Love Again

Old Friends

The next two weeks flew by quickly and relatively peacefully. Anne only had to go into the office a handful of times, opting to work from home as she settled into her new role. She poured all of her energy and attention into her work, loving the fact she was busy again. Sure, she enjoyed relaxing and being lazy just as much as the next person, but she needed to be busy. To have a purpose. She wasn't made to sit around all day and do nothing.

She had also been helping her mother and uncle go through her late grandfather's belongings, which proved to be so emotionally taxing that she didn't have the energy to worry about anything else. He had acquired a lifetime of stuff and her mother was loath to part with much of it. Her eomma, Laurie Song, had a strong bond with her grandfather, Hyun-shik Song, making his passing even more difficult. Things with Anne's family were complicated, but she couldn't deny the love her mother had for her family. 

After the Korean War, Anne's grandfather emigrated to America, where he met his future wife and Anne's grandmother, May Randall. They fell in love and got married, choosing to stay in America to raise their children, Laurie and Emily. They lived happily for 26 years, before tragedy struck. Anne's grandmother, May, was killed by a drunk driver when she was coming home from the grocery store. Anne had been only two years old at the time.

Torn up with grief, Anne's grandfather decided to go back to Korea. Her aunt, Emily, decided to drop out of college and go with her grandfather. Anne's mother, Laurie, stayed behind with her daughter and fiance. After several years of back and forth, and uncertainty with Anne's father, Laurie decided that enough was enough and took Anne with her to Seoul when Anne was 10 years old. They then lived in Seoul until Anne left for grad school 5 years ago, leaving her family behind.

Laurie had always felt guilty that she had chosen to stay with Anne's father, Lucas, instead of going to Seoul with her father and sister. Even though she hadn't been raised in Korea, she had always felt that family was everything and you stuck with them no matter what. Laurie had taken grandfather Hyun-shik's passing very hard and Anne knew that she had to leave America to be with her. After all, family was the most important thing in life. And so she found herself splitting her time between working and trying to convince her mother to part with some of haraboji's stuff.

Staying busy also helped to keep her mind off of the run in with Namjoon. She had tossed and turned in bed all night, wondering if he had told Jungkook yet. And if did, what was going through his mind? Was he mad? Indifferent? And if Namjoon didn't tell him that she was back, why? What motive could he have for that? 

Anne didn't recall Namjoon being an intentionally malicious person, but she knew he'd do anything for his members, especially Jungkook. If he thought she'd cause any problems for him, he'd definitely step in. Even if they used to be friends, she had to admit to herself that she didn't know him anymore.

After several days of driving herself mad thinking about the possible fallout, she finally forced herself to relax and let it go. Whatever was meant to happen, would happen. She didn't come back to Seoul and then go to work at the same damn company that Jungkook worked at thinking she would be able to avoid him forever. She wasn't that stupid or naive.

Was she nervous as hell about it all? Abso-fucking-lutely. But she was tired of running from her past mistakes and hurts. Anne was determined to lay it all to rest. So when, not if, she did eventually end up seeing Jungkook, she'd be polite. Friendly, even. She would prove to herself that she was over it. She had to. She was running out of time.

As she went in to work the next morning, she didn't feel overly anxious. Well, maybe she was a little nervous, but her determination overshadowed her uncertainty. She had a meeting with the other company's financial liaisons that morning and then she had some serious work to get done in office. As a rule, she tried not to follow news about BTS too closely, but she knew that they were all working on solo projects or resting right now, so they could pop up at the company anytime. Which was fine.