hell or flying | Chaelisa

Chapter 39

"Nothing?" I questioned incredulously.

"Nothing," Lisa affirmed with a nod of her head.

"What—" I shook my head, "No, he must have said something, anything,"

With a sigh, Lisa put her legs up on the couch to face me, and I mirrored her action, gauging her expression and ignoring the tingles the contact of our bare knees evoked. Reaching for my hands, I let her take them as she played with my fingers mindlessly, a small smile spreading on her lips as she twisted the ring promptly sitting on my index finger from all those years back, when she'd given it to me.

However, the minor distraction didn't last long as she looked up from her lap, her apologetic eyes meeting mine, "He avoided all my questions completely. Either he would deflect or change the flow of conversation completely. No matter what I asked, he wouldn't tell me anything,"

"Did you ask about Chanyeol specifically?"

Lisa nodded.

"And?"

"I don't know," she looked out the window behind the couch, staring into the distance absentmindedly, probably organizing her own thoughts. Despite my growing impatience, I let her, "He... It was so strange," Lisa mused, "When I mentioned his name, his face just went... pale. Paler than it was anyway. Like he just saw a ghost or something. But what was the most strange about it was that the expression only lasted for maybe a second. Like an initial shock before it morphed back into the hollowness and emptiness he greeted me with,"

"Was there any other reaction?" I asked gently, knowing that speaking about Bam wasn't exactly an easy conversation topic for the short-haired woman, "Did he say anything at all?"

"Not at first, no. But I insisted. Whatever I said, he would just shake his head, and after a minute or so, his entire frame began to tremble. He was growing fidgety, almost as if he were hiding something from me. Hell, he wouldn't even look me in the eye, not that he was particularly fond of eye contact even when I came in. But this, this was different. I don't know, I can't explain it,"

"You said not at first. Did he say something later on?"

"I told you, he didn't tell me anything at all. The entire visit was just a waste of time,"

"No," I refused, "That can't be it. Lisa, there has to be something. You said not at first so he must've told you something,"

"I mean yeah he did, but nothing we don't already know,"

"Like what?"

"You know the usual, "He's dangerous," and "Stay away from him,". As I've said, nothing we didn't already know. I realized he wouldn't tell me anything at all and gave up, instead I asked him why he did it,"

Knowing this was a sensitive topic for Lisa, I squeezed her hands and though I knew she could feel my eyes on her, she wouldn't look up. I didn't know whether it was fear of what she'd see, but I wished she would just look at me. That she would meet my eyes without worry. I've already told her how I felt about the situation, and I knew how much this hurt the younger woman sitting in front of me.

But I guess I just had to trust, she remembered. So I didn't push. Instead, I clasped her hands as they rested in her lap, waiting patiently for her to open up and trust me. Minutes passed, and I thought she wouldn't say anything, but then she looked up, her eyes glazed over and I reflexively pulled her closer, Lisa's legs across my lap as I wrapped my arms around her back, letting her rest her head in the nook of my shoulder.

"He said he hated I was with you," her voice trembled, "That he loathed you for turning me into something I never was, into a disgusting pig. He said he hated how easy everything was for you and how unfair it was you got everything handed to you on a silver platter but still refused when he couldn't. When he had to work day and night to even earn a place within the empire, our mother had built, while all you had to do was stand there, doing nothing at all. He thought you were a bad influence," my arms around the trembling woman tightened and I placed a kiss on the top of her head as she tried to regulate her breathing pattern.