12
Jennie sat across a table, nice table sets at the wooden pathways facing a lake, a nice house standing beautifully behind her. On her hands is a mug of a hot tea that's gone cold.
She lost count of how many sighs she released since she got here.
Few days a go, appeared in front of her parents, Jennie, with a puffy eyes and a weak smile on her face. She got her mother widen her eyes in worries.
"Honey what's wrong?" she asked while squeezing her into her hugs.
He only explained that she took a semester off because the school stressed her out. And she just break up, and that adding the pain.
Her father asked about her scholarship, that's how they know how she could get into such an expensive college. Jennie had to chew her tongue to stop her from crying.
"I'll try to get it again next year when my furlough is finished." She smiled.
The afternoon sun brings a serenity while it falls to the white walls of the mansion.
A mansion of her family.
The only pride left in her family.
Jennie Kim was the only daughter of a rich businessman before her father got scammed few years a go. The glory days of her life ended. The empire her father built fell apart in just one night. They seized it out of them, leaving only one mansion that was under her mother's name. but to live in a big house that require an expensive care is hard, so they lease it out.
Ignoring the pride, her parents is smart enough to rent it to the rich people who wants to have a weekend getaway, or a small engagements, or even a private party. Just enough to keep the mansion clean, and bills paid. While they live in a pavilion at the side of the house, that was maid's.
It's a nice pavilion, like a small house with two bedrooms and a tiny living room, it accommodate them very well.
"We'll have guests this weekend." Her father sat beside her, "would you give us hands?"
Jennie turned and smile, "will I get paid?"
Her father wrap his arm around her shoulder, "you'll even get an overtime."
"Cool." She chuckles.
They both looking at the lake, the lake where she had her small wooden boat once.
"Hey dad..." she said, "I'm—" her mind flew to the days she spent at the library to prepare herself for a qualification tests for scholarship, days of her studies with Hanbin slipping in between. "If I couldn't get the scholarship for next year... I—can I, uh, just—" she couldn't continue.
"You wanted to quit?"
Jennie gulped.
"I raised no quitter, Jennie."
She look at her feet, "I know..."
"I could give up years a go, when the police came and took everything, but I want you to look up on me, I want you to see a survivor. I want you to know that sometimes universe shows it true face, the darker side of it, but it doesn't mean that it will always be dark." He pull her head closer and rest it on his shoulder. "you just got distracted because you broke up with your boyfriend, and I understand that you wanted to go home, to be with family to find yourself a new strengths... so just be home for a while."
"He's not just a boy, dad..." she mumbled, "not just a boy..."
Her chest hurts from so many things left unsaid.
"Then why you left him?"
"How did you know?"
"Because you still love him..." he smiles, "if he's the one who left... I won't find you broken hearted like now, I'll find you angry... but you're sad... what makes you two can't be together?"
Jennie's nails squeezing each other in tense, "I don't deserve him..."
Her father paused in a cold silence, "does he some kind of rich guy you fell for? And you feel like you don't have anyt—"
"No!" Jennie cut him, "no, dad, no... this isn't about that..." she turned to his father, "don't took the blame... it's just—me."
Her father didn't say anything.
"Dad, I'm sorry... I'm sorry."
"Don't be, my dear..." he kissed her hair.
+
Lisa is trying to be as open minded as she could. When she nesting herself inside Jiwon's embrace, she knew she's been missing him.
When Jiwon said he missed her, she knew he meant it.
His kisses prove it all, he was all over her, he couldn't help but to plant more and more kisses on her.
And Lisa is still trying to be as open minded as she could when Jiwon offer her to talk about what they've been through. From the disappeared Jennie to the girl they met at the airport.
But she just couldn't let herself focus.
She knew she hurt Jiwon when she said she wanted to stay at her own apartment tonight, that she's too exhausted, and that the four hours time zone different between Seoul and Bangkok got her jetlagged.
