Foreigner Of Time [Book II]

8

That night, Lisa was carried back in by the servant girls again.

Jennie went to dampen a towel for her again, and when she came back, Lisa was already sitting up on the bed and looking at her with a happy smile.

Jennie sat down next to Lisa, then she passed the warm towel to her, "Pretending to be drunk again?"

Lisa chuckled as she took the towel, then she wiped her face with it attentively. 

She poked some fun at Jennie, "You're so cute, you'd actually fall for the same trick the second time around."

Jennie curved the corners of her lips a little, then she received the towel from Lisa naturally and said, "Seeing how well you hit it off with brother-in-law, I thought that you've really gotten drunk this time."

Jennie got up and put the towel back in the basin, then she heard Lisa say, "What's there to hit off with a bunch of men?"

Jennie cast her gaze down without responding. 

She blew out the lights, then she returned to the bed.

Lisa scooted closer towards Jennie. 

She studied her under the faint light for a moment, then she asked, "What's wrong?"

"What?"

"Why do I feel as if you're not in a great mood? Did tea with your sisters go unpleasantly?"

Lisa was just asking tentatively, but it brought about Jennie's silence in return.

Lisa scooted closer towards her again, then she pressed on, "Did I actually get it right? What happened?"

After yet another long silence, Jennie finally told Lisa about what Katty said today. 

Lisa fell silent once she heard everything too.

Jennie sighed, then she said faintly, "Perhaps I can more or less understand what you felt back then now."

The 'back then' that Jennie mentioned was already very long in the past, but Lisa's mind accurately replayed the scene of that day.  

"Nini, can I hug you?"

Jennie nodded. 

Fearing that Lisa couldn't see it, she gave an "Mm" too.

Lisa laid down on Jennie's arm, put her own arm through the space between Jennie's nape and the pillow, then she pulled her into her arms, letting her rest on her shoulder.

Lisa rested her chin on the top of Jennie's head. 

She nudged her gently, then she asked, "It feels terrible inside, right?"

"Mm."

"Did you feel a sort of pent-up feeling, like you can't breathe? Powerlessness, indignation?"

Lisa's description struck the walls of Jennie's heart accurately. 

The emotion inside her that had surged with no opening to escape from poured out all at once.

Jennie grasped a corner of Lisa's middle clothing tightly.

Once wrinkles appeared on the snow-white cloth, she finally spoke up again, "Actually, what Katty talked about isn't really rare news. I don't know why either, but when I heard her talk about this story with a sort of... a sort of indifferent attitude, I suddenly felt upset. I... recalled how you reacted back then right away. I was thinking, at that time, did you feel the same as I did right now? What made me even more upset was that, other than Katty, the three of us were educated, but why was Taylor and Selina just as indifferent as her? Aren't we all women...? Even a fox mourns the death of a hare, so why don't they feel even a little..."