The Marrying Type || Jensoo & Chaelisa

Chapter 12

Dinner was pleasant and surprisingly chill. Lisa spent most of the time debating with Jisoo and Chaeyoung about just anything she could think of, and all three made sure to include Jennie in the conversation wherever they could. Jennie was mostly withdrawn to herself, and all of them understood. None of them forced her to partake, but rather gave her the space she quite obviously needed and offered her ways into the conversation so that she felt included.

Though she no longer felt like crying or running away, Jennie was still reeling from the events that had occurred not five hours ago.

She had yelled at her parents; seethed, snarled, spat at them, let out all the anger that had been building up within her heart for too many years. She had left her parents behind, with no intention of ever going back. She had said so much of what she'd kept held deeply within herself behind pursed lips, nails dug in palms and forced smiles, and it was overwhelming to say the least. She felt panicked and afraid; she was sure her parents were livid to say the least, and could not stop thinking about the eventual repercussions that she knew she couldn't avoid.

But she also felt so incredibly relieved she was dizzy and light-headed as though she were slightly drunk.

Not to mention she had never been on a road trip before. She had never really had friends or had light dinner conversation that flowed with ease and did not consist of tight forced smiles and politely phrased comments on politics or legal matters. That was probably the weirdest thing of them all; she was sitting in some cheap small-town italian restaurant, a group of friends around her, talking happily and freely and smiling so brightly she couldn't help but smile as well.

"Don't worry about your parents," Jisoo murmured quietly to her as Lisa and Chaeyoung proceeded to argue about the latest episode of some murder show neither Jisoo or Jennie watched. "You left them behind."

"But they will do something," Jennie muttered, briefly wondering whether Jisoo had just read her mind. "I just...I've dragged not only you but Lisa and Chaeyoung into this, and I can't stop thinking about what'll happen to you."

"Don't worry. My life is already pretty crap, as is Lisa's. And Chaeyoung's your best friend, Jennie, I don't think you could exclude her from this even if you wanted to. You don't have to carry the whole world on your shoulders."

Jennie smiled gently, but kept her eyes fixed at her hands in her lap. Jisoo huffed in frustration and grabbed Jennie's hand, lacing her fingers with Jennie's.

"Come on, Jennie. Loosen up. Whatever your idiot parents decide to throw at us, we can manage. Together, ok?"

Jennie stared at Jisoo for a while before nodding. "Ok."

Together.

Chaeyoung and Lisa shared a pointed look when they noticed Jisoo's and Jennie's interlocked hands and their feeble attempt at hiding them under the table. But neither of them said anything, knowing the pair would just glare and grumble curses at them. After dinner, the girls made their way back to the motel, where Jennie practically collapsed into bed and fell asleep within minutes. Jisoo stayed up for a while, contemplating whether she should call her mother. She was just about to set her phone down and go to sleep when she heard a gentle knock on the door.

"Chaeyoung?"

The woman acknowledged her with a slight nod. "Can we talk? Outside?

Jisoo grabbed her coat and keys from the chair beside her and walked out, shutting the door carefully behind herself.

"What's up?"

Chaeyoung took her by the arm and led her to a picnic table nearby, where she promptly sat Jisoo down before sitting down herself across from her. Jisoo now saw that she looked determined, a little scary even; there was an intense look in her eye which Jisoo could not understand.