My Gorgeous Mobster (JenLisa)

Chapter 11: Coping

Two weeks. It had only been two weeks, but it felt like months, even years, to Jennie. She missed Lisa. So damn much.

The Thai never showed up at the Kim family’s company office. She never bothered contacting her sister either, which was something Jennie dreaded. But according to Rosé, Lisa hadn’t even tried calling her.

The brunette knew she was supposed to be angry at the blonde mobster. A part of her was mad at Lisa. But the bigger part longed for the Thai’s presence. She found herself frequently staring at her office couch, where the blonde used to sit, waiting for her. Her office seemed bigger and much emptier now that Lisa was gone.

Where was she? What was she doing? Was she in Utopia?

Those were the questions Jennie frequently asked herself over the last few days.

Was she happy? And her stupid heart wished the blonde was. Even if she didn’t deserve it.

Maybe Lisa was in Utopia with her friends and business partners, while Jennie was here, feeling empty.

Her family started to notice that Lisa hadn’t visited them for a while. Jennie told them the blonde was busy with the new Utopia opening in Jeju. She didn’t want to tell her grandfather what had happened with her and Lisa. She didn’t want to talk about it just yet. Maybe there would come a time when she would tell her halbeoji about what happened. She just couldn’t handle making other people feel depressed right now.

It was enough that only she and Rosé knew the truth. The only good thing that came out of everything was that she was able to patch things up with her baby sister. They were now closer than ever. Rosé was going back to the US to finish her last term in two months. So the younger Kim was now trying to help her with the office work. Rosé said she was going to die of boredom in their house anyway, listening to their mother whine about her not finishing her schooling yet.

Everything in Jennie's life was back to normal. As normal as it could get after everything that had transpired with Lisa, she supposed. There was nothing left to do but forget. If only it were that easy, if only she could stop thinking about her for even just a day.

So far, she had no problems with how the company was running. Sure, there were still books she needed to check because of imbalanced finances, but those she could deal with. Everything was running as smoothly as it was supposed to.

After office hours, she tried to go somewhere to walk, usually a mall, to kill some time. It was also a way to get home late so she wouldn’t have to eat dinner with her family. It sounded bad, but her parents, particularly her mother, just wouldn’t stop asking about Lisa. Jennie was having a hard time making excuses for the blonde’s absence. She was becoming too emotional. There had been a time when she almost burst into tears right in the middle of dinner; the only thing that saved her was Rosé distracting everyone’s attention so Jennie could compose herself discreetly.

That afternoon, she decided to go to a nearby mall, again to distract herself and take her mind off things. She realized her birthday was coming up, just a week from then. She decided to give herself a treat. She splurged.

After shopping, she went to find a restaurant to eat. She tried to avoid the dark romantic restaurants that Lisa frequently took her to. The blonde used to take her out for romantic dinners.

She chose a bright, open, garden-themed restaurant serving a mix of Thai and Vietnamese foods. Thai. Just like that, her mood took a toll, flooded with memories of the blonde woman she tried hard not to think about.

Was she eating enough? Was she taking care of herself? Was she with somebody else? 
With that last question, her eyes started to water, and a hot, pressing feeling filled her chest. When she breathed, her throat constricted as if someone’s hand were choking her. She tried to calm herself and took the glass of water on the table.