Chapter Text
By the time they return home from their night out, it's clear that most of them are exhausted. Rumi certainly is; all of the drinking, panicking, and emotional whiplash mixed together isn't the most enjoyable state of mind. Unfortunately, they also have to wash off the kaleidoscope of paint layered onto them.
They only have four showers. They're located in two different areas of the house: two by the bathroom, and two outside by the pool. Each allow for privacy, but are also opened just above the shoulders so people can carry on conversations and remain on camera. Something Rumi still isn't quite used to, but she's too tired at the moment to properly overthink it.
The logical conclusion would be for the couples to double up to save time, but Rumi tries to maintain some sense of boundaries between her and Jinu. After washing her body and successfully cleaning out the end of her braid, she realizes that she can't get the rest of her hair without help. For a moment, she considers asking Mira or Zoey. They're right next door, in the adjacent shower. She could put her swimsuit on and one of them could…
Would that be weird? After she's confirmed her big gay crush on the both of them, and they've agreed that they're good. Suddenly inviting one of them into her shower feels like a step in a different direction. And, well, now that she's thinking about it, they'd be awfully close and maybe naked and even if they were only touching her hair she'd still be able to feel them. Considering how haywire her emotions get when they're all fully clothed, that would no doubt be incredibly intimate. Something she absolutely isn't ready for, but her exhausted and alcohol filtered mind boils it down to fuck it, why not?
Regardless, she can't play that off as friends helping each other to any onlookers. Even if that's exactly what it is. It feels incredibly risky, and not something she wants to put to the test after how long this night has been.
She sulks for a minute or two before calling for Jinu. He is helpful, but also can't help but quip about her maybe cutting her hair soon. Lucky for him, she's too tired to snark back.
When she finally collapses into bed, there's so much relief that courses through her, she passes out immediately.
---
They're woken up the next morning with another alarm—softer, at least, but still loud enough to trigger a chorus of groans throughout the room. Some of which contain genuine despair, likely due to mind splitting hangovers getting dragged to light. They're gently told to gather outside, dressed comfortably for a meditation session. It isn't specified if this is somehow a challenge, but production seems to be taking pity on those of them who partied a little too hard last night.
"Oh my god, I love you," Zoey says from a couple of beds down. Rumi looks over, pushing past the dull headache blooming on either sides of her head. Zoey is downing a full glass of water, pausing only to swipe a couple of painkillers off of her side table and down those, too.
Mira must have left those for her, either in the middle of the night or just before they all woke up. She'd also opted out of drinking last night, and thus doesn't appear to be hindered by anything other than the usual lack of sleep.
That's sweet of her; prepping something for the moment Zoey wakes up.
Speaking of, she should see about getting her own glass of water. She should have been hydrating up until bed, but the paint in hair situation took up the majority of her brain power.
Rumi closes her eyes and takes a steadying breath, appreciating the moment of calm and lessening pain. Then she slowly shifts over, turning her body to sit up, and carefully opens her eyes again. Briefly, she thinks she's imagining the image of a glass of water and two small pills on her own side table. But she blinks and they're still there.
Without moving, she says, "Jinu…?"
"Hm?"
"Did you… put these here?"
He moves from behind her, leaning back to look over her shoulder. "Uh… Yeah. Sure did."
Even if his tone was believable, he hesitates too long between confirmation. She looks back across the room to find Mira, who seems to be pointedly not looking in their direction at the moment. Rumi smiles and says, "Thank you."
It's at a normal volume, technically responding to Jinu, but she hopes Mira hears it anyway.
---
Out in the yard they form a semi circle around Bobby, each couple finding a mat and sitting down facing each other. They're told to put their hands on their partner's shoulders, look into each other's eyes, and "breathe as one." Some couples adjust to the breathing exercises better than others, but it's difficult to tell if that's due to a lack of compatibility or a lack of enthusiasm for the activity.
Rumi believes she's handling it well. It's a little strange, because she doesn't usually stare so closely at her best friend, but it isn't necessarily uncomfortable. She isn't even drifting her gaze off to someone else that much. Two someone elses.
Jinu pinches her shoulder, voice lowered to an almost breathless whisper as he says, "You couldn't be more obvious if you tried."
Well, fuck.
She tears her eyes away and back to him. At least her headache isn't that strong anymore. It's still present, but more manageable; the meditation also seems to be helping. Then again, maybe that's the painkillers kicking in. "Sorry."
"You know you can stare at me and fantasize about whatever you want?" He raises an eyebrow.
Believe it or not, that thought doesn't comfort her.
"What, you get permission to thirst after someone and suddenly you're a menace?" He asks. "I'd be proud if we were literally anywhere else but here."
