The No Kiss Contract (Jensoo)

23

Jennie had left an emotionally spent Jisoo sitting on the bed in their shared room while she went searching for water. The sight of her, eyes vacant and shoulders sagging in defeat, made Jennie's heart ache for her.

When she returned, Jisoo had changed into a T-shirt and some shorts. She lay on the Persian rug-covered floor in front of the bathroom, a throw pillow from the bed under her head.

She set two glasses of ice water on the night table. "You're not sleeping on the floor. Get up."

Jisoo turned on her side, away from Jennie.

Let her be for a minute. She changed into pajamas, packed her dress away into her suitcase, washed her face, and brushed her teeth. When she came out of the bathroom, she got another pillow from the bed and lay down on the floor beside Jisoo. They were quiet. Jisoo's eyes were dry, but the skin around them was puffy and pink. Every few seconds, she scratched at her neck.

"What are you doing? Why do you keep scratching?"

"I don't know," Jisoo grumped. "It itches."

"Stop that. Let me see." Jennie batted her hand away. Three large mosquito bites had arisen where her shoulder met her neck. Connecting the points would have made a textbook isosceles triangle. Jennie got up and reached for her tote bag. "I have something for that." She rummaged for a clean napkin and the bottle of calamine lotion she knew was in there, and dabbed at the spots on Jisoo's neck. "Better?"

"Sweet relief." Jisoo exhaled. "Thanks. That bag is magical, I think."

"Just a typical, in-case-of-emergencies, mom bag." Jennie lay back down so they were facing each other.

Jisoo's eyes were bright for a moment, like she was about to make a joke, but then must have thought better of it, and her expression turned solemn again. "I think we should talk about the kiss."

Jennie took a moment to weigh how she would respond. She wasn't ready for that yet. She needed some time to wrap her head around her feelings. The potential for them to be unwieldy and maybe messy was real, but she could put them to the side until she had a quiet moment to process on her own. There was no way that explosion of emotion would be going back in the bottle, but it would keep until Jisoo's crisis was dealt with. "I don't regret it or anything, but I don't think we should talk about it right now. I think we should talk about you."

If Jisoo's eyes could register temperature, they had just dropped a couple of degrees. The whistle and bang of a firework exploded somewhere outside, and through the window a flash of rosy light dappled Jisoo's features for a moment. It was followed by the report of several more rockets, in a variety of shades. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. "Go watch the fireworks if you want. I'm in for the night."

"Not interested." Jennie propped her head on her hand and saw Jisoo's closed expression. She might not want to talk about the kiss, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to be there for Jisoo right now. "Not when there are so many things to chat about."

Jisoo frowned. "Such as?"

Jennie kept her voice light. "How you're feeling after listening to those jerks talk about you like you weren't even there."

One side of Jisoo's mouth lifted in what Jennie hoped was grudging amusement.

"Or was that ex-parte communication? Listen to me with the lawyer talk. Way too much Law & Order." She waggled her eyebrows. When Jisoo still didn't say anything, she said, "Seriously, are you all right?"

"I'm fine." The way Jisoo bit off the words suggested otherwise. "I'm just sorry that I dragged you into this farce of a situation when it was totally unnecessary. Pretending to be in a committed relationship to show them what a fine, upstanding idiot I am—unnecessary. The clients I signed, the bazillion hours I work, the cleaning up after other people's messes I do—all of it, a giant motherfucking waste."

"You know that's not true."

"It is, if all it takes is the mention of my fucking father and his scandalous exit from the law for them to take a step back and reconsider. Never mind the years of scrupulously considering the ethical implications of every fucking decision I make, knowing that his dirty shadow loomed over me. Not only was I scarred from his god-awful parenting, but I have to carry the stain of his reputation with me like a fucking scarlet letter albatross hair shirt for the rest of my life. He made me become a lawyer, and then scuttled any chance I had of ever succeeding. He was the reason I couldn't get a clerkship. He's the reason none of the white shoe firms wanted me. All because of his fucking greed."

Jennie reached out to where Jisoo's hands were resting on her stomach. She interlaced her fingers with Jisoo's. "I'm really sorry to ask you this—"

"You want to know what he did."

"If you want to tell me."

Jisoo tightened her grip on Jennie's hand. "He was arrested at the beginning of my last year in law school. At that point, he had only one client—a hedge fund known for operating on the shadier side of the street. I guess after being privy to way too many deals where millions upon millions were being made through inside information, he gave in to temptation and started cashing in himself."

"And the cops found out?"

"The SEC, and then the US Attorney. But I'm sure by the time they caught him he had socked away a ton in offshore accounts. Anything that wasn't privileged, he disclosed to the authorities. Then he pleaded out and got disbarred as part of the deal."

"It's not fair that you were painted with the same brush."

"No." Her voice was cold. "But that was the reality."

"I didn't know any of this."

"Your mom knew. I'm not surprised she didn't tell you about it. It was definitely in the financial press, and it was the juiciest story in the legal community. And he made me promise not to tell Cherry." She snorted. "Who was six years old at the time."

"But your firm hired you. They must have known about your father."

"I have Roland to thank for my job. He saw something in me, thank God, and gave me a chance."

"I think the entire firm owes him—and you—their thanks." Jennie gazed down at Jisoo, who was still staring at the ceiling. She wondered if she should ask her next question.

Jisoo cut her eyes over to her. "What? I can feel your hesitation. Just say it."

"Okay." She didn't want to sound insensitive. "Why do you even want to be a name partner?"

Jisoo rolled onto her side, presumably to look Jennie in the eye. "What do you mean, why?"

"I mean, sure, they took a chance on you, and maybe you want to pay that back. And it's the pinnacle of achievement at your firm, but is it the pinnacle of achievement everywhere? Or for you personally? Does it really reflect what you want in life?"

Jisoo stared at her for a moment, speechless, then looked away. Her eyes filled with tears again. "You're assuming I know what that is."

"Oh, Jisoo. I didn't mean to make you cry."

Jennie took Jisoo into her open arms and tried to soothe a wound that must've been open and bleeding for years.