[13]- Family Bonds Pt.2

Chapter 13

The Kims take their seats around the dinner table;  Sehun at the head of the table, Jisoo is on the opposite side, while his wife, Chang Mi Hee, and their sons are sitting on the sides.

They starts eating dinner in a monotonous atmosphere filled with deafening silence.  Jisoo just wants to get this over with quickly and get out of here, eating slowly without taking her eyes off her plate.

Chang Mi Hee was eating hastily and somewhat irritatingly, huffing annoyedly snd audibly every now and then.  Jisoo ignored it just like she does every time.

"So Jin, how is the university going on with you?" Sehun breaks the silence continuing to cut the piece of meat in his plate.

Jin turns towards his father, slightly surprised, and answers.

"Um.. good. We're currently in the process of finishing the project that we were working on."

-"Good." Sehun says with satisfaction, nodding, before turning his attention to his only daughter, "Jisoo.."

He calls her, drawing her attention.

"I know, we couldn't talk about it, but I have to tell you, your dance was fascinating," he concludes, smiling at her.

She smiles at him weakly and thanks him for his compliment.

"And your friend did a great job too.. Jennie right?"

He asks her and she answers by nodding affirmatively with a warm smile.

She can see how upset Mi Hee and Taeyoung are about Sehun ignoring him and not asking about him too.

"How are your other friends?  It would be nice if we had another dinner. "

- "Yeah, it would." Jisoo chuckles at the mention of them, "they're actually a bit shy—"

"Oh, that's so nice, Jisoo.." Mi Hee cuts in, with a false excitement, "you made friends, at last." She adds last word with a hint of sarcasm and Taeyoung snickers quietly at that, which it didn't go unnoticed by Jisoo.

She puts the fork and knife down, looking at her with a fake smile and then turns her gaze quickly to Sehun.

"Anyway..I have good news!" She digresses, joining her palms together.

When Mi Hee saw that she got Sehun's attention and Jin she excitedly follows,

"Taeyoung is finally getting married!"

"What? Really?" Sehun asks with complete astonishment eyeing both of them.

- "It is not just a marriage, in fact, it will be a great cooperation between two companies. Kim Eun Ji and the Wangs!"  She elaborates looking at Sehun expectedly, waiting for the same reaction, but he seemed a little upset.

"Wang's company? Isn't it the same as the company that Jackson Wang belongs to? The one who tried to mess up Jisoo's dance."

Sehun's tone was serious and stern as he looked at Mi Hee.

Mi Hee rolls her eyes on his reaction and answers him indifferently:

"Oh Sehun, it's not that serious. Let bygones be bygones. Since Jisoo doesn't want to marry him, what's the problem with taking another option? And also their daughter is very beautiful and well mannered, a perfect fit for Taeyoung."  She continues, giving Taeyoung a proud smile.

Jisoo kept busying herself with her plate, taking regular breaths impatiently every now and then.

"Taeyoung, are you sure about this?"  Sehun asks looking at him.

Taeyoung looks at him hesitantly, then looks at his mother, who gives him a serious encouraging nod, and then looks back at his father.

"Oh, yes, it will be a good decision for both parties," he replies, making his mother wear Satisfied expression and a smile.

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Jennie lying on her back in her room, staring at the ceiling while clasping her hands together and placing them on her stomach.  Before and after dinner, the feeling of emptiness has not left her, and even when they decided to watch a movie, after several minutes after it began, she decided that she was tired and told them that she would go to rest a little.

She doesn't know how many minutes have passed while she was in this position, she's bored and maybe.. maybe a little bit missing a certain raven.

She turns her head to the side to look at the empty Jisoo bed, keeps staring at it for a little while, and then quickly returns her head to stare back at the ceiling.

Okay.. maybe not as little as she thinks.

She keeps wondering when Jisoo will return and whether or not she has had her dinner.  Did they cook her favorite food?  She doesn't like chicken skin, she hopes that they would remove it when cooking it, that is if they did cooked chicken.

What is she thinking about for heaven's sake?

But like really! Why would Jisoo wear such a revealing dress like that? She should've told her to change it.