She attempts to pinch his shoulder in return but it doesn't seem to deter him much.
With one last audible exhale, Bobby asks them to turn their attention to him so he can explain the next exercise. Only a couple of them are actively ducking away from the sunlight, not as lucky in their hangover recovery.
"Now, it's no secret that most of us aren't perfect," Bobby says, hands held out casually. "Especially when it comes to relationships. We all have our own baggage or past issues that hang onto us, and bringing those up in a relationship is inevitable. It's important to be open with each other; to understand where your partner is coming from if they have a concern, or even if you have a concern about them.
"So, I want you to give your partner one compliment, as well as one criticism, and then we move on to the next person. No arguing, no trying to win at something that isn't a competition. We are in a safe place where you shouldn't be afraid to speak openly."
They silently glance at each other; all of them in the half circle. It could be perfectly fine and cathartic, but it's also just as likely that an argument will begin to fester underneath at least one couple.
"Rumi and Jinu, would the two of you like to start us off?" Bobby asks.
They might as well get it over with.
Rumi nods, looking to Jinu. He's always saying that he wants to go first in these turns of theirs, so now's a perfect chance.
He lets out a small laugh, shaking his head. "Alright. I guess… Rumi is incredibly resilient. No matter what it is she finds herself in the middle of, she'll come out the other side just as strong. But, because she's been through so much, it makes her want to run instead of face new things head on."
She hadn't expected him to lie, but hearing something so true hits her a little hard. She blinks through the shock a couple of times and then nods. From what Bobby said, she isn't really meant to respond to it.
Rumi also doesn't want to see how the others react to this callout, so she doesn't look away from him.
"Okay. Jinu," she says. "When you care about someone… you do it with your whole heart. It doesn't matter what they might want or need, when you love them, you'll make it happen for them. But when things are going well for you, you… self-sabotage. Like you think you don't deserve it, and then you double down to make sure you don't."
He grimaces for just a second, then tries to put his usual charming yet content expression back into place and nod.
"Thank you for sharing that," Bobby says gently; a tone that Rumi wants to believe. Despite whatever production might be whispering into his ear, he seems genuine. "Abby, Romance, how about you guys?"
Rumi's so caught up on the weight of their exchange—something she and Jinu specifically avoid carrying—that she doesn't process any of the next couple's turn. They're okay; she doesn't think either of them would say something genuinely upsetting, and definitely not on television. But they did drag their most prominent faults to light.
Whatever Abby and Romance said to each other doesn't appear to have stirred up any issues. They're both at some level of hungover, Romance in particular wincing occasionally at an invisible irritant. It's entirely possible that they both made something up in order to get through the activity faster.
The next couple Bobby calls on is Derpy and Sussie. The former of which immediately looks conflicted.
"What if I don't have a criticism?" he asks.
Bobby raises his eyebrows. "Oh. Well. I suppose you could… There must be something. It doesn't have be a trait you necessarily dislike; just something they could work on, or something so good that it circles back around to having negatives to it as well."
Derpy frowns, clearly no closer to an answer. "Okay… I really admire how good you are at understanding people. I feel like you know what's going on the second we enter a room, and I'm still catching up with everything else."
Now that he's made it through the compliment, the trouble on his face gets that much more clear. He crosses his arms, one hand idly pulling at the fabric of his shirt sleeve.
Surely, they could make an exception here. Whether or not their relationship is genuine, forcing him to "criticize" someone he's close to when he is visibly uncomfortable shouldn't be pushed for a television segment. A few of the others around the circle also have concern etched into their expressions, but no one seems to know what to do about it.
Bobby leans forward slightly, though he doesn't get any closer with the movement. "Hey, that's okay. You don't have to—" He suddenly sits up straight again, gaze dropping down and head tilted just slightly to the right. The side he has his earpiece in. He drops the volume of his voice to respond, but it doesn't help with how tight their meditation circle is. "I don't think that's… Are you sure? … I— Yes, sir."
That can't be good.
Bobby sighs, turning back to the couple. "I'm so sorry, Derpy. You do have to complete this exercise."
Sussie starts to shake her head, but Derpy puts a hand out to stop her.
"It's okay. I can do it," he says, though the expression on his face says otherwise. He closes his eyes for a moment, brows furrowed. "You… I guess you…"
"Just make it up," Sussie says, low enough to be a whisper. "It doesn't matter."
He shakes his head this time. "I don't know how to do that. I… Both of us could be better at talking to people? Does that count?"
"It does." The tension drops from Bobby's shoulders for all of five seconds before they stiffen again. "It— It counts, but we need to get you saying it just directed at her. Don't include yourself."
