I built this Home for me, for you

Chapter 5

Jennie was in a meeting with Hye-jin two weeks later, catching up on how she was settling in at the ImpactCo office in Metropolis, over lunch and a table filled with an assortment of files, when she received a phone call. Glancing down at the screen, she saw Lisa's name on it and gave Hye-jin an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I have to take this. It's my wife." Even after all those years, she still got a thrill out of calling Lisa her wife, and she smiled as she climbed to her feet.

"It's no problem at all," Hye-jin assured her, picking up her glass of water and taking a sip as she glanced back down at the financial reports.

Quickly walking over to the large windows, overlooking the botanical gardens behind the restaurant, Jennie answered her phone. "Hi, darling," she said, smiling grimly, "sorry, now's a bit of a bad time. I'm in a meeting with Miss Ahn, remember?"

"I know, and I'm sorry," Lisa sighed, "but I'm in that meeting with Yook Industries that you set up with Sungjae for me, and I can't leave now or I won't get another one for months – you know how hard it was to plan this one – and Rosé and Jisoo are both in work, and I'd really like it if your mom could be here for the meeting."

"Okay, slow down, just tell me what's wrong," Jennie soothingly said, listen to Lisa ramble on.

"The school called. Seolhyun-"

Jennie sighed in frustration, "Don't bother explaining. I'll go there now and sort it out."

She could hear the relief in Lisa's voice, even as she apologised, "I'm sorry about your meeting."

"It's fine, love," Jennie assured her, knowing that Lisa hated going to deal with any school hassles anyway. Meetings weren't her strong suit, which was why Jennie wouldn't leave her stranded with Sungjae to navigate the business end of their research by sending Chaerin to go and pick up her daughter. The headmistress would probably want to talk to either Jennie or Lisa anyway, especially with the number of times Seolhyun had been in trouble that month already, and Jennie resigned herself to the fact that she might singlehandedly be paying for the new wing of the library that the private school were hoping to build.

"I'll make it up to you tonight," Lisa promised her, and Jennie smiled slightly.

"You'd better get back to your meeting," she said, "I love you. Good luck."

"Go easy on her, please," Lisa reminded Jennie, who pressed her lips together in a thin line, "and I love you too. I'll see you tonight."

The line went dead, and Jennie sighed, running a hand over the front of her skirt as she tried to smooth away the wrinkles. Fiddling with her phone, she rushed back over to the table, where Hye-jin looked up at her expectantly. "I'm so sorry, I have to go. It's the school – one of the girls... well. Do you have kids?"

"It's completely alright, Jennie, I understand," Hye-jin said, before hesitating slightly, "no, I don't, but I can imagine."

"Mm," Jennie murmured, "well, it's the best and hardest job I've ever had – and this one hasn't exactly been a walk in the park."

"I don't envy you doing both of them," Hye-jin laughed, and Jennie cracked a smile as she gathered her own files into a pile and shoved them inside her briefcase.

Snapping it shut, she sighed, smiling slightly as she shook her head, "I wouldn't change it for the world. Now, um, I'll call you and we can reschedule a new meeting. Maybe some time next week, whenever you're free at Impactco."