The night of their escape to Japan was blustery and cold, something that dampened Jennie's mood. They had ran across countless fields and plains, where they now halted in front of a half-metre high stone wall. Jisoo, being the reckless one of the two, wasted no time in tossing her suitcases over the wall and quickly jumping across it. The younger girl carried on jogging across the field before realising that Jennie wasn't on her heels and turned back to see her standing helplessly on the opposite side of the wall. Without a word, Jisoo hurriedly returned, throwing her suitcases back the other side before stacking them on top of each other to make steps for the heiress. Jisoo held out her hand and Jennie climbed on top of the wall gracefully, after hesitating whether to go further from this point in their journey. With the thought of Jisoo by her side no matter what the circumstances were, Jennie leapt off the wall and onto the cushioning of the soft earth below.
They ran for miles without a care in the world.
***
Jisoo stood abruptly as the Count emerged from his room the day the madhouse doctors were due to arrive at their inn. She was standing in the doorway of Jennie's room, leaning in the door and witnessed an immediate grin spread wide across the older woman's face as she stood up from her sleeping mattress. She was barefaced and sleepy, with her hair tied in a loose braid to the side and her kimono wrapped around her curvaceous body. Jisoo decided that this was one of her favourite looks on her lover, especially as Jennie was swift in making her way over to the handmaiden and taking her into a swooping and breathless kiss. It was a desperate and brash with the Count sitting just outside the door, yet it took all of Jisoo's strength to push the addictive woman away.
By this time, they were both hungry, starving for each other, and once their lips had met in that ravenous kiss it took all of their mental strength to stop. With a final push on her chest, Jennie relented from Jisoo's sweet lips and was left panting and slightly sexually aroused. Before leaving and shutting the door, Jisoo caressed the side of the heiress's face, reminding her of their relationship, that she wasn't pushing away because she wanted to. Jennie held her hand with both of hers, closing her eyes at the softness of Jisoo's skin under her palms.
Jisoo shut the door before getting carried away again and Jennie let her slip between her fingers with reluctance, leaving her to watch her lover's shadow through the door panes and listen to her conversation with the Count.
"How cruel can you be? You plucked the flower, now re-plant it." She heard Jisoo's not-so-hushed whisper.
"What do you want?" The Count sounded annoyed.
"Hurry up and throw her into the madhouse!"
The Count made a move to stroke her face but she held off, making Jennie stifle back a laugh before it escaped her mouth.
***
Jennie did the same thing once Jisoo was in the hands of the madhouse doctors: stifling a girlish giggle. Their plan was working, but she couldn't be the one to give it away now.
"You scoundrel!" Jisoo shouted across the courtyard, being harshly gripped by the two nurses, "Let go of me, you filthy bitches! Miss! Miss!"
Seeing Jisoo banished into the horrible conditions of the madhouse, as the iron gate shut with a loud clatter, brought out some sort of emotion in Jennie. She had to bite her lip in order to hold back tears. The heiress put on her white gloves and regained her character, turning back to face the Count. She wore a straight, bothered face. "I'm hungry."
*** PART THREE ***
(present)
Cutting delicately into the meat on her china plate, the heiress sat opposite the Count in an expensive, fancy restaurant. The table was designed elegantly; pristine, white tablecloth complete with a fresh set of roses and a fine, aged wine filled their crystal glasses. Jennie wore a silk white blouse that softened her shoulders and her black hair fell straight down her arms. She brought her fork to her mouth and chewed small and politely as she listened to the Count's droning voice explain his story.
"The first month, I ordered a slim herringbone suit." Jennie was only half listening to him as she peered over the centrepiece and looked at the man's plate, seeing that he had barely touched his food. "The next month, I wore it to dine at the Imperial Hotel. Me, a colonial boy working as a tout at a brothel."
Jennie took a generous sip of her wine as she forced herself to pay attention to the cocky man, who stared intently at her with his dark eyes. "Some Englishmen who frequented the brothel recognised me. I thought they'd call the maitre d'and kick me out, but what do you know?"
Jennie continued to pretend she was interested, as her thoughts were clearly on other things. "They were amused I'd spend a month's pay on one dignified meal," He laughed under his breath as he reminisced. "They started calling me 'Count'," his eyes wondered to the table of friends across from them, two rich men and women enjoying their daily affluent lifestyle in their expensive suits and dresses, "and taught me manners to go with the name. Frankly, I'm not that interested in money itself. What I desire is, how shall I put it..." He paused and turned his head back to Jennie, "The manner of ordering wine without looking at the price? Something like that."
