The Red Bow [Chaelisa]

37. The truth, music box and cotton candy

August 10, 2021. – New York City, NY.

Once, when she was little, Lisa fell on her skates in front of her parents’ house. Her left knee received 8 stitches and her right arm was bandaged by a middle-aged doctor who was smiling warmly at the little girl. One of the nurses offered her a lollipop before the procedure and guaranteed that she would receive only a sting of mosquito on her shoulder. Lisa trusted the woman’s kind eyes and safe words, and to her surprise, it didn’t hurt. While bandaging the little girl’s shoulder, the middle-aged doctor said things like: You are a big girl and very brave. One day, when you grow up, you will be the bravest woman in the world.

Lisa believed him too.

And again, to her surprise, he was wrong.

The day dragged on relatively slowly in that apartment that made her more phobic than the feeling of being at home. Something had been bothering Lisa since she woke up in the morning with Logan’s annoying alarm clock announcing the start of a bad day. The lawyer had a trial that day and her nerves were on edge, so she decided to run to the office early and go over the locked case in her office. Lisa made coffee and they both read the newspaper on the kitchen counter until the clock struck nine forty in the morning. Logan said goodbye to his fiance with a cracked kiss and asked her not to wait for him at night, as he had no time for the trial to end. Half an hour later, when the apartment finally seemed lighter, free from the of guilt that surrounded the Thai, the small figure of a boy with disheveled hair and a sleepy face appeared in the room with bare feet. Ethan hurried to the couch and cuddled in his mother’s arms as the two of them watched SpongeBob in their pajamas.

And Lisa loved moments like that with her son. Ethan had become everything in her life since she left the United States for the first time. She knew that she would give her life and move mountains for the boy, the love that grew more and more within her was no longer in her chest. Ethan was everything to her. His sweet, childlike smile, her chocolate eyes with long lashes. Oh, and Lisa loved her son’s curls.

A few hours later, Lisa ran with Ethan to the bathroom and the two took a long hot bath where they played in the bathtub to throw foam on each other and had lunch alone on the living room rug as it was the housekeeper’s break and Logan and Olivia were not at home. Sometimes Lisa just wanted to feel like a child again, and nothing better than to enjoy those moments with her little one.

The morning peace was totally shattered when Olivia arrived home after spending the night at the club running a party. She wasn’t drunk, but her eyes were murderous for the sister-in-law who was watching the Discovery Channel while Ethan took his afternoon nap.

"Where is everyone?“ the woman asked when she analyzed the silence of the apartment.

"Logan is in the office, Lola off and Ethan sleeping.“ Lisa informed without taking the eyes of the TV.

Olivia narrowed her eyes at Lisa and walked over to the couch and sat facing the Thai. Lisa didn’t care about her sister-in-law’s movement, much less when she took off the suede jacket she wore and threw it on the living room rug.

"I’ll ask just once." Olivia’s voice came out more serious than usual and Lisa looked at her in surprise. “Who is Park Chaeyoung?"

Shock ran through the Thai’s blood and hit her sanity. Okay, her sister-in-law was questioning her about Chaeyoung, and from her tone of voice it wasn’t about a possible love interest in the blonde. Controlling her emotions so as not to express any emotions that would give her despair, Lisa turned her eyes to the TV and shrugged.

"Chaeyoung is Ethan’s teacher, my ex best friend and-"

"Don’t be cynical, Manoban. I am asking how important this woman is in your life." Olivia cut her coldly and Lisa froze. “I do not want to jump to conclusions, but the person showing up here in the middle of the night looking for you in tears is not exactly normal for two ex best friends. So I’m going to ask again: Who is Park Chaeyoung?"