Can I Steal You For A Second? (Jensoo)

Episode 3

I knew, coming onto Marry Me, Juliet, that there would be a lot of conflict. The word they always used for it on the show was 'drama'. Lily getting into it with Jisoo last night, and Cece getting dunked in the pool, was classic drama. Drama wasn't always big – sometimes two people would have a mild disagreement and all the ads would be about how there would be OMG! so! much! drama! – but it always happened. 'I'm just hoping for a nice, chill week with no drama,' some contestant would say at the beginning of nearly every episode, a wish that would never, ever come true.

Let's make a vow, Jisoo had texted me during hotel quarantine. Neither of us are allowed to be the 'I hope there's no drama this week!' person. We're both too smart for that.

So yes, I'd been expecting conflict. But I hadn't been expecting the drama to begin pretty much the second we woke up, when we weren't even being filmed.

The skeleton-missing-half-its-bones crew meant that there weren't enough hair and make-up people to go around, so we were being sent to them in dribs and drabs to get made up for filming that day. 'Come on, up!' Suzette had said, hammering on our bedroom door at exactly ten that morning and then walking straight in without waiting for an answer. 'Jisoo K, Marija, you're in hair and make-up in half an hour. If you want a shower beforehand, you've got to move now.'

Jisoo being first on the roster meant I hadn't had a chance to speak to her yet. I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, I wanted to know if she was feeling any better this morning, if sleeping on it had helped.

On the other, I was very frightened about what would happen if I looked at her in the cold light of day and the earth shifted under my feet again.

While the rest of us waited around, Carrie had given us a simple task: to make our shopping list for the week. 'This has got all the information you need on it,' she said, putting a piece of paper down on the kitchen island. 'Your weekly budget is here –' she tapped a figure, '– and a list of all the items available to you is here.'

'We have to get avocados,' said one of the other blondes (not the Jennie Clone, whose name was Heather, but a tall woman with long straw-blonde hair whose name was either Melinda or Belinda).

'They're pretty expensive,' Kumiko said, flicking through the list. '$2 a pop, wow. We'll blow through our budget in about two days if we do that.'

'We don't need avocados every day,' Jess D said. 'Maybe avo toast brunch could be a once-a-week treat.'

'We'll need good bread for that,' said another woman whose name I couldn't remember – K-something?

'We should always have good bread,' Melinda/Belinda said. 'Do you know how much sugar is in most bread?'

'What are our bread options, though?' Naya asked, leaning over Kumiko's shoulder to see the list. 'That's a staple. We'll need a lot of that.'

'Not if you're doing keto!' Jess K said. Several people groaned.

Lily snatched the list out of Kumiko's hands. 'Here's what we need to do,' she said. 'Look for what we can buy in bulk, and go from there.'

'I can't believe I'm saying this, but that's good advice,' Dylan said from behind me.

I turned. She was propped in the kitchen doorway, wearing a lime green dress that was swishing around her calves. Her hair was piled up on top of her head. She looked stunning.

I mean, her make-up looked stunning. It was all hair and make-up. It was fine. I was fine. Definitely.

'Oh really?' Lily said. 'It's good advice? You think so? Goodness, I'm so honoured.'