"No, I like it here." Then, Jimin took a few giant steps and sat down on a small wooden table.
Taehyung and Bang Chan followed behind him...
Jungkook tilted his head to see Jimin and nodded at him; he at least had to say hi.
Jimin was also a polite man, so he nodded back at Jungkook's greeting...
Lisa was laughing when she saw Jimin sitting down on the table across from theirs. She immediately tucked away her laughter, turned around, and sat obediently by Jungkook.
She really didn't feel much towards Jimin, but...
Jimin's gaze was one that made the entire world jealous of her...
Whether she cried, laughed, or caused chaos...
He loved to look at everything she did, and his gaze was always filled with deep emotions...
Lisa couldn't stand Jimin's gaze and felt very pressured by it.
Therefore, most of the time she always tried to avoid looking directly at him.
Taehyung, on the other hand, walked up to them and smiled, "Lisa, Jennie's getting engaged tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, I got it."
"Are you going?" Lisa looked at Taehyung curiously.
"Yeah, but I'm there to steal her away... don't worry." Taehyung seemed to know how Bambam was related to the man getting engaged to Jennie. Therefore, he made this profound remark before heading back to his table.
He just wanted to make sure that he got the date right...
"Jennie...? Don't tell me you guys were talking about my cousin's tigress fiancé."
Bambam knew Jennie and his cousin were getting engaged tomorrow.
He was just curious as to why Taehyung would know Jennie.
The truth was, Bambam really didn't like Jimin and the others...
To him, they were just money-burning playboys.
Although Bambam was also the son of a rich official, he put a lot of effort into getting to where he was today.
"Yeah, her..."
"How did she meet Taehyung?" bambam said after taking a sip of his beer.
"I don't know..." Lisa didn't want to talk too much about how they met, because that night seemed like a giant prank.
It might affect Jennie and Taehyung's reputations.
Bambam wasn't stupid; he stopped asking upon seeing that Lisa didn't want to go into any details...
"Who's Jennie? How is she related to you? Have you been screwing around again?" Chaeyoung wasn't sure what they were talking about, so she asked sourly.
Before Bambam had the chance to explain, Lisa said on purpose, "Yeah, Bambam's liked her for a while now."
"Shit... Lisa you just threw your husband under the bus, and now me."
"Hahaha..." Lisa couldn't help but burst into laughter again.
Jimin also couldn't help but gaze at her direction...
He wondered why a girl like Lisa would be able to laugh without a care in the world, without any disguise.
Her laughter was magical... and she never cared much about maintaining her image...
She was so real...
No wonder Jungkook liked her so much; he did as well...
Jimin quietly picked up the beer on his table and took a big sip...
"Jimin... take it easy, the dishes haven't even been served yet." Bang Chan ranted on with his introduction.
However, Jimin was in no mood to listen...
All of his attention was on Lisa...
Seoul was so big, and he had been lucky enough to bump into her, more and more...
Because Jungkook announced who Lisa was, she would soon appear on many occasions as JC's Young Madam.
Did Jimin want chancing encounters with her under such circumstances?
Every time he saw her, she was with another man.
Every time he saw her, she would be holding that man's hand... Were they doing it just to make him miserable?
Just then, the pig trotters were served...
There were too many pig feet on the plate, and one of them accidentally fell... and landed right by Lisa... burning her pinky.
"Ah..." Both Jungkook and Jimin's expressions changed upon hearing Lisa's shriek.
Lisa reacted fast, and she jumped up as soon as the pork feet touched her skin. Then, she ran over to the bathroom sink.
She ran her pinky under cold water... It wasn't really serious, just a little red.
When everyone came back to their senses, Lisa had already returned to her seat.
"Um... why are you guys all looking at me like that?" Lisa noticed that the others were looking at her with weird expressions on their faces.
"Let me see." Jungkook was heartbroken as he carefully took Lisa's hand in his and examined it thoroughly.
He only relaxed upon realizing that she wasn't too seriously injured...
"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry..."
The server was a young boy, around 18 or 19 years old. He looked shaggy... but his expression was genuine.
"It's okay, you didn't do it on purpose either." Lisa smiled.
