Chapter 57

The place was her safe haven. Her escape, when the world she was moving around seemed to close in around her and it was too much for her to handle.

Tonight was one of those nights. She was again at her breaking point during their weekly conference that seemed to go on forever and in loop because everyone seemed to have something to say one at a time and then all at once and Jennie Kim, President of the Kim Group of Companies, almost had a meltdown and realized that she had never showed that side of her to anyone from work. She was, however, close to slamming her laptop shut to silence everyone inside the conference room. But she didn’t. Instead, she excused herself for a moment.

She went outside. There, up in the penthouse of the building to give herself what little room to breathe. Leaving behind her the angry voices of the department heads hurling heated and frustrated denunciations and insults against each other. Like little children opposing once other to win the favor of a teacher. It was senseless, Jennie thought. And a waste of her time and energy. But she was the President and it was her job to hear them all. One at a time and all at once. And when her head started pounding like hell and felt like about to burst open – the spectacular night view of Seoul didn’t help her this time – she returned to the conference room on the twentieth floor and immediately called it a day at past ten in the evening. She then told her heads to e-mail her their reports and concerns. “I’ll deal with them this weekend,” she told them before adjourning the meeting.

“I’m sorry. I had a long day,” she told the cat who was looking at her reproachively for her lack of communication. “And I don’t know when she will be back, Leo,” she added while stroking the cat’s head.

She had been spending too many nights now at Lisa’s place. Chaeng was generous and kind enough to let her in one night, some weeks ago, when Lisa’s bestfriend found her sitting at the bottom of the metal staircase outside and Chaeng was on her way to feed the cats.

“Jennie? What are you doing here?”

“Oh, hey. Nothing...I was just...” and she found herself in tears.

They both did and talked about it over a cup of hot drinks inside Lisa’s kitchen that night. She told Chaeng she had a bad day and she hailed a cab just for the heck of it, evading once again her security and the media that seemed to show up wherever she was and found herself standing outside Lisa’s building. Chaeng eventually gave her the door passcode. “So you don’t have to wait for me on the bottom of the stairs outside. Lucky nobody saw you hailing a cab outside your building and followed you here. I know that the press is still trailing you,” the now-pastel-haired Roseanne Park said before leaving her at Lisa’s place that night.

They were friends now, after the confrontation that happened inside Jennie’s office months ago. There were nights when Jennie would discreetly slip inside Chaeng’s bar alone and some nights with Jisoo. She would usually stay until midnight and pay for a drink or two. They would talk, mostly about Lisa.

It had been weeks. She even stopped counting the days since the press con and ever since the international news outlets had started featuring Her Royal Highness Pranpriya and her intentions of actively participating in her royal duties and about the kingdom welcoming the news positively. It seemed that the world was falling in love with Lisa every day. They were gushing about her charm and beauty and those eyes that seemed to capture everyone’s hearts now. But more than that, everyone seemed enraptured by Lisa’s enigmatic aura and how she had evaded the limelight all those years.

She had changed her hair now, Lisa did. It was now short and dark, like Cleopatra’s; the fringe was still immaculately kept, however. The overall effect of Lisa’s new look only highlighted those soft round eyes and only made her astoundingly beautiful. So beautiful that she was now considered one of the hottest royals and one to look out for, according to an international magazine.

Lisa was on the news so often that Jennie was torn between making it a habit to tune in to the international evening news when she gets home after a long day in the office or deprive herself the treat of catching a glimpse on Lisa and relish at those soft brown orbs on her television screen.

At first, Jennie chose the former to indulge herself the opportunities to get updates about Lisa and bask in the royal’s presence through the screen until it had started to become like a devotion that her mom conveniently pointed out one evening, when she was so engrossed in staring at Lisa’s face on the screen. And so she decided to stop, painful as it was. But then there was Jisoo. Chu was not a huge help to her resolution. Because Chu was always ‘Lisa this and Lisa that’ everytime they would met and every chance she would get. Like yesterday, when Chu dropped by her office and proclaimed, without a warning: “Lisa will train with the royal navy after her stint with the air force. I’ve read about it from a Thai news site. Hey, did you know that the King is a good pilot? Fascinating, isn’t it?”

