The tranquility of the Kim household was shattered one afternoon when Jennie's mother, Mrs. Kim, burst into her daughter's room, her usually composed features twisted in a mask of anguish and fury.
"Jennie Kim, what on earth is going on?" she demanded, her voice trembling with a mixture of shock and revulsion.
Jennie's heart sank as she watched her mother's gaze fall upon the open sketchbook on her desk, where she had been idly doodling a portrait of Lisa, her delicate features and soft, tender smile immortalized in graphite. The older woman's eyes narrowed as she flipped through the pages, each one adorned with intimate, lovingly rendered sketches of the girl Jennie loved.
"I... I can explain," Jennie stammered, her own voice wavering with a combination of fear and defiance. She had known, deep down, that the truth about her and Lisa would eventually come to light, but she had desperately hoped that it would happen on her own terms, not like this – with her mother's accusing stare burning into her.
"Explain?" Mrs Kim spat, her features twisted in a horrified grimace. "I don't need an explanation, Jennie. I know exactly what's going on here." She slammed the sketchbook shut, the resounding thud echoing through the room like a thunderclap. "You and that Manoban girl – you're... you're..." Her voice faltered, as if the mere thought of voicing the words was too abhorrent for her to bear.
Jennie felt her heart hammering in her chest, her palms growing clammy with anxiety. "Mom, please, just listen to me," she pleaded, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "Lisa and I, we... we love each other. It's not—"
"Love?" Mrs Kim interrupted, her voice laced with a venom that made Jennie flinch. "This is an abomination, Jennie, not love. What you have with that girl is unnatural, a sin against God and everything we believe in." She shook her head, her expression twisted in a mixture of anguish and disgust. "I won't allow it. I _can't_ allow it."
The finality in her mother's tone struck Jennie like a physical blow, leaving her reeling with a sense of dread and devastation. She opened her mouth to argue, to plead with her mother to understand, but the words died on her lips as Mrs Kim's next words pierced her heart.
"You're never to see that Manoban girl again, do you understand? I'm putting a stop to this... _thing_ between you two, right now."
Jennie's vision blurred with tears, her body trembling with a surge of emotions – fear, grief, and a raw, primal desperation that threatened to consume her. "No, Mom, please! You can't do this. Lisa... Lisa is everything to me. I love her, more than anything. You can't—"
"I can, and I will," Mrs Kim interrupted, her voice brooking no room for argument. "This is my house, and you will abide by my rules. If I ever catch you with that girl again, there will be severe consequences. Do I make myself clear?"
Jennie's heart shattered as she stared into her mother's unyielding gaze, the woman she had once trusted and confided in now looking at her with nothing but disgust and contempt. She wanted to scream, to rage against the unfairness of it all, but the crushing weight of her mother's words robbed her of the strength.
Defeated, she nodded numbly, her shoulders slumping in resignation. "Yes, Mother," she whispered, the words laced with a sorrow so profound that it physically ached.
Satisfied, Mrs Kim turned on her heel and marched out of the room, leaving Jennie alone with the echoes of her shattered dreams.
The moment the door slammed shut, the dam inside Jennie burst, and she crumpled to the floor, her body wracked with gut-wrenching sobs. All the love, the joy, the promise of a future she had dared to envision with Lisa – it was all gone, ripped away by the cruel judgment of the very people who were supposed to love and protect her.
In that agonizing moment, Jennie felt as if a part of her had died, leaving behind a yawning void that threatened to swallow her whole. How could she go on without Lisa, without the girl who had become the center of her world? The thought of never again feeling the warmth of Lisa's embrace, never again tasting the sweetness of her lips, was almost more than she could bear.
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Lisa pov:
Lisa's phone buzzed with an incoming message. She smiled and thought it might be her Jennie, she reached for the device, reaching out to her in their moment of crisis.
But it wasn't Jennie. It was a text from Jennie's mother, Mrs Kim, her words laced with a fury that Lisa had never heard from the usually calm and collected woman.
"Lisa, what have you done? My daughter has just told me everything, and I'm absolutely disgusted. How dare you corrupt her like this? You are never to come near Jennie again, do you understand? If I see you anywhere near her, I won't be held responsible for my actions."
Lisa's hands trembled as she read the message, her heart sinking with the realization that Lisa's parents had also discovered the truth about their relationship. The thought of Jennie facing the same devastation and rejection that she had just experienced at the hands of her own mother was almost too much to bear.
Desperate to reach out to her love, to offer whatever comfort and reassurance she could, Lisa frantically typed out a response, her fingers shaking with the intensity of her emotions.
"Jennie, I'm so sorry. I never wanted this to happen. I love you, more than anything in this world. We'll find a way, I promise. We have to."
But the message remained unanswered, and as the minutes ticked by, Lisa's hope began to crumble, replaced by a crushing sense of hopelessness.
Curled up on the floor of her bedroom, Lisa wept bitterly, her cries muffled by the pillow she had clutched to her chest. The future she had so desperately envisioned with Jennie – their lives intertwined, their love celebrated and embraced – had been reduced to ashes, leaving her with nothing but the agonizing pain of its loss.
In the silence that followed, Lisa could almost hear the sound of her heart shattering, the pieces scattering like shards of broken glass. Her world, once filled with the warmth and comfort of Jennie's presence, had been plunged into a darkness so profound that she couldn't even begin to imagine how she would ever find her way back.
All she knew was that Jennie, her beloved, was gone – ripped from her by the cruel, unforgiving hands of their families and the society that refused to accept their love. And the thought of living without her was a fate worse than death.
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