Chapter 46

Lisa's POV

I can't remember how it feels without Jennie. It wasn't long until I began missing Jennie again, so I sent her another text even if I knew she was at work.

Me: Now I'm waiting for your ex. Tell me there's something better to do?

Jennie: Haha. I'm sure that won't take so long!

Me: I hope so. How's work?

Jennie: Looking like lifeless as usual. Were working on Minseo's film.

I look up and see Kai's rented limo park in front of the café. Geez, who takes limos to meetings over coffee in an outdoor meeting at two in the afternoon?

Bian was the first one to step out of the car. She looked like she was in a state of panic.

She nearly tripped as she rushed over to me. "Hi, Lisa," she pants.

"Good afternoon to you, too," I smile. "Uh, are you okay?"

She looked back at the limo as Kai made his way out of the car. His shiny Ray-Bans were practically beaming towards me.

"Listen, I need to tell you something before Kai comes over here," she quickly says.

I frown as I take a sip of my coffee. "Is there something wrong?" 

"Whatever happens, do not give Kai any details about your book launching" she lowers her voice as she casually looks around.

"What? Why?"

"Just trust me, okay?" she hisses. "Give different dates. Make some shit up. I don't know, but make sure you do not give him legitimate information."

I was about to open my mouth to say something when Kai walked up to Bian. His hands snaked from her back to her waist, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. I did not see how that was even necessary.

"It's good to see you again, Lisa," Kai smiles. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"I'm good with my drink," I glanced at my coffee.

Kai shrugs and turns to Bian. "Bian, you know what to get me, right?"

"Yes," she quickly nods, getting up from her seat. "I'll be back in a few."

Bian kept glancing at me as she made her way inside to order their food. I was left sitting there in slight shock, trying to figure out the situation in my head.

"So is she your girlfriend or your assistant?" I blankly ask Kai.

"Both," he answers swiftly, his gaze burying into mine.

"Your girlfriend is your assistant?" I frown.

Kai chuckles and shakes his head. "It's complicated," he pulls out a cigarette stick from his pack and lights it up. "You smoke?"

"No, I don't," I politely decline.

"You can if you want," he shrugs. "I bet Jennie just doesn't want you to."

I suck in a breathe while curling my fists under the table. There was something about him that still got my blood boiling. "I don't smoke because I don't want to and I don't ever plan on doing so. Jennie has nothing to do with it."

"She hated it whenever I would smoke before," Kai snickers. "I only tried it once in front of her. She made a big deal out of it so I would always just smoke outside whenever she was showering or something. You know, whenever I would decide not to join her in there."

I let out a sarcastic laugh as purposely drop my phone on the table, making a loud resounding noise. "Nice to know," I scoff. "So are we going to talk about the launching or what?"

"Right," Kai nods, puffing out the thick smoke towards my face. "This meeting won't take long. We're just here to talk about the schedule and everything."

"Yeah, okay," I mumble as I open the notes on my tablet.

Bian comes back with a tray in her hands. She places two lattes on the table along with sugarcoated donuts.

"You know I always get croissants, Bi," Kai frowns. "Not donuts."

"Well, they were out of croissants," Bian replies without looking at him.

"Then get me something else," Kai huffs.

"For fuck's sake, just eat the goddamn donuts!" Bian bursts out, causing me to accidentally knock over my coffee, which ended up spilling all over Kai's pants.

I was about to say I didn't mean to do it, but then at this point I didn't even care anymore.

"Look what you fucking did!" Kai shouts, glancing down at his wet clothing. It was a good thing it didn't spill all over his crotch. Damn, I should have aimed for it.

"That's what you get for being such a diva all the time!" Bian rolls her eyes.

I cleared my throat as I raised one eyebrow. "Take all the time you need. It's not like we need to discuss anything important."

Kai snatches the piece of paper towel from Bian's hand and pats it over his pants. "Fucking moron."

"Excuse me?" I ask.

"Nothing," he glares at me.

"Nice, okay. I think I have to go," I grab my tablet and push my chair behind.

"Wait, where are you going?" Kai asks in an annoyed tone.

I grit my teeth and force a smile. "I emailed you my timeline. That's all you need for now. We can meet again tomorrow when Jennie's here."

Before he could even react, I plugged in my earphones and played really loud music as I walked towards my car. I emailed him a timeline, all right - except it was all outdated.

If there was any schedule that he should sabotage, it should be my company, or my life.

**

Jennie's POV

Our three-day vacation in Paris was over in a blink of an eye. It was depressing, actually. Weeks have passed and now I was back at work, facing my desk, with completely no motivation do anything except work on Lisa's upcoming event.

We arrived at the restaurant just a few minutes after lunch break. Lisa welcomed us with her arms wide open, even wider than the smile she had on her face. "You're here." she exclaims. "Hi Irene, Seulgi."

"How's life? How's Rosé?" Irene asked.

"She's fine flirting with your workmate." Lisa joked that made us all laugh.

"didn't know Jisoo was into girls too." Seulgi chuckle.

