Seoul was more beautiful than she remembered, the cold wind that hit her face as she stepped out of the taxi reminded her of all the times that she would go out on her balcony and she would feel the exact same thing. Nostalgic, that's how she felt right at that moment as she walked down the street next to the train station her heart slightly beating out of her chest. Taking a deep breath she pulled the backpack that was hanging from her back up a little more, her hands getting a good grip of it as she kept walking. Hitting shuffle play on her phone she took the time to look around one more time, spotting the small place that she used to visit every time she would be coming back from her class at the University. "Seoul, you've never looked prettier" She said to herself and pushed the glass door open, the smell of muffins and coffee hitting her immediately.
"Good morning," she heard the lady in front of her greet her with the warmest and purest smile that she had seen coming from a stranger in a while. That was a plus, Korean people and especially people that lived in Seoul were at least polite and always had a smile on their face. "What can I give you?" The woman asked again when she spotted the black haired woman looking through her options and then scanning the glass that kept her away from the food on display. "Four of those, the black and pink muffins," the woman said and pointed at the muffins that had caught her eyes from the moment she approached the glass thing. "And a black coffee," the woman said and took a step back from the counter, making room for the rest of the people that would want to order immediately getting lost in her phone.
And her heart started beating like crazy again, her palms sweaty at the thought of what she was going to do. A rush of energy hit her and she couldn't do anything about it, just reading the first message that popped into her phone as soon as she deactivated airplane mode she could feel her whole body reacting to it. "I just woke up, it's early here, text me when you see this."
-Lisa (6:39AM)
Jennie read and looked up from her screen after checking the time on her phone, four hours had passed since Lisa's last text which reassured her that the woman was probably at work at this time. It would make sense since she usually got up at 7, ate breakfast while Jennie had her late dinner and then she would go to the studio. That was their routine, Lisa would get to work by the time that Jennie would have already finished hers, the few hours time difference they had wasn't always on their side but there were some where both of them benefitted from it.
"Ma'am, your order is ready," the lady's voice reached her ears again, Jennie looking at her direction and immediately feeling her heart stopping and her lungs gasping for air at the same time. Swallowing hard she waited for the woman in front of her to turn around, going up to her was not an option since she wanted to be prepared for anything. Taking one step so it looked like she was approaching in order to receive her order Jennie soon came face to face with Jisoo, the older woman almost dropping everything when she saw her. "Hey," Jennie said while Jisoo looked at her with her mouth hanging open, her arms opening immediately to pull Jennie into a tight embrace, the tightest hug she ever got from her older friend. "Oh my God, what are you doing here?" Jisoo asked and let go of Jennie who grabbed her things and payed quickly before she got pulled by Jisoo to the side, the two of them standing in one of the corners.
"It was Valentine's day a week ago and I just got the chance of coming here," Jennie explained and smiled to herself immediately feeling Jisoo doing the one thing she missed doing the most, pinching Jennie's chubby cheeks that had become her thing when Jennie lived in Seoul still. "I missed you all so much," Jennie sighed and let the bag hang from her arm, using her other one to hug Jisoo who didn't say no, in fact she didn't even move, she just stood there enjoying the time that she got to spend with Jennie who she hadn't seen in almost six months now. "We missed you too, a lot," Jisoo smiled back, jumping on the spot when she felt her back pocket vibrate, Chaeyoung's name appearing on her screen. "Don't tell her I'm here, let it be a surprise" Jennie winked and took a sip from her steaming hot coffee while Jisoo took the call, the older woman walking a few steps away from Jennie.
There was something wrong though. From the moment that Jisoo answered the call the shine that she had on her face disappeared and panic took over its place. She could tell by the way that her older friend turned around to face her, Jennie's heart stopping once again when she saw how panicked and scared Jisoo seemed to be. "Yeah, okay okay, stay there I'll be on my way" Jisoo said and hang up immediately reaching out for Jennie's hand, the older woman pulling Jennie out of the cafe. "What the hell is wrong?" Jennie couldn't hold her concern back anymore, the coffee that she had in her hand nearly spilled by how harsh Jisoo's pull was. "Lisa's in the hospital again, Chaeng said she just passed out in the middle of the kitchen" Jisoo said and stared back at Jennie who lost every hint of colour from her face, turning even more pale than she already was. "We really need to go," Jisoo said and pointed at her car that waited there, Jennie nodding and following her friend even though she still had trouble wrapping her mind around what had just happened.
"Welcome back,"
______________________
She doesn't remember the last time she saw Lisa so helpless. She really doesn't remember ever seeing her as helpless and weak as she was now. The picture in front of her just broke her entirely. She was a ghost, pale and completely drained from any sign of life. And Jennie was not far behind. She was drained as well, but not from life itself, that was the only difference between them. Sitting down in one of the chairs in the waiting room she could feel the reality slipping out of her hands but there was nothing she could do other than wait. Her heart stopped when she heard footsteps approaching her side, her eyes shooting up to meet Chaeyoung who looked like she had gone to the cafeteria before Jennie made it there, her hand holding a cup that Jennie could only assume it was coffee. Her best friend looked at her in shock, blinking a few times before running up to her, their bodies crashing onto each other but it's not like any of them cared to stop it. "Are you really here?" Chaeyoung asked and cupped Jennie's face, her best friend looking back at her with eyes that looked like they were sucked in from how stressed and tired she was probably.
