Chapter Text
Lisa's hand, and probably her whole life, is held by Mina. They walk together around the gallery full of photographs taken by both of them, checking if everything is good to go for their grand opening. There's something fuzzy about roaming around their world of photographs - like watching your life flashing back but knowing there will always be more to come for it.
"You remember that one?," Mina asks.
"Do you not have any faith in me?," Lisa jokes.
They both smile - because their life is just as light as the moment they're sharing with each other right now. Mina was talking about a photograph she took of Windansea beach wherein a shadow of a woman was captured as she was watching the sunset. That's where their story began - Lisa loved Santa Monica pier, but it hurt too much. Lisa only knew how to run away then, she ran away from home, from the people who loved her - and from the feelings she have for the only person she came to Santa Monica with - that's why she was out hunting for beaches that she'd love next after Santa Monica.
Funny thing is, what comes with a new beach to love, is a new person to also feel at home with. Fate is cruel and immovable, but sometimes, it's funny, too - playful, even. Lisa was Mina's muse that day. She didn't know who Lisa was, she just thought she fit perfectly on the frame - fit perfectly with the sunset, so the photo was captured. Lisa heard the snap, followed the sound and saw someone looking at the screen of their camera with the most starstruck face. She thinks Mina feels like sunrises - and as the sun set in front of the both of them, another light rises inside. Lisa approaches her and says, "It's only fair I take a photo of you too".
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What comes with sunrises are sunsets. You sometimes choose which one to watch, and which one to feel.
Today, Lisa chose to watch her sunrise and feel her sunset.
She'll regret it.
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Jennie stays at the cafe a little longer after Lisa left. She takes it all in, because spending a year looking for someone and finally finding them is a lot to process, especially if the one you were looking for didn't want to be found.
She still has Lisa's cute handkerchief. Lisa smells like sunflowers. Maybe she's just thinking that because the color of the handkerchief is yellow - and if yellow was a person, it would be the Lisa she saw today. Lisa was always color blue when they were together. It was her favorite color, and it was just her. So light, but also so heavy - held together on the outer, crumbling apart on the inside.
Jennie snaps back and realizes she doesn't know where Lisa is again. She doesn't have her number, she doesn't even know if she still uses Lisa as her name here. She doesn't know anything about her. She starts wondering if she knows anything about herself too - because why the hell is she in a different country looking for her ex?
She opens up the handkerchief, because it's really the only thing she has right now.
It's embroidered. "LM".
There's a logo under the letters, a silhouette of a ferris wheel disguised as the sun. She thinks it's pretty, she wonders if Lisa embroidered it herself.
Fate is playful. The one thing Jennie has left of Lisa, will bring her back to her.
She asks the cashier if she knows what the logo was, she says she doesn't know and triggers tears to well up on Jennie's eyes - it sucks being hopeful for a minute and hopeless after. The customer next to her worries and speaks up, "If it helps, that's an Art Gallery opening up soon. We just don't know when."
Jennie's eyes beam with hope, Lisa always teased her that her feelings are so well expressed on her face even if she doesn't want it to.
"Do you know the name? or the location?," She asks.
"Soleil Dans Les Yeux," The girl butchers the pronunciation which made Jennie giggle a little. The girl looks offended in a playful way.
"I'm sorry for not being french, I'm just trying to help!," She jokes.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh, I swear!," Jennie says while looking worried. "But thank you," she adds.
"No worries. I'm sorry I don't know the location but I'm sure it's just a few google searches," she implies.
"Thank you again, can I have your name?," Jennie asks.
"Chaeyoung! Yours?," She replies.
"Jennie," She smiles.
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Jennie got Chaeyoung's number from their meet earlier. They hit it off pretty quickly, sometimes Jennie just has that effect on people.
She leaves Santa Monica and calls it a day, coming home to her apartment. She's been in California for 3 weeks, both for finding Lisa and looking for a country to settle in. She thinks Lisa made it easier for her to choose to stay in California, but she knows it's also made harder by how much Lisa didn't want to be found.