It's a party and it must be full of men.. of course someone will look at her with ill intentions, won't they?

And why did she have to put so much makeup? It's never a good idea to go out looking so stunning, no one knows what they might encounter outside. Like.. there are creeps everywhere.

Now she has made herself worried about her..

Yes, she's just worried.

Jennie exhales a grumby huff as she sits up, and crosses her arms to her chest, unconscious of the frown that has become haunting her facial features.

She looks to the side and notices the teddy bear, Nini, that was lying beside the bed. she pulls him and sits him up in front of her, making his face across from her and stares at him.

"Why are you looking at me like this? Huh?" she addresses him with annoyance.

"It's her fault for making me so restless!"  She says and goes back to stare at him, gradually her facial expressions begin to soften as she remembers the night they went to the amusement park, specifically when Jisoo insisted on winning this bear, only to find herself smiling automatically at the memory.

She turns her head away, looking around the room until she her eyes lay at her phone, which was on the nightstand, and smiles sideways when an idea hits her, and at the same time her stomach starts to flip and clench, feeling like it was invaded by butterflies, the exciting sensation of the idea getting bigger and bigger.

She quickly takes her phone, holds it in her hands, adjusts her sitting, opens the phone, goes to the messaging app and swipes her finger searching for the desired contact and presses on it.

This is the first time that she will text her, and it's nerving the heck out of her.

Before she begins writing anything, she hesitates a little while she takes a deep breath to calm her heartbeat, thinking what to write.

She begins by writing a few words, then pauses and shakes her head to herself objectively, deletes it and rewrites again.  She continues to do so several times until she loses her patience and decides to send the best thing that crossed her mind at the time.

. . . . .

Jisoo was sitting at one of the isolated chairs drinking her wine, watching the party goers in complete boredom. Although it did not take long since the party started, she felt the desire to leave already, she was tired of the many compliments and fake smiles that had been given to her since she joined them, especially from old men who constantly gave her flirtatious looks from time to time.

At the same time that's the same reason that's preventing her from leaving, she must be present for a longer period and endured it, at least she will stay for another hour and then flee.

Immersed in her thoughts, she feels a vibration in her handbag and a low ding, she puts the glass away as she opens the bag, takes out her phone and looks at the notification:

{8:30} Jennie: So? Which one is better? My cooking or my cooking? :)

As soon as she sees the text and who is it from, her expressions completely change and light up with a wide smile. She holds her phone well, opens the text and begins replying.

{8:31} Jisoo: Hmmm..

{8:31} Jisoo: Isn't there a third option?

{8:31} Jennie: There is. My cooking.

Jisoo laughs heartily at that and returns,

{8:32} Jisoo: There's no escaping this, isn't it?

Jisoo keeps staring at the texts as she waits for Jennie's response, which is kind of took longer to arrive even though the read check mark has appeared to her and Jennie is still on.

Jisoo decides to take a sip of wine while she waits for to Jennie reply, and she almost chokes and spill the drink when suddenly a text arrives, causing her to quickly and eagerly return the glass back to see what is.

{8:36} Jennie: for your safety, there isn't.

The typing dots appears a little, and then:

{8:36} Jennie: How are things going over there?

{8:36} Jisoo: pretty ordinary.

Just a second.

She sends and then opens the camera and raises her phone enough to take a selfie making a cute scowl as she pouts and sends it to Jennie.

. . . . .

Jennie was staring at the conversation eagerly as she saw the typing dots when they disappeared, causing her to furrow her eyebrows with confusion as to whether she had to respond or wait for Jisoo to continue until a picture appeared in front of her that suddenly made her startle a little.

It was a selfie of Jisoo! Jisoo sent her a picture! A picture of her! Jisoo took a picture and sent it to her!

Fangirling over the picture, her mind was a mess as she looked at the picture and bit her bottom lip to reduce the intensity of her smile. She pulls the bear to her lap, hugs him, and hides half of her face behind him while she bashfully startes at the photo. It was a beautiful pic.. so beautiful. Jisoo is so beautiful.

Looking at the picture intently, her eyes travel from Jisoo's flawless face down to her neck, her collar bones, the top of her chest and her cleavage, and she swallows noticeably, her mouth is suddenly dry.