"I'm going to buy you some burn cream, you guys eat first." Jungkook stood up to leave the restaurant as soon as he finished speaking.
Chaeyoung gave him a thumbs-up. "Best husband in South Korea."
"Girl, do you really have a human brain...? You knew how to deal with it as soon as you were burnt."
"Seriously, I study medicine. Isn't this common sense?"
"But you reacted so fast! I'm not kidding, but the server didn't even realize that you'd been burnt until you came back from the bathroom."
"Hahaha..." Lisa laughed cheerfully.
Jimin couldn't resist and walk up to her. "Are you okay? How's your chicken feet?"
"Can't you speak like a human being? Will it kill you to be nice?" Lisa refuted.
"Your reflexes are sure fast... with your IQ, you'll be able to live until you're 100," Jimin exclaimed calmly.
"I don't want to live that long, it'll be lonely..." Lisa pouted.
"You can always think of hundreds of reasons to refute everything I say. I'm speechless in front of your wits and logic..." Jimin was helpless.
Chaeyoung and Bambam exchanged glances but didn't say anything...
To them, hitting on Lisa while Jungkook wasn't here was a little... yeah...
"Don't think that I only came because Jungkook isn't here. I would've still come even if he were. I'm fine as long as you're fine, or I'll be worried about you for nothing... I'm leaving now. I didn't even get the chance to have any pork feet and almost ended up eating chicken feet."
Jimin was hinting at Lisa's injury...
In the end, the ostentatious trio's dishes weren't even served, but they left a bundle of paper bills on their table before leaving.
"Having money sure makes them capricious. They ordered, didn't eat, but still paid," Chaeyoung exclaimed.
"I know how to burn money too."
"Why don't you burn some then?" Chaeyoung teased Bambam.
"I'm not that kind of person, don't compare me to fortune-squandering good-for-nothings like them."
"Who are you calling a fortune-squandering good-for-nothing? Come on... you should ask around and find out how muc BigHit entertainment makes every year... Jimin is rich and entitled enough to spend a couple million a day. Right now, BigHit is a leading domestic enterprise, and I heard that they're going on the U.S. market soon. You're only calling him a fortune-squandering good-for-nothing because you're jealous."
"Me? Jealous of him? Are you kidding me? He's just a stud horse."
"He's not a stud horse anymore. I heard that Jimin's changed quite a lot and doesn't screw around anymore." Chaeyoung exclaimed.
Bambam looked at Lisa with a complicated expression on his face and then insinuated, "Anyways, if I were a woman, I wouldn't date Jimin, I'd want to date a loyal doggie like Jungkook."
"If I'm a loyal dog, then what are you? A donkey?" Jungkook's voice sounded from behind them.
He was standing right behind Bambam...
"Hahah... you heard me."
"He said if he was a woman, he would date someone like you," Chaeyoung said on purpose.
"I only want Lisa, no one else," Jungkook said arrogantly as he sat down.
Then, he opened the burn cream and carefully applied it on Lisa's pinky...
Lisa had a pig feet in one hand, while Jungkook applied burn cream on her other hand. She sure was living the life.
"Why do you guys do this to us every time we eat together?" Bambam complained as he munched on a bone.
"You guys can do it to us too."
"My ass... we're nothing in comparison to you guys. You guys are on a whole other level, we can't surpass you."
"Girl... are you pregnant yet? It's been so long..." Chaeyoung suddenly thought of a very serious question.
"Not yet," Lisa said truthfully.
"You guys need to hurry up... and make a baby..." Bambam chimed in.
"You guys should too, we can make a baby at the same time... Maybe in the future, our kids will get married and we'll become in-laws."
Bambam and Chaeyoung were dumbfounded by what Lisa said...
"Pfft... what are you talking about, we're still ways away from all that," Chaeyoung immediately explained.
"You guys already slept together. If that doesn't count as something, then what does that make Jungkook and me?" Lisa smiled.
"Hey... stop spreading rumors, nothing happened between us last time..." Bambam was speechless.
Jungkook added, "Right, nothing happened between you guys, you just ate sunflower seeds all night, okay?"
