Outline of You | Jensoo

Ch01.

In her beige leather chair, with a pair of round spectacles perched on her nose, Jennie peruses a business proposal on her desk.

Breaking her concentration, the phone rings and Nayeon's picture lights up on the screen. Jennie feels a stab in her heart but she swallows the bitter feeling and puts on a front.

She answers, cool and collected as usual, "Hey."

"Hi Jen!" The bubbly voice that used to make her smile now leaves her hollow. "Wanna grab lunch together in, like, 15 minutes?"

But she forces her smile through anyway, "Yeah! Sure, where to?"

"Sweet! Meet at our favourite place?"

Our favourite. "Yeah, awesome, see you."

"Love ya!"

Love you. A phrase that used to be so easy is suddenly so hard, so Jennie doesn't say it.

She waits until the line disconnects before shutting her eyes and letting her tears fall. If she thought leaving after a break-up was hard, she now realizes how wrong she was -- because staying after it is so much harder.

Although it's been 2 months after their split, every phone call, every meetup, every touch still rips the wound open time and again.

But Nayeon doesn't need to know that.

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Jennie stirs her coffee on autopilot, her mind restless with unwanted memories of what they used to be.

The bell above the cafe entrance rings and she sees Nayeon, her smile as bright as sunshine, like always. And Jennie smiles in return, like always. And they sit in their favourite booth in their favourite cafe, like always.

But unlike always, when they part, Jennie's heart doesn't break into two.

"Feels like ages ago since we had a meal together, Jen," Nayeon pulls Jennie into a tight hug, before sliding into the seat opposite.

"We had dinner last month," Jennie laughs, "stop being dramatic."

"Doesn't matter," Nayeon beams and squeezes Jennie's hand across the table, "I missed you all the same."

Sometimes, Jennie wishes she could have more control, like now when her heart shouldn't be leaping and her hand shouldn't be feeling at home in Nayeon's. But they are.

With small talk sprinkled over lunch, time passes as easily as Jennie remembers it to, until it comes to a jarring stop.

"Oh, by the way Jen," Nayeon finishes her last mouthful and dabs her lips with a napkin, "I'm, uh, I'm seeing someone. And I would like for you to meet him."

Him.

Jennie's heart doesn't break into two. It breaks into a million shards.

"I mean, only if you'd like to, of course. Not forcing you or anything, just, you know, you're my best friend and I –"

Jennie cups Nayeon's hands and interrupts the girl's blabbering. She smiles into her gaze and enunciates every word, "Nayeon, I'd love to."

And Nayeon's beautiful grin almost pieces Jennie's heart back together. Almost.

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"Yay, you're back! What took you so long?" Lisa dashes from her desk and grabs the paper bags from one of Jisoo's arms. She takes a deep whiff and exhales in satisfaction, "Mmm... heavenly."

Jisoo laughs as she kicks off her boots. "It better be, because let me tell you, the queue was monstrous."

As they pass Chaeyoung, who is deep in her sketching with her headphones on, Lisa plants a light kiss on the top of the girl's head, lifts an end of the headphones and croons next to her ear, "Dinner time, darling."