ephemeral | Jenlisa [COMPLETED]

Chapter 14

It felt nice, Lisa decided, to come back to a home that had the smell of a warm meal wafting through the air, as she kicked the front door shut.

It felt really nice, actually.

It was far from her norm, not her typical experience at all. In fact, it was never her experience. Because either she stayed somewhere that didn't have a kitchen and she went out to eat or she stayed somewhere that did have a kitchen and she was cooking for herself.

But this? As she stepped into the foyer and sniffed at the air, while the house blocked the cool November chill that started to set in, this was – it was comforting.

"Honey, I'm home!" she called out, jokingly.

"Kitchen!" Ella's voice rang back, slightly muffled through the distance.

She crossed the threshold and grinned at her niece, who sat at the counter with her phone, schoolwork, and a bowl of beef stew settled in front of her.

"God, that smells delicious." She sniffed the air again.

"Beef stew. Dad put some in the microwave for you before he went back to work, since you said you'd be back tonight," Ella pointed her fork across the kitchen at the aforementioned microwave, before she sat up straighter and shot Lisa a bright grin. "And – you're back! On time! He actually said you might be late, but I knew you'd come back when you said you would. Can I see the pictures you took before you put them up? Oh, and can you look over my presentation for the history fair? Bobby," she rolled her eyes, at her scorned middle school nemesis's name, "has been rubbing his presentation in. Like, okay, maybe your cousin is a history professor, but my aunt has actually been everywhere in the freaking world! And you're actually going to be here to see it in person this year!"

Lisa paused in the doorway and blinked a couple of times at the avalanche of words coming at her, before she clapped her hands together. "All right – one, you always see my pictures before I put them up on my site. Two, these pics aren't actually going up yet, because they're for the list. Three, I would absolutely be honored to help with your presentation and to humbly rub Bobby's nose in it. You're getting first place this year."

It made her excited, really, because – she was going to be here. For the first time since Ella started doing these history fairs a few years ago, she was here. And she wasn't here trying to avoid the townspeople of Sacheon, either.

It was more than nice, she decided. With that, she let her duffel bag slide off her shoulder and land on the floor with a flourish.

"How do you pack for almost a whole two weeks and fit it all into that bag? When I go to a sleepover for one night, I bring that size bag."

"Experience. Trial and error," she added with a laugh.

It wasn't necessarily true; when she'd left Sacheon all those years ago, she'd packed as much as she could carry, but it hadn't been much. She'd learned to live – and live well – with a small amount of whatever she could carry with her. Recycling out clothing as it got worn through various places, and storing some items in a unit she had rented in Busan. But she'd definitely learned how to pack compactly and how to narrow down her essentials, long ago.

She laughed at Ella's dubious expression, before she headed for the microwave. That beef stew – the coming home to a homemade meal – was calling to her.

Lisa only realized the time as she caught it on the microwave door as she shut it after retrieving the bowl. 5:47PM.

Jennie was coming to pick her up at quarter past six!