That's just excessive. Rumi can't say she understands exactly what's going on with the man, but she doesn't need to in order to know that this is a step too far. She wants to say something. She wants to… do something. But it just as quickly dawns on her why no one else is saying anything. For the ones who actually seem to be concerned by this situation—which excludes those too hungover to lock in, or the couple who appear to be more confused than anything—interfering could mean jeopardizing their position on the show.
"What, the editors aren't good enough to cut his audio together?" Mira asks, her voice just an octave lower than her usual volume. It's as if she had planned on saying it just to herself but changed her mind at the last second.
Bobby widens his eyes at her, but neither get a chance to continue that line of thought.
"I can…" Derpy says again, forcefully shutting his eyes. "You aren't the best at talking to people."
Sussie grabs him by the forearms, turning to Bobby for confirmation that it was enough. He nods and she leans forward to whisper reassurances to Derpy.
It feels like a private moment that she's eavesdropping on, but they're all sitting too close to pretend otherwise.
Sussie is leaning forward enough that she could rest her forehead against Derpy's easily, but she keeps about an inch of space still between them. Her hands run up and down his arms soothingly. "It's okay. You did good. You don't have to do that again."
"I didn't mean… I didn't want to…" Derpy mutters, eyes still closed.
"You're fine. I'm fine; that was nothing, D," she says. "You couldn't even if you tried. And you did try. Do you hear me?"
He nods, opening his eyes now.
"I'm going to take my turn now, okay? You have the kindest heart of anyone I've ever met. People take advantage of that, and that's why it really hurts when it comes back to bite you." She turns to Bobby again. "That's my criticism and it better fucking pass your little test."
Bobby waits a moment, expression hesitant. "It- It does, yes. Thank you."
This is the most animated they've seen of both Derpy and Sussie, and Rumi can't deny she has a million questions about this entire situation. But it also feels gross to think about how they'll inevitably cut this footage together for some dramatic clickbait-y segment.
Then again, they all knew they were signing up for this. Maybe not to this extent, but the possibility was there. Rumi's run through plenty of worst case scenarios just on a normal day-to-day basis. Prepping for something like this nearly gave her a panic attack. Maybe more than one. But she could do it for Jinu.
She wonders what Derpy and Sussie's reasoning for coming onto this show might be.
---
[Derpy + Sussie Confessional 7a]
"I don't like… talking down to people," Derpy says, gaze locked somewhere below the camera.
An inaudible response comes from offscreen.
"He answered your question," Sussie chimes in. "That's how he sees it. It doesn't matter if you disagree."
"It's not something I like talking about. When I was—" He cuts himself off. "My family was…"
Sussie crosses her arms, shaking her head. "He doesn't want to talk about it. Use your imagination."
---
Steering them into the next couple's turn is, naturally, a little awkward. Bobby tries his best to bring back an enthusiastic yet calm energy to the group. It isn't very successful, but Rumi admires his determination.
He looks at Mira and Zoey, then at Maggie and Mystery, clearly trying to pick someone least likely to bring the vibes back down. Or the most likely to bring the vibe up. He opts for Maggie and Mystery, likely betting on their mostly neutral presence throughout the game.
They seem to take it in stride and turn towards each other, ready to go.
Maggie had been suffering this morning after their night out, but now looks to be faring far better than some of the boys in the group. She takes a deep breath before speaking. "You have this remarkable ability to calm people down, just by sitting next to them. You don't even have to say anything."
With the way Mystery styles his hair down over his face, it's difficult to tell if he's in the hangover club with some of the others. He nods for her to continue—no wince at the sudden movement.
"But you're kind of possessive. If you think someone's encroaching on what's 'yours' you get…" She stops abruptly, eyebrows raised at her partner. "What- Don’t growl at me."
Bobby, at somewhat of a loss, nods in agreement. "You're not supposed to… interject. Let her finish."
"Yes, thank you." She looks at her partner pointedly. "You get aggressive, Mystery."
Mystery purses his lips in response.
"I don’t think I need to elaborate. You did a good job of doing that yourself." Maggie crosses her arms, effectively signaling the end of her turn.
"Hm. Fine," he mutters. "I like your… optimism."
They all seem to be waiting for him to elaborate, but it doesn't come. And after Maggie's turn, it isn't entirely unlikely that he's being sarcastic. His tone and volume are pretty uniform whenever he speaks, and when Rumi can hear him, the inflection is all the same.
"But you're controlling. It's suffocating."
Maggie raises her eyebrows. "Are you kidding?"
Bobby holds up a hand to chime in, but falters before he can actually say anything. He slowly lowers his hand back down.
