JENLISA FF - A Glimpse of Us

Chapter 1: New Zealand

***

Auckland, New Zealand - 1999

Lisa meant it when she told herself, she doesn't believe in love at first sight. Because for her it takes time to really, truly fall for someone. Yet all her beliefs were shattered when a pair of eyes met hers one cool day as they drove past in a suburb.

A split second when she glimpses the truth within someone, and they glimpse the truth within you. At that moment, Lisa doesn't belong to herself any longer, not completely. Because now, part of herself belongs to that pair of feline eyes.

Jennie is walking home from school when a moving truck pulls up in front of a very pleasant house with a neat, manicured front lawn and some pretty flowers. It's one of the larger houses on the street.

Lisa gets out of the passenger side of the moving van. She's already looking pretty for good. Her father Marco gets out of the driver's side.

The SUV pulls into the driveway and Marco's wife Chit, gets out.

Lisa looks back when a familiar face turns to the house across them. It was the same feline eyes that she met upon arriving at the suburbs.

"Can you tell me why we are here again?" Lisa immediately asked her mother with slight irritation laced in her voice.

Chit finds it hard to answer her question. It was too complicated at the moment.

"We'll just have a vacation. Don't you like it here?" she asked, Lisa frowned.

"Mom, I'm not a grade schooler. I can understand the situation very well. I'm in my senior year and yet you pull me out of my school right before the class starts. I left my friends in Thailand to live here in New Zealand. Do you have any reason for that?" Lisa exclaimed, earning a worried look from the older one.

"Honey... you see, your dad's restaurant is having a difficult time right now. I hope you do understand that."

Lisa backed away when her mother tried to reach out to her. "So, that means my friends were right."

Chit stops. "What do you mean?"

"They told me that dad's restaurant is getting close and we don't have any money, so we hide here. Isn't that right?"

Chit looked at her husband. They both knew Lisa would figure out the reason why they suddenly migrated to a new country. And yes, Lisa was right. Marco's investor back in Thailand sued him and Chit for running the business with illegal practice causing it to get close and eventually leaving them bankrupt.

Chit sighed, "You're right. The restaurant is no longer ours. But you don't have to worry about it. Your father and I will fix everything."

"Fix everything? How?" Lisa huffed then looked at her father in terror. "We don't have any money now, how are we going to survive here? At least I have friends in Thailand that can help me, but you'd rather go here and hide!"

"Lisa —" Chit got cut off when her daughter walked away and burst inside their new home.

Marco came beside Chit and hugged her. They didn't want any of this to happen, but life is tough.

***

That night, Lisa's parents had an argument.

"She said, she doesn't want to go." Her father Marco explained.

"Marco, we cannot let her decide on her own, she's our child and whether she likes it or not, she will attend this new school and finish high school."

Despite Lisa's stubbornness no one could ever defy her mother's wishes. Hours ago at the dinner table, Lisa mentioned to her parents that she will no longer attend Cornell's, her new school. Lisa was hesitant to meet new friends other than her friends in Thailand. She knew that she was different from any other kids, and that's one reason why she's no longer interested in finishing high school other than her reason for being poor.

"You know that she is different from everybody. Why don't we take her suggestion and just let her take homeschool classes."

"Bullshit! She's a human being for Pete's sake, Marco. Lisa deserves the world and the world needs to give her a chance!"

The plates clink to one another, then stop when Chit faces her husband for a brief moment before she pushes him aside to get the towels on the countertop.

"Okay, well, she's gonna be the only new kid that enters mid-year at a senior level. Look, will you stop folding towels for just one second and please listen? It's like leading a lamb to the slaughter. And you know it." Chit softened her eyes when their eyes met and slowly she began to cry.

Marco moved and hugged her crying wife, pressing gentle kisses on top of her head. "I know it's hard. I'm sorry." Chit shakes her head lightly on his chest.

They got interrupted when they heard the door slammed hard, making Lisa's parents look upstairs. They eventually knew that their daughter was listening to their argument.

Chit went up to comfort her daughter. Lisa was laying on her bed, her back against her mother. Chit knew she's still awake. She sat on the edge of the bed.

"I know what you're thinking," said Chit.

"I just don't want to feel like a freak again." Lisa muttered. A gentle touch caressed her arm, which made Lisa feel somehow guilty for her act earlier.

"I know. Your father and I were very sorry for what happened back in Thailand." Lisa then turns around meeting her mother's eyes.

"It's not your fault. It was the investors. I trust you that you'll find a way to fix this so we can all go back to Thailand."

Chit sighed heavily before she smiled at her daughter. She leaned in and kissed Lisa's forehead. "We will. I promise."

Although by the looks of it, Lisa knew that going back to Thailand is impossible.

***

The weekend passed, Lisa is now heading to her new school, her mother accompanied her to meet the principal first hand.

"Mrs. Manoban, so good to see you. And you must be Lisa. What a to meet you. I'm Mr. Tucker, the principal of the school." Chit smiled shyly at him before taking his hand and shook it, Lisa also did the same.

"It's so nice to finally meet you, Mr. Tucker. I'm sorry if we have to enroll our daughter in the middle of the semester."

"Oh, don't be. Anyone is welcome at Cornell's. We are happy to have Lisa onboard." Mr. Tucker smiled at her.

They walked to the hallway for Lisa to meet a few students.

"Lisa, I would like you to meet some of our students. They will give you a tour for today. This is Ryujin, she's also a transfer student last year just like you and Felix, he's Korean, they both are but this young man grew up in Australia and moved here. He pretty much knew about this school from the inside out." Mr. Tucker ended it with a wink at Lisa.

Both Ryujin and Felix offered their hand to Lisa which she gladly took and she gave an awkward smile.

"Hi." said Ryujin.

"Hey, Felix here."

"Lisa. Thanks for doing this for me."

"Not a problem. We're happy to be your guide." Ryujin smiled, she led Lisa to follow her while Chit and Mr. Tucker left behind waving back to say goodbye.

Lisa, Ryujin and Felix walk along the hallway. When Lisa turned to face her tour guides, her eyes landed on a lone person sitting at the corner, she frowned when the person frantically grabbed her bag and ran away, head down so when she passed by the three of them, Lisa's shoulder got hit lightly causing her to step back.

"She's really weird. I can feel goosebumps in every part of my body." Felix said. Ryujin slapped his arm.

"Stop it. We don't want Lisa to think we're bullies." Ryujin clarifies.

Lisa looked at her questionably. "Are you?"

"What? No. not gonna happen, I just don't want you to think like that."

Lisa let go of the conversation, "I'm not."

"Great. So shall we start the tour?" Ryujin offered. Lisa nodded, making herself at ease with both of them.

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A/N: I'm bringing back this classic and hopefully it will stick around this time. Cheer!