ONLY YOO

chapter 50: her smile

"So... ready to start a new day?"

Jimin asked, on the way to Yoojung's parents' house the very next day. Every alternate Sunday, Jimin and Yoojung made it a habit to bring with them some gifts and pay Yoojung's parents a visit. They would have gone to visit Jimin's parents too, if they lived in Seoul, but they still lived in Busan, so they didn't. In fact, Jimin's parents had not even seen Yoojung before, other than on the show, but they were already fond of her and FaceTimed often.

It was a typical Sunday routine, but the mood in the car was not very typical. Despite the "reconciliation" the night before, Jimin felt some tension in the car and he knew Yoojung felt the same way, because she wasn't smiling and joking as much as she usually did. Towards what Jimin said, she would usually joke that "no one's ever ready" or shout "YES!" at the top of her lungs before jamming out to BTS songs. But today, she just nodded silently.

"If you were wondering where your phone is, it's with Seungyeon."

Right, his phone. He had been so busy thinking about things that he totally forgot to try finding his phone. He wanted to ask how she knew, but she just seemed like she didn't want to talk at all.

The rest of the journey felt even more awkward to both parties. After another painful half hour, they finally reached Yoojung's parents' house. It was a small apartment in Uijeongbu, that was slightly further away from the city. Yoojung had always felt embarrassed that her family lived in such a small apartment since they weren't very well-to-do, but Jimin never looked down on her and always told her that in fact, he liked her house way more than those large landed properties they always passed by on the way to school.

And that was the absolute truth. Since Jimin grew up in the countryside, his house was more similar to those apartments you could find in the suburbs, as compared to the city. In fact, he had a hard time getting used to the houses in central Seoul and in contrast, he felt so much peace and a sense of belonging whenever he visited Yoojung's parents.
Combined with the amount of warmth and affection they had been showing him, Jimin had never felt lonely again ever since he met Yoojung. He had gotten a girlfriend, and an entire family along with her. He felt so comfortable ever since they had met for the first time a few months ago.

Upon reaching the parking lot right in front of his in-laws' house, he saw two figures standing outside the house, talking and laughing with each other. When they saw the black car with the familiar car plate number enter the driveway, they smiled and waved at them.

Jimin smiled and when he turned beside him, he saw that Yoojung was smiling as well - a smile that he felt like he hadn't seen for weeks, months, even years - even though it had only been about a day. Jimin realised how beautiful her smile was and how innocent and pure she looked when she smiled.

And he also realised how much he had missed it.