As he spoke, a waiter approached their table and refilled his glass, bowing as he left. The Count barely spared a glance at him as he reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved a brown envelope, putting it on the table in front of the heiress. Reaching inside, she pulled out various black and white photographs of a grand house.
"Fourteen hours by train from Vladivostok is the summer home of a genuine Russian noble family." The Count explained as Jennie flipped through the pictures, "All the furniture is set along with ankle-deep carpets." He took a sip of the wine as he waited for Jennie to finish looking through the photos. "Shall we marry there?"
Meanwhile, back in the madhouse, Jisoo sat alone on a wooden bench in the dining hall, munching on a ball of sticky rice. Her hair was messy and her white gown was wrinkled and dirty.
The Count spoke, "In a few days I'll hear from the hospital."
Jisoo looked down at her ball of rice, seeing a roach in the middle of it.
"That my wife Nakamoto Jennie has died."
Jennie had just stabbed her fork into her dessert, bringing half a strawberry to her lips and halted before it touched her lips. She sat frozen, realising a flaw in her too-good-to-be-true plan, "Uh... You didn't just ask them to keep her?" She tried to sound casual, when inside she was panicking. The oblivious man didn't seem to notice.
"I doubt Jisoo would want to live there very long." He looked off to the side.
In the silent dining hall, Jisoo leaned her head back and laughed like a maniac. She drew a long breath, "Fuck!" She sighed as she lifted herself back up.
"Bastard." Jennie mumbled under her breath.
"I never said I wasn't a bastard." Once again he reached into his jacket, this time bringing out a small book with a green cover; Jennie's new passport. "You'll become a colonial girl named Kim Jisoo. You know I'm an expert at document forgery, right?" Jennie turned each page quickly, before pausing briefly over the identity picture of Jisoo. "I arranged it with a photography studio. From tomorrow, we'll give Jisoo a new life."
"I'm glad." Jennie was not glad. She was very far from glad. She put the passport down on the table with slight aggressiveness.
"Marry me once again." The man leaned over the table, "This time as Kim Jisoo." His tone seemed like there was no way Jennie could refuse him.
She scoffed and leaned back in her seat with a smile. "You want another wedding night?" The Count laughed.
"I think I slightly like you," he said with seriousness, yet playfulness hinted in his eyes. Jennie smiled back at him.
"Poor Jisoo, in a place like that, all by herself..." She bit her lip as she smirked to herself. "Did such a thought ever cross your mind?" Jennie put on a small voice, patronising the Count.
The Count shook his head, "Not at all. Why should I pity her? Where I come from, it's illegal to be naive." He opened his case of cigarettes.
"Where you come from, it's not naive to fall in love with a business partner?"
"Of course it's illegal. So even if my love for you leads me to ruin, don't pity me." He said as he placed a white stick between his lips.
"Love?" Jennie questioned with humour, "What does a crook know about love?" The Count didn't reply, instead blowing smoke up into the air as he looked her in the eyes.
***
Smoke lingered in the air of the dining hall, alerting the caretakers patrolling the aisles. The woman looked back to the chef with a curious look, as she noticed the mysterious smoke as well. She walked past Jisoo, who sat nervously on her bench, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She quickly took the butterfly hairpin out of her messy bun. The caretaker had opened the main doors, where a raging fire greeted her. "Fire!" She screamed as the siren started to wail.
Amongst all the drama, Jisoo stealthily unlocked her ankle shackles with the hairpin. The back door opened just then, in walking Jisoo's family, her brother, sister, and mother all disguised as fire marshals for the madhouse.
"C...C...Come this way!" Gugai stuttered out, "This way!" He ushered all the other panicked inmates out. With two buckets of water in hand, he rushed over to Jisoo's bench while Boksun forced a gas mask over her daughter's head. They swiftly put on their fireproof clothing and ran into the fire after pouring water on themselves, escaping the madhouse.
Later in the evening, Jennie stood by the table in her hotel room. She had just filled two glasses of wine with her leather-gloved hands, moving with small movements in her green and black floral kimono. It complemented perfectly with her black locks falling down her back. Carefully, she put three drops of her wedding present into one of the wine glasses. Enough to knock him out. She hesitated in silence with the vial still over the glass, pondering whether she should add just a few extra drops. Ultimately she decided against it, and left the room after turning the light off.
In the next room, the Count lay on his bed, pouring his suitcase of money onto his body. The doorbell rang just as he had settled comfortably, making him puff out air which caused a few notes to fly.
