Jennie carried the dry laundry to her room, ironed her clothes and put them into her wardrobe. There was more wet laundry that she put into the laundry basket. She carried it to the balcony of her apartment and hung it up, so it would dry quickly.
"Hello mandu!" Jisoo called from her balcony with a bright smile. It was just Jennie's luck she lived in the apartment next door.
Jennie didn't respond, she showed her middle finger and turned her back to her. That was civil enough in her opinion.
To get her mind off things, she went to the campus, meeting up with her friends.
Jennie, Hoyeon, Nayeon and Rosé are active members of their university charity student club. They are involved in various causes and projects, mostly in their city and neighbourhood.
"I really need some work to do. How about we go cleaning up the park near the kindergarten again?" Jennie suggested.
Her friends agreed. They already put on their vests and gear when Rosé cleared her throat.
"Um, is it okay if more volunteers are joining us?" She asked Jennie particularly.
"Of course!" Jennie had no reason to disagree. "You never have to ask, there can't be enough volunteers-"
"Hey there!" Jimin bursted into the room.
"Hello!" Jungkook jumped on his back.
"Hi." Lisa came in with a polite bow.
Oh no, that only leaves-
"Hello mandus and non-mandus!" Jisoo came in grinning and waving.
Jennie's mouth parted in shock, her jaw dropped. Nayeon walked over to her and closed her mouth for her.
"Here are some trash bags and tongs, you just pick up the garbage and put it in here." Hoyeon instructed them while Jennie needed a moment to gather herself.
"Suggestion! We should pair up in groups of two!" Jimin raised his hand.
"Agreed!" Jungkook exclaimed. "That way we can take over the whole area!"
Another reason Jennie disliked Jisoo and her friends was that they were too loud and energised. Even if they did say something helpful, they were too hyper about it. Jennie just didn't have the same energy, they simply don't match well.
Jungkook and Jimin winked at Lisa and nodded towards Rosé, turning Lisa's cheeks bright red.
Jennie was a bit less mad right then. They didn't plan something weird, they were helping out their friend. Hopefully the same can be said about Jisoo.
It just didn't seem that way when Jisoo was only staring at Jennie. She doesn't actually think Jennie would form a group with her, did she?
Hoyeon pulled Jennie to her side, whispering to her. "This is the perfect moment for you and Jisoo to sort your things out..."
Jennie snorted. "I have nothing to sort out. It's all on her." She whispered back.
Lisa walked forward, she stopped when she was in front of Jennie. The latter was startled, especially when Lisa bowed 50 degrees.
"I'm sorry for the pranks my friends and I pulled on you. We deeply regret it." Lisa sounded truly sorry.
Jisoo let out a chuckle, earning an immediate glare from Jennie.
"If there is anything I can do to make it up to you, please let me know." Lisa proceeded to speak, not lifting her head.
"Put a leash on the devil..." Jennie pointed to Jisoo, mumbling her words.
This time Jisoo let out a louder laugh. "Do it yourself if you want."
That was just the thing to say to make Jennie's head boil. "Maybe I will!"
"Go ahead." Jisoo taunted, showcasing her neck.
"Be nice." Lisa lifted her head, giving her friend a pleading look that silenced her.
Jisoo was quiet. Jennie appreciated and basked in the silence. She took a deep breath and felt all worries leave her body.
Now that she thinks about it, Lisa might be a nice addition to their group. She can keep Jisoo in check when she acts out of line.
"Welcome to the family." Jennie reached out her hand for Lisa.
The Thai quickly gave her a firm handshake, flashing her a grateful smile.
"Do I also get welcomed?" Jisoo asked. Lisa was quick to message her to drop it. "Fine, I'll shut up..."
•••••
To make the whole thing more interesting, the group suggested to make a small competition out of the clean-up.
Everyone was wearing their gear and went around the park in pairs. Jennie was already motivated enough with the satisfaction of making the park safer for the kids to play, as well as cleaner for the community.
Jisoo on the other hand only wanted to win. At least Jennie thinks so. They agreed that the winners choose their own prize as long as it's nothing expensive or inappropriate.
"Kim Jisoo!" Jennie scolded, pointing her trash tong at her.
"Yes?" Jisoo feigned innocence.
"That's cheating and goes beside the whole point of this!" Jennie glared at the raven who filled litter from a trash can to her bag.
"I was told to be nice to you but I wasn't told to obey your commands..." Jisoo hummed, unbothered by the outburst.
