Consummate Love

|19|

Jisoo didn't know why but she felt like there's a lump on her throat, preventing her from talking properly. It must be the reason that she became speechless with what her bestfriend said. They were still staring at each other and it would've been a funny showdown of gazes if not for the still intense one Chaeyoung had.

"So you..." Jisoo cleared her throat and looked down. "You... I can't understand... is that... I mean--"

"No, I don't like her this time around. I'll be way too stupid to do that after what she did." Chaeyoung finished off for her but something else was bugging Jisoo.

'Chaeyoung... am I the one you like now?'

"I love you, unnie."

Jisoo blinked continuous with what she heard or seemed to have heard. "W-What? Huh?!"

"You were talking out loud so I figured you deserve an answer."

"Well I'm just..."

Chaeyoung smiled a bit and Jisoo could become deaf with the pounding of her heart. She wondered though what that could mean. She wiped the sweat that ran down her nape.

The brunette held onto her hand and pulled lightly on it as she led them to sit again. Jisoo was thankful or else she'd burn under the sun. They were silent once they were seated and Chaeyoung let out a small sigh.

"I always ask you for the truth but I haven't told you anything that happened before, right? So maybe I'll start from here and let you decide the rest."

'Truth?'

"When I first arrived here in the school, I was lost and confused. I had no one I know, I didn't know how things go around here. Believe me, students asking for your family name and social status was the normal greeting here instead of the hi and hello or what's your name and it's nice to meet you." Chaeyoung chuckled a bit and the other girl realized it was really nothing new. "I didn't have any friends and I went to the school clinic not because I'm sick but because I just want to phone my parents to ask them to fetch me."

"Then I saw her. That Jennie Kim they're all talking about for multiple reasons. Of course, I didn't know anything about her, let alone that it was her that time. And... she was really pretty, you know." She smiled and looked at Jisoo. "It's like seeing sleeping beauty and you don't know if you just want to wake her up and talk to her. Or if you want to keep staring at her for long hours. Does that happen to you?"

Jisoo was reluctant but she nodded. "Y-Yeah... sometimes."

"I doubt your sometimes, unnie. Be honest." She nudged her and smiled sideways. "You've been staring at her longer than waking her up in the morning, right? And let's not forget she's a heavy sleeper."

'Chaeyoung knows too much... She knows that much about Jennie?'

"More than I could admit." Jisoo sighed a bit and smiled shyly. "Her face is calm and so much different to the little daredevil face she makes when awake."

"She looks an angel. Heck, I thought it was an angel and the first person I thought of was you. Because I wanted to ask if you fell from the same part of the skies." Chaeyoung looked down that prevented her from seeing the blush on Jisoo's face. "Then she woke up... and I never thought that time that she's actually that little queen bee Jennie Kim. How could I when there's nothing like that death glare, killer smirk or sharp tongue that people use to describe her?"

"Instead, she was calling out for her mom. 'Umma... umma, why did you leave me?' I've never heard anyone who had been desperately longing for someone. Except one." Those words, the words Chaeyoung repeated from Jennie pricked Jisoo's heart. She knew too well how that one line could mean to a little girl. With the look of her bestfriend and a quick hold onto her hand, she knew Chaeyoung understood why she became unresponsive. "I'm not saying you two are the same. But at that time... I told myself that if ever I was to find a new friend, I hoped it was someone similar to you. And that... what she said hit too close."