Chapter 42

The silence was discomforting. Jennie was still not talking and Lisa on her seat was starting to get edgy. She could not remember the time when Jennie was not excited to talk to her. Or talk to her, period. She couldn't even make out what was going on inside Jennie's head because the expression on the latter's face was hard to read.

Jennie was looking straight ahead, the headlights beaming in and out on her face, and never once payed Lisa a sideglance. Or a sigh. Or anything that would at least indicate that she was acknowledging Lisa's presence beside her. Not even once. Her eyes weren't as glaring as when they left W Seoul-Walkerhill, but it definitely wasn't the same affectionate and excited as when Jennie would look at her every time. And it disheartened Lisa.

She had stopped trying to start a conversation. For now, at least. She had tried twice--or was it thrice, four times, already? But Jennie had only either gave her a non-committal shrug or a lackadaisical response. Both were discouraging and highly unmotivational.

One time, Lisa was watching the riverbank of the Han river outside her window. She thought it was lovely how the city lights had blurred past its distorted reflection on the water. Jennie would have found it beautiful, the glittering distorted lights dancing in the water surface. But when Lisa told Jennie about it, the latter had only mumbled a non-engaging 'hmm', as if she was lost on her own train of thoughts and she didn't want Lisa to pull her out from her own reverie.

Lisa wanted to ask--she was so close to blurting it out to Jennie, but stopped herself on time because she didn't want to provoke the petite beauty--what the problem was. Why Jennie was giving her the cold, silent treatment now when she was all ears and was so willing to discuss patiently what was going on two nights ago with her. Was it that bad, whatever she did tonight? Lisa asked herself.

And after a long moment of total silence, Lisa wanted to try again. What was the point of her being reckless and impulsive if she would stop trying to engage Jennie in a conversation, however flimsy it would become?

"Jennie?" Lisa called out tentatively. She was back to testing the waters.

"Hmm?" Jennie hummed as an answer.

"Are you mad at me?" asked Lisa.

It took a while before Jennie mumbled an almost inaudible "No."

"Then why aren't you talking to me?" Lisa ploughed on.

"What's there to talk about, Lisa?" Jennie replied without looking at Lisa, with a tone that somewhat indicated that she was tired. It was dragging.

"I don't know. What are you thinking?" Lisa asked.

Jennie ignored it. She completely went quiet and turned her full attention back to the road ahead and Lisa knew there was no point pushing it when Jennie was obviously not up to talk whatever was inside her head.

"Can I, at least, turn the music on?" Lisa asked, her patience was now starting to wear thin.

It was her car, anyway. Lisa thought begrudgingly. She could at least do whatever she wanted to do while being inside it, right? Or even outside it? Or whatever?

Jennie gave her the shrug--again!, that it pushed Lisa to roll her eyes in the dark--as an answer. She randomly picked up from the backseat the mixtape that Chaeng gave her as a welcome home present when she arrived back from her month-long travel. Intro to Dashboard Confessional's Heart Beat Here started filling the air and Chris Carrabba's voice was soon slicing through the silence between them.

Come on home and let yourself heal

You can sleep for a thousand years

It had been a while.

Lisa did not expect nor planned to stay in the country this long. She had never stayed in one country longer than a month after she decided to pursie ger passion. Except when she had to set up the studio and settle in her apartment. She did some paperworks back then, went back and forth between Korea and Thailand (her mother was adamant that she should talk to some important people regarding her decision to settle in Korea, thus the debate about whether it would just be for the time being or not and why she shouldn't) and squeezed in a little travel photography as she did so. Her life back then was pretty fast and blurry, she had forgotten how to anchor--where to anchor herself. The Chipmunk would asked her to stay just a little bit longer but she wouldn't budge. Lisa would have always had reasons to fly away, to see the world. She had always been restless and curious. She did not expect to stay just a little bit longer than she usually would because of, well, someone.

Lisa took a sideglance at Jennie, whose fingers were now tapping softly against the leather cover of the steering wheel and whose lips were moving, finally getting the hang of the beat, humming along with it probably without meaning to. And it made Lisa smile. If she just could, she would freeze that exact moment forever. The unguarded, unbothered, serene Jennie Kim was so beautiful, it made Lisa's heart ached with bliss.