"You are impossible!" Jennie marched towards her, grabbing the sleeve of her sweater with her trash tong.
"Hey!" Jisoo complained.
"Follow me!" The brunette didn't allow her to escape, she dragged her to an area full of benches. "What do you see?"
"A bench...?" Jisoo responded bluntly.
She released her sleeve to kneel down and pick up a syringe from underneath the bench. She showed it to Jisoo, widening her eyes.
"Imagine if one of the children had seen this, what if they stepped on it or touched it?" Jennie put it in her bag. "I have even seen some of these buried in the sandbox!" She sighed, exasperated.
Jisoo listened for once without making a joke, she appeared attentive even.
"And all of these broken pieces of glass..." Jennie gestured to the empty beer bottles. "The plastic waste too, it can kill animals. So please let's take this serious."
The brunette huffed out when she was done with lecturing the other. She didn't realise that she sounded genuinely upset until Jisoo lifted her head bashfully and said something she never said to her,
"Sorry... I'm going to do my best."
So she is fully capable of saying sorry. Then why has she never apologised to Jennie before? Somehow that upsetted her even more.
Yet, Jisoo wasn't there anymore to see how sulky she felt. The raven already dashed off to collect garbage. She even crawled underneath the benches and checked the playground.
Jennie sighed, at least she managed to talk some sense into her. This gives her the hope that Jisoo can be a not so horrible person. Maybe she just wasn't raised right.
Even so, Jennie is not going to do the job of her parents. She only educated her because she was helping out their club.
After an hour Jisoo filled three bags, that was much more than Jennie expected from her.
"Mandu, this is for you!" Jisoo handed her something.
Jennie made the mistake of opening her palm. She only did so because she was taken aback by Jisoo's diligent work. For a second she forgot that Jisoo was a menace. The raven was quick to remind her.
"Ah!!" Jennie yelped as the cockroach on her hand took a step. "Get it off! Get it off!" She waved her hand around but it didn't leave.
Jisoo was laughing while Jennie feared for her life. The brunette continued screaming, kicking and almost throwing up.
"Aaaah!" She ran around, tears welling up in her eyes. The cockroach used it's wings and jumped off from Jennie's hand, it flew a short distance and landed on her left shoe.
"Nooo!" Jennie squealed, she tripped over her own feet in an attempt to kick it away.
It was a quite nasty fall, her ankle definitely took damage as she landed all disoriented on her side.
The laughing subsided. Jisoo squatted down beside Jennie, taking a hold on her face. "Does it hurt a lot?"
Jennie pointed to the cockroach on her shoe with a trembling finger. She sniffled as she did so.
Jisoo finally released her from her suffering. She opened her palm and waited until the cockroach crawled on it, then she dropped it on the grass around them. A few moments later it flew away.
Jennie sighed in relief, she could finally breathe again. She was scared of a lot of things and bugs were 100% included in that list.
"Does it hurt?" Jisoo asked again, laying her hand on her bruised ankle before giving it a probing squeeze.
Jennie winced, slapping her hand. "Of course it does, you asshole!"
"Get on my back." Jisoo instructed, turning around.
The brunette just let out a dry laugh. "Why would I ever do that? You are just going to carry me up a hill and throw me off a cliff!"
"I'm not going to do that, I'm bringing you to a hospital-"
"Like I would trust you to bring me anywhere in one piece. Also I would never accept your help, I would rather crawl all the way than get on your back!"
Jisoo accepted defeat. She stood up and walked away.
Jennie gasped upon seeing her retreating figure. She was really leaving her here, humiliated, in pain and defenseless??
•••••
Ten minutes passed, Jennie managed to crawl to a bench and pull herself up. She groaned in pain as she lifted her legs up with her hands. She put it on the length of the bench and exhaled.
She would have called an ambulance but her phone already died. It was a mistake to use the remaining energy to post hate tweets about Jisoo.
It was already late and the sun was setting, her friends should search for her soon. They would be worried when she doesn't meet up with them at their decided time and place.
Besides, she could ask a stranger for help and hope they were kind. For example the next one who passes by.
The next one that passed by actually went up to Jennie on their own accord.
"Woah that looks nasty..."
A young man grimaced. He looked only a bit older than Jennie but he was handsome and had a good body. He was in the middle of jogging when he saw Jennie in pain, curled up on the bench.
