PRETTY SAVAGE | JENLISA

Chapter 39

Jennie

"Happy birthday dear Jennie, happy birthday to you!"

My father and surprisingly Lisa sang to me once the waiter placed my slice of chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream in front of me.

"Blow out the candle, thī̀rạk."

I closed my eyes and made a wish then blew it out. They clapped their hands and I think I was both crying and laughing at this point. I wiped at my eyes gently so as to not mess up my makeup. Lisa reached over and pulled out the candle from my cake and proceeded to hand me a fork. I took a generous bite of the chocolate cake and almost moaned. God, their cake was so fucking good. What did they put into it? It was so decadent and combined with the vanilla ice cream, it was perfection.

I had slept most of the morning and afternoon once we came home from Germany. Lisa wasn't home when I woke up, but she had left me a note along with the birthday dress she bought for me to wear. It was beautiful, modest since my father was with us, and of course, she even bought me a new pair of red heels to go with it. The dress itself was a Chanel silk black asymmetrical mini dress that reached right above my knees with thin straps and a sweetheart neckline.

"Happy birthday, honey."

"Thank you, dad. I'm happy you're here celebrating with me." I reached over the table and held his hand, "I love you."

"I love you, too Jennie. Thank you for planning this dinner." He said, turning to face Lisa.

"You don't have to thank me, Richard. It's her birthday and I knew she would have loved for you to be with us. This is her favourite restaurant so; it wasn't a hard thing to plan."

Lisa then turned to look at me. "Happy birthday, thī̀rạk."

"Thank you, baby." I kissed her cheek.

After we finished eating our chocolate cake slices, Lisa paid the bill so that we could leave. Since we picked up my father along the way, we had to drop him off. By the time we reached my father's house, there was a taxi parked on the curb of his car with the lights on.

"Are you expecting someone?" I asked my dad, as we all stepped out of the car. Lisa placed her jacket over my shoulders once the cool breeze hit, and once we made it to the curb, we saw Jin standing there.

"What are you doing here?"

The sound of the cab driver honking his horn loudly as he yelled from his window for the money interrupted our conversation.

"Go inside, Jennie. I'll pay him." Lisa said as she placed her hand on the middle of my back and gave me a gentle shove.

My father was quiet as we all walked inside of his house. I sat down next to my father, cross-legged, and furious while Jin just sat there across from us with his head bowed. Lisa stepped in and stood behind the couch that I was sitting on. She placed her hands on my shoulder as she spoke. "I called your brother." That had me looking up at Lisa with wide eyes. "What? Why?"

"Because I know you miss him, and I know at the end of today you would be so upset with yourself that you didn't reach out to him. I knew that it would taint your birthday."

"Jennie." My father's voice brought me back from my thoughts. "He's your brother. Family is everything."

"Was it everything when he abandoned us?" I placed my arms over my chest. "You left, Jin. And you did it without turning back once. As if you didn't care about me, about us, about dad. We're a family. It's always been just us three. Yet you turned your back on us when we needed you here with us."