She forgot to respond until another text arrives snapping her out of her daze.

{8:40} Jisoo: What about you? How y'all doing?

Jennie is late to respond again as she contemplates her message and this time because she realizes how much she misses Jisoo. So much that she cannot conceal it, and it's only been few hours since she left, but she is Jennie.. she will die if she says it directly and so she takes another way around it.

{8:42} Jennie: They miss you.

Jennie presses send and keeps staring at the conversation and at the two marks that tells her that her message has been read, awaiting what Jisoo will reply to her next.

She was cuddling the bear between her legs, holding the phone with her hand, and with the other hand she was gritting her teeth against the thumb nail lightly, as she rocked forward and backward nervously.

Every second that passes, she feels as if her heart is about to jump out. She is happy and doesn't know why? Something about talking with Jisoo always makes her feel this way; happy, giddy and excited.

Jennie stops moving when a new message arrives:

{8:44} Jisoo: I'm coming.

Her eyebrows furrows with confusion and responds immediately:

{8:44} Jennie: What? to where?

She sends it but doesn't get a reply. Her message was not even read.

What does that mean? Does she mean she will come back? What about the party?

Jennie gets up from the bed and starts pacing beside her bed as she realizes Jisoo's intention.

Is she really gonna return home?

She looks at the conversation again - no response..and she didn't read it either.

Now she feels like she's been put on a low heat.

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Jisoo's been standing in front of the apartment door for a while now after she had arrived minutes ago, thinking of the amount of comfort that started flooding her heart, little by little, on the way back as she neared the place.

The more she got nearer the building the more lighthearted she felt.

She pulls out the key to the apartment from her coat pocket, puts it in the lock, and calmly opens the door as she enters. As soon as she went in and closed the door behind her, she saw Lisa chasing Chaeyoung.

"Hey! Get my bag of chips back!" Lisa demands as she tries to snatch the bag from Chaeyoung, which she dodges, eating from the bag at the same time muffling out, "there's another one you know?"

"Hell no! This one is my favorite!" Lisa retrots back.

"Could you please stop running around! I'm trying to watch the series here!" Jennie yells at them in annoyance from where she's sitting on the sofa.

Jisoo smiles at the sight and starts to walk slowly, looking at them, feeling amused by their banter.

It was different from what it was when she was in her father's villa. There she felt alienated, lonely and left out. Now that she is here, she cannot stop herself from feeling that feeling.. A feeling of familiarity and warmth. that feeling that tells her that this is exactly what she needed. Being around them, she means.

Those are her small family.

Jennie sighs defeatedly, giving up on trying to get Lisa and Chaeyoung to stop running behind each other around her and turns her head and here is when she notices Jisoo at the door.

"Jisoo?" Jennie says softly and in a loving tone as she gets up and saunters towards her, her facial features wearing a surprised yet soft expression at the same time.

-"I 'm back." Jisoo declares quietly with a smile when Jennie is in front of her.

Jennie returns her smile and follows, staring directly at her,

"welcome back."

"Ooh Jisoo.. hi." Lisa says quizzically but happily, stopping her argument with Chaeyoung for a moment.

"Welcome back!!" Chaeyoung chimes in as she waves at Jisoo. She smiles at them acknowledging them and they return to banter again leaving Jisoo slightly confused.

"They clearly miss me a lot." She quips as she turns to Jennie and looks at her with suspicion playfully.

Jennie doesn't know how to get across the topic and opens her mouth with a shy smile:

"Oh, yeah.. um.. their longing must have been extinguished after seeing you."

Jisoo doesn't comment and only squints her eyes at her and then smiles and passes by her on her way to her room while Jennie remains standing in her place thinking whether to follow her or not.

Why is she even having a debate about it?

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Jennie enters their room and finds Jisoo standing in front of the wardrobe with her back facing her, in the middle of taking off her coat. She closes the door and leans against the edge of the make-up table that's close to the door. watching Jisoo, she can see from her head's slight movement that Jisoo noticed her presence.

