JENNIE

"Hey, Jennie, it's Alex from the auto shop. I wanted to call and let you know you can stop by any time today to check on your car. Thanks, and hopefully we'll see you soon!"

A few days had passed since I'd arrived in Chester. I hadn't really left Yeri's house much since I'd come into town, and when I did, I ended up in The Silent Bookshop. Staying in one of those two places was the easiest way to avoid running into people.

I was making it my mission to avoid Rosé and Taehyung like the plague.

Yet now that Alex called, I had to force myself to leave my two havens and head over to the auto shop. After I slipped on my shoes, I headed outside and felt the summer breeze brushing against my face. There was nothing like the hot summers of Georgia and the way the trees exploded with the brightest shades of green.

Chester was the perfect sized town because everything was within walking distance. Though Marco's Auto Shop seemed a bit off the pathway because it was right on the edge of town. The Manoban's owned a lot of acreage—nowhere near as much as my family, but they had a lot more land than most people in town did. On the far-right side of their property sat a beautiful two-level home, and in the middle was the auto shop. In front of the shop, a few broken-down and rusted vehicles placed on top of spare tires were used as decoration. It was…cute.

A wooden sign, which read Marco's Auto Shop, sat tilted against the front of the building.

Right beside the auto shop was a small cabin with a few bushes around the front. It was nothing special, but it did have that cute, homey feel to it.

When I used to dream of having a family, I always thought we'd vacation in a cute cabin like that each year.

As I pulled open the front door of the auto shop, it squeaked and dinged a bell above the door. I glanced around the shop, but no one was around. I walked to the front desk and hit the bell, hoping someone would notice my arrival. When no one did, I began walking around the shop.

Out of nowhere, a big black lab started walking in my direction. He moved so slow, though, wagging his tail. When he reached me, he sat down and kept wagging his tail.

"You must be the guy Momo told me about," I remarked, bending down to pet him. He kept wagging his tail as his breaths sawed in and out as if the short walk exhausted him. I glanced at his dog collar. Kai. "You're adorable, Kai," I told him before he stood back up and slowly walked back to his dog bed.

What a sweetheart.

"Hello?" I called out, but no one answered. "Hmph."

I waited a bit longer in the front lobby before I heard a loud banging. Walking toward the back of the shop, I saw an open door that led to the backyard. The banging grew louder and louder as I walked through the door, and there buried behind a few trees was an automobile that looked as if it had been tossed through a hurricane a few times. Standing over it with a sledgehammer, Lisa was slamming into the vehicle.

She stood only in sportsbra and sweat dripped from every inch of her body as she kept pounding the car over and over again. Every muscle in her body was on full display, and I couldn't help but notice. How could I not? Lisa might've been the town asshole, but her body was something worth worshipping. You didn't come across someone as beautiful as she was very often—too bad her personality didn't match her looks.

"Hey!" I called out to her, but she didn't look up. She kept hammering away, aggression in every hit. She had earbuds in her ears, which didn't help her case when it came to ignoring me. So, I moved in closer. "Hey!" I shouted, pounding my hand against the car. She jumped out of her skin when she saw me, dropped her sledgehammer, and within seconds, she was cussing up a storm.

"Holy shit!" she shouted, grabbing her left foot in her hand, the unfortunate place that the sledgehammer happened to fall. "Fuck, that hurts."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I claimed, covering my mouth with my hands. "Are you okay?"

"I just dropped a fucking sledgehammer on my foot. What the hell do you think?!" she barked.

I would've called her out on her sass level, but well, she did drop a sledgehammer on her foot, so her anger seemed warranted.

She grumbled, something she was a professional at doing, and gave me a harsh look. "What do you want?"

"I got a call from Alex saying I should stop in to check on the car, and no one was in the shop. Then I heard you doing"—I gestured toward the destroyed car—"whatever it is that you're doing."

She grumbled some more, finally dropping her foot back to the ground, and she started toward the shop. I stood there for a moment, uncertain of what I was supposed to do as she limped away.

She glanced over her shoulder at me and huffed. "Are you coming or what?"

"Oh, okay," I replied, hurrying in her direction.

Once we got inside, she walked over to my car, and said, "Alex had to run out to tow someone." Her forehead was sweaty and she brushed her hand against it. "He told me to update you on the car if he wasn't back."