"Yeah, I'm really here" Jennie sighed and peaked behind Chaeyoung's shoulder now, the door that lead to Lisa's room if you pushed the door coming into view and breaking her heart again. "What happened? The doctor hasn't come by yet" Jennie asked, her brown eyes looking for any sort of answers that Chaeyoung's might have been hiding. But there was nothing. Chaeyoung was just as shocked and scared as she was, maybe even more scared. "I, I don't know. She had been complaining about a sharp chest pain for the past week or so...and then..." Chaeyoung started off and that was when she noticed how Jennie looked at her, the woman hanging her head low and avoiding to look at Jennie for some reason. She knew something, she was worried, she looked worried. "What? What's wrong?" Jennie asked almost instantly, as soon as she spotted the first sign of worry that Chaeyoung gave her. The woman in front of her didn't say anything, she simply looked up and exhaled deeply, her heart beating so fast that she was almost sure that Jennie could hear it.
"Park Chaeyoung, spit it" Jennie spoke up again, her voice sounding more serious than ever, her patience running low at this point. The doctors had yet to come by that room and inform her of the situation and now Chaeyoung was staying silent as well. "Lisa, she... Um, she never told you?" Chaeyoung tried taking a different approach, her hands rubbing with each other as she fought with herself so she could find a way to explain what she knew. "No, tell me what? Chaeng please just tell me already" Jennie sighed and ran her hand through her hair, crossing her arms in front of her chest while waiting. "Her family always had a long history of cancer and... She never paid attention to it really..." Chaeyoung said, her voice trembling a little bit when she remembered the way that Lisa's body layed on their kitchen floor only an hour ago. "What?" Jennie's voice came out lower than an actual whisper, her arms falling to her sides as she looked at Chaeyoung in disbelief.
"Ms Park?"" A man's voice interrupted them, neither of them even realised that someone was looking right at them all this time. "Can I talk to you?" The man in a white coat said and both of them nodded, watching him step in the room, a file with Lisa's name written on it being under his arm. "I'm afraid I have both good and bad news." The doctor said and opened his file, checking something out one last time before taking a deep breath, facing both of them. Jennie reached down to hold Chaeyoung's hand, the woman responding to her need to feel some comfort almost immediately. "Unfortunately the scans showed a tumor in Ms Manoban's lungs, this is common to people that have a family history with cancer. The kid has the possibility of 50% to inherit a cancerous cell and unfortunately this is the case here." The man said and as if by queue Jennie's hand started crashing Chaeyoung's, her heart stopping and her breathing decreasing in a dangerous way. "But, I can say that the possibilities of her walking out of this safe and sound once again are pretty high" He then added but that didn't mean that every single worry that passed by Jennie's head was gone.
"Other than that, it's going to be a difficult process and it will be tiring for all of the people involved, especially Ms Manoban herself" he said and took out a page from the file he was holding, the information of a woman coming into sight, Jennie looked at the paper for a couple seconds before she looked at the emergency doctor again. "What... What is this?" Chaeyoung was the one to talk first when she saw that Jennie was having trouble forming her thoughts into words. "This is the new oncologist, she's an excellent doctor and she will be taking over your wife's case" The man said and looked at Jennie who shook her head, looking at Chaeyoung who seemed to be surprised and shocked at the same time when the words rolled of the man's tongue. "She's not my wife but... Thank you, can I see her?" Jennie asked and ran out of the waiting room as soon as he nodded, Chaeyoung followed her soon after, the woman trying to be a bit calmer and more collected than Jennie was.
Pushing the door of Lisa's room once again she was shocked and surprised to see a pair of brown eyes looking back at her, the shocked expression being painted on Lisa's tired face as well. "Jen?" Lisa said in disbelief but she didn't have much time to do anything else than hug Jennie who ran over to her back, the older woman's arms wrapping tight around Jennie who was shaking from fear at that moment. "I'm sorry," Lisa said after a while, Jennie pulling back with tears in her eyes both from being happy to see Lisa but also scared after what the doctor had told them. For Lisa though she wanted to be the one happy to see her, even if she was in the hospital instead of her house. "Don't be sorry, this is not something you could prevent," Jennie smiled and wiped the tears off of her cheeks, cupping Lisa's face and bringing their faces together, her nose touching Lisa's in a loving way.
"I'm not sorry for that... It was Valentine's day and I'm here empty handed," Lisa laughed, her raspy voice reaching Jennie's ears causing her to force a laugh as well, she didn't want to show Lisa how worried she actually was. If she panicked as well then that would be a problem. "I don't want anything, I just want you okay?" Jennie asked and waited until she could see Lisa nod, the older woman just now realizing that Jennie was actually standing in front of her, next to the bed she was laying on. This was real, she was not high from the drugs that they gave her, she really was standing next to her. "The doctor said it's reversible, I can make it" Lisa smiled and wiped the one tear that rolled down Jennie's cheek hoping that she could wipe the woman's worry away at the same time.
"I know, he told us as well" Jennie sighed, her head slightly turning so she could plant a kiss on the woman's palm, Lisa smiling a little bit due to that small act of affection. "Us?" Lisa finally asked and the door was pushed open one more time, Chaeyoung now appearing in front of her, the woman smiling as soon as she layed eyes on a very much awake Lisa and Jennie that was there by her side. She couldn't help but feel happy, she was the one that brought them together in the first place and it felt good to see them finally being able to stand next to each other just like both of them wanted. She couldn't imagine who would be beside Lisa now if she hadn't pushed Lisa to make a decision, if she didn't encourage her to feel the way she wanted to feel. "Chaeng," Lisa smiled, Chaeyoung approaching the bed as well until she was standing right next to her. "Wow, you look like shit unnie" Chaeyoung laughed and managed to make everyone else laugh as well even if it wasn't the best timing ever all of them needed a small break. Even for a split second.
"Watch your mouth, I won't be on this bed forever"