Loved You First (Jenlisa) COMPLETED

19

Jennie hung up the phone and covered her mouth and the smile that tugged. Her strategy session with Siwon had gone better than expected. He'd received the signed paperwork cementing their partnership, and had taken a successful meeting with a very interested distributor.

She couldn't believe this was really happening.

Things were looking up, indeed.

And she knew instantly who she wanted to share the news with, but then she sighed as she remembered the reality of why that wasn't so easy.

The fight she'd had with Lisa had come out of nowhere. And its effects left her shaken, as did Lisa's assertions that Jennie didn't seem capable of living a life without Seulgi in the forefront. But the thing that got to her most of all was the underlying fear that Lisa might be right.

As she'd pulled milk from the refrigerator that morning, she'd come face-to-face with the photos in question, the ones that had inserted themselves into the most wonderful evening she could remember having in a long time. And as strong as the feelings she had for Lisa were becoming, she still couldn't bring herself to take the photos down. It was too final. Too concrete an action.

Instead, she'd stared at them as doubt circled. But somehow, in the wake of her fantastic mood, the issues they needed to sort through could wait. She missed Lisa. Besides that, she knew Lisa would be thrilled for her news despite their fight, because that's the kind of person she was. She grabbed her keys and headed out with purpose in her stride.

As Jennie approached the clinic, she saw the lights. Two cop cars and an ambulance. She cringed at the sickening red and blue swirl that forever haunted her memory, a reminder of her darkest day. But why were they here? It didn't make sense to her less than rational mindset. And then the fear crept up on her. Her heart pounded out of her chest and she had trouble inhaling, almost as if she'd forgotten how.

It was the beginning of a panic attack. She gripped the steering wheel and began to talk herself down. The clinic had minor emergencies all the time. Patients that needed to be transported quickly to a hospital or the occasional case that was too big to be handled locally. It wasn't that unheard of. Probably it was something along those lines. At least that's what she kept telling herself.

She parked her car across the street as a police cruiser blocked the entrance to the clinic's parking lot. She was moving quickly because, well, she had to. There was a small grouping of curious onlookers standing along the perimeter the police had set up.

"Does anyone know what happened?" she asked the group in general.

Someone from the group looked her way.

"Lisa Manoban is hurt and unconscious inside. Not sure how yet. At least, that's what the rookie cop said."

Her feet were moving before her mind could fully process what she just heard. Oh God, no. Her body went numb with dread. A million crazy and terrifying thoughts streaked across her mind in rapid succession and she found herself scarcely able to feel her legs but she forced them forward anyway.

Chanyeol was in handcuffs in the waiting room when she entered the clinic. She'd never liked the guy. He was the type who would blatantly leer at a woman on the sidewalk, make inappropriate comments, and then high five his buddies about it in plain sight of everyone. And that was when he was sober.

"Where is she?" she managed to ask the young cop standing next to Chanyeol.

"Ms. Kim, you can't be in here right now. I'll need you to wait outside."

But it wasn't like she could exactly listen to him.

She was already halfway down the hallway, glancing into exam rooms with the young cop calling after her when she found them.

Two police officers were taking a statement from a young woman Jennie didn't recognize. Marco seemed to be straightening up the disheveled room, and Jin was leaning over someone on the exam room table.

"Where is she? Is she okay? Jin!"

He turned at the sound of her voice, revealing Lisa lying on the exam room table peering at her from around Jin's body.

"Hey, it's Jennie," she murmured.

Relief. It was a wonderful thing. She took a moment to breathe because she'd forgotten to on the way in. She'd been terrified, more so than she could wrap her mind around in the moment. And as she'd made that alarming trek from the parking lot into the clinic, something had come loose within her. But she would deal with that later. The important thing was that Lisa was conscious and sitting right here in front of her.

She inhaled again and held the doorjamb to steady herself as life floated back into the reasonable column.

"Lisa, I told you to hold still," Jin instructed her.

Jennie moved into the room. "Is she okay?"

He concentrated on Lisa's forehead and applied a stitch. "She will be. Because I happen to be good at my job."

Lisa waved him away, her attention on Jennie.

"How did you know I wanted to see you?"

She smiled lazily as Jin applied a series of Steri-Strip bandages to an angry looking gash on her forehead that was already swollen and purple.

"What happened?" Jennie asked, moving to Lisa's side.

Lisa raised a delicate hand to her head.

"Asshole throws a mean elbow. Just as I was ready to clock his ass too."

Jin threw a glance to Jennie. "Chanyeol got a little out of hand. Don't worry. Besides the gutsy sister here, no one else was hurt. She was out for a few minutes and came to with a nasty little wound that is going to smart for a couple of days. Needed a few stitches too."

Lisa closed her eyes. "I saved Jin's life."

Jennie raised an inquisitive eyebrow and turned to Jin for explanation. Lisa wasn't herself.

"She was a superhero. That's true. Now she's a drugged superhero," he supplied. "In case you couldn't tell."

Aha. That explained the extra exuberance. She surveyed Lisa who lay back on the exam room table and stared upward.

"Room is kind of spinning and it's sleepy in here."

Marco set down the tray of instruments he'd gathered from the floor and surveyed his daughter.

"We had to loosen her up with a few Valium before we could numb the area and stitch the wound. She's always had an aversion to needles."

"I like the stuff you gave me though," Lisa murmured. "More of that please. Put it on my tab."

"I think you've had enough, Lalisa," Marco said, smoothing her hair. "We should get you home. We'll need someone to watch her though, after such a powerful blow to the head."

"Uh, I can knock off early and take her over to your place until Mom's home," Jin said to his father. "Yeji can reschedule the rest of my afternoon."

"Jennie can take me," Lisa said quietly.

Marco turned to her in question. "I don't want to inconvenience you. But if you don't mind,"

"She doesn't," Lisa answered, sitting up. "We get along really well."

Jennie took a step back as the panic flared once again. "Actually, I can't. I have to run some errands. I'm glad you're okay."

She nodded once and turned for the door, but not before she saw the look of hurt flash in Lisa's eyes. It sliced through her, but it was nothing compared to what she'd have felt if the afternoon had turned out differently.

Those moments, on her way into the clinic, when she didn't know...

It was too much. All of this was just too much.

And she couldn't do it.