my brothers girlfriend

broken loyalty

TWENTY-TWO - LISA

I stand at the front door, waving Jennie off until the taxi disappears from sight. No more than a minute later, the door swings open and I am being dragged into the house by my arm. I leave the suitcase in the doorway and I find myself more concerned with moving my feet up the stairs swiftly rather than getting Rosie to stop.

"You are gonna tell me everything," I hear her say before we get to her room and she pulls me in before slamming the door. She does a short skip to her bed and jumps onto it, facing me with anticipation.

"Uhm, hey, Rosie," I toss my bag to the floor and make my way to the bed. "What happened to 'hello'?"

Rosie shakes her head. "I don't care about hello. I only care about who, when, where, how, why, and all the important questions."

I avoid her gaze and sit opposite her. "I don't know what you mean."

She looks at me unamused. "Fine. Let's start simple. Who was the girl you were kissing goodbye to in the taxi? The same one you took to Jeju I assume. I hope. What's her name?"

I sigh, defeated. I had full intentions of coming clean to Rosie sooner or later. Mostly because the whole thing was eating me up and Rosie is the only person I trusted enough to tell. But I would have preferred to tell her once Jennie and I were exclusive. This whole situation was just embarrassing to me, especially saying it out loud. 

I sigh deeply, trying to find the courage to say the words. I look at her eyes before looking away immediately. "It's bad, Rosie."

"What do you mean?"

"The reason I haven't told you about what's been happening. It's because it's bad. It's a bad situation and I'm an awful, selfish fucking person who deserves to.."

"Hey, hey!" Rosie snaps me out of my tangent, holding my arm probably to soothe me but once she hears what I've done she may not be so keen to touch me. "It can't be that bad, Lisa."

I find the courage to meet her eyes as I assure her; "trust me, Rosie, it is."

She sighs, her shoulders slumping. "Okay. Fine. Just tell me."

I take a deep breath, part of me wants to remain mute forever, and the other part wants to rip the bandage off. 

"It's Jennie," I say bluntly. 

Her eyes flicker, a slight shake of her head, her arm retreats. "What? Jennie who?"

"Jennie. Kai's Jennie."

Her eyes widen this time and her jaw drops open. She closes it quickly out of cautiousness toward me most likely. "Lisa... I--" She shakes her head again. I say nothing, waiting for her further reaction. She continues shaking her head. It looks rather amusing actually. Like she's a broken bobblehead. "Wha- I mean Kai, as in your brother Kai."

I nod my head very slightly. Rosie looks at me with wide eyes and finally a still head. 

"Say something."

Her stupid head begins shaking again. "I don't know what to say, Lisa. I mean, I just don't know." She pauses for a second. "How?"

"How?"

"Yes, how?"

"I don't even know. It's a blur."

"Did you know her before?"

"No."

"Okay. Then what? You met and there were sparks? You couldn't control it?"

"Something like that," I mumble meekly.