The No Kiss Contract (Jensoo)

Prologue

Summer 2007

Jisoo Kim snuck into the living room and opened the cabinet where Jennie's mom kept the liquor. Weeks ago, she had spotted a dusty bottle of peach schnapps she'd bet wouldn't be missed and today was their last chance to drink it. She had just shoved it in her backpack when she heard Jennie behind her.

"What's taking you so long? Let's get out of here." Jennie stood there, glorious in her summer uniform of black Docs, a sleeveless, paint-spattered T-shirt, and faded denim cut-off shorts. "It's your last day. We can't spend it sitting around here." The smile she directed at Jisoo was like warm sunshine, and Jisoo soaked it up like she was seriously Vitamin D deprived.

Jisoo took a look around the comfy room where she had spent a lot of time with Jennie these last few months, the remains of late-night popcorn and Netflix DVD sleeves scattered on the coffee table. She couldn't believe summer was just about over. When her father picked her up at boarding school in June and informed her she would be spending the summer with his new girlfriend and her daughter, Jisoo never thought she would be sorry to leave at the end of August. But she was. And sorry this was the last time she would be following Jennie out into another hot and humid New Jersey day.

Jennie flicked her tied-back dark hair and shouldered her art bag before she and Jisoo trooped through the kitchen. "Bye, Mom. We'll be gone all day."

"Bye, Dad," Jisoo said to her father. The two of them sat at the fully set breakfast table, but neither was eating. The look on her dad's face caused Jisoo's hackles to rise. Something weird was going on.

"Wait," Jennie's mom, Pam, said. Jennie stopped mid-stride, and Jisoo bumped into her. "Where are you going?"

"I told you we were leaving first thing for the set strike."

"Right." Pam seemed distracted. "Have a seat, girls. We want to tell you something."

Jennie resisted. "We gotta go, Mom. Can it wait?"
Jisoo's dad put his Blackberry down.

"No, it can't wait. Sit."

She immediately planted her ass in the chair across from him and Pam.

His dealing-with-Jisoo expression, the downturned eyebrows and mouth, as if he smelled something gross like heated up old tuna fish or something, now seemed to extend to Jennie too. Jisoo was very familiar with it, although she'd seen it a lot less this summer since he'd been with Pam. But he was still bossy and brusque with Jisoo. And now his eyes twitched with irritation, which Pam allayed with a quick touch on his arm.

"Please, Jennie." Pam patted the chair next to her. "It's important, and it will only take a moment."

Jisoo darted a look and saw Jennie's aggrieved look at Jisoo's quick capitulation, but Jisoo knew her dad. The sooner they heard their respective 'rents out, the sooner they could be on their way.
Jennie's brown eyes flashed as she plopped into the chair. "Okay. What is it?"

Pam took a big breath and gripped his hand. Now that Jisoo was paying attention, Pam didn't look too good—pale and sweaty and maybe about to blow her breakfast.

But her smile grew wider as she looked into his eyes and said, "We're pregnant."

"We are?" Jisoo blurted.

"Don't be impertinent." Her dad frowned at her.

"I mean, you are?" What the fuck? This was the absolute last thing Jisoo expected. Her dad wanted to be a dad again? She had no idea how to react right now. Jisoo shot another look at Jennie, who looked wholly confused.

"You're what?" Jennie's entire face was scrunched up in incomprehension.

"Gregory and I are going to have a baby." Pam sort of looked pleased, dazed, and overwhelmed all at once. "It's very early days, but we wanted you girls to know right away."