Love Galore (Chaennie)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Would you like to go to the opera with me?"

Surprised, Rosie looks up from her surf-and-turf dinner. (No ordinary surf-and-turf is offered here, a high-end, three-Michelin-star French seafood restaurant. This one consists of a piece of tender, buttery Wagyu steak accompanied by grilled melt-in-your-mouth escolar drizzled with a soy-lemon emulsion.)

"I didn't know you were into opera."

Lifting her glass of white wine by its stem, Jennie replies, "I'm not an enthusiast, but I've seen my share. But this time, one of our board members is in town and he's a fan. I usually leave the schmoozing to Jisoo, but I like Chen. We have a box for six. I'll be going, Chen is coming with his wife and Jisoo's bringing her boyfriend."

"That leaves room for one more. I'm an excellent mathematician," deadpans Rosie. "I'd love to come. I've never been before. This'll be so fun!"

As she sips her wine, Jennie fondly peers over the rim of her glass at the woman before her, thinking that she's never quite met anyone so easily enthused. Everything is an exciting event for Rosie. Jennie was half-surprised to discover that Rosie doesn't roll out of bed every morning and immediately break into song and dance. It's like dating a puppy in human form.

No. Not dating. Something else.

She scrutinizes the woman before her, her mind busy trying to come up with a proper substitute when Rosie glances up at her, all twinkling eyes and shy smile even though Jennie's the one who's been caught staring.

And then the label just doesn't seem to matter.

***

Lounging on Rosie's bed, Alice watches as her little sister riffles through her closet, pulling out dresses for her approval.

"Jennie's taking you to the opera. With her couple friends," Alice recaps, sounding tired. "And this is all after she takes you to one of the fanciest restaurants in the city. Or, well, more than one, because it sounds like you two are working your way through all the best restaurants in the city."

"Yup."

Rosie turns around, holding up a long beige dress with poofy shoulders, draping it across her body. Alice shakes her head, and she puts it back in the closet.

"Yup, just totally normal friends with benefits behavior."

"Oh, like you would know anything about it." Rosie pulls out a salmon-colored dress with thin straps and a bow at the front.

Alice shakes her head again. "Am I seriously being made fun of for never having gotten myself in a ridiculous, emotionally stunted 'friends with benefits'-" she breaks out the air quotes. "-arrangement when said arrangement is actually just dating?"

"I'm not making fun, I'm only pointing out that you're not really the best person to say what normal looks like in this situation, because you don't know, do you?" Rosie pulls out two more dresses: an emerald-colored slip dress with a lace trim and a less revealing pink knee-length dress with an intricate lace overlay.

Alice makes a face and immediately points to the more conservative pink dress, which only brings Rosie to put it back in the closet.

Annoyed with her little sister's bratty defiance, Alice directs impatiently, "Wear the pink one."

"I look really good in the green one."

Alice sighs in resignation, rephrasing in a way that she knows will work. "Yes, you do, and Jennie will love it, so save it for a special occasion. You're going to the opera today, wear the less revealing one." When Rosie hums in agreement and swaps out the dresses, Alice mumbles, "Because having special occasions is a thing that makes sense for a casual hookup."