"Hahaha." Lisa seriously wanted to clap at what her hubby said. She began laughing charmingly again.
Bambam and Chaeyoung were speechless...
"Jungkook, can't we hang out like normal people?" Chaeyoung asked helplessly.
"You guys need to admit that something's going on first... Then we'll hang out like normal people... You should all tell the truth," Lisa said again.
Bambam and Chaeyoung were again speechless.
"Thank god you guys got married, no one else in this world would be able to tame either one of you... You guys are awful," Bambam exclaimed.
Then, the four of them continued eating and drinking, and Lisa's pinky burn didn't affect her at all...
– Inside a Mercedes Benz RV –
Jimin , Taehyung, and Bang Chan sat inside the RV, listening to music and sipping on wine...
"I'm so hungry, we should've eaten before we left. We spent so much but didn't even get to eat anything. It's so pretentious of us," Bang Chan complained.
"You can go back if you eat, but our Young Master Park's heart almost broke upon seeing Lisa getting burnt... He won't have the appetite to eat." Taehyung laughed.
"How can you be in the mood to laugh? Isn't your Jennie getting engaged tomorrow?"
"Do you want me to cry instead? Plus, nothing's going on with us." Taehyung smiled faintly.
Jimin didn't say anything but was quietly looking out the RV window...
As soon as Lisa burned her pinky, he really wanted to immediately stand up and rush up to her...
But then, he suddenly realized that he didn't have the right to...
He didn't even have the right to ask if she was okay as a friend...
Lisa once said that they weren't even friends...
But why was he so heartbroken, seeing her hurt? He felt awful, as if he was the one who was burnt...
Was he too far gone...?
"Jimin, don't worry... Lisa's fine... It's just a tiny burn. Plus, did you see how fast she reacted? She ran like a bunny. I didn't even realize what happened until after she went back to her table, hahaha!" Taehyung consoled him.
Jimin remained silent...
Nothing could get his spirits up...
The three of them happily went to that restaurant for some pig feet but ended up running into Lisa...
Was it luck or disaster? Taehyung felt like Jimin was way too desperately in love with her...
He loved her more and more each day...
What was worse was that he constantly tried to control himself... He didn't want to court her in such a flashy way, because he didn't want to make Lisa's life harder than it needed to be.
Therefore, he controlled himself... It was hard for a hot-tempered man like him to conceal his true feelings towards a woman.
"Jimin... um... you've been suppressed for too long, I think you need to vent... Since you don't like sleeping with the celebrities under your label, why don't we go abroad and look for some foreign chicks? Oh, and... I know the manager of a few celebrity groups in Korea, we can take our pick..."
"You guys should go, I'm not interested," Jimin looked down and said quietly.
"You should go yourself, I'm not interested either." Taehyung smiled.
"Should we go to Seductive Fox for a drink then?" Bang Chan suggested.
"I'm going home today, you guys have fun."
As soon as Jimin said that he wanted to go home, the driver immediately took him back to the Park Family Mansion.
Ever since he became of age, he rarely went to the Park Family Mansion. He was probably used to being independent. Back when he was in the military, he only went home twice a year.
When Mrs. Park missed him, she would secretly visit him in the military.
However, for some reason, he really wanted to go home today...
Perhaps people who were hurt really needed the comfort of their family...
It was only 8 PM when Jimin arrived home...
His family had just finished dinner...
Mrs. Park was extremely flattered to see that her son was back. "Honey, have you had dinner?"
"Not yet... Mom, I'm a little hungry."
"Come sit down and have some biscuits, I'll ask someone to whip you up some dishes."
"Mom... could you make me some egg fried rice?"
"Son... what's wrong?" Jimin wasn't one to act coyish in front of his mother.
When he was seven, he got into a fight with other children and bled all over. Once he got home, his dad whipped him.
Even then, he didn't throw a tantrum of any kind or try to act coyish...
However, today he asked to have some of his mother's egg fried rice.
Mrs. Park didn't really cook, and so her egg fried rice didn't taste that good, but Jimin missed that familiar taste.
"I'm fine, Mom. I'm just hungry."
"Okay, okay, wait here. I'll go make you some fried rice."