Lisa's hand wrapped around my waist giving me a quick peck."you okay?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't i?" I grin, allowing myself to be wrapped around her arms.

"I miss you." Lisa smiles, kissing my forehead. "You're quite late?"

"Had to wait until quarter. You know how Sihyeon is when she's stressed," Seulgi roll my eyes.

"Actually, I have no idea and I don't plan on ever knowing," Lisa laughs.

"So how was your meeting with Kai....?" I asked as we settle on the table. The waitress arrive giving us the menu.

"Well you're ex is weird. He came riding a limo. " Lisa said trying to stop herself from laughing.

"Are you really working with Kai?" Seulgi asked.

The mention of Kai's name made me realize a thing, i rush outside to the parking lot while everyone had a good time socializing inside excusing myself for a moment.

I guess the unexpected turn of events caused me to unwillingly forget about something important, his birthday.

I pulled my phone out from the pocket of my jeans and pressed his number. I wasn't surprised to hear his voicemail message answer instead of him.

"Hey, you've reached Mr. Kim Jongin. Unfortunately, I can't take your call . . . "

The recording was cut off by his own voice, heavily panting through the other end of the line. "Hi, Jennie," he calmly answers.

"Hey Kai," I smile to myself. "I just... um... I wanted to wish you a happy birthday."

His voice sounded tired and restless, but happy nonetheless. I mean, it was his birthday and he was living his dream life. He should be happy, right?

"Oh," he says. "Thanks for remembering, Jennie. It means a lot."

"Why would I forget?"

"You know..."

"Well, I won't ever forget your birthday Kai. I hope you're having a good one. Oh, and I hope I didn't interrupt you or anything. I know it's early in the afternoon over there and you could be in a meeting for all I know."

"Why are you rambling?" he chuckles. "It's fine, really. I'm just here working in my studio."

I'm rambling because we haven't really had a lot of decent conversations lately without you trying to make a move on me, I thought to myself.

"Nothing. I'm just..." I stammer. "Nevermind. So how are you celebrating your special day?"

"I'm not."

"But why not? There was never a time where we didn't. . . . "

I stopped when I realized where I was going. I guess I got just a little bit carried away. We never did anything grand, but we would always do something special on his birthday before. The most memorable one was when we stayed in with some takeout and he taught me how to paint.

We ended up painting an entire wall with random doodles. Well, the doodles were mine. He came up with actual art.

"Yeah, well things are different now," he quietly says. "I don't see why I should celebrate. I don't have family or good friends here anyway. Not everyone knows it's my birthday."

"I'm sure your fans know."

"That's not counted."

There was a long pause. I didn't know exactly what to say next, but then a part of me didn't want to hang up either.

"Um, so I'm flying back to Korea early next month," he finally breaks the silence. "I have business to take care of... you know, for work. Also going to visit you guys. That should be fun."

"Great," I swallow hard. "I guess I'll see you again soon."

I turn around to find Lisa going out the front door. "Hey, love. It's cold out here. Want to go back inside?"

"You still there?" Kai asks.

"Yeah, sorry," I answer quickly. "Listen, I have to go now. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day anyway, whether you decide to celebrate or not."

"Oh, okay. Sure, I'll try. Thanks again for the call."

"Bye Kai" I say one last time before ending the call.

"So," Lisa's expression changed when I walked up to her. "You were on the phone with Kai."

I bit my lip and nodded. "It's his birthday today so I gave him a call to greet him."

"That's nice," Lisa says, leaning against the glass wall of the restaurant. Her hair was tucked inside her navy blue bucket hat.

"You're okay with that, right love?" I ask her, letting out a deep sigh as I rest my forehead against her chest.

"Of course," she shrugs, gently rubbing her hand over my back. "It's his birthday, after all. I think he's taking his apology seriously this time."

"I know," I nod slowly. "I was really frustrated at him at first, but I guess he's slowly turning back to his real self. I think he's starting to move on and I couldn't be happier for him."

Lisa smiles as she leans down to give my lips a soft kiss. "Am I good at pretending that I'm not jealous? I'm doing the best that I can."

"Lisa," I giggle softly.

"Fine, I'm sorry," she rolls her eyes while making a face at me. "I have nothing against the guy . . .anymore, at least. It's just that I know he was your first love and sometimes I'm paranoid and I think about how it is actually possible for the both of you to rekindle your feelings for each other."

I purse my lips and teasingly kiss the corners of her mouth. "Kai is Kai, and you're you. Whatever I felt for him back then, it's different compared to what I'm feeling for you right now. Nothing and no one will make me feel all these butterflies and unfathomable sensations inside me the way that you do, no one but you, okay?"

"Those feelings for him are long gone too, right?" she adds with a smirk.

"Yup," I confidently nod. "Non-existent."

"Completely?"

"Down in the dumps."

"Like a piece of shit?"

"Like a piece of shit," I agree while laughing.

"I love you, Kim" she smiles in satisfaction while planting a kiss on my nose.

"I love you, Manoban," I kiss her back while standing on my tippy toes.