Jisoo makes a connection, and Joy gets a surprise
Madame Park's Academy
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Jisoo awoke to find herself in Suyeon's bed, alone, with sun streaming in through the window. Blinking against the bright light, she got up and started gathering her clothes. Once she was dressed, she ventured out to see where everyone else was and why they had let her sleep so late. She found Joy sitting alone in the parlor.
"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Joy said cheerfully.
Jisoo looked around, still not entirely awake. "Good morning," she finally said. "What time is it? And where is everybody?"
Joy laughed softly. "It's nearly 10 o'clock. We've still got four hours before we have to be at Mrs. Kim Tae Yon's garden party. And if by 'everybody' you mean Jennie and Suyeon, they went out shopping right after breakfast. I imagine they'll be back soon."
"What did I miss?" Jisoo asked. "Why did you let me sleep so late?"
"To answer the second question first," Joy said, "we let you sleep so late because you had a busy day yesterday, I would think you probably had a busy night last night, and you need to be at top form for Mrs. Kim Tae Yon's garden party. As for your first question, you can read about it in the newspaper while I go fix a pot of the Sumatran coffee that Mr. Kang brought by for you to try."
"Mr. Kang was here?" Jisoo asked as she picked up the newspaper.
Joy nodded. "He said to tell you that our mutual friends are very pleased." She stood up to go to the kitchen. "The story you want is at the top of page 3," she added helpfully as she left the room.
Jisoo turned to page 3 and read, then reread the article about the European saboteurs who were apprehended outside the naval base with a wagon full of explosives. She was pleased to see that - at least in the report given to the Busan star - there was nothing to tie the events back to her. The police credited "an anonymous informant" with providing the information that enabled them to make this important arrest.
She had just finished rereading the article and was folding the paper when Joy came in with the coffee things on a tray. It smelled heavenly.
"I also warmed you up a couple of the tarts that Suyeon made this morning," Joy said as she set the tray down on the table in front of Jisoo. She poured Jisoo a cup of coffee with sugar and milk, just the way she liked it, then poured a second cup with just sugar for herself.
"Suyeon baked tarts this morning?" Jisoo asked. "What time did she get up?"
Joy shrugged. "I really don't know. She had just taken the tarts out of the oven and was fixing tea when Jennie and I woke up at 8."
"And when did you see Mr. Kang?" Jisoo asked.
"Oh, I didn't," Joy replied breezily, helping herself to a piece that had broken off of Jisoo's tart. "He came by the tradesmen's entrance and gave the coffee and the message to Suyeon."
Jisoo had just taken a bite of the tart when she heard the front door open. She quickly put down her plate and adjusted her grip on her table knife - it wasn't much of a weapon, but it was better than nothing. Fortunately, it turned out to be Jennie and Suyeon returning from their shopping trip. After a curtsy and a "Good morning, ma'am," Suyeon disappeared into the kitchen with the shopping bag and Jennie sat down next to Joy on the couch.
"Where have you been this morning?" Jennie asked.
"I read in the paper this morning about a new shop that had opened up and I got Suyeon to take me there since I don't know my way around the city," Jennie said as she accepted the cup of coffee that Joy had poured for her.
"What kind of shop?" Jisoo asked curiously.
"A juice shop," Jennie said. Seeing the confusion on Jisoo's face, she elaborated. "They buy all manner of fruits and they've got an electric machine that squeezes the juice out of them much more quickly than you could do by hand. We got a gallon of orange juice, a gallon a grapefruit juice, and a quart of lemon juice to use for cooking."
Jisoo narrowed her eyes as she looked at Jennie over the rim of her coffee cup. "And when did you become so interested in juice?" she asked.
Jennie took a sip of her coffee and then put her cup down. "I just noticed that one of our number is exceedingly fond of juice, and thought this would be a good thing to look into," she said said, completely failing in her attempt to sound nonchalant. Jisoo smiled - she had known Jennie long enough to understand the actual message Jennie was conveying here even though Jennie wouldn't - or couldn't - explain it using words. Generally the times that Jennie could express her emotions using words were the times like the previous night - when she
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