Jennie just went along with the so-called celebration. She ate a bunch of food since she really was starving as she conversed with everyone except Lisa.
Sometimes she could feel Lisa's eyes on her when the blonde was thinking that she wasn't looking. Then she would look back at her and meet Lisa's Doe eyes but Lisa would immediately look away from her.
Jennie would just smile at herself every time she caught Lisa staring at her, then get back to eating.
The perfect opportunity for Jennie still hasn't come. She was getting impatient with every passing minute. Sometimes she just wanted to drag Lisa away from there to talk with her. But she was always reminding herself that doing that would only cause an awkward and uncomfortable situation between them.
Jennie didn't want Lisa to feel that she was forcing her again, so she just sat on her chair and patiently waited for her opportunity.
As if Heaven was listening to her request, she saw Lisa stand up from the corner of her eyes and heard her say to her father that she would just use the restroom.
Jennie felt her feet trembling in impatience but she waited for Lisa to get into the castle first so she wouldn't notice that she was following her. Without excusing herself, Jennie stood and carefully followed Lisa to the bathroom.
When she reached the bathroom, the door was already closed and Lisa was nowhere to be found, so she assumed that the younger girl was already inside it.
Jennie stood next to the door and counted the seconds that were passing by before the door finally opened.
The blonde jolted in surprise when Jennie was the first one that greeted her when she pushed the door open.
"Lisa, can we talk?" Jennie seriously asked, staring straight at Lisa's Doe eyes.
Jennie thought that Lisa would refuse to talk to her. Because she believed that the blonde was avoiding her. But Lisa didn't shake her head, utter no, or make excuses.
Lisa instead lightly nodded her head and mumbled a weak "okay".
Jennie led Lisa far from everyone. They went outside the castle using the back door and finally stopped when they were sure that no one would be able to hear what they were talking about.
The two of them were quiet all the way to the back. Jennie walked a few steps ahead of Lisa.
Earlier, she had contemplated whether she would grab Lisa by her arm or not, but because she was too nervous to do that, she just clenched her fists tightly as she tried to calm her heart.
Jennie wasn't the only one who was nervous. Lisa was on the same page, actually, she was close to freaking out already. Her mind was telling her to just turn her back on Jennie, but she was refusing to listen to it.
Lisa realized that for her chest to finally ease up, she needed to let out everything. She needed to say what she was truly feeling. She was tired of pretending that she wasn't feeling anything for Jennie.
Whether Jennie rejects her or not, it's no longer important. The only thing that was important now was to say everything- to confess her feelings.
When they were finally outside the castle, they were enveloped by silence for two more seconds, until Jennie had finally broken the silence.
Jennie first cleared her throat, as she uttered, "Lisa, I just-" She looked down as she cut her own statement, opening and closing her fists.
That's when Lisa only realized that she wasn't the only one who was nervous. Jennie was nervous too. She didn't know why, but based on how she was acting, Lisa was so sure that Jennie was feeling the same way as her.
After taking a deep breath, Jennie finally looked up again and finished what she wanted to say.
"Why are you avoiding me?"
Lisa had already figured out that that was the first question that Jennie would ever ask. And even though she knew that Jennie would ask that, she still hadn't come up with a decent answer. Probably because the only reason why she was avoiding her was that she was being conscious and nervous around her because of her feelings for the Feline-eyed beauty.
"Is it because of what happened last time? I'm really sorry about that if it looks like I'm forcing you. I really didn't mean to make you feel that. I was just-"
Lisa knew that Jennie was about to apologize again, so she decided to cut her already by raising her hand. "It's not about that."
Jennie was surprised to hear that, since that was the only reason she could think of. She blinked her feline eyes rapidly as she asked, "Then what?"
Lisa looked away for a second and gulped down. Then she took a deep breath before she met Jennie's eyes again. She stared at Jennie for several long seconds without saying anything. She couldn't open her mouth for some reason.
