A Taste of Tulips [JENLISA]

A Taste of Tulips

[Shishou: April is far off, but I love to fool around. So, here's the real Finalé. No special chapter or Epilogue, I think?]

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I was granted another life—a second life. Nah, not second, really. I was always treading on the threshold of my death's door since I signed in. A near-death experience isn't new. I couldn't even count the times I dodged the grim reaper and sometimes walked past him.

That aside, let us swing onto the present.

Music plays in the background. A sweet song about love. The melodic line appears first in the bassoon, then the harp, against a descending chromatic motive in the strings.

Pensive and meditative but never boring, the songs inhabit the open space as though they're silent sculptures woven using sound waves. Making it more enchanted than usual: birds chirping, branches rustling, bliss inundating around the greenery.

What really enchanted me about everything else are the shimmering synthesizers, which sound like a million fragments of resonant harmonics glittering in my eardrums. Every effort to get ready for this day was a marathon; pretty much likely it involved ample planning and every intricate detail. Though it's Auntie who handled everything.

I stood in stunned silence beside my father, filled with amazement. Moreover, silence fell over the open space. Everything just fades into the background as Jennie walks in the flowery aisle with her parents on each of her sides. She was shrouded in veils of bright light and was absolutely stunningly gorgeous in her white dress, to the tiniest details that really stood out, along with her ravishingly bright smile. The sunlight came pouring into her features, and it inflated some fascinating effects. Someone said from the side that she was like a goddess descending. I can't argue with something so obvious. Jennie, however, didn't heed everyone, as she was all too focused on me.

Someone should nudge me, shove me, or kick me to bring me back to reality. I was literally submerging myself in my own world of phantasm. The harmonious music was faintly heard, and all I did was stare at her like a dumbass.

I had never experienced it before, but I will never forget how deeply affected I felt at this moment. I had lost track of the moment and did not realize that she was now standing at my fore, with her father stretching out her hand to me. I found myself choking up, tongue-tied, and scrambling for the right words to say.

Until such a raucous voice snapped me out, "Get your ass together, Lisa!" judging from the nasty tone—no doubt, it was Jisoo, sitting together with our circle of friends and a few of our colleagues and my unit who made it to our wedding destination. Except for one. A brief moment of levity amid the serenity. I mull over for a moment, wishing the person who had grown close to my heart, Kai, was here. About him, he is currently serving his sentence for being in cahoots with such a syndicate. I already forgave him; the same goes for Jennie. She actually drilled the thought into my clogged mind that forgiveness would set Kai and me free. If we don't find a heart to forgive one another, then history will repeat itself. Vengeance after vengeance. An act of never-ending revenge. More so, God wholeheartedly forgives his children; why wouldn't a mere human like myself? Kai's still has a special place in my heart. And there's also my father, who has been nudging me by the elbow for, I don't know, how long. And, finally, I had pulled myself together when the woman in her beautiful white dress giggled, tearing me out of my deep reverie.

"You should take my hand, Lisa; we don't have all day," she said in jest. She then put on a manner in which she intended to be facetious and was less nervous for me, holding out her hand, which I took hold of.