I feel it in my ribs

Feel it in my soul

Falling in love wasn't part of the plan. Nor will it ever be, especially with a woman, given the circumstances. But here she was, sitting quietly and still on her seat, listening to Dashboard Confessional while staring at the woman who obviously had the power over her. She had taken orders from the same woman who seemed to temporarily abandon the reality that once upon a night--which was exactly two nights ago, by the way--she had been bestowed the ownership, the possession, the unspoken promise of one Jennie Kim, by Jennie Kim, herself.

It was crazy. Like, how her heart was beating wildly like crazy when Jennie had was audacious enough to actually claim her in front of Irene and Jisoo barely two hours ago.

"Mine. We're seeing each other. Exclusively."

Those calculated, possessive words by Jennie Kim had been ringing nonstop inside her head eversince it happened and it was driving Lisa nuts. She wanted to talk about it, but Jennie didn't, obviously. Or she wouldn't have ignored Lisa for the last hour now.

She was jealous, alright. Jennie was. Lisa could tell by the way those cat-like eyes were looking at Irene when the latter had clung to and kissed her in front of Jennie, herself. It was also probably the reason why Jennie decided to show up at Irene's party, with Jisoo tagging along. She smiled at the thought of Jisoo in her bedroom attire. The audacity of Jisoo to show up wearing PJ in the middle of a party with particularly dressed-up people was commendable.

But Lisa did not expect that entirely. Seeing Jennie tonight when she kind of half-wished she wouldn't. Not too soon, anyway. The whole thing about Jennie being THE Jennie Kim and the things she had specifically not shared with Jennie made her want to runaway again, like how she would every time a bludgeon was thrown her way.

Lisa realized that now. The way she just wanted to stay inside her studio, the settled dusts on her apartment, how she intentionally didn't pick up Chaeyoung's calls. A cowardly move, she could imagine her mother would tell her when she finds out. If she would out. An immature way of dealing things, her father would say. But what else could Lisa do?

And what else could she do when her heart just automatically leaped out of her chest when she saw Jennie at the party, forgetting all-together the reluctance that she had to see Jennie again?

"I'm sorry," Lisa said, out of the blue. Purely inadvertently, that she, herself, was even surprised to hear herself speak those words.

"For what, Lisa?" Jennie asked in softer tone. Gone was the cold, biting air to her voice. Gone was the usual shrug, the non-committal, daunting demeanor, in general.

"For whatever is making you upset," Lisa said. "I didn't mean to do anything that would upset you or make you feel bad in anyway, Jennie," she continued. "If it's about the party--"

"No, it wasn't that," Jennie said and quickly took a sideglance at Lisa.

"Was it about Irene, then? Because Jennie, there was noth--"

"This isn't about her, Lili," Jennie said. "Irene would never do anything stupid against me because she knows what the consequences will be. Her family is part of the conglomerate. Her father runs a company under the Kim Group," she explained further.

"What is it, then?" Lisa asked.

Jennie suddenly pulled over along the deserted road, tires screeching as she did so, picking a dimly-lit spot between two lamp post, and aggressively pulled Lisa for a kiss. Long, needing, passionate kiss. So that when she pulled away from it, Jennie was already catching her breath. It was as though she was pulled up to the surface for the first time from being submerged in the deepest waters for the longest period. It was exhilarating. Her heart was beating madly and loudly.

"You're making me feel things I shouldn't," Jennie said when she pulled away from the kiss, her voice was trembling. Her hands were shaking. "This isn't about you or Irene. Or anyone. It's about this, Lili. This incontrollable surge of emotions I feel when it comes to you..."

Lisa did not even think twice when she leaned and pulled Jennie closer back to her. The hesitations, the anxiety, the fear that things might go wrong from this point onward, all of that vanished into thin air when she kissed Jennie Kim. The softness of those lips crushing against hers, the soft moans and whimpers they both released and shared inside their mouths and the taste of it. Oh, god!

"Please, let me drive," Lisa spoke without giving much thought about it between the kisses. Her breathing was jagged. Her voice was raspy. She wanted all of that and more.