She close the door behind her and looked around the dark room, she walked across the living room to open the window, let the cool breeze sneaks in. Then she sat on the couch, just staying there enjoying the silence. silence that ringing in her ear.
Suddenly her cellphone rang.
Jiwon.
"Hello...?" sh eanswered.
"Lisa..." he speaks.
From the quiet behind him, she could picture him hasn't moving since he dropped her off, still at the parking lot of her flat. "Yes?"
"I—uh, can I go hang out with Hanbin?"
Lisa find her heart hurt for no reason, Jiwon is looking for any possible excuse to talk to her. "Of course, seems like he could use some company."
"Yeah... me too."
Lisa paused, "look... Jiwon..."
"Hmm..."
She took a deep breathe, "I know this is not fair for you..."
"Don't break up with me."
"Jiwon..."
"Don't."
"I'm not gonna—"
"Good night, babe..."
click.
+
Jiyong just finished showering when he saw Chaerin sleeping on her side. He caressed her thigh, went up to her hips and go downhill on her slim waist.
"Honey, are you sleeping?" he whispers.
He need no answer cause he found that Chaerin's eyes is still wide open, staring blankly at hem of their room's heavy window blind.
He kissed her shoulder.
"I need to talk to you..." he walked around the bed and pull a chair, sitting in front of her while she sat up.
Chaerin looking at her husband.
"Honey..." he touch her cheek, thumb smoothing along her cheekbone, "we've been together for so long... and I feel like I know you more than I know myself... but why you did this to him?"
Chaerin look away. He knew.
Not that there's only one Jennie in this world, but it's only one Kwon Jiyong and it's so easy for him to know what he wants to know.
"He was crying." Chaerin replied under her breath.
"I saw it..." Jiyong murmured.
"I knew Hanbin since he was a baby, Jiyong, he was never taught to cry over small things. He didn't cry when his knees ripped from his first bike ride, he didn't cry when he got two stitches on his forehead when he got into a fight with a bully at school. He never let anyone saw his breakdown, he keep all the heartbreak for when he's alone," Chaerin glaring at her husband. "He only cried when his mother left."
Jiyong nervously chew his lip.
"He don't deserves to be with a girl like that." She coldly answer. "Dating your mistress..." she scoffed.
Jiyong rubbed his face, took a deep sighs when he pull a drawer and took an envelope.
"She's the last mistress I had, and I keep her not for sexual things and you know that..."
Chaerin sneered, "then why you keep her..."
"Maybe I want a daughter... maybe I want someone that adore me... maybe I did that for you attention...?"
Chaerin's gaze falls to the envelope.
Jiyong follows her when she sat up. Chaerin still looking at the motion of her husband opening the envelope, she saw cash and a paper.
He took the paper and gave it to Chaerin, let her open it and read it.
I found someone that I love like you love you wife, Mr. Kwon. Thank you. J.
"Are you sure that someone is Hanbin?" Chaerin asked.
Jiyong smile, "I'd kill that guy if it's not Hanbin."
Chaerin glaring at Jiyong, "do you ever think of how he would feel if he found out that his girlfriend slept with his brother in law?"
Jiyong laughs, "she's the only mistress I never interested to sleep with." He said, "well, I'm gonna be honest with you... I'm about to bed her, but then I know that everytime she's about to sleep with her 'daddies' she took pills and get drunk and high... maybe so she'll forget it the next day... maybe so she doesn't have to battle with her own guilt... or morality..." he shrugged.
Chaerin gulped.
"Not everyone is as lucky as we are... some people have their own struggles." Jiyong lean forwards and plant a kiss on his wife's cheek, "consider what she did as the mistake everyone could make... why don't we leave the decision on them?" he kissed her again, "without interfering."
+
Hanbin walked towards his door, he's been hearing this impatient knocks on his door. He didn't bother to peek from the peephole but directly opening the door only to see Jiwon with so many kind of alcohol he could possibly find at the supermarket.
"Hey." He shortly greