When Jennie opened her eyes, she looked around and her eyes widened in surprise as she realized she was back in her bedroom.
"Lili..." She started to mumble.
Suddenly someone sprang from the armchair on her bedside.
"Unnie.... you are awake!!" Rosie squealed.
Jennie winces at the high pitch tone. Her head was pounding.
"Shhhhh....pipe down, Chaeyoungah.. She doesn't need you screaming at her.." Jisoo said as she walked into the room holding a tray of food and a glass of orange juice.
As Jisoo settled on her other side, Jennie asked curiously. "Unnie? What are you guys doing here?"
"We thought we wanted to surprise you, unnie...but then.." Rosie stopped and started sobbing loudly.
"Hey...hey...It's okay. I'm okay..see I'm okay here..nothing happened." Jennie consoles the younger girl.
She also felt the start of her own tears but she held it in. She didn't want her members to worry.
"You sure you okay, Jenduke?" Jisoo asked from her side.
Jennie nodded. She tried to push herself to sit as Rosie quickly jumped in to help.
"Erm...did you guys tell Lisa?"
Jisoo's eyes widened. "You don't remember? She's the one who caught you."
"So.... is it real? She's here?" Jennie asked back.
Jisoo just nodded her head.
"Lisa was the one who insisted. On our last call, she said that there's something wrong. She kept saying that you didn't look like yourself. So she gave us the ultimatum, either we join her or she'll go alone. You know how stubborn and temperamental she was, so we decided to skip school and follow her.."
"We keep telling her that she just imagines everything. That's all in her head, Jenduke. Only to find you collapsed in the school hallway and no one, literally no one is helping you!" Jisoo added.
"I...it was nothing, Chu. Really..."
"No! Stop! Stop lying to us! Lisa was out there worried out of her mind and here you are not taking it seriously!" The older girl scolded her.
"We really thought we would surprise you." Rosie shook her head.
"But what about your school?"
"You don't have to worry about that right now, unnie. Just focus on getting yourself better."
"Oh..I need to call the school. I need to tell them I will not be in class today." Jennie said as she scrambled to look for her phone but she was softly being pushed back to the bed.
"Jenduke...you've been asleep for 8 hours. Your teacher surely realized you were not in class a long time ago. Don't worry about it. The doctor told us that you should just rest. You are dehydrated and your cook told us that you have not been eating. Why didn't you tell us?"
There's no judgment in the older girl tone. Which made Jennie feel the start of her tears again. She averted her eyes as her fingers played with the comforter instead.
"I don't want you girls to worry about me. It's just a small matter."
"When did it start?"
"Since I started here.."
"Unniee!!! That's months ago!" Rosie whined.
"But....Listen..it was not so bad at first. They just said some words to me. I can just ignore that."
"Jenduke, don't lie!"
"I'm not!" Jennie insisted. "They only started to get physical with me last week. I don't know what changed. I thought if I just brave it out, they'll get bored eventually and will leave me alone!" Jennie replied back frustratingly.
She is mostly angry at herself for letting herself get to this position. Being sick on her bed while Jisoo and Rosie look at her in concern.
"Don't worry, girls. I will handle it."
"No...Nini. I will handle it from here on." Lisa spoke firmly from the bedroom doorway.
Jennie's eyes widened in surprise after hearing Lisa's voice.
"Lili..." Jennie whispered softly. This time she could no longer hold her tears. She pouted as her tears now ran freely down her cheeks. Jennie put up her arms and Lisa, knowing what the older girls wanted, just rushed forward engulfing the older girl into her arms.
As soon as she felt Lisa's arms wrapped around her, Jennie let out a loud sobbing. She didn't know how long she sat there sobbing into Lisa's arms but the younger girl never complained and just continued rubbing her back comfortingly.
"Shh...shh... I'm here Nini. I'm here. No one will hurt you anymore. And I'm not going anywhere."
Hearing that Jennie leaned back. "Really?"
Lisa nodded as she wiped Jennie tears away. "I will be here. Jisoonie and Chaeyoung will join us as soon as they sort it out with our old school. We'll be here with you until you finish and we'll go back to New Zealand together. I've already talked to my parents and they have arranged for everything."