Jennie nodded, intoxicated by the aftereffects of the hurried, surging, passionate kisses they were sharing. They both took their seatbelts off at the same time, with their mouths still locked with each other's. Lisa's hands were firmly guiding Jennie, holding her and molding the curves of her waist, as Jennie heaved her bottom up, crossed the distance between their seats and climbed at Lisa until she was straddling on the blond's lap, her skirt hitching up, finally closing the gap and breaking the ice between them.

The air suddenly felt hot despite the cold weather outside and the air-condition. Gone was Chris Carrabba and Dashboard Confessional and was replaced by Barcelona's Fall In Love.

"Hi," Lisa whispered, as her lips travelled down along Jennie's soft, delicate neck, inhaling the sweet strawberry scent like how she did the first time Jennie did the same thing back then at her apartment.

Jennie smiled despite the soft moans as she craned her neck, giving Lisa a better access. She smiled the most genuine, the softest, bashful smile that she could muster at the moment. Her fingers tracing the soft edges of Lisa's dress along the neckline.

"Chu said you look hot on this," she said.

"She did?" Lisa asked, whispering against the hollows of Jennie's throat.

"Hmm," Jennie hummed with her eyes closed as Lisa's hands glided along her bare thighs, going back and forth from her hips to her knees. Leaving trails of singed and scorched skin along the way.

"And what do you think?" Lisa inquired, now tracing the outline of Jennie's jaw with her lips, her teeth grazing the edges of it.

"I think she was right," Jennie answered.

"I'm glad you like it," Lisa replied and pulled Jennie for another long kiss. And when they pulled apart for air, she said, "I really would like to go on but I don't think this is the right place."

Jennie laughed and nodded. She leaned in for another quick peck and finally released Lisa beneath her. And despite the cramped space inside Lisa's vintage car, they had finally shifted seats without bumping their heads. They were both laughing, though. They were laughing at the way Lisa, with her dress and her ginormous length, was able to slide and squeeze herself towards the driver's seat. And when they were both settled on their respective seats, Lisa took Jennie's hand and squeezed it a little harder. They stayed like that for a moment. Staring at each other, basking in the dark, listened in the silence around them, as they pacified the racing of their heartbeats.

"Spend the night with me?" Lisa said while getting lost in the universe inside those cat-like eyes.

Jennie smiled and nodded.

"Take me home, Lili," Jennie said.

And Lisa did. They drove towards her place without words being spoken and only accompanied by the tracks being played by the car stereo, as they were cruising past blurry cars and street posts. As they were heading towards the neon lights and neon signs, the corners and sidewalks, the sweet scent from the lined-up food stalls and the already-too-familiar (on Jennie's part) nightlife of Hongdae.

When Lisa pulled over and parked her car outside her building, Jennie was the first to pushed her door open and stepped out into the chilly midnight air. Lisa joined her eventually. They both ascended the stairs, hands clasping with the other, fingers interlacing, in comfortable, mutual silence. There was no need for words. They both knew, despite how they chose not talk about it, what they wanted.

"I hope we don't wake them up," Jennie whispered while Lisa was punching in her door security lock and she was hugging from behind. Her cheek resting on Lisa's back. "Leo could be grouchy."

"Leo is always grouchy," Lisa corrected her and they both chuckled.

But the two felines were still up, though, and had been waiting for their Lisa to come home. Luca was pacing back and forth restlessly in front of the door while Leo was keeping his distance away from the door, in case Lisa would decide to come after him like how the tall hooman would, every time.

"Hello!" Jennie excitedly greeted the cats the very second she laid eyes on them while kicking her stiletto off her feet as if it was already part of her daily routine. Lights started to flood in inside the apartment.

Leo looked mildly suprised at firstat the sight of Jennie but quickly ran towards her while affectionately purring. Luca was already up in Jennie's arms and both were completely ignoring Lisa.

"I think I'll just pretend that I'm not here while you, three, are having your happy little reunion," Lisa joked while taking her time to take off her boots and changed to home slippers.

"I told you they love me more," Jennie gloated and went straight to the couch, with Luca still cradled inside her arms and Leo on her heels, looking jealous and ready to fight for his spot inside Jennie's arms.

