Breathe | Jensoo

Ch03

"Hey doc," Jisoo was chewing on a piece of gum as she threw a casual wave.

Wearing a pair of thin-framed spectacles, Jennie narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, "Have you forgotten my name so quickly?"

Jisoo shrugged nonchalantly and cocked her head, "Fine, Jennie. Names are just names. Fu...dge it." People called her 'Inspector' all the time, what's the big deal?

Slumping on the sofa instead of the recliner, she chewed and chewed and then blew a bubble which popped when the doctor came to sit down perpendicular to her with a folder in her lap.

Her folder. The folder all about Jisoo. It made her feel like a criminal. How ironic.

Nevermind. After today, it would be 3 down, 5 to go. I can do this. Go, me!

She took a deep breath and sighed discreetly.

While Jennie was writing something down in that folder, Jisoo reached towards the coffee table and plucked a piece of tissue from its box. Expecting the session to commence shortly, she rolled the gum out of her mouth and wrapped it with the tissue before disposing it in the metal bin at the end of the sofa.

Jennie, however, still had her eyes on the folder of papers in her lap, still perusing and occasionally writing. With her bubble gum distraction prematurely gone, Jisoo drummed her fingers on the arm of the couch and scanned the room she had already memorised on her first visit. Observing her environment was out of habit, but right now it's out of boredom. She looked at her psychiatrist. Still reading, still writing.

Fu... n. Shouldn't she have done that before I arrived?

Fidgeting in her seat, Jisoo started counting the breaths she took just for the sake of having something to do. And maybe also for the sake of keeping certain memories at bay although she would probably never admit that aloud.

The memories were dangerously pushing at the locked gates of her mind now, she could feel it. So, she opened her mouth to distract herself with conversation but before words were uttered, the folder on the doctor's lap closed with a thud and Jennie finally looked up to meet her eyes.

"Pardon the delay," Jennie smiled and offered no more explanation than that. Instead, she straightened up in her seat and clapped both hands on the folder, her smile full of cheer, "Shall we have our chat over coffee today?"

Jisoo arched a brow in confusion and darted her eyes away then back at Jennie, not quite sure she had heard correctly. "Um, are we allowed to do that?"

Jennie nodded spiritedly.

"Then... will the session still count towards my, uh, attendance?"

That bluntness elicited a chuckle from the doctor which Jisoo returned with an awkward grin as she rubbed her neck in slight embarrassment. To be very honest, the last thing Jisoo wanted was to realise at the end that she had to come back the next day because all a coffee break was was a coffee break.

"Yes, Jisoo," Jennie was already on her feet and shrugging off her white coat, "let's go."

"Alright, doc," Jisoo stood and cracked a smirk when narrowed eyes threw daggers at her, "tor Jennie."

"Good," Jennie beamed victoriously and Jisoo couldn't help but notice the way the doctor's eyes disappeared behind fluffy cheeks pushed up by that gummy grin.

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Back at the clinic, Jennie had noticed how Jisoo always seemed to be a constant mix of restless and uneasy. Being nervous was normal especially for first-timers, and Jennie had in the first session thought this was the case, but in the second session she suspected otherwise, and now in the third session she put it to the test. She deliberately took a longer time with Jisoo's files and papers today, and indeed, Jisoo started to fidget, tensing further by the minute.