"Yeah, unnie! You don't have to worry. Now that we are here, we have your back!" Rosie piped up.
Jisoo shows her thumbs up as her mouth is busy devouring the food from Jennie's plate. Beside her, Rosie takes a sip of Jennie's orange juice.
"Yah! Guys! I prepared that for Jennie!"
"Whaaat...I'm hungry..plus we need to make sure it's edible, Lisayah." Jisoo replied back innocently.
"She's clearly not well. What if you accidentally poisoned her?"
"I definitely did not poison the fruit and juice, Chaeng!" Lisa huffed out.
Jennie smiled as she watched the three bickering as their normal self and knew that everything will be okay. She's really glad her members are with her now.
Three hours later Jisoo and Rosie left to settle down for the night while Lisa slid into Jennie's bed and pulled her close.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She rubbed Jennie's back softly.
"I don't know how to and I'm actually embarrassed to tell you guys. I'm Jennie Kim and I'm being bullied by some low standard students." Jennie finally confessed.
She felt Lisa's hands stop before it continued rubbing her back.
"But Nini..I can assure you will never have to feel embarrassed about anything. We can face anything as long as there are four of us. Next time whatever that bothers you, please tell me or the other members yeah? Promise me?"
Jennie looked up at Lisa's worried eyes and held out her pinky. "Okay... pinky promise."
Lisa let out a big smile before she linked her pinky with Jennie.
"Now rest, Nini. You are safe now. I'm here now." Jennie felt Lisa leave a small kiss onto her forehead before she fell into deep sleep.
Two weeks after getting the all clear from her doctor, Jennie walked into the school with her head held up high. She didn't want to let her bullies think that they beat her down. Plus, she felt more confident since she knew her members were there with her. Though they were not exactly beside her the moment she walked into school, she knew they were somewhere around. Not Lisa, of course. The girl, as usual, woke up late for school.
Her three members already enrolled into her school last week despite her arguments. Though she argues that she'll be fine on her own, she was glad they didn't listen to her. From what she gathered from Lisa, Jisoo and Rosie managed to have their own followers here in Korea just like in their old school. Jennie shook her head when Lisa mentioned 'cult' followers under her breath.
She's not really surprised when she hears that since Jisoo and Rosie always attract people left and right with their charms and beauty. Jisoo already started her campaign to become the next school president while Rosie already joined the choir and cheerleader team. Lisa though, that's another story.
On her first day, she managed to break Kai's nose when she accidentally elbowed him as she rushed towards her class. She also stumbled onto CL during lunch break accidently throwing all her food onto the girl's head. Never in their 10 years of friendship was she aware of Lisa's accident proneness. So, she knows that Lisa's clumsiness is just her way of getting back to Jennie's bullies.
Her clumsiness and accidents were getting more frequent. It even happened when CL and her loyal posse tried to cornered Lisa in the parking lot. Since her members were new, their parkings were located at the end of the area in a slightly dark secluded corner where the CCTVs were not working most of the time.
It started when Lisa was so surprised when CL and her two friends suddenly popped up out of nowhere, that she accidently let go of her baseball bat. The same bat that she used in her tryouts for the school's baseball team that late evening. And to their horror, as soon as the bat hit the pavement, instead of rolling over, it just bounced back and hit CL. First on her stomach then on her left shoulder. Accidently, of course.
While CL's other friends were so shocked about what happened that they scrambled over each other to get away from the runaway bat but hurt themselves in the process. It resulted in one of them even having broken arms and another sprained an ankle. Lisa was very apologetic, of course. She even helped send the three girls to Kim's hospital and paid for their medical bills. She even waited for their parents and guardians to come over and give them a proper explanation about what really happened.
As Jisoo and Rosie heard about the incidents they even rushed to the hospital to help Lisa. As the other two helped to vouch for their clumsy maknae, the headmaster had no other choice but to trust them and accept Lisa's explanation about what happened. Jennie shook her head when she recalled the stories. She didn't know how Lisa got away with that. But to be honest, she was not really surprised. Since the bullies get away with the same thing that happened to her.
Suddenly she heard the loud footsteps of someone running towards her. Oh no. Not again! Her body tensed up immediately waiting for the incoming pain. But soon released her breath in relief when she heard Lisa calling her name instead.