Yes, it was fascinating. And it only made the gap between them even wider, Jennie realized. But who was she to complain when it was her who initiated that gap in the first place, anyway? The thought was nagging her the whole day. So that when everyone on the meeting was ready to bite each other’s heads off, Jennie had enough. She wanted to get away and get away she did. She and Mr Young – whom she promoted to Manager Young now – had developed a scheme to make her getting away so much easier now than running away like a fugitive everytime she was out in the street and dodging the relentless group of press people still hunting her.

She asked Manager Young to buy her a cheap cab and it was what they had been using everytime she would asked her main security to drop her off at Lisa’s place. So that when Mr Young dropped her off outside Lisa’s building an hour ago, no one was watching Jennie climbing the narrow stairs. Nobody on Lisa’s street paid her the slightest bit of attention when she lingered on the doorstep while she was punching the passcode of Lisa’s door and nobody noticed when she admitted herself in and was welcomed warmly by Lisa’s cats and felt the tensions of the day leaving her immediately. She was technically trespassing, she was aware of that. But it did not stop her from coming back so often, anyway.

“I know you miss her, both of you,” Jennie said after she took a sip from the mug she was cradling inside her palms. Leo was snuggling beside her while Luca was sitting across her, staring at her as though he was trying to figure out Jennie and how she looked weary and desolated in the dim light.

“I miss her, too. Terribly,” she said and took another sip. She brought a bottle of wine tonight instead of the usual chocolate drink that she knew Lisa would love. “Oftentimes, I wonder if I made the right choice. But I can’t take them all back, can I?” she added and smiled forlornly.

Leo yawned and Luca followed.

“Alright. Off to bed, you two. Wait...” Jennie said and gulped the remaining contents of the mug – her Lili’s mug – before she stood up from the carpeted floor and swayed a little.

She walked past the wall panel, crossed the living room to the kitchen in barefoot and deposited the mug on the kitchen sink.

Jennie stood and leaned her hip against the cold tiles of the sink counter. She felt a little dizzy. She paused and watched as the two cats arched their backs as they stretched and started walking sluggishly towards the stairs. She did not bother turning the lights on and only relied on the faint light streaming on the glass window from the lamp post outside.

Lisa’s place looked melancholic tonight, like most nights that she had spent there. It looked empty and cold. Or perhaps it was the wine. Perhaps she had a little too much. Again. Or maybe it was due to how her day had ended. Her head was still pounding and her body was aching for bed. Or maybe it was the song. Smokey Robinson’s Just To See Her was playing on the vinyl.

Or maybe it was her heart. It felt a little too heavy tonight. And tonight, like most of the nights when she missed Lisa most, she allowed herself to cry.

The soft sound of her weeping echoed across the lonely walls of Lisa’s place.

....

They used one of the private jets registered under the royal household, which the lady captain had flown and Pranpriya was co-pilot. They landed in a private runway in Incheon. Lucky for them, nobody spotted her despite the mammoth presence of the passengers in the distant terminal and nobody recognized who she was when she stepped out to the tarmac. It was already thirty minutes past two when they arrived at her building.

She ran her fingers on the cold hood of her Impala as soon as she stepped out of the car when they arrived in front of her building. The lady captain stood at a convenient distance away from her, with a duffel bag on her one hand and Pranpriya’s bag on the other. Pranpriya then looked around. The neighborhood was relatively quiet, despite the presence of a handful of pedestrians loitering on the sidewalks. Some were obviously drunk and probably trying to find their way home – they might even have gone from the Orange since it was the weekend. None of them was paying her attention, however. As they should, because it was one of the many things she liked about living in South Korea under the guise of Lisa. She was habitually a nobody, which allowed her to walk around freely without the fear of getting recognized for who she really was. Until, of course, the article with Jennie. That was partly her mistake. She shouldn’t have gone to that party with Doona.

She sighed at the thought of Jennie and wondered what the chaebol might be doing in this ungodly hour. If she’d really wanted it, she could find Jennie and they could have their talk. That talk that she had been thinking and dreaming about all day and all night eversince Jennie left her without a word and after Jennie denounced her association with her.

It was so much easy for her to do that now without getting caught, to be honest. Eversince she re-joined the royal court and eversince she was given access to some of the privileges that His Majesty was enjoying and have shared to her, everything seemed to be at the tip of her fingers now.

