Seoul City

Ch. 25 - Loving Two People

Jennie blew out a sharp breath in exasperation before, reluctantly, saying, "whatever, I'll let it go this time but if it happens again, I will fucking kill you."

"After I tear your limbs apart," Jimin added, his fists still clenched in anger.

Chaeyoung plastered on a smile, attempting to lighten up the mood, "great! It looks like we have an understanding. Now, I need everyone to gather outside for our first group activity."

Somehow, Chaeyoung had been given the responsibility of leading the group activities on the group trip with the goals of facilitating bonding and improving their 'teamwork'. Normally, she would be excited to lead fun, group activities but the tension between the Phoenixes and Griffins was very discouraging. Forget bonding, she would be lucky if everyone survived. But, even that goal seemed unattainable considering the fight that had just occurred.

Nevertheless, she attempted to remain cheerful as she gathered the entire group outside, on the campground. She had arranged 16 large logs in a circle around the firepit, and encouraged everyone to sit down. When every ne was seated, she stood up tall and cleared her throat.

"I just wanted to start by welcoming all of you to the Park family's lake-house," Chaeyoung began with a wide smile, earning eye rolls and amused chuckles from everyone, "I know the Phoenixes probably don't feel welcome, but I really hope we can change that by the end of this trip. That's probably an impossible wish, but I'm going to try my hardest to make it a reality. Always keep in mind the reason we're all here in the first place: to maintain our comfortable, peaceful lives and help save our beloved country. We have to put away the spite and hatred we feel for one another and work together towards our mutual goal. It'll probably be very difficult and unpleasant, but it'll only be a couple weeks of working together and then we can either go back to the way things were or maintain peaceful relations-"

"How long is this speech?" Jackson muttered under his breath to Hoseok.

"Personally, I would love it if we could all find peace with each other and am an advocate for no violence-" she continued to ramble.

"Does she ever stop talking?" Yugyeom whispered in fascination, "I feel like I'm listening to a TED talk. Why in the world is she speaking so passionately?"

"Anyways, to conclude – sorry, I kind of went off on a tangent – I'm really glad we're all working together and hope this trip will bring the two groups closer. In order to do that, I've planned many group activities. The first thing we're going to do is introduce ourselves. So, please go around the circle, stating your name, your role in your group, and an interesting fact about you," Chaeyoung said with an encouraging smile.

"Why do I feel like I'm in high school again?" one of the Phoenixes whined, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What was that?" Chaeyoung asked tilting her head thoughtfully, "did you just volunteer to go first? How brave!"

The man glared at her while she grinned at him victoriously, "please stand up and introduce yourself."

After a frustrated sigh, he obliged, "I'm Jackson, I possess superior fighting skills and am arguably the strongest man in Korea. An interesting fact about me is that I can bench press 400 pounds with one arm."

"Thanks, Jackson," Chaeyoung said, her brows furrowed together in slight confusion. That wasn't really what Chaeyoung had anticipated for an interesting fact, but she accepted it and nodded at the next person to introduce himself.

The next man stood up and actually smiled, a refreshing sight amongst all the glares that were constantly exchanged between the two groups, "Hi, I'm Hoseok, I'm also known for my fighting skills. As for an interesting fact... I also dance, I guess."