Jenlisa one-shot

Somewhere on the Boat

It's Hanbin who says, after she outlines the problem and asks for his help. "You could hire someone."

Jennie frowns at him. "Hire someone to what?"

"To come to the thing with you. People do that, all the time."

It still takes her a second to figure it out. "You want me to hire a hooker?"

"An escort. If you hire a hooker, they're just going to be confused when you want them to hang out on a boat instead of just having sex with you."

"Yeah, that would be the confusing part of this." She rubs her face. "You really won't do it?"

"Look, don't get me wrong, I'm sympathetic. Breakups suck, and breakups suck even more when you've got some bullshit company thing to go on. But I can't take a week off of my job to go on a cruise and pretend I'm into you. There are people who actually do this for a living, they'll be better at it and you can afford to pay."

She drums her fingers on the table. "Can I?"

"Okay, I don't actually know how much it costs, but you'd have to be compensating me for whatever I was doing too somehow, and I'd be bad at it, so it would be awkward as hell and still expensive. But I know an escort agency you can call."

"Wait, you do? How?"

"Mino."

It is, admittedly, not much of a surprise, and if he'd asked her to guess, it's probably the answer she would have come up with. Hanbin has a lot of weird friends, but Mino is the only one she'd peg for being involved in the escort business. He's just got that kind of vibe. "Is he involved as a customer or a professional?" She asks.

"He runs it."

"Of course he does."

"Hey, he might give you a deal, and he liked you."

"Yeah, because that wouldn't be weird."

He shrugs. "Honestly? It wouldn't. It's a business that he runs. This is LA, gross old dudes hire escorts every day of the week so people will think they have dates to things. I get that it's not exactly what you were planning, but unless you can find someone who has enough time off to do this with you, it's your only option other than just telling your boss that you and your girlfriend broke up. Which, by the way, is a good option and you should think about it."

"I know. But it's seriously this whole thing," She says. "Like, the boss is really fucking into work/life balance and wants us to be fulfilled outside of work. I'm not saying I'm not going to get this promotion if he finds out I'm single, but if he does then this whole cruise is going to be about my breakup and not my job. Which would defeat the whole point of going on the cruise. At least for me."

"So then call him. Tell him what's going on and he'll tell you if he can do it and how much it's going to cost. You're not going to be any worse off if you decide not to do it," He adds. "Might as well find out the options."

"And you can't do it."

"Sorry, but I really can't. A night or two? Sure, no problem. But I don't have the vacation time for a week off, and honestly, even if I did? I wouldn't really want to use that many hours doing you a favor that sounds like actual torture."

She feels her mouth twitch. "Yeah, okay. I wouldn't want to either. But hiring an escort feels like--"

"It's the way you can get a date for a whole week, one who will actually make you look good and talk you up. You don't have to do it, but I'm pretty sure it's that or telling the truth."