But now wasn’t the right time to think about Jennie, or even consider the idea of seeing Jennie while she was in South Korea. His Majesty made it very clear before she and the lady captain left the palace. There shouldn’t be no dilly-dallying while she’s in South Korea, unless she wanted the media to get wind of her being there and turned it into a frenzy. And looking for ways to see Jennie was dilly-dallying. She was there to settle her things, she reminded herself.

“Here’s the key to the studio, Captain. You can spend the night there. Let’s just hope that Bobby did some cleaning,” Pranpriya said as she handed the key of her studio to the lady captain and wondered if Bobby was still working in the studio.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” the lady captain said.

“I hope you don’t mind but I’d like to spend the remaining hours until daylight with my cats. It’s going to be a busy day later and besides, Leo can be a bit edgy around strangers. I don’t want to upset him,” Pranpriya said.

“I understand perfectly, Your Highness. Just give me a ring when you need anything, Ma’am,” the lady captain said.

“I don’t think there’ll be a need for that at this hour, though. But yes, of course. See you later, Captain,” Pranpriya said.

“Rest well, Your Highness.” The lady captain bowed and immediately turned her heels towards the entrance of the studio.

Once the sound of the closing door clicked and everything within her radius seemed quiet again, Pranpriya then started climbing the narrow staircase as quietly as possible and punched in the door code without lingering outside.

There was the familiar beep when she closed the door and then there was an eternal silence once she was inside. The faint glow from the lamp post outside gave her enough light to adjust her vision in the dimness. It was as though time had stood still inside her place. Most of her stuff was still on their places when she left them as far as she can see. It had been, what? – three, four months now ever since she left South Korea in haste and yet, she was still welcomed by the familiar scent of her place, including the amount of dusts that might be covering the entire furnishings and the floor now. Chaeng wasn’t particularly reliable when it comes to cleaning, except her own place. And Pranpriya was particular about not hiring housecleaners inside her place.

Pranpriya walked deeper into the solace of her once-home and thought she caught an aroma of wine – fruity, if she wasn’t mistaken – when she reached the living room and found a jacket resting on the couch which she thought wasn’t hers, but also thought that it was most likely one of the many things that she left lying around when she left the country and one of the many things that Chaeng did not bother tidying up during her visits.

Pranpriya shook her head. Chaeng must had have a drink before heading out after feeding the cats. The thought of her cats sent her climbing the staircase in long strides. She knew they’d be sleeping on her bed now and hoped that Chaeng, at least, have cleaned the sheets from cat hairs.

Leo jumped from the under the sheet and Luca meowed softly when she called for them when she reached the loft. She did not bother turning on the light so as not to upset the cats and perhaps, she did not want to despoil the comfort and the privacy that the dimness was providing her at the moment. The sight and sound and the warmth of Leo and Luca brought a smile on the royal’s face when they started circling around her legs. A smile that she had denied herself for months now.

“Hey,” Pranpriya said softly as she crouched on the floor to pick them up and snuggle them. She kissed and hug them one after the other and then gathered them both inside her arms. “Geez, I missed you both!” she whispered because she didn’t want to startle them, especially Leo, who was looking at her suspiciously and yet did not protest when she showered them with more kisses once again.

“Let me have a good look at you. Let’s see how much Aunt Chaeng was feeding you,” she said and brought Luca and then Leo at an armlength, one at a time to get a better view of them. “She definitely did feed you well. She’s been generous, hasn’t she?” she muttered and chuckled and kissed them once more before she stood straight and almost screamed in fright when she saw the sheets stirred and a silhouette of a woman emerged from under it and spoke in the dark in a voice induced by sleep.

“Leo? Luca?”

Pranpriya didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, or both. But she knew she felt her heart plummeted all the way to the carpeted floor and rise up again in a matter of seconds and then started beating so hard and so loud inside her chest when she heard Jennie’s sleepy voice. She stood there, frozen in the dark, staring wide-eyed at Jennie who seemed to not realize that she was there. Pranpriya held her breath to not wake Jennie up from her stupor. She didn’t want Jennie to realize that she was there. Not yet, anyway. Because Pranpriya wasn’t sure whether she would like that to happen or not. For now, at least.

