The Love We Had | JENSOO [18+]

Chapter Twenty: Waiting For You

It was late at night when Jisoo checked into the bed and breakfast. Through the dirt and grime she could see that Seo Yi-Sook, the sweet elderly innkeeper, still recognized her, both from her many years spent in the town and at the lake, and her recent tabloid exposure. When her eyes lit up, Jisoo slipped her a fifty and made a casual remark about absolute privacy. She nodded her understanding

Jisoo stood unmoving in the shower, barely able to muster the resolve to scrape the mud off her face and arms. How could she have read things so wrong? Was this a summer fling? A short-lived country escapade with an expiration date? She hadn't seen it that way, and everything she'd gathered from Jennie, her demeanor, her words, told her Jennie didn't feel that way either. Was it ever said outright? She couldn't recall.

She supposed that outside of the cocoon of this small town, lakeside tryst that real life was awaiting both of them, and she'd been foolish to think it was something substantial. The sudden appearance of the tall skinny, curly brown-haired man she'd assumed to be the ex, was proof that it wasn't.

With the languid movements reserved for the truly depressed, Jisoo lowered her aching body onto the bed and turned on the television. She lost herself in a terribly made-for-TV movie and, when she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, she turned on her side in the foetal position and drifted into a restless sleep.

**********

Kim Soojoo sat her rock hard body, clad in a black and gold barely-there bikini, at the pool bar. half submerged in water, and ordered a daiquiri. The Tahitian barman apologized for being out of the necessary strawberry syrup, and Soojoo ripped him a new one, ranting about incompetence and being able to get what she wanted on her honeymoon.

Across the pool, Jisoo could hear her new wife's shrill voice mid-tirade. It was amazing she could sing as beautifully as she did, given the harshness of her scolding.

She lowered her body in the water and stalked towards her, humming the theme from Jaws, a playful glint in her eye. She knew how to distract her.

Jisoo grabbed Soojoo from behind and pulled her from the stool, dunking her entire body in the water. She thrashed her around in a circle yelling Shark attack.

When she finally let Soojoo stand up on her own two feet, Jisoo realized her mistake. Soojoo's bleach-blonde hair pointed in all directions and her overdone black eye makeup was running down her face. Her scowl said it all. but she spoke anyway.

"You shithead!"

"I'm sorry, babe, I was just being silly and..."

"Now I have to go back to the room! I told you earlier I didn't want to get my hair wet today!"

"Relax! We're on vacation!"

"Don't you tell me to relax!" Soojoo screamed as she stomped out of the pool, still grumbling as she disappeared between the cream-colored villas.

Jisoo looked at the bartender, now snickering with a maid who was passing by and witnessed the ugly scene. She smiled, shrugged her shoulders, and swam away.

**********

Jisoo's breaststroke was vigorous.

Fuck's sakes, I've killed her with a tsunami.

She reached the upturned floaty mattress and grabbed on, sputtering out the water that had invaded her mouth and nose. When her vision cleared she saw Jennie Kim treading water with her arms crossed on the floating toy in total serenity, idly awaiting her arrival in the middle of the lake. In fact, she was smiling. Wait a second, she was making jokes.