"Mrs. Park, please let me." The housekeeper was mortified when she saw Mrs. Park go into the kitchen.
"It's okay, I'll make it." Mrs. Park rarely got to make his son food, so naturally, she didn't want to give up on this opportunity.
– Twenty minutes later –
Mrs. Park placed a plate of egg fried rice on the coffee table...
The color of the fried rice wasn't that good, and it even tasted a little burnt...
However, Jimin didn't complain. He picked it up and began wolfing it down, enjoying each bite in fulfillment...
"How does it taste, Honey?" Mrs. Park asked nervously.
"It's delicious, thanks Mom."
Jimin's family members were all interesting individuals...
Mrs. Park was gentle, Mr. Park was strict, and Grandpa Park was a combination of both.
The Park Family was diligent and traditional, but they rarely ever interfered with Jimin's life.
The Park Family would never do anything like Mrs. Jeon, who accepted an interview and basically slapped his own son across the face.
Jimin quickly finished off the egg fried rice...
"Is it enough? I can make you some more." Mrs. Park looked at her son lovingly.
"No, it's okay, I'm full."
"Do you want some fruit? Your grandpa's old comrade came and brought with him a lot of lychees. I can ask someone to bring you some."
"I don't want any."
"What about tea? The one your father bought is really good... It's top quality."
"I don't want any."
After Jimin finished the egg fried rice, he realized that he was still in a bad mood, and he couldn't explain why...
Nothing his mother said piqued his interest...
"Honey... is something on your mind?" Concerned, Mrs. Park put on a white pashmina and sat down beside Jimin.
"Yeah."
"Is it about the girl you told me about last time?"
"How did you know?" Jimin tilted his head and looked at his mother in surprise.
"Of course I know, you're my son, and you crawled out from my belly. I know what's going on in your head." Mrs. Park smiled.
Jimin looked down but remained silent...
"Does that girl... not like you?" Mrs. Park tried to feel her son out.
"Yeah."
"That's normal, there are so many people in this world, and everyone has different personalities. Just because you like her, it doesn't mean that she likes you."
Mrs. Park smiled...
"It's not that simple..."
"Can you tell me about it?" Mrs. Park was hopeful.
"No..."
"Fine." She knew that this little brat wouldn't give up information so easily.
"Mom... I'm a little tired, I'm going to go up to bed."
"Okay."
"Is Grandpa at home?"
"No, he's at a conference in incheon. Your father's in the study."
"Never mind then, my dad's too old-fashioned, I'll become even more depressed talking to him. I'm going to go to bed now, goodnight, Mom."
It was rare for Jimin to go to bed at 9 PM...
He felt much better at the Park Mansion than his own since he didn't feel as lonely.
For some strange reason, Jimin was pessimistic today...
It felt like he was having his period, although he didn't actually know how that felt.
Still, he felt like he couldn't breathe.
He suddenly had a feeling that he'll never be able to be with Lisa his entire life...
He won't even have the chance to... hold her hand.
Jungkook was so meticulous towards her, and his love for her was something that had accumulated for almost a decade...
He was nowhere near where Jungkook was...
He lied on his bed, took out his phone, and stared at the screensaver for a while...
Then, he logged onto instagram and clicked open Lisa's private chat.
He wrote five words on her chat box –'Lisa, I like you.'
However, he immediately thought it was inappropriate and proceeded to delete it...
Then, he wrote it again and deleted it again...
After ten or so minutes, he finally deleted everything he typed and logged out of Instagram.
He wasn't afraid of confessing his feelings to her again, but was afraid that she would distance herself from him even more...
After logging onto WeChat, he saw a post from one of his friends.
"If it's just friendship, then be friends if you can. Don't be so greedy, because love is extreme – if it's not for life, then you will become strangers."
Jimin rarely liked a post, but he liked this one...
His friend immediately replied happily, "Which club are you hanging out at these days, Young Master Park?"
Jimin didn't reply...
Then, he closed his eyes and forced himself to go to bed and stop thinking about everything...
No matter how depressed and suppressed he felt today, after a good night's sleep, tomorrow was going to be a new day.
*
After happily enjoying the pork feet, they were about to leave but suddenly Lisa's phone began to ring...
