Realize | Jenlisa

Twenty-Six

It was December twenty-third.

Christmas was so close that you'd think the atmosphere would be better, but Jennie woke up with an uneasy feeling. She felt incomplete. She felt like something was wrong. Worst of all, for the first time in her life, she felt pain in her heart.

She tried to shake the feeling away but failed. So she just ignored it as she took a shower and got dressed.

She went downstairs and at last met Bambam’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bhuwakul. They looked incredibly nice and well-mannered. She didn't have the chance to meet them last night because she went to bed before having the chance to eat.

She was tired last night. Some of the ache that she was trying very hard to ignore seemed to be coming back to her. She aggressively shook her head as though to shake off the bad memory of last night.

Bambam and his parents looked weirdly at Jennie, but they didn't say a word.

They led her to the dining room, which had a long rectangular table good for twelve people. However, there were only nine sets of plates.

There were lots of delicious foods settled on the table. Bacons, eggs, hotdogs, pancakes, bread, jam and butter, sausages, and pasta.

Jennie could feel her mouth water from the smell.

“You must be the famous Jennie, am I correct?” Marco Manoban asked lightly.

He arrived last night when all were already asleep. He was tall, in his mid-fourties, and he looked exactly like Lisa, only older.

“Yes, Mr. Manoban,” Jennie replied quietly

“I’m glad to finally meet you in person,” Marco said, sitting beside Chitthip. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“I hope they aren't bad,” she said, smiling weakly.

“Oh, they're misleading,” he said.

She gulped.

“You're more beautiful than Chitthip let on,” he chuckled.

“Oh, I'm not,” Jennie quickly replied. “I'm not as beautiful as...” She stopped herself before she could finish the sentence.

It was true, though. Jennie was way more beautiful than her.

“She's very modest, isn't she, darling?” Chitthip laughed.

Everyone took their seats and settled themselves to eat.

Marco was likable. He kept asking Lisa and Jennie questions about school and kept telling Bambam to study at YG. Apparently, Marco and Chitthip, along with Chaerin and Mrs. Bhuwakul, went together at YG International Academy.

“What, why didn’t you tell me this before?” Bambam demanded to his Mom.

“You never asked,” Mrs. Bhuwakul said simply.

“That’s because you never mentioned it,” Bambam pouted, looking as though he have never been told of something really important.

“I remember the days when I was studying at YG as if it was yesterday,” Marco said thoughtfully. And then he turned to Lisa. “Did you know that your mother and I wouldn’t have been together if it wasn’t for Headmaster YG?"

"What do you mean?” Lisa queried, slightly confused.

Everyone on the table looked interested as they waited for Marco to continue his story.

“Well, you remember peer pressure back in the day,” Marco said to Chitthip, Chaerin, and to Mr. and Mrs. Bhuwakul. “Academic students never befriended the athletic players or any of our sort. I was an Athlete while Chitthip was a nerd–"