
[Jimin: You've got the role, congratulations /big smile].
[Goddess Lisa: Thank you director, when do I join the crew?]
[Jimin: This is the notice, filming starts next Wednesday.]
It was already Saturday. Caught off guard, Lisa replied: [So soon?]
[Jimin: The camera and the set were long since ready, the only thing that was not was the actor for your character. There's a new character too, just added, otherwise the filming would have started even earlier.]
[Goddess Lisa: What new character?]
[Jimin: A female side character, your sister in the show. Relax, she's just background.]
Lisa laughed once. No wonder Jimin came to find her.
Jisoo noticed the change in her expression, and asked, "What is it?"
"'Undercurrent' starts filming next Wednesday," Lisa said. "There's a new female secondary character."
Jisoo sat straight. "What side character?"
Lisa said, "Another brothel character."
"Wait, what are they trying to do?" Jisoo's volume increased. "Isn't this just trying to take away your acts?"
Indeed, regardless of what Jimin said about being a background character, at the end of the day, it was taking up Lisa's parts. Besides, if there were two characters on the same position, Qiu Ji would not be nearly as special a character.
[Goddess Lisa: Which actor did you find? When can I get the new script?]
[Jimin: Tomorrow. Actually your part hasn't changed all that much, the scenes added were shifted over to the new character, it'll make things easier for you too. The new character is played by Tzuyu.]
"This Tzuyu, she really is something," Jisoo tsked upon going through the chat. "If she cannot take this road, she will pave her own new path, it really is admirable! Don't answer that first, I'll call the company right now and have them find the film's board of directors for a chat. When we signed that contract, they did not say anything about this. It's on them!"
Lisa blocked her from calling.
"No need for that. If she wants to act, let her act." Lisa made no attempts to hide her contempt. "If she wants to get in so badly, we probably can't stop her from doing so."
Jisoo said, "Even if we can't stop her, at least we can mess it up for a few days."
"There's no point." Lisa got up, tying her hair up and heading towards the bathroom. "It's not like this is rare in the industry, just let it be. Besides, she's not capable of taking my spotlight."
[notes : [1] 'watching husband stone' refer a legend of a lady standing on a mountain rock, watching into the distance waiting and wishing for her husband to return; after many years, even when she turned to stone she continued watching, waiting. there are a few locations with actual 'watching husband stone's – on a hill in sha tian district, taiwan, in the mengjiangnv temple in hebei, china, etcetera]