Matters | JENSOO

Eggplant

She stopped. Doyeon.

She exchanged a brief look with Lisa, apparently it was also Lisa's first time meeting Doyeon.

Jisoo cleared her throat and smiled, "Hi Doyeon, I'm Jisoo."

She realised that Doyeon sat beside Jennie, so she took a seat beside Lisa, two seats away from Jennie. It was safer to be close to her bestfriend anyway. She fought the urge to cling unto Lisa. The large group setting like this scared her, she wanted to go home already, of course with Jennie in her pocket, if she could. After all, she came here not for the food.

"Jisoo, please sit here." Rosé got up and exchanged seat with Jisoo, so now her seat was between Jennie and Lisa. She thanked Rosé for being thoughtful.

The conversation was light, it wasn't as bad as Jisoo expected, beside, she had Lisa with her. Whenever the IB students were on a topic she couldn't engage into, she would have her own conversation with Lisa. Having Lisa there helped her not to freeze out for the rest of the night.

Once a while, her stomach would be stirred with the unpleasant feeling every time she saw Doyeon made Jennie smile. Looked like they were indeed best friends, they covered a lot of topics and they had a lot in common. Every time Jisoo saw Jennie went excited from her conversation with Doyeon, her own excitement was eroded, layer by layer.

Jisoo stole a curious glance at Doyeon; the girl had a strikingly bright eyes, sparkling with life. Doyeon knew her assets well, of which she highlighted with a bold-colored lipstick. Her hair looked like typical IB students', impossibly perfect. Jisoo was wondering what shampoo brand they were using.

Apart from that small inconvenience, the night was pretty much okay and the food was good. Jisoo made sure Rosé knew that she enjoyed her meal.

"I'm glad you enjoy it, Jisoo. I hope next time I can take you to our Japanese restaurant."

"Oh definitely, Rosie, Jisoo would love the pancake." Jennie welcomed the idea excitedly, "You love Japanese crepes, don't you, Chu?"

"Yes!" Jisoo replied with the same enthusiasm.

"Chu?" Doyeon asked.

"Jichu, like Pikachu." Jennie expained, "Jisoo has this small collection of Pikachu stuffed toys in her room."

"I didn't know you're two close." Doyeon looked surprised.

"They are pretty close, actually." Lisa butted into the conversation.

"I thought you introduced them to each other, Lisa." Doyeon now became intrigued by Jisoo, "Anyway, Jisoo, I think I've seen you somewhere before..."

"Maybe you saw her on the board of high-achieving students, she's an awardee of Dasan scholarship since her first year, recently she also received the Jangchungdan scholarship. She also won-"

"Lisa..." Jisoo laughed awkwardly and gave Lisa a questioning look. Her best friend had been extra about her tonight. What has gotten into her?

"Her GPA last year was 4.5. Waa~ amazing right!" Lisa clapped her hands excessively, she looked like a seal encouraging the whole table to join her to cheer on Jisoo. And they did. The whole fucking table was cheering on Jisoo and Jisoo never felt as embarrassed as she was right now.

Jisoo stomped on Lisa's foot to warn her. Lisa stomped hers back.

What are you doing? Jisoo communicated using her eyes.

Shut up, let me handle this. Lisa glowered back at Jisoo.

"How do you know each other, you and Jennie?" Doyeon asked Jisoo.

"We were in the same project group last year."

"The freshman project group?"

"Yes."

"I see. I thought your parents know each other. It's uncommon for us to have friends outside our circle. Not that we don't want it though..."

Jisoo heard Lisa cursing under her breath. She didn't know what to make of Doyoen's affiliative smile and her scrutinizing eyes that was raking over her. So she just politely returned the smile.

Still holding her gaze on Jisoo, Doyeon finally said, "I think last summer? In the club? Did I see you punch Zico? It was cool to be honest!"

Jisoo glanced at Jennie, but the girl said nothing, so she answered, "It was me. I came to pick up Jennie that night."

"You picked up Jennie? At that hour?"

Jennie was about to say something but their conversation was interrupted by Alice, Rosé sister, who just dropped by to say her brief hello to them.

The meal kept coming, from the starter to the dessert; the wine kept on pouring to those who didn't mind a little bit of alcohol for the night. They had this salad sandwich, it was easily one of Jisoo's favorite light bite.

Then came the ratatouille, the colorful vegetarian food which Jisoo observed had eggplant in it.

Jisoo looked at Jennie, waiting for her to remove the eggplant from her plate. Jisoo had learned that Jennie didn't eat eggplants. But what happened next startled Jisoo.

Jennie gave her eggplant to Doyeon and Doyeon took it like they had been doing it since forever.

Jisoo paused, looking down to the eggplant on Doyeon's plate.

She took my eggplant. It was supposed to be my eggplant.

Jisoo thought it was their thing. She thought Jennie would only give her eggplant to her and only her, especially when she was there, readily available to collect it.

She didn't know that something as petty as eggplants could make such a cut in her heart. Her eyes lifted up deliberately from the eggplant to the two glamorous girls beside her.

For the first time she realized time was ticking. If it wasn't her, it would be someone else; and nobody would wait forever. Jennie had her options.

She tried to remind herself that the feeling she was having right now was irrational, it's just chopped vegetables, not some kind of betrayal, she told herself. But her appetite was already gone, she put down her food and reached for her water.

Why did Jennie give it to her instead of me?

Before she could stop herself, she heard herself saying, "Doyeon, that is mine."

Her tone came too brash, she cleared her throat.

"Excuse me?"

"The eggplant. It's mine. I usually cover it up for her." Jisoo realised she was being childish, but she couldn't help herself.

Doyeon looked puzzled, "If you want more, you can take the vegetables from the platter."

Jisoo was about to fight for her eggplant, but Jennie understood what happened, she apologized to Doyeon and hurriedly shipped her eggplant from Doyeon's to Jisoo's plate.

Jisoo didn't say anything, she was pleased. It was their thing and she determined to keep it that way. She wasn't willing to share it with anyone else.

If she has the audacity to take my eggplant, who knows what else she might take from me?

For the rest of the night, Jisoo didn't even bother to engage into the conversation unless they directly talked to her. Jennie tried all possible ways to make a conversation with her, but Jisoo just didn't want to try anymore.

And when the night ended, she rejected Jennie's offer to take her home. She gave her gratitude to Rosé for the good food, said her good night to Jennie, Doyeon and the others; and got ready to go home with Lisa.

What she thought was an oasis, turned out to be a mere mirage. She was drained from the tough week; and that night, at last, she was ultimately emptied.

***