Miss J | Jensoo

Ch48. Favours

It was a cool night with clear skies and a bright half-moon. Jisoo and Rosé were doing the dishes after dinner, while everyone else was scattered around the house, out of earshot.

"We finally did it. We found her," Rosé shot Jisoo a smile as she wiped a wet plate.

It was out of the blue but in a way, Jisoo saw it coming too. Although they kept each other updated, they had not held a proper agent meeting in a while, the kind in which they would talk freely about work and life, the past and the future.

"Yeah, it's been a long road of obstacles," Jisoo kept her gloved hands elbow-deep in the sink full of bubbles, scrubbing and rinsing each dinnerware before placing it into the neighbouring sink of clean water for Rosé. She playfully bumped shoulders, "Time to claim that pay raise, eh?"

The way Rosé laughed and shook her head was mellow, "Well... I think maybe it's time to claim something else, actually."

Sensing something was weighing on her best friend's mind and about to spill, Jisoo silently scrubbed and watched as the girl placed the now dry plate onto the rack and retrieved a washed bowl from the sink, repeating the toweling process. Rosé was averting her gaze and chewing on her lips, a clear sign of nerves.

True enough, Rosé carried on, keeping her hands busy. "Instead of a pay raise or a new mission, how about," she shrugged like she had not spent nights thinking about it, "I don't know, love, for example?"

Ah, so that's what it is.

Jisoo hummed thoughtfully, sponging the insides of a metal pot with soap. She would let her best friend verbally untangle everything in her head, without interrupting.

"When I pass an old couple, silver-haired and wrinkly but still joined at the hands, I wonder if I can ever find something like they have, you know? This special someone I can share my life with," Rosé huffed through her nose and smiled.

"Then I remind myself of the kind of job I have, the relocation and danger and unpredictability of each mission, and those lovey-dovey thoughts get shoved behind to second place. But these days...," she paused her toweling and looked out the window at the moon.

"...I realize those thoughts don't budge as much anymore, they're like, stuck in my head and screaming for attention."

Rinsing the bulky pot, Jisoo quietly ruminated on every word spewing out of Rosé's mouth. This was clearly very important to the girl, who was very important to Jisoo.

Suddenly grabbing Jisoo's shoulder, Rosé rushed, almost blabbering, "Don't get me wrong! I love the job, I really do," then she slowed, her hand sliding off Jisoo's shoulder and back to fidgeting with the dishcloth between her fingers, "but it's just... I love Lisa more."

The last part was said so softly Jisoo would have lost it to the sound of running water if she had not turned off the tap in time. After pausing for a fraction of a second, Jisoo lifted the clean pot out of the sink and onto the countertop, peeled off her gloves and dried her arms as she watched Rosé get to work on the metal ware, the last one for today.

"I remember you once told me we're storytellers, and I believe that," Rosé nodded absentmindedly as her hands habitually glided the cloth along the pot's body, "and I think that the next story I want to tell would be my love story with Lisa. For once, there's a tale I actually wish and beg a happy ending for, Unnie."

Jisoo thought Rosé's smile would be bittersweet at best, but she was wrong – it was one of contentment and bliss, spreading on Rosé's lips as if she had found the final missing puzzle piece. And Jisoo could only imagine how beautiful the completed picture must look like to her best friend.