The Christmas Party

A Christmas Miracle

I sat at work drumming my fingers on my desk and obsessively checking my text messages. So far, Taehyung told me that the one coworker he'd been comfortable asking said no and he was definitely joking about asking a parent, even though I begged him to ask someone else.

I asked about Jennie's coworkers. Taehyung said she probably wasn't going to ask and only said yes to appease me. I was outraged, so I texted her.

Me: Any luck with asking one of your coworkers to go with me?

I had to wait a few hours until she replied, but about 2pm she finally got back to me.

Jennie: You're still on this?

Me: I would never joke about something so serious.

Jennie: Wow.

Me: So?

Jennie: I'll be honest: I didn't ask anyone and I'm not going to.

Me: WHY?!

Jennie: Because it's weird and I'm not going to make myself look bad at my firm to help you.

Me: I thought we were friends...

Jennie: I keep telling you that you're friends with my brother and the only reason we hang out is because you insist on hanging out at my apartment.

Me: Rude.

Jennie: Good luck.

Me: Seriously?? That's it??

Jennie: I gotta go lunch is over.

Me: That was the shortest lunch break in the history of lunch breaks.

Jennie: Ha. This was one of my longer ones.

Me: :( Fine. Have a good day at work.

There it was: I'd struck out. No one wanted to be my fake girlfriend and Soojoo was going to win.

"It's fucking Christmas," I muttered under my breath. "Aren't people supposed to be charitable?"

"Did you say something?" Jungkook asked.

"What? Oh no, sorry. Just talking to myself."

"Huh."

I smiled at Jungkook then returned to my computer. I stared blankly at the screen. My brain shut off. I guess I was giving up and admitting defeat. Or it was time to download Bumble. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I unlocked my phone and was brought back to Jennie's messages. I stared at her contact photo for a few seconds. I swallowed and decided that maybe my mom was right: it was time to ask Jennie.

It was risky; truly it was: I didn't know if Jennie would throw me out or ban me from the apartment or laugh at me when I asked her-these were all very viable options. Jennie had a temper but she also had a sense of humor. God, now I was overanalyzing my best friend's sister.

I took a deep breath.

Focus, Soo. Focus. You know a lot about Jennie. Stuff you've unintentionally learned over the years, but stuff you know none the less.

The likelihood that she would be mad at me for asking? About 40 percent. The likelihood of her laughing at me? 50 percent. The likelihood of her throwing me out? Probably nine percent. That left a one percent chance of her saying yes to me. I guess that one percent was still better than the zero percent chance I had of finding someone else.

Alright, game plan. Let's go!

After work I stopped at a florist and picked out a bouquet of Jennie's favorite flowers Blue Rose. Then I stopped in the store to buy a box of chocolates and hot chocolate and plucked a bottle of Jennie's favorite wine from the shelf. I walked through the store looking down every aisle. Was I missing anything else?