He opened the door outwards, revealing Jennie with her back turned towards him. She merely looked him up and down with judgemental eyes as she sauntered into the room, wine glasses in each hand.
"Because you desired me, and overcame all obstacles to reach me, I have been born anew, it's true." Jennie began, making up some bullshit to fuel the man's ego. He followed her into the room and accepted the wine that was offered to him. "I'm grateful for that." Jennie clinked their glasses before taking a sip, "I'll allow a kiss."
She had hoped the Count would be completely easy without any hassle, but of course he wasn't when she wanted him to be. He stared at the glass before shaking his head.
"No."
Jennie whipped her head around as he walked away from her, "Why not?"
The taller man strutted towards her, standing in close proximity to remain authoritative against the woman, "I don't like kisses with conditions. I never learned how to stop halfway." He brought his thumb to her soft, red lip. Jennie closed her eyes in displeasure. "After this I'll thrust in deep, to your navel."
The Heiress looked him in the eyes. "Please do that." She took another sip of wine.
"Those aren't the eyes of one who wants it," the Count replied playfully. "You know you can't deceive me in such matters." The wise man moved to sit on the bed.
Jennie thought for a short while before she came up with a plan to ultimately get the man to drink his goddamned wine. "If I could be yours for ten minutes," she teased in Japanese, "what would you give in exchange?"
"Whatever your heart desires. Anything in this whole wide world." He quoted back in Japanese, before scooting off the bed to take Jennie in a hot kiss. Jennie forced herself to enjoy it. It was nothing compared to Jisoo's kisses now.
She allowed him to pull away, taking care of his ego, as she raised her glass up to him, implying he should drink with her. Raising the glass to her mouth, she took a sip and then a breath, followed by gulping down the remaining drops in the crystal.
"There's much I want to teach you." He pecked her lips. "You'll become a completely new woman." Pecking her lips again, but this time continued with passion, peppering kisses down her jaw to her neck as Jennie leaned her head to the side to allow access. Shutting her eyes, she imagined it was Jisoo's caressing lips instead of his rough ones. She began panting as he slid her robe off and and grasped her breasts without softness, taking her nipple in his mouth. She tried to remember back when her woman did this perfectly for her, but the roughness of it all just overpowered her thoughts. Now she faked the pants, opening her eyes when he couldn't see her, looking around the room with her brows furrowed. How boring. Not at all what she liked. Jennie kept her hand on the back of his neck so she wasn't questioned, her wine glass still held up in her hand.
Taking the glass from his hand, Jennie took some of the liquid into her own mouth and sank to his level. She took his in a desperate kiss, making the Count's eyes widen as he felt the wine trickle into his mouth from hers. Jennie waited for him to swallow before doing the same thing again and again until the glass was empty.
Glancing at the small, silver watch on the inside of her wrist, she impatiently waited for those long minutes to pass before the man would pass out. She had no control as he began to bend her over on the carpet on her knees as he lined himself up behind her. With his grip too strong as she tried to wriggle out of his grasp, she took a chance to wait it out. This had gone a little further than she had hoped it would. All she wanted in this moment was her Jisoo.
The man quickly removed his trousers and threw them across the room, still holding Jennie tightly by her waist. Leaning over her back, red in the face, he whispered out to her, "It won't hurt. You've seen it in those books. In truth, women feel the greatest pleasure when taken by force." His breath was uncomfortably hot on the side of her ear, his grip too tight to feel anything other than piercing pain. "Now I'm going to rip your underwear." Taking another glance at her wrist, the hand had moved a few minutes past, enough time for the drug to kick in. Just as he moved to handle her underwear, he grew weak, and slumped his heavy, disgusting body on her back, crushing her into the scratchy carpet.
Once she confirmed the man was out completely, poking him with her toe, she rolled herself out from under him and stood up to retie her robe. Eyeing his jacket on the hanger, she felt around for the passport and the photos from the dinner earlier, and then took his hat too. Then she moved to the wardrobe seeking his clothes and duffel bag, she scooped up all her money from the bed and dumped it back into the bag.
Jennie left early the next morning, walking through the bustling street with a bag full of cash and with the same clothes on from the meal. Making a turn into a smaller alleyway, she walked casually to a building and rang the doorbell a few times. The door opened abruptly, causing Jennie to stumble backwards in surprise, but she was immediately engulfed in a tight hug from her lover, Jisoo, who greeted her with love. They gasped in delight as they finally met for the first time in a longtime, relishing the feeling of being back in each others arms. The duffel bag lay forgotten on the concrete.
***
A/N
Word count: 2919