But Jennie had beaten her to it, whatever it was that she was thinking to escape from the situation. Because just when Pranpriya was about to tiptoe her way towards the doorway, Jennie spoke her name with an aching voice that made her held her breath once more as her heart stopped beating for a second or two.

“Lisa?” Jennie called in the dark. Whether she was wide awake now or still in a trance, Pranpriya wasn’t sure. But she knew Jennie was looking at her. Or the outline of her, illuminated by the faint glow from the glass window. They could have been staring at each other if it wasn’t the possibility that Jennie could still be in a trance.

And Pranpriya almost called back and almost as achingly. She almost took a step forward and was about to whisper Jennie’s name but Jennie had laid down once again on the mattress. She curled on the sheet like a baby and went back to sleep when she felt the two cats snuggled warmly beside her once again.

Pranpriya had many questions. Why was Jennie at her place? Why was Jennie sleeping on her bed? Why did her cats leap and nestled beside Jennie the moment she called for them in the middle of the night? How long have they been doing this while she was away?

The last thought gave Pranpriya a jab in the gut while looking at her cats and Jennie, sleeping peacefully on her bed. While she was away. She scoffed. It wasn’t like she had been on a holiday and the three had been waiting for her return. In a day or two, she would leave again and she would take Leo and Luca with her. She would have to sell her place and decide what to do with the studio and she would have to remove every traces of her and leave a clean slate, as though Lisa did not exist in South Korea. And it was the very reason why she was fighting the urge to see Jennie before she would return to Thailand for good. Because she wasn’t really good with goodbyes.

Pranpriya tiptoed outside her room. Despite the fatigue from the long flight and the lethargy that had started to creep up on her, she went down and left her place without informing the lady captain – she’d explain later, should her guard ask.

Her mind was racing with too many questions and she wanted answers.

....

“Is this a dream? Do I have to slap my face now?” Chaeng said with a slight hint of sarcasm the moment she noticed Lisa sitting on her porch, concealing herself in the dark.

It was past three in the morning now. She was the last to leave the Orange after ensuring that the doors of the bar are securely bolted. The police department had been issuing advices to safeguard their perimeters, along with the other establishments around and within the district. Apparently, the presence of burglars around the district during the unholy hours was now something to worry about.

“Slap me in the face, more like. I think I deserve that,” Pranpriya replied gloomily.

“This is definitely a dream. The Lisa I know doesn’t know what she deserves,” Chaeng replied coldly as she climbed the steps and started punching the door code without paying Lisa even a glance. “Plus, I can’t slap a monarch, can I?”

She missed Lisa. All those months that she had no contacts or whatever with Lisa was tormenting, despite the many times that Lisa had tormented her by leaving her again and again to chase something in another country. But now that Lisa was here, on her porch at three in the morning, hiding in the dark, with a new hair and an eminent air upon her, Chaeng felt like she was looking at a stranger. And all those days that she wished Lisa would suddenly show up one day like she always would after quite a long absence, the sudden coldness that swept her when she saw Lisa sitting on her porch, waiting for her, wasn’t what she had expected.

“You’re going to be the only person in the world that I will permit to slap me,” Pranpriya replied.

“I’m honored,” Chaeng quipped.

“But first things first: Why is Jennie sleeping with my cats in my bed right now?” Pranpriya said as she pushed herself from the spot she was sitting.

Chaeng gave her a long sweeping look, as though he was studying Lisa who was wearing a jacket, a white tee underneath and a pair of denim pants, before she pulled the door open.

“Well, that’s comforting to know. Last time I walked in, she was sleeping on the floor in your living room and the cats were surrounding her as though they were checking if she was still breathing. Apparently, she had too much to drink the night before and didn’t make it to the loft. That was two months ago, by the way,” Chaeng said coldly and went inside, leaving the door open for Pranpriya.

“So, this isn’t the first time that she’s spending the night at my place then?” Pranpriya inquired and followed Chaeng inside.

“No, Your Highness. It isn’t,” replied Chaeng. “Do you want tea? Coffee? Chocolate? What do they usually offer you in the kingdom at three in the morning?” she asked after she dropped her things. She then proceeded to her fish and gently tapped the glass surface of the tank to announce her presence.

