Fire Lodge ( jenlisa )

Part 8

Jisoo stood looking out at the storm. She'd seen snow before, but never like this. The snow in Seoul was quiet and civilized, turning everything a beautiful white for a couple of hours, then disappearing. This snow was primitive and powerful, screaming between the trees and piling up wherever anything got in its way. Jisoo shuddered, thinking of how scared she would be if she was in Lisa or Dahyun's place right now. The shudder turned into a shiver that wouldn't stop. She jumped, startled, as Chaeyoung wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

"Come on," she said, leading Jisoo away from the window. "Let's get you some soup."

Leading Jisoo to the table, Chaeyoung made sure to seat her in a chair facing away from the window. She went over to the soups that she was keeping warm on the sideboard and poured a mug of tomato soup for Jisoo. Coming back to the table, she sat down next to Jisoo and put the mug in front of her.

"There you go," she said. "That'll warm you up."

After Jisoo sat staring at the soup for several long moments, Chaeyoung reached over and grabbed her hands, wrapping one around the handle of the mug and the other around the body of the mug. "Drink your soup," she said. "Don't make me feed it to you."

Jisoo looked down at her soup as if seeing it for the first time, brought the mug to her mouth, and drank. The soup was delicious, and she felt the warmth of it all the way down.

"Lisa and Dahyun are out in this," she said, her eyes wide and haunted-looking. "They're out in this storm and we can't do anything to help them."

"Their not out in it like you're thinking," Chaeyoung said, as Jisoo drank some more of her soup. By now Lisa will have found them some sort of shelter and they'll be protected from the worst of the storm. Just you wait - tomorrow they'll be back with nothing worse than an interesting tale to tell."

"I just can't imagine," Jisoo said. "It looks horrible."

"It's really not as bad as you think," Chaeyoung said, to which Jisoo looked dubious. "Really, it's not." Chaeyoung looked thoughtful for a minute. "Tell you what," she said, "there's really nothing for us to do now, but once the storm's over, there'll be plenty to do, so why don't you go take a nap for a while.

Jisoo shook her head, her eyes wide. "No way. There's no way I could sleep through this."

"You'd be surprised," Chaeyoung said. She took Jisoo's hand and led her up to her bedroom in the attic. Opening the door, she was pleased to see that Jisoo was in one of the rooms without a window; that would make things easier. Leading the way into the room, she guided Jisoo to lie down on the bed and then covered her with the blanket.

"Have a good nap. I'll be down in the kitchen if you need me."

Jisoo reached out with both of her hands and grabbed Chaeyoung's hand. "I know this is stupid and silly and unprofessional of me, but I don't care. I don't want to be alone right now. Will you stay here with me, just for a little bit?" Jisoo scooted over, making room in the bed for Chaeyoung, and patted the bed next to her for Chaeyoung to lie down. Chaeyoung lay down on top of the blanket and stared at the ceiling as she felt Jisoo cuddle up next to her.

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Dahyun and Lisa sat and talked, watching the snowfall intensify. Dahyun told Lisa about the special adventure trips that Twice planned for people, and Lisa told Dahyun about her time working in a Thai resort. By a sort of unspoken agreement, neither of them brought up Chaeyoung until darkness was falling and all other topics of conversation had been exhausted.

"You know what's really funny?" Dahyun asked. "I almost didn't come this weekend."

"Really?"

Dahyun nodded. "Chaeyoung and I were supposed to come here today, so once that wasn't going to happen, I wasn't sure if I wanted to come at all. Jihyo and Tzuyu are the ones who convinced me to come."