Can I Steal You For A Second? (Jensoo)

Episode 6

'Okay,' Jisoo said, the next day. 'The girlfriend thing. I have a couple of questions. Is that all right?'

It was early in the morning, the sky still pink and silver from the sunrise. We hadn't exactly agreed that we'd get up with the sun, but it had somehow happened anyway. Quietly, as the other three women in our room slept, we got dressed, went downstairs, grabbed breakfast and went outside.

There weren't any camera crew around yet, but there were cameras mounted in nearly every room downstairs, and mics hanging from the ceiling. There was almost nowhere we could go without being seen and without being heard, and it meant the world to me that Jisoo hadn't said a single thing until we were outdoors and well clear of the Villa, outside the range of prying ears and eyes.

'Of course,' I said. 'Ask away.'

'Don't worry. I'm not going to ask you anything weird or gross.'

'Oh, then I'm sorry,' I said. 'I'm only prepared to answer weird and gross questions. No others. They're the only kind I like.'

She snorted. 'Ha ha,' she said, tapping the end of my nose with her finger. 'Cute.'

I took a bite of my cereal, doing my best to ignore how much I liked that casual, easy, intimate little gesture.

'No, it's more logistical questions,' she said. 'Some things I wanted to check. You're not out on the show, right?'

I shook my head. 'I know there have been queer Juliets before,' I said, through my mouthful. 'And, like, more power to them, but it always seems like it's made their lives super unpleasant, you know?'

'God, yes,' Jisoo said, taking a mouthful of her own cereal. 'Like when Crystal S came out last year and Brandi started that whole "Oh, ew, I don't want to sleep in the same room as her, what if she's in love with me?!" bullshit.'

'Or like three years ago when Gracie came out to Andrew and then he just casually outed her to all the women in the Villa without asking her, and those twins – what were their names? They started with M?'

'Madison and Mackenzie.'

'Yes! Them. Remember how they sat her down and were all like, "Gracie, you need to remember how conservative Andrew is, his family would never accept someone like you"?'

'Even though they were clearly trying to get him to be in some weird incest throuple with them.'

I sipped at my coffee. 'Then there was Taylor as well. I felt so bad for her. First, her Romeo was clearly angling for a threesome, and then she went on Juliet on the Beach and got in that love triangle with Penny and Seth and they gave her the worst edit in the world.'

'Ah yes,' Jisoo said. 'Pansexual Taylor, Evil Slut Queen, Ruiner of Lives.'

'I remember watching an Insta Live Taylor did where she talked about all the death threats and hate mail she got,' I said. 'I'm not ashamed to be bi. At all. I've been out to most people in my life since I was a teenager, and it's honestly not that big a deal. But... if I can avoid getting death threats and hate mail, then I'd like to. Maybe that makes me weak or spineless, but—'

'Hey,' Jisoo said. 'I would never think that. You know I would never think that. Right?'

'Thank you.'

'I mean it,' she said. 'You're not weak. You're not spineless.'

'I guess we'll see,' I said, trying to keep my voice light. I put my coffee down on the ground beside me, afraid my hands would shake and I would spill it. 'I'm about ninety-five per cent sure production knows I'm bi. If I don't out myself, they might do it for me, just to create some drama.'