Start from Scratch (JenLisa Adaptation)

2

'Trying to settle in'

No one's POV

For a moment when she woke up to the sound of someone flushing the toilet, Jennie thought she was home. It filled her with a sudden sense of dread that caused her to jump off the couch.

Only then she realize it was 6:02 am, and the sound was Lisa in the bathroom.

Realizing she was safe, Jennie sat on the couch and ran her hand through her hair.

"Now what?" muttered the feline eyed girl.

Jennie decided to take refuge in sleep, as she didn't have to get up for another hour. Waking to her alarm an hour later, she could hear a faint sound coming from the kitchen.

Walking over she poked her head in the small kitchen to see Lisa eating cereal at a tiny two person table next to the window. She was dressed in nice clothes and listening to the weather report, while looking out the window.

"I left a key for you. It's on the coffee table." Lisa said in that same distant and rather cold voice from the previous night.

Jennie still had little idea what to say or even think. "Thanks."

"Next to it, you'll find a stamped envelope with my address on it. When you go back to him, please mail it back to me."

Jennie wanted to respond and in the old days would have responded something rather snarky about Lisa being convinced she'd go back.

Instead the girl nodded. "Thanks. You're done in the bathroom?"

"Yes. Do you need any toiletries?"

"No, I grabbed what I needed before I left... home..."

Jennie paused for a moment and during that time, Lisa just went back to eating her cereal as if she wasn't even there. The whole thing felt horribly awkward.

"So...uh... what do you do? I thought you were going to school."

Turning her head, Jennie could see that Lisa looked slightly annoyed by the question. "I dropped out. I work in the mail room of a bank during the day and have a part time job on weekends."

Again, Lisa went back to eating as if Jennie wasn't even there.

"I do have a job, I can pay you the ₩100,000 a month, even a bit more if needed. I work at the Severance Hospital, in housekeeping. Not quite full time. I'm looking for something different. I've had some auditions in the year and a half since... him and I moved to Seoul, but nothing's panned out." Jennie then tried to inject a bit of humor. "Nothing but a nonspeaking role in a cat food commercial and I hate cats."

Lisa's entire face briefly hardened, but otherwise she said nothing.

Feeling it was getting more awkward by the moment, Jennie shuffled her feet. "I'll get in the shower now."

"You do that." Lisa said dismissively.

Jennie quickly grabbed what she needed and headed into the bathroom. By the time she exited about 40 minutes later, she found Lisa Manoban was gone. She did note the smell of coffee.

Walking in the kitchen she could see a pot of coffee was warming on the coffee maker, with a mug and a note next to it.

'Please turn off the coffeemaker before you leave. If you're just going to go right back to him, don't bother to take the key at all.'

Jennie found herself slightly dismayed by this version of Lisa; dark and cynical. She also knew that she was partially to blame.

Jennie quickly poured herself some coffee and sat down. Besides Lisa, a hundred other things swirled through Jennie's head. First she had to make a suitable excuse to her coworkers to explain the black eye. She had done it before, so she was confident she would come up with something.