"Do you need help?" He asked her politely, standing in front of her.
Jennie bobbed her head shyly. "I fell down... It would be great if you could call an ambulance-"
"How about I bring you to my place instead? The hospital is further away and I live only a block away from the park."
He gave Jennie a toothy smile as he flexed his muscles. "I'll carry you, I'm used to helping people out and I'm very strong!"
"Oh, that wouldn't be necessary..." Jennie said quietly as he came a step closer.
"Don't be shy! I'm a gentleman, I'll never turn my eyes from someone who needs me." He assured her, grabbing her bare legs as he picked her up.
She was only wearing a mini skirt and white shirt underneath the neon vest from their club room. Even though he was claiming to help her, she felt uncomfortable about it. Especially since he was a stranger and she couldn't trust him.
Perhaps she should have said yes to Jisoo. Sure, she doesn't trust her either but she knows that Jisoo has a not so terrible core underneath a layer of a lot of terribleness. For this man it could be the other way around and that's much more scary.
"Hey you!" A husky voice made him stop in his tracks.
"Me?" The man turned back to side-eye her.
"Yes, you. Let go of her." Jisoo stomped forward, squeezing his arm tightly.
He stared back at her, holding onto Jennie although his grip loosened. "Why would I? She needs my help. What's your problem?"
"Is that true?" Jisoo turned to Jennie. "Did you ask for his help?"
"Actually I'm good... you can let me go but thanks..." Jennie mumbled, clearing her throat awkwardly.
It was uncomfortable how he held her. His fingers were brushing her thighs and she was too close to his face. It was an intimate way to carry someone.
"No, don't be shy-"
"Man just let go before I make a scene." Jisoo sighed, annoyed. She clicked her tongue.
"What-"
"Help! A pervert! He is kidnapping my friend!" Jisoo screamed, alarming the young man.
"What are you-"
"Help! Someone!" Jisoo continued.
People were staring their way, the man immediately dropped Jennie and jogged away.
In his fear he dropped her too quickly in fact. Jennie was dropped on her ankle, just where it hurt. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she yelped in anguish.
Jisoo quickly helped her up, seating her on the bench. "I got this, don't worry." She assured her.
The raven dropped a few bags that she was carrying. She fumbled in search of something, taking out some ointment and bandage.
By then Jennie also noticed that the other was drenched in sweat. She recognised the logo on the bags. It belonged to a pharmacy which was one hour away by foot. Did Jisoo run there and return in about 20 minutes?
"Usain Bolt..." Jennie mumbled as the other bandage her foot.
"What?" Jisoo asked, not lifting her gaze from her ankle. She was busy wrapping the bandage neatly around her.
When she was done, she placed a cold cup with ice cream against her ankle. She also had time to buy ice cream?
"Wow..." Jennie knew that Jisoo was part of the track and field club of their uni but she never had a reason to watch her races, so she didn't know if she was good or sucked.
"Huh?" Jisoo asked again, receiving no answer. "Take this." She gave her another cup of ice cream. She bought two?
"Okay..." Jennie brought it to her ankle.
"No, no." Jisoo giggled lightly, shaking her head. "This one is for you to eat, here is a spoon." She handed her a small plastic spoon.
Jennie stared at the ice cream. "Poison...?"
Jisoo grabbed another spoon, then she scooped up a bit from the cup and brought it to her lips. She swallowed, showing Jennie her empty mouth as proof.
Jennie squinted her eyes suspiciously. Eventually she sighed, taking a spoonful.
Her cheeks puffed up as a smile graced her lips. "Yum!" She said involuntarily. She was very expressive when she enjoyed something.
Jisoo grinned. "You like it? I knew you would." She suddenly ruffled her hair. Jennie's lips parted, startled.
It was milk ice cream one of Jennie's favourite.
"If you think I won't file a restraining order because you bought me ice cream, you are wrong..." Jennie mumbled while she stuffed her mouth full with it, some of it stuck on the corner of her lips.
Jisoo was intensely staring at her lips, it made Jennie scoot away.
"I bought you that because you are hurt and sweets make you happy."
"I'm hurt because of you." She reminded.
Maybe she was hoping to hear a sorry since they already established that Jisoo knew about the word's existence. She even knew how to use it correctly.
"I know, I didn't realise this would happen. I won't put a cockroach on your hand again. Next time it will be a butterfly-"
Jennie punched her shoulder, scoffing loudly. She expected too much from her.