"Ten more minutes, perhaps?"
Two arms snaked around Jennie's waist, prohibiting any movement away from the body she was held close to. Turning towards the body that had offered her comfort, she giggled, pressing a light kiss on her lips.
"Hmmm, but you told me last night we needed to be early for our flight to Korea."
Jisoo sleepliy smiled, opening one eye to peek at her fiancée. "Give me one more kiss and I'll get up."
Jennie ran her fingers through Jisoo's cheeks and brought her lips close to Jisoo's, shifting her direction at the last minute so they landed on her forehead.
"Get up first, and I'll give you one more kiss."
Jisoo pouted, shaking her head. "One kiss."
"Get up, and I'll give you a shower for two."
It didn't take long before Jisoo was out of the bed, her smile reaching the ends of her ears.
"In your dreams." Jisoo's mouth dropped a tad, her hands at her waist.
She blinked in surprise. "I can't believe you!"
Jennie laughed, and soon enough was removing her clothes on the bed. "But I never said dreams don't come true."
Expectedly, Jisoo's lips curved into a smile, her cheeks tainted light red. "Well, this is going to be a long shower, love."
***
The plane was thousands of feet in the air, Jennie cradled Lisa in her arms, singing a lullaby for her daugher to sleep. Jisoo stared at her, and could not help but think, "These are the two people I have waited for." It was not possible to put each feeling into the vessel of words, but it was a secret between their souls, words only they could hear and understand.
If all the pain, hatred, loneliness, and loathing, were rolled into one body of a stone, it would never outweigh and battle against the feather of love, happiness and peace that Jennie and Lisa brought in her life. The experience of eternity was here, she need not look anywhere else.
Jisoo giggled as Lisa held onto her finger. "She's gotten so big after all these months."
"I wouldn't be surprised, she's a giant." Jennie chuckled, rocking Lisa back and forth, the hood of her Pikachu onesie falling off her head.
Jennie suddenly pouted. "She never pays any attention to the toys I have bought her. It's always the Pikachu."
Jisoo pecked Jennie's cheeks, following after Lisa. "Like I said, she loves me more than you."
"Yah." Jennie glared at Jisoo, her lips shaking as she tried hard not to smile.
"I'm just kidding." Jisoo cooed, motioning to Lisa who had already fallen asleep.
"What do you think she'll be when she grows up?"
Jennie looked to the ceiling of the plane, thinking. "Maybe she'll be a singer."
"Or a dancer." Jisoo added excitedly. "But whatever happens, we'll always be there for her, you and me. Together?" There wouldn't be any other word to descrive the future they had been working for, but the word together.
"Always." Jennie smiled.
Jennie kissed her baby a good night, placing her inside their makeshift crib in their private plane. "Sleep well, Lili." After giving one last glimpse at their daughter, Jennie turned to look at Jisoo.
Without waiting for her mind to give her any thought, Jisoo threw her arms around Jennie's waist and pulled her in an embrace, a perfect coordination as their arms crossed above each other's backs. Jisoo wanted her, needed her. As simple as the sky needed the sun to be called the morning, as simple as the rain needed liquid droplets for it to be called rain, as simple as hydrogen needed oxygen for it to be called water, as simple as Jisoo needed Jennie for it to be called love.
She backed away enough for her to see Jennie's face.
"Jennie Kim." Jisoo whispered. "My beautiful angel, my heart, I just want to pamper you with love, spoil you with it, so you'll never remember what it's like not to be loved, adored, and indulged."
Taking the ring from her back pocket, Jisoo placed it around Jennie's finger. The ring on her finger, a vision they both saw, their warmth of their bodies next to each other, their hearts in a common home, a family of their own.
"I love you."
Then Jennie felt the beauty of Jisoo's whispers as they flew through the ocean of the night sky. The whispers that held a language only she could understand. The whispers had breathed to her Jisoo's passion, whispered her gentle love, so that along with the night, Jennie will never be able to forget them.
A pure, tranquil hour the Earth had expected from both humans as they stood to in the midst of the evening painting passing by outside the windows of the airplane. Their breaths, their heartbeats birthed a new soul within themselves that had been nurtured by their sweet devotion, and the flames inside their chests that set afire a clear vision of life's beauty that could only be seen in the eyes of one another, can only be heard in each other's voices, can only be felt with each other's hearts.
Jennie saw Jisoo's heart as she looked at her, saw her soul calling out for her for a gentle touch, and their glances held a slow dance as they have come to once again be binded together. She took Jisoo's hands and kissed every fingertip, whispering her own words of "I love you." after every finger she had touched with her lips.
