HOW YOU LIKE THAT | JENLISA

Chapter 13

Jennie

I did some research on the Manoban family and was honestly surprised about how little information the family had online. It's like someone had done a damn good job of keeping their family history wiped from the databases.

I found a family picture with the parents that had supposedly died in the boating accident. It was taken when the kids were still very young. I could spot Lisa easily in the picture. The sable hair and the golden-brown eyes were unmistakably alluring. She looked no older than seventeen, standing behind her parents, who were seated on a couch with Nichkhun and Sorn on either side of them. Bambam was in his mother's lap, while Lucas wasn't even born yet.

To an onlooker, they seemed like a happy family that had everything that anyone would ever want: wealth, power, status, a lovely wife and four beautiful children, and yet, things had gone so horribly wrong in the end.

It just made me sad looking at the picture, and realising that nothing good lasted forever. Good things and good people could be taken away from us, in a snap of a moment.

"Ms. Kim, it's time for Lisa to go outside in the courtyard for a walk."

The voice made me jump. I quickly shut the laptop, and I turned to look at the petite figure standing by the door. It was Minnie, the quiet maid who liked to keep to herself. She'd rather sweep the non-existent dirt on the floor for hours than engage in the maid's gossip. They had so many staff spread out all around the mansion that I was sure I wasn't even introduced to some of them yet.

"I'll be right there." I said, while climbing to my feet and walking out of the door.

Lisa was already waiting for me in the sitting area, wearing a maroon t-shirt over denim. Her usually neatly combed hair was unruly, and for a moment, her gaze briefly met mine before she looked away. She kept her eyes downcast and kept clenching something in her hand.

"Good evening, Lisa. Are you ready to go outside?"

When she didn't respond, I took that as a yes and started walking ahead of her. I knew that she was following me. I wore a long-sleeved summer dress and had tied my hair up in a long ponytail. According to the rule book, it mentioned that I was supposed to dress appropriately at all times, seeing as the house was filled mostly with men. They had a few caretakers that tried to entice Nichkhun in exchange for a few favours, but Nichkhun had made it pretty clear that he didn't need such people in his house and more importantly under his employment.

We walked through the mansion gardens; the way paved ahead was surrounded by well-manicured lush green shrubs. Lisa trudged behind me slowly, kicking pebbles, and suddenly she raced forward and blocked my way.

I stopped short and kept my distance from her. At five-seven, I was taller than most women, but she was still huge and stood close to me, so close that I could smell the faint scent of soap and something like a hint of raspberry.

Stop thinking about her scent! She's not even capable of reciprocating any type of those feelings. And shouldn't I be feeling guilty to have my heart racing for someone like Lisa?

"What is it?" I asked, while feeling more nervous now than ever.

What if she hurt all those caregivers before me and they were all forced to flee? There was no one around here as my witness if anything untoward were to happen to me. Lisa could wring my neck for "fun" and hang me to dry outside the mansion without breaking a sweat, and her family would probably be like ′here we go again, well, let's just post another ad for another unsuspecting caregiver.′ Who am I kidding? Their family had tons of money, and good political connections as well. Hiding a murder wouldn't be that difficult.

Lisa watched me intently. Her brown eyes looked light golden in the sunset. I looked down at what she was holding out in her palm for me. She said softly, "It's for you."

It was an origami flower.

"For me?" I asked stupidly, even though I knew it was. "That's really sweet of you, Lisa, thank you."

"Beautiful." She whispered, while not taking her eyes off of me.

It shocked me to hear those words coming from her. "You think I'm beautiful?"

She gave me a nod.

"You're not trying to flatter me to get your way, are you?" I asked.

When she didn't respond, I assumed I'd said too much, and she had difficulty comprehending a long sentence.

"No." she said.

"Why, thank you, again. You're not so bad yourself."

She reached out for my hand and held it, while walking beside me. It felt like grade school when Kai gave me a craft plane that he made in class and that automatically made him my boyfriend. Well, that was at least until lunch break was over. By the end of school, he'd given another plane to Krystal.

It was a small gesture by Lisa, and yet my heart skipped around like a schoolgirl. The silence between us was comfortable, but I needed her to trust me completely.

"Do you remember anything at all?"

She shook her head.

"Alright." I decided not to push her. "I'll help you remember everything."

"How?" she asked, the uncertainty was obvious on her face.

"I can try. I'll speak to your therapist and we'll see what he has to say."

"No!" She yelled coming to a halt and her breathing intensified. "No! No! No!"

Her sudden outburst took me by surprise.

"Okay, calm down. No therapist." I promised, "Take deep breaths, Lisa."

She calmed down a few minutes later.

From a distance, I saw Lucas rushing towards us. He threw the ball towards Lisa, who caught it in mid-air. Love ran towards us at full-speed, with its tongue lolling out.

"We're going to play ball. Jen, you're going to join us, right?" Lucas was still wearing his royal blue school uniform from some fancy private school that he went to.

"Sure." I said.

We stood at three different corners, and Love kept running around the lawn wildly.

"Silly dog." Lucas called after it. He'd loosened his tie and tossed his jacket on the ground. A maid was walking around collecting the things that Lucas had discarded on the ground.

"I'm going to throw it towards Lisa first and then Lisa, you're going to throw it in Jen's direction. The first person who drops the ball loses."

Soon the air was filled with laughter, and I was enjoying myself, while joking and playing with them. I finally managed to catch glimpses of Lisa's rare smile.