LALISA
🍂

"What?! No! I never sent her those texts! More so, those emails," Jungkook claimed. "You said it's from a laptop. I don't even own one."

My gaze fell back towards Jisoo. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"But that's impossible," she said showing everyone the blue dot on the screen. "That's the IP address' location. And it's exactly our house. You're the only guy here."

"Unless it's Jennie," Jin said. "Maybe she's catfishing Tzuyu."

"Catfishing? No. Jennie wouldn't do that!"

"I wouldn't do what?"

The sudden intrusion of a foreign voice made us all turn towards the door. A jet black haired petite girl with cat-like eyes leaned on the door frame.

"I wouldn't do what, unnie?" She asked again now with an eyebrow raised.

So this is the infamous Jennie Kim. The one Tzuyu mentioned in her diary. The bitch. And she's awfully familiar.

"That you cat—"

"Nothing," Jisoo cut his boyfriend off. "Why are you home so early? How was cheerleading practice?"

"It was fine." Then her gaze landed on me. "And she is?"

"Lisa," Jungkook said.

"Lisa who?"

"Lisa your twin brother's girlfriend," Jin said.

"Oh so she doesn't have any tongue?" She sassed the two guys. "You. Who are you?"

I clicked my tongue and folded my arms. This girl has an attitude. Two can play that game.

"I don't know if you're deaf or anything but they just told you my name."

"A southsider rat, I see," she mocked eyeing me from head to toe. "You really have poor taste in girls, Jungkook. First that social climber now this southside rat. Way to love up to the family name—"

"Jennie!" Jisoo scolded.

"Why? He really does have poor taste in women. Southsider. How pathetic," she said as she turned around to walk out of the room.

My fist was clenched tightly as I wanted to stop myself from lashing out on her as respect to Jisoo unnie and Jungkook. But no one calls Tzuyu a bitch and gets away with it.

"I don't know which is more pathetic," I said making her stop on her tracks. "Being from the southside or catfishing someone just to hide the fact that you're gay."

Jisoo gasped as well as Jin.

"Lisa..." Jungkook held my arm. "How—"

I smirked. It was too fucking obvious. The behavior. The attitude. She's obviously hiding something. And I'm very much familiar with the like of her.

She turned to look her straight in the eye and scoffed. "You don't know me, rat."

"There's a reason why that IP is located in this house," I said walking closer towards her. "It's because she's the catfish. She send her those texts."

I've read some of the messages and they seemed really sweet. Someone who was just teasing wouldn't say those words. And Tzuyu never mentioned in her diary that they've actually met.

"Is it true, Nini?" Jisoo said as she walked closer to her sister. "Are you...gay?"

Jennie glared at me. So the secret's out.

"Jen, you're my baby sister. It's okay. I won't judge you," she said resting her hand on the younger one's shoulder. "Tell me so that I can help you get through this—"

"Would you shut up?!" She blurted out pushing her sister away. "I don't need your help and I'm not gay. Believe this rat all you want the hell I care."

She marched out of the room and slammed the door shut.

Jin whistled. "Wow. That was an unexpected twist."

Jisoo ignored her boyfriend and looked straight at me. "You need to leave."

"Noona."

"Please," she said sternly. "Kook, you can walk her home or something. Just be home before dinner."

Jisoo walked out of the room maybe to follow her sister. Jin apologized before following suit.

"She spoils her rotten," he said before leaving.

"Let's go, Lis," Jungkook said holding my hand. Our walk was quite silent but halfway, through, he stopped and sighed.

"Kookie?"

"How'd you know, Lis?" He asked. "How'd you know she's... she's gay?"

"It was bluff," I said. "I wasn't sure but did you hear how she just insulted me? Tzuyu? I just can't let that slide."

"But you outed her. To Jin and Jisoo."

"Well she did say she wasn't—wait. You know?"

He sighed then nodded. "We're twins, Lis. Even if we don't get along much, we talk. And I know about her and Jin's sister Chaeyoung. Why she constantly bully her. I had my hunch with Tzuyu as well. But I don't think she killed her. My sister can be a total pain but, I know for sure she's not capable of doing that."

"How are you so sure, Jungkook?" I looked at him intently. "How sure are you that she didn't kill her? How sure are you that I didn't kill her? Or Jisoo? Or anyone else in this goddamn town? See? Anyone can be her killer. Even if we know the person 100%."

I didn't let him answer. I rushed towards Yoongi on his motorcycle and sped away.

"You okay?"

"I just wanna go home."

"Okay..." he said. "Good thing you called."

🍂

"You want a refill, Lisa?"

I looked up at Mr. Yang—owner of Yang's Choc'lit Shoppe, with a coffee pitcher on hand. I nodded and smiled.

"Thanks, Mr. Yang. Sorry to bother you tonight."

"Nonsense, my dear," he smiled back. "Yang's open 24 hours so stay as long as you want. But I have to ask, why are you up so late? Isn't school over?"

"Just have a lot of things in my mind, Mr. Yang. So I decided to stay here since I don't want to stay at home alone. Dad's out of town."

"I see," he said and gently patted my shoulder. "If you want some snacks I'll whip up some donuts, free of charge. I owe your dad, you know."

"Thanks Mr. Yang," I said as he left. I turned my attention back at the laptop screen. Judging by the turn of events, I'll now be working alone on Tzuyu's case.

Finding out that the texts came from Jennie Kim, it would be harder to pin the murder on her since she's the Mayor's daughter. So I need to find concrete evidence aside from the laptop's IP.