Jennie pressed Jisoo's palms on her chest, letting her feel every heartbeat. "You're in here. You and Lisa."
Jisoo smiled as the tears had made her eyes sparkles. "And I'm not going anywhere."
She took her hands to brush any hair from Jennie's face, and tucked it behind her ear. Jisoo nudged her head up, her gaze drawn to Jennie's lips, and bent towards it, closing her eyes as her mouth caressed another. The evening, the plane, everything seemed to have slipped away as they had left, leaving only them. Jennie's heart fluttered as she kissed Jisoo back, winding her arms around Jisoo's hips. With a heartfelt sigh, Jisoo moved her hands to cup Jennie's neck to bring her closer.
The kiss was soft at first, then moved with a swaying intensity that sent both bodies into a place where night and day had finally met, where the waves of the ocean was never again pushed away by the shores, where the birds needed no wings to fly. Together, they went to a place where their presence added more grace and meaning, just for them.
But the place could not exist for the longest of time as the pilot's voice made it through the speakers. "Ms. Kim, we'll be landing in Korea in a short while."
Jisoo made a sound between a sigh and a groan of frustration as she took her lips away from Jennie, but she smiled a smile that could illuminate the whole dark sky.
"We'll continue this later."
***
Dazzling, breathtaking, beautiful, Jennie had a shortage of words to describe Korea once they had landed. She held Lisa so she could stand on her lap, pointing to the buildings outside the car windows. It had been the first time she was able to travel outside her home country, and she could not have been gladder to have the first time with Jisoo and Lisa.
Not long after, they had arrived in Jisoo's house, a mansion that held more space from the one she had in New York. Jisoo took Lisa from Jennie, gently placing her sleeping face on her shoulder for better ease. Jennie held onto Jisoo's hand, but was hesitant to take s few steps inside the house. Jisoo, sensing Jennie's discomfort, turned to look at her.
"Jendeukie? Is something the matter?"
"I don't think they'll like having me and Lisa here."
Jisoo shook her head. "You don't have to be. Besides, no matter what happens, I'll be here with and for you, always."
A man had opened the door to welcome them, and his eyes looked on Jennie, and though she hadn't seen him before, it didn't take long before she knew who he was. It was like staring at Jisoo's reflection, minus the long hair and more masculine built of the man. He excitedly went to Jisoo, giving her a light hug, careful enough not to disturb the sleeping baby.
"I didn't expect you to be back so soon, monkey! I missed you!"
Jisoo rolled her eyes, smirking. "Such lies."
He acted hurt, holding his palms to his chest. "Jennie, tell your girlfriend to give her brother even the slightest of love!"
Jennie blinked, brows raised. Not sure if she had heard him correctly. "What?"
"You don't have to hide it, Jisoo already told us about your relationship. I'm Seok Jin, but you can call me Jin." He chuckled as he took their bags and went ahead inside. "Mom's out to search for a dress for the upcoming party, but dad's waiting been waiting for the both of you."
Jisoo glanced at Jennie. "I'm sorry if I told my brother and my father about us, though they don't know about Junmyeon, I'm sorry."
But Jennie felt happy at this simple pleasure, to have someone be bold and loving enough to introduce her to her family. Her good thoughts shone out her face like a beam from the sun.
"I'm happy. Thank you, for being brave enough to do that." She gave Jisoo a winning kiss on the lips. "Let's go and meet your dad?"
Jisoo nodded as they made their way inside the living room, her father holding a cup of coffee as he sat on the couch, Seok Jin coming to whisper something in his ear. He looked to their direction and placed his glass onto the table, standing to welcome both women inside.
Just as the moment with Jisoo's mother, this moment proved to be just as powerful. Jennie hadn't been this nervous as she clutched on Jisoo's hand, firmly telling herself to calm down as they bowed to him, glancing at Jisoo to see her give a reassuring smile. Her father only stared at her, no response nor say to her. The nervousness only heightened that it had made her nauseous, her heart frantically beating.
"Dad, this is Jennie, my fiancée."
To Jennie's comfort, Jisoo brushed her lips against her forehead, taking her small hand into the embrace of Jisoo's own.
"Ms. Kim, do I make you nervous?" Jisoo's father spoke calmly.
Jennie brought herself to look at him, immediately answering. "N-no, I mean yes, but no- no."
Jisoo's father held Jennie's gaze a bit longer, then broke into an easy smile, taking a roll of a hundred-dollar bills from his pocket, throwing it to Seok Jin. "I'm glad to have lost this bet."
