Room 97

Chapter 9

Jennie has never been more inspired to work. Perhaps the “confession” she did made her breathe easily and she looked forward on what was bound to happen. And thank god her elbow got better. Her colleagues even noticed her radiance and Jisoo started to tease her.

“So, you finally confessed huh.” Jisoo teased.

“No, I didn’t.” Jennie chuckled.

“Then explain to me why your aura is glowing.” Jisoo smirked.

“Why do I have to explain things that are unexplainable?”

“Because Lisa might be the cause of it?”

“Just because you think I like her doesn’t mean she’s the reason behind everything you all notice about me. You all are ridiculous.” Jennie dismissively said as she chuckled.

“Well, do you like her?” Jisoo asked.

“I...I don’t know.” Jennie shrugged. But honestly? She did like Lisa, she was just afraid to admit it because why in the hell would she like a person in an asylum? That’s a bit...insane and strange.

“Oh, we actually have a new patient and Mr. Choi told me to tell you that you’re the one who should handle him.” Jisoo informed.

“New patient?” Jennie asked as she raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, he entrused the new patient to you because after he saw the improvements you did with Lisa, maybe you could help this patient as well.” Jisoo handed Jennie a folder that consisted the information about Jennie’s new assigned patient.

“And he thinks you guys can’t handle that patient?” Jennie joked as she accepted the folder from Jisoo.

“Well, just a little heads-up, he’s kind of like Lisa so I guess you finally have an idea why Mr. Choi entrusted you that patient.” Jisoo said and Jennie opened the folder.

It said that the new patient was from another asylum that recently closed due to insufficient funds. It was only two months since the patient was admitted at the asylum and Jennie felt a lump in her throat building up. She read that the patient killed his partner due to having obsessive love disorder.

Great. Another murderer.

“You guys would actually be the cause of my death because you all are giving me murderers.” Jennie lightheartedly said but deep down she was scared.

“Don’t worry, we’re here to back you up.” Jisoo winked. “Now go ahead and meet that patient.” She gave Jennie the key to the patient’s cell.

Jennie sighed in defeat as she accepted the key from Jisoo. She started walking to the said room which was three doors away from Lisa’s. She hadn’t seen Lisa yet but she decided she would meet her later after she meet her newly assigned patient.

She took a deep breath to loosen up. This would be different. At least the information about the patient was not as vague as Lisa’s. She thought maybe this would be a little easy to handle.

She inserted the key in the keyhole and unlocked it. She peeked her head and she felt a déjà vu occurred to her. She saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, his sleeves tied around behind him and his eyes glued on the floor. She knocked on the door to make her presence known and the young man glanced at her, she gave him a smile and entered the room, closing the door and sat across him.

“Hi, my name is Jennie. I’m your new nurse.” She introduced. “And you’re Jungkook, right?” The young man just sadly nodded. “So...I’ve heard what you did that’s why you ended up here.”

“I swear, I didn’t mean it.” Jungkook’s voice broke, guilt was evident in his voice.

“I understand. I want you to know that you’re safe here. You are safe with me.” Jennie smiled reassuringly and opened her small notebook to start their therapy. “Is it okay if I ask you some questions?” Jungkook just nodded slowly. “This is just simple, let’s start with the basic. Tell me about yourself.”

“I don’t even know myself anymore. I’m lost.” Jungkook said.

“Why are you lost?”

“When she died, I’ve lost myself as well.”

“Who died?”

“My dearest Sana.” Jungkook said and Jennie nodded as she scribbled on her notebook.

“Can you tell me about her?” Jennie asked.

“Sana was the love of my life. We’ve been together ever since college. She captivated me with those sweet smile.” Jungkook described as he reminisced the first time they met. “She could lit up a dark room with her smile. I knew she was the one for me and I did everything for me to get her. I was the happiest man ever when I finally got her as my girlfriend. We were so happy and I did everything to make it last.” Jungkook paused as his eyes began to filled with tears.

“And then what happened?” Jennie softly asked.

“I got jealous. I saw her talking to another man and I felt betrayed. Their laughter made me angry.” Jungkook said with a hint of anger and bitterness in his voice then he sighed as his features softened. “She wanted to end things with me but I didn’t want her to go.” He closed his eyes as his tears began to fall. “I unintentionally killed her. Jealousy took over me and something in me told me that maybe if I hurt her she would never go away from me.” Jungkook broke down and cried. “She promised me she’d stay but why was she seeing another guy?”

Jennie sighed and closed her notes. “That’s enough for today. For now, I want you to relax and then we’ll continue tomorrow, sounds good?” Jennie softly said and Jungkook looked at her as he sniffed.

“Thank you so much, nurse Jennie.”

“Just call me Jennie, I want you to treat me as your friend.” Jennie smiled and Jungkook slowly curved his lips into a smile.

“Thank you.”

