Until Next New Year // Lisrene

8: August

The ten days that Irene had to be in France had stretched to two weeks, then three, and then longer as the two companies hashed out the details for the acquisition by B-Corp. From what Irene was telling her, both sides were excited about it. The French company would lose none of its staff, would have to halt none of its research or development, and none of the offices would have to move. B-Corp gained a foothold in France, new ideas, and excellent and talented new staff.

Lisa missed Irene, but she heard from her almost every day. The time difference between them now was seven hours, which meant that phone calls were almost impossible, except for on the weekends, thanks to their respective workdays. Irene had offered to fly Lisa out to Toulouse for a week on her private jet (because of course she had her own private jet) so that she could show Lisa around a place that she truly loved, but because it was so short-notice, Lisa couldn't take the time off work. It was a shame though, because although Irene was spending her working hours in the city, in the evenings and on the weekends, she was out exploring and enjoying the area.

Lisa was sitting at her kitchen table and doing some research for her latest article about the Seoul Police Department; Jongin seemed to have caught onto the fact that HYLT journalists were capable of more than writing about fashion, and was regularly finding them more interesting work. At least, she was meant to be doing research. In actual fact, she was looking at Irene's Instagram and wondering what to have for dessert after her breakfast of ice cream, which she was just finishing up. She picked up her cell to make a call to her favorite Chinese takeout place when it rang in her hand.

The sudden sound made her jump, but then she saw Irene's name on the screen. She swiped eagerly to answer it.

"Hello you!" she chirruped.

Irene let out a chuckle from half a world away that Lisa felt deep in her bones and in her heart. "Hello Lisa."

"How are you doing over there? What time is it?" she asked, shaking her watch out of her sleeve to peer at it.

"It's 1am. I just came home from going on a walk around the walls of la Cité."

"You were walking the walls by yourself?!" Lisa asked, aghast.

The sound of Irene's elegant laugh came through her phone and Lisa felt herself blush at the sound of it. "It's really safe here, Lisa. I didn't see a single other person the whole time I was walking around."

"Wasn't that creepy, though?"

"Not at all! It was quite refreshing actually, after the week I've had, to have it to myself."

Lisa got up from the table and took herself and her bowl of ice cream over to her sofa. Settling down on it, she shoveled a spoon of ice cream into her mouth. "Tell me about your day," she mumbled around her mouthful.

There was silence from the other end of the line, and then, "Lisa, are you eating ice cream again?"

Lisa swallowed. "Maybe..."

It was as if she could hear Irene's disapproval through the miles. "Have you had breakfast?"

"Maybe..."

"That's a no. Lisa!"

Lisa laughed, a full-belly laugh as she imagined Irene's face. She would be frowning good-naturedly at her, if they were looking at each other now.

"You're not here, you can't make me eat healthy things."

"You can't see me, but I'm rolling my eyes," Irene sighed, but Lisa could hear the smile in her voice.