it's always ourselves that we find in the sea || jensoo

Chapter 19

"You both remember Jisoo," Jennie said, a nervous smile on her lips as she made introductions, even though they all knew each other. As Jisoo greeted Minzy as someone other than her doctor, and said hello to Chaeyoung, Jennie said hi to Lisa, asking how she was and about the drive up, before dumping Jisoo's grocery bag on the kitchen counter.

Turning around, she watched Lisa hug her friend and turned to face Chaeyoung, raising her eyebrows slightly. Things seemed to be moving quickly with Chaeyoung and Lisa, especially if she was inviting her to dinner with Minzy, although Jennie assumed that was partly because they had come up to see Jisoo and it would've been rude to abandon her for the evening. It made for an unusually packed house as everyone gathered around the kitchen table, voices mingling as they fell into conversation. Jennie helped Jisoo out of her coat and guided her into a chair, before she excused herself and darted upstairs for the quickest shower of her life, feeling a little apprehensive about leaving Jisoo with her sister for too long, even though she knew Minzy would have her on her best behaviour and Lisa was Jisoo's closest friend and would help diffuse the situation. Hurrying back downstairs in a sweater and a pair of old jeans, Jennie tried to compose herself as she walked back into the kitchen.

"There was this one guy in college - I called him Shirt because he wore this red Hawaiian shirt literally every single day for no apparent reason - he was a bit strange. He had a pet ferret and was into collecting Samurai swords. By far the weirdest person she's dated, but so much fun to tease her about."

"Huh. So, what have you saying about me?" Jisoo asked, eyebrows raised expectantly as she smiled slightly.

"Nothing too bad. I was just calling you David Bowie," Chaeyoung admitted, and Jisoo let out a laugh of surprise while Minzy scolded her daughter. Crossing her arms over her chest as she lingered in the doorway, Jennie gave Chaeyoung a pointed look and her sister rolled her eyes, "relax, Jennie, I haven't brought up anything embarrassing yet. Well, it's debatable whether or not you should be embarrassed about Shirt."

Sighing, Jennie walked over to the cupboard, pouring herself a glass of wine and carrying the bottle over to the table, topping off Minzy's and Lisa's glasses before sitting down next to Jisoo. "His name wasn't Shirt ," Jennie huffed, her cheeks turning rosy, "and I can see this dinner is already off to a great start. Thank you, Chaeng."

Jisoo leaned to the side slightly, her shoulder brushing against Jennie's, and Jennie smiled at her, taking in the humour flickering in Jisoo's unfocused eyes as she smiled, "my bad. I accidentally brought up my colourful wardrobe and your black eye from last time they were in town."

Resting a hand on Jisoo's knee, Jennie let out a quiet laugh, her eyes crinkling at the corners, "just don't listen to anything she says."

"Please, I came for all the gossip," Jisoo laughed, "I need to find out all of the dirt on you."

"Or we could just enjoy dinner," Jennie suggested.

"Jennie helped me make curry," Minzy told everyone, helping turn the topic away from her daughters embarrassing each other to try and cover for themselves, looking slightly amused as she climbed to her feet.

The table was already set, and the smell of spices hung heavy in the air, growing stronger as a pot of bubbling Tikka Masala was taken off the stove and put into a bowl, before it was brought over to the table, placed in the middle alongside a bowl of golden saffron rice. The vivid reddish curry had turned out surprisingly well, in Jennie's opinion, and she'd spent most of the morning worrying over it, having never cooked a proper dish for Jisoo before. Usually they are sandwiches or ordered takeaway, and she'd wanted to make something good, but, being a bit of a terrible chef had meant that she'd enlisted Minzy's help and gotten her mom to do most of the work. Setting a plate of naan down on the table, right next to the water jug and some samosas, Minzy sat down with a smile.