THE LIGHT OF LOVE | JENLISA

Chapter 4.

Saying that Lisa was irritated would be a huge understatement. Infuriated was more like it. It was a natural reaction, Jennie disturbed something which Lisa had buried very deeply in her heart a long time ago. And now it wasn't buried anymore, it freely roamed her mind, constantly popping up in her brain, the all important question: why did you stop going after your dream?

As much as Lisa wanted it to go away, to disappear, she couldn't force herself to forget it now. And this was the reason why she was so restless, furious even. Her life was pleasant and simple and suddenly it became confusing and difficult. And who was to blame? Someone who she didn't even know, some weirdo girl who pretended to be a messenger of fate or whatever the hell she claimed to be.

And yet...

The rational part of her mind quietly kept whispering: "Maybe Jennie is right..." and Lisa couldn't pretend forever that she couldn't hear it. To be completely honest, she knew she was wasting her potential since her parents' divorce. She didn't even study at all, her innate intelligence allowed her to get passing grades without any effort. And apart from school, she chose the path of simple pleasures: parties, alcohol, hookups, meaningless sex...

But hell, there was nothing wrong with it, right? "A lot of people do that, why do I have to aspire for something more? I'm not obliged to do anything, I don't owe anything to anyone. I'm fine with my current life, it's fun." she kept persuading herself.

Enough. Lisa felt she'd go crazy if she kept thinking about Jennie. Something to make her forget about the whole thing was all she desired right now so Lisa took out her phone and called Moonbyul.

"Hey, maybe we could meet today, what do you say, are you free?" she asked and was relieved to hear the affirmative reply. "Great. Usual place, 6 pm. See ya!"

Moonbyul was three years older and after high school she started working as a receptionist in a hotel. Not even Jisoo and Rosé knew that Lisa had and older friend, because... well, it wasn't something that Lisa was very proud about.

Her friends-with-benefits thing with Moonbyul have been going for six months already. They would usually go out once per week, eat together and then enjoy, like Moonbyul liked to bluntly put it, "some hot girl-on-girl action". No feelings were involved, but the sex was pretty great so Lisa was more than satisfied to have this "pact" with her friend. The prospect of being laid tonight improved Lisa's mood a little bit and a light smile crept up to her lips for the first time that day. Then it turned into a full-sized grin as she spotted Jisoo and Rosé walking in sync towards her.

"Someone's in a better mood." Jisoo said and Lisa's arched her eyebrows.

"Oh, come on, you think we didn't notice you've been absent-minded all day?" Rosé's eyes zoomed in on Lisa's face, trying to see if something was still troubling her. But the Thai was an expert on hiding her true emotions.

"I'm fine now." she simply said, hoping to end all speculations about her well-being. It worked, she managed to calm her friends down.

"So our group English assignment is due in three days, we should all meet today and finish it. What do you say Lisa, my place, 6 pm?" Jisoo suggested. Lisa pouted her lips in an apologetic manner.

"Shit, I can't make it today. I completely forgot about this assignment. Maybe you two can work on it today and I'll do my part tomorrow."

"You can't? What, you got a date or something?" Rosé asked jokingly, not knowing how close to the truth she was.

"Haha, very funny. I just have... some other plans." Lisa lied, trying not to blush.

"Okay, fine, let's do it like that: me and Rosé will work on it tonight and tomorrow you'll finish it up with the new girl." Jisoo suggested.

"What new gi-" Lisa's voice suddenly broke as she felt the incoming panic. "Jennie!? You must be kidding me, how is she in our project group?"

"She's new and seemed kind of lost so I asked her to join us on this assignment. I sent you a text about it, you haven't replied so I thought you were okay with it." Rosé explained. Lisa cursed badly in her mind, she must've missed the text.

"Well I'm not okay with it!" Lisa suddenly realized that she was yelling way to loud.

"Why not? I know there are these rumors about her being strange and all.... And her resting bitch face doesn't really help, but we talked and she seems alright." Rosé tried to reason with her friend.

The Thai girl was caught between a rock and a hard place. She couldn't tell her friends about her conversation with Jennie and without it she didn't have a good reason to refuse to do the assignment with her. She just fell silent, looking at the ground, resigned and even a little mad.

"Besides, even if she's a bit weird, she's got a good reason to be. You know that she lost both her parents very young and since then she was moved from foster home to foster home... Like an unwanted pet. Damn, I can't even imagine how tough it must've been for her." Rosé's voice trembled, she was visibly emotional. Jisoo moved closer and squeezed her hand in a comforting way.

Lisa didn't even try to conceal how shocked she was. Her parents died? That's so horrific. Yeah, she didn't know that... The entire anger that she felt because of Jennie evaporated in a second.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I'll meet with her tomorrow for the assignment." she said with a heavy heart. Her thoughts went again to the brunette girl: Lisa couldn't grasp why the entire aura around her was so damn fascinating, confusing and irritating at the same time.