CHAELISA One-shots

Truth Or Drink

With all the cameras around them, Chaeyoung likes to believe someone in charge of video editing will see the panic in her eyes and edit some footage with a record scratching sound effect, frame freezing and a voiceover saying.

“ Yep, that’s me. So you’re probably wondering how I got myself into this situation .”

Maybe Lisa herself will do it, just for the hell of it. She sure knows enough about video editing to make that happen and seems determined to make her wife the butt of a joke the whole set is privy to.

There’s just oh so much that could go wrong.

Playing truth or dare is risky on its own, but it’s something usually done among friends, among forgiving people who give around zero fucks about what comes out of it. Playing truth or drink is bound to be a disaster. Playing truth or drink with your goddamn mother-in-law is a recipe for alcohol poisoning.

Chaeyoung eyes the cards stacked in a neat pile in front of her, truth or drink written in a stylized font on the back of each. There’s so much that could go wrong. Depending on what questions those cards have on them, she could easily walk out of here knowing she’s not welcomed in the Manobans household anymore.

She and Lisa started dating when they were sixteen, and getting caught sneaking in through the bedroom window at half past midnight never seemed like anything to worry about.

They’ve been together for twelve years, have been married for three of those, and there’s far too much in these years that could make Lisa’s mother look at her differently – or stop looking at her altogether.

Amy, for her part, looks the exact opposite of how Chaeyoung feels. 

Her shoulders are drawn back with an ease that must be something in their bloodline, because Lisa holds herself the same, a soft smile tugging at her lips while a makeup person finishes working her powder. It’s just enough for them not to shine on camera, but that alone makes Chaeyoung gawk at her mother-in-law a little bit. She’s seen Amy with a professionally done makeup for their wedding and has seen her with sleepy eyes in the early morning when they stay a weekend at the lake cabin, and the woman is always drop dead gorgeous.

Taking in a shaky breath that does nothing to really calm her nerves, Chaeyoung looks towards where Lisa should be. It takes her a moment to find her wife – she finds her leaning towards a monitor and pointing to different parts of the screen, her other hand covering the microphone on the headset she’s wearing.

Part of Chaeyoung wants to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they were pressed for time and needed another set of participants for them to be able to whip up a whole video, and Lisa thought of them. Maybe it really was a last minute thing that she didn’t think through.

The soft smile she gives Chaeyoung when their eyes meet tells her that’s exactly what happened, and there’s nothing more to it.

But the other part of Chaeyoung knows Lisa will have the time of her life watching her wife squirm and sweat in front of her mom.

“Nervous?” Amy, who’s been Mrs. Manoban until only a couple of Christmasses ago, asks, taking Chaeyoung out of her reverie. Her voice is soft and comforting, as mom-like as one can get. It only makes Chaeyoung’s stomach do another uncomfortable loop.