Black, Blue, and Gold (Book 2)

One Step at a Time (Part 19)

Lisa woke up the next morning to a loud high-pitched sound. She groaned when she felt her tense muscles and slightly throbbing head.

She then heard voices of people arguing and frowned - still not conscious enough to realize what was going on.

Turning on her back, she stretched and blinked a few times before deciding to go see for herself.

"BUT I WANT Lili!"

The tantrum was the first thing she heard when she drowsily opened the bedroom door. She furrowed her brows since she had never seen or heard Jiyoon behaving like that.

"What is going on?"

The little girl turned her head when she heard Lisa's voice then ran towards her, ramming into the young woman's legs and sending her teetering to the side for a second before she steadied herself.

Lisa heard Jiyoon sniffing and sobbing against her pajama pants. "Wha-... Why are you crying?"

"She insisted on waking you up so you could take her to school but I wanted to let you sleep in," explained an exhausted looking Jennie from the living room. She then shook her head and went into the kitchen.

"Oh." Lisa gently pried the girl's hands from around her thighs and tilted the wet face. "Jiyoon-ah, you should listen to Nini."

"But you're here. Why can't you take me to school?"

She wiped the tear-streaked cheeks, unable to stop herself from feeling flattered to be wanted. "I can now but I was sleeping. Nini didn't want you to wake me up because she wanted me to rest. I'm tired, Jiyoon-ah. I had to take a train from a far away city yesterday, remember?"

"You won't have time to eat breakfast if you insist on taking her to school," mumbled Jennie as she set Jiyoon's backpack on the couch and walked past the two, going inside the bedroom.

Lisa winced when the door closed behind her. Jennie didn't slam it but it wasn't exactly closed in a gentle way either.

Jiyoon seemed to begin to feel guilty as her hold on Lisa loosened. She looked up at Lisa with scared round eyes, making the latter smile in spite of the current situation.

"I think Nini's upset." She squatted down to the girl's eye level. "Look, Jiyoon-ah. There will be times when I can't do what you want me to do. During those times, someone else, Nini most likely, will have to take my place and help you. It doesn't mean that I don't care about you and it also doesn't mean that you can ignore or reject that person. Do you understand?"

The girl quietly looked away, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

"I think you hurt Nini's feelings. She might think that you like me more than you like her."

Jiyoon instantly lifted her head. "B-but I like Nini too! I just... you weren't here yesterday so today I w-want... I-I..."

Lisa had to laugh when the girl suddenly started crying again for no apparent reason.

She hugged her and lifted her. "Why are you crying now?" she asked, stroking the girl's back to calm her down.

The only response she got was gulping and sobbing.

"Jiyoon-ah, stop crying. Why are you crying?" She knew it was probably the guilt so when the girl didn't stop wetting her t-shirt with her tears, she slowly stepped back and freed one hand to open the bedroom door.

Jennie had just finished changing when the door opened. She saw and heard the crying from the girl in Lisa's arms. "What now?"

"I think someone's feeling guilty," said Lisa as she approached Jennie and turned around so that Jennie could see the girl's face.