Lisa huffed up from the couch to get whoever rang the doorbell. At first she ignored it but the person behind it was too persistent and Jennie looked like she wont get up unless earthquake happened.
"Coming!" she shouted.
As she opened the door, an old man- known as the doorman of her apartment stood by her door with big box in his hand covering his chest.
"Ms. Lisa? This gift is for you." He handed over the box to the girl.
"Uh, who's this from?" She asked.
"A driver gave it to me earlier, miss. He said there's a card. He didn't say anything else."
"Okay then, thank you, Ahjussi." The old man excused himself as Lisa closed the door wondering what was in the box.
"Who's that?" Jennie questioned her-she noticed the object Lisa carried. "What's that?"
"Let's find out. The ahjussi didn't know who sent it as well." Lisa ripped the wrapping paper and spotted a card with recognized handwriting on it.
Happy Birthday, Sweet Heart.
It's your favorite toys when you're little. It imprinted in our mind how cute you were when you were all serious on making your imagination into the real form. Enjoy it, baby girl.
We hope to see you soon.
-Love, Mom and Dad
Lisa read it out loud. She gave Jennie the card to let her read
"They don't usually send birthday gift." Lisa said to no one.
"Why?"
"Because I asked them not to," she replied. "Besides, my birthday is like a month ago."
"I meet your mother today, we had brunch together before she had to take off to Singapore," Jennie spoke. "And I may or may not mention to her our little celebration." She smiled guiltily.
"I told her about the cake, she got excited and I thought it wasn't a big deal so I told kind of her. Sorry."
"Why would you be sorry?"
"I thought you're mad?"
"Why would I be mad?"
"You know why, Lisa-ah." Jennie whined earning a laugh from Lisa.
"I'm not mad, Nini. If anything, I'm glad." She squeezed her hand. "My parents are kind of people who loves to enjoy themselves to have a party at any occasion. I let them down when I say that I don't want to celebrate my birthday ever again."
"May I know why?"
"Bad things happen at my birthday. It is not something I want to remember. But then you came and change it."
Jennie smiled. "Is it a bad thing or a good thing?"
"Good, for sure." Lisa pressed the urge to kiss the other girl. It wasn't because of the hurt of rejection but more to Jennie's comfort. She won't force her to do something she didn't want. Undeniably, they were still in early stage of relationship. Kissing on the lips was probably sacral or something to Jennie.
"Well..."
"Hmm?"
"Should you call them? Say thank you, maybe?" Jennie suggested.
"Aah yeah, you're right." She took her phone on the table. She waited till her mom's voice greeted her. She put on speaker so Jennie could hear them too.
"Hey sweety! What did I do to own this pleasure?" She teased her. Lisa rolled her eyes.
"Where's dad?"
"Meeting as usual. Why do you call, my dear?"
"Nothing, I just want to say thank you for the present. I love it."
"Really? You're not going to send it back to my house, don't you?" She said with real concern tone.
"Why would I do that?" Lisa looked at Jennie as her eyes saying 'my mom is total weirdo', Jennie just smiled at her.
"You did once and it hurt my heart."
"I'm sorry, it wont happen again, okay?"
"It better be. Please do send me a pic of your creation with it. Anyway, where's my other daughter?" She meant Jennie.
"She's here." Lisa scooted closer to Jennie and gave her phone to her.
"Hey mom," she said hello to the receiver.
"Hey dear! What are you doing?"
"Watching movie with Lisa, mom. She picked Monster University for the tenth time already." She giggled.
"Let her be, darling. Once she likes something, she'll stick with it for a longtime."
Lisa could only face palmed listening to their conversation. Mainly they made jokes about her but strangely it didn't irritate her. Instead, she enjoyed it. The closeness between the two important women in her life made her very happy.
She threw a questioning look as Jennie turned off the speaker after her mom said
"I need to talk to you alone", Jennie got up with her phone attached to her ear.
Lisa heard the 'Thank you and will do, mom' before Jennie hang the phone.
"Why are you two so secretive?" She narrowed her eyes.
"We have business." Jennie said jokingly at her.
"I'm serious."
"There's nothing for you to concern." She put the device back at it place.
"It's time for honey tea. I'll go make them."