Mystery simply says, "No."
"You-" She cuts herself off, pausing to take a deep breath. "Okay."
The group remains quiet for another brief stretch of time, anticipating a deeper fight to break out. Maggie doesn't push, though, and Mystery doesn't attempt to provoke her any further.
"Thank you…" Bobby says carefully. "Mira and Zoey, if you would like to go next?"
"Gladly!" Zoey says.
Mira furrows her eyebrows but doesn't actually make a comment.
"Mira." Zoey turns to face her partner better and reaches out to grab her hands. "It's rude of them to only let me say one compliment, 'cause you know I have at least a million, so I guess I'll give you one that goes with a criticism. And I also kind of hate the word 'criticism,' but whatever."
She smiles, nodding for Zoey to continue.
"You're blunt. Everyone here can agree on that. A lot of times you're so focused on not being misunderstood that you forget to look at it from their perspective. Like, how you might be coming across."
Incredibly relevant to the past couple of days. It's strange to feel included in something like this, but Rumi can't deny that she does. It's also almost… nice.
Which makes no sense. It's only a coincidence that she relates to the topic at hand.
"But I really love how direct you are," Zoey adds. "Honestly. You just want everyone to be on the same page, and that really helps when you're someone like me who's constantly worrying over what people are really thinking about them. You've always just… told me."
Rumi also appreciates that Mira doesn't tend to beat around the bush. While it did lead to a few misunderstandings, everything getting cleared up was great for her stress levels.
"You could've picked a worse trait of mine, you know," Mira says.
"And roast you to hell and back in front of everyone? I don’t think the vibes here could take it."
She's not wrong about that.
"I doubt there's anything I could say that I haven't said before." Mira shrugs. "You don't prioritize yourself enough. You're always trying to bring everyone else up, and you forget that you have to pull yourself up, too."
"Oof," Zoey says, but she's smiling. "Yeah, that's true."
Bobby claps his hands together, this time with what seems like actual enthusiasm. Or, more likely, relief. "Great! Thank you both so much."
Mira nods at him while Zoey shoots him a thumbs up.
"That leaves us with…" Bobby turns to the last couple, some of his hesitance from before peeking through. "Lisa and Baby."
The two of them don't appear to be excited about doing this exercise, but their demeanor is more resigned than actively hostile towards each other. Hopefully that doesn't change once they start talking.
"Well, Baby," Lisa says, expression and tone carefully neutral. "One of the things I've always liked about you is your drive. The unwavering determination you have when you really put your mind to it."
Baby blinks, eyebrows raised in clear surprise.
"But that means you're so damn stubborn," she adds. "It's impossible to get you to budge on anything, even when I know you know that you're wrong."
He nods, surprisingly accepting. Maybe all they needed was some space from each other to finally get their shit together.
"That's something we have in common, you know?" Baby says, then looks to Bobby. "Can mine be the same for her? She's stubborn, too, and that's why we butt heads so much."
Bobby tilts his head to the side, waiting for an answer from whoever is in his ear. He shoots a quick look towards Derpy and Sussie, expression falling, before looking right back at Baby. "Yeah, it's okay."
Mira scoffs, lowering her voice this time to say, "Bullshit."
Thankfully, no one acknowledges it.
"Cool. So, a compliment…" Baby continues. "You're always willing to take a chance on something when you believe in it. Even when it won't work out. Even when it's me."
Lisa smiles, almost sadly, and shakes her head. "Where the hell was this when we did those vows, you asshole?"
He shrugs, a hesitant smile also tugging at his lips. "I dunno. I didn't want to look like a wuss on TV?"
"You… Oh my god."
That could have gone much worse, so Rumi is more than relieved that they're finally through with this exercise.
"Okay, that was our last couple, so we've completed today's meditation challenge," Bobby says. Calling it a challenge is a bit much, but sure. If that's what they need to call it for the show, then whatever. "Thank you all so much for participating and listening to what your partner's have to say."
Emphasis on have to, considering Derpy was all but forced to say something in line with whatever games production seems to be playing.
"I'd also like to inform you that the audience has been voting on who they think is the most believable couple here," he adds. "The couple with the most votes will be immune from the vote at the next Truth Ceremony."
Immune?
Their whole semi circle breaks out into chatter and questions, everyone speaking over each other. It's too chaotic for Bobby to answer or clarify anything, and though he tries for a moment, he ultimately just leaves.
It's nearly impossible for them to know who might be in the lead for the audience. Regardless of how they interact with each other, Mira had a point when she mentioned splicing audio together. On the other hand, whatever the results are, they'll get an insight into how they're being portrayed. Or, how positively one couple is being shown.
