Enigmatic Eyes | JENLISA

Chapter 25

"Jennie, I... well, you see, you know that I-er, I love you, yeah?" Lisa began, already prepping herself for that familiar quiver that would soon begin to rewire her motor and speech functions. She paused for a second, swallowing the nervousness down a constricted pipe. "A-and you and I, we've been together a while now... well, I know it's only been a few months, seven to be exact... or eight... wow – um," she was losing it, she could feel the control slowly slipping away from her, "anyway, my point is that, it may not seem like a whole lot of time but for some reason, it feels like we've known each other a lot longer than that. Sometimes it feels like I've known you my whole life. As though you were always meant to happen."

She cleared her throat before diving for the big finale. "You see, Jennie... before you happened, nothing really mattered. Y-you changed that. You're just so incredibly beautiful, and smart, and talented, and strong, and- god you're just so fucking amazing –oops, sorry, didn't mean to curse, ah!" Slap to the forehead, nice. "Sorry, um, I-I really suck at this..." audible sigh, cringe, continue, "Jennie, what I'm trying to say is," Lisa gave up the pretense of surprise and dropped to a knee, opening a small, suede box in the process, "Jennie Ruby Jane Kim, I love you more than anything in the fucking Universe. Will you please fucking marry me?"

One-Mississippi

Two-Mississippi

Please say 'Yes', please say 'Yes'!

Five-Mississippi

She remained in that position for a few seconds longer, counting each one in her head. Lisa had read "somewhere" (How to Propose for Dummies, to be exact) that the proposer should give the proposee roughly ten seconds to process the question.

Eight-Missi-

"YES! Oh, yes, Lisa, darling, I'll fucking marry the snot out of you!" Seulgi screamed out loud, bursting through her bedroom door and sending an unsuspecting Lisa scrambling to her feet, internally cursing herself for not locking it beforehand. "Uh, actually on second thought," Seulgi continued, snatching the suede box out of Lisa's trembling hands, "I take that back. I ain't a gold-digger but I'm gonna need something better than this outdated ring, honey-buns. Hope you got your girl a rock that's a little more current than that."

Lisa, in her embarrassment at being caught mid-practice, slapped the box out of Seulgi's hand. "You ruined my moment, dipshit!" She snarled, pushing past Seulgi and plopping down onto her bed. "I almost had it!"

"Yeah, sure you did," Seulgi snickered, sitting down next to her cousin, "let's just say you were La La Land close to having it. Sorry, kid, but that was pitiful to listen to."

Lisa scowled, but remained silent. She knew Seulgi wasn't entirely wrong.

"It's been two fucking weeks and I still can't get this speech right," Lisa admitted, avoiding Seulgi's amused gaze. "What am I supposed to do if I screw it up tonight, Seul? Just thinking about it, about ruining it for Jennie, makes me wanna hurl. She deserves perfection. Not some mumbling, stumbling idiot."

Seulgi sighed. It seemed the moment to torment her cousin was regrettably short-lived. "Look, squid, that girl is crazy about you, okay? I've no doubts that she'd say 'Yes' even if you actually did hurl all over her while spouting that crap I heard you say earlier. I don't think it would make an ounce of a difference." Seulgi shoulder-bumped Lisa in an effort to cheer her up. "Throw yourself into the moment tonight. Let it take its course and I promise you the right words will find you before you find them." Seulgi immediately regretted the heart-felt advice the second she caught the sideways glance Lisa threw her. "O-or so I hear. But what do I know! Just saying that when I propose to Jisoo, that's what I'd probably do. Maybe. I guess it depen-"