Jisoo tosses the coat on the bed and begins to remove her earrings, and after removing them, she puts them on the nightstand beside the bed followed by her necklace, and then goes to unzip her dress from the back, but she faces a little difficulty reaching the head of the zipper.

That's when she feels two delicate hands fall on top of her hands, stopping them and moving them away gently.

Jisoo smiles to herself, letting Jennie help her open the zipper. Jennie doesn't take long and unzips it smoothly, at a steady speed, to then she backs away and leans back on the edge of the make-up table again.

"Thank you." Jisoo says softly before she proceeds what she was doing.

Jennie was watching silently as Jisoo lifted her hands, placed them on the shoulder strings of the dress, and began to slide them off her shoulders, letting the dress fall to the floor, leaving only her black lingerie.

And Jennie was watching her intently.

It's no biggie.. she's just taking off her clothes in front of her.

It's totally fine.

Like.. Totally.

"So.. was the party fun?" Jennie starts, breathless for some reason, as a way to distract her mind.

- "Mmm.. if it was fun, you wouldn't be seeing me here in front of you." Jisoo quips pulling up her pajamas pants, followed by the shirt.

And it's partially true, she mostly just wanted to come back to her after their small chat earlier.

Jisoo takes her towel and throws it over her shoulder, turns around and starts walking until she reaches the door and opens it, she stops before she goes out and looks at Jennie with a mischievous smile as she rests her arm against the doorframe.

"I was thinking.." Jisoo starts playfully, "how about we take some pictures together, you know, since they miss me a lot and can't stand being away from me."

Jennie's eyes widens at first at the witty suggestion and then nods affirmatively as she listenes to her speaking in a cheerful tone, biting her lip trying to prevent her wide smile. She lowers her head, realizing what Jisoo is trying to do. She's teasing her because she knows fully that what was meant by 'they' previously was none other than Jennie herself.

"You can give it to them next time for them to stare at and at this remarkable beauty." Jisoo continues, pointing to her face in dramatic fashion, gaining a laugh from Jennie.

- "okay.. I will tell them so." Jennie plays along.

"And also.." She starts again bringing her head close to Jennie and continues in a low soft voice. "Since it's still not too late.. We can prepare some home snacks and sit together with the girls and watch a movie..What do you think?"

She asks looking at Jennie in awe, who keeps turning her eyes away from her, too shy to keep their eye contact for a prolonged seconds.

"that would be great."

Jisoo's smile widens as she moves away from the door frame, continuing to look at Jennie for another moment, and then heads out of the room intending to take a quick shower.

As soon as Jennie is left alone, she chuckles to herself and covers her face with both hands, suddenly so flustered, still smiling like an idiot.

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"If my ass could talk, It would have screamed at me for help." Lisa says tiredly as she gets up from the sofa and starts stretching and moving her legs up and down.

- "Of course it would! You were sitting watching movies for five hours straight!" Jennie remarks as she puts a bowl of jelly and biscuits on the table.

"And now you want to see another movie?" Jisoo asks her astonishedly as she held a bowl of popcorn standing behind Jennie.

- "Mmm.. excuse me? 'The Fault In Our Stars'?Are you kidding me? Of course I will watch it!" Lisa defends as she sits next to Chaeyoung, who has been in a deep nap.

Jennie takes the bowl from Jisoo and puts it on the table and starts arranging the plates, Jisoo was watching her hands wander from place to place and smiles when she notices something.

"Your hands are small." Jisoo says playfully out of nowhere, making Jennie stop and look at her in confusion.

-"What?"

"You have tiny baby hands." she quips and laughs afterwards.

- "Sorry? My hands are as big as any other adult's." Raising her hands in the air, Jennie says, looking at Jisoo incredulously.

Jisoo chuckles again at her adorableness, shakes her head, and raises her hands too the same level with Jennie's hand.

"See.. do you notice the difference? My hands are much bigger."

Jennie rolls her eyes and stubbornly follows,

"My hands are bigger! It's just the bones in your hand that are too broad!"

Jisoo giggles disagreeing and replies:

- "Wait.. I got this."

