You Captured By Me

Chapter 22

I'm okay. Im okay.

Jennie kept on repeating these two
words out loud like a mantra as she
drove away from the hospital. Rain
started to fall as she reduced the
car's pace after seeing the traffic light at the intersection turn yellow. Her hands clutched the steering wheel a little bit tighter than necessary.

I will not cry. I can do this.

When she finally parked her car
and made her way inside the
condominium building where she
lived, she saw that the elevator was
under repair and was told that she
would have to wait-it will be fixed in fifteen minutes.

Irrationally, she went for the
emergency staircase and started
going up, even though she knew
she lived on the twenty-first floor of
the building. Halfway through the sixteenth floor, her knees finally gave in and she finally surrended to her tears.

Because she lied to her.

She wasn't late that night because of the wedding collection fashion show. It actually ended half an hour earlier as advised. She was late because she had to stop by their office to print twenty four pages of the beach destinations research she made because she wanted to show it to Lisa. She had been planning for weeks now
to go on a quick getaway trip with
her. To have their first vacation as a couple.

But it was too late now, because it
says on the letter of appointment that she will already leave next week. Just like that and she will be gone for an entire year. Thousands of miles away from her.

"Don't leave me, Lisa" she finally
allowed herself to say out loud.

She cried harder, feeling even more
terrible because she felt selfish at wanting to keep her by her side. Lisa is being given the opportunity to do something noble, something bigger and beyond than the society they live in, and she felt like her own worries were so insignificant and small compared to all the children who would benefit from the education and training Lisa would get abroad.

Who am I to stop you from leaving?

She wiped her tears away and
massaged her legs until she felt well enough to climb the stairs again. When she opened the door to her unit, she slowly took off her shoes and her clothes and brought out the stack of pages containing the beach destinations she was dreaming of visiting someday with Lisa, hugging it and pressing it closer to her chest as she lay down in bed and allowed herself to crumble.

I'm not okay.

I'm not okay.

After five hours of sleep, she woke up at past three in the morning, her eyeshurting from crying so much and her throat feeling parched with thirst. She drank a glass of water and checked her emails. When she checked the company inbox, she almost gasped when she saw an email inquiry from a familiar email address.

Jennie,

I'm sorry because It's too sudden.
I don't know where to start to fix our broken family. I don't think you'll trust me again. But Jennie, I just want to say sorry for all the pain I give to you and your mom. I just woke up one day, that it becames clear to me the reason why I'm still alive: you and your mom, us. I know you want me  to just disappear from your life but I can't live without you and your mom. I'm really sorry if I'm still selfish.

Jennie, I still remember all the night I heard you crying. I'm really mad to myself because I was supposed to take care of you away from all of the fire of life yet I am the first one who broke your trust for love. I wish you still give me a chance to prove myself to you and your mom. to make new happy memories together.

You asked us the last time you came home to our house if we still remember the times when we were younger. Yes, I finally remember it all the trials we've been though last night. Jennie, your mom said yes to me again.

Jennie, can you be our wedding planner on our renewal of
vows?

I really miss you, my baby. Come home, I'll cook your favorite dish for you.

Can we invite your girlfriend here?

Daddy

Attached to the message was a photo of her parents' intertwined hands, both of them wearing brand-new gleaming golden rings. Jennie bawled her heart out in front of her computer screen, her heart drowning on an ocean of emotions. Outside, the rain
continued to fall gently.

"One..two..huhuhuh..three..." she
counted as she cried; a habit she had been doing ever since her younger years.

"twenty three..huhuhuhu....twenty...huhuhu
four.."

A knock came on the door at 3:16 am..

She opened the door to Lisa who immediately hugged her the instant they laid eyes on each other. Jennie
decided: she has to be strong for her.

We can do this, Lisa. We can do this.

"Do you need thirty seconds again?"
She asked her lovingly as she hugged her back.

"No, I need two nights. Please come to Jeju with me, Jennie."