"Well, the short story is -"
Jennie interrupts, "I don't want to hear the short story. I've been watching you sit in that bar, alone, since March. If I wanted a short story I wouldn't have let you drive me to a secluded area and handed over my wall...
Things are different with Chaeyoung around. They’re better. The uncomfortable feeling of doubt that had grown in Lisa’s stomach since she’d moved out to Seoul had slowly withered away. One night, she stays up late wondering if the feeling was just her way of missing Chaeyoung. She shakes off the idea when she realizes it’s too poetic.
“Lisa?” Tzuyu asks one evening, looking up from the computer on her lap. Things had become more domestic with the two of them. Lisa’s pretty sure it’s a good thing.
“What’s up?” Lisa turns her head to give the girl her full attention, a grin playing on her lips.
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Tzuyu blushes in the way that she always does when Lisa looks at her. They’d had a lengthy discussion about it the other day – why Tzuyu was so uncomfortable with the way Lisa loved to give complete, undivided attention to her. It was something both of them had to work on.
“How much longer is Chaeyoung going to be in town?”
“Maybe a week or two. Why?” Lisa shuts her laptop and folds her hands behind her head.
Tzuyu shrugs, “It’s just… I’d love to meet her, that’s all. You talk about her so much that I figure she must be pretty important to you.”
And this is exactly what Lisa had been avoiding – introducing Chaeyoung to Tzuyu. She’s not sure if she could make it through an entire meal pretending to be in love with one girl when she’s devastatingly in love with the other. She hates herself just a little bit for thinking it.
“Yeah, uh… yeah, that’d be great,” Lisa forces a smile, trying to turn her attention back to her computer.
“How about this Saturday?” Tzuyu continues, “I’m free and I know your meeting fell through, so… would that be good? Do you think Chaeyoung could make it?”
Lisa didn’t think Tzuyu would actually try to make plans to meet the other girl. She had hoped she could just pretend to acknowledge the idea and then never follow through with it.
“I don’t know, maybe,” Lisa shrugs.
“Well call her up,” Tzuyu smiles, rolling her eyes and nudging Lisa in the arm.
And, well, shit. There’s no way out. So instead of fighting it any more, Lisa grabs her phone and sends a simple text:
》》Hey man. Are you free on Saturday for lunch? I was thinking maybe you could meet Tzuyu?
Chaeyoung texts back near-instantly and Lisa’s heart sinks to her stomach.
》》Sounds great! How about noon? _____________________________________________
And so, two days later, Lisa finds herself sitting in a (again) Thai restaurant a Bit outside of Seoul, next to her girlfriend that she thinks she’s in love with and her best friend that she knows she’s in love with.
