Wait for me to come Home

Chapter 54

Jennie was on her best behavior for the next two weeks, trying not to get herself in any more trouble so she didn't add to Lisa's worry. She'd also gave Rosé and Jisoo a stern warning about getting into trouble – or rather, a stern warning about letting Lisa find out they had gotten into trouble. Chaerin had left the day after they'd found themselves getting arrested, and Jennie had waited until the next day to get back to work. Not taking Chaerin's punishment seriously, Jennie had shown up at the office at her normal time and had made it all the way up to her office before she was cut off by Somin, who stood her ground as she refused to let Jennie into her office. After a standoff that lasted a few minutes, Jennie groaned in frustration and had left the office in a bad mood and hadn't been back since.

Chaerin showed up twice for therapy, and Jennie was slightly pissed that her mom had actually taken her company away from her for two weeks, which made for interesting post-therapy dinners. Jennie couldn't argue with her mom's logic though – both of them had half-expected to find photos of Jennie being handcuffed or leaving the police station in the news the following day, and Chaerin was intent on keeping Jennie out of the spotlight if that happened. When nothing came of it though, Jennie became grouchy about being away from J-Corp, and spent most of her days secretly doing work from home that Somin unwillingly slipped her when they met up for game night.

When Jennie walked into J-Corp two weeks later, she was met by a guilty looking Somin, who held out a coffee and newspaper with an apologetic look on her face. Jennie swapped her coat for the coffee, rolling her eyes at a nervous looking Somin. "Relax, Somin, I know you were just doing what my mother told you," Jennie said, accepting the newspaper, "and I don't blame you. I think I'm the only person who never listened to her, purely because I knew it pissed her off."

"I'm really sorry though," Somin apologized, stowing Jennie's coat away and picking up the tablet. "I hope it wasn't too bad, being away from work. I know how much you hate it."

Jennie laughed. "That sounds backwards doesn't it? It was completely boring and I'm sick of shopping – although my wardrobe is probably thanking me. So, how much paperwork have I missed out on?"

"I gave you as much as I could sneak out without your mom's spies finding out, so there's not as much as there could've been, but still a lot. It's all waiting on your desk for you. I put the ones I think you'll be most interested in at the top of the pile," Somin told her. Jennie was actually looking forward to the prospect of sitting behind her desk all day, reading pages of statistics, or schematics for new devices. Setting her coffee down, Jennie smiled as she sat down and quickly picked up the first file, opening it to reveal plans for a new water filtration system that Jennie was hoping to build to help countries in need.

"Thanks, Somin," Jennie said as an afterthought, already lost in the plans. Completely absorbed in her work, it was ten o'clock before she so much as moved, and only then because the sound of her phone ringing shocked her out of her reading. Reaching to pull her phone out of her bag, Jennie groaned slightly, feeling stiff from hours on minimum movements.

"Hello," Chaerin said as soon as Jennie answered.

"Mom," Jennie replied.

"Enjoying being back at work?" Chaerin asked, sounding slightly amused.

Jennie rolled her eyes. "Yes, very much so. Thanks for asking."

"Oh come on, Jennie. I was doing you a favour. You spend far too much time at that place, and you needed to be taught a lesson. Privilege isn't something you can use to shake off responsibilities," Chaerin told her.