Chapter 29
JENNIE: THEN
Seven years ago
Pittsburgh
"BE STILL," I SAID, pointing my brush at Lisa a few days later. "I can't finish painting your portrait if you're moving."
"I've been sitting still for three hours."
"No, you've been sitting still for one hour." I smiled. "You spent the first two hours taking phone calls."
"Noted." She walked over to me and kissed my cheek. "I want you to come with me to the marketing session with Seulgi tonight. I promise I'll sit here for as long as you want me to when we get back."
"You can't bring me to every business meeting, Lisa."
"Does that mean you're not coming?"
"I am coming." I locked my brush into its box. "But I think you need to find some new people to add to your 'cabinet' since I won't be able to go to all these meetings with you when I'm at Stanford."
"You can if I buy the plane tickets." She kissed me. "You can also fly with me this weekend to New York if you like."
I couldn't help but laugh. This was Lisa's tenth time asking me to join her in New York for a weekend of workout sessions. Since New York's team held the first choice in the draft and was in desperate need of a quarterback, her landing there for her first season was a foregone conclusion.
"I need you to be as focused as possible when you're there," I said. "Speaking of which, I made you something for your future condo." I pulled a pink box from under my bed and handed it to her.
"More donuts?"
"No." I shook my head. "Open it."
She untied the satin ribbon and pulled the top off the box. She pulled out a smaller box and tore off the pink tissue paper.
"Coffee mugs." She ran her finger across the blue and gray sentences on the back side and read them aloud. They were all quotes that gave a timeline of our relationship—everything from, "Are you, Jennie Kim?" "You still haven't given me your phone number," and, "I think I'm falling in love with you."
On the front of the mug were the words, "Yes, I'm that good" in huge bold print, with a small black and white picture of her kissing me stamped within the two "O" letters.
She remained silent for a long time.
"I know this gift is super simple." I got the sudden feeling the wasn't as enthused about these as me. "But since you and Rosé never had any actual coffee mugs in your apartment and we always had to use red cups, I thought this would be a good idea. Especially now that you drink coffee as much as I do."
She set the box on the dresser and then she stared at me.
"You could at least say something," I said. "I hand-painted each letter onto those and it took me twenty drafts to get them right."
She still didn't say anything.
"Well, fine." I crossed my arms. "I'll send you off to New York with a box of donuts and maybe—" My sentence ended on her lips.
"I fucking love you, Jennie."