The Marrying Type || Jensoo & Chaelisa

Chapter 42

"Jisoo?"

Jisoo turned around on the couch to look at Jennie, who'd just sat down beside her. "Hm?"

"Can we talk?"

"Sure. You alright?"

Jennie shuffled closer, and Jisoo couldn't help noticing her apparent discomfort. Immediately when she did, she laid a hand on Jennie's thigh as a comforting gesture, and looked into her eyes with concern. "Jennie...what is it?"

"I'm fine, Jisoo. I'm worried about you."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"All you've done in the past two days is care about my wellbeing."

"That's because of the trial."

"You were there too, Jisoo. Don't say you weren't affected, I know you were."

"So what if I was? I wasn't in the center of it all. I wasn't the one who had bad memories brought up, traumas even."

"But you did watch me go through that." Jennie said quietly.

Jisoo's expression softened. "I'm fine, Jennie."

"You're tense. And sometimes you fall quiet, and I just know you're exhausted. Anyone would be. I don't want you to burn yourself out for me."

Jisoo sighed and set down her book, spreading her arms and legs to make space for Jennie. "C'mere."

Jennie shuffled over and settled herself in Jisoo's lap, facing her, and remained quiet for a long while, waiting for Jisoo to speak.

"You're right," Jisoo finally said, "I'm exhausted. Or I was exhausted. The trial...I was terrified, Jennie. I know I didn't show it, and I largely did because I didn't want to add to your worry."

Jennie sighed. "You shouldn't have - no, you wouldn't have needed to do that. You don't need to ignore what you're feeling for my sake."

"But you were so...worried. Tense. And you were having nightmares, and-"

"Jisoo."

The dark-haired paused and looked at Jennie, and Jennie now saw that her eyes shone with tears. She reached up with one hand to cup Jisoo's face, and her entire countenance softened as much as it possibly could.

"Jisoo," she repeated, her voice quiet and gentle, "You're tired. You were scared. And I'm sure a lot of questions arose during the trial...didn't they?"

Jisoo nodded. "But I'm fine not knowing."

"No, ask me."

"Jennie..."

"I'm fine, Jisoo. I have nightmares, but I'm fine. I'm not broken. You can ask me hard questions."

"You sure?"

Jisoo's voice was small, and she was looking at Jennie with an expression of mixed concern and hope - she really was curious, and truly did want to know the answers to some questions, but did not want to do so at the cost of Jennie's mental stability.

"Yes, I'm sure," Jennie smiled, leaning her forehead against Jisoo's. "Go ahead and ask me. You're my wife. You have every right to know."

Jisoo spent a long while trying to formulate her question, and Jennie waited patiently, toying with a lone strand of hair, twirling the dark lock around her finger on an endless loop.

"Can you tell me about...no, wait. Do you ever think about suicide? Now, I mean?"

Every word of Jisoo's sentence was careful, tentative, as though she were walking on thin ice - Jennie felt sorry that she was so tense, but understood it's cause. The topic was sensitive, and Jennie, too, was a little tense.