The speech that she had memorized suddenly jumbled in her head. But Jennie patiently waited for her to open her mouth. Jennie didn't say anything or move. She just kept her eyes on Lisa, feeling extremely nervous about what Lisa would say.
"I like you." Lisa had finally uttered. She had said those words quickly and in a low voice, which ended up just confusing JJennie.
"What did you say?" The older girl asked innocently, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.
Lisa bit her lower lip and closed her eyes in frustration.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Lisa let her eyes close for several seconds. She ignored Jennie calling her name repeatedly. She took consecutive deep breaths. She focused on calming herself and when she finally opened her eyes again, they were glistening with determination.
"I like you." Lisa repeated, but this time her voice was already loud enough and was now clearer.
I finally said it. I finally confessed to her. There's no way she still didn't hear or understand that, right?
Lisa was breathing heavily because of the adrenaline that rushed into her. She was nervous. She was excited.
There's a 99.99% percent that Jennie would reject her since she was currently in love with someone else. Even though her chance was only 0.01%, she wanted to hug that percentage and just hope that things would be in her favor.
Last week, she had already made a plan that if Jennie rejected her, she wouldn't cry, at least not in front of Jennie. She would cry when she was finally alone.
Then, the next morning, she would pretend that the rejection she had received wasn't affecting her at all. She would pretend that she was fine- that everything was fine.
When Lisa's adrenaline was finally starting to subside, that's when she only noticed Jennie's expression.
Jennie didn't look like she was feeling sorry for her. But she also doesn't look happy with her confession. She instead looked confused even though Lisa was sure that she said those words clearer and audible enough.
Jennie's eyebrows were still furrowed and actually, it looked like they deepened even more.
"The reason why I was avoiding you was that I felt so awkward and conscious around you. I can never look at you again as a friend. I know that you were in love with someone else. It was fine. I'm just saying these things- I'm just admitting my feelings because my chest felt so tight already. I've been wanting to say that I like you a lot and even if you reject me, I would understand it. Don't feel bad for me. I just- I just really want to say it."
Jennie still didn't move at least an inch or say anything. She just kept her gaze on Lisa without blinking her eyes at least once.
Lisa looked down, feeling her tears pooling in her eyes already, even though Jennie hadn't rejected her yet.
"N-Now that I've said it, I-I'll go back to the garden now."
Lisa turned her back on Jennie, ready to walk hastily or maybe even run, when Jennie grabbed her arm before she could even take a single step.
"Wait Lisa."
Lisa kept her back on her. She didn't say anything. She was busy stopping her tears from escaping her eyes.
"Do you mean the words that you said?"
The question had offended Lisa as she snapped her head at Jennie and glared at her.
"What? Do you think I'm just pulling a prank here? Do you think I'm just toying with you?"
Jennie immediately shook her head in defense, still not letting go of Lisa's arm, in fear that Lisa would run away from her again.
"No. That's not what I'm thinking. I just- I just want to be sure that I am not dreaming or hallucinating." Jennie said, looking down and lips slowly curving up in a smile.
Lisa arched up one of her brows in bewilderment. "What are you saying?"
Instead of answering Lisa's question, Jennie pulled Lisa into a hug, which surprised the younger woman.
"I'm so glad. I'm so happy, Lisa." Jennie whispered, tightening the hug even more.
"What-"
"I like you too, Lisa." Jennie confessed as well, which shocked the blonde. "I love you. I really really love you."
Lisa felt her cheeks get hot at Jennie's confession. She could feel her heart leaping with joy. She could feel the butterflies in her stomach flying around it. She wanted to cry due to happiness, but there was still one thing that was bothering her.
Jennie didn't say anything and just stared into LIsa's eyes, smiling widely.
After a few seconds of just staring at each other, Lisa saw Jennie's eyes travel down to her lips before Jennie started moving her face even closer.
Lisa felt her heart become even wilder at every millimeter that Jennie was conquering. They can feel each other's hot breaths on their faces.
Lisa was sure- She was sure that with just one wrong move, their lips would surely meet already.