Fire Lodge ( jenlisa )

Part 16

Jisoo noticed that the atmosphere was subtly different at lunch. Lisa seemed even happier than usual, while Jennie seemed - if she didn't know better, she'd think Jennie was nervous. And several times Jisoo noticed Jennie watching Lisa when she didn't think anyone was looking. Yes, something was definitely afoot at Fire Lodge, but there was no way Jisoo was going to figure it out during lunch, so she turned her attention to what Chaeyoung was saying.

"So if it's OK with you" - Chaeyoung was obviously coming to the end of her report about the next week's shopping list - "Jisoo and I can leave right after lunch and be back from town by dark, assuming we don't have any more automotive misadventures."

Jennie nodded. "What? Oh yeah, that sounds good. Make sure you take the debit card with you." Jisoo had the feeling that Jennie hadn't been listening all that closely to what Chaeyoung was saying.

Lisa stood up and carried her dishes to the dumbwaiter. "Excellent lunch, chefs," she said to Jisoo and Chaeyoung. She then turned to Jennie and said "It's my day off, so I'm about to go skiing. Do you want to come with me?"

Jennie shook her head. "I can't. Someone has to be at the lodge to answer the phone."

Lisa pouted. "Couldn't you just forward it to your cell?"

Jennie shook her head again. "The landlines in the valley are super old school - no call forwarding, no call waiting; we're lucky we get calling at all."

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Well, if you can't you can't. But will you at least take the phone outside? I'm pretty sure you haven't been outside since you went out to investigate that noise for Chaeyoung Sunday night - say, did you ever figure out what that was?"

Jennie and Chaeyoung shook their heads. "Probably some kind of animal," Jennie said.

Chaeyoung put up her hands like claws and made a fearsome face. "Or maybe it was a dokkaebi."

Jennie shrank back. "Don't even joke about that."

Lisa scrunched up her forehead, looking confused. "What's a dokkaebi?"

It took Jennie and Chaeyoung a couple of minutes to come up with the right word to explain to Lisa. Jisoo was no help, because she'd never heard of a dokkaebi either.

Finally, Chaeyoung said "It's a Korean goblin. Jennie's dad used to tell stories about them around the fire, and Jennie would always get afraid and run inside."

Jennie sat up as tall as she could. "That's because I had my grandmother telling me that dokkaebi are real and if I didn't behave, the dokkaebi would get me. I'm not afraid of dokkaebi now. I just don't like them."

Chaeyoung nodded. "O-kay." She was obviously unconvinced.

"I think an animal was more likely than a dokkaebi," Lisa said, apparently trying to put Jennie at ease. Then she turned to Jisoo. "I need to get something from my room, but then I need to talk to you before you go."

"Be quick about it," Chaeyoung said. "We're leaving as soon as I wash the lunch dishes."

"It'll just take me a second," Lisa said, dashing out of the room and up the stairs.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Jennie was at the desk, gathering up the things she'd need in order to go outside to work, when she saw Lisa passing by on her way up from the kitchen.

"I'd have thought you'd be out on the slopes by now," Jennie said.

Lisa looked like someone who was trying not to look guilty. "I had to talk to Jisoo before the chefs left for town."