Undercover Affection

chapter 10

Lisa couldn’t stop pacing in her loft apartment. She was wearing holes in the floor, her mind doing loops like a hamster on an energy drink. She paused mid-stride, staring out of the window, then spun around again, muttering to herself.

“No, no, no, this can’t be happening,” Lisa groaned, throwing herself onto the couch dramatically. “I’m an undercover agent, trained for high-risk situations, skilled at deception, professional at all times. But now? Now I’m over here catching feelings like some love-struck idiot in a rom-com.”

She grabbed a nearby pillow and screamed into it.

Of course, the pillow didn’t have any answers. It just stared back at her, offering no solutions to her problem. That problem being Jennie. Beautiful, smart, graceful Jennie. The same Jennie who had smiled at her in that mini golf course like she wasn’t just a target but a person—a person Lisa was growing dangerously attached to.

Lisa threw the pillow across the room, watching it land pathetically in the corner. “Great. Now I’m emotionally compromised and terrible at pillow throwing.”

Her phone buzzed on the coffee table, snapping her out of her mini-meltdown. She grabbed it, heart racing for no reason, and checked the message.

Jennie: Are we still on for tomorrow?

Lisa stared at the text, her mind spiraling again. Tomorrow? Tomorrow meant spending more time with Jennie, which was supposed to be part of the mission, but now her brain and heart were tangled up in a mess of feelings and—

“Get a grip, Lisa,” she muttered to herself. “This is simple. Just hang out, crack some jokes, gather intel, and definitely, 100 percent, don’t fall in love.”

She quickly typed out a reply.

Lisa: Of course! Ready to crush you at whatever we do next. Just FYI, I’m practicing my mini-golf form as we speak. It’s basically Olympic level now.

She hit send and threw the phone onto the couch, running a hand through her hair. “Okay. Cool. You’re cool. Everything’s cool.”

---

The next day, Lisa met Jennie at the same park where they’d agreed to meet. Today, Jennie looked especially relaxed, wearing a simple gray sweater and jeans, her hair loose and blowing slightly in the breeze. Lisa’s brain immediately went into overdrive, trying to process how someone could look so effortlessly perfect.

“Focus, Lisa. Mission. You’re here to do a job,” she muttered under her breath, before slapping a big grin on her face as Jennie approached. “Jennie Ruby Jane Kim, the mini-golf champion of the universe! How are you?”

Jennie smiled softly. “I’m good. How’s your... Olympic training going?”

Lisa pretended to flex. “Oh, you know. I’m basically a mini-golf superhero now. They’re going to name a windmill obstacle after me.”

Jennie chuckled, that rare sound that made Lisa’s heart do flips. “I doubt that.”

“Hey, dream big or don’t dream at all,” Lisa replied, putting her hands in her hoodie pockets and bouncing on her heels. “So, what’s the plan today? I figured I’d let you pick since I subjected you to my chaotic mini-golf skills last time.”

Jennie tilted her head, thinking. “How do you feel about painting?”

Lisa blinked. “Like... painting walls? Or painting... paintings?”

“Paintings,” Jennie said with a small smile. “There’s an outdoor art class happening today. I thought we could give it a try.”

Lisa’s eyes widened. “Wait, hold up. Jennie, are you secretly artsy? Are you about to reveal that you can paint a perfect sunset while I struggle to draw a stick figure?”