Can I Steal You For A Second? (Jensoo)

2

'Hey,' I said to Jisoo at the end of auditions. 'Can I buy you a drink? To thank you for today?'

'Babe, no thanks needed,' she said. 'But I'd love to grab a drink. There's a cute little wine bar around the corner.'

It really was just around the corner, only a couple of minutes' walk (although it would have been more like five minutes if I'd been on my own – Jisoo was taller than me, and I had to walk fast to match her stride). Most people hadn't knocked off work yet, so the bar was relatively empty. 'What do you want?' I asked her, pulling my wallet out of my bag.

'Let's get champagne,' Jisoo said. 'It's basically the official beverage of Marry Me, Juliet, after all. We'd better get used to drinking it if we're going to be on the show.'

'Oh no, what an enormous problem for us,' I said. 'You're right. We'd better start training.'

She laughed. She had a great laugh, full-throated, bordering on a cackle, the kind that made you want to join in immediately.

We took our champagne and sat at a little high-top table near the window. It had hooks on the underside for our handbags, and they gently knocked together: mine a pale pink one that I'd taken out of my rotation because Jac hated it, and hers a brighter pink which should not have gone with her orange dress at all, but somehow did.

'Cheers,' Jisoo said, holding up her glass. 'To our future reality TV glory.'

'Cheers,' I said, clinking my glass against hers.

We drank. 'You feeling better?' Jisoo asked.

'Well, I am now,' I said, gesturing to my champagne.

She chuckled.

'But yes, I am feeling better,' I said. 'You caught me in a... how should I put this?'

'Rocky moment?'

'Exactly,' I said. 'But I'm okay now. Or I will be. Or something. I'm not actively crying, which is the important thing.'

'I remember what it's like,' she said. 'When my marriage felt apart... Rocky moment is the wrong phrase, really. It's more like a quicksand moment. Like you're trying to stand and you're trying to get your balance but the ground just wants to suck you up.'

'Yes!' I said. I meant to tap my fingers in emphasis against the table, but I was a bit too enthusiastic, and we both had to steady our glasses. 'That's exactly it. And the tiniest little thing can knock you over. Like – and this is just an example, it definitely never happened – your mum putting a nice note in your lunch.'

Jisoo grinned. 'I know everyone says this, but it really does get better with time. The ground turns solid again. I promise.'

I let out a breath. 'I hope so.'

She held up her glass again. 'To finding solid ground.'

'Absolutely.'

I took another sip and then set my glass down. 'So that's why I'm here,' I said. 'Why are you trying to get on Marry Me, Juliet?'

'In a way, it's the same sort of thing,' she said. 'I'm at a – I was going to say crossroads, but that's not right. I'm at a dead end. This is, like, an attempt to go off-road until I find the highway.'

I must have looked confused, because Jisoo laughed and started explaining. She was a nurse, but she'd been slowly coming to the realisation that it wasn't for her. 'I like looking after people, but the reward isn't worth the cost,' she said. 'The work is long and hard. The pay is garbage. The respect is non-existent. I don't get to spend anywhere near enough time with my kid. I've been thinking about leaving for a while anyway, but now there's this virus on the horizon, and it's kicked me into gear. I want to help – and I will help, don't get me wrong, as much as I possibly can – but I know how nurses get treated. I already know we're going to get thrown under the bus.'