Coffee Break
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- Feb 13, 2022
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- Korean
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Hello everyone. I encountered this expression, "the slightest passion between us, just juices", but am struggling to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means in the following sentences:
[Beryl speaking] “Thank God there are others to stop us,” she said in the end.
[The protagonist speaking] “I suppose,” I repeated.
[Beryl speaking] “Don’t suppose. You don’t really want this any more than I do.”
There had been, neither on her part, nor on mine, the slightest passion between us, just juices.
When I left the coatroom with my coat, I saw Clara talking to someone in the corridor. Something in me hoped she had seen us together.
- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, First Night
This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist. The protagonist meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Here, just before leaving the party, the protagonist kisses Beryl (Clara's female friend) in a coatroom. When Beryl says that it is thankful that there are others so that they cannot do anything more, the protagonist says "I suppose". But then Beryl says "You don't really want this any more than I do," because she knows that the person the protagonist really wants is Clara, not her.
Here, I wonder what the underlined expression means.
Would that mean that there was no passion between them, not at all (="not the slightest"), but there were just juices (whatever those "juices" might mean)...?
The only relevant meaning that I could find in the dictionary was that "juice" here could mean "bodily secretion", but I am not sure...
I would very much appreciate your help.
[Beryl speaking] “Thank God there are others to stop us,” she said in the end.
[The protagonist speaking] “I suppose,” I repeated.
[Beryl speaking] “Don’t suppose. You don’t really want this any more than I do.”
There had been, neither on her part, nor on mine, the slightest passion between us, just juices.
When I left the coatroom with my coat, I saw Clara talking to someone in the corridor. Something in me hoped she had seen us together.
- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, First Night
This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist. The protagonist meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Here, just before leaving the party, the protagonist kisses Beryl (Clara's female friend) in a coatroom. When Beryl says that it is thankful that there are others so that they cannot do anything more, the protagonist says "I suppose". But then Beryl says "You don't really want this any more than I do," because she knows that the person the protagonist really wants is Clara, not her.
Here, I wonder what the underlined expression means.
Would that mean that there was no passion between them, not at all (="not the slightest"), but there were just juices (whatever those "juices" might mean)...?
The only relevant meaning that I could find in the dictionary was that "juice" here could mean "bodily secretion", but I am not sure...
I would very much appreciate your help.