Chapter Text
Jennie is sitting on the grass, leaning against a soft figure whose warmth seems to envelop her entire body.
There are lean arms secure around her waist, filling her with a calm she's not sure she has ever felt.
There are a few trees around her, pink and purple flowers blooming between emerald leaves.
She has never seen trees like those before.
She feels a soft breath tickling the skin of her neck, lovely, making her shiver just lightly.
She's not cold.
The sun is coating the skin that her t-shirt and shorts reveal tenderly, the sky above gradually changing its light blue for faint tones of purple.
Jennie doesn't move.
She is tempted to turn her head around, itching to find out the identity of the person who's making her feel so serene, so fulfilled.
She discovers quickly that she can't.
She orders her body again and again, but her attempts are useless.
She knows she should be worried.
But the purples are getting deeper, marvelous, and the arms around her body tighten just a bit, Jennie's heart warming up suddenly.
She looks towards the horizon and thinks.
This warmth...
It's not her boyfriend.
The thought almost makes her frown.
Almost, because her mind is clouded with pure satisfaction, too elated to be bothered.
She wants to feel guilty, and she almost manages to do so, a light uncomfortable feeling attempting to settle in the middle of her chest.
But it doesn't last long.
The person who embraces her decides to snuggle the tip of their nose in her neck, leaving feathery traces that makes the brunette close her eyes unconsciously.
Jennie feels the sudden urge to purr, and she's not too sure she's not doing so at the moment.
It's so, so good.
It's perfect.
She really wants to turn around and see who's making her feel so much blissful.
But suddenly, the deep purple seems to consume everything.
-
Jennie wakes up startled, her heart beating at an abnormal rate.
Saying that she's confused would be an understatement.
The soft, thick blankets on the bed cover her body reaching past her shoulders, but she feels an uncomfortable cold breeze that makes her frown deeply.
The memory of her recent dream is still clear in her head: the warmth, the sun, the velvety feeling against her neck.
It should be strange. She knows.
But it isn't.
Jennie is abruptly brought back to reality by a loud ring that makes her frown immediately.
She reaches out with her left hand to tentatively look for her phone on the top of the night table. She struggles for a bit before grasping the device.
Jennie answers the call almost unwillingly. She is starting to feel a bit warmer.
"Hello, Jendeukie", a raspy voice greets her. Jennie scrunches her nose. "I'm just calling to tell you that I'm sure you didn’t forget that we agreed on having breakfast outside in fifteen".
"Huh, of course I didn't, Jisoo", the youngest brunette answers as she frantically moves the blankets aside to stand up.
"I bet you didn’t. So, see you in thirty?"
Jennie sighs in defeat.
"Please".
She hears a light chuckle at the other end of the line and feels slightly better.
"Alright, Jennie, but you pay this time".
Before the brunette could protest, Jisoo ends the call.
Jennie is not in a position to be actually offended, so she just keeps moving almost desperately around the room until she's ready to go.
Twenty-five minutes is not that bad, she thinks.
Before leaving home, she checks her phone once again.
Nothing.
She purses her lips slightly and opens the front door.
-
"So I just told her that her way of teaching was questionable... it's not like I insulted her or anything, I just suggested that she might not be of help in class... which she's not, of course, as you well know. Anyways, she answers with a raging mail full of big words poorly used that she could've easily replaced with expletives, honestly, and the message would've come across just fine..."
Jisoo interrupts her own ranting to stare at her friend, who's looking absently at a cherry blossom outside one of the windows of a random café they picked after deciding that it was too cold to keep walking around.
It is quite a cloudy day, pale grey coats the street outside, and Jennie just seems to fit with the gloomy atmosphere too perfectly.
"Jennie? Are you here, mate?"
The brunette blinks quickly, slightly startled, and nods a few times before speaking.
"Yes. I'm listening. You told Ms. Han that she was a terrible teacher and now you are never passing an exam again".
"Yah, Jennie! I'm sure we'll figure it out. I mean I will, she's clearly not the brightest out there. Which I could deal with, obviously, if she at least was a decent human being".
The shortest simply smiles at the comment, and it's enough for Jisoo to realize that something must be definitely not going well.
"Jen?", she calls her friend softly, her head slightly tilted, "What's wrong? Something happened between you and Woojin?"
Jennie's eyes harden at the mention of her boyfriend.
"Nothing happened", she answers, her voice unusually laced with ice.
Jisoo stares at her.
Cold Jennie is deflecting Jennie.
The younger brunette rolls her eyes at the silence that follows her statement. She knows that her best friend can read her like a book.
"Nothing happened, I mean it. Absolutely nothing. So much so, I haven't heard of him since Wednesday".
Jisoo puckers her lips lightly.
That boy, honestly...
"Have you tried to contact him?"
"I've texted him, but got no answer", Jennie sighs, "He does this when he’s busy and I should be accustomed already, but it still angers me a bit".
"Of course it does, Jennie, he's your boyfriend. I think that you being a bit angry is just natural".
The tallest girl stays silent for a while, her gaze lost in the sight outside the window once more.
"Jennie".
Jisoo is looking at her with eyes full of concern.
Her friend is not too pleased.
"Why do you keep dealing with him? You deserve much better".
The brunette clenches her teeth briefly to avoid tears to reach her eyes.
I hurts.
"Because... I know things can be better".
"They could Jennie, if he wanted them to be. But I don’t think he does. Are you even still in love with him?"
Jennie opens her mouth, her answer almost rehearsed, but she finds herself unable to speak.
She blinks quickly, surprised of herself, and struggles to find her voice.
"I... I think so. Yes”.
Jisoo furrows her brows deeply, but Jennie interrupts her before she can get scolded.
"Just... drop it for now Soo, can you?"
The shortest girl bites the inside of her cheek.
Jennie never pleads. She went too far.
"Fine, but only because I need an ally to defeat Ms. Han. Right now, the odds seem to be on her side".
The brunette chuckles, letting her shoulders relax a bit.
"Of course odds are on her side, Soo. She's the teacher. She can make you fail as many times as she wants".
Jisoo scoffs.
"I'll find my ways. Evil never wins".
Jennie can only laugh again.
Jisoo always manages to surprise her.
-
Back home, many hours later, Jennie is changing into the soft pajamas her grandmother gifted her as a birthday present, ready to finish the day.
She has eaten lunch with Jisoo too, and she's been laughing hard enough to make her head pound a bit.
Nice food and nice company are often all she needs to feel pleased enough to sleep peacefully, but as she lies on her bed and covers herself with her multiple blankets, Jennie doesn't expect to get much rest.
She checks on her phone yet again, one last time, just to be absolutely sure.
Nothing.
Jennie lets the palm of her hands rub against her face almost roughly.
Why does she have to be so clingy?
She lets her body roll on her side, uncomfortable.
She unsuccessfully tries to stop her mind from drifting to moments when she felt face, secure, when her smile always reached her eyes and her hands didn’t feel so damn cold all the time.
But memories don't warm her heart.
She forces herself to keep her eyes closed, the fingers that almost tickle with the need of reaching out for her cellphone grasp the sheets tightly.
Only when twenty minutes pass and she is still restlessly pretending to be closer to falling asleep, Jennie lets herself dive in the memory of the only moment in the day when she felt truly unpreoccupied.
The dream.
She lets herself think about soft hands, and comforting arms, and velvety lips.
She lets herself think about the feeling of the sun coating her skin, about the elating feeling of a full heart.
And just like that, she begins to drift off, her head finally easing its pounds.
Outside, the moon shines behind the clouds in an almost supernatural way.