"I told you so, old man, Jisoo's lesbian."
For the second time that day, Jennie had been thrown in another surprise, not that she had minded. Jisoo's father held his arms open.
"Come and give your father-in-law a hug."
Jennie bit her lips to stop her tears from falling as she leapt into his arms as if she had known him long enough, but a father was finally blessed upon her, and she could not have been more grateful for it.
Family was not always bound by blood, for people who did not grow under the same roof were more of a family than those who often did not. These were people who were generous enough to welcome with open minds and arms a woman and her daugher, who had unknowingly broken a marriage, and were not one of their DNA. Their souls were a heavy responsibility in Jennie's hands, but this was a responsibility that was worth a thousand tears, worth a million smiles, worth nothing but everything. The thought no one would be ever able to love her in return was nothing but a fantasy, nothing but a part of the unreal dimension of her mind.
This, her daughter, Jisoo's family, and Jisoo herself, were enough to moon her here, into love, into the people who she now considered her home.
***
Jisoo was standing outside the walk-in cabinet, waiting for Jennie to finish changing into her dress. It was the night of one of the grandest parties held to commemorate the successful and the richest businessmen and women in the country. But Jisoo had paid no attention to it until her father had invited them to come. She would show the world how exquisite her woman was.
And when Jennie went outside, Jisoo swore under her breath, seeing an angel walk outside the closet, if angels wore black. The straps were thin on her shoulders, a deep V that had dug shallow, exposing the area almost between her breasts, and it fell smoothly like a waterfall all the way to her toes. Jennie looked timeless in her dress.
But she looked a little too beautiful in it.
"How do I look?" Jennie looked down, cheeks red as she saw Jisoo motionless at the sight of her. But Jennie had been feeling the same, breathless as she saw Jisoo wearing a white dress, and contrary to her loose one, it had sleeves and hung tight to Jisoo's body, emphasizing her curves.
But when she had expected Jisoo to come close, she back away a good distance, sitting onto the edge of the bed, motioning Jennie to come close with her index finger. Jisoo's face was void of any emotion, and Jennie felt worried she had not been exemplary enough. Though it proved not to be the case as Jisoo pulled her by the waist as she got close, Jisoo's face at level with her chest.
"You made my heart forget how to beat. You're not allowed to do that."
So that was the case.
Jennie took Jisoo's face in her hands and help it up. "You have done the same to me."
Jisoo looked down onto Jennie's chest and lead her fingers under the fabric just by Jennie's breast, pulling it to the side to reveal a portion of skin.
Jennie's body froze with anticipation as Jisoo had her lips over her skin, pressing it just enough to have her lipstick leave a mark.
"J-Jisoo, p-people will see." Jennie couldn't even bother speaking.
"Let them, so they will know you're taken, that you're mine."
Jennie blushed as she once again held Jisoo's face to look up at her. She beamed with joy as she said, "All of me are already yours." Jisoo smiled as she gave her one last kiss on her skin.
Jisoo stood, holding her hand out for Jennie. "May I?"
Jennie placed her hand over Jisoo's. "You may."
Jennie looked at the sea of men and women, all gold and silver, images and statues of wealth. Bodies clothed in the most high fashion, faces of good looks, extravagant affairs, ropes of diamonds wrapped around them.
This was Jisoo's world, and it felt like she had been placed in a country where its culture and language she had no knowledge about. She glanced at Jisoo who was already laughing with a group of friends. Smiling to herself thinking Jisoo needed some time with them, she walked her way towards a more peaceful place.
Jennie came out of the French doors into the long terrace where the groups of socialites and the rich have no interest in staying upon. She placed her drink on the small table and went to lean onto the railings.
"A beautiful woman like you does not deserve to be alone in a night like this." Jennie looked back to see Jisoo's brother walking to her, sipping his glass of champagne. "Where's Jisoo?"
"She's with her friends." Jennie replied, Seok Jin coming to stand beside her.
"But, as much as I'd like to stay and talk more, you better get inside, I'm sure that idiot is searching for you." Jennie turned towards him and smiled at his comment.
Jennie chuckled as she followed him towards the door, her eyes fixed on her dress as she held the edges up to avoid having them stepped on, but before they went past the entrance, a man walked past them, attracting the attention of Seok Jin.
"Suho! Come and meet a new friend." He tapped Jennie's shoulder and pointed at him.
"Jennie, this is Suho, a close family friend. Suho, this is Jennie."
Suho's face came into view, and in overwhelming sense of fear came into Jennie. His eyes locked into hers, and his nostrils flared, pure shock flashed on his face, but gone in an instant as he hid it with a wry grin.
