Room 97 [Jenlisa FF | Completed]

Chapter 11

Jennie felt a tear escape her eye. She was surprised by Lisa's story, especially the part where Lisa didn't actually kill Chaeyoung but it was her who killed herself.

"Oh, how love could make a fool out of anyone who's under it." Jennie thought.

"So, you really are not crazy huh." Jennie tried to lighten up the mood as she chuckled and Lisa half-smiled.

"Just homeless." Lisa nodded and she sighed as she turned her head to the window. "That's why I don't want to be in that mini garden. That's where we had our last moment together—thinking about our future which was now thrown in the trash. Thunderstorms always remind me of that day. I blame myself. If only I didn't steal her wallet then I wouldn't be here. We wouldn't meet each other. She wouldn't die. It all happened because of me." A tear escaped her eye and she sighed. "Why am I still alive? I don't deserve to live."

"Do you...still love her?" Jennie asked and asking that made her heart ache.

"I just want to forget her. Thinking about her hurts me so much. I still have so many unanswered questions but she's not here to answer them anymore." Lisa squeezed her eyes shut as she hung her head low to silently cry.

"If I were Chaeyoung, what would you tell me?" Jennie slowly asked in curiosity.

"Why?" Lisa lifted her head as she sniffed. "Just...why? Why would you throw the future you just made for us that day? You're stupid. You're crazy." Lisa sobbed and Jennie sat beside her to rub her back. "You don't know how miserable I became when you left. And pretending to be mentally ill seemed to become natural to me. But now what? What should I do next? I'm tired of surviving. Should I wait for death to come now?"

Hearing Lisa cry made Jennie weak and it brought tears to her eyes. She didn't know Lisa was suffering a lot. The Lisa she was seeing now was a lot different than the Lisa she first met. Jennie lifted Lisa's chin to make her look at her and Jennie wiped her tears.

"Are you willing to let me help you?"

"I'm scared." Lisa said as her voice trembled.

"Scared of what?"

"Everything."

"Lisa." Jennie softly said as she held Lisa's hand. "You don't have to be scared. I'm here. I'll save you."

"Jennie?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you'll stay? With me?" Lisa asked, her eyes full of doubt. Jennie kissed her forehead.

"I will. Together." She whispered as she rested her forehead on Lisa's. "I'm glad you told me about this."

"Thanks for listening." Lisa softly said and Jennie looked at her hand.

"But seriously, don't hurt yourself again. You're scaring me." Jennie lightheartedly said as she lifted Lisa's wounded hand.

"I'm sorry."

"Just promise me to never do that again, okay?" Jennie smiled as she planted a kiss on Lisa's wounded hand.

"Really, I'm sorry." Lisa sighed.

"For what?"

"I'm sorry if I yelled at you before, I hurt you. I was just afraid that someone would leave me again. I thought maybe acting tough would make me not consider what I really feel. But I was wrong." Lisa softly chuckled. "But please, don't make them kick me out of here. I have nowhere to go." Lisa pleaded.

"Do you want to come home with me?" Jennie asked.

"But I don't want to be a burden to you."

"Okay, let me rephrase it." Jennie softly chuckled as she cleared her throat. "Come home with me." Jennie said in a serious tone. "We'll have a new start. We might not know what our future would look like but we'll figure this out together." Jennie said. "But we'll have to wait a little longer, we still need to prepare for your discharge and all that."

"Are you sure you want to take me home?"

"I won't regret every decision I make, as long as I know it's right." Jennie smiled. "Now please, don't doubt everything. It's not too late to start again. And besides, we're just beginning, aren't we?" Lisa nodded as her lips began to form a smile.

"Thank you, Jennie, for accepting and seeing me the way nobody else would."

"And thank you for letting me." Jennie smiled and she checked her wristwatch. "Oh no, I forgot Jisoo's waiting for me for lunch." She stood up. "I'll see you later okay?" She caressed Lisa's face and the latter just nodded and then she left the room.

Lisa just watched Jennie walk out of her room and she sighed in relief when Jennie was out of sight. It's been so long since she was keeping all her unsaid thoughts about Chaeyoung and it felt great. She thought maybe saying all those would finally make her forget Chaeyoung and she wouldn't have nightmares about the incident. It's been hard for her, but since Jennie promised she would stay with her, she was slowly starting to feel at ease. And maybe Jennie was right, it's not too late to start again.

***

Jisoo was impatiently waiting for Jennie in their office and it was almost one in the afternoon. She glanced outside and she sighed in relief when she finally saw Jennie running to their office.

"Finally." Jisoo dramatically sighed. "What took you so long? You two did it, didn't you?"

"We didn't!" Jennie lightly slapped Jisoo's arm in embarrassment. "Come on, I know you're already hungry." She dragged Jisoo with her out of the office.

As they were eating, Jisoo noticed Jennie fidgeting, her fingers tapping on the table while chewing her food. Jisoo knitted her eyebrows and swallowed her food.

"What's up with you today?" Jisoo asked.

"Jisoo." Jennie stopped tapping her fingers on the table and gave Jisoo a serious look, the latter raised an eyebrow and was taken aback. "I can trust you, right? Like 'you'll take my secrets with you under the ground' kind of trust?" Jennie said with pleading eyes.

"Yeah...sure." Jisoo slowly nodded as her eyebrows met in confusion. "You are freaking me out, you know that?" She nervously chuckled.

"This is a serious one. No one should know this." Jennie said in a low voice.

"Okay, okay. What's the tea?" Jisoo leaned closer to Jennie.

"Lisa is not ill. She's not crazy." Jennie whispered.

"What?!" Jisoo shockingly said and everyone turned their heads to them and she immediately cupped her mouth. "Are you kidding me?!" She whispered-shouted.

"She didn't kill Chaeyoung, she killed herself."

"Wait, this is too much for me to take in. What do you mean? How? Why?"

"Lisa said she was just a homeless person who stole Chaeyoung's wallet and then Chaeyoung decided to help her to find a home so she wouldn't do anything bad anymore and the asylum was the only thing on her mind where she can watch over Lisa. And then...they fell in love." Jennie quietly said.

"But...w-why did Chaeyoung got killed? I still don't get it."

"Namjoon knew Lisa wasn't crazy, he told Mr. Choi and they're supposed to get rid of Lisa out of the asylum. But Chaeyoung killed herself by making it look like Lisa killed her so that they would all believe Lisa is insane, and Chaeyoung did that so Lisa could stay, so she wouldn't have to worry about living in the streets again. Lisa kept that image to survive there." Jennie continued.

"Wow. So Lisa is not insane but what she's doing is insane! I mean she's pretending and acting like one for years! How the hell could she do that?!" Jisoo amusedly said.

"So that's that, promise me to never tell anyone about this for the meantime." Jennie said and held out her pinky finger. "Pinky swear?" Jisoo laughed.

"Fine." Jisoo held out her pinky finger and linked it with Jennie's. "Pinky swear." She swore. "But what's your plan? What are you going to do now?"

"I will get Lisa out of there and find her a better home." Jennie said.