ephemeral | Jenlisa [COMPLETED]

Chapter 5

"Is he kidding me?" Jennie muttered under her breath, scowling as she scribbled down a note for herself on the pad of paper she had laying open on the kitchen table next to her laptop.

It was the first Sunday of October. For most people in Sacheon, that meant gathering around and cheering on the Titans or going out to enjoy the beginning of the break from the summer heat on a lazy day off.

For Jennie, it meant working.

It wasn't like Jennie wanted to work on Sunday afternoon, but she knew that she'd thank herself later this week for reviewing the city planning proposals and budgets for the final quarter of the year in advance.

The city council met at the beginning of the month for an overview on the upcoming plans for Sacheon, and their meetings at the end of every quarter were particularly long. She knew this one was going to be even more grueling than normal, given how divisive the council fell in terms of their vision for the city.

And that put a lot of pressure on her to try to keep the peace, while also advising the direction she felt was best.

Her job was a juggling act and while Jennie wouldn't say they could be making room for her in the circus any time soon, she did think she'd been holding her own for the past few years.

Absently, she reached up to toy with her necklace, as she always did when stressed at work, only to remember when she didn't find it resting around her neck, that she'd lost it in Busan.

She closed her eyes tightly, heat rushing up her neck at the night that she'd kept well in the back of her mind. Mostly. She dropped her hand back to the table and forced out a deep breath – no thinking about that today; she had a lot more to do.

The proposals for the management of the large plot of land on the southeast side of town had been due to her at the beginning of the previous week. She wasn't shocked in the least by the fact that she hadn't actually received all of the proposals until closer to Friday.

Her eyes narrowed to slits as she reread the final proposal on her docket, her stress compounding with irritation.

"A mall," the word fell from her lips, coated with disdain.

She didn't have to scroll up to the top of the detailed document to see who'd sent it. She knew very well that this was Kevin Chung's proposal. She knew because he'd been trying to push for this same damn thing for the last year. Ever since the city had voted and approved to demolish the significant plot of land that once had been made up of old, small, crumbling homes. The neighborhood had fallen into disrepair decades ago, and within the last decade had become even worse, with most of the foundations of the homes being declared unsafe.

She let out a heavy sigh as she reluctantly had to save the proposal. As much as she wished she could delete it.

"We'll see later this week which way the council's turning." She grimaced, knowing that this had a real chance of getting passed through, even if only by the slimmest of margins.

She was met with an answering meow that pulled her from her thoughts and glanced up to meet light green eyes. Spoon, one of her three cats, often liked to sleep on the chair directly next to the one Jennie sat in.

And one of Jennie's favorite things about Spoon was how she often made sounds back at Jennie, as if she were answering her. There was always a short meow sound from Spoon, as if she wanted to say something matter of fact and to the point.

Jennie appreciated that about her.

Inevitably, the single sound from Spoon stirred up Dolly, who popped his head up from where he'd been napping, curled up on the chair next to his mother. And immediately, he started on his own vocalizations.