Jennie stumbled back, a feeling of disbelief taking over her system. Brown eyes, sharp nose, and those plump lips, he looked so much like Junmyeon. Suho came close to her, his eyes full of a siren's warning as he made the air thick with his voice.
"Nice to meet you.."
He sounded so much like him, too.
Suho extended his hand, and Jennie's heart was running away from her predicament, her whole body trembling with uncomfortable anxiety. Her voice was gone, her mind in a distant place, she couldn't bare to move an inch of herself. When he took her hand instead and bent close to her ear to speak a name she had long buried deep into a locked prison in her mind, panic rose and all the pain from the past suddenly came back as fast as lightning had travelled from the skies to burn the lands of the Earth.
"Juliet."
"Hey, Jennie, I'll be back, just going to talk with some business partners over there. Take care of her, Suho." Seok Jin tapped his back and went inside the ballroom, leaving them behind.
Juliet.
A storm was fast approaching, and Jennie was in the middle of it, the feeling of chaos spreading through her veins in a violent, bloodthirtsy heat. It was a lonely and dark night, where the heavens were near the land, the sky painted gray with anger and fury. Thunders of fear came harsh from all directions, landing on the body of one women. Jennie could not move, nor breathe as he stood close, very close. She tried to hide her emotions, but they escaped to her face from her tight grip, showing her fright and her fragile heart. Suho backed away a step, a smile still flashed across her face, seemingly amused at their meeting.
"The world really is small. I never expected seeing you here, Juliet."
It wasn't her name, was never her name.
"Who are you?"
"By now you must have known. The resemblance to him is quite undeniable, don't you think?"
It was true, but Jennie knew this was a dangerous place to be, he was a dangerous man, and that was enough to have injected a cold blood of fear.
His eyes were dark with threat. "What brings you here, Juliet?"
A sharp intake of breath. "My name is Jennie."
He smiled, and it wasn't intimate, it wasn't amiable, it had all the spice of malice and mischief. "I know."
"What do you want from me?" Jennie hadn't meant it, but her voice trembled, finally showing a clear image of her agitation. It felt as if the spirit of her past, nothing but torment and torture, had finally found life in another host, the host of Junmyeon's brother, and had molded him into a weapon meant to destroy.
"Payment."
Jennie furrowed her brows, confused. "Money?"
Suho laughed, clutching his stomach, and Jennie saw a streak of humor in his face, but then he steadied again, turning serious. "I have an ocean of that. Payment, for my brother."
She remained confused, still. Jennie shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."
He pointed an accusing finger at her, his eyes only a reflection of anger and madness. "You killed him."
It was a slap of an untruth into her face. The scar on her left shoulder twitched, ripping all flesh from the inside just enough to resurface and make itself known again.
"He died in a plane crash."
"He committed suicide. He made that plane crash, because of you."
She stared at him in a long silance of shock, her voice halted at her throat, making it very difficult for air to pass through her system. Jennie stepped back, his words a sharp set of glass dragging themselves through her. "You're lying."
"You're a murderer." He spat, his voice rising and dripping rage and vexation.
Jennie turned away, wanting to get rid of the fear that had paddled its way back to her, eating her from the inside, rising from the ashes from which she had burned it to the departure of its being, to its death.
"I never wanted him to die." She said quietly.
"Liar!! If you never wanted that, you shouldn't have left him. He loved you!"
"I bore his child. You've no knowledge of what I've been through." The tears now tugged at her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. He was not worth her tears.
"I know enough, slut."
But it made big of the little crack that he had made inside her heart. Jennie knew it would be a waste of her breath to beg for him to take back his words, all of it, so they can forget this night had ever been a part of their lives. Talking won't change anything either, but it was what she wanted to do to let him know she was tired of feeling pain, tired of running away from it, and that she had found the two most beautiful women in her life enough to wrap that pain with love. But having Jisoo and Lisa with her now only added to the fear of their uncertain future.
"Be careful, Juliet, your Romeo is not always there to protect you."
Then he rolled his neck, as if they were not talking about anything important, bowing his head, showing mock respect to Jennie. Jennie was afraid, she knew it. He knew it. Suho had taken all of Jennie's words with him, had perfect dominant control over her at that moment, her own fear making a slave out of her body, and he had intended to use his wisely.
He walked away a few steps, but his scent remained in the evening wind, his eyes remained in Jennie's sight, his words remained a knife stuck in her chest. And when he looked back to speak a last set of words to her, all the light had been swallowed by the darkness of her past and pain.
