The Five Steps | Jensoo

Chapter 19

Jennie

I zip down winding hills then head across a bridge as my phone chirps out directions to G-Dragon's Eats from my back pocket.

I am stuffed.

I ate a ton of Samosas. Jisoo was right. Savoury puff pastry packets of heaven: spicy and sweet, with a crispy crust surrounding a piping hot filling. They are amazing.

I recognise G-Dragon's Eats tall smokestack from my Google searches, a holdover from its former factory days. I bank left and slow to a stop just outside before hopping off my bike, my phone's GPS calling out a "You have arrived!"

Jiyong still isn't here. Which makes sense. Jisoo practically pushed me out the door so I wouldn't be late and I took those winding hills pretty fast, thinking about calling Irene the whole way here. My eyes are still stinging from the wind.

I sit down on the curb and with some time to spare, press the call button just under her name. Since Irene sleeps late, I couldn't call this morning and I'll be busy with work until late tonight so now is the perfect time.

Plus, something about the Samosas reminded me of our diner Empanadas and I spent most of the bike ride extra excited to hear her voice.

I hold my breath as it rings. Once. Twice.

"Jennie?" she says as she picks up. I jump to my feet at the sound of her voice but... it doesn't sound as excited as I was hoping for. I nervously pace along the cracked sidewalk that runs alongside the parking lot. There are muffled voices in the background, the sound of a bass thumping out a few notes.

"Hey babe! How's it going?"

"Why are you calling me now?" she asks, and I frown in confusion, pulling the phone away from my ear to stare at the screen for a second before putting it back up.

"You told me to call you."

Yesterday? At Ben & Jerry's? There was a heart emoji and everything.

"Yeah," she says. "But I didn't mean now. I have a gig tonight. I have to get ready."

So much for the perfect time to call.

"I know." I do the math in my head. "Doesn't it not start for like... six more hours?"

There's no way in hell she has to "get ready" for six hours. Not when I know for a fact she doesn't help carry any of the equipment.

Irene lets out a long sigh. "Things are different on the road Jennie. You wouldn't understand." The muffled voices in the background fade as she moves somewhere quieter. "But I guess we can talk now since it works for you."

"If you can't it's–"

"No, no. Go ahead," she says. "What's up with you?"

"I got a job working on a food truck. It's been pretty good so far. Some solid tips. All cash. I'm just waiting for my shift to start." I kick at a small rock on the ground, watching it bounce its way down the street.

"Oh. Cool."

She doesn't ask any follow up questions and the silence that follows is deafening. So I ask her one instead. "How's the tour going?"

"It's been so great. People actually know our music! They sing along and everything. It's been super wild."

"That sounds awesome. I can't wait for your Busan date," I say, holding my breath.

"Yeah, me neither," Irene says, and her words bring a smile to my face, especially after such a precarious start.

"Twenty more days."

"Is that it? Wow." She's silent for a second. "So, you got a new girlfriend or...?"

I frown as a slight pang of queasiness grips my stomach, and not because of the mountain of Samosas taking up space in there.

I haven't told her about Jisoo and what we're doing just yet, and her making a comment like that leaves me to believe this is... absolutely not the time to do so even though this is my first real chance since I left Seoul. I just don't want her misunderstanding and getting angry with me over nothing.

Especially not when I just got off silent treatment.

"Too busy thinking about you," I say, watching as a black food truck whips around the corner, the back tires bumping violently over the curb. I jump out of the way before Jiyong has a chance to flatten me, the truck hissing to a stop outside the brewery.

"Mhm," Irene says, clearly skeptical.

"You'll see when you get here," I say, watching as Jiyong busts out the back door. He lights up his preshift cigarette while the fryer heats up to temperature.

"I hope so," she says, before pulling the phone away from her ear to call out "Coming!" to someone waiting in the distance. "I've got to go. We want to rehearse a few times before we get on stage."

I can hear her name being called and she lets out a frustrated sigh, her voice muffled as she yells out, "I need literally like two more seconds, Joy!"

"Break a leg tonight, okay?" I say when she comes back on and she laughs, the vibe suddenly so different than it is when we're texting. So... right.

Sometimes it feels like every day is a different Irene. Sometimes I wish it were just this Irene.

I smile, the familiar flow from before our fight two weeks ago finally finding its way back.

"I'll call you later, okay? Maybe tomorrow?"

"That sounds good," I say, hoping she does. We say our goodbyes and I head over to where Jiyong is lounging against the back of the truck.

"That your bike?" he asks, pointing to my silver Facebook Marketplace find, locked up on the side of the building.

I nod and Jiyong snorts, even though he was the person who suggested getting one after I found out it would take me an hour and a half on a bus to get to the lunch shift we're working this week. Biking there will take fifteen minutes flat. Truly life changing.

"It's ugly as fuck," he says, snuffing out his cigarette before swinging open the truck door and hopping on.

I roll my eyes and follow after him to set everything up, a comfortable silence falling over us as our usual routine begins. Jiyong handles the prep cooler while I put out the menu, get the cash register ready, and open the window when it's go time.

Almost instantly, the customers stroll out from inside and our steady rhythm kicks in. My mind shuts off as I take orders and hand out the finished product again and again. It's easy to keep a smile plastered on my face after that phone call with Irene even though... the queasiness still lingers when I think of how things are going on the Jisoo front.

It took Jisoo two weeks to get Chaeyoung's number.

And Irene is going to be here in only three weeks.

I know this is a Jisoo-centric plan but I don't have that kind of time. I can't fuck around and make Samosas and eat ice cream when Irene is coming in just twenty days. Irene needs to see that I can really connect with and help people. That I can have friends who are just friends. That people can open up to me about their feelings and I won't just run off into the night.

She's not going to believe me if I just say I've been hanging out with some girl to help her get a girlfriend. That girl needs to either have the girlfriend or be pretty damn close.

When the lull sets in I pull out my phone and fire off a text to Jisoo.

Soo🤓

we r doing step 2 tomorrow
i'll be there by 10:30

I need proof. And I need it fast.