The Pleasure Is Mine

Chapter 6

Soojoo plays with her thumbs. She can feel three pairs of eyes on her. Irene, Joy, and Jennie. She'd received a quick call from Irene earlier for a quick meeting. She didn't expect walking down memory lane to be one of the tasks of the meeting, but here she was. A debriefing of her scandal. A debriefing of her tragic love story with her ex. Jisoo. They briefly mentioned something about helping her win her "ex's heart." Something about her love story being marketed for the upcoming Fashion Week, of course only with her permission.

And so all that clouds Soojoo's mind currently are two things:

1) The floral studio had contacted Soojoo this morning, notifying her that her special deliveries put in place for Jisoo were returned. This wasn't surprising. Knowing how adamant Jisoo was with having ties cut with her, Soojoo had seen this coming.

2)And so, how will Jisoo react when she finds out of Soojoo's affiliation with Black Velvet?

Soojoo takes in a deep breath as she pulls herself together.

"We first met when we were 20. We didn't get into a relationship till a year later," she opens up.

"My name's Jisoo." An extended hand and a warm smile. "I'm an intern here! Are you the new model that was scouted?"

A small nod and a shy smile in response. "My name's Soojoo." And a quick shake of a hand.

"Do you wanna grab lunch with me later, Soojoo?"

"I'd love that."

"I think I didn't understand the responsibilities that came with a relationship then. She did though and she was ready for it."

"Do you love me?" Jisoo asks. Her voice trembles as her eyes tear up.

"I do."

"Do you want to be me with, Joo?"

"I do."

Soojoo sees the hurt in Jisoo's eyes as the younger girl closes her eyes shut allowing a stream of tears to fall down her cheeks.

"Then you need to stop being scared of what others will think of us."

A whisper, but much more powerful than a bullet to Soojoo.

"I've always loved being in the spotlight. That's part of being a model I guess. Having everyone's eyes on you. But at some point they no longer looked at me the same. I felt as if I was being judged by those same piercing eyes."

Soojoo fixes her scarf and fumbles with her sunglasses. She feels vulnerable. It feels as though no matter how hard she tries to hide herself, she still feels so exposed.

"Is that Hong Soojoo?"

"The lesbian gold-digger?"

"She likes women?"

"I heard she slept with a woman for fame."

"She's a lesbian?"

"Who'd she sleep with?"

"Then I didn't realize that I was hurting her by running away. I was too worried about myself that I didn't have the luxury of worrying about the one person I loved the most."

Soojoo sits in silence for a moment.

"I thought denying everything and leaving Korea was the answer then. But I should've stayed and fought for myself and her. It's 5 years too late but I hope I can do that now."

Jennie looks at Soojoo and asks a question that she, too, is looking for the answer to,  "What makes you so sure that she is ready to fight for you and your relationship with her?"