we keep this love in a photograph

Chapter 44

After a restless night of pacing, frustration, worry and misery competing inside her for which one would wear her out first, Jennie spoke to Rosie in the early hours of the morning, her office still dark, illuminated by the harsh light of her computer monitor as the floorboards stopped creaking and she felt the knot in her chest unwind. The day she'd had was written on her face, a slight tremor in her voice, raspy from exhaustion, and her smile barely a faint twitch,

Insisting that she'd slept, that she was okay and just a little disappointed with her mom, Jennie tried to ease Rosie's worry, wishing she could reach through the screen and smooth away the crinkle between her eyebrows. As it was, she felt marginally better after speaking to Rosie, despite the visceral hatred she felt for the fatigues, the beige wall of the tent she was in, the distant shouts and the way Rosie's lips already looked chapped from the heat.

When she had to go, Jennie felt weariness seep into her, right down to her bones, and went to get ready for work. It was a long day, irritating and unproductive with a new prototype of her nuclear battery malfunctioning, a client pulling out of negotiations and half a dozen sporadic calls from her mother that she had the pleasure of declining.

The rest of the week followed much the same pattern, insomnia plaguing Jennie as she paced in the office in the attic, the weather growing greyer and cooler and work pissing her off. She wished she had the liberty of calling in sick, of vanishing until she felt better, but as rich as she was, it came with the responsibility of running the company. For all her complaints to Jisoo though, Jennie would fight tooth and nail if anyone even considered trying to displace her from her position as CEO.

Still, on Friday evening, after a long day of work, Jennie needed a break and as she rummaged around in her handbag for her keys, standing in the elevator with Jisoo, she paused. "I need a drink. Do you need a drink? God, I can't even remember the last time I got drunk."

"Well, Jess is at a slumber party tonight so ... sure."

"Hang on, let me make a call," Jennie said, fishing out her phone and calling Alice. "Hey, what're you two doing?"

"It's crime shows and face masks night."

"Come out for a drink with me. I'm bringing a friend from work; Jisoo."

Snorting, Alice replied with scepticism, "are you feeling okay?"

"It's just ... been a long week," she softly admitted.

"We'll meet you at Al's in thirty minutes."

Lips curling into a small smile, Jennie's shoulders dropped as the tension bled out of her. "You're the best; see you there."

Spilling out of the elevator and into the evening, a brisk wind whipping their hair around their faces, Jennie hailed them a cab and sank into the cracked leather seats, tobacco and pine heavy in the confines of the cab as the heater stuttered out gusts of warm air. They were dropped off outside the grimy front of the bar, a neon sign blinking in the twilight while muffled music was contained behind yellowed windows plastered with so many old posters that they couldn't even see inside.

"This is where we're going?" Jisoo incredulously asked, her nose wrinkling faintly with distaste.

Laughing, Jennie touched her arm as she leaned in, "I felt the same the first time I came here. It's a bit of a dive, but it's alright when you're inside. Maybe just ... don't touch anything. And the floors are a bit sticky. And don't use the bathroom."

"I didn't think you'd be caught dead in a place like this."

"It wasn't by choice. Nothing here is top shelf."