The Love We Had | JENSOO [18+]

Chapter Twenty-Three: Invisible Woman

Jennie would have committed murder for wifi. And she knew just who she would kill in her fantasy too. Kim Soojoos' sunken cheeks and burned hair violated her thoughts.

What does that woman even know about Jisoo? To think she's capable of devising some nasty revenge scheme tells more about her character than Jisoo. She's gentle and kind, and why did she ever marry that demon spawn?

Jennie replayed the confrontation again and again, trying out different comebacks and different scenarios. In all her obsessing, she had yet to come up with any better alternative to stop the demolition of the treehouse. It wasn't ideal, setting up yet another showdown between them, but Jennie knew that if the world sided with her, Soojoo wouldn't dare tear down the tree and risk tarnishing her image even further.

She longed for news from the outside world about the whole debacle. Had it caught on? Did anyone care? If the reporters hanging around town and all down the main access road to the cottages in the area were any indication, it was total madness out there.

Jiyong had managed to get past the blockade in the car and had gone to town to connect to the internet on Jennie's behalf. He stepped out onto the lawn shaking his head and grumbling. Jennie didn't want to know what he'd been through to get the news.

He tossed a newspaper at her, as well as some of the latest gossip magazines.

"There. Have your fill."

"And what does the internet have to say?" She feigned to think about the things he must have read.

"Well," said Jiyong, climbing the stairs with an obvious ferocious need to hide away. "According to Seoul Chit Chat dot com you're in the lead 72 to 28 percent."

"Well done, dear!" chimed Chaerin as she wrapped an arm around Jennie.

It was hard to celebrate. All she could think about was Jisoo. Where was she? Was she in 72 percent? Or was she out there somewhere hating her and wishing her face would disappear from the headlines?

Jennie opened up the magazine and searched for her name. It wasn't hard to find.

There were photos of the treehouse, of herself, of Kim Soojoo, and stills taken from Jisoo's karaoke YouTube debut.

God, she looked beautiful that night.

The magazine had published comments from readers.

"Soojoo doesn't deserve her!"

"She's too beautiful for both of them."

"Jennie is a total bombshell, I don't care what any loser ex boyfriend has to say."

She grinned at this one. Thankfully someone had seen past the grimy treehouse confrontation video.

Jiyomg watched her devour the gossip and crossed his arms.

"I did manage to find another Tubey video."

"You mean YouTube?" Jennie turned to face him. "Of what?"

"Of your little canoe interview."

Her inhale caught her throat. "And?"

"Half a million views."

"Yes!" she cried, running and grabbing her father in a bear hug.

"All right, all right," he said, squeezing back and breaking into a smile. "People seemed to really enjoy our photo album."

"I thought they might," she said.

"I'll overlook the fact that the whole world saw me in my shorts and with my permed hair."

Chaerin almost burst from her fit of laughter.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Jennie exclaimed, finally releasing Jiyong and giving her giggling mother a high five. She turned back, one last thought occurring to her. "Any news about Jisoo?"

"Not a thing," he replied. "They're calling her an invisible woman." Jiyong pursued his lips. He'd been dreading sharing that bit of information.

"I see." said Jennie. She turned and headed for the boathouse, intent on snuggling up on the sofa with a beer and trying to forget, even for a short time, about the lost woman she was fighting for.

**********

Jisoo sat by the window of her hotel room, as she'd been doing for days, and scrolled through the newsfeed on her smartphone. She clicked on the latest viral video and watched.

Jennie Kim looked stunning, paddling her canoe gently, beautiful and articulate as always. She was a master media manipulator, it turned out. Seeing her now was a mixed bag of emotions. Jisoo swelled with affection and desire, and a hollow feeling blossomed in her chest. But she envisioned herself standing outside the ladies room in the karaoke bar listening to her argue on the phone. It all seemed clear now. She had mentioned screening the real world and Jisoo had agreed, but it had finally caught up to both of them.

She took a few calls from the record executives who raved about all the recent publicity that hadn't cost them a dime. They congratulated her for having drummed up all the drama, but she politely informed them that it was in no way part of her career plan.

Her morbid curiosity made her fingers type Soojoo's name into a search engine and she managed to make it through ten minutes of her new show. It was a sad train wreck. She watched her in the studio, gyrating obscenely as she laid down the newest mess of a track from her upcoming exclusively available on itunes album. She knew what that meant. It meant that the studio was contractually obligated to let her record, but wouldn't sell out any more money to put a physical album into production.

Jennie had been so different. She wasn't thrilled about being in the press, but she was a good sport as she grinned and bared it. For her.

Jisoo groaned and gave up on googling. But not after checking the latest poll to see that Team Jennie was still winning. She was able to maintain the slightest bit of faith in humanity when she saw Jennie's impressive lead.

Jennie Kim. God dammit.

She wanted to touch Jennie's long curly hair and press her nose to her soft sweet-smelling neck. She wanted to hear her laugh, and hear Jennie tease her and one-up her every joke.

She had stood with Jiyong on the grass, well aware of Jennie's peeping from the upper boathouse window

"I know things are complicated," She pleaded with Jiyong. "But you should know that I care about your daughter immensely. I always have."

"So do I," Jiyong replied, stone cold. "Which is why I'm weary of this whole thing. You guys are in the papers. What would any father do in this situation? I'm trying to protect my daughter. I've seen her hurt and I never want to see that again."

"I will protect her," Jisoo said sternly. "I promise."

"I'm sure you will." Jiyong's grimace softened and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "But who will protect you?"

Jisoo's mouth turned upwards in a half smile. "I really appreciate your concern. Truly."

Jiyong reached out and shook her hand. "Ok. Jisoo. Just. Don't. Hurt. My. Daughter." His words were heavily punctuated and clear. It was his bottom line.

Jisoo nodded with understanding. "We both know your daughter, sir. And pardon my language, but she doesn't take shit from anyone."

**********

Jennie fiddled with the walkie-talkie, desperately willing it to come to life. She looked down at the cracked button she'd so furiously slammed when Jisoo had finally made contact after the press invasion. The husky of her voice coming through the speaker had been like a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart.

Two days until the Regatta. Two days until the culmination of this ridiculous circus intent pitting two women against each other for the sake of a woman who wasn't even in the picture anymore. But Jennie had saved the treehouse. And if that was her final gift to Jisoo, her final chance to show how much she cared, it would have to do.