Jennie POV
JENNIE: Lisa.
I open the umbrella and run to cover her. She bends down and puts her hands on her knees, she's out of breath, she looks like she's going to drown.
LISA: I don't think the umbrella's going to help. I've come running.
JENNIE: What?
LISA: There were no taxis left.
She tries to catch some breath while the rain gets me wet too, because an umbrella won't do much in a storm like this.
JENNIE: You ran two miles in the rain?
LISA: Is it two miles?
JENNIE: About...
LISA: Hold on, I need to catch my breath.
She sits down on a bench. She was right, the umbrella wasn't going to fix anything. We stand in silence for a few minutes, waiting for Lisa to catch her breath, and I finally decide to close the umbrella, because I'm being an idiot trying to hold on to it in this hell of a wind, and because I'm practically soaking wet myself.
LISA: Jennie.
JENNIE: Tell me.
She looks more recovered, at least she doesn't look like she's going to faint now.
LISA: What did you want to talk about?
Did she run all the way to my house because I wanted to talk to her?
JENNIE: Are you going to Thailand?
LISA: Yes.
I feel the rain running down my cheeks and I'm grateful for it because my eyes are burning and I don't know if I can hold back the tears, so the water acts as a shield.
JENNIE: I read your letter.
LISA: Is that what you wanted to tell me?
JENNIE: I don't know. I read your letter and I wanted to talk to you.
LISA: I see.
Her hair is plastered to her head and face in the rain and she looks at some undefined point between the two of us, as if analysing what I've just said to her.
JENNIE: I was mad at you, and I think I had a right to be.
LISA: Yeah.
JENNIE: But I don't want you to go.
LISA: I don't want to go either, I just need to sort out my feelings.
JENNIE: Sort them out here.
LISA: Jennie...
JENNIE: Is it really the easy option for you to leave? To never see me again?
LISA: It's not the easy option, it's the one I need.
JENNIE: So you don't want to see me again?
LISA: That's not what I want.
JENNIE: Fuck, don't go.
Tears are already streaming down my face, mixing with the rain that keeps hitting me everywhere. I'm probably going to catch a cold, but I don't care at the moment. Lisa approaches me awkwardly, as if she doesn't know what to do.
LISA: Don't cry.
She doesn't say anything, just stands there without another word. I decide to break the eight inches that separate us and hug her tightly. I put my arms around her and rest my head on her neck.
JENNIE: Don't go.
I feel her body tighten, stiffen. It takes about fifteen seconds before I feel her muscles relax and she hugs me back.
JENNIE: You're not the only one who can't express what's inside her, I struggle with it every day.
LISA: Why?
JENNIE: Because if I let myself get carried away with what I'm feeling, it's like I lose control.
I feel her head resting on mine. I find it easier to talk to her without looking at her face, maybe I'm a coward too.
LISA: What's wrong with that?
JENNIE: I don't know.
Lisa makes me feel vulnerable and that scares me, I have always been able to control everything in my life. I'm an organised and responsible person, but with her I feel like a teenager experiencing everything for the first time. It's not even the first time I've been with someone, I don't understand it.
LISA: Is that why you always fight with me?
JENNIE: Yeah.
LISA: So I'm not the only one getting things wrong, that's reassuring.
She makes me laugh with this comment and she starts to laugh too. We're in the middle of the road, at night, hugging in the rain, laughing like idiots. When we're done laughing, we stay in each other's arms for a while without saying anything, like there's a magnet between us that keeps us together. Why would she want to go? This feels damn good.
Lisa pulls away and looks into my eyes. They're so bright I feel like they're blinding me.
LISA: Do you forgive me?
JENNIE: I already have.
She smiles at me.
LISA: I'll probably do a lot of things wrong in my life, but I promise I'll never cheat on you again or lie to you about anything, ever.
There are so many things that I want to say to her, that I want to share with her, that I want to live with her. But right now the first thing I want to do is kiss her, because I feel that every second that goes by that I don't do it is a second lost. I walk over to her and kiss her. The rain is pouring down on our faces like a waterfall and the cold feeling should be unpleasant, but it's not. Maybe that's what it's all about, moments that should be shitty become amazing because I share them with her. And right now, here, with rainwater running down every (literal) inch of my skin, chilled to the bone, the simple touch of her tongue against mine makes me feel like the luckiest person in the world.
Lisa POV
After spending half the night in the rain, running after Jennie, talking to Jennie, kissing Jennie... I ended up with a cold. Well, we both caught a cold. We've been cooped up in her house for a couple of days now, and we've survived the sickness. Rosé brought us soup and some medicine. Jennie tried to go to work a few times, but I managed to convince her that going to work with a fever wasn't the best plan in the world. We spent the time taking care of each other and using this little confinement to get to know each other better, to finish the drama we had pending, to share confidences and to cuddle practically 24 hours a day... On the third day, we managed to get the fever down and were due to return to the office on Monday. In the end, of course, I decided to stay.
I've managed to get Jennie to deal with the stress of missing so much work, to understand that she doesn't have to be a slave to her job and that she has to work for a living and not the other way around. I think I've managed to get her to accept that a little bit, although it's been difficult.
We were back on our feet on Sunday, so we decided to go to Namsan Park. I wanted to show her my favourite places and share them with her. We went up on the cable car, it's an amazing place because you feel like you're on top of the world and you can see all of Seoul in the background.
JENNIE: You know I've never been here before?
LISA: Really?
JENNIE: It's beautiful.
I see her looking out the window, enjoying the view of Seoul.
LISA: I can't believe you've never been here.
JENNIE: I'm a busy woman.
LISA: Sure...
She smiles sweetly at me.
JENNIE: And no one's ever brought me here before.
I feel my chest filling up with something I can't describe, as if all the bad things I had stored in there a few days ago have melted away and all that's left is flowers, fireworks, cotton candy and I don't know what else.
LISA: I want to take you places.
JENNIE: Oh, yeah?
LISA: Yeah, I'll think of them, don't ask me where.
JENNIE: Do I have high expectations?
LISA: I hope so.
JENNIE: You don't have to take me to high places with beautiful views....
I stop her because I know I don't have to, but I want to. I want to take her to the most incredible places in the world, one after the other.
LISA: I want to do that.
JENNIE: Don't interrupt me.
She still has that bossy, authoritative touch that I should hate, but I guess she'll never lose it. I make an exaggerated bow.
LISA: Excuse me, Miss Kim.
JENNIE: You're an idiot.
I laugh and Jennie smiles at me.
JENNIE: You don't have to take me to high places with beautiful views because what I like about places and what makes them special is that you're with me. Do you know why?
LISA: Because I'm cool?
Jennie looks at me with narrowed eyes and an amused expression.
JENNIE: Besides that?
LISA: Because I'm great?
JENNIE: OK, we can go on about your inflated ego all day long. That's not really the point.
I'm laughing because I love provoking her and making her pretend to be upset.
LISA: And what is it?
JENNIE: Well, that I love you.
I'm petrified for a moment and don't know what to say. I've always been a very agile person when it comes to talking to girls, but with her I can't because suddenly all the good feelings in the world overwhelm me and pile up in my chest and the words get stuck and I look like an idiot.
'She just said she loves me...'
A warm feeling fills my chest that I don't understand. Our lives since the day of the storm have been built on this. Unbelievable, unique moments. One after the other, every day, all the time. It's like every day is a perfect storm, but without the rain soaking our socks and the cold. A storm inside, I don't know if I'm making myself clear.
For the first time in my life I feel like I'm exactly where I want to be.
LISA: I love you too.
THE END
N/A: Thanks for reading this far, I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it :)