SHE'S THE CITY GIRL | JENLISA ✓

11

Chapter Eleven: Not City Girls
JENNIE'S POV

My dad left for work and I raced upstairs to my room. I open the door and call for Olive and see him racing after me into my room. I shut the door close and hop on my bed, pulling the blanket on me.

I open my phone and immediately got a notification from contacts from my friends.

"jennie!! do you wanna hang out tmrw? seulgi here :)"

I sigh and smile.

It's not that I don't wanna spend time with Seulgi and Lia, it's just that I wanna catch up with Lisa, Rose and Jisoo. I missed them a lot.

"Sorry Seul. I have plans tomorrow, but we can hang another day?"

I send the text message and close the app, afraid of Seulgi getting frustrated at me.

I go to facebook and open the app, I scroll through the main feed before getting a friend request.

Lisa Manoban sent you a friend request!

Oh my gosh! I squeal in excitement and Olive sat down on my lap.

I immediately pressed the accept button and smiled even wider when facebook gave me a notification saying You have accepted Lisa Manoban's friend request!

I smile. I go to the messages and gave her a welcoming 'Hello.'

"Hi Jennie!"

I smile even more like a total idiot. Clearly, love is blind.

"Hii! do you have any plans tomorrow?" I messaged.

"Hm nope. Why?" Lisa texted back.

"Do you maybe wanna hang out at the mall again tomorrow?" I replied.

"Ooh ok! should I invite the girls?" She messaged.

Olive barked as he see my smile grow wider every second. I wonder if he could tell my happiness from my smile. That'd be cool.

"Sure. Let's all meet up after lunch, yea?"

As I waited for Lisa's reply, Olive barked again.

I gave him a head pat and he took my hand in his. Awe. Cute.

"Hey boy," I began to make small talk with him. "Have you found love?"

And he started barking at me.

Hehe. I giggle cheekily.

"Me?" I ask.

He barks again.

"I love you too. But I'm nervous," I said.

Olive stood up from my lap and stuck his tongue out like he was asking why.

I sigh and look back at my phone, waiting for Lisa to reply.

"It's just that, she makes me feel so good. She makes me crazier. Feels like Im falling in love. I'm lost in her eyes," I said, matching song lyrics from a familiar song.

Olive just stares at me with his big doe eyes.

I smile softly at him and felt my fingers tingling.

"Of course! That's all right. Cya!" Lisa responded.

I quickly replied a thumbs up at her message and closed my phone.

I lay down beside Olive and continued to pat his head. Dogs does understand us. Our feelings and emotions. I believe that. And maybe that's why us humans understand them too. We have a connection.

Then I wonder if Olive realizes how nervous and stressed out I am cause he immediately went closer to lay down beside me when he noticed my fingers moving oddly.

I sigh and smile. Maybe I should just tell Lisa about my feelings tomorrow. It's now or never since what if we drift apart from each other again? Exactly.

Well, I'll worry about that tomorrow. For now... I'll sleep.

—

The next day I woke up at 8:30 AM and when I did get the motivation to take a shower I almost fell asleep in the bathroom.

Great. Just great.

I finished taking a shower and change into a plain vintage skirt and white t-shirt that made me look like a plastic doll. I dried my hair using my blow dryer and proceed to comb it. I apply on a little bit of makeup that itched my skin- but I dealt with it anyways, and go downstairs for breakfast.

"Good morning honey."

I was surprised when my mom continued to put some rice on her plate at the dining table.

"You're not going to work today?" I ask. She normally leaves at 6 but it was about 9 o'clock now.

She hums and adds some rice on my plate, giving me a bowl of ham for me to eat.

It's been a while since my mom stayed at home this early in the morning, and let alone cook!

"Mom, will we have visitors? What's with all the food?" I ask, looking around our dining table filled with goods, it was like we were at a buffet.

She giggled and shook her head. "Oh no, we don't, sweetheart. I just decided to cook a big meal for us two. Your father already left for work," she said, taking a spoonful of what seemed like soup.

I nod and smile softly at her, trying to act all calm and eat.

"What seems to be the problem, darling?" She asks, noticing the sad expression in my face.

I start to tear up slowly, wiping the tears on my face.

"Do you not like the food? I mean, I can cook something else." She said, standing up to head to the kitchen.

"No. It's okay, mom." I said, sniffling.

"Oh well, what's wrong?" She asks, sitting back down on her chair.

I wipe my last tears and give her a soft smile. "It's just that I'm worried that I'll wake up from this dream and you'll be off to work by then," I said, taking a spoonful of rice.

"Awe," My mom coos at me as she gave me her charming smile. "Don't be worried, sweetheart. This is real. This is not a dream," she said.

I smile at her, finally realizing I am not dreaming.

"Mom... you changed a lot." And before I could even stop my words they already escaped my lips.

I look over at my mom, ready for an earful of lectures. But instead she didn't react at all and continued to eat.

"I'm sorry I changed, Jennie," she said, wiping her lips with a tissue.

I give her a shocked expression. She's... sorry?

"I know I changed a lot when we arrived at the city," she said. "But that's because the city influenced me a lot and I just wanted to fit in."

I understood my mom at that very moment. This isn't me. Im not a big fan of shopping, and I don't even like the paint my nails. But I only do because I wanna fit in- you know, with Seulgi and Lia. Because they're actual city girls! But when I saw Lisa again I realized that I should've been me all along. And I don't need to fit in because I had no problem with standing out all along.

"Me too," I said, shocking my mother. "I've been doing what I'm doing because I wanted to fit in."

She gave me her proud smile.

"But I realized that this isn't me. I don't even like what I'm wearing. And this makeup irritates my skin." I said, scratching my face.

"Well, let's go change into comfier clothes. This isn't us. We aren't city girls," my mom said, taking my arm as she walked me upstairs for us to change.

I missed my mom a lot. And I've been so blinded by the fact she changed that I barely took the time to understand her.

But it's all okay now, because I understand.