Stupid Choices and Second Chances

Chapter 33

Jennie waved at the front desk lady at the gym before tucking her earbuds into her ears and entered the cardio room. Lisa found it incredibly odd that she liked going to the gym, she told her that if she liked, she'd turn one of the rooms in the house into a workout room, but Jennie refused, she liked going to the gym.

It was at the gym Jennie found it best to clear her head. Her earbuds blasting her latest playlist, she hopped onto the first open treadmill, placing her water bottle in the holder and pressed the up arrow until she found her pace. Her schedule for today was a good three to five mile run, a nap and then getting ready for the New Year's Eve gala hosted by YG USA. The four of them had been invited and all of them agreed to attend. She hadn't initially planned on coming to the gym this morning, but when her mother called and said that she would be attending to and wanted to get ready together, she figured a workout and a nap would would put her in the best possible mood.

She hit the up arrow twice, her pace picking up as she pumped her arms with each stride. It wasn't that she didn't like her mom coming. The two of them could sit, laugh and chat for hours without a single moment where either sat there, trying to figure out what to say next. But these days Jennie felt like every move she made was being judged by her mom who was still wasn't all that wild when she told her about Lisa. She understood the protectiveness though. She was an only child. Any parent would have been the same.

She glanced at the treadmill metrics, 3.1 miles registered. Jennie figured she had another mile at least in her if she took her speed down a notch. She caught the guy running next to her staring. Rolling her eyes, she kept her eyes straight and kept running. The man next to her kept staring. A half a mile later, she couldn't take it anymore. Her palm smashed into the stop button and ripped her earbuds out of her ears. Glaring at the man, she slammed her hands on her waist. "What in the world is your problem?"

The man slowed slowed his treadmill down to a stop and laughed. He was a tall muscular man with shaggy brown hair. He wiped his face off with a towel and looked at her. "I knew it was you."

"Excuse me?"

"Jennie Kim, right?" The man asked. "It's me Jackson."

Jennie stared at him, confusion etched on her face. "I don't know a Jakson."

"What! How could you forget a face like this? We played together all the time - you used to live next door to my grandmother back in UN Village..."

Jennie clapped a hand over mouth. "Oh my god, Jackson Wang? I hardly recognized you!"

"Yes, well, I'm not a scrawny kid with big ears anymore." Jsckson teased. "You on the other hand look amazing. How have you been? I haven't seen you since we were seven. Grandma said you were going to some kind of fancy boarding school."

"Something like that." Jennie said, evading the question. She saw how she was staring at her. Taking her arms and crossing them protectively against her chest as she stood there in her work out shorts and neon green sports bra, she blew her hair away from her face. "Well, uhm, I have to go now. It was nice seeing you...though I wouldn't make it a habit to stare at women in the gym. It's a bit creepy."

She walked away and he hopped off, following her, "Wait Jennie," he called out. "Do you want to catch up sometime? Maybe...I don't know, meet for coffee or dinner maybe?@

Jennie smiled. "I would, but I'm seeing someone."

Jackson's face fell a bit, but he still smiled. "We could still catch up - you can tell me going on with you now and the guy whose managed to snag you."

Laughing, she tilted her head to the side. "Trust me, it's pretty boring, and it's not a guy. I'm with a woman. She's incredible. But I really have to go though - I have a party I'm attending this evening. It was nice seeing you again."