Unless the editors are incredibly talented, Rumi doesn't have much hope for her and Jinu.
---
Instead of jumping right into strategizing, Rumi thinks it would be a good time to help Mira in the kitchen. She'd promised she would at some point, and it might be nice to cool down from that mess of an exercise with something… calming?
She thinks it's calming, but she doesn't know much about how Mira operates when trying to cook.
She also wants to check in with Derpy and Sussie and make sure they're okay. But as soon as they dispersed from their meditation circle, the two took off. It's hard, not knowing these people well enough to know what they actually need, but she thinks it's better to give them space for a bit. Maybe offer them food later in hopes that it eases their nerves some more.
"Is there a dish you want to try?" Rumi asks, noticing that Mira is currently flipping through the same recipe book she'd had the other night. In all honestly, Rumi doesn't quite know what she's doing. But, as long as they have a recipe, she believes they can find a rhythm and make something good.
Mira's focus is locked in on the pages in front of her. Her brow remains slightly furrowed in concentration, leaning forward against one of the countertops, forearms resting on the surface.
"Mira?" Rumi's only a few steps away. She had been looking through their fridge to see what they have available, idly wondering if production would retrieve them something else if they asked for it. She doubts it would be necessary—they might be somewhere in western Europe, but there's a fair amount of recognizable Korean ingredients at their disposal. Something she's more comfortable working with.
This time Mira does look up, straightening to stand, which in the process makes her gaze slide slightly back down due to her height. "Sorry, what?"
"Are you looking for something specific?" Rumi asks. "Or, maybe a category or something. Like, a stew or some dumplings? I'm not sure how complicated you want to go."
Mira sighs, tossing the book onto the counter. "I want to say I don't need to be babied through anything, but it might be smarter to play it… on the safer side."
"Okay. Do you want… me to pick something?"
"Would you?"
"Oh." She hadn't expected Mira to take her up on that. "Yeah. Sure."
Rumi grabs the book from the counter, flipping through it for a moment and stopping on the first things that looks doable with their ingredients and skill sets. "Japchae? We could make enough for the whole house."
Mira ruminates on it momentarily before nodding. "Sure. But if we fuck it up, this never happened."
The odds of them screwing up a stir-fry that badly seem low to Rumi, but at this point she isn't putting the possibility completely out of her mind.
They assemble their ingredients in silence, setting everything out and easily accessable as they get into the actual cooking phase. Rumi—after they both wash their hands—takes on the task of chopping up vegetables, asking Mira to slice up and marinate some beef strips.
Onions, carrots, red bell peppers, shiitake mushrooms, all chopped into thin strips and then set aside so she can check what their next step is. Rumi glances down the long counter to see Mira's progress, only to see her leaning sideways against the counter with her arms crossed. The bowl of beef absorbing its flavors—soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, rice wine—silently as Mira watches her with a raised eyebrow.
Rumi jumps, nearly knocking the knife off of the cutting board. She regains control of her heartrate and carefully pushes the knife farther away from the edge of the counter. "I didn't- How long were you watching me?"
"Not long." She shrugs. "You gave me a shorter task than you gave yourself."
Rumi casts a glance at her vegetables. "I thought you might find it boring."
"Just ask next time. You don't have to guess at how I'm feeling."
She isn't sure if she agrees with that, but nods anyway.
They take care of scrambling up a couple of eggs and frying that up, essentially making a plain omelet to then slice up and add to their collection of food strips. The next step is sautéing the vegetables in oil, and they run into the question of whether or not they can do all the vegtables at once in the same pan.
"I think they're separated on purpose," Rumi says, double checking their recipe for clarification. It, of course, does not specify.
"Wouldn't it be faster to do it all together?" Mira asks. "Don't the flavors, like, mix together or something?"
That kind of sounds correct, but Rumi swears something in her memory is telling her that's not necessarily the case. "Maybe, but… Look. The carrots are way thinner than the onions. They wouldn't cook at the same rate. Our carrots would burn or the onions wouldn't be cooked enough."
Mira ponders over that for a beat. "You are the teacher here. One at a time it is."
Rumi has a feeling she's lucky that it's Mira she's working with right now. She has a strong suspicion that Zoey might have already tossed it all into the same skillet.
The two of them oversee the sautéing for the first couple of items and then Rumi leaves Mira to take over the rest; including eventually cooking the beef. Rumi works on blanching some spinach, but that hardly takes any time at all, so she's quickly moving on to cook their sweet potato glass noodles.
Once all of that is done, they just need to mix together the sauce—which is just more soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and some pepper.
"So…" Mira says, looking at all of their completed ingredients. "We just toss it all together now?"