"But don't fret, all things break eventually."
Once he had been gone inside, Jennie's body had already been filled with fear that guaranteed her the reason to be hurt, to be once again be showered with pain, and no one could understand, she couldn't tell anyone, especially not Jisoo. She hadn't known Junmyeon had a brother, he never told her so, but then again, she was only a woman who fell because of her naivety, the truth about his marriage was hidden from her, what more about his family?
Jisoo--her Jisoo, she must hide this from her. Jennie refused to have Jisoo be wrapped in fear with a dash of pure terror. Recalling the words he had said and the words he didn't, maybe Suho did not know about them, and he must not ever know.
This was something she must keep hidden within herself. She could keep it in the place she had once been a fragile and broken woman. She would keep it inside her, and let it break her, rather than have it break Jisoo and Lisa. Pain by herself was easier to carry than seeing her two loved ones be the center of the torment meant for her.
She needed to find Jisoo, to make sure she was safe.
Walking cautiously through the doors, she stayed close to the wall, searching for her love in the crowd of the rich. But it felt like his eyes were everywhere, maybe they were. Every move she took, it felt like Suho knew, and there was nothing worse than having an enemy that was set to have revenge.
She had nothing to gain from this, but he could have everything. She would not allow it. She would not allow him to take away what she had been fighting for, what she had been waiting for all her life. Jisoo and Lisa, he would never be able to tear them apart, Jennie would make sure of it.
And once she had caught the her amongst the people in the fields, Jennie's heart reached out for her, just as her hands were. When she was able to take Jisoo's arm, she clung onto it, the only person that she felt safe with inside the ballroom.
"Jisoo."
Jisoo turned towards her and smiled. "Hey there."
But when she saw how Jennie was uneasy on her feet, looking everywhere, as if she was searching for something, she knew something was bothering her.
"Jennie?"
They needed to get out of here.
Jennie tugged at Jisoo's arm. "C-can we go home now?"
Jisoo was about to tell her they should stay for a couple more time, but she had seen the shiny coat of tears that covered Jennie's eyes.
Something was wrong.
"Okay, baby. We'll go."
***
The drive to the house was silent, Jennie holding Jisoo's hand rather tight. Jisoo had asked her once again what had bothered her, but Jennie only told her to have her ear pressed against the skin above her heart. All the words she couldn't say, she let her heart do it, but once again, they were foreign languages Jisoo could not comprehend. Her fear, her heart was saying it in a language she had yet to tell Jisoo.
The complete truth about her past was something she had yet to tell Jisoo.
She was a stripper.
But she would tell Jisoo, after she had made sure she was still alive tonight, after she made sure she had survived even after a possible cause of her death.
And when they made their way inside their bedroom, Jennie pinned Jisoo to the wall and brought her lips to Jisoo's, desperate and afraid. Jisoo, who had been oblivious to everything, kissed back as hard. Jennie snaked her arms around Jisoo's back to pull the zipper of her dress down.
Jennie kissed Jisoo as if it was their last.
She laid Jisoo down on the bed as if they were never going to be beside each other again, she caressed Jisoo's skin as if it was going to be forbidden after the night, she gave Jisoo's body a taste as if it was something that would soon be far away from her, and she made love to Jisoo as if she would never be able to the next nights.
But Jisoo never knew.
When Jisoo had came and screamed her name, Jennie heard it as if Jisoo was never going to say it ever again. And as Jisoo was about to flip her on her back, Jennie stopped her, because she wasn't certain if she would still be breathing if she would have Jisoo make love to her, possibly for the last time. She would die if this was the last moment they would make love, so she stopped Jisoo, because she wanted to think there were still other nights, even when the idea of them being torn apart was racing above the mountains.
So she had Jisoo lay besides her, wrapping their arms around each other, and have her sleep first. Jennie couldn't even bother to have her eyes close, not wanting to open them and not have Jisoo by her side.
"I love you, Jisoo."
Salty tears streamed down Jennie's face, coating her cheeks in shiny sheen of moisture, her lips trembling with repeated words of love, but when she had felt Jisoo's heart close to hers, to feel its familiar beat against her chest, eventually turned the words into a language of goodbye. Her wall of strength fell, leaving her vulnerable and weak.
"If we'll be apart, know that you'll still be my northern star, my waves in the ocean, my light in the sun, and you'll always be here in my heart."
Jennie embraced Jisoo tight, reveling in the small world that offered nothing but comfort and love in her presence, because she didn't know if Jisoo would be in her arms after this, she didn't know if she would see Jisoo ever again.