Breathe | Jensoo

Jisoo had her phone pressed against her ear by her shoulder while her fingers fished for her keys in her pocket to unlock her apartment door.

Brewing herself a cup of hot milk, she let it ring all the way to voicemail for the second time before deciding to drop a text instead.

"I suppose you're enjoying your bath. Just wanted to say I'm home and thanks for tonight. What's my fifth homework, doc?"

She wasn't too worried about Jennie's safety considering she had walked her to her doorstep and seen her enter her apartment.

The psychiatrist's reply came almost two hours later when Jisoo was about to fall asleep.

"Thanks for walking me home. For that, I will cut you some slack -- no homework for this session. Goodnight, Jisoo. :)"

"Yes! Aren't I simply your model student? ;) Goodnight, Jennie."

That was enough to send Jisoo floating on a happy cloud towards dreamland -- not from having one less homework to do, but more from having one more text from Jennie.

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"Hey doc," Jisoo closed the door behind her.

"Hi, Jisoo," Jennie looked up from her papers, smiling, and gestured to the couch. "Take a seat."

Jisoo grinned and thumbed towards the door. "Let me take you for a tea break. There's this new place round the corner."

"Ah," Jennie's back was towards Jisoo as the doctor pulled out a folder from the shelf, "um, not today, Jisoo. Sorry. Maybe next time?" She turned around and flashed an apologetic smile that made Jisoo inexplicably sorry for suggesting it in the first place.

Despite the unexpected pang of disappointment, Jisoo shrugged a shoulder and smirked as casually as she could, "Anytime. It'll be your treat then."

The sound of Jennie's chuckle was already enough compensation. "Most definitely."

The sixth session was different from the prior ones. It was a checkpoint in which Jisoo would be posed a series of hypothetical scenarios that might trigger her, and Jennie would observe and assess each of Jisoo's reactions. In other words, this was a test to determine if Jisoo required even more counselling sessions before she could be deemed fit to return to the police force.

"You may open your eyes now."

Blinking her eyes open, Jisoo rewarded herself with a mental pat on her own back for making it through without losing her cool, although she just realised her jaw was clenched and so were her fists. Her muscles must have stayed pretty tense throughout the test. Nonetheless, she had made sure to conscientiously apply the homework items -- deep breaths and counting, switching out vulgarities, quick recounts of happy memories, and even smiling -- and she was hopeful about her results.

She sat up on the recliner and watched nervously as Jennie scribbled away in her folder with a serious countenance.

At last, the psychiatrist clicked and slotted her pen back in her white coat pocket and closed the folder on her lap. She slid off her glasses and her gaze was neutral yet soft, "Overall, you demonstrated much-improved control of your emotions, Jisoo, although you were particularly worked up in the scenarios of interrogating a serial murderer and watching a rapist run scot-free in trial."

Jisoo subconsciously cracked her knuckles and slightly raised her brows, prompting for more.

"And so, I think," Jennie sighed, pausing for a second, and then a smile stretched across her lips, "you're on track to return to work after our eighth session."