"Unnie, please come to the seafood restaurant on Cheongam street... Haruto was beaten up." Wonyoung wailed on the other end of the line.
Lisa's expression changed immediately upon hearing this...
"What's wrong?" Jungkook asked, noticing Lisa's weird expression.
"Something happened to Haruto..." Then, before anyone had the chance to react, Lisa ran out of the restaurant.
Jungkook took out few paper bills out from his wallet and put it onto the table, then, followed her out as well.
"Let's go and see what happened." Bambam and Chaeyoung followed Jungkook's car.
The four of them soon arrived at the seafood restaurant on Cheongam Street...
Cheongam street was a sketchy area, but there was a seafood restaurant that tasted really authentic.
Most importantly, it was cheap...
A lot of people frequented this restaurant; Lisa and Jungkook usually went to high-end ones and never ate at small places like this.
However, Haruto was different. He didn't recklessly spend money just because his sister married rich...
Wonyoung wanted to eat seafood, so he brought her here...
However, he never expected something like this to happen...
Since Haruto had extensive brain surgery before, Lisa was really nervous.
Her hands were shaking, and she panicked the entire way...
Jungkook drove as he held Lisa's hand. "Don't worry, everything will be alright."
"Kook... can you drive faster?" Lisa's voice trembled as well.
Jungkook ran a bunch of red lights and arrived at Cheongam street in less than 15 minutes.
Haruto was lying on the ground outside the restaurant, and Wonyoung was crying beside him...
A lot of onlookers surrounded the couple...
Lisa ran off the car and went straight up to them, fighting off the crowd around her.
"Ruto..." She felt like her heart was in her throat, about to jump out at any time.
"Noona... I'm fine." Haruto's eyebrow was bleeding, and there were bruises by the corner of his mouth.
"Come on, let's go to the hospital first."
"Noona, I'm really fine, it's just some cuts and bruises, I don't need to go to the hospital."
"Unnie, I tried to convince him, but he won't listen to me." Wonyoung kept crying.
"I told you that we're going to the hospital, you're listening to what I say!" Lisa had never screamed at Haruto.
She had treated him gently ever since they were children...
However, for the first time, she yelled at him, in front of all these people.
Jungkook and Bambam, who were standing behind them, got a little scared...
"My girl's pissed..." Chaeyoung had known Lisa for a long time, and she rarely saw her so overwhelmed and out of control.
Upon seeing how angry his sister was, Haruto immediately shut his mouth.
Jungkook and Bambam walked up to him and helped him onto the car...
Then, the group headed to the Asan medical center...
– Outside the Emergency Room –
"How is he?"
"Lisa, don't worry, your brother's fine. He only sustained external wounds..."
"Is his brain okay?"
"Yeah, he got a CT, and everything's normal." The doctor at the Asan medical center knew her well and consoled her.
"That's good...that's good..." Lisa almost had a heart attack.
If something were to happen to Haruto, how was she supposed to explain things to their mother?
Lisa felt her entire body give in once she heard that Haruto was alright...
She finally let out a sigh of relief...
Jungkook was just about to console her when he heard a voice call out for him, "Young Master... you're here?"
It was the Jeon Family's housekeeper. She went out to buy a midnight snack for Mrs. Jeon and saw Jungkook on her way back upstairs.
"Yeah." Jungkook nodded.
"Young Master, are you here to see Mrs. Jeon? Come with me, she really misses you." The housekeeper had no idea what was going on and thought that Jungkook was here to see his mother.
Just as Jungkook was about to decline, Lisa said, "You should go up, I'll wait for you here."
"Sounds good. Wait for me, I'll be down soon."
Jungkook thought that since he was already here, he might as well visit his mother. After all, his dad called him earlier.
If his mother was sick, then he was willing to go see her. But, it didn't mean that he forgave her.
Jungkook was prepared for a long-term battle with his mother. If she didn't accept Lisa, then he wouldn't forgive her.
Lisa was relieved to hear that Haruto was okay.
She looked up at Wonyoung with an exhausted expression on her face. "Tell me, what on earth happened to you guys on Cheongam Street?"