Mr. Choi was kind enough to lend me Tzuyu's laptop. He said they wouldn't be needing it anymore since Tzuyu's an only child. And it would only remind them of how things ended.

Police investigation came to a dead end. And her death was again closed due to insufficient  evidence. The Chou's were forced to accept that their daughter's killer is out on the loose.

Well I'm not giving up. Never. Not until her killer is behind bars.

As the chimes on the door echoed within the almost empty shoppe, I looked at the Laptop's time stamp. Half-passed midnight. Maybe I should head home.

"You weren't at your house."

Imagine my surprise to see Jennie Kim standing next to my table.

"You're looking for me?"

She didn't answer. Instead her gaze flew over to the pink unicorn notebook next to the laptop. I saw it. The hint of longing in her eyes.

"Can I sit?" She said without even sparing me a glance.

"Sure."

It was only when she sat across me that I noticed the bags under her eyes. It was as if she was crying.

"Jennie—"

"You're her best friend, right?" She said cutting me off. "You're Tzuyu's best friend Lisa. She wouldn't shut up about you."

So I was right.

"How did... how'd you know I was... was..."

"Gay?" I completed her question. "I just know. You're not the only gay person I know. And it's not a bad thing. You can say it."

She glared. "You wouldn't know how I feel. You're not like me."

"I'm not like you but I know how hard it is," I told her off. "Look, we all have struggles in life—not that being gay is a struggle or something, but you should be true to yourself. People around you like your brother and sister loves you. They will understand and continue to love you whatever your preference might be."

"Do I look like I'm stupid? I know they will," she countered. "But you haven't met our parents. They're more concerned with our family's reputation more than anything else. My mother's the mayor, to be exact. What do you think the people of Wayji will say when they find out the Mayor's daughter preferred vaginas over dicks?"

That caught me off guard. Bluntness does run in the family.

"So you killed her?" I asked straightforwardly. "You choked and killed Tzuyu so that no one would find out your secret?"

"What? No! I can never do that to her!"

"Then why'd you tell her to meet up with you at the Border Bridge?"

"Because we were supposed to run away together!" Her hand were clenched on the table. My mouth flew open. "I... I fell in love with her. It started off as an innocent chat. I made that account because I had a crush on her. But I knew she's straight. So I introduced myself to her as a guy from our grade. She wanted to meet up with me after a few weeks of chatting but I couldn't. I was afraid she'd tell everyone. But when she confessed... I knew I couldn't just hide behind the screen. I wanted to be able to talk to her. Hold her hand and kiss her.

"So I mustered up the courage and asked her to meet me in person. The Border Bridge. To my surprise, she didn't judge me. Or ran away. We..." She took out her phone and showed me a selfie of her Tzuyu—Tzuyu holding the camera while she kissed her cheek lovingly. They look like a cute couple to be honest. "We began dating. We were genuinely happy for almost a month together. Nobody suspected us since we hid it well. At school it seemed like we hate each other but after everyone's gone, we would meet up at the bridge and have picnics by the river. Border Bridge became our spot. But..."

She took a deep breath and her eyes strated to water.

"After that month she started to act weird. She'd always be quiet and she started to lose her appetite. I asked her if something was wrong but she would just say she's fine and there's nothing to worry about.

"Little did I know that my father found out about us because he had someone follow me. He threatened to make her family suffer if she continued to date me. But she couldn't because she loved me. And I felt the same way. So I asked her to runaway with me. That night... she insisted that she needed to drop by your party to say goodbye. So I waited for her at the bridge but my father was there and he caught me. He literally dragged me back home and took my phone—smashed it to pieces."

Jennie Kim started to cry. I was still absorbing everything she just said. So that's why Tzuyu said those things in her diary. She was suffering not because she was brokenhearted. She was suffering because someone was stopping them from loving each other.

I stood up and sat next to Jennie. Wrapping my arms around her, I tried my best to give her temporary comfort.

"I found out about her death the next day from Jungkook," she continued. "I felt like my soul was sucked out of my body. I literally broke down and passed out in front of my brother. I couldn't even bring myself to attend her funeral more so give the eulogy. I'm like a living corpse right now, to be honest. There were a couple times I tried to... you know, end my life but I'd always see her face. Her smile. How she calls my name..."

I rubbed her back gently as she continued to cry. I don't know her personally but I believe her. I can feel how intense her love is towards Tzuyu. And even if it was just a single diary entry, I felt she was genuinely happy with Jennie as well.

"I killed her, Lisa," she then said when she finally stopped crying. "I was supposed to meet her on that bridge. I... I did that to your best friend—"

"Shhh. It's not your fault," I said calming her down. "It's not your fault that your parents are so fucked up. It's not your fault."

"Was it really murder?" She then asked. "I overheard Jin and Jisoo talking that's why I came here. They said it wasn't suicide. That someone killed Tzuyu on that bridge."

"Yes but we still have no idea who. We initially thought it was that J—who turned out to be you, who killed her. But that isn't the case right now."

I showed her pictures of the medical records we took from the hospital plus the diary entires.

"She's such a dork. Hearts as o's? She's literally a five-year old."

I chuckled at what she said. Jennie turned from a hot mess to a cute dumpling just by looking at Tzuyu's notes. Her gummy smile showed and one can tell she really miss her too.

As she closed the diary, she turned towards me. Eyes still wet and cheeks puffy from all the crying. Yet a lone tear rolled down her cheek.

"I think I might know who killed her."