Holiday Wine, with You and Me [Chaennie ]

Part 11 : Waiting for A Kiss

So it turns out her mother was right all along: Jennie is an embarrassment to the Kim name.

Years of experience in being kidnapped or targeted should have honed her reflexes to the point of a sharp-tipped dagger, but in reality they're more like the blunt button at the end of her fencing foil. Stunned into pliancy and caught completely off her guard, it takes Lisa approximately three seconds and little more than a gentle nudge to maneuver Jennie out of her comfort zone and into the back of the waiting Hummer.

It's like being invited inside Barbie's Magical Mansion. The gaudy interior reminds Jennie of mandated playdates with her elementary school classmates, precisely as pink and sparkly, and — once the door slams shut — exactly as claustrophobic. A chorus of friendly excitement erupts when she slides into the heart-shaped pleather seats, Lisa squeezing in behind her. Jennie is shuffled toward the loveseat in the back, where she's faced with an impressively well-stocked built-in minibar and — of course — her good friend Rosie Park.

And it's fine, right? This is fine. It doesn't even matter that Rosie is looking particularly handsome in a starched white button down and vintage suspenders, blonde hair slicked back in a bun and those ridiculously attractive glasses framing her soft features just so. In fact, Jennie hardly even notices — she's been microdosing Rosie's good looks for the better part of a year now, after all, inoculating herself against the effect they once had on her. Jennie has grown as a person and Rosie is her friend.

So Jennie is fine, and it's friendly, the way Rosie lights up like sunshine herself at her arrival and reaches for her immediately, moving in for what Jennie assumes is going to be one of their perfectly cordial, carefully rationed hugs. Rosie stops herself at the last minute, though, her eyes widening at the plunging neckline of Jennie's dress. She coughs and reddens. "You look," she wheezes faintly, her extended arm landing on the armrest behind Jennie's shoulder, fingers twitching, "uh—"

"Very fancy." It's Jess, the unrepentant apostate, lounging in the seat across from them, spinning a glass of sparkling wine between her fingers. She's zippered into a stunning deep-blue flapper dress, her hair twisted around a rhinestone-studded headband.

Jennie shoots her assistant a look of deep disapproval, wondering whether plotting against your boss with your other boss can be considered corporate conspiracy. "I assume you had a hand in all of this?" she demands.

Lisa hums her mild dissent, sparkling tip to toe under the dizzying strobe lights. "A couple of fingers, at most," she says.

"Please," Jess tells her, "I planned this entire event. We'd be on a private plane to Vegas right now if I'd let you call the shots."

Jennie keeps her posture ramrod straight. Rosie's hand lingers like a flat iron at her back, close enough to scorch through the delicate lace of her dress. "You're my assistant," she points out. "A little bit of a heads up would have been nice."

Jisoo snorts at her from the other side of the minibar. "And give you the opportunity to schedule another convenient business trip?" Turning to Jess she needles, "Is she in charge of a tech company, or a military superpower? How difficult can it be to pencil us in for dinner every once in a while?"

Jennie blinks at her soon-to-be sister-in-law. "Assuming this is, in fact, your bachelor party," she presses Lisa, "Why on earth did you bring your fiancée?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Lisa asks. "All of my best friends are here."

The movement of the car jostles them all slightly as it pulls out of the parking garage, tossing Jennie back into her seat and leaving her pressed firmly into Rosie's unresolved one-armed hug and with no way to subtly extricate herself again. "You have my deepest sympathy," she huffs, folding her arms in front of her chest before grumbling out one final protest to her villainous best friend. "You know my mother isn't going to be happy when she realizes I've skipped out on another public appearance."