The Prince and the Rose (Liskook) [discontinued]

Suspicion

"Mom Lisa's coming over so I can give her the present," Jungkook said importantly once his mother pulled up in the road next to them.

Mrs Jeon smiled at the two eager children. "Of course. It's waiting for you Lisa. And it's nice to see you again, we missed having you around. Well Jungkook especially."

"Mom!" Jungkook blushed.

"Well, am I lying?" his mother teased as they settled in the back seat.

Jungkook's ears reddened further and he muttered something incoherently.

"Well I missed coming over too!" Lisa grinned, hugging her present close. It had survived the day, with Lisa putting it on the book shelf at the back of class and forbidding anyone, even the other boys, from touching it, on pain of....well, not death, but Lisa did promise a very painful Chinese burn.

"Kookie's the best—he was the first to greet me and give me a present and now he actually has another one too!" she said happily as they settled back in their seat.

"It sucks you couldn't have a cake though," Jungkook said wistfully, remembering last year's enormous Smarties cake that had been delivered to the school on Lisa's birthday. Lisa had somehow managed to fall face first into the cake as well, ruining the decorating icing on top but everybody had laughed and enjoyed their slice.

"Yeah....Mom is too busy these days..." Lisa sighed.

"Well, I may or may not have gotten a few pastries on my way to pick you up," Mrs Jeon winked, "grown-up kind of pastries with a little liquor in them, so I'm not sure you children will like them."

The children's eyes grew round as saucers.

"You mean with whiskey in them? We'll get drunk like in the movies?" Lisa said excitedly. She rolled back in her seat, groaning with her tongue lolling out of her mouth as she pretended to be wasted. "We'll get a hangover and trip sooooooooooooooo hard, we'll see unicorns!"

"But we have school tomorrow," Jungkook said worriedly, "Mom, is it really okay to taste those kinds of cakes? I don't want to get a hangover..."

Mrs Jeon laughed heartily. "Oh listen to you two! Honey, it's just a dash of liquor, for the taste. At most, it will only be a bit bitter. I'm afraid you can't use liquor cakes as an excuse to skip school, Lisa."

"Bummer," Lisa muttered, "I'm so going to get drunk when I'm old enough."

"You really can't stand school," Jungkook laughed, "but getting drunk won't make you feel better."

"Well, you get to stay in bed all day," Lisa told him, "and you can do pretty much else anything you like."

"I'd be too tired, I think," Jungkook said thoughtfully, "I'd just sleep in."

"Not if you take some Advil you won't," Lisa said knowingly, "two Advil and a glass of water, it cures the hangover and you can watch cartoons all day and eat takeout in bed too. That's what I'd do. Oh by the way Kookie, did you see what Daffy did last night, that was so stupid but I was laughing so much..."

As the children continued to chatter, Mrs Jeon glanced at Lisa in the overhead mirror.

 Her sharp eyes instantly zoomed in on the creases in the girl's uniform, the faint shadow of a stain on the sleeve of her jersey, which was also unravelling, down to the dusty skirt and scuffed, worn shoes with the button flipping open.

"My Mom's busy..."

Lisa's words replayed in her head, making Jungkook's mother frown slightly, but then her eyes were on the road again and she put all suspicions out of her head.