Crazy For Your Love (Jensoo)

6| "It's . . . Complicated."

|Jennie|

When my phone rings, I know it's my mother before I even look at the screen. Anyone else's mom might have missed the news, but my mom has been reading the Jackson Harbor Gazette online every morning for the last month—as if obsessively watching the news and weather here might allow her to actually control it during my sister's wedding next weekend.

She learned about Jisoo fever from the local paper and has asked me about her before.

How well do I know her? A whole lot better after last night.

Did she really save that puppy? Yes. But please don't bring it up if you ever meet her.

Is it true that it was all a publicity stunt because she wants her own reality TV show? Absolutely not.

I'm not surprised when I see her name on the screen, but I'm also not ready for this call. While I don't want to lie to my mother, explaining to her that Jisoo and I worked together to deceive a roomful of people sounds even less appealing. Something else you should have considered when he called you up on that stage.

I plaster a smile on my face—because she's got some weird mom voodoo that I swear allows her to determine my facial expression over the phone—and swipe my screen to accept the call. "Hi, Mom!"

"I cannot believe you didn't tell me you were dating Jisoo Kim."

I cringe. I guess we're starting with guilt today. Okay then.

"All the times we've talked about her, you never thought to mention you two are involved and getting serious?"

"It's . . . complicated." I flinch and silently reprimand myself for the evasion. If I was planning to be honest with her, this isn't the best way to start. But the half lie is already out there, and . . . I'm a coward. What am I supposed to say? Mom, we're not dating, but we are considering elevating our friendship from casually flirtatious to fuck buddies? My conservative mother would love that. She would cry, fret, and pray for me. My father would murder Jisoo. "I didn't want you to get your hopes up in case nothing came of it."

"Consider my feelings, will you? My daughter is in love, and she didn't even tell me. Never mind the logistical nightmare of you keeping this secret."

"No one said I was in love." I pause a beat as the rest of her objection registers. "What logistical nightmare?"

"Well, whether or not you're using the L-word yet, I assume she's coming to the wedding. We can't have additional guests showing up unannounced."

The wedding. Shit. "Oh, no. She's not—"

"Don't even worry! It's already taken care of. I've talked to Nayeon. We're making adjustments. We want her there."

"Jisoo has to work." I hope.

Mom makes a sound I recognize as disapproval. The grunt-sniff combo was practically the soundtrack of my teenage years. "Your sister will only get married once. If this girl is serious about you, she will be there."

"It's not her fault. She was scheduled to work before she and I got serious." Another lie. I shrink into my chair and rub my forehead. If I were a smarter person, I'd have let her call go to voicemail and gotten my story straight before calling her back.

"Well, at least she's a good person. Have you talked to Kai about this?"

My body locks up at the mention of his name. Kim Jongin, or Kai, was once the love of my life. Then, four years ago, he became someone I needed to escape and the reason I moved away from my hometown. "Why would I talk to Kai?"