"Nini!!! Wait up!!!!"
Jennie slowed down her walk to let Lisa catch up to her.
"Hi, Nini! Good morning! Did you have a good sleep last night?" Lisa greeted her.
Jennie rolled her eyes in amusement. "You know how I sleep Lili, since you were there."
"But I can't read minds. What if you have bad dreams?" The younger girl asked thoughtfully. A frown started to form on her forehead.
Jennie chuckled and rubbed her finger on Lisa's forehead. "No bad dreams. I slept fine. Just feel slightly nervous coming back here."
"Waeyo?"
"I just don't want to see them."
"Don't worry about it. I'll be here. Just give me a call when you don't feel comfortable and I will come as soon as I can okay? Remember Jisoonie and Rosie are here too. You can call them too." Lisa tapped her under her chin making her look up into those brown soft eyes.
"Don't worry, ok?" Jennie nodded her head.
She's happy that her members are here. But they were in different classes so she didn't think they would be able to be with her all the time. So again, she needed to learn to brave the class on her own until she met the girls on her lunch break, she resolved. It made her anxious but she can't really avoid it. She took a deep breath, fake a brave smile and nodded her head. Some of her classmates were not above hurling insults at her. They don't go for physical contact like Kai or CL but sometimes hearing the insults still hurts.
"Okay. I'll manage it eventually." She assured the younger girl as they reached the front of her classroom.
"I'll see you soon, ok." Lisa said as she hugged her close.
Jennie took a deep breath trying to memorize Lisa's smells so it could comfort her later. She watched the girl walk away before turning around to walk into her own class. As expected, as she walked into the class all eyes turned on her, some looking at her with pity, while others with hate and contempt. She really doesn't understand where all this hate is coming from.
She never gets involved in her father's business and apparently he is so good at it that most of the parents of her classmates were forced to sell off either their shares or the whole company altogether to avoid bankruptcy. As she walked towards her seat at the back, she could hear the insults mumbled amongst them. Ugly bitch..entitled ass..lazy shit...She just tuned it out but as soon as she sat down, she felt it. The wet sticky glue on her seats. Urghhh... that would totally ruin her skirt! She heard the snickering from the group of girls at the front knowing they did it.
The bitch deserved it. Pretending she didn't hear anything she just turned to her books and started to get ready for class. Just seconds later, she felt her phone vibrate.
Lili: Are you okay?
Jennie smiled as she read the text. Lisa really seemed to know her. She instead just replied with sad emoji.
L: What happened?
N: They put glue on my chair. My skirt ruined!
L: Hang on, Nini. I'll be there in a few
N: No! it's ok. I dun want to interrupt your class.
L: You didn't. Just give me 20 mins.
Jennie shook her head at how stubborn Lisa was. She then just turned off her phone as her teacher just walked in. True to her words 20 minutes later, Lisa knocked on Jennie's classroom. As she walked in she glared around the hall until her eyes found Jennie. Her glare softens before she turns towards the teacher.
"I'm really sorry to interrupt the class sir, but the headmaster asked me to give you this." Lisa passed him a slip of paper.
As Mr Yong read it, his eyebrows raised. "Is this true?"
"Yes, sir. You can even check it with the admin office." Lisa replied back calmly.
"I will. Give me a minute. In the meantime you can just find a seat. There's a few empty ones at the back." He said before he walked out.
Lisa smiled widely as she skipped towards Jennie. She was just wearing her typical red jumper with black leather jacket and sweatpants. Only Lisa will make sweatpants look like a fashion statement even though she just grabbed whatever outfit she found in her wardrobe. Lisa finally reached the girl sitting on the table beside Jennie's.
"Hello..good to see you... can you move so that I can sit with my unnie. This is my seat now." She requested.
"Lisayah...please be nice."
Jennie knows the girl sitting beside her. It's Nayeon. She keeps to herself most of the time. Quiet. She may not be part of a group of people that bullies her but she didn't take part in stopping them either. So it's not really a lost friendship in her view.
"Urgh...can you move pleaseeeee...before I smacked you in the face?" Lisa rephrased, smiling still.
