Hyacinth

A Crossing Of Paths

Home. She's home.

Jennie thought as she looked around the familiar view. Chanel sunglasses covered her eyes from the harsh glare of the sun. The pier had that salty smell of ocean breeze mixed with oil and gasoline. She scrunched her nose in distaste.

Kai and her friends texted her and asked why she wasn't in class, she told them a little lie and said there was an emergency at home.

She slowly got down from the ferry, the sea breeze ruffling her silk white button down and caressed her jean shorts covered legs. She almost wanted to go back and sail to Seoul, back to the University, back to Kai and away from this nightmare. She did nothing the whole 2 hour ride but fidget and worry.

As she rounded the gate, Jennie saw a familiar face waiting for her just outside the pier, it made her smile a bit despite everything.

"Hello, Ahjussi." She can hear the tiredness in her voice as she greeted the old man.

"Hello, little Jennie." He answered, fondness obvious in his eyes. The old nickname made her giggle faintly.

Myungsoo has been her family's driver even before she was born, he was like a real uncle to her and he treated her like family even though they're not related by blood.

"You ready to go home, Jennie?" He asked her as they got settled in the car, her bags already in the trunk.

The question was weighted and his look towards her meaningful.

"Ugh so you know about it too." She grumped.

"Well it's all everyone at home's been talking about. It's kind of a big deal, the Kim's little princess is gonna get married soon."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Don't count on it just yet, Ahjussi. I'm here to convince dad not to go through with it."

"You've always been a stubborn little one, Jennie. It was so hard to change your mind once you've decided on something. I remember your cousin daring you to eat a whole chocolate cake, gave you a toothache for a week but you were so proud you finished eating the whole thing." She giggled at the memory with him.

“Also that time you wanted to learn how to ride a horse so bad so your father sent you to the Manoban farm and when you found out that Lisa would be the one to teach you, you threw a tantrum.”

“Oh god, I remember thinking I'd rather get food poisoning than be taught by her.” She groaned.

“You both only managed to do one training session together before you two called it quits.” Myungsoo laughed.

“Cos she was being such a smartass!” Jennie defended herself still giggling.”She couldn't go a minute without calling me a brat or a whiny princess.”

“Was that why you kicked her in the shin and left her in the middle of the field while you rode away with her horse?” He asked, eyes shining with amusement.

Jennie blushed and slid down her seat a bit, “She deserved it. I rode that horse the whole day and managed to learn by myself.” She finished proudly. “Lily, that was her horse's name and she was Lisa's favorite so she was extra pissed when I stole her horse for an entire day.”

Myungsoo just shook his head with a smile.

They reminisce some more, the ride filled with laughter as they smoothly made their way down the road towards home.

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Jennie watched as one of the plantation workers opened the huge gate for them. There were a lot of new faces she noticed. The plantation nearly had six hundred workers and they all come and go every other month. She rarely visits ever since she left to go live with her grandma in the city since she was ten, and she hasn't visited for almost a year, all the people looked unfamiliar to her.