Chapter 73
Lisa
On my way home I get yelled at a lot. But do I care? No. With that ridiculous smile on my face, I look like a creepy character from the Brave New World who obviously had too much of blow. I am judged on every step on my way home. If I take a second longer to drive forward when the red light on the traffic light fades away and a green one appears, I become a punching bag. That's not even the funniest or saddest part, depends on how you take it. Some actually overtake me and normally I would step on that gas just to fuck with them. But now I don't want to get myself killed before my nephew's birthday. One of the drivers yells "Who gave you a license!" and speeds on so quickly he almost gets his car knocked over on the next turn. Wow, it must so suck to be you. Shit.
It's obvious I love my job and since I was promoted I have learnt to hate it as well. But hey, love can't exist without hate, right? Isn't that what they say? This is another love-hate situation. My shift ends in the afternoon which kind of sucks because I'm not the only one heading home and it happens plenty of time I am stuck in a traffic jam. At least female pedestrians head home too and in Seoul's summer sun, I see plenty of bare legs in skirts and shorts. A mighty view. A very mighty one indeed. Isn't it interesting nobody honks at me when a pretty lady walks by?
It's a relief, nonetheless, when I pull my car in a garage and all the noise, smell and annoyance are gone. Not that the garage in itself isn't smelly... there's still no better than feeling than walking in your home and meeting the familiar scent of your own blankets and air freshener. I enter the apartment that doesn't even remind me of my own anymore. I leave my jacket on a stand-alone clothing hanger and nearly step on a wiggling loaf of bread that moves in the corner of my eyes. Of course, it's not actually a bread, otherwise, I'd be hell of worried about the products the supermarkets are offering these days. Jennie quickly runs from the living room, grinning wildly and singing playfully "Where are you hiding! Where did you go!"
I look down at that, as I called it, a wiggling loaf of bread and at the same moment, the loaf of bread looks up at me. Leo looks like he's figuring out his next move, so I take it he's escaping from the ginger babysitter. With what he does next, that's a very probable theory. At least someone can make him run for the hills! Leo crawls behind that tiny space that's between my legs and the closed front door and starts drooling, as per usual. At that sight, Jennie smiles. She stops slightly crouching and straightens up "Oh, hey, Lisa." She tilts her head to the side a bit to see Leo more clearly and smiles "Is Dada home? It's Dada!"
"I see you're having fun. By that I mean you are, not him." I turn my head and keep my body still when I check the kid is nowhere close to throwing up all over my legs back there. Jennie pulls down the shirt that has started to climb up her belly and slowly revealing it "He's full of energy today. Usually, he just crawls to the toy he'd like to play with but today he's feeling adventurous!" Her face expression changes from a smile to... well, a different kind of smile "And what's with you? It looks like you're in a good mood."
"Oh, I'm not allowed to feel happy?" I lift both of my brows and try to take my shoes off but Leo makes this task near impossible. She laughs when I warn her what she has said sounded and corrects herself "No! I just haven't seen you this happy with yourself for a while. What happened?" The smile is an automatic response to her trigger. I recall Bambam inviting me over and Aidan's excitement over the phone. "Yeah" I reply and at the movement of my lips, my whole face is pulled into a large grin "It was a really great day." All of a sudden Jennie makes a gesture of slapping her forehead and exclaims "Oh my God, your project was due today! They loved it, didn't they?"
"Uh, yeah, it went really well." I have completely forgotten about that and thanks to her I now have another reason to be happy about today. And let's not forget about our hot little Tzuyu. Jennie squints her eyes at me and like a boss lady she crosses her arms. I like it the way she squeezes her tits together. "But that's not it, is it? Something else put you in such a good mood." I answer her with a triumphant smile when I manage to get the shoes off my feet and want to list this as a reason for my happiness. I pick up Leo from the floor and hold him close to my chest as I carry him around the apartment wherever I go, with Jennie following me like a shadow. "I talked to my brother today." I expect her to be fazed by it but unlike me, she stays in contact with people and perhaps they are not so fond of leaving her either.