I placed my hands on my hips and stared at the car. "So how is she doing?"

"She?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Cars don't have genders."

"Cars definitely have genders. Just because you can't pick up on it doesn't mean that they don't. Rosie, here, is definitely female."

"You would be the type to name a damn car."

"And you would be the type to complain about someone naming a car," I remarked.

She grumbled again, and I smiled. I felt as if my smiling irritated her, and I somewhat enjoyed annoying her because she somewhat liked to be mean to me.

"The car's a piece of shit. Alex should've tossed it into the scrapyard," Lisa stated. "You wasted your time coming down here. It's junk." I took a deep breath, and she held her hand up to me. "I swear to God, princess, if you start crying, I'm going to lose my goddamn mind. I'm the one with a broken foot probably, and you don't see me getting emotional."

I sniffled and tried my best to hold my emotions together. "Sorry, it's just that Rosie and I have been through a lot."

"Stop calling your car a human name."

"Stop calling me princess."

"No."

"Then Rosie stays, too, and I'm going to call you Oscar."

"What the hell does that even mean?"

"Because you're grumpy—just like Oscar the Grouch."

She gave me the blankest stare. "Oh, how creative, princess."

"Thank you, Oscar. Because ya know, calling a woman princess is really outside of the box," I mocked.

"You're annoying."

"And you're a grump. But…" A knot formed in my gut, and I rubbed my hands against the back of my neck. "I am really sorry, ya know. About your foot. If you want, I can have—"

"Nope," she cut in.

"What?"

"I said no. We aren't doing this. Let's make something clear, this isn't something—our back and forth interactions. This isn't a thing."

Her response perplexed me. "I never said it was a thing. All I was saying was—"

"Don't. Don't say anything."

"Stop cutting me off!"

"Then stop talking. You think I don't see how you look at me every time you're in that bookshop? Like there's something about me that you can't figure out? Well, there's not. So if you could just please leave me the hell alone, that would be great." And, like normal, she grumbled once more. "You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Crying."

What? Dangit!

"Hot. Mess," she breathed out. "Just wait for Alex to get back," Lisa muttered. "I don't want to deal with you anymore."

Wow.

I think I hate you.

I went to the waiting area and sat down, leaving my purse on the table as I waited for Alex to come back. When he walked through the front door, he gave me that same bright smile. "Hey, Jennie! Thanks for coming in! Have you been helped yet?"

"Not really. I mean, Lisa spoke to me, but she wasn't really helpful, per se. She told me the car was a piece of crap and not worth saving."

Alex crossed his arms. "Where is she?"

"She's outside banging a sledgehammer against some car like an insane woman."

"Oh." Alex frowned and shook as if a chill had run over him. "Don't take it personally. She's having a bad day."

I sarcastically laughed. "How can you tell? It seems as if she's always in a mood."

"Yeah, but…" Alex frowned. "When she's out there, hitting those cars, it means she's in a bad mood. Like, really bad mood. There's no getting through to her when she's like that."

"She's not the easiest person to deal with."

"That's true, too." He snickered and nodded, walking toward my car with me. "She's not as bad as everyone says."

"No," I agreed. "She's worse."

"That's just because you don't know her. The Lisa I know is one of the nicest guys, but she doesn't show it the same ways as others do. If you watch closely, you'd see it every now and then."

"So what you're trying to tell me is that somewhere inside that person's body over there is an actual heart?"

"Yes." Alex smirked and leaned in toward me, whispering. "And sometimes it even beats."

Wow.

What an odd concept.

"Listen, I know the shit people say about her, and I know the rumors that get tossed around, but those lies aren't Lisa. The truth is, she's one of the best humans on this here Earth. It's a shame the world is missing out on knowing her because they are so stuck in their false realities of the woman that she is. She might be my only niece, but if I had more, she'd still be my favorite."

"She's your niece?" I asked. "Marco is your brother?"

"No." He shook his head. "Her mother was my sister."

Was. That word hit me so hard, and my next breath was stolen from me. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. It's been over fourteen years. Hannah was…" His words faltered, and he cleared his throat. For the first time, I witnessed Alex frown, and it was the saddest moment. His always happy eyes became a bit dimmer. "My sister was a good person. Not a day passes that I don't think about her. Not a day passes when Lisa doesn't, too."

"I'm truly sorry. I couldn't imagine what going through something like that is like."

