Chapter 42

Lisa's POV

Spending Christmas Eve with Jennie's family was a lot of fun. I thought her father was going to give me a serious talk, turns out he just wanted to talk about sports. I was quite embarrassed to admit that I wasn't any good at the sport.

Her twin niece was something else. Grace was a bit reserved while Brooke is a little loud. They were so surprised that Jennie was with someone else to the point where they never let me out of their sight. They said I was cool - a word no one has ever used to describe me before. I just wish we could have more time together cause the next day, we'll be flying to Bangkok.

*

Our flight arrived at Thailand on an early Christmas Day. Minnie and my aunts came to pick us up.

"Pran!!!" Someone called me from behind and it turns out that it was my cousin Minnie.

Her arms open wide as she pull me into a tight embrace.

"Min... Auntie." I saw Minnie's mom behind her. I give her a peck before hugging her and to my surprise, there's a little girl behind her.

"Lilly!!" I bend over and give her a warm hug then carry her on my arm. " I miss you!"

Their sudden appearance made me forget that i was still with Jennie. I look back at her and she's just standing still right there. Still carrying Lilly on my arm, i went towards her and use my other arm pulling her from the waist.

"Aunt Jennie~" Lilly whispers on my ear that made my eyes widen.

"You know her?" i ask in disbelief and she nod slowly.

"What did she say?" My aunt chuckled.

"Nothing... Well Auntie, Minnie, this is Jennie. Jennie this is Aunt Mel, and my cousin Minnie." i introduced them to each other skipping what Lilly told me, how come she knew Jennie? We didn't had video call with her and as much as i remember, I've never introduced Jennie to her.

"Hi Jennie. You're so pretty!" Minnie said and give her a hug.

"Hi sweetheart." my aunt sweetly greeted her.

"Okay let's go back home, you're nan is waiting for you."

* *

Minnie was making castle using Lego's with Lilly while my Aunt kept telling my great nan about Jennie over and over again, since she kept asking who she was.

"I think she likes you," my Aunt tells Jennie. "She's never been this interested in any of unrelated person to us, she changed a lot after..uhm you know. Im glad she has a girlfriend like you."

Jennie's face turned red. We've never really referred to each other as girlfriends yet. We were just together. We didn't have any labels yet even though it's been more than a month already.

I mean, I did know that she was my girlfriend and I was her too. We just haven't officially called each other that yet.

It's kind of weird when I'm still waiting for the right time to tell her that I love her. I didn't want it to sound rushed or forced. I wanted the moment to be perfect.

"I like you too," Minnie beams, holding up a tower of lego in her hand. "You're a lot cooler than Pran."

"I don't think I am, honestly," Jennie laughs. "This girl's a wonder right here."

"I'm sensing cheesy back and forth compliments coming any minute now," Minnie rolls her eyes. "I'll go back to Lilly."

I chuckled as I took Jennie's hand in mine.

"Soooo... how's Bangkok for you?"

"Everyone is so sweet and hospitable," she gushes, squeezing my hand tight as we walked down the pathway of garage leading to a mini garden on the left "I love it here."

We sat hand and in hand as we look around the neighborhood.

"I've been here until I was ten. I can't remember much being here." i said. "I just remember playing with Minnie when were kids."

"Oh Before I forget..." I pulled out a long, rectangular box from my coat's pocket and held it out to her. "...Merry Christmas Love"

"You didn't have to - "

"Blah, blah, blah," I roll my eyes before silencing her with a quick kiss. "Open it!"

Jennie neatly rips off the wrapper and opens the box inside, revealing a  necklace with one special charm, which happened to be a little daisy flower.

Her eyes started to well up with tears as she held up the necklace in front of her. "Oh my god... Lisa... I don't know what to say..."

I gently turn her around as I helped clip the necklace around her neck. "Just a little something to remind you about us.."

"This isn't a little something," she gasps while sniffing in between deep breaths. "This is the most special present anyone has ever given me. It has so much meaning... and I... I just..."

"Hey, don't cry!" I chuckle, wiping her tears away with my thumb. "I wanted to make you happy, not the other way around."

She holds up one finger and then rushes inside. Before I could even ask what she was going to do, she comes running back out with a silver envelope in her hands.

"Merry Christmas," she proudly hands me the present.

