BREAK THE WALL | JENLISA, CHAESOO

Chapter 9

Jennie's day as a waitress in Lisa's body didn't start very well: she dropped a tray, broke two glasses and was scolded by the manager. Fortunately, Lisa's workplace wasn't a fancy restaurant, but a simple bar, most clients ordered beer and some snacks so Jennie didn't have a problem with keeping up with the orders. But halfway through the work day she already felt tired, her legs were hurting from going back and forth from the tables to the kitchen and she even felt a pain in her back from constantly holding a tray. "Damn, how does Lisa manage to do this every day, it's so exhausting." she thought, but of course didn't give up, it wasn't even an option, she needed to show Lisa that she could do it.

"Take this to table four. Three beers and three burgers." the manager's curt voice made her almost jump. She took the tray and walked to the table, noticing three middle-aged men waiting for their order.

"Enjoy your meal." she said placing three plates and three glasses on the table. Just when she was ready to walk away, she noticed how one of them was eyeing her up and down, as if she was his meal. Shuddering, she ignored it, but then heard:

"Girl, I really dig the ass on you, like damn!" Jennie looked at him cluelessly, scared and disgusted, not even knowing what to say. "What are you doing after work, maybe we could-" he paused and his hand reached towards her butt. Jumping back, Jennie avoided the touch and heard their lecherous laughs as she was scurrying away. With a pounding heart, she hid in the kitchen and almost cried, she had never felt so humiliated in her life.

"What's wrong?" she heard Minnie's voice, she was Lisa's friend who also came from Thailand.

"These clients-"

"Those three? Yeah, they're regulars and they're always like that, you should have gotten used to it by now."

"What? So everyone just accepts that it's okay to harass a waitress like this?"

Minnie just rolled her eyes. "Yeah Lisa, this is how the world works so stop acting like a baby and do your job."

It sounded so harsh that Jennie almost cried again.

"What are you two doing?" the manager saw them talking and instantly got angry. "If you're not busy with the orders your job is to clean the tables! So move your asses and get back to work!"

Jennie and Minnie rushed outside and they heard the manager whispering under his breath: "Stupid lazy foreigners."

Indignant, Jennie stopped herself at the last moment from turning around and yelling at him. Because it wasn't the first time he made such a remark, Jennie noticed already that he treated her and Minnie differently from other waiters. "What a racist asshole!" she kept thinking, and only when she calmed down her mind turned to Lisa. When Jennie met her, she didn't think even for a moment that the Thai could face racism every day. Suddenly she felt sorry for Lisa and, to be honest, a little bad. She was always under the impression that racism in Korea was in decline and that it wasn't really a problem anymore. And yet there she was, witnessing it first-hand. "Damn, maybe Lisa is the way she is because she needs to struggle with shit like that every day." she thought. "It's hard to blame her, it's really infuriating and disheartening having to deal with such close-minded people."

But the most shocking realization came at the end of the workday, when the manager gathered all waiters and handed them their weekly salary. Jennie was standing still, bewildered, looking at several banknotes in her hand, not believing her own eyes. That was it? That was really it!? For working hard all week, this was all Lisa was getting? The amount of money was ridiculously small, how could she even survive earning so little? Something broke inside Jennie, she felt she couldn't be mad at Lisa anymore. "Lisa can sometimes behave like an impulsive bitch, but... she has every right to. I'd probably act the same if I were in her shoes." Jennie thought, her heart filled to the brim with compassion.

When she was preparing to leave, she heard someone calling her.

"Lisa, wait!" she heard.

She turned around and saw Jungkook, who was in charge of promoting the restaurant on the Internet. When Jennie met him, the first thing she realized was that he was surprisingly quiet and shy for such a handsome guy. He spent all day sitting in his small room at the back of the bar, in front of the computer, working on the restaurant's website. "A hot computer geek. Not a very common combination." Jennie thought.

"Did you think about what we talked about yesterday?" he asked and Jennie's mind panicked a little, she had no idea what to answer. What could he have wanted from Lisa? Think, Jennie, think! Then her perceptive eyes noticed his flustered expression and dreamy eyes and Jennie understood, it was more than obvious that the boy had a crush on Lisa. So what would Lisa do? Jennie had no idea so she just stood silently gazing back at the boy. She had to admit that she instinctively liked Jungkook, he seemed genuinely nice. And his calm attitude might have a soothing effect on Lisa, maybe going out with him would be really good for someone as restless and hot-tempered as the Thai girl. But Jennie was still hesitating, something about Lisa going out with him rubbed her the wrong way. Forcing her mind to brush off this feeling, she asked, trying to sound as soft as possible:

"And what exactly do you want from me?"

"Come on Lisa, I thought I was clear yesterday, I want to go on a date with you." Jennie noticed how flustered he was, he almost stuttered, but it wasn't awkward, on the contrary, it seemed kind of cute. "You said you were going to think about it."

Jennie was ready to agree, but her heart started racing for an unknown reason. "Damn it, control yourself Jennie!" she forced herself to calm down. She let out a deep sigh and replied:

"I'm sorry for taking so long, I just had some problems so I wasn't sure if this was a good idea. But it's over now and I'd really like to go out with you."

"Wow, really?" he seemed so genuinely surprised that Jennie smiled inside seeing how cute he was. "I was almost sure that you'd turn me down. So maybe tomorrow evening, are you free then?"

"Sure, that's okay with me."

"Okay! I'll call you." he said excitedly with a joyful smile. "Have a nice evening Lisa!"

Only when he went to his car and drove off, Jennie realized that tomorrow she might still be in Lisa's body, so it would be her who would have to go on a date, not Lisa.

"Shit, what have I done?" she whispered, mad at herself for yet again having acted without carefully thinking things through. Then her phone buzzed: it was a message from Jisoo, telling her that they were meeting Rosé and Lisa in half an hour.