The Girl Next Door - Jenlisa

Chapter 8

Lisa was, if anything, never much a fan of soundtracks.

She never quite understood the novelty: of a perfectly timed song to play at the same time you needed it, at the same time where the protagonist in the movie felt it.

But then there it was: the base notes of Selena Gomez' Bad Liar latching on to her head, hard.

It started when she went back to the office from her condominium after lunch and she started hearing the vibration from her phone. A measly vibration of a text alert that seemed to pulse to the beat of Selena's song.

Ddu ddu ddu ddu ddu ddudu doo.

She thought it must have been the high her body's still in. Endorphins flooding all her veins and making her hear things.

Until she heard it again, this time while a woman who was speaking in front of her from accounting seemed to drone out: ddu ddu ddu ddu ddu ddudu doo. Very vague base notes that ran teasingly.

Then on the way to the cafe where she's supposed to meet her client: ddu ddu ddu ddu ddu ddudu doo. She finally heard Selena crooning:" I was walking down the street the other day / Tryna distract myself,"

And like a goddamn Charlie Kaufman movie where her head narrates shit, she saw it as well: women who start to take the shape of her neighbour.

But then I see your face /

Like that brunette in the coffee shop that's putting sugar on her coffee, those cat eyes looking at her--

Oh wait, that's someone else

Or those long brown hair going around her cardigan as a lady baby-talked her dog--

Ohh, tryna play it coy / Tryna make it disappear

Or that lady with the same petite frame nearly bumping unto Lisa, brown hair almost hitting her face. Like every fucking girl she's suddenly seeing in the street just looked like--

But just like the battle of Troy / There's nothing subtle here

Like that brunette sitting on an empty table, stirring her coffee...

Oh. Wait.

The song on her head screeched to a halt. She cleared her throat, then fixed herself as she moved towards her client's table. Quiet, sharp eyes look at her and linger for a moment, before a smirk on her face breaks.

"You look lost."

Lisa shrugged and grinned, then reached for her client in a quick hug.

"Jisoo Kim." Lisa let the name roll on her mouth temporarily, trying to shrug off the vision of her neighbour occupying her client's face just a few seconds before. The brunette chuckled good-naturedly.

"Lisa Manoban, how are things?"

Lisa allowed herself a less than professional smile. "Same old. How are you, and why are we meeting earlier than our supposed client meeting?"

Jisoo grinned. Her friend probably never really knew anything else other than to offer playful smirks to Lisa, but it was nowhere near the playful smirks of the neighbour Lisa was looking for at the moment. The distinct similarities are there: brunette, slim and petite. Hard stop however on those physical attributes, because Jisoo and her neighbour were nowhere near similar on other attributes.