"It's worse than anyone could ever believe. What Marco and Lisa both went through…" He took a deep breath. "No one can understand that kind of suffering. Not even me."

It made it seem as if there was a lot more to the story, but I didn't ask any questions. It wasn't my place.

He shook his head back and forth and washed away his somber stare. "But listening to my family's woes is not why you're here. Let's talk about your car."

"Oh yeah, the car," I muttered, still somewhat thinking of the monster that had greeted me.

"Do something for me." Alex scrunched up his nose, rubbed the back of his neck, and then tossed me the set of keys. "Give the engine a turn."

I did as he said, and a high-pitch sound came through before it began to smoke.

"That can't be good." I laughed.

He agreed. "Yeah, but it's a better sound than before. I'm not giving up on it just yet."

"Yes, you are because it's a piece of shit!" a person snapped, stumbling into the space. "I don't know why you brought that into my damn shop."

I looked up to see a grown man wavering back and forth with a whiskey bottle in his hand. He was almost Lisa's exact twin, except aged with wrinkle lines, gray hair, and an even more pronounced permanent scowl.

I didn't know someone could scowl more than Lisa.

Alex's persona shifted at the sight of the man. "Marco, I thought you weren't coming in today."

"It's my shop. I'm allowed to come and go as I please. Don't forget it," he hissed, walking over to the car. He tossed the hood down and tapped it twice. "Take this to the scrapyard." He took a swig of the whiskey and then finally glanced my way. The moment he met my stare, I swore I saw hatred swim in his eyes. "I know you," he hissed.

"I don't think so," I replied, nerves building in my gut. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lisa in the back corner of the shop, looking our way.

Her frown was identical to her father's.

"I've seen the likes of you. You related to those people at the church?"

"My father runs the church."

"Hmph. You're a PK," he groaned, taking another drink.

"A PK?" Alex asked, but I knew the term. It'd been tossed my way all my life.

"A pastor's kid," I answered.

"I don't want nothing to do with you people," he scolded me. "So take this piece of shit car and get out of my shop."

"But Marco, I think I can fix it," Alex started. It was clear Lisa's father made him nervous. The same kind of nervous he was making me feel. It was scary being around unstable individuals because you never truly knew would come next.

"We ain't fixing shit for this bitch."

Chills down my spine.

Knots in my stomach.

"Dad, knock it off. Don't be a fucking asshole," Lisa barked from afar, growing a bit red in the face. I didn't know someone could make Lisa seem so soft, but her father sure did. "You're drunk."

"I might be drunk, but I ain't stupid." His eyes stayed glued to me. "I know what kind of people that church brings up, and I don't want nothing to do with any of them. The way they act like they give a damn about people, but really, they just take their money and live in their mansions. You think I don't see how y'all look at me when I go into town? The way you look at my girl? Like we're some lowlifes?"

"I don't know you," I whispered, my voice shaky. I only knew the stories people told, and those stories were terrifying. Though, all the stories seemed a bit based on facts that afternoon.

"Yeah, but I know you and your type. I don't want you anywhere near this place again, you hear me? Take yourself and that dirty money of yours elsewhere. We don't want any of the Kim's filth near us. Especially the daughters. Everyone knows the biggest whores are the daughters of a pastor. Now piss off and tell your God to do the same thing."

Did those words really just leave his drunken mouth?

My lips parted to speak, but nothing came out. I was stunned into silence.

I turned slightly and found Lisa's eyes on me. She frowned as if she felt bad for me, which made me feel even worse.

I didn't want to cry in front of Mr. Manoban because that seemed like it would've been a victory for him. He was intent on making me feel as though I was nothing but darkness, and the way his eyes pierced into mine made me want to vomit. I wasn't certain what to do, so I turned around on the heels of my feet and stormed out of the shop.

"Hey!" Lisa shouted after me. "Hold up!"

I whipped around flustered. "I get it, all right? You guys hate us. I won't come back."

"No, it's…" She sighed, rubbing her hands over her face. She didn't say anything, and she went back to her dark, sulky look.

"What is it, Lisa?!" I snapped, annoyed by the likes of her and her father.

She spoke low. "You forgot your purse," she said, holding it out to me.

I snatched it from her hands and muttered a thank you even though she didn't deserve it.

"Listen…" She cleared her throat. "What he said to you…that was too much."

