Second Overtime | JENSOO & CHAELISA

Chapter XXX

The hallway seemed to narrow around them, the noise of students fading into a distant hum. Jisoo's hand was still pressed against the cold metal of the locker, her knuckles white, her heart pounding so violently she could feel it in her throat. She had seen Kai holding Jennie's hand. Holding her girlfriend's hand. No, her ex-girlfriend's hand. The distinction didn't make it hurt any less.

Jennie was staring at her, eyes wide, mouth slightly open. There was fear in those eyes, fear and guilt and something that looked horribly like a plea. Please don't do this right now.

Jisoo wanted to scream. She wanted to grab Jennie by the shoulders and shake her and ask her how she could move on so quickly, how she could stand there and let some guy hold her hand when just weeks ago she had been kissing Jisoo and telling her she loved her. But she didn't do any of that. Instead, she fixed her face into a neutral mask, the kind she'd perfected over years of pretending she wasn't falling apart inside.

She smiled at Kai. It wasn't a nice smile.

"I thought I told you two to stop flirting in front of my locker," she said, her voice dripping with false cheerfulness. "I really don't have time to keep waiting until you two decide to get a room or something."

She turned to her locker, wrenching it open with more force than necessary. Her teeth were grinding. Her mind was a whirlwind of rage and jealousy and grief, all of it swirling together into something dark and uncontrollable. She grabbed her books without seeing them, her hands moving on autopilot.

Kai was not happy.

"You know," he said, his voice sharp with irritation, "you could just ask us to move. Like a normal person."

Jisoo's hand stilled on her textbook. She turned her head slowly, her smile still in place, her eyes blazing.

"Well, I'm sorry," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm not a normal person. Right, Jennie?"

She looked at Jennie then, really looked at her, and Jennie looked back, her eyes shining with something that might have been tears, her lips forming a silent word. Please. Please don't do this. Please don't make a scene.

But Jisoo was tired. She was so tired. Tired of hiding, tired of pretending, tired of watching the girl she loved slip further and further away while she stood helpless on the sidelines. The anger had been building for weeks, no, for years, and she didn't have the strength to hold it back anymore.

"What's your problem with Jennie, Jisoo?" Kai demanded, stepping forward. "I thought you two were done fighting. You haven't been at each other's throats since your injury. But now that you're getting better, you're becoming an asshole again? What's your deal?"

"It's none of your business," Jisoo snapped. "So leave it alone. I don't need advice from some untalented player who can't do a single thing right on the court."

The words landed like a slap. Kai's expression flickered from surprise, then anger, then something harder. Jisoo had hit a nerve.

"Untalented?" he repeated, his voice dropping. "At least I can actually play. At least I'm not hobbling around on a busted knee, pretending I'm still relevant."

The words cut deep. Jisoo felt them sink into her chest like a stone, but she didn't flinch. She couldn't. The anger was too consuming, too overwhelming to let anything else through.

"Jisoo." Jennie's voice was barely above a whisper. "Please. Let's just go. Let's just get to class."

Jisoo turned on her. "And you," she spat. "You don't get to tell me what to do. You lost that right when you—"