“Are you mad at me?” Pranpriya asked.

“Do I have the right to be mad at you?” Chaeng replied and headed towards the kitchen. She placed a red kettle above the stove. She then pushed a button and turned a knob and the flame started to cackle. She knew Lisa was watching her.

The royal sighed sharply. “You already know the answer to that, Chipmunk,” replied Pranpriya wearily.

“Well, then, no. I’m not mad at you, Lisa. It’s actually more than that,” Chaeng replied and took two mugs out from the cupboard. She then prepared a tea for herself and Lisa’s favourite hot chocolate. Because no matter how mad she was at Lisa, the Thai was still her bestfriend and nothing could ever change that.

“I’m sorry...”

“And it’s not even about me, you know? I’m – I cannot yet define what I’m feeling right now – but it’s not about me. Jennie is at your place right now and yet you decided to come here. What are you doing here?” Chaeng asked.

“Three things, actually. I missed you, I want some answers and I don’t exactly know what to say to her,” replied Pranpriya after she pulled a chair and sat across Chaeng at the table.

Chaeng snorted. “You had four months to figure that out, Shutterbug.”

“Shouldn’t Jennie be the one figuring out what to say to me after the things that she did? I was the one she left behind, Chaeng,” Pranpriya said.

“I don’t understand exactly why I am disappointed. But yes, I am disappointed,” Chaeng said and took the kettle out when it started hissing. She then poured each mug with hot water and offered the hot chocolate to Lisa who muttered thanks but was looking at Chaeng accusingly.

“Don’t look at me like that. Jennie is a mess, Lisa. She’s been a mess for months now. I hope that’s enough to answer your question,” said Chaeng.

“And I’m not? You really think I’m having the best days of my life in the kingdom, haven’t you, Chimpmunk? Do you want to know why I decided to join military training despite the many comfortable options presented to me, like going to Europe to pursue a degree in some old universities like most of my kin? Because it’s the only way I know that I can deal with the pain without validating it to anyone, Roseanne Park. But I guess the two of you have grown pretty close now, haven’t you? I’m surprised because after what happened, after what she did, I thought you’d be on my side. Or has that changed now?”

Chaeng glared. “Don’t you even dare, Lisa. I never took it against you that you did not even bother calling me for months, not even once. If I hadn’t talk to Jennie, I wouldn’t have known that you’re not coming back. Besides, Jennie and I share the same heartbreak. The same longing, the same...misery. Whatever. I’m not even sure who among us suffered more, actually. Me, who kept hoping that one day you’ll show up like you always would or Jennie, who probably had already given up hope and whatever and kept blaming herself for her own misery.”

Pranpriya did not say a word, nor did she moved even a muscle. She only sat there, still as a marble and stared at Chaeng and wondered what made her bestfriend decide to let go of the red and switch to pastels now. Because she knew that whenever Chaeng would change her hair color, a significant episode of her life took place. Chaeng’s new hair color made her look younger and less spunky. She missed another pivotal moment in Chaeng’s life once again and regretted it at once. How many more important moments will she miss now after this visit?

“Look. I’m not picking side, okay? But if I have to, you know I’ll always pick yours, Shutterbug. And believe it or not, I was mad at her for what she did. But it had been months now and I know how much she regretted all of it, even though she doesn’t talk about it. But I’ve seen it. I’ve seen her. I cannot keep being angry at someone who looks as though she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders and it seems to grow heavier everytime we met. So, maybe she’s having it worse than I have. At least I don’t have to go through all that. Whereas Jennie... Well, you saw her. She probably had a long day at the office. It’s usually why she would spend the night at your place. She said it’s her escape and the cats are a great help.”

“So you gave her the code,” Pranpriya concluded.

“Who else would give her the code? And how can I not, Lisa? I found her, one night, outside your building. Cold and weary and a total wreck. I guess she just wanted to feel a piece of you that night and all the nights that she would spend there. Perhaps to feel a little better, I don’t know.”

Pranpriya, again, remained quiet on her seat. The mug of hot chocolate was steaming in front of her, seducing her senses. But she was deeply thinking now, not about Chaeng’s new hair or what could be the significant episode of Chaeng’s life that made her change her hair color. And unfortunately, the velvet aroma of her drink couldn’t pull her out from the spirals of thoughts she just plunged her mind into.

