The No Kiss Contract (Jensoo)

16

Jisoo caught the 4:38 out of Penn Station and stopped by Grigsby's Bakery before walking home in the golden Friday afternoon sunshine. She passed through the front door a little before six p.m. and marveled at being home so early. Was this how regular people lived? Coming home early enough to unwind and relax from the day? And not drop exhaustedly into bed moments after arriving? She'd have to catch up on her laptop later after Louis and Jennie went to bed, but it sure was a nice change.

"Got your text," Jennie called from the kitchen. "We're almost ready to go."

"Hi, you two." Jisoo placed the bakery box on the counter and saw Jennie sitting in a chair with Louis standing between her knees as she put a comb through his disheveled hair. Two rosy cheeks, flushed from exertion, were lifted by his wide grin.

"What's in the box?" Louis tried to wiggle free, but Jennie yanked him back and clamped her hand around his chin and continued to wrestle with his cowlick.

"I went to the bakery and got"—Jisoo counted off on her fingers —"dolphin doughnuts, tuna tiramisu, barracuda buns, puffer fish pie, whale waffles—"

"Oh my God. Please stop," Jennie groaned. "I bet you were coming up with all of those on the walk home."

Jennie was right. Jisoo had thoroughly enjoyed herself thinking up her fish-themed jokes. She couldn't help chortling. "And crab cakes. Geddit? Cakes!"

Louis's smile turned upside down. "I won't eat any of that. I told you I don't eat fish." He looked so upset, Jisoo felt bad for teasing him.

"Right, you told me you're a carnitarian."

"Cherry said that's what I am," he said with a surprising amount of dignity for a child.

Jisoo opened the box and bent toward where Jennie was still trying to tame his locks into some kind of order and showed him six cupcakes with frosting in a variety of hues. "Oh, snap. They must have mixed up my order. These look like regular, non-fishy cupcakes."

Louis's dramatic sigh of relief made Jisoo grin.

"Why's your hair so crazy?" She put the cupcakes down.

Jennie rolled her eyes. "Someone wanted to spend the time waiting for you out on the trampoline, and now he's a sweaty, unkempt mess."

Jisoo grasped the sides of her suit jacket and flapped them to encourage the air conditioning closer to her body. "The walk home has done the same to me. Give me a minute to get kempt, will you?"

Louis, finally free from his mother's clutches, followed her to the stairs.

"Where are we going? Ma said you said it's a surprise."

Jisoo tousled his hair and smiled naughtily at Jennie's squawk of outrage. "It is, kid. You'll find out soon. Be right back."

She entered her bathroom and looked longingly at the shower before deciding against it. She was in too much of a hurry. If someone had told her two months ago how excited she would be for an outing with a five-year- old boy, she would have laughed their ass out the door. But the snatches of time she'd spent with him—and Jennie—had been the highlight of her week. She had lately begun making an effort to wrap up her workday earlier. When she returned home at eight or nine o'clock, she'd come up to the studio when she saw the lights still on, and a couple of times Louis had still been awake even though it was way past his bedtime. She and Lou hung out for a little while and chatted about his day, or he showed her the books and toys he had with him.

On the days when Louis was already asleep, Jisoo visited with Jennie while she worked, always in her artist's uniform of an old, paint-spattered, plaid, flannel shirt with the sleeves torn off and faded jean shorts. Jisoo could barely stop herself from salivating over this version of Jennie. To her, it was just as sexy as Red Dress Jennie.