Jennie looked at her wrist watch to check the time and she didn’t realize it was lunch time already.

“It’s already lunch time.” Jennie said. “Shall we go to the cafeteria and eat?” She asked and Jungkook just nodded.

Both of them stood up and walked out of the room. Jennie stopped when she reached Lisa’s door and Jungkook almost bumped into Jennie because he was walking behind her as his eyes stayed on the floor.

“Can you stay here for a while?” Jennie asked and Jungkook nodded, not meeting her eyes. “Promise?” Jungkook lifter his gaze and nodded again. “Good, wait here okay?” Jennie smiled and unlocked the door and entered the room. “Hey, how are you?” She greeted Lisa.

“You’re late today.” Lisa said.

“Ah, I got a new patient assigned to me and I had to meet him earlier. Now come on, let’s go for lunch.” Jennie said and Lisa stood up and went out with Jennie.

Jungkook once again lifted his gaze when he heard the door creaked open and he saw another person went out with Jennie. He was guessing she’s a patient as well because she was wearing the same uniform as his.

“Um, Jungkook?” Jennie called and Jungkook looked at her. “This is Lisa, a patient here as well.” Jennie said and she then looked at Lisa who was seemingly glaring at Jungkook for unknown reason. “Lisa, this is Jungkook. My new assigned patient.” She introduced. “I hope you guys could be friends if that’s okay.” Jennie said but it didn’t make the dead atmosphere lit up at least a little.

She could feel the tension in Lisa’s stare which she found unusual. “Let’s go have some lunch, shall we?” Jennie tried to break the tension and she held Jungkook by the arm to guide him and started walking, thinking Lisa would follow behind. But she stopped when she saw Lisa didn’t move. Jennie went back and held Lisa’s hand that was curled into a fist, but it was softened by her touch which made Jennie secretly smile. “Shall we?” Jennie said, Lisa gave her a quick glance and sighed and Jennie gently dragged her with her to the cafeteria.

Once Jennie found a seat for her assigned patients, she left them for a while to get their food. Since Lisa’s sleeves were untied, Jennie let her eat by herself so she could feed Jungkook.

Every time Lisa could see Jennie bringing the spoon towards Jungkook’s lips, it made her annoyed. Lisa wasn’t used to seeing Jennie taking care of others but her. She felt...jealous? But why? It was Jennie’s job anyway. And she didn’t think she had every right to be jealous. But every time she denied that she liked her nurse, the more she popped up in her head.

“Aish.” Jennie softly chuckled when the soup dripped down Jungkook’s lips. “Don’t make me look like a fool, you have to swallow that.”

“I hate it.” Jungkook said as he choked.

“I know, I don’t really get why they don’t cook good meals. Don’t they even think these patients would get better if they eat food like these? It's total garbage.” Jennie lightheartedly said as she chuckled.

Lisa couldn’t take it anymore. Why was Jennie only talking to him? Why wasn’t she talking to her? Wouldn’t she ask her how her food was? When will Lisa ever get Jennie’s attention? There was only one thing on her mind that could get Jennie’s attention. She lifted her fork and stabbed her hand.

Jennie saw what Lisa did and she started to panic when she saw blood coming out of Lisa’s hand. Lisa was breathing heavily while just staring at her bleeding hand. Jennie stood up to get close to Lisa.

“Why did you do that?!” Jennie almost yelled but Lisa didn’t answer, she didn’t even look at her.

Jennie shook her head displeasingly and lead the two back in their own rooms before getting the first aid kit to clean Lisa’s wound. When Jennie entered Lisa’s room, she sat across her and opened the first aid kit and started cleaning Lisa’s wound.

“Why would you stab yourself with a fork? Are you out of your mind?” Jennie annoyingly asked as she was focusing on cleaning the wound.

“I don’t want you seeing around him.” Lisa said with her usual cold voice.

“It’s not possible, he’s my patient. He’s my responsibility.” Jennie answered as she wrapped the bandage around Lisa’s hand.

“And I’m not your responsibility?” Lisa slightly raised her voice and when Jennie was done with her wound, she looked at her.

“He has a serious problem and he needs me more than you do now.” Jennie said, trying to keep her cool. “He needs my help. And since it looks like you really don’t need my help, then I guess you can carry on for a while without me.” She said as she closed the first aid kit. “Now promise me not to do stupid things that could harm you or else I’ll have to tie your sleeves again.” Jennie stood up and went to the door.

But before she could twist the doorknob, she felt Lisa’s hand around her wrist and pulled her closer to her and she felt a pair of soft lips landed on hers. Jennie melted into the kiss as she felt Lisa’s hand caressed her face. Jennie felt Lisa’s kiss was full of need. But what did Lisa need? Lisa pulled away from the kiss and rested her forehead on Jennie’s.

“I’m willing to put myself in danger if that’s the only way I could get your attention, if that’s the only way I could make you stay with me.” Lisa said with a soft voice.