french fries & milk ice-cream// JENLISA ONESHOTS

not with haste

-eternal sunshine au, part 3-

this would be the last chapter of the eternal sunshine au series.
we suffered enough, don't we?

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do not let my fickle flesh go to waste
as it keeps my heart and soul in it's place
and I will love with urgency but not with haste
- mumford & sons, not with haste

On the day Lisa leaves the island, the sky is overcast and the clouds are gray for the first time in a very long while. It reminds Jennie of her black-and-white dreams back in the city; of a time when she still lived with Junhoe in their apartment, going from day to day.

(Jennie runs her thumb across the still-empty space where her ring finger meets her palm at the memory; it itches when she touches it, the absence making itself felt, no matter how slight.)

A week later, it starts raining. Jennie watches from her room as the rainwater crawls down her window gingerly, raindrops casting translucent shadows in their wake. Staring at the heavy skies, she thinks about Lisa-about clean slates and the past couple of months they'd just spent in make-believe; about her abandoned paintings, and the last bouquet of flowers Lisa left.

About Junhoe's unanswered calls. Jennie winces as she eyes her phone, face down on the table. The rains mean that the summer is over, and Jennie knows a thing or two about things ending.

Sooner or later, Jennie tells herself, slipping out of bed finally. The city beckons.

(There is no note - or at least, none yet; the note comes days later, and Jennie holds onto Lisa's handwriting for as long as she could with her trembling hands.)

*

The pavement is wet when Jennie flies back into the city; it has just finished raining, and though the skies are clear, the city is colorless. It is worlds apart from the all the bustling color of the island - not that Jennie is surprised. Soon enough, she finds herself at their familiar doorstep, her travel-weary bones just about to give out.

"Welcome home," Junhoe greets her softly, taking her luggage and her coat. There is a muted smile on his face, like he's waiting for Jennie to say something in return.

Jennie smiles, nodding at him and touching his arm. "Hey you," she says back, just as softly.

*

That night, Junhoe volunteers to spend the night in a hotel room, and Jennie is too tired to put up a fight.

*

For the first few weeks, it is business as usual - Jennie goes back to the office, sliding back into her city-worker skin seamlessly and hanging one of her island paintings on her office wall. It's one of the sunset paintings she did with Lisa watching from the bed; it takes some getting used to, looking at it without hearing the waves coming in from the open window.

Jennie sighs. Some days, when she breathes in, she half-expects the air to be salty-sweet, but every time instead, her nostrils fill with the sanitized scent of the building's centralized air-conditioning, and nothing deflates Jennie quite as quickly.

"The island sun looks good on you," is how Chaeyoung greets her when they finally meet up again, coming to visit sometime around the end of Jennie's first month back from the island. "But you feel like this city has already drained you enough, and just how long have you been back, huh?"

Jennie tries to smile. "It has," she says, evading Chaeyoung's question, shrugging as she takes a sip from her glass of wine. "How's Taehyung?"

"He sends his apologies for not making it," says Chaeyoung, shaking her head. "How are you?"