"Everything he said was too much."

"Yes," she agreed. "My dad's a lot sometimes."

"Ha. That's putting it nicely."

"He has these issues with your family. He's been through some stuff with the church after the incident a few years back."

"You mean when he drove his car into the church while drunk? Then he proceeded to walk into the service and cuss everyone out? There's a reason people call him Mad Marco."

Lisa twitched. "Don't call him that."

"That's what everyone calls him."

"I fucking know that's what everyone calls him," she growled, making me take a step backward. She locked eyes with me, and unlike her father's stare, I swore I saw a pained expression. As if she was fighting against her true urges. I took in a sharp breath. Always zoom in… "Just because everyone calls him that doesn't mean you have to, too."

"Sorry." I saw how the nickname affected him, how it hurt him, and right away, I regretted saying it to him. I wondered how often he heard that name as he walked through town, and I wondered how often his heart skipped because of it.

"I know he's an asshole, but everyone always brings up that one incident about him, and it's labeled him forever. He was having a rough morning that day."

"From what I hear, it was more than rough. He took a sledgehammer to the pews." The same way Lisa took a sledgehammer to the car outside.

"It was a really rough morning," Lisa replied.

"Lisa, come on," I argued, annoyed by how she was defending that grown monster for his actions.

She tossed her hands up in defeat. "Yeah, okay, I get it. My dad's a fucking asshole. If anyone knows that best, it's me. Back then, he made a mistake—a big one—but the way the town turned on him was uncalled for. Hell, they tried to shut down his shop! They tried to burn it down. They tried to run us out of town. They protested on our lawn and called us things that you wouldn't think would come out of the mouths of 'saved' people."

"But what he did—"

"Was wrong, yeah, I get it. But he's broken, and instead of showing up with that compassion bullshit this town is always pretending to have, they showed up with malice. They broke him even more and made him harder, colder. They painted us as these awful beasts and then got mad because we became the damn nightmares they created. I was just a kid. I watched these people, this town, attack my father and me because of a mistake."

"I'm so sorry that happened, Lisa, I really am, but I don't see why you and your father are so against my family. We weren't the ones storming your place." We hadn't done a thing to the two. We took no part in the malice they received.

"Come on, you can't be that stupid," she said, seeming somewhat disappointed in my lack of understanding. "We all know who runs this town. Your family are the royals of Chester."

"So…? They still weren't the ones attacking you."

She clasped her hands behind her neck and cocked an eyebrow. "Listen, princess, if your father or mother would've stood up in the church and said, 'Stop,' it would've all come to an end. They could've shown compassion for my father, who obviously wasn't doing well, but they stayed quiet. They never spoke up for him. Or me."

My stomach ached. "Why don't you guys just leave? Why stay in a town that makes you feel so unwelcomed?"

She glanced back toward the shop where her father was still wandering around wasted, arguing with Alex and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "We got our reasons, and we ain't gotta explain shit to no one," she muttered. "Especially to a Kim."

"Are you always this hard?"

She shut her eyes, and her bottom lip twitched a bit. "Yes."

"If I hated this town as much as you two did, I'd move on."

"To what? This is the only damn home we got." She shifted her feet around. I saw the debate in her as she battled with herself about whether to open up to me or stay shut down. "I went to her, ya know—your mother," she told me, her voice cold as stone.

"What?"

"I was sixteen when I went to your house. I remember it like it was yesterday. I knocked on the door and spoke to your mother, asking her for help. It was right after some assholes jumped me and beat the shit out of me as I was going to get groceries."

"What did my mom say?"

"My dad made his choices; therefore, the townspeople are allowed to make theirs, too. She said she didn't owe us a thing."

No…that's impossible.

"You're lying. I know my mother can be hard sometimes, but she's not evil. She wouldn't say that. She'd never turn her back on someone like that," I swore to her. "Especially not on a kid."

"Whatever you say, princess. You keep believing in that precious queen of yours," she barked. "I shouldn't have expected you to understand shit, based on the people who raised you."

"What made you such a jerk?" I snapped her way. Her jawline was chiseled, and the intensity in her stare made my body slightly tremble. But then, there was a moment. It was tiny, so tiny that anyone who wasn't zooming in would've missed it, but I noticed. She blinked, and her eyes softened. She stepped back as if my question had stunned her. The corner of her mouth twitched, and I swore I'd never seen a person look so broken.

