You're my Sunshine, my only Sunshine

12.1 : As It Turns Out

Lalisa went to work with red eyes. Jisoo carefully looked at her eyes and asked in a grieving tone: “Broke up with your boyfriend?”

Lalisa replied in a low voice to match her grieving tone: “Comrade Jisoo, do you want to treat beef rice to comfort a heart broken colleague?”

Jisoo thought for a while: “Then, you better don’t break up with your boyfriend.”

Colleague Bai bought a newspaper with Jimin on the cover. Lalisa saw the newspaper on his desk so she conveniently brought it over to her desk to read. The long article chronicled his life with praises and pomposity. True to a tabloid newspaper’s distinguishing feature, there was gossip and speculation about Jimin’s wife.

Lalisa put down the newspaper and stared blankly for a long time.

She did not know many people in the U.S. She was closest to sister Juan, but they lost contact after she returned to Korea. The other person was Jimin. Actually in regard to Jimin, Lalisa only felt gratitude because he had helped her a lot. That time when he was drunk, he did not cross the line and hurt her.
After hesitating for a while, Lalisa turned on her computer, went to SOSOmail website, then her not often use mailbox to look for Jimin’s email address.

After changing what she wrote several times, only one sentence remained in the end.

——”Jimin, what happened last night at the hotel lobby, thank you.”

A few minutes after sending the email, her inbox had an alert for new mail. Lalisa refreshed the screen and clicked to open the email.

Recipient: Kwon Lalisa

Sender: Chim

Topic: Re: No Subject

It’s nothing.

Two simple words appeared, like from a stranger. Lalisa’s fingers stilled on the keyboard, not knowing what to say. She remembered the gossips she heard from students in C University, then quickly replied.

“Jimin, have you met her again now that you’re back in Korea? Maybe you still have a chance.”

A reply did not come forth in a long time.

Lalisa regretted it.

Maybe she overstepped herself, as everyone has an untouchable part in the heart. Maybe that girl was his deepest wound.

That night, Lalisa and Jungkook talked about what happened. Jungkook frowned at her and said two words: “Really slow.”

Then, he added: “Thank goodness you’re slow.”

Lalisa did not understand.

More than one month later, when Lalisa checked her mailbox on a regular basis, she saw Jimin’s reply. Looking at the date, it was sent two days ago.

Lalisa opened the email.

Recipient: Lalisa

Sender : Chim

Topic : Re: Re: Re: No Subject

Not everyone can wait so long in loneliness like Jungkook.

Lisa. I’ve had a change of heart.

P.S.: Wish you an early Merry Christmas!

Lalisa stared blankly at the screen.
Just a few lines, why did it take so long to reply? Maybe the sender changed the message over and over and thought about it for a long time before sending it.

In that moment, Lalisa felt she was beginning to understand something. But the idea only flashed quickly before the intuition disappeared.

She moved the mouse to the delete option, hesitated for a moment and moved away. Finally she logged out of her mailbox.