Lisa's heart warmed up by the gesture. She didn't know about Jennie that much but she was willing to wait. Same matter with her make-up. Lisa had been dying to see her naked face but up until now, no such luck for that.
Jennie wasn't that comfortable with her yet. She will and Lisa had a lot of work to do to show Jennie that she can trust her.
*****
Lisa sat on the floor with Lego scattered around her. She was concentrating on making Sydney Opera House with her toys whilst Jennie making her night honey tea.
It became their routine. Since the both of them worked by morning to noon, sometimes Lisa would be home at night, or late night or didn't come home at all when she was on call, they spent the night till late together.
Most of the time, they talked about their day or about politics- which was topic that Lisa hated or about movie- Jennie's favorite discussion material. Sometimes, they just did their homework. Lisa with her heart proposal and Jennie with her cases. However, they did it in the same place- the living room. Lisa had her own office before Jennie moved in but then the idea of being in the same room with the latter was way better than to study alone. Moreover, she can teased her if she was bored- that was another advantages.
"Look at this masterpiece," Lisa showed off her quarter half building grinning from ear to ear.
"How do you make that? There's no manual," Jennie set down the cup.
"Imagination," she spread her hands in the air.
"You're a dork, you know that?" Jennie giggled.
Lisa shrugged too busy holding the cup and blew the hot smoke away. She sipped carefully as she enjoyed every drop of it. "Aahh, it warms my stomach."
"Lisa?"
"Hmm?" She was already back to her toys.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Shoot away," she put one piece with another. She was bored with the body so she began to make thereof.
"You said that bad things happen at your birthday, what happened?"
Lisa stopped for a moment contemplating should she told her or not. She knew the question would come sooner or later. She sighed and resumed her work.
"Would you mind if I answer it while I make this?" she referred to her Lego.
Distraction, Jennie thought.
"Of course," she said.
"Three years ago, when I was a resident, I joined the army. Remember the conflict between south and north Korea at that time?" She saw Jennie nodded. "The government needs a lot of medical team they could get. I signed up for it with one of my best friend- Jungkook oppa. To cut story short, we got caught, they threw us to cell, I don't know whether it was a cave or it was underground. One day, they took him away and not long after that South Korean Military Force found me and got me home. It happened around my birthday. The end."
"What about Jungkook oppa?" Jennie asked.
"Dead." She answered shortly. Her heart broke into pieces yet again but she had to play cool and showed the unaffected side of her.
"I'm sorry, Lisa." Jennie muttered slowly. She felt guilty to ask such oh a question.
"Why?"
"For your loss, for bring that up. You probably never want to recall it again."
"It's okay, Nini. It happened long ago and you don't even know me back then. Besides, forgetting is not the best thing to do, the memory will come up again sometimes- somehow. I need to let it go, I'm in the process now." She smiled.
"Were you hurt?" She cursed herself for asking such a stupid obvious question right away after it left her mouth.
"Got beaten up here and there. It's not a big deal, mind you. I know it'd happen and I still want to go so... It's just one of consequences I have to face."
"Consequences?"
"My parents disappointed at me, my friends smacked my head every chance the got. His fiancee hates my gut, so..."
"You didn't tell them? Why is his fiancee hates you?"
"How am I supposed to tell them? I was going to a war, Nini. They wont let me. About his fiancee, well... They're going to get married but he died and I make it alive." Lisa sighed. "I failed him, and it was my fault. I deserve her hate."
"No, you're not." The lawyer said confidently, earning a confused look from Lisa.
"What she expected you to do? I'm sure you fight back, it's just not enough because you're not the same as the number of them. It was an unfair situation and she can't blame you for that."
"Maybe." Lisa said in lower voice.
"You're not the bad guy here, Lisa. She just needs someone to take it on to." Lisa nodded as her answer. "Why are you so fire up to go anyway?"
"I need more adrenaline."
"You're still lack of adrenaline even that you're working at hospital?" Jennie asked in disbelieve.
"Yep. I needed more. A lot more." She stared blankly at her toys.
"Why?"
"That's another story for another time." Lisa smiled.
The split second of sadness didn't go unnoticed by Jennie, and the latter decided not to push her further.
When the time was right, she'd tell her the entire story about her.