"Miss Jimin! Miss!"
Jimin didn't even hear the maid, as she just kept packing up her stuff in various suitcases. She somehow managed to fit in all the clothes of her wardrobe, throwing them inside of her suitcase. She didn't care anymore; not even how in the hell she was going to pack up her clothes. She just wanted to leave the place, and fast.
The pain she was feeling in the pit of her chest was too big already. She didn't want to suffer much more. She didn't even know if she could bear being deceived by her father again.
The maid only saw as the young heiress closed the three large suitcases, breathing heavily at the end. Jimin sat on the floor, gasping for some breath. It wasn't too long before the maid rushed to her side, obviously concerned about her health.
"Miss, you're pregnant...You shouldn't force your body like that," The older woman pleaded, holding the younger's shoulders. Jimin bit her lip and shook her head, tears falling down her cheeks.
"Why can't my father accept that I just want to be happy, ahjumma?"
Jimin sobbed as she felt the older woman enveloping her in a tight hug, soothing her down somehow. That woman, she had always treated Jimin as if she was her daughter. Together with Suho, she was the one who had taught her so many things; not only about her mother, but also life. When she had her first period, it had been that maid who had helped her out. When she was pregnant with her baby, it had been that maid, together with Minjeong's mother, that had helped her out during the pregnancy. Jimin had never had a mother; but, somehow, that woman had always been a kind of maternal figure for her.
"Jimin ah," The woman began, caressing Jimin's cheek, "You shouldn't cry. Crying makes people look ugly. You're still beautiful when you cry but it aches my heart to see you like this."
The older woman smiled and made Jimin look at her, "Your father might dislike her, but we all appreciate Kim a lot. What she's done for you...she made you so happy in the past and she can make you so happy again," She wiped Jimin's tears, "You should fight for your happiness, Jimin ah. You did it in the past and you can do it again."
Jimin nodded, wiping her own tears with her trembling fingers, getting up from the floor with the help of the other woman.
"I'm leaving this house, ahjumma," Jimin began, taking in a deep breath, "I don't think I can stay here longer."
"So you're leaving?"
Jimin looked at her bedroom's door, seeing her father standing there. He looked like a mixture of madness and betrayal; she wasn't sure. But there was this thing she was certainly sure of: she didn't want to see his face ever again.
She stared back at him hardly, gulping down silently as the maid helped her with her suitcases. Jimin grabbed two of them, leaning down for a moment. Her father breathed out deeply, unmoving.
"I see you're leaving for good this time."
Jimin decided to ignore her father, and looked around her bedroom for a few seconds. She was definitely going to miss it. She had her piano there, her things...so many memories had been made inside of that bedroom. It still seemed like the day before when Minjeong used to sneak inside of her bedroom during the night and they had those late night talks or just made love to each other in the secrecy of her bedroom.
"I've had enough," Jimin muttered, staring at him hard.
"If you leave this house, you're leaving this family."
Jimin bit her lip, shaking her head, not wanting to believe what her father was saying.
"Family? What kind of family-"
"-Bastards have no place in this family. If you want to be with that bastard, then be with her. I won't forbid you anymore. But you won't be a Yu anymore. You won't have the right to step inside of this house anymore-"
"-And you'll take my inheritance, right?"
Jimin chuckled lowly, biting her lip.
"Minjeong doesn't need your money. I don't need your money. Besides, if you do remember...I have a house. I have two cars. You gave me those, but I asked you to register them under my name, didn't I? That means that, if you want to have them back, I'll have to sell them to you. No way I'm going to do that and, besides, I have a job," Jimin began, before adding, "And, ah. Just in case, I made an account at another bank and transferred all the money I've saved there. So, you don't have a penny to get from me."
She shook her head, smirking.
"You thought you could scare me? You thought I couldn't live without your money?"
Seeing her father's silence, she pursed her lips, looking serious.
"I was dumb, honestly. Dumb for taking this in for so long and never complaining about it. I could have just stayed single all this time and now I wouldn't have a fucking husband who just married me out of interest even though you can't see that-"
"-Get out of this house."
Jimin nodded, biting her lip.
"You know father....You're right. I have a family to take care of, I shouldn't even be here," She said, taking her suitcases with her, somehow asking for the older woman to carry the third and the fourth for her. As soon as she reached her father's side, she stopped, not even bothering to look at him.
"My lawyer is coming here tomorrow. See you and Jeno in court."
_____________________________________________________________________
"Who's that?"