Jisoo turnes to Lisa, who was putting the popcorn bowl on her lap and eating it, most likely she used their arguments to steal it from the table.

"Hey! Lisa! Look over here." Jisoo says, grabbing her attention.

Lisa looks at her with her mouth busy chewing and shakes her head a little with furrowed eyebrows, as if to say  'What?'

"Whose hands are bigger?" She inquires and holds out her hands in the air in front of her, and Jennie does the same.

Lisa remains silent as she looks at both their hands, then puts the bowl aside, raises her own hands and simply answers,

"My hands."

She answers them, leaving them speechless, both staring at Lisa's hands blankly.

Her hands are bigger.

. . . . .

Sitting with the lights off, watching the movie, which has been 30 minutes since its had begun, and the sounds emerging from it were the only sounds that filled the place.

Jisoo was sitting with Jennie next to her closely, while Lisa was sitting on the other couch perpendicular to the one they were sitting on, and Chaeyoung was asleep with her head on Lisa's thigh.

While they're like that, Jennie steals a glimpse to the side towards Jisoo and her gaze falls on Jisoo's hand, that was resting on her thigh and close to her hand. She turns to Lisa and finds her immersed with the movie and her focus entirely on it.

When she makes sure it's safe, she looks back at the movie, takes a deep breath and shifts her hand closer to Jisoo's hand, and with a move that's almost unnoticed she intertwines their hands together.

Jisoo remains still but Jennie can see from the corner of her eye, that she is smiling and so she smiles for that too.

"My hands may be small.." Jennie starts in a low voice turning her head a little to be able to whisper to Jisoo without looking away from the TV, "But they fit perfectly into your hands."

She finishes, raising their joined hands up slightly, making Jisoo look at them while she was looking at them too to emphasize her words and show.

Jisoo's smile widens, then turns her head closer to be able to whisper into Jennie's ear.

"Just like how you fit perfectly into my heart."

She says, moving her head back to meet Jennie's eyes, looking at her warmly as they stare at each other, leaving Jennie in a frenzy.

How does Jisoo manage to beat her with words every time? To render her speechless, flattered and not knowing what to do with the flood of emotions that she's causing her.

And why does her heart is pounding crazily against her chest?

"Maybe you'd have found the movie more enjoyable if you two stopped flirting for a goddamn second."

Lisa speaks suddenly without looking away from the movie, pulling Jennie out of her pink world full of beating hearts and red bears, causing her to gasp sharply. She turns her head and takes the small pillow next to her and throws it on Lisa to hit her right on the head while Jisoo just laughed.

She can't believe she said this in front of Jisoo!  She was ignoring Lisa's teasing because Jisoo wasn't with them, but now?  She's really done it, and now she just want to hide herself from the embarrassment.

"She's right. stop distracting me!"  Jisoo agrees in a fake annoyed tone, making Jennie turn to her in disbelief, which made her laugh again.

"You too?!!"  She asks incredulously and shoves her playfully before she pouts and crosses her arms. Turning her head away from Jisoo as if she is angry.

They go back to watching the movie and the silence returns between them, and Jennie is still on the same grim expression, unlike Jisoo, who is still amused by what happened.

This time, Jisoo is the one who decides to make the first move, so she waits until the events of the movie intensifies, so Lisa gets carried away with it and doesn't pay attention to them because Lisa is not easy and clueless as she seems to be, she knows this now.

Finding the right moment, Jisoo gently but discreetly slides her hand to disengage Jennie's arms and takes one arm close to her side and places it on her thigh, and then she runs her hand down under it until she reaches Jennie's hand and interwines their fingers again.

Surprised, Jennie keeps glancing at their hands together and at Lisa cautiously, and is even more surprised when she felt Jisoo pulling her hand towards her face, and with a swift movement that didn't take seconds, Jisoo printed a light kiss on the back of her hand and then put it back on her thigh as she guides her attention back on the movie.

It wasn't really a kiss, Jisoo barely brushed her lips over the skin of her hand but it definitely took every breath inside Jennie's lungs and made her heart do a little dance.

And she can only think of one thing;  Jisoo will be the death of her.

