YOUNG LOVE || 𝐉𝐄𝐍𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐀 ✔︎

six

“Oh my God, that is so sweet. I think you have the best first-time story ever,” Irene said.

“Sweet? I was a nervous wreck,” Lisa said. She picked up the last of her garlic bread and took a bite. “I’m stuffed,” she said.

“I hope you saved room for dessert.”

Lisa eyed her carefully. “What did you make?”

“Tiramisu.”

Lisa nearly moaned at the thought of the decadent dessert. “I suppose I’ll have to force it down.”

“I know it’s your favorite, so don’t try to sound put out,” Irene said with a laugh.

Lisa looked at Seulgi. “How do you stay so thin?”

“I hope you don’t think she cooks like this all the time. The only time I get dessert is when you’re over for dinner.”

Lisa grinned. “Damn my sweet tooth.”

Seulgi leaned her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands. It was a pose Lisa knew well. Seulgi was now Dr. Kang and she wasn’t trying to hide it.
“Did you think you were gay or did you think you were experimenting?”

“I had the hots for my best friend. I had no interest whatsoever in boys. Yeah, I was pretty sure I was gay.”

“And what about Jennie?”

“Honestly, at that age, I think she was just experimenting. Being gay wasn’t acceptable for her. It wasn’t a possibility,” she said. “It was never a possibility.”

“Even though you became lovers?”

“Even then. Whatever excuse Jennie needed to make for it, she did. But being gay was never it.”

“That must have been difficult for you.”

“Yes, Dr. Kang, it was very difficult.” She met her gaze head-on. “It still is.”

“Which is why you avoid going home at any cost. Even to see your mother.”

“Stop trying to make her feel guilty,” Irene said. “I’m loving the story. Tell us more. Tell us what happened when you went to her room that night.”

Lisa smiled. “What do you think happened? My hormones were raging and I was fifteen.”

* * *

“We’re going to watch TV,” Lisa said.

“Don’t stay too late,” her mother warned.

“I won’t,” she said as she headed up the stairs and into the mansion. Once on the second floor, she paused, listening, but all was quiet. She jogged up the next flight to Jennie's rooms, stopping to catch her breath before knocking lightly on the door.

“Come on in,” Jennie called.

Lisa pushed the door open, finding Jennie on the sofa, the remnants of her hamburger dinner spread out. Whenever the Kims had dinner plans elsewhere, her mother would prepare something for her that they rarely had—hamburgers.

“I was hoping you’d come up and have dinner with me,” Jennie said.

Lisa stood there, her palms sweating slightly. She wiped them on her jeans. “I was going to, but my mother had everything set up for us down there.” She walked deeper into the room, standing beside the sofa. “How did you get out of going out with Mino?”

Jennie smiled and gave a fake cough. “I’m sick. Very, very sick.”

“He was okay with that?”