Those were a lot to process. Harder than the trainings she had gone through in the royal air base – they weren’t gentle to her in the camp, despite them knowing who she was. And frankly, she was grateful for that. The pains she experienced there were a great help in diverting her misery and longing for Jennie. She thought she had it under control now. But seeing Jennie again like that – like a frightened little girl waking up in the middle of the night, calling out to her cats like they were supposed to chase the bad dreams away and so that she could go back to sleep again – and after what Chaeng told her about Jennie only stirred again the emotions she thought she had already tucked away safely inside her.

“I’m sorry I gave her the code to your door, Shutterbug. I didn’t know how else to help her.”

Pranpriya sighed. “In three days, I’ll be returning to Thailand, Chipmunk. I’ll be putting up the place in the market and I’ll be taking the cats with me. I don’t know exactly how to tell her that without making her feel like I’m taking away something from her. Although they’re mine, technically,” she said.

“You have to tell her, though. You should talk to her before you leave,” Chaeng suggested.

“Which was exactly what she didn’t do when she left,” Pranpriya rolled her eyes. “Tell me again why I should do that?”

“Seriously? Let it go, Lisa. She had her reasons, for god’s sake,” Chaeng said, incensed with frustrations.

“Can you please enlighten me why you’re defending her? Did something happen that made you switch allegiance?” Pranpriya retorted.

Chaeng glared and rolled her eyes. “Besides seeing her beating herself up for what she did, you mean? No, nothing exciting ever happened that made me switch allegiance, as you’ve put it. And besides, weren’t you like that most of the time during when you’ve been chasing your dream? You weren’t exactly the embodiment of a good friend, to be honest. Most of the time you’d leave in haste and don’t even bother saying a proper goodbye or whatever. Which,” Chaeng said and raised her hand in front of Pranpriya’s face when the Thai was about to interrupt her, “no, no, let me finish. Which I tolerated because I love you and I’m a bad friend, also. So, there you go.”

Pranpriya’s mouth dropped. “That is so unfair. You knew I was leaving, whenever I leave. A-and I thought it was okay with you. You should’ve told me it wasn’t.”

“And then what? You’d conform yourself to my being needy? You’d stay and won’t ever leave again? I didn’t want you to that for me, Shutterbug. I still don’t. And besides, I know you won’t ever do that. You’re stubborn and we both know that,” said Chaeng.

“Well then that explains why you never bothered to stop me from leaving, every time. So I don’t understand why you’re taking that against me now when we both know I won’t do such a thing and that I am stubborn, as you’ve ungraciously put it,” Pranpriya shrugged and took another gulp from her mug.

They were looking at each other for a quite a moment. One was glaring with her face flushed and one was looking smug, like she had just solved life’s greatest mystery. And in a perfect moment, just about when the clock hit another hour and the sound of Joowahngie’s bubbles blobbed in the water, they both cracked a grin and chuckled. Which then turned into laughter that Pranpriya had badly missed doing inside the confines of her colossal house. Their laughter filled Chaeng’s place at four in the morning.

Pranpriya pushed herself from her chair and it only took her a single long stride to close their gap and be at Chaeng’s side. She wrapped her arms around Chaeng, tightly and warmly, and didn’t let go even when Chaeng was already protesting because she couldn’t breathe anymore.

“I’m sorry I never called or messaged you since I left. I didn’t want you to worry too much about me,” Pranpriya said after she unwrapped herself from Chaeng.

“You know I’d always worry about you,” Chaeng replied solemnly. “But since you’re some sort of a ‘royal celebrity’ now, so to speak, and the media doesn’t seem to have any plans to tone down their enthusing about you, I decided I don’t have to wonder what you’re up to inside your kingdom or wherever anymore, even when you don’t call. They pretty much do the updating for all of us here,” she said jokingly.

Pranpriya groaned loudly. “God, I hate them. I couldn’t even get past the gates now without them swarming all over me. I guess that’s how Jennie felt when that stupid article was released.”