She pulls her laptop open and starts typing Soleil Dans Les Yeux on Google to find any information on the art gallery. One of the few things that went through her mind when she heard it was an Art Gallery was whether it was Lisa's or not, and if not, if Lisa at least had a piece in there. The curiosity is quenched, it's a highly anticipated art gallery with numerous amount of articles already written about it - all Jennie had to do was choose one. She clicks the first one, it had Lisa's name on it.
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Soleil Dans Les Yeux by Lisa - An anticipated and critically acclaimed Art Gallery
By: S. Kang
If you've seen the framed photograph that stood ominuously on the Santa Monica pier 2 years ago, you'd know about the author, Lisa. A once anonymous photographer that got the attention of millions of people when she very randomly put up one of her photographs on the tourist attraction site. It stood in the Santa Monica pier for a week, 7 days of absolute starstruck from different eyes and questions of "Who made this?", or "Who put this up?" roaming around the pier the entire time.
Well, that photo along with many more beauties, are now coming back for our eyes to see in the upcoming opening of Soleil Dans Les Yeux on September 15, 2022! After a year of being a work in progress, the art gallery is finally coming into life and will be open for the public audience.
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Jennie scrolls through the article, reading more on the craze that happened 2 years ago and how the public knew of Lisa and the upcoming art gallery. She finds the location and realizes that September 15 is tomorrow. She'll see her again soon, but at what excuse? That she missed her? That she found out that she wanted to go to Thailand with her and that brought back her feelings for her? That she's been spending 2 years of her life wondering where she went?
She settles in giving back her handkerchief. Being honest is a little too hard when you don't know how the other person feels about you.
Jennie takes her phone out and wonders if she should contact Jisoo. Jisoo's the only one who was there when she left Lisa and even to this day, she hasn't given up on looking for her. But on the other hand, Lisa asked her not to tell anyone about her whereabouts. Jennie thinks that if she tells Jisoo, maybe she'll help her convince Lisa to come home to everyone, maybe she can stay here in California but just let everyone know she's okay. She thinks it might be selfish of her to do that, she was selfish the day she left and she wonders if being selfish after finally finding Lisa will make it worse between them.
She calls Jisoo.
She picks up.
"Hello?," Jisoo answers.
"Hi," Jennie answers uncertainly. She feels like she's playing with fire deciding what to do that can help bring Lisa home.
"Are you okay?," Jisoo asks.
Jennie thinks of what to answer her. Yes? Because she finally found Lisa? No, because Lisa doesn't want anything to do with her past?
"Somewhere around there," Jennie replies.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
"No.. Just checking on you," Jennie lies.
"Really? That's weird, you haven't contacted me ever since you left Korea," Jisoo pushes.
"Well," Jennie is pushed back to a corner, although lying has been a forte for so long, it's been wearing of after years of barely being in contact with anyone.
"You found her, didn't you?," Jisoo asks.
There was a long pause. Lisa is going to hate Jennie when she knows she told Jisoo. But Jennie needs help. But she also doesn't want to be selfish. It's funny how Jennie is always somewhere stuck between when it comes to Lisa.
"Well, if you did, tell her to come back. If she doesn't want to, that's fine. Just tell me anything," Jisoo explains. "Tell me anything so I can stop worrying about her. So I can stop looking for her. I can't keep looking for someone who doesn't want to be found," Jisoo adds.
"I- Okay. I did. She's doing really great. She told me she was happy, and not to tell anyone," Jennie responds.
"That's nice. Thank you," Jisoo exhales.
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(1) Text Message from Chaeyoung (from café)
Hey, Jennie! It's Chaeyoung from the café earlier! Did you forget me and my amazing french accent already?
Hi, Chaeyoung! Of course, I haven't! Yours is one of a kind. Hahahaha.
Oh, you! Anyway, I searched up the gallery and saw that it was opening tomorrow! Would you like to come with me? :D
I saw too! And that'd be great! See you!