She knew the answer to my question. She knew exactly what made her the person she was, and that fact truly hurt her to her core.

"Lisa," I whispered, feeling as if I'd crossed an invisible line.

"Can you do me a favor?" she growled low as her stare once again grew dark. "Can you just leave? Go run off to your mommy. I'm sure she has more lies to feed you," she breathed out before she turned around and left, leaving chills racing down my spine. She seemed to leave that impression on me every time we went our separate ways.

I walked back through town, and when I heard the high-pitched voice of Tzuyu Chou calling my name, I began walking faster, pretending not to hear her. Though, she stayed right on my path.

"Jennie! Jennie! It's me, Tzuyu!" she shouted as I listened to her heels click-clacking against the sidewalk.

With a deep breath, I paused my steps, knowing she would've chased me throughout the whole town for as long as it took to get my attention.

I turned around and saw Tzuyu in all her glory. She graduated in the same class as Taehyung and had been in love with my husband for as long as I'd been. Though, she'd deny it forever and always.

She wore a yellow sundress and bright pink five-inch heels, which were her staple. I'd never seen Tzuyu in any other type of shoe.

"Oh, hi, Tzuyu," I said, giving her the fakest smile.

She bent over for a minute, catching her breath. "Oh Mylanta, Jennie, I didn't think I'd catch you."

"Well, you did."

"I tried talking to you yesterday when I saw you going to the bookshop, but I don't think you heard me calling your name."

No, I did.

"Oh? I'm sorry I missed you. I actually better get going, though. I have a lot—"

Tzuyu placed her hand on my shoulder, ignoring my words. "You doing okay? You know, I've heard some rumors floating around about Taehyung and you, and—"

"We're fine," I lied with a big, bright smile. "Taehyung and I are fine." I felt somewhat bad for lying, but the last person I wanted to deal with was Tzuyu Chou. Tzuyu was the editor in chief of Chester's newspaper and the nosiest woman in town. The newspaper read more so like a gossip column than an actual paper. She lived her life by the theme, "If it bleeds, it leads." Plus, due to her love for my husband, she was probably doing a praise dance when the rumors started to spread.

"It's complicated, though, right?" she asked. "People said they saw you two arguing outside Rosé's house? Is that true?" she queried. "And did you slap him? I heard that, too."

"Tzuyu." I sighed, my voice low.

She smiled big. "Sorry. You're right. That's none of my business. Lord knows marriages are hard work."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Tzuyu, you've never been married."

"Yes, but I can only imagine how hard it must be going through a divorce," she echoed.

"No one said we were going through a divorce."

"Oh? So…you're staying together…?" she asked, crossing her arms and zooming in to see my reaction.

"You know, Tzuyu, I don't really feel comfortable talking about this with you right now."

"Of course, I won't pressure you to talk. But if you ever need listening ears, I'm always here for you. You know, I always envied Taehyung and your relationship. I always said if I married a man, I'd want him to be just like Taehyung. He treated you like a queen."

"Yeah," I huffed. "Something like that. Okay well, I better get—"

"Oh, Jennie! I almost forgot," she cut in, placing her hand on my shoulder. "Me and a few ladies from town get together at my parents' house every Friday night for chitchat and empowerment. I wanted to invite you. It's so important as a woman to feel as if you have a tribe of females behind you to help lift you up. We drink wine, discuss current events, and push one another to be our best. Why, just last week we helped coach Lacey Weeds to apply for a different spot at the newspaper. She wanted more of a role, and us girls helped her realize her worth and gave her that extra push to go after it. Of course, I had to turn down her request when she came to me at work, but at least she tried for it, which was the important part."

"You told her to go for a job position, and then told her she couldn't have it when she came to you?"

Tzuyu pursed her lips together. "Yes, bless her heart, she just wasn't a right fit. But now she can try again next year." Wow. What a gem Tzuyu was. "Anyway, I'm sure we could help you, and we'd love your help inspiring each other."

"I'm actually busy that day, and—"

"Really? Because your mom said you were free and you'd definitely be there. It's at seven p.m., and I put you down for a dessert. I hope that's fine. Okay, Jennie, I gotta run! See you Friday!" She blew kisses my way and hurried away before I could even disagree.

I guessed I needed to find a brownie recipe sooner than later.