My Daughter | Jeongmin AU

Guilt & Insecurity

Jimin is sitting in the hall infront of his laptop, revewing the latest choreography submitted by one of his junior. He is sitting like this almost for an hour, yet hasn't been able to concentrate in work for a minute. He desperately wants to talk to Jeongyeon, doesn't want to repeat the same thing what happened with them eight months ago and doesn't want to foolishly interpret their genuine feelings as a mistake again. He might have confessed to the lady already here, at this very moment, only if Jihyun, his daughter is not glued to jeongyeon throughout the whole time!!! Not her fault though, after witnessing both of them fighting, the kid is in the impression that Jeongyeon may leave for Seoul earlier than the schedule. Jeongyeon also, knows that the man is trying to say something but Jihyun is not leaving her alone for a single moment. Whenever she meets his eyes, she cant unsee his helpless stare. At present, she is preparing the dinner, may be after Jihyun falls asleep they will get a chance to talk.

" Jihyunaahh, dont stay at kitchen, its not safe. Go to the hall, prepare the list of your friends who you want to invite", Jeongyeon tells her daughter.

"Oh yes... come here  Jihyun, Appa will help you with that", Jimin calls his daughter before Jihyun could say anything.

She unwillingly sits on the sofa next to Jimin, with a pen and paper.

"Joohee, Meiko, Sakura, Arin...", she slowly starts naming her newly made friends, who she wants to invite while her father is listing them.

"Say aaaa...", Jeongyeon tells her daughter to open her mouth, holding the scoop of rice from the bowl. The father-daughter duo has got so much indulged in the birthday preparation that they even forget about dinner. The bowl of rice, Jeongyeon has kept infront of Jimin almost fifteen minutes back, has cooled down.

"Jimin ssi, you too should start eating, the food is already cold", this is probably Jeongyeon's first full sentence after the bathroom incident.
She is still so nervous, the amount of courage, time and preparation she needs to speak those simple words to this man, is not something she should be proud of. But does the man even value that?
Because, though her well prepared first sentence has reached his ears but not his mind. In response, the man just mumbles,

"I have no problem with cold food", fixing his gaze on his laptop screen.

Jimin is very busy in finding a good theme for the party. His words leave Jeongyeon a bit sad, not just because her initiative to talk gets unnoticed, also because of the fact that Jimin is so used to with cold food. It shows, how lonely he has spent his life so far !! Jeongyeon lost her father when she was a teen, that incident made her life so tough, had to deal with so many problems. Inspite of differences, the presence of her mother always gives her strength and sense of security. And here, this man lost his parents in his childhood, grew up in an orphanage, had to take responsibility for himself as soon as he entered adulthood. How hard it was for him? How many times he got hurt, disappointed?? How much he missed his family? How lonely he must have felt on a cold day like this?

Jeongyeon can understand what Dahyun meant to Jimin... She must have been his whole world, his only family in those days. Jeongyeon now understands her sister too, why she let him go like this. Because she loved him. Jimin must have faced so many problems, obstacles in his lonely life and just when he was just one step apart from his biggest dream, Dahyun couldn't just make him come back to zero. It was tough for her, it was heart breaking for Jimin. She cant imagine the pain , he had gone through after the break up. No wonder, he lived a life of a vagabond. And she doesn't dare to even imagine his state of mind, when he was exposed to the fact that his most precious person was no more. His world must have been shattered.

And what Jeongyeon did to him??  She accused him for Dahyun's misery, selfishly hid his daughter, his only living family member from him. She can't deny that there were days when she used to pray Park Ji Min to never show up in her or Jihyun's life, she used to hope never to see this face. But Karma surely exists and has played fair !! See, how the table has turned !! Now, Jeongyeon everyday lives in a fear of not seeing that face.....

"Omma!! Why are you crying??", Jihyun asks in a surprised tone, which also draws the attention of her father.

Jeongyeon realizes her tears spilled from her eyes, without her permission. She quickly wipes them, the paints a fake smile on her lips. She notices, Jimin's eyes are now fixed on her, she smiles at Jihyun and says,
"Its nothing dear..", the moment she is about to stand up, Jimin holds her hand to stop her.

She looks at him with surprise, she gets more surprised hearing his next words,

"Can you feed me as well?"

"What??", Jeongyeon can't help but laugh a little at his peculiar request.

"Feed me. Like you fed Jihyun", Jimin sounds like it's pretty normal thing to ask for a full grown man.

"Don't compare or confuse yourself with a child, Mr. Park Ji Min !!", Jeongyeon replies, still laughing at him.

"I am working !!", Jimin whines.

"Appa likes it, when someone feeds him. He told me, how Dahyun omma used to feed him, whenever he felt too tired to have meals", Jihyun giggles after spilling his father's cute secret.

But the mention of his late girlfriend this moment, makes Jimin uneasy infront of Jeongyeon. However, the lady smiles brightly at her child and says,

"Arasso... your father is still a child but you are not right? Go brush your teeth like a big girl"

After Jihyun leaves to follow her mother's instructions, Jeongyeon turns at Jimin who is now avoiding her eyes. She picks a piece of meat with chopsticks, holds infront of his face and says, "aaaahh"

Jimin looks at her hesitantly, mumbles her name, "Jeongyeon...."

"I said aaaaaahhh", Jeongyeon cuts him off.

Jimin then opens his mouth without any resistance and she stuffs the food in his mouth.

"Tasty, right?", the woman asks with a hundred dollar smile and the man can't help but to agree.

That Night

"Do you think Park Jimin will ever like you? He still loves Dahyun"

Jeongyeon hears the voice of Jaebum's mother.

"What are you doing here?", she asks in a shocked voice.

Then suddenly Jihyun speaks up, "Appa loves Dahyun omma so much. He told many stories about her"

Jihyun !! She is also here !!

Jeongyeon then realizes that she is standing in the hall of Jimin's apartment. A framed picture of Dahyun is hanging on the wall, just infront of her. Then she hears Jimin's voice,

"I can't live without her, even if she is the one who is not living".

Jeongyeon looks at him but Jimin's eyes aren't on her. He is looking behind her, at Dahyun's picture....noooo at Dahyun!!

Yes... Dahyun, she is there , alive !! Smiling at her !!

"Unnie, was Jaebum's omonim right about you? Are you really jealous of me?"

"Aniya", as Jeongyeon blurts out those words, she finds herself lying on the bed, beside Jihyun. She sighs in relief to see that she hasn't wake her up. What a dream!! No it's a nightmare. Her heart feels empty, she is sweating abnormally, her palms are cold, she feels dizzy and dry in throat.

Jeongyeon gets up to fetch some water from kitchen. She hardly can walk straight with her trembling limbs. Somehow she reaches kitchen and try to pour some water in the glass but suddenly her world goes all dark, the glass slips from her hand and she collapses on the floor, unconcious.