"They're just overwhelmed with the idea that you're here," Lisa said confidently and went straight to the kitchen. She took out a box of chocomilk from the fridge and took a gulp from it. "Don't make them miss you, though. It's hard to deal with two grouchy cats."

"Did you, guys, really missed me?" Jennie asked the two furballs in tiny voice. The two cats meowed; Leo being louder. What a showoff, Lisa thought as Jennie laughed and said, "I missed you, too," and kissed them both.

And it was that particular moment that Lisa missed the most whenever Jennie wasn't around. The sound of Jennie's tingling laughter, the affectionate meowing of her cats dedicated for Jennie, the warm, homey feeling whenever Jennie was home. She liked that. Her heart was so full but light, Lisa wondered wildly why she wasn't floating yet, like a hot air balloon.

"Do you want anything?" Lisa asked Jennie casually while leaning on the doorpost. She was wondering if Jennie wanted to eat or drink something. There was nothing that she could offer from her storage that would only require preheating, but she had finally learned how to fry an egg without burning it. She could fry one for Jennie, if Jennie would ask. She would even try to make her a sandwich, if Jennie would want one.

But Jennie wasn't thinking about fried egg or sandwich. She froze from petting the cats. She already knew what she wanted all night long but couldn't muster the courage to speak it out. She would need to act on it though, if she really wanted it. She raised her eyes to meet Lisa's gaze. She was searching, wondering, if Lisa would want the same. And she had found the answers lying inside those soft, round orbs and the slightly upturned corner of those plump lips. It was always been there, Jennie realized.

"What?" Lisa asked, grinning, eyebrows hitching higher, hiding behind the immaculately combed fringe.

Jennie could tell that Lisa knew the answer to her 'what'. She put the two cats down and stood up. She started walking towards Lisa, slowly, without breaking eye contact. Her fiery, cat-like steady gaze met Lisa's soft brown orbs. Her heart was pounding. Her blood was pulsating on her ears. Loud, thunderous. And Lisa was standing still beside the doorpost, waiting, anticipating, understanding what was going on. Her eyes were holding those fiery, steady gaze. She didn't want to blink. She didn't want to miss anything. Her hands were dropped on her sides, itching and somewhat twitching. Restless. Ready to receive. Ready to give.

The unspoken words conveying through their eyes spoke volumes. They both knew and silently agreed that there was no going back, whatever it was that was going to happen once Jennie would finally reach her destination. And when Jennie did, she was welcomed by the warmest, most secure embrace and was met with a kiss they both knew would be a start of something new. Of something different. There was definitely no going back.

Lisa wrapped her arms around Jennie's waist as the chaebol melted into her arms, molding their body together, leaving without gap in between, except the layers of clothes separating them. Jennie's arms automatically slithered and snaked around Lisa's neck, as though they had a mind on their own. She was tiptoeing, because she couldn't get enough of the scorching, passionate kisses that Lisa was giving her. Which she responded with the same arduous intensity. It was slowly consuming her, making her insides weak, that if she wouldn't hold unto Lisa, she'd dropped on the floor on her knees, delicate and helpless.

They both moaned softly at the same time, whimpered at the same time. Singed by the same, if not bigger fire they had started and created back at Lisa's car, and smiled at the same time before breaking the kiss apart to catch their breath.

"Come on," Lisa said and held Jenie by the hand.

Lisa led them towards the staircase and up to her bedroom. Their fingers were intertwined, their footsteps light and quickened. They climbed in silence. And when they reached the landing, they resumed what they had started downstairs. But it was different now. The kisses were a little hasty, the moans and the whimpers were a little louder, and their hands were given liberty to search and discover. To touch. To burn and to pull each other closer. And closer, until they stumbled and fell down on the soft mattress. Jennie squealed in surprise and Lisa groaned after the fall. And they both chuckled and laughed after.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Lisa asked, though. Worried that Jennie was hurt or something.

Jennie nodded. "You haven't crushed me yet, Lili. So, yes, I'm more than okay," Jennie said and beamed.