Chanyeol frowned, hearing the bell of their house ringing. As long as he remembered, there wasn't a scheduled visit to his house that day. Maybe Ning or Mark had invited someone over without warning; but he quickly dismissed that chance; as both of them were quite responsible, especially the young female.
The oldest child of the family looked at his mother in surprise, as she looked over her shoulder from the kitchen at first, then turned around and dried her hands on her apron.
"Did you invite someone over?"
"No, eomma."
Taeyeon sighed, nodding.
"I'll open the door-"
"-What's wrong?"
Chanyeol turned around and looked at Minjeong, as she came out from the bathroom, looking apparently confused with what was going on at home. Chanyeol shook his head, indicating he had absolutely no clue of what was going on right in that moment.
Minjeong sighed, looking over at the kitchen.
"Eomma, I'm taking care of the food."
"Thank you, son."
Taeyeon breathed out deeply, and walked towards the door hurriedly, hearing the bell ringing again.
"Coming!"
The middle aged woman wore her best smile, opening the door with care. However, she immediately stared wide-eyed at the view of a teary-eyed Jimin with four suitcases by her side.
"...Is Minjeong home?"
Taeyeon nodded, opening the door wider, so that Jimin could step in.
Jimin heard steps coming from somewhere in the house, but she didn't even care to look around too much. She just saw as Minjeong's older brother, Chanyeol, stared at her, quite shocked with the view.
"Rina?"
Hearing her voice made her look up right away. Jimin didn't even have time to think, as she just felt her arms wrapped tightly and securely around her. Jimin hugged her back strongly, burying her face on the crook of her neck. Jimin felt and knew that she didn't even have to explain to her what had happened. She knew that, with that hug, their conversation the day before and with all of her stuff with her, she would quickly guess what had happened.
"...He kicked you out..."
Minjeong gently broke the hug and wiped her tears away, kissing her forehead. She sighed and turned around for a moment, looking at her older brother, "Can you please help me get her things?"
Chanyeol nodded and approached his younger sister, helping her to bring the suitcases inside of home. Taeyeon closed the door and looked at the younger female worriedly, wondering if she was alright.
"Jimin, are you okay?"
Jimin smiled softly at Minjeong's mother, nodding. Taeyeon sighed and held Jimin's hands, smiling gently.
"I'll bring you something to eat, hmm?"
"Thank you," Jimin muttered, just before Minjeong's mother turned around, heading towards the kitchen. Chanyeol sighed and nodded.
"I'm leaving as well. I have some things to take care of at the office," He said, opening the door, as his sister and Jimin bid him his farewells.
Jimin looked at Minjeong, gulping down silently.
"We need to talk, Minjeong."
She nodded silently, side-hugging her.
"Let's sit down on the couch."
Jimin sat beside Minjeong, at the same time her mother came over with some snacks and a glass of chocolate milk. Jimin smiled as the older woman sighed, wiping her hands on the apron.
"I had some Kimbap but since you need to be careful with what you eat now, I decided to get you this, in case you don't mind."
Jimin blinked for some seconds, feeling confused. Minjeong breathed out a smile and rubbed her arm, pursing her lips for a moment.
"I showed her the ultrasound."
"Ah," Jimin said, nodding, "Okay."
Taeyeon smiled widely, looking at the younger woman lovingly, "You need to take a lot of care from now on. I'm pretty sure you still remember how it was with Jeongwoo but I think you should be a little extra careful this time. I don't know, pregnancies can be very different," She said, making Jimin laugh a little and nod in agreement, "7 weeks already?"
Jimin nodded, smiling.
"That's almost two months! Makes the wait a little shorter," She pointed her chin at her daughter, "That silly girl over there couldn't stop smiling all the time when she showed me the ultrasound."
Jimin looked at Minjeong, smiling.
"She doesn't talk much, she's more of the smiling and nodding type."
"I think you just defined her," Taeyeon said, agreeing with Jimin's statement. She breathed out and paused her hands on her hips, nodding, "Alright. I'm going to finish up lunch. You two can talk."
Minjeong turned her attention to Jimin as soon as her mother left the living room, heading towards the kitchen; noticing the immediate change in Jimin's mood.
"What's wrong?"
Jimin took in a deep breath.
"I...I found a small notebook at my father's office. There, he had written all the money transfers he made...But not just any money transfers. I mean, huge money transfers...billions of won in each one," She paused for some seconds, "I just flipped through the pages and I found out he had transferred nine billion won the day our son was born to five different people...Five billion to the National Police Chief Commander back then and the other four to other four people. As I already knew who the chief was I didn't even bother but the other four...I didn't know them and...something inside of me just screamed to search up for their names in the database of the bank."