Rumi looks over the food as well, almost nodding her agreement, when she gets to the noodles. "Almost. We need to mix most of the sauce into the noodles first so they absorb the flavors."
"Oh, now we're mixing the flavors," Mira says, faux annoyance lacing her tone. Rumi still looks to make sure she isn't actually upset and is relieved to see a smile on the other girl's face.
With that clarification, there isn't much else for them to do but toss it all together in one large dish. With it laid out before them, completed, the two stare at the food almost like they're unsure of what to do next.
"Do you want to taste it?" Rumi asks.
Mira gives her a confused look. "Why? You want me to make sure it doesn't suck?"
Rumi nearly rolls her eyes. "No, I'll try it with you. We can do it at the same time if it's that important to you."
Mira huffs out a laugh, then turns to the cabinets to find some dishes for them to put their own little servings on.
They do opt to taste it at the same time, and Rumi sees in Mira's expression that they're thinking the same thing. It's pretty good. The noodles are just barely on the cusp of mushy, so they might've cooked them just a tad too long, but otherwise nothing strange stands out.
"Missing one thing," Mira mutters, returning to their stash of ingredients and pulling out a small jar of chili flakes. It makes sense that she'd want a bit of spice for hers, but Rumi watches as Mira pours far more over her bowl than should legally be allowed.
"Are you…?" Rumi starts, trailing off. "That's a lot of chili."
Mira shakes her head, taking a bite of the abomination without so much as flinching. "Can never have too much."
Idly, Rumi wonders if there's a connection between all that spice and Mira's hair color—much like how a flamingo turns pink. But she shakes it off just as quickly because chili flakes are a dark red and not that pinker color. "How are you alive?"
"Stubbornness, mostly." Mira holds her bowl out to Rumi. "You want to try?"
"I fear for my life if I say yes." Although she says this, she is reaching out to take some. She's acting against her better judgment, but she is really curious.
At first, after taking a bite, she thinks she might have been overestimating how bad it might be. She should have known it would take a second to set in. The burning sensation spreads from her tongue to her throat and she coughs involuntarily. It's in every corner of her mouth. She may as well be breathing fire.
If she weren't so focused on staying alive and breathing, she might wonder if she'll ever be able to taste anything again.
"I guess I've built up more of a tolerance than I realized," she vaguely hears Mira saying.
Rumi looks at her, tears in her eyes. "I think that burned my tongue off."
"Want me to kiss it better?"
That shocks her entirely out of her spice induced suffering. "What?"
"What?" Mira parrots back. She furrows her eyebrows. "I mean… Uh… No, I don't think I can walk that one back."
Walk it back?
She must be used to flirting with Zoey while they cook back home, or something. That, or Rumi severely misheard her, though that doesn't explain why Mira would attempt to rephrase it.
"Can we come in yet?" Zoey calls out, presumably from outside one of the doorways. "It smells good and we're hungry! Please!"
"Yeah, come on," Mira responds, already going to pull out a few more dishes.
Zoey bursts into the room, Jinu trailing behind far less energetically. The two go directly for the stools on the opposite side of the kitchen counter, hopping into the seats as they eye the food set out. Mira slides a couple of the dishes over to them so they can serve themselves.
Rumi would rather not linger on whatever the hell interaction she just had with Mira, so she circles the counter to take the stool between Zoey and Jinu. She places her own bowl in front of her and then slumps over, leaning to the side to rest. Mostly rest her mind; chopping might have been a little bit of a workout, but it's hardly left her sore.
There's a hum from the other side of the counter as Mira begins to clean up some of their cooking mess. Then, "Wrong partner, Rumi."
Wrong partner? What could that possibly mean—
Mira raises her eyebrows, pointedly looking to Rumi's left.
Rumi attempts to look as well, quickly realizing that what she's leaning against is a person. Not Jinu, but a very still and slightly red Zoey.
"Oh! Sorry." Rumi straightens up immediately. "I didn't- I don't know why I…"
Zoey makes an indignant sort of whine. "Mira!"
Mira shrugs helplessly.
"You can use me as a pillow whenever you want," Zoey says, now looking at Rumi with a softer expression.
Rumi… looks at Jinu. She knows he isn't likely to help her—she isn't sure if she even needs help, maybe just a lifeline.
All he does is sigh. "We are so screwed."
---
They eat their meal together, Mira joining them on their side of the counter with her bowl made of pure fire. Rumi nearly asks how Zoey feels about the spice level Mira seems to like her food at, but that quickly falls into different questions that she probably shouldn't voice aloud. Nor on camera.