Lisa gazed down and thought Jennie looked beautiful, with her shiny, jetblack hair strewn beautifully across her bed, and the sound of her laughter filling the room. Giving life to the stillness of it, her light widespreading across the walls.

"I love you," Lisa whispered, baring the deepest language of her soul at two in the morning, while lying atop the woman she loved and adored and was crazy about. She had wanted to say that all night long.

Jennie smiled. That precious gummy smile Lisa thought was the most adorable thing in the world. It was contagious.

"It's quite different when you say it like that," Jennie said softly, her eyes staring back at those soft, round orbs. Her fingers tucking the blond strands behind the ears.

"Different how?" Lisa asked while her fingers were starting to slowly release the buttons on Jennie's upper garment, one by one, revealing the pearly, milky, soft skin underneath it.

"Different," Jennie whispered and pulled Lisa by the nape. Kissing and claiming those soft, plump lips that tasted wine and chocomilk.

It wasn't anything like they see in the movies or read in the books. It wasn't like anything at all. The shivers as skins touched and burned, like hot rods singing and branding, putting its mark on their flesh. The soft guttural sound of moans and pleasure, chuckles and whimpers, creating melody which they had never heard before. The arching of their backs, the curling of the toes. The fingers aching to touch, to curl and twirl, sliding through the soft strands of their hairs, running and gliding smoothly on soft, warm skins. The hands that were itching to wander, to search and discover every crevice, every nook, every details after releasing them from the layers of clothes separating them from nothing, dying to leave flames as they would. And the lips, the kisses that ignited the fire, the burning, glowing, fire within them. Fire that they didn't know exist until now. Consuming them, melting, until sweet molten substance of pure bliss had started to slowly overflow and found its way toward the centermost of their beings.

"Lisa..." Jennie groaned mercifully. Her hands clutching in Lisa's bare shoulders, beads of sweat dribbling down her skin, as Lisa showered generous kisses while caressing the soft mounds of flesh. Its peak hardened with each contact.

And the kisses started to travel south. Downwards. Trailing a straight line, leaving invisible burning marks on the skin and made a pit stop on the navel. Jennie arched her back gracefully when the tip of a tongue made contact on the circumference of her bellybutton. She was torn between clutching Lisa's hair to pull her up because the sensation was too much for her to bear or push her down for the same exact reason.

The latter won. She was now writhing beneath Lisa. Her head was thrashing. Her toes were curling, her feet kicking against the crumpled mattress, her breathing pattern was hitching and jagged, as Lisa went southmost and her mouth had finally found the pulsating oasis of the overflowing hot, molten liquid cradled between Jennie's thighs.

Jennie held her breath and sighed in gratification at the first touch. Her fingers travelled upwards, against and across her own skin and found their way towards the edges of the soft pillows under her head. She was clutching them, as though she was holding on for dear life. Her eyes were shut tight, her lips partly open, singing songs of whimpers and moans, glorifying the things that Lisa was doing to her downsouth with her tongue, as it danced across the slippery layers of soft flesh and Jennie's hips were moving restlessly under its mercy.

It was beyond anything Jennie could imagine. Lisa was taking her to a world she didn't know exist. A dimension where exploding stars were lighting up the galaxy and showered like fireflies and pixie dusts, and flowers of different colors bloomed in the middle of a scorching summer. Where birds singing and humming to a melody in tune with her own beat, making her want to sing and scream.

And Jennie screamed.

Jagged and restless, Jennie's breathing pattern was. Hitching up and down, trying to hit the highest and the lowest note, deciding which she would prefer while her mind was close to blowing up. And she preferred the highest, peaked tone, as her muscles constricted and the fire was already ablazing her whole being. Until she could no longer hold it anymore. She was combusting.

"LISA!"

Jennie screamed and writhed in pure delight as the universe exploded before her eyes. The sound of it reverberated against the walls, across the hallway, spreading throughtout the whole place. It could have awakened the two cats downstairs for all she knew. And just when she was about to release her final sigh, Lisa's mouth covered hers. Jennie could taste herself as the kiss depeened. Sweet and a little tangy in the aftertaste. Their nakedness was brushing and grazing on each other's bare skins in the dark.