"...What did you find out?"
Jimin bit her lip, trying to avoid the tears from falling.
"...One of the four people was the nurse who took Jeongwoo away."
The news Jimin was giving her was the confirmation of her suspects. Something in the pit of her chest had always told her it had been Jimin's father, the one who had made their son disappear. But now, hearing the confirmation from Jimin's lips...It just felt millions and millions of times worse than what it already felt.
She closed her eyes, biting her lip as she covered her face with her palm.
"I swear to god...I swear to god I'm going to kill him."
Jimin looked at Minjeong, shaking her head.
"It's not worth it...The bad's long done."
Minjeong took in a deep breath and turned to stare at her.
"I understand he did this to me but...Doing this to you, Jimin-"
"-I don't want to talk about this anymore-"
"-It's our son, Rina!"
Taeyeon came out of the kitchen as she heard her daughter talking loudly at Jimin, worried that something could be wrong. She saw Minjeong staring at Jimin, breathing heavily, as Jimin just stood there, silent.
"I know it, but...I just want to find him and forget this-"
"-Is everything okay?"
Minjeong looked up at her mother and shook her head.
"It really was him, eomma."
Taeyeon's eyes widened and she stared back at the couple, not knowing what to say.
"Jimin ah...I don't know what I should say."
"We should go to the police."
Jimin took in a shaky breath, shaking her head, "No, please. I don't...Don't get me wrong but I've been enduring this for the past six years and I just want to find my son and forget the rest. I don't want to go to court here and there and insist on the matter twenty four seven. I am a mother but...This is exhausting. I just," She stopped for a moment, biting her lip, "...I just want my son back."
"...Jimin-"
"-Let's drop this, Minjeong. I just want to stay calm now, even if it only is for a couple minutes."
Taeyeon nodded, "Honey, she's pregnant. Give her a rest."
"God, I almost forgot."
Minjeong looked at Jimin, seemingly worried.
"What's wrong?"
Jimin sighed, looking down at her watch, "I need to go to the hospital. My doctor told me to go there at 2 PM and I'm running late already."
"Is there anything wrong?"
Jimin shook her head, getting up from the couch.
"No, of course not. It's just routinary."
"Minjeong, you could drop Jimin off at the hospital-"
"-No, I don't need to. I can pick up a taxi."
Minjeong looked worriedly at her, "Are you sure?"
Jimin laughed and nodded, pursing her lips, "I should be going now, before I run late."
_____________________________________________________________________
"I'm sorry I'm late, I had some issues at home," Jimin said cheerfully to the doctor, sitting just across the seat the older female was sitting at. The woman nodded, but kept her blank expression; which made Jimin frown.
"...Is everything alright?"
The obstetrician sighed and crossed her hands above of the table.
"...You need to be strong."
Jimin's eyes blinked in confusion, not knowing what she should expect to listen to right in that moment. But, hearing the doctor's tone of voice tone, she knew it wasn't good news.
"...When we did the ultrasound, I did notice something weird but I didn't tell you about it because I wasn't sure," She paused for a brief moment, "But now I analyzed the pictures and I've reached a conclusion."
Jimin gulped down silently, noticing the doctor's cold stare.
"There's a problem."
"With the baby?"
The doctor shook her head, which made Jimin sigh with relief.
"I thought-"
"-There's a problem with you."
Jimin's happiness was just drowned away from her.
"W-what..."
"Your uterus...your uterus is very damaged," The doctor began, nodding her head.
Jimin's shoulder slumped down, and she felt her whole body trembling. She knew those news were horrible, but she still had hopes that there was a possible solution for their situation.
"...Is there any solution?"
"...You have two options. First is...abort and try to get pregnant after treatment. The other one, is praying for the best knowing you'll eventually die in the delivery. Basically, it's either you, or your baby."
Jimin didn't even want to believe what the doctor was telling her the moment she heard it. Knowing she or the baby would eventually die...She didn't even want to think about that possibility, but now, knowing it would probably happen to her, to them...She was living the worst nightmare she could ever live. She didn't even know how she was supposed to live with the guilt of killing her baby because of a problem she had...
...Her baby had to die because of her.
Minjeong was so happy with the pregnancy...She knew that, if she told her what was wrong right in that moment, she would tell her to abort, even if it hurt her to make such a decision. And she knew that she wouldn't be able to bear the guilt.
"...I know it's a hard decision to take, so I would recommend you to talk with your partner calmly and-"
"-N-no," Jimin began, taking in a shaky breath, "She can't know about this."
"Miss-"
"-I'll keep the baby."