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Jennie was sitting with Nayeon in the cafeteria in the morning, chatting about different general topics as she waits for Jisoo, Lisa and Chaeyoung to return from the bathroom, when she felt thirsty and decided to go buy herself a bottle of water.

She gets up and stands in front of the double glass display refrigerator. Taking out a bottle of water, she feels a hand holding her arm.  She turns around to see a girl who she recognizes but does not know her name.  She was the same girl who stepped in that day and spoke to Krystal.

"Can we talk for a bit."  The girl says kindly, and Jennie nods to her affirmatively, still looking at her confusedly, but has remained silent.

.  .  .  .  .

"What are my hidden intentions?" Jennie returns the girl's question, with complete surprise and annoyed tone. Scoffing, she follows, "What are you saying for heaven's sake?"

- "As you heard, are you really her friend, or is there something else?"

Jennie was standing with her at the corner of the cafeteria, in a quiet place, isolated from the hustle and bustle of the students, when the girl began to speak directly and right to the chase without even introducing herself.

"I don't understand.. How does this have anything to do with you?"  Jennie retorts in a more disturbed tone.

The girl sighs and stays silent for a moment before she replies hesitantly, "Because.. because I'm.. I'm her friend, and I care about her.. and because you appeared out of nowhere suspiciously just like that."

Jennie's expressions soften a little when she sees her anxious state as she talks.

"I don't know what they told you, but I have no intention of ever using Jisoo." She answer her honestly.

The girl nods with understanding, and before she starts again.

"I just.. just—"

"Irene!"  Their conversation is interrupted by a familiar voice, Both of them flick their heads to see Jisoo approaching them. She looks muddled and..angry maybe?

"What now? Do you want to create another problem?"  As soon as she catches up to them, Jisoo says, looking at Irene sharply.

- "Jisoo, it's not like that—"

Jennie tries to talk to Jisoo, but Jisoo ignores her and interrupts her addressing Irene, "I think I told you to stay away."

Jennie is shocked by the harshness of Jisoo's tone as she talks to Irene. Didn't she say she's her friend?

"I'm not here to create problems." Irene replies calmly. "We were just talking, because I'm worried—"

- "There is nothing for you here to talk about, and there will never be. It would be better if you kept it to yourself!"  Jisoo cuts her off again stepping forward in front of Irene.

"Jisoo, Stop it!"

Jennie quickly steps in, in a stern tone.

Jisoo rolls her eyes and sighs, then refocuses on Irene and calmly follows as she looks directly into her eyes. "Irene, whatever you are trying to do, stop it immediately. Stop behaving as if we are close to each other.

I.will never. look your way."

She finishes bitterly and Jennie can see the sadness fills Irene's face, She had hurt her and in front of her as well.

Irene stares at her momentarily with a broken gaze, then turns around quickly when she feels herself about to cry and starts walking hurriedly.

"Irene, wait!"  Jennie calls her as she strides behind, but Jisoo stops her by the arm.

"Let her, don't go after her."

Jisoo tells her, but Jennie doesn't answer her and only looks at her in disapproval, she looses her arm from Jisoo's grip and goes behind Irene, running, leaving Jisoo frowning watching her go.

.  .  .  .  .

After searching in several places, Jennie manages to find her, sitting silently at the end of the stairs that lead to the third floor on the first step.  Hugging her knees and looks like she has just finished crying.

Jennie sighs and goes to sit next to her.

"I apologize. She's not really like that at all. I'm sure she didn't mean what she said."  Jennie explains softly.

Irene takes a short breath and slowly shakes her head as she answers ruefully,

"It's okay. I.. I deserved it. I just thought that after all these years she had forgotten already but it looks like I was wrong."

Jennie furrows her eyebrows with confusion.

"Forgot? Forgot what?"

"What I and the rest of those who were with us in the same high school did. she did not forget, nor did she forgive any of us, and she has every right to not to.."

Jennie becomes more and more puzzled as she listens silently to her.

"What did you do?" Jennie asks carefully.

Irene remains silent for a moment, she swallows sheepishly and answers, "When.. when her mother got killed. We—"

"Wait.. What?! Jisoo's mother got killed?"

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To be continued

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