"You okay?" Lisa asked teasingly after the kiss. She was back atop Jennie, her elbows supporting her weight while gazing down at the most beautiful face she had laid her eyes on.

Jennie beamed and chuckled. She nodded and kissed Lisa.

"Yes," Jennie said bashfully.

"Good. Because we're not done yet," Lisa said and claimed those soft lips once again.

Kissing Jennie Kim was probably the most exhilarating thing Lisa could do. She couldn't get enough of it. She couldn't resist it. Jennie's soft, sweet mouth was like a flower. And she was the bee, trying to get and suck its nectars as her kiss deepened and intensified. And Jennie was swaying and moving beneath her, while her hands travelled and marvelled at the soft mounds and delicate skins and finally reached down the moistened crevice that she had just devoured by her mouth.

Jennie held her breath when she felt long, slender fingers tracing the outlines of her womanhood. Teasing her, unlocking another set of molten lube to overflow and glazed Lisa's fingertips.

"I love you, Jennie Kim," Lisa whispered on Jennie's ear as her fingers positioned and slowly made their way in the gate of another universe.

Jennie gasped and screamed and cried in pain when Lisa had finally tore off the thin wall that separated them from being one. She was strongly holding on to Lisa's bare body as Lisa ploughed deeper and deeper, whimpering and writhing in pain, especially when Lisa slowly pulled out and dug its way deeper once again. And again. And again. Relieving Jennie from the pain and replacing it with sensations that made Jennie dance to their own beat.

"Faster," Jennie moaned before clasping her teeth hard on Lisa's shoulder. She was already trembling down to her core.

Lisa heeded the call. She went in and out, thrusting deeper and faster and faster until she could feel Jennie combusting beneath her once again and felt the release on her hand.

The second orgasm was sweeter and longer than the first, that it took a while for Jennie to calm down and finally melt beneath Lisa's warm body.

"I love you, too, Lili," Jennie whispered after she took a moment to pull herself back from another dimension, as her index finger traced the bite mark on Lisa's shoulder, and kissed it eventually. She then rolled on her back so they could change their position, much to Lisa's surprise.

Lisa's eyes marvelled at the sight of a straddling naked Jennie Kim above her. Full breast, shiny, jetblack hair cascading on the shoulders, small waist, flat abdomen, milky skin, exquisitely beautiful face glowing with the aftereffects of an intense lovemaking and eyes looking down at her endearingly. Lisa felt so damn lucky. And oh, yes. The hickies. Lots of it, which she thought Jennie wasn't aware of yet.

"Is this payback time?" Lisa asked jokingly as she felt Jennie's weight against her belly, brushing moisture on her skin.

Jennie grinned and bit her lower lip.

"Are you expecting some, Manoban?" she asked and kissed Lisa behind the ear. "Because we can do this all night, if you want," she whispered and brazenly touched the tip of her tongue on Lisa's earlobe.

"You're getting bolder, I see," Lisa replied, tickled by Jennie's audacious act and placed her hands on Jennie's bare hips.

Jennie laughed and suddenly turned serious as she gazed at Lisa's face.

"You're so beautiful, Lisa," she whispered and kissed Lisa on the mouth. Full and longing.

The kiss deepened as their tongues danced and invaded each other's mouth. Lisa moaned when she felt Jennie's hand cupping her bosom, the thumb running and circling on the crown.

Lisa suddenly grinned between the kisses and, with all the strength she could muster, rolled on her back, bringing Jennie along so they could revert back to their old position.

"And so unfair!" Jennie complained with a laugh. "You cannot use your strength on me right now, Lili! Not when it's payback time," she said.

Lisa laughed and planted a sloppy kiss in Jennie's check.

"I would really love to, but I can't let you stay up all night, Jennie. You had a long day. You need to get some sleep," Lisa said as Jennie yawned, as if on cue.

"Stay with me, Lili," Jennie whispered as she repositioned her naked self beside the equally-naked Lisa. Her eyes suddenly felt droopy. Sleep had started to creep in. She released another yawn.

Lisa pulled the cover, spreading it over their bodies, and then laid her bare self closer to Jennie, who had already fell quiet and asleep.