Like, wait do you kiss her when she's that hot? I mean, not hot, but— It is hot. Spicy. Not sexual spicy. Or, it kind of is if you're kissing. Maybe. What if—? No, nevermind. I'm not thinking about—
And naturally, that reminds her of the comment earlier that she isn't thinking about, so that line of conversation is absolutely off the table.
They don't sit in silence very long, and it's unsurprisingly Zoey who breaks the silence. She leans forward to look down at Jinu and ask, "So, what's your sob story?"
Jinu falters with his next bite, leaning over his bowl so the food doesn't fall outside of it. "Excuse me?"
"Rumi said—" Zoey cuts herself off. "I mean. We're here trying to win money, right? We've all got big emotional backstories. Don't we?"
Jinu stares at her, clearly contemplating over whether or not he can trust her. He raises his eyebrows. "You first."
Zoey smiles, rolling her eyes. "Bullied a lot. Parents so divorced they put a whole ocean of distance between each other."
"Ah. Classic." Jinu nods. "Poor family. I… made some bad decisions that made things worse for us. For them. I'm working to turn that all around."
"Aw," she says, resting her face in her hand, elbow against the counter. "How noble."
Aside from the rapid back and forth from them sitting on either side of her, Rumi is also somewhat disoriented by how lightheartedly they're talking about this. Maybe at a certain point you become desensitized to it, but that idea is so strange to her.
Jinu leans forward this time, waiting for Zoey to sit back up so they can look at Mira more easily. Apparently, it's her turn to share.
She shrugs. "Parents disowned me when I turned nineteen."
"Oh, shit," Jinu mutters.
"Yeah."
"You don't want to elaborate?"
She shakes her head. "Not currently, no."
Now it's their turn to look at Rumi.
She's meant to be sharing her trauma, but she kind of thought she'd already done that. But they're waiting and they expect her to say something.
"What? I don't…" She looks from the two on one side of her to Jinu, and back. "I don't have a sob story."
They give her doubtful looks.
Even Jinu says, "You absolutely do, Rums."
"How? I grew up with everything I could have needed," she says. "Celine was… We have our ups and downs, but she loves me. Family, money, a place to call home… I wasn't bullied, either."
She specifically leaves out that there wasn't much of an opportunity for her to be bullied—Celine taught her at home, so she didn't have that socializing maze to navigate through. But she's trying to express that she can't relate to their problems; which obviously means she doesn't have any worth sharing.
"Rumi…" Jinu says softly.
"What?"
"You're literally an orphan."
Oh. That's not quite what she thought he was getting at. "Yes, but I never knew either of my parents. My mom—"
She doesn't get cut off, but she can't seem to finish the sentence anyway. It gets stuck in her throat like that chili powder; but she doesn't know why. All she was going to say was that her mom died when she was born.
"Oh, you have baggage, baggage," Zoey mutters.
Maybe she does. If she has three people—three people she likes and trusts—telling her this, then they may have a point.
"Do you have a therapist?" Mira asks.
Rumi shakes her head.
"You should try one," she says simply.
Rumi slumps forward in her seat again. If she did go through with that, getting into therapy, she'd still have to talk about all these things. And that's not… She's not supposed to… She's fine. She has her moments now and then, but she's totally normal now.
Isn't she?
---
They only have the one day as a reprieve.
Once they're finished eating, they find everyone else in the house and let them know there's plenty leftover in the kitchen. Rumi hangs back long enough around Derpy and Sussie to check in with them, and they both say they're alright. They definitely look better with some space from the incident. They don't elaborate, though, and she doesn't ask them too.
Unfortunately, they don't have much time to enjoy the next day before they're called together for the next Truth Ceremony.
Bobby leads them into the eleminations as he always does, but this time he has an extra twist to sprinkle on them. The results of the fan vote.
"It was a close race. Our top two couples were back and forth for a while, but the couple who won is…" he trails off, shuffling to the next cue card in his hands. "Abby and Romance! Congratulations, you two are now immune from tonight's vote."
The two men cheer and hug, Abby lifting his partner up into the air in his excitement.
That's unfortunate. Abby and Romance would have been their vote tonight if they had the opportunity. But, Rumi can understand why they might be picked by the viewers. They did have that hiccup of playing both sides of the house, but maybe the people watching them like that kind of drama.
Their backup plan has tended to be Baby and Lisa since they got here, but everyone seems to be in agreement that they're a real couple. They could opt for Maggie and Mystery instead; everything surrounding them is confusing, so they might make more sense to vote out.
"Unfortunately, we don't have the time for you all to discuss your choices any further. We're moving right into the vote," Bobby adds. "As our couple of the hour, Abby and Romance. Who are you casting your vote for?"
