we keep this love in a photograph

Chapter 2

It wasn't until a few days later that Jennie received a phone call from Rosie. The sun was just setting, the sky the colour of a bruise beyond the skyline as a thousand pricks of yellow lights lit up the dark, the city never sleeping, not even in the cold of mid-winter, when the nights were bitter and there was a palpable feel of laziness in the streets.

Not for Jennie though, who holed up in her air-conditioned office for at least twelve hours a day, snapping on the phone and arguing with board members while she redrafted the same plans over and over, until they were perfect. A warm breeze cut through the chill of her office, sweeping in through a vent as she cranked up the heating, and she was busy at her desk, illuminated by fluorescent lights as she read the numbers for the last quarter, left on her desk by Jisoo, her CFO.

She'd already sent Karina home for the evening, thinking it pointless to make her assistant suffer unbearably long hours to be at her beck and call, and Jennie was free to spend all night there, finishing up the latest figures and working on a proposal. No one but the janitors and security occupied the building past five, unless there was a department deadline, and Jennie liked the quiet of the office.

Until her cell phone started vibrating on her desk, an unknown number lighting up the screen. It was Jennie's private number, given out to important employees, clients and acquaintances, and Jennie was irritable as she picked up the phone and answered it.

"Hello?" she bluntly answered, her tone betraying her curt impatience at being disturbed. There was a moment of silence on the other end before a voice hesitantly spoke her name.

"Jennie?"

Feeling as if she'd been doused in cold water, Jennie immediately straightened in her chair as familiarity shot through her. Opening and closing her mouth as she fumbled, Jennie softly cleared her throat and raked a hand through her hair, silently cursing herself.

"Rosie?" Jennie cautiously replied, her tone much warmer as a shy smile curled the corners of her mouth.

"Hi! Look, I know it's a bit last minute, but I was thinking of catching a movie and wondered if you wanted to come? If you're busy, I can call back another time-"

Jennie's stomach lurched and she opened her mouth to butt in, but Rosie was still babbling nervously and she had to wait for her to trail off. Her palms felt clammy and her heart was beating rapidly and Jennie felt utterly foolish as she bit back a smile, listening to the sound of Rosie's voice.

"I'd love to, I'm actually just on my way out of the office," Jennie lied, closing her laptop and climbing to her feet.

She was doing no such thing, until that very moment, quickly snatching up the piles of paperwork and dumping them in the top drawer of her desk. Removing her bag from one of the cupboards seamlessly built into the walls, she shoved her laptop inside and made sure she had everything, Rosie still on the other line as she gave her directions.

"Great. I'll meet you outside the cinema on Thirty-Third Street."

They hung up and Jennie made sure everything important was locked away, excitement making her breaths shallow, and with slight concern, she wondered what was wrong with herself. Here she was, leaving work early for perhaps the first time in a long while, for a woman she didn't even know. Just a short phone call had been enough for Rosie to coax Jennie away from the office, and it was as alarming as it was thrilling.

Saving Rosie's number in her phone, Jennie phoned down to security to have her car brought around for her to save time as she stepped out of her office and into the elevator. The Tesla was waiting outside the lobby doors as she called goodnight to the security guards patrolling the lobby and stepped out into the wall of cold. Palm trees lined the wide street J Corporations was situated on, and she could hear a hundred voices mingling above the sound of passing cars.