Miss J | Jensoo

Ch57. Crippled All The Same

At the sight of Jisoo's gaping mouth and flustered blinking, Seunghyun chuckled and shook his head, sending a spoonful of kimchi into his mouth.

"O-okay I get that you probably have peeped at the wallpaper on my phone when I was supposedly staring, which I never am, mind you," Jisoo scratched the back of her head, perplexed and embarrassed, "but h-how did you know I've been going to see her?"

"Ah, so it is a girl on your wallpaper!"

"Dad!" Jisoo whined at being tricked and she blushed a deep red.

Laughing, Seunghyun scooped in a mouthful of rice and took his time to observe how red his daughter was evolving into. He finally swallowed, then challenged with a grin, "Tell me her name, and I'll tell you how I knew about you sneaking off."

Jisoo groaned exaggeratedly as she hung her head backwards, speaking to the ceiling, "Her name's Jennie."

"Jennie? Our client's daughter?" Seunghyun probed further, "Your latest mission?"

"She's not my mission. She's...," Jisoo raised her voice unknowingly but quickly recovered, keeping her eyes on her rice as she poked at it mindlessly, trying to find the right words, "she's..."

The one.

My love.

My everything.

"...a close friend of mine."

She heard her dad hum in thought, and suddenly she wished she had not been so defensive. There was not anything to defend, was there?

The sound of utensils gently placed on the table was followed by a shuffling in the seat across from her.

"She's," Seunghyun treaded carefully, "more than just that, isn't she?"

Jisoo did not want to look up from the dishes for fear of crumbling walls and burgeoning emotions. There was only so much Jennie she could think of before her heart would crack once again, so she opted to leave the question unanswered and focused on dinner.

"No cheating," she forced a grin, "it's your turn to answer. So, how did you find out about my movements?"

"Well, you have a habit of leaving your things lying around, such as your credit card bills and air tickets, for example."

Gah! How careless of me! Jisoo shut her eyes and groaned aloud. Her dad must have chanced upon her bills strewn somewhere and spotted the recurring air ticket expenses, and since her name was on the air tickets, he must have deduced that she had been flying frequently to Los Angeles.

Taking a cab or a train would be too time-consuming and because of her... disability, she could not drive on her own, so a one-hour long flight would be the best option.

At first, she discreetly hung around her penthouse waiting for Jennie to come home, but when evening arrived and there was no sign of life seen through her windows, she discovered that everyone had probably moved out.

The next time she flew in, she headed for the campus and patiently lingered outside the gates she remembered Jennie used to exit through; and to her delight, the brunette came into view, decked in her casual crop tee and high-waisted dance sweats. Jisoo hurriedly ducked her head lower under her cap and hid her crutches behind the tree she was leaning against, but she could not help the smile that spread across her lips.

She missed Jennie, so damn much, that just a tiny glimpse of the brunette safe and healthy was enough to make Jisoo's blood rush and her heart leap in joy.

Despite her mobility issues, she could not help being a creep as she followed Jennie, all the while ensuring a large distance between them. Unfortunately, it got too tiring too quickly for her useless leg, and Jisoo just could not keep up for the entire journey, panting and aching badly. That did not stop her from seeing Jennie though – Jisoo memorized the spot where she had stopped at, and the following time she flew in, she would wait at precisely that location and continue to see Jennie home, or wherever the girl was going. The cycle would repeat – she would follow until she could no longer, and then when she returned she would continue where she left off. It was exhausting and some would say pointless, but to Jisoo, it was a hundred percent worth it.