"Did you get me a gift check because you have no idea what to get me?" I laugh, peeking through the envelope. My own laughter stops when I saw what was inside.

Neatly inserted inside the envelope were two, newly printed, round-trip tickets to Paris.

**

Jongin's POV

I never imagined myself spending Christmas Eve at a luxurious hotel in Seoul with a girl that wasn't Jennie. Bian's existence in my life was like a metaphor - a symbol in my life that represents change.

Whenever I look at her, I see how far I've made it or at least how far I think I have. Is this really it? Is this what everyone works hard for? Only to get to where I am now?

I was nowhere near happy. Sure, I had every material thing I've ever wanted. It all magically happened overnight. But I feel so alone to the point where I don't even know exactly what would make me feel whole. Was it vengeance? Love? Money?

I watched Bian as she stirred her hot chocolate while staring out the window.

"I'm sorry," I tell her.

She looks up from her mug and frowns. "For what?"

"For keeping you in here on the eve of Christmas," I sigh. "You should be with your family or something."

"It's fine," she mutters, looking back down at her drink.

"No, it's not," I insist. I got up and walked to my suitcase to get our passbooks. "I'll talk to my travel agent and have him arrange a flight for you to New York tomorrow."

"My family lives in San Diego," she shrugs. "That was where I was going to go. But really, Jo - I mean, Sir Kim. I'm fine."

I drop my passbook on my bed and sigh. "Why the fuck are you being so stubborn? I'm trying to do you a favor here. I don't do people favors. I know you want to go home for the holidays."

"Well, I don't want to go home for the holidays," she replies firmly. "I want to stay here with you."

"Shouldn't I be the last person you'd want to spend Christmas with?" I snicker. This girl was confusing me. I knew she probably secretly hated me. I'd probably hate myself too if I were her.

Maybe I have caught her staring at me from time to time, but that doesn't erase the fact that she could still possibly loathe me.

Bian gets up from her seat and sets her untouched drink on the dresser. "You can't be alone on Christmas Eve, Sir Kim," she simply says.

"So you're doing this because you feel sorry for me?" I almost laugh.

She just shrugs and looks away from me.

"Hey," I frown, walking up to her. "Look at me."

When she doesn't budge, I tilt her chin towards me, forcing her to look. "Do not - and I mean don't you ever, ever feel sorry for me."

"Why not?" she crosses her arms. "I feel sorry for you, Sir Kim. In fact, I don't even know why you're here as well. You could go home to your family. Are you here because you're keeping an eye on Jennie? Because you have nowhere to go? Didn't you know that she went back home to her family with Lisa?"

I felt the blood rush up to my veins. "You've been quite feisty lately, young lady. You know how to test my patience. I was trying to be nice to you and this is what I get in return?"

"You know what's making me brave, Sir Kim?" she raises an eyebrow. 

I grit my teeth and push my arms against the wall behind her. "What?"

"The fact that I know how much you need me right now," she says with self-assurance. "I don't care what you need me for, but I know you do."

"I don't need anyone," I retorted.

"Is that why you brought me all the way to Korea with you just to make your ex-girlfriend jealous?" she says.

"Don't fucking test me, Bian" I clench my jaw, tearing my gaze off her. "You wouldn't want to mess with me right now."

"Unlike Jennie, I never knew who you really were before you had all of this," she went on. "It's a shame, because I know you were probably a better person back then. I can tell by the way she looks at you. It's like she misses a part of you that she wishes she could get back."

"You don't know what I've been through!" I scowled, slamming the dresser with the palm of my hand. "You won't ever understand any of this, Bian. You fucking won't!"

"I may not understand but I know when someone's going too far!" she fearlessly shoots back at me. "Jennie clearly loves someone else, why can't you just accept that?"

"Shut your fucking mouth, Bian. You have no fucking right to bring her up just like that!" I yelled.

Bian marches up to me and roughly presses her lips against mine. She's got me pinned at the edge of the dresser. "This is what you want, right?" she murmurs into the kiss. "This is what's going to make you forget that I'm not significant in your life."

"Shit..." I groan. I tried to push her away but I couldn't help it. I knew I wanted this - whatever this was.

"Do this for me," she whispers as I detached my lips from hers for a second. "At least just for tonight."

"You fucking stubborn..." I cut off my own sentence by kissing her again as she pulled me into the bed, allowing me to topple on her.