it's always ourselves that we find in the sea || jensoo

Chapter 5

Knocking loudly on the door, Jennie stood underneath the shaded roof of the porch, staring at the white wooden door, the paint peeling slightly, and breathed in the smell of the flowering, overgrown garden behind her. Her pink bike was leaning against the pale grey wooden slats of the house, and her bag was slung over one shoulder as she patiently listened for the slow footsteps walking downstairs, before the rattling sound of the chain being drawn back reached her ears, followed by the turning of a lock and the squeak as the door was finally pulled open.

"Expecting a break-in, Beethoven?" Jennie asked, a look of mild amusement.

"Ah, Jendeuk," Jisoo dryly greeted her, stepping aside, a look of mirth in her eyes, "would you like to come in?"

Brushing past her, Jennie quietly laughed at the new nickname, hanging her bag and her jacket up on one of the coat hooks near the door, listening to Jisoo shut the door - this time foregoing the locks - plunging them into darkness. Without the bright sunlight and balmy weather inviting itself inside, Jennie shivered slightly in the hallway, her bare arms rippling with goosebumps, and peered around the gloomy place.

"A blind woman living alone makes for an easy target if you can't defend yourself," Jisoo smoothly explained, stepping past Jennie as if she could clearly see where she was standing.

Following her down the hallway, squinting as she tried to make out the dark outline of Jisoo in the dark, Jennie's eyebrows rose slightly. Auckland wasn't a big town, and it certainly wasn't a troublesome town - for her - and she couldn't help but wonder what it was like for a blind woman. A woman who couldn't see if someone was following her home at a distance, or if they were waiting in alleyways late at night to jump her and steal her money. She wondered if that was why Jisoo didn't go outside very often; people must take advantage of her and thought her blindness made her incapable, but Jennie knew better than to underestimate her. "Are people bothering you?" Jennie haltingly asked, frowning slightly as she followed Jisoo down the hallway.

She almost bumped into her when Jisoo abruptly stopped, listening to the sound of her hand brushing against the wall, until a click sounded and the kitchen was plunged into light - for Jennie's benefit. Jisoo carried on walking into the kitchen, her movements surefooted and surprisingly graceful, filling the silver kettle up with water, pulling two floral teacups from the cupboards and lining them up on the counter. "No, it's just kids being harmless. Knocking on my door to try and get me to answer. Throwing rocks at the shutters," Jisoo sighed, "it's irritating more than anything. I'm just cautious though."

A disapproving look flickered across Jennie's face, and she pressed her lips together in a grim line. "Can I help you with anything?"

"You could sit down," Jisoo laughed, looking in Jennie's direction, her sightless eyes drifting past where Jennie was standing.

"I meant-"

"I know what you meant," Jisoo curtly replied, "but come on, I'm practically the town's Boo Radley. I half brought it on myself by becoming such a recluse."

Softly sighing, Jennie walked over to the table and pulled a chair out, making sure it didn't screech across the tiles, and sat down. Looking at Jisoo, she couldn't help the small smile that curled the corners of her lips - skin so pale that it was almost translucent, lavender shadows beneath her eyes that might not have been so noticeable if she'd had a bit of colour in her cheeks, dark hair falling down to her lower back in soft waves that made her seem well suited to shadows and hiding away as she hunched her shoulders slightly. She had the look of someone who was used to staying indoors - perhaps almost craved the solitude it brought her. "Well, you certainly look like him. A few more years and you'll be a bonafide hermit. In twenty, you might even become a legend around town. They'll be saying you're a witch who kidnaps little kids from the forest, and drowns them in the sea on a full moon."