Miss J | Jensoo

Ch3. Morning at the Track

The next day, Jennie woke up at 630am as usual. She tied her hair up into a high ponytail, changed into a black hoodie and grey sweats, then headed for the track. Like always, she was expecting herself to be the day's first user of the running track.

Jennie was concentrating on her warm-up stretches when a lone sprinter on the track caught her attention. Not bad, she's fast! And surprisingly early. The sprinter jogged slowly back to the starting point for another 100m dash, stretching her arms along the way.

Jennie plugged in her earphones and began her long run at a comfortable pace. It was only when Jennie was finishing her second round around the track that she noticed who that sprinter was.

The sprinter had finished yet another 100m dash and was jogging slowly back to the starting line in the opposite direction of Jennie's run. This time, as Jennie neared, the sprinter lifted the hem of her white tee to wipe off the beads of perspiration on her face. Jennie could not resist staring at the sprinter's washboard abs, glistening from the strenuous exercise.

Where have I seen those sculpted abs before...? Jennie subconsciously licked her lips and swallowed, but quickly tried to refocus on her own run instead of hot bods. But the attempt to refocus was not very successful. Just as they were about to pass each other going in opposite directions, the sprinter moved her tee down from her face and looked directly into Jennie's eyes.

Then, as if the intense gaze was not enough to skip Jennie's heart by a beat, the sprinter smirked. And that tossed Jennie completely into erratic heart palpitations.

Jennie gasped. Jisoo?? What is... how did... why is she looking at me like that again?! Am I imagining things? She could feel the temperature in her face go up a couple notches and it was surely not because of the two easy rounds of the track. She shook her head roughly and increased both the volume of her music and the pace of her run, hopefully tuning out all this distraction from the raven.

She's just another runner. Focus on my own run. Focus on my strides. Oh, how futile that was -- because in a few seconds, Jennie's distraction was not just sharing the track with her but running alongside her, in the form of a high ponytail and white running tee and black sweats.

Jennie continued to focus on her run despite feeling company. She had an inkling of who it might be. Although surprised, Jennie wanted to keep her composure, so she cleared her throat and turned her head slightly to glance at – yes her guess was right – Jisoo, who was having no trouble matching her pace. Jisoo was already looking at her and seemingly saying something Jennie couldn't hear over her music.

Jisoo's white tee was soaked and as always, white fabric became translucent fabric. Jennie clenched her jaw and gulped at the sight of a black sports bra ostentatiously taunting her from beneath that see-through flimsy piece of a tee. At this point, any form of concentration she was trying to put into her run had been completely thrown out the window, her legs were just moving by themselves routinely while her mind galloped elsewhere. She frowned in an attempt to hide her wild nerves and appear rational, but too caught up in her internal fluster she was that she forgot she still had her earphones on.

When Jennie did not seem to comprehend her at all, Jisoo started gesturing and pointing downwards. Oh! Could it be that my shoelaces have come undone? Jennie thought as she looked downwards, and it was at this very moment of revelation that she tripped on her shoelaces and was falling fast, face first towards the ground.

"Ahhhhhhh!!" Jennie closed her eyes tightly to brace for the fall, and her heart thumped violently at the shock of an impending crash.

But instead, she felt herself being whirled around by the shoulders and then suddenly steadied at an angle of forty-five degrees. Oh my, have I fainted? Jennie thought in panic. She did not realise she was still holding her breath with her eyes tightly shut, until she felt one of her earphones being pulled out gently from her ear.

A throaty chuckle wafted into Jennie's unplugged ear followed by a decidedly calming voice, "Hey... it's okay. I got you." Jennie let out the breath she was holding as she popped her eyes open quickly.

In the flash of a moment that followed, her mind and senses almost went into overdrive.

Her sight registered those confident brown eyes looking back into her own, the soft smile adorning what she thought could be the most beautiful face she has ever seen, and how close their faces must be for her to observe the beads of perspiration clinging on to Jisoo's flushed skin and the stray strands of Jisoo's fringe.

Her skin registered the comforting warmth emanating from Jisoo's toned flexed arms clamped around her torso – an arm around her waist and the other arm around her upper back and ending in a firm hold on the back of Jennie's neck, right under her ponytail. Jennie's lips tingled at the onslaught of Jisoo's slow but heavy breaths.

In that embrace of a save, Jennie prayed really hard either for her heart to stop its somersaults against her ribcage or for Jisoo not to notice.

Jennie was not sure if the riotous heart was because of the aftershock or the aftermath – the scare from the almost-fall or the physical contact that followed the save?

But she was sure of something, though – her heart felt unexplainably safe.

In that brief moment, each held the other's gaze in a nervous silence. Jennie swore she saw something flicker in Jisoo's eyes, something tender and almost vulnerable. Then, all too soon, it was gone and replaced by a confident and mischievous glint.

With that, Jisoo's slightly-parted lips transformed into a smirk, that smirk, as she slowly led them up to stand.

Jisoo let her hands linger on the small of Jennie's back longer than necessary, and grazed them forward around Jennie's waist, before letting her hands fall slowly and finally breaking the contact. She smirked when Jennie shivered at her feather-light touch. They were standing too close for comfort, but Jennie made no effort to move away.

When seconds passed without Jennie saying anything, Jisoo raised her perfectly trimmed eyebrow and tucked her chin in slightly. "You... alright there?"

Jennie cleared her throat and tore her eyes away from the stare of alluring brown ones. "Yeah... I'm okay. Almost donated a tooth or two to the track right here. So... yeah, thanks for just now."

Jisoo chuckled, "I'm glad you didn't. Try a proper donation drive next time."

Jennie rolled her eyes and grinned, "Thanks for the tip." She was enjoying this little banter that was eroding the awkwardness.

Jisoo paused, then smiled, "There it is. That's the reason I'm glad you kept them all." Heat rose in Jennie's cheeks as she realized that Jisoo had her eyes on her gummy grin, teeth on display. She suddenly felt self-conscious and licked her lips before pursing them, hiding all her teeth that Jisoo was referring to. What am I supposed to say to that? Was that an innocent compliment or... something else?

Next thing she knew, Jisoo's smirk was back, "Well, see you in class... Jennie." Jisoo did a salute gesture with her hand and off she was, looking so careless and free as always.

After a minute or so, Jennie caught herself staring at the back of the raven shrinking into the distance.

Wait, how did Jisoo know my name?

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A/N: Triple update ^^ Let me know if you like the story by voting for it, okay? <3