Jennie shook her head and softly mumbled a soft 'sorry' as Nayeon got up to sit on the front row.
"Hi, Nini..." Lisa greeted her again.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm your new classmate!" The younger girl replied back excitedly.
"What? How?"
"Don't you remember? The one my tutor forced me to take separately last year."
"The one that you said keeps asking you about nonsense things? And the same one that you agree to finish if Papa Marc agrees to buy you that Ninja motorbike?"
"Uh huh. Mummy said that was some advanced IQ test and I should take it cause it will be useful for my future. She also said that the test showed I can skip level so now I can be on the same one with you!"
"You meant to say that you'll be in the same class with me?"
"Yup! Mummy and Papa are ok with me moving class. And I told Chaeng that you need me more now so Chaeng is okay with it too. So effective today, I'll be your classmate."
Jennie let out a big smile showing her gummy smile. "Really?!"
Jennie jumped onto the younger girl forgetting about her stuck skirt. She heard her classmate snickered and laughed amongst themselves. Lisa though jumped up quickly removing her leather jacket and tie it on Jennie's waist saving her from further embarrassment.
"If I hear one more sound coming from any of you, you'd better get ready for my fist to accidentally hit your face! I'm sure you have already heard about all my Accidents.." Lisa threatened.
"And from today on..if I hear anyone dare to touch a single hair on Jennie unnie or even make her sad, you will be answering me! Arasso?!? Let all your friends know." She continued as she kept glaring at her classmates..
The class quickly turned quiet. They know Lisa's threats were not to be taken lightly. Still they couldn't help but watch surreptitiously as the younger girl switched her chair with Jennie. They watched how Lisa carefully pulled Jennie up to stand while quickly replacing it with a new chair and waited for the other girl to sit properly before going back to her own. Lisa tore papers off from her own book to cover her seat before she continued sitting while smiling to Jennie as if she just did not threaten the whole class just seconds earlier.
"Wow, class... I'm impressed that you can keep this quiet." Mr Yang greeted as he walked back to the room.
"Alright, Ms Manoban..you're in the right class. Welcome. I hope you can catch up. But based on your assessment, I don't think you'll have an issue.Ok then, let's start the class." He continued.
Jennie watched some of the students jaw gaping wide. There was a slight gasp heard around the class when Mr Yong mentioned Lisa's last name. Apparently Lisa's family name carried more weight than hers as she looked on as some of the students now were avoiding her eyes. Yep she was waiting for the typical reactions when they heard of Manoban's name. They are the richest conglomerates in the Asean country. The whole Manoban's clan were really famous. Lisa though was the youngest. Hence the reason why her face was not yet splattered across the news channel or social media as her other relatives.
It was known that Papa Marco and Mummy Chittip were brought together from an arranged marriage between both families. However, they were lucky when they both fell in love and Lisa was the product of that love even though it's 15 years after the marriage. Hence, the reason she was the youngest and the most spoiled grandchild of the Manobans clan. Her grandparents, aunts and uncles all doted on the young Manoban giving in to her request whenever asked.
While her mother's family covers charity, fashion and entertainment, her father's family covers transports, finance trading, textiles and electronics. Combining the two, Manoban's group was basically worth billions which covered 40% of the economic sectors. No one dares to mess with them as most of the family members held significant job positions in the industries. Her aunts and uncles were either politicians, senators or mayors. Her cousins were mostly lawyers and surgeons at the top of their field. Their family members were gifted with good looks and brilliant minds. Anything they touch, will turn to gold.
She was brought back from her musings when she heard Lisa calling out her name.
"Nini? Hey..I've asked Mrs Nim to send your change of clothes. When you're ready we'll go change your skirt, ok?" Lisa whispered out.
Jennie nodded.
"Nini? Is everything ok?"
Lisa slid closer and offered her left hand, palms up. Jennie looked down and tangled their fingers together before squeezing tight.
"I'm going to be okay now, Lisayah." Jennie replied.
True to her promise, no one messed with Jennie after that day. Not because the hatred dissipated, they were just too busy facing Lisa's little devil side attitude. Her vengeful path didn't end even though no one dares to even look at Jennie anymore.
No..instead it was just the beginning.