“She’s still being chased by the media, by the way. She’s a big shot, obviously. So, whatever she does is a national headline. Good thing they haven’t yet discovered her hiding place or it’d be another frenzy of headlines in the news. Especially if they’d find out it was your place. Which, personally, I don’t wish to happen or they’d start calling her a liar after she told them she doesn’t know you,” Chaeng said, shaking her head.

“How long has Jennie been visiting my place?” Pranpriya asked.

“About three months now, I think. First, she would visit once or twice a week, bringing cat treats with her. And then the visits have become frequent.”

“Does Bobby still show up at the studio?” asked Pranpriya. She was seriously thinking of compensating Bobby for his hard work by entrusting to him the studio, should he take it, and she would leave him a hefty amount to help him finance whatever his plans are.

“He still does and he’s wise enough not to inquire too much. I told him you’re in another continent now, hopping from one train or plane to another—,”

“That’s funny because I’ve been stuck in the palace most of the time since my return,” Pranpriya interjected.

“…chasing what you’ve been chasing all these years for your work and that he doesn’t have to worry because you’ve been doing that for years now and you’re still able to get back in one piece most of the time—,”

“Does he see Jennie going in and out of my place, then?”

“No, I don’t think he does. Jennie would usually arrive there late in the night and Bobby doesn’t stay in the studio longer than seven,” Chaeng continued.

“Oh, good. That’s good to know. He was curious when he saw Jennie the first time when she dropped by the studio once,” said Pranpriya.

“Hey,” Chaeng said and took Lisa’s hand. “You know that I’m glad that you’re here. But you have to go home now, Shutterbug. You and I can catch up anytime, I promise you that. But you and Jennie need to talk,” she said.

Pranpriya nodded.

“You have to stop running away now, Shutterbug.”

Pranpriya let out a long sigh. “It’s not really that I don’t know how to talk to her or what to talk to her about, you know? It’s just...” Pranpriya paused and let out another sigh. “I’m scared, Chipmunk. I’m scared that if I will talk to her and she would look at me again like I’m the only person in her world, all the resolve that I have firmly built these past months after she left will instantly crumble down and I might consider running away again. Far away, with her this time.”

“You still love her,” Chaeng declared with a smile.

“It doesn’t go away just like that,” Pranpriya replied and smiled bitterly. “But things are different now, I guess. And you’re wrong, Chaeyoung Park. I’m not stubborn. Not anymore, anyway. I’ve been following His Majesty’s orders now, diligently, and I haven’t caused any troubles or whatever in the kingdom recently.”

“You’re a different person now, I can see that. And I’m proud of you, Shutterbug. Truly, I am. But you have to talk to Jennie,” said Chaeng.

“Alright. Okay, I will. I promise,” Pranpriya said. “But I really want to know, though. What happened to your hair?”

“Oh, this?” Chaeng chuckled and touched the ends of her hair. “I changed it days after I dropped by Jennie’s office when told her I wasn’t pleased with what she did. You know, after the press con?”

“Was that too significant that you had to change your hair?” asked Pranpriya.

“Kind of. I kinda lost my spunk there,” Chaeng replied sheepishly.

“What do you mean?” Pranpriya inquired. She was curious. So, something significant did happen while she was away?

“I thought I had it all figured out. I told her I’m part of the PARK & PARK’s; that I am Roseanne Park. That was stupid, by the way. But I wanted to intimidate her, you see? To make her realize that I am fuming mad at her and she has to take me seriously. But then she did something that I did not see coming. If it was chess, she caught me off-guard and checked mate me.”

“Chaeng, what on earth are you talking about?” asked Pranpriya. She was anxious now. Did the two of the most important women in her life hurt each other?

“She knew I was in love you, Lisa. That was one of the most humiliating moments of my life...”

“What?!” Pranpriya was aghast.

“Yes!” Chaeng groaned. “I went there, ready to take her down if necessary. And then she asked about it, out of the blue. Clearly, I did not prepare for that. But I told her I’m not anymore because well, I’m not anymore...”

“And?”

“And she believed me, I think. Well, we’re friends now so maybe she really does. Look, the red mane – the spunk, whatever you call it – it didn’t work with Jennie Kim. She’s fierce and smart and she knows what’s up. So I suggest that you talk to her. To clarify things or whatever and see where it goes from there,” Chaeng said.