Chapter 25: Not A Lost Art
"Sally," a cheerful voice said as a girl flew into Sally's arm in a flash of black hair.
"I'm so glad to see you again!" Ji-eun said as she untangled herself from Sally's arms and placed the container in her hands down on the counter. Jennie stared at it, it was wrapped brightly with a bow. She gave Ji-eun a curious look.
"I brought snacks for the games," Ji-eun said with a wink. "I'm so happy you could come Jennie!" She said as she hugged Jennie as if she was her long lost sister. "It's going to be so much more fun with you!" She said, her voice always as bubbly and cheerful as it usually was.
"I'm glad I could come to, it beats my plans of Chinese takeout," Jennie said.
"Oh my god are you serious? You can't be serious! That's terrible!" Ji-eun said, gushing over Jennie.
"I'm used to it," she shrugged.
"Well you're part of the family now," Ji-eun said, linking arms with her. "And family doesn't abandon family."
Jennie nearly snorted, she had heard that line before from a certain blonde with a magnificent scar down the side of his cheek. And what had happened? He had lied to her and dumped her cold... like yesterday's trash as Jisoo would say.
Not that Jisoo saying that had helped Jennie.
"Oh my gods you came!" Ji-eun squealed again and suddenly unlatched Jennie from her death-hold and latched onto her next victim, a girl with long straight hair and pretty earthy colored eyes.
"Yeah, Young-kwang convinced me to take the day off to come," the girl said as she calmly pushed Ji-eun away from her as if she was used to doing so. She set down a large casserole dish. "I brought sweat potatoes," she said. "Hi Sally."
"Hi Yuri," Sally said as she turned her back to open the stove to check on the turkey, letting out an intoxicating smell. Jennie felt her mouth water slightly.
"Jennie have you met Yuri?" Ji-eun asked as she brushed away a strand of dark hair from her eyes. "Yuri works at Ceres."
"We've met," Yuri said. We have? Jennie thought to herself. "Lisa and her came in a few weeks ago. Remember it was all over the news?"
Ah yes... that Yuri Jennie remembered.
"Oh I remember that! They were so cute on that cover of the magazine!" Ji-eun gushed. "I knew that they were perfect for each other ever since then." Jennie saw Sally smiling to herself as she worked on the mashed potatoes.
"I know, when they came in Lisa tried to dismiss them just as friends, but I knew better," Yuri said. Jennie felt her cheeks turning crimson as they continued to talk about her and Lisa. She nervously jammed her hands into the pockets of her pants and looked down at her boots.
"There you are! I want you to meet some guys," Lisa said suddenly appearing in the kitchen to Jennie's relief. She took Jennie's hand and then pulled her out of the kitchen, but not before Jennie could hear Ji-eun sigh happily. She rolled her eyes.
"Thank you for saving me from a fate worse than death, "Jennie said sarcastically.
"Oh and what was that?" Lisa asked raising an eyebrow.
"An in-depth analysis of our relationship provided by the resident expert, Ji-eun with side commentary by Yuri," Jennie said. Lisa snorted.
"Ji-eun's like that, she thinks that she's the modern day Aphrodite of matchmaking. She's a model, she works for Im Yoona, you met her as I remember her telling me. But Ji-eun's not shallow, not in the least bit. Yeah she likes all that girly stuff... but she has depth beyond belief. You just have to be there for the rare occasions when it shows."
