Absent Virtues | { COMPLETED }

Part 3 🫶

They pull up to the top of the parking structure, finding a spot far away from any other cars, and Jennifer visibly relaxes. Kazuha pretends not to notice, instead digging in the bag of food, where she miraculously finds two sodas and enough napkins to save even her from a mess. She's definitely stopping by that sundae place tomorrow, she owes that auntie his life.

She also pretends not to vibrate with anticipation as she hands Jennifer her food, watching through her peripheral as she reaches up to take off her mask.

And, holy shit . Kazuha had pretty much convinced herself that Jennifer must be completely busted from the nose down, or just be some sort of empty, bottomless void that defies space and time. It would only be fair, considering that the top half of her face looks like something out of an anime or Kazuha's pipe dreams. So when she pulls it off to reveal the most beautiful person Kazuha's ever seen, she can't stop the way she chokes on her bite of sundae in shock.

"Oh my god—are you okay?" She asks, completely cruel and attractive in her concern as she hands Kazuha a napkin.

"Yeah, just," Kazuha sputters, catching her breath. She looks Jennifer square in the eyes, because, well, fuck it. "You're extremely hot and I wasn't exactly prepared."

Jennifer laughs, her face going red, which is totally endearing and unfair. "My apologies."

"It's okay, but I see why you wear the mask, now." Kazuha turns back to her food, never one to lose her nerve because of a pretty face (maybe her ability to swallow properly but—that's unimportant). "That thing is a weapon, and should only be used with extreme discretion."

Jennifer cracks up, and Kazuha makes a silent promise to make her do that as often as she can. It's a very nice sound, after all.

They dig in, and talk about pretty much anything and everything. She asks Kazuha about moving to Korea, and how she managed to end up working at her best friend's family's restaurant part-time, and Kazuha tells her about her adventures of being a foreigner in a new country, as well as her decision to pursue culinary school in Korea after training for a while in Japan. Jennifer nods as she chews, and it's the first time in a long time that Kazuhas really feels like someone's listening as she talks. Because, she loves her friends, and they're good to her, but she knows she can be taxing sometimes. Jennifer just sits back, though, laughing at her terrible jokes and asking her about cooking or Japan or her friends.

Jennifer, however, is painfully vague in his descriptions at the beginning, but by the time their bag is empty and Kazuha's sitting sideways in his seat, facing her with her body, she starts to wear down. She's from Seoul, but she used to visit her family in New york all the time when she was little, and only recently made the decision to come back more often. She's a musician, and she says she's still studying, which is why she decided to come and work with a few producers in Seoul. She gets horrible homesickness, and likes to drink bubble tea and watch movies when it gets bad. She also has been learning Japanese for a few years, but never really had the chance to use it much back in the US, which is why she wanted to try at the restaurant. This, Kazuha finds hilarious, and is leaning forward in her seat with laughter when Jennifer tells her.

"You're mean and awful and I regret telling you." Jennifer pouts, crossing her arms, but Kazuha sees the twinkle in her eyes.

She sits up, stuttering to catch her breath. "I'm sorry, you're right, but it's so funny," Jennifer rolls her eyes and shoves her shoulder. "You're in Korea , Jen. Did you seriously think that just because it's a Japanese restaurant, everyone was going to be able to speak Japanese?"

"I don't know! I mean, you do speak Japanese, don't you?"

"Yes, but what if I didn't?" Kazuha snorts, but tries to collect herself at Jennifer's expression. She mostly fails, but it's the thought that counts.