She smiled at the sight of a sleeping Jennie Kim. Peaceful and beautiful, like a baby. Who would have thought she'd fell in love hard with a woman? With someone like Jennie. After all the years she had spent eluding the very same thing.

Lisa softly chuckled. She was wondering how she would tell her mother about Jennie Kim. She was curious how her mother would react when she'd find out that her daughter was in love and had made love with a woman.

Okay, so maybe her mother didn't have to know about the last part. Because it was the most beautiful part of it all and she would like to keep it between herself and Jennie, Lisa thought to herself as she spooned Jennie, kissed Jennie's bare shoulder and finally gave in to sleep.

....

After hopping from one hotel to another and checking for Doona's name, which turned futile, Jisoo decided to head to the last place she had on mind.

The Orange looked different on a weeknight. It wasn't as crowded as during the weekends and open mics. Or perhaps it was because it was already past two in the morning and was about to close for the night.

Jisoo walked in on her pajamas, not minding the curious stares she received from the few remaining customers and some of the crew.

"I'd like to see Chaeyoung," Jisoo immediately told Chahee when she reached the bar, where Jiyeon and Chahee were already cleaning up, preparing for closing.

"What ar--?" Jiyeon started but Chahee cut her off.

"She's inside her office," Chahee said.

Jisoo understood why. Jiyeon was looking at her and her Dalgom-printed pair of pajamas. But A-yeon was already approaching her with a toothy grin and a teasing eyes.

"I love what you're wearing, Jisoo!" A-yeon said. She meant in a totally good, friendly way. "But what are you doing here this late? Did you sleepwalk or something?"

"No. It's a long story," Jisoo replied. "I'm looking for Chaeyoung?"

"What on earth are you doing here looking like that?" Chaeyoung asked at the sight of Jisoo.

Jisoo on her pajamas and a look that would clearly say she had a rough night. What with her ruffled hair and harrassed expression on her face. Chaeyoung was curious and surprised. Seeing Jisoo Kim again after that night was unexpected. But nevertheless welcomed.

Jisoo abandoned all inhibitions and everything else, including the sleepiness that was slowly catching up on her, as she turned around at the sight of the gorgeous Chaeyoung Park. She had never felt so relieved at the sight of Chaeyoung.

"I need your help," Jisoo told the redhead immediately.

"What happened?" Chaeyoung asked, looking worried and walked over to Jisoo. "You smell awful," she commented and wrinkled her nose.

"Come with me," Jisoo said instead of answering Chaeyoung's inquiry. She held the redhead by the hand and led them outside the bar.

"Wait! Where are we going?" Chaeyoung asked. Confusion was on her voice but still signalled her crew that everything was fine.

"You and Lisa are bestfriends. I'm sure you know her, too," Jisoo said as they walked over to where her car was parked.

"Who? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about her," Jisoo said and opened the door of the backseat. Where a drunk and wasted Doona was lying, with her eyes closed and mouth slightly hanging open. The smell of alcohol, perfume and puke reeked out.

"Oh my god! Miss Doona?" Chaeyoung stared with widened eyes and confused glare. "What happened to her? Why is she with you? Where's Lisa?" she asked Jisoo incessantly.

"Thank God, you know her!" Jisoo sighed in relief. "She puked all over my car, I can't find her hotel because she passed out before she could give me the address and... I don't know where else I can take her," she said.

"Where's Lisa?" asked Chaeyoung again.

"She's with Jennie," Jisoo replied and quickly added, "She's fine. It's a long story," upon seeing the worried look on the redhead's face. "So, can you help me with her or not?"

"Well, she can't sleep here, obviously. We can take her to my place, though," Chaeyoung said, hands were on her hips, looking at Jisoo to Doona with furrowed brows.

"That's a good idea. I can drop her off and go home after," Jisoo said and yawned.

"Are you kidding me? You can't just leave her and take off. Not when she's like this," the redhead protested.

"What are you suggesting, then?" Jisoo asked warily. She was exhausted and sleepy. She just wanted to go home to her dog and her bed.

"That we'll take care of her. Together?" Chaeyoung said.

Jisoo groaned and nodded, although reluctantly, and said, "Please remind me never to volunteer again."