Absent Virtues | { COMPLETED }

Part 5 🫶

"That," Kazuha answers, voice shaking. "Is my mystery date."

Garam's eyes widen, then narrow in disbelief. "You can't be serious, unnie. Jennifer Huh? She's, like, the most famous person in America right now."

Kazuha makes a strangled sound in the back of her throat. Sakura laughs, colorless. "The mummy. That explains why she came in all wrapped up."

"And why she was so anxious about being around people." Kazuha's voice is strained, because oh my god . "All of her texts were in English. She said she was giving me her personal number ," She groans. "I asked her if she had a landline!"

Garam lets out a laugh, still in disbelief. It transforms all the way into a fit of giggles, and Kazuha's only slightly tempted to deck her. "Unnie, is this a drama? You went on a date with Jennifer Huh ?"

"Apparently." Kazuha is in pain. So much pain.

Sakura snorts, which is just rude at this point. "You made out with Jennifer Huh ."

Kazuha groans, deep from the bottom of her soul. Of course, she made out with an international celebrity, completely unaware of who she is. Why not?

And, of course, she really fucking likes her. Naturally, the first girl Kazuha hits it off with since high school has to be some giant fucking celebrity.

Garam scoffs, irritated at Kazuha's crisis. Again, rude . "You have to talk to her, Unnie!"

"What?"

"Oh my god, Unnie." Garam leans across the counter. "She gave you her personal number. She obviously likes you! You have to call her."

Which. Kazuha had been too involved in panic mode to really consider that. She bites her lip, and glances between Sakura and Garam. Sakura looks more amused than anything, which is upsetting, but whatever.

"Okay, yeah." She says, slowly gaining her nerve back. So what, if she's an international celebrity? She ate sundae in her car and tried to speak garbled Japanese at Kazuha less than 24 hours ago. "Yeah, yeah !" Kazuha yells, and takes off into her bedroom.

She snatches up her phone and pulls up Jennifer's contact. She's vaguely aware of Garam hissing oh my god unnie not right now somewhere in the background, but she's already walking into the kitchen as she presses the call button. The line rings three times before she's connected, and she gets a chill that travels the whole way up her spine when Jennifer answers.

" Good morning, sunshine. "

"Hi. Good morning." She forces out, trying not to let the velvet of Jennifer's morning voice catch her off guard, and barrels through because hot damn she can't lose steam now. "Question."

Jennifer laughs a little at that, and Kazuha really wishes it wasn't so fucking distracting. " Okay, yes? "

"Were you going to tell me that you're an international celebrity, or was I supposed to figure it out on my own? Like, a treasure hunt or something?" Yeah, subtlety. Not her thing.

There's silence over the line, and Kazuha watches as Sakura tries to stifle her giggles and Garam holds her head in her hands. Then, there's a snort followed by a spout of laughter.

" Can I pick you up? In like, 20 minutes? "

Well. It's stupid, once again. Because Jenniffer's already started their whatever-this-is by leaving out some pretty key information. And, she didn't really answer the question. She could be a terrible, awful person, using Kazuha as some sort of cover story or fuel for her next album. Kazuha knows all of this, and also knows that she really shouldn't say yes, if not for her own sanity, but for the people who care about her. But there's a pull, in the bottom of his stomach, something new and familiar all at once. And, really, who is Kazuha not to listen to it?