—Present Day—
San Francisco, California
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I opened the door the second I saw the lights from Lisa's Ferrari pulling into my driveway. I double checked my hair and make-up in the mirror, and readjusted the black and pink silk teddy I'd bought just for her.
Waiting for her to get out of the car, I stood behind my curtains. For some reason, she was just sitting in the driver's seat, staring blankly ahead.
I started to walk out and ask her what was wrong, but she finally opened her door and stepped out.
"Hey," I said once she strolled onto the walkway. "Do you like it?"
"Do I like what?"
"What I'm wearing." I smiled, turning around. "Jisoo finally came to town today and she made me tag along to a lingerie and sex toy party." I paused. "She's at the Four Seasons tonight, though, so don't worry about her hearing us."
She didn't say anything. She stepped under the verandah's light and sighed, showing a twisted pain on her face I hadn't seen in the night's dark.
"Jennie..." Her voice was hoarse.
"What the hell happened to your face?" I reached up and touched the right side of her face. The entire side was bruised blue and her eye was black. "Is this why you wanted me to call you earlier? Did you fall somewhere?"
"No."
"Well, can you come in so I can ice it for you?" I kept my hand against her face. "I can hold off on the stuff I'd planned and just focus on you tonight."
A slight smile crossed her lips, but she didn't let it stay. "Jennie, I don't want to be with you anymore."
"What?" I was still staring at the bruises. "Did you hit your head that hard today?"
"No." She gripped my wrist and pushed it away. Hard. "No, I just had a fucking epiphany and I realized we're not going to work out."
I shook my head, knowing that this wasn't true. That she had to be waiting for me to laugh at this.
"Okay." I let out a fake laugh. "You got me. You don't want to be with me, but you're at my house, at night, days after saying that you want us to last for the long-haul this time?"
"I have a right to change my goddamn mind." Her voice was colder than I'd ever heard it. "Do I not?"
"Lisa..." My voice cracked. "Are you having a bad day or something? I refuse to believe that this is your comeback after I told you yesterday how much you mean to me."
"Well, this relationship no longer means shit to me," she said, her tone still flat. "And I should've never allowed you to get close to me again because you and I both know it won't work out."
I was numb. I wasn't sure what to say.
Closing my robe, I stared at her—looking for any sense of remorse in her eyes, but there was nothing.
"I just wanted to tell you that we're over, in person," she said. "If you call, I won't answer, so make sure you return the favor if I call you. The past several weeks have been very fun, but as you know, I don't tend to last in these type of pointless relationships long, so I'd rather not waste any more of my time."
"Very fun?" I wanted to slap her. "That's what we were to you? Was this some type of sick game where you just wanted to make me like you again, so you could get a thrill out of turning fickle as fuck on me?"
She shook her head, but she didn't say anything.
"I should've seen this coming." I shook my head. "We were very fun?"
"As much as I would love to hear you repeat every word I say in a rhetorical question tonight, I don't have patience for that right now. We're done. Over. Fucking through. Got it?"
"I got it." I stepped back and unclasped the charm bracelet she'd given to me, tossing it at her. "Yes, I finally fucking got it, Lisa."
She walked away without another word, and I cursed my wiser heart for letting me feel the exact same pain she'd given my naïve, younger heart before.
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