The Marrying Type || Jensoo & Chaelisa

Chapter 75: Epilogue

They'd been driving since early morning, and Jennie was fast asleep in the passenger seat. Dalgom was asleep too, curled up in his cage set up in the backseat, buried amidst a few suitcases and other things they hadn't been able to put into the moving truck – Jennie's beloved succulents were in one crate, safely fastened to prevent it from tipping over, and Jisoo's aloe vera plant's leaf was tickling her neck every now and then, not enough to be irritating but enough that she had to shove it away on occasion.

It was sunny, and the skies were the brightest clear blue she'd ever seen – not a single cloud in sight, and it was blaringly hot outside, but nice and cool inside where the AC kept the temperature at a manageable height. Adjusting to California's eternal summer was going to be a bit of a task for both of them.

Jisoo didn't complain, though. Constant sunshine and warmth meant that she was treated to seeing Jennie wear shorts on a daily basis, and her legs were Jisoo's weakness – especially now, adorned by the all-but-healed tattoo.

Before they'd left New York, they'd both tied up the very last loose ends. Jennie had met with Nayeon's mother, alone, and after a long, quiet talk, she'd agreed to continue funding her treatment.

From what Jisoo had heard, Nayeon's mother was planning on pulling the plug eventually. Jennie was willing to give her all the time she needed.

She'd been a little quiet about it, but with a few days, the incident had been all but forgotten in the face of their brand new adventure.

Jisoo's last loose end had been Lisa. She'd treated Lisa to a day of just the two of them, of movies and wandering around and just having fun together like good old times. By the end of the day, when they'd stood at Jisoo's door hugging it out, Lisa had cried a little – Jisoo had too, and Lisa had made fun of her for it, and then it'd come time for Jisoo to go home and sleep before they left early the next morning.

Lisa and Chaeyoung had seen them off in the morning with waves and hugs. Both their hearts had ached when they'd finally sat in the car and driven off, but soon enough the ache had been replaced by excitement – they had the open road ahead of them, the whole world to see, and all the time in the world to see it all.

And so, after driving around for about a week, they had finally set their heading for San Francisco.

Jisoo glanced at Jennie, curled up in her seat, and smiled to herself. Jennie had driven well into the night, determined to get them as far as they could so that they could reach San Francisco during the day and not late at night. She deserved this nap, this rest - there was still a ways' to go till they'd reach their new home.

But then they came up to the top of a steep rise, and Jisoo suddenly smacked Jennie awake when she saw the vast expanse of the ocean stretched out before them – she'd known they had to be close, but it wasn't until they came up over the hill that she saw the sea; it was vast and empty, and the sky above it looked endless. The sun shone, and the sea sparkled, and Jisoo simply had to pull over to a viewpoint on the side of the road so that she could marvel at the view.

Jennie, having been woken so suddenly, took a while to properly process what had happened. She smacked her lips a few times, and Jisoo chuckled at her tiredness, and gave her a nudge.

"Look. We made it!"

Jennie rubbed at her eyes, and yawned, and then she saw it too, and gasped. "Holy shit."

"I know."

"I forgot how vast it was."

"I know."

They got out of the car, and let Dalgom out for a little walk as well – they were at a viewpoint, the road squiggling down along the side of the tall hill they stood atop of.

"Do you smell it? The sea?"

Jisoo inhaled deeply, and nodded. "Yeah. Smells like home."

And then Jennie laughed, and swept Dalgom up in her arms, twirling the two of them around while Jisoo stood a ways' off. Her wife didn't notice she was taking a picture till she heard the click of the camera, and then she froze and turned to look at her, still smiling brightly as ever.

"Could've warned me," Jennie called out. "I would've posed."

"I like taking natural pictures."

"You mean stalker pictures."

"Hey! I'm not a stalker!"

"I was just joking, geez-"

"Oh, damnit," Jisoo said. "I should've gotten that smile right then."

Jennie rolled her eyes and gave Dalgom a quick kiss before beckoning Jisoo to come closer. "Put the camera there and let's take one together."

Jisoo did as told and rushed over in the three seconds the camera gave her, making it just in time to wrap an arm around Jennie's waist and turn around to smile at the camera. There was a click, and then she turned her head to kiss Jennie, Dalgom pressed in between them, and there was yet another click, and another.

"One of them oughta be good," she explained as she went back to the car. "Now come on, let's get going. It's four hours to San Francisco and I'm itching to get home."

"Yeah," Jennie grinned as she climbed back into the car. "Let's go home."

©artsypolarbear

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END