the truth about monsters (Chaennie)

Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Blood and Fists

Within the few short hours that Jennie had allotted herself to prepare, news of the impending fight spread like a forest wildfire throughout the ranks of the Infernos.

Rosie had disappeared from the building, and Jennie had immediately felt the loss of her absence.

It struck her, and she couldn't help but worry for Rosie.

Where had she gone? What was she planning? Had she tried to strike some sort of deal? Jennie knew she was so outrageously stubborn, and god, while Jennie loved that about her, it wouldn't allow her to clear her mind, to think properly.

Roseanne Park was the most intoxicating; sweetest liability she'd ever faced.

Jisoo had been charged with keeping an eye out for Lisa and Somi. Though they'd sworn their fealty, Jennie wanted to be sure they weren't planning anything behind her back.

They were new, and like all initiates, Jennie assigned Jisoo to shadow them, as they couldn't fully be trusted.

In Jennie's mind, trust came with time, proven over and over again through sacrifice and hardship.

Like her affections for Rosie, which drove her mad.

So now, as she sat in her office, staring blankly at the ceiling, she was surprised to find that Rosie wasn't there with her.

It made her feel empty, alone, incomplete.

She'd never understand how Rosie had taken up so much of her world. And she'd never understand how willingly she gave herself away.

The whispers she'd heard, in her brief venture into the lower floors of the building, weren't entirely reassuring.

People were doubting her.

For the first time in her reign, some of her own people thought she was weak, for letting so many outsiders in, for sparing people in ways she never would have before Rosie.

Jennie seethed at every harsh whisper, every foul word against her, and against Rosie. She'd known that words were meaningless. The only way to silence them was with the grandest gesture of action.

Jennie Kim knew that someone was going to die.

She also knew that, if probability was anything to go by, it might have been her.

And yet, when she thought of the threat Jungkook posed to Rosie, the threat of Kai, and the threat of the doubters in her own organization, she took a breath and steeled herself.

Maybe her parents were right, all along.

Maybe bloodshed was inevitable.

"Maybe blood must have blood." Her murmurings were lost on her own dull, aching mind.

She leaned forward, thoughts igniting in her mind as she set about writing something before it consumed her.

***

"I don't get it, why isn't she preparing?" Somi spoke up from her seat, hand loosely in Mino's as she watched Jisoo pace about the lobby like a nervous wreck.

"What should she be doing?" Mino murmured.

Somi looked perplexed. "I don't know, polishing her guns?"

Lisa spoke up, throat dry and voice almost monotonous. "Nope. No guns. It's a street fight."

Somi blinked in surprise and Jisoo stopped her pacing, nodding.

"Lisa's right." Jisoo sighed. "It's more of a tradition, a show of strength."

Somi scrunched her nose in distaste. "That's fucking barbaric."