Hate You, Love You. | Jenlisa

103

"I'll get it." Mom says in finality and wipes her mouth with a napkin.

I wonder who it could be.

Mom walks to the door, my sister and I stretching our necks to see who it is. She uses the peephole, then opens the door.

"Hell, Mrs. Kim." I hear a voice say and I almost choke on my rice.

What. The. Hell?!

Mom looks behind her and wags her finger, I stand up, still gobsmacked and make my way towards her. She sees me and I blink rapidly, I tend to do that a lot when I'm shocked.

Minutes ago, she was at the dance.

"Jennie," she says with a smile, a full blown one that shows her pearly whites.

"Lisa," I answer cordially. Mom has still not let her in and she looks at her, her eyes full of questions.

"Lola, right?" Mom says. We both shakes our heads. I literally corrected her a week ago.

She doesn't seem to mind the misspelling of her name and corrects her politely. "It's Lisa, ma'am." She looks at mom, then at me and sends a discreet wink. I'm too shocked to even express a reaction.

If you mix a black swan with a little bit of mystery and danger, then you have the recipe for how Lisa Manoban looks right now and that alone makes my heart skip five beats.

From the looks of things, she's either just coming from the dance or she's going to another formal event because her lady suit looks so pristine.

"Right, Lisa."

As for me, my hair is packed in a disoriented bun on top of my head. My pink shirt is way too big for me so it envelopes my whole body and shows a decent amount of legs-that are clad in boy shorts.

Complete opposites.

"I remember you," mom continues. "From last year."

She looks a little nervous, but composes herself. Mom can be really intimidating when she wants to be, especially now that she's not smiling. It's 7pm and we didn't expect company. "Right, I came over for tutoring." She nods. "I actually came here because I wanted to take Jennie to the dance, with your approval of course."

My jaw slacks open but she's still smiling.

What part of I'm not going doesn't she understand?

"Me?" I question in disbelief. "To the dance?"

Of course she just said that, idiot! You're not deaf.

She nods.

That's not even the shocking thing.

The shocking thing is that mom's expression changes from not smiling to actually smiling and I'm all shades of confused. "You should have started with that, Lisa." She says and ushers her inside.

"Come in, come in." I look up at her but she ignores me and side steps out of the way so she'll enter the apartment fully.

"Jennie, lock the door please."

I nod wordlessly and do as she says.

"Lisa!" Ella says and runs from the dining room to the living room, her feet bouncing with each step.

"Hey, Ella."

She gives her a high five and Ella babbles on to mom about how she was here when my tires were slashed and how they drove in her Veyron to the police station. I've heard this story so many times because Ella bugs me about inviting her over just so she can ride in her car.