AFFECTION 愛情

the 3rd time; part 1

[BROWN]

LISA'S HAIR WAS BROWN when jennie saw her bolting across the school's hallway.

the korean shut her locker, weird jennie thought. it was their last day of junior year. jennie wanted to talk to lisa properly before their school year ended, so she promised herself that she'd invite lisa to her favorite coffee shop.

she was planning to ask her after gym since that's the only time the two ever see each other besides their little hallway run-ins. they also had history together but lisa rarely ever goes to that class and when she does, she just sleeps the whole period.

that's it, jennie's finally gonna make her move today. she was having second thoughts again but she pushed it aside knowing that she had to make her move someday.

jennie walked to her 3rd class of the day and as always she was extremely early. her breath hitched when she saw lisa sitting at the back of the classroom. the newly brown-haired thai gave a smile to her and after a few seconds of jennie deciding what to do, she just gave her a half smile back.

jennie almost tripped trying to get to her seat, which was somewhere at the front. she placed her notebook on top of her desk and prayed for students to come in.

"kim, why'd you sit so far away from me?" lisa's voice interrupted jennie's desperate prayers. the korean just stared at the board, ignoring the thai's question.

after a few seconds of silence, there was shuffling. moments after that, lisa sat down next to jennie.

"hey." lisa whispered for no reason at all, literally no one was in the room but them.

jennie shut her eyes and let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. "hi." she faced the girl.

lisa smiled before answering, "you know," she turned her whole body to face the girl, "you never actually texted me."

"oh . . . true."

"true?" lisa let out a quiet laugh, "that's all you're going to say? not even an 'oh i forgot, i'll text you later!' for me?"

"i mean yeah, i'll text you later. sure." jennie nodded firmly.

"make sure to do that, i really want to keep in touch with you before i go."

"what? why?" jennie was taken aback by the sudden information. realizing she might've come off rude, she restated her reply.

"i-i mean, you're going?" she mentally facepalmed herself.

lisa nodded, "yeah, i'm going to finish my senior year back in thailand."

"wouldn't it be better to finish your studies here?"

"mom said going back to thailand for the last year would help me adjust, before going to college that is." lisa shrugged.

"oh." was all jennie said, what could the little korean girl have said to that?

it just dawned on her that today truly was their last day seeing each other, she had to make her move.

"hey lisa," lisa turned her attention back to the korean, "uh, would you maybe like to get some coffee after school?"

lisa didn't answer right away and in that few seconds of dreadful silence jennie felt like she was asking for too much. i mean, they've only spoken to each other twice for crying out loud and both times had something to do with cleaning the gym.

"i-it's fine if you don't want to, but it's really near, we can like, w-walk there after—" lisa cut her off. thank god, the poor girl could not handle getting rejected.

"yes." lisa almost laughed at the latter girl's nervousness. "yes, i'd actually really like to get coffee with you." she showed the most genuine smile she could pull.

seeing lisa's smile calmed down jennie's nerves a bit. the korean shot a cheeky smile back before the bell rang and the students started piling in the classroom.

the whole time in class, all jennie could think about was the girl beside her. she felt ecstatic but sad at the same time. jennie knew this happiness wasn't going to last long once the realization that lisa was going to leave sets in.

history class consisted of jennie pretending to take notes and stealing sneaky glances at lisa.

and as for lisa, well she was trying not to sleep. especially since a very pretty girl was sitting next to her.

the class ended and the two girls bid their farewells to each other. jennie couldn't wait for school to end, she also didn't want it to at the same time.

conflicted was a good word to describe how jennie was feeling right now. this was probably the closest she's gotten to lisa and it's going to be the last.

her other classes came and went and now it was her last class, gym. jennie was excited to meet lisa again and it shows, there was an extra hop to her step walking to the gym. a meek smile decorating her lips.

gym class started and lisa still wasn't there, maybe she skipped gym again jennie thought. a small sigh left her mouth.

the teacher explained that today was going to be an off-day since it was the last day of school. all they had to do was gather their grades from their previous practical assessments and hand it to the him before going.

jennie finished gathering her grades but hasn't handed it in to the teacher yet. she was waiting for a particular thai to bust through the doors and say her apologies for being late. but that never happened, lisa didn't attend gym class.

jennie handed her folder of grades to the teacher with a 'thank you' and walked excruciatingly slow out the exit before picking up her pace, finally accepting that their little coffee date wasn't going to happen.

jennie was 3 feet away from the school's exit when she heard loud and fast footsteps behind her.

"kim, wait!" lisa yelled.

jennie turned around and saw a running lisa approaching her. when lisa finally reached her, she bent down and panted hard.

lisa looked up, still in a bent down position "so, let's get some coffee shall we?" lisa said, finally catching her breath.

jennie giggled and held lisa's hand to help her up.

"we shall."