Teacher's Pet (Jensoo)

Christmas

Whatever her reasoning, Jisoo didn't care. She wanted her mother out of her house before she ripped her own hair from her scalp. That woman was already destroying her life, picking brick by brick out of the foundation that she had built for herself. If she pulls out one brick too many, Jisoo's life will be in shambles. The brunette had to guard what pieces her mother removed, and that special brick that would no doubt force her to her knees; Jennie.

There was no telling what would happen if her mother found out about her blonde lover, and that she was her student at that. Jisoo could lose her job. She wouldn't be able to find another in the teaching career and would be forced to fall back on her mother for support. Jennie will have been gone long before and Jisoo would be alone again. She would have to depend on her mother as she had when she was younger and that was something that she did not want to have to go through again. That woman was manipulative, wicked, and would do anything to get into Jisoo's head and control her as a parasite would its host.

Minhyeon would be able to have her firm passed onto Jisoo, then, since she would be incapable of getting a job elsewhere- or at least one that was worthwhile and not in a fastfood joint.

But of course, Jisoo was definitely getting ahead of herself. She need not panic, because panicking would only lead to further destruction and weakening of her walls, which would only increase the risk of her mother worming her way in. She couldn't allow that. She needed to get a firm grip on her life and push her mother away.

"Darling, did you not hear me?" Minhyeon asked, her tone impatient and the look on her face told Jisoo this was not the first time she had asked that question.

The brunette shook her head, forming a guilty look on her visage, and replied. "No... I'm sorry."

"You really need to start paying attention. You will get nowhere in life if you do not listen, dear daughter. You, of all people, should know that." The older woman bent down to retrieve a wrapped gift, a medium-sized box, from under the Christmas tree. It wasn't until Jisoo had noticed the green fir did she realize that they had made it to one of the rooms downstairs where she had set up the tree just weeks prior.

She didn't know why she had even put the thing up. She didn't celebrate Christmas, for she was alone every year and had no need to put up decorations. But it was Jennie who had insisted that she utilize the tree in her attic and all the decorations in several marked boxes. The blonde had spent the next few days helping her set up the tree and decorate the house to make it more festive, and Jisoo had to admit, it made the large manor feel like an actual home. The Christmas lights twinkling from the doorways and the faint smell of spices just made it cozy and had reminded her of the times when she was younger.

Her mother was never one for the festivities, but she tried her best to make Jisoo happy on the holidays and give her some sense of family. Jisoo used to sit by the window at nights when it snowed, the perfect, white flakes sparkling in the air as they hit the immaculate blankets of fresh snow. She enjoyed the wintry scenery with a cup of hot cocoa and the scent of cloves in the air from the various candles lit up around her. Her mother sometimes had joined her by the window, a mug of cocoa of her own, and held young Jisoo in her arms as they both watched the peaceful winter wonderland through the window. That was one of the good memories that Jisoo had of her mother and of her childhood in all.

And being in her house with the familiar clove scents and cheery Christmas music had brought her back. She secretly enjoyed it, even though she acted indifferently around Jennie. Some of the nights, when snow was on the forecast, she found herself sitting on the bench by her window in her bedroom with a mug of cocoa coffee, soft holiday music playing faintly from the radio.

Jisoo wondered if her mother remembered doing that with her. The good memories seemed few and far between and wondered if her mother remembered any of them like she did. Or if she thought them special as she had.