The Tiger King (Chaelisa)

46| Preparation

previously:  rosie gave lisa a present, seulgi was introduced to the vault gang, lisa is back in the running for the Grand Slam, seulrene is sailing and dahyun learned about the myth of tiger king from momo (now a disowned self-proclaimed hermit)

"Aha! I got one that you definitely won't know this time!" Lisa declared as her index finger stabbed the page of her dictionary. "Whoever gets this right will get a chicken bucket from Daddy!"

Thanks to Rosé's gift, Lisa had picked up a new occupation and fully moved on from the twenty questions game, to Irene's relief.

After spending all afternoon and evening poring over her book and absorbing new words, Lisa woke up the next morning and announced a new game: guessing the definition of a word she randomly picked up from her book. 

She even insisted on rewarding the person who guessed the correct definition with a chicken bucket. Somi, Chaeyoung, Seulgi and Jisoo had humored her at first before quickly settling into competitive mode as Matt and Irene watched on. Jennie declined to play, to Jisoo's dismay, citing paperwork as her excuse.

"Alright alright hit me!" Somi said impatiently.

"Third time's the charm," Chaeyoung added, cracking her neck as though preparing for vigorous activity.

"Pipe down kids, I got this," Seulgi smirked. A chorus of voices immediately broke out in complaint.

"Can't you skip this one time?"

"Yeah skip, Seulgi, please, you're demolishing us!"

"Nope, I'm enjoying myself too much to stop now," Seulgi said sweetly as Chaeyoung and Somi groaned. "Three chicken buckets for me so far, isn't it?"

"She's gonna get it right again, no fair!" Jisoo pouted, "she's a teacher! I'm never gonna win a bucket at this rate!"

"Chu, stop grouching and focus," Jennie called from behind her desk. She sipped her energy drink as she sifted through papers. "You're smart, so just do your best. I'm rooting for you."

"Oh...but she knows more words than any of us!" Jisoo protested, recovering quickly after being disarmed by the casual compliment.

"Look, I'll buy you a chicken bucket myself if you want it so much then," Jennie shrugged, "but I think you're underestimating yourself."

"Hmph!" Jisoo scoffed but her cheeks were tinged pink.

"Gi, go easy on them," Irene said half-heartedly from the side. Seulgi smirked and shook her head, making Irene chuckle. 

She felt like a carefree schoolgirl again, giggling when Seulgi had suggested playing hooky from work the previous night because she wanted to spend more time with Irene at the Vault (but of course both were responsible adults, so they called in sick again rather than actually ditching.)  

"What about the classes Gi?" Irene had asked, "and the kids?" Her smile only grew wider when Seulgi laughed on the screen in front of her as they Facetimed.

"School's almost out, we've got our end of year concert like what, over the weekend? I basically go there to keep an eye on them during the day really. They'll find a substitute," Seulgi dismissed, shrugging her shoulders. She hugged her pillow. "You're still on for the concert, right?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Irene nodded. She had been thrilled when Seulgi shyly asked her to accompany her to the school concert, as her date. "But are you sure about ditching tomorrow? For me it's no problem, but I know they're stricter on teachers..."

Seulgi sat back, watching Irene with a dopey smile. "I want to spend more time with you, Hyun. Not just to make up for all the time I wasted, but because I want to. I really want to."