They look at each other and Romance nods.
Abby turns back to their host. "Okay, I really hate to do this. Throwing a bro under the bus is never fun, you know? But… I think it's on camera, so it's gonna come up at some point. We're voting for Maggie and Mystery because we saw Mystery, uh… hooking up with someone else while we were out partying. So if they are real… Guess they won't be for long."
Oh.
Maggie's eyes widen and she turns on her partner. "What the fuck? On camera?"
Rumi can't see his face, but something about Mystery's demeanor is giving off deer in headlights.
"Mystery?" Maggie adds, just as harried as before.
He doesn't answer.
"Okay," Bobby says, swiftly moving them along. "Next up, um… Mira and Zoey? Please?"
Mira and Zoey exchange a look, and Mira addresses Bobby for the both of them. "I guess we're voting for Maggie and Mystery."
Normally, they're meant to give an small explanation for why they made this choice. This time, though, Bobby doesn't push for one.
"Okay, that's two for Maggie and Mystery. Would, um…" He pauses. "Would you two like to vote next?"
Maggie stares at her partner for a long moment, and he continues to give her nothing. She throws her hands out into the air. "God. I don't— We're voting for Jinu and Rumi. We— I just don't believe she's in love with him."
In all honesty, Rumi's surprised a moment like this hasn't popped up before.
---
[Baby + Lisa Confessional 7a]
"Oh my god, are we finally talking about it?" Lisa asks the camera. She's sitting closer to the edge of the couch, ready to jump up. Her partner remains reclined next to her. "What the hell is their deal?"
There's a response offscreen.
"Rumi and Jinu," Lisa clarifies. "I don't know if they're real or faking it, but whatever it is is weird as [censored]."
Baby nods. "She's kind of… weird."
"She… is." Lisa pauses. "I'm afraid to ask why you think so, though."
He shrugs. "I don't know. She's got some kind of girl club with the lesbians. Do you think Jinu doesn't mind becau—"
"Nevermind, don't finish that thought," Lisa says, one hand having shot over to cover his mouth. She only keeps it there for a moment before dropping it. "And you shouldn't call them that."
"Why?" He asks, genuienly confused. "They're gay. It's not a slur… Is it? One of them was calling herself that. It's not like, a reclaiming kind of thing, right?"
"No, I mean. I think one of them is bi."
"Oh." He does not appear to be any less confused. "How many of those are there?"
Lisa turns to look at him slowly. "Bisexuals? What, like in the world?"
"No. Titles, or… gay, lesbian, bi, whatever."
"A [censored] ton," she says. "You can do more research once we're out of here."
Baby nods thoughtfully, as if he might actually do so. The person behind the camera, normally asking questions, is too confused themself to probe anymore.
---
"Rumi, Jinu…" Bobby says. "Do either of you have a response to that?"
People usually interject during these things without prompting from the host, but Rumi doesn't know how to react. Too much denial and she looks desperate to cover her own lies, too nonchalant and she isn't taking it seriously enough.
"I don't think Maggie has any room to be judging who here genuinely loves their partner," Jinu says. "Considering she was dead wrong about her own partner's intentions."
Rumi turns to him with wide eyes and he gives her a smile in return.
Someone behind them whistles, low and drawn out.
"Oh." Bobby looks down at the cards in his hands, doesn't see anything to help him, and looks back up. "Jeeze, that's… So the two of you are voting for…?"
"Maggie and Mystery, of course."
Bobby nods. "That is three votes for Maggie and Mystery, one for Rumi and Jinu."
The last two votes aren't nearly as explosive; both remaining couples vote against Maggie and Mystery, which means they're unanimously out. The eliminated couple then walk forward to address the rest of the group with their truth.
"We are…" Maggie says, still casting an annoyed glare at Mystery. He might finish the sentence with her, but it's difficult to tell. "Liars."
Rumi lets out a breath of relief.
"Wow!" Bobby runs a hand through his hair. "Really? I couldn't tell. I was so back and forth on you guys."
"Yeah, we're… We used to date." Maggie shrugs. "But before getting here, we hadn't talked in, like, two years. Some of it was real."
"Mystery, why the hell would you blow up your game like that?" Abby calls out.
He shrugs, only saying one word. "Drunk."
Maggie shakes her head. "I cannot believe you… Thanks for having us, I guess. You guys are… I'm sure you're great normally, but all the paranoia does kind of suck the fun out of the connections we're trying to make."
With that, they're led away and out of sight, and everyone else is left wondering how to take her last statement. Bobby dismisses them back to the house as well, so the remaining five couples are expected to go back to their day as normal.
As if the house doesn't already feel two people emptier.