Second Overtime | JENSOO & CHAELISA

Chapter XIII

Jennie drove home with the radio turned low.

The melody still reached her, but the singer's voice was muffled and the words barely audible.

She knew it anyway. It was an old, miserable love song, the kind Nayeon would sing and call it "healing," as if it was some sort of cure.

Jennie wanted to turn it off, but she didn't because she knew that driving in silence would be even more annoying.

Her fingers stayed tight around the steering wheel as Nayeon's question circled back again in her thoughts.

Do you like her?

Jennie let out a huff.

"No," she muttered. "Of course not."

She didn't like Jisoo. Well, not like that. 

She was helping her because she was bad at Math and because of that stupid A. She had no choice because Miss Lee had put her in a position where the only way out was through Kim Jisoo and her terrible long division skills.

That was all.

Jisoo would pass. Jennie would get her grade and the tutoring would stop. Then they would go back to ignoring each other the way they had been doing for years.

That was how things were supposed to be.

She tightened her grip on the wheel and frowned; the thought felt less comforting than it should.

"This is so stupid," she whispered, annoyed with herself more than anything.

By the time she pulled into the driveway, she had somehow managed to shove the whole thing somewhere at the back of her mind and pretend it wasn't there.

Then she stepped inside the house and stopped.

Her mother was in the living room waiting for her.

She noticed that she didn't have her usual gadgets or paperwork spread out over the table. She was just sitting there with a cup of untouched tea in front of her.

Jennie's stomach sank because she knew that was never a good sign.

She inhaled a deep breath as she composed herself and tried her best to give her most genuine smile.

"Mom?"

Her mother looked up.

"Jennie, you're finally home. Sit down."

Her voice was calm, but to Jennie, it almost felt like a threat. She had no idea why her mother was waiting for her.

Could she have found out about Jisoo?

The thought alone made her heart hammer against her chest.

"Jennie?"

"Hmm... yes?" she answered, still distracted by the thoughts running through her head.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

Jennie straightened up at once.

"O-oh, yes, of course. I'm sorry, Mom," she said quickly, sitting down on the chair across from her.

Chaerin watched her for a moment, her expression unreadable.

Jennie couldn't tell if she was angry, disappointed, or something else entirely. With her mother, it was always hard to guess. She only knew one thing for certain: whenever Chaerin looked at her like that, she had found out something she didn't like.

Please let it not be about Jisoo.

Please let it not be about Jisoo.

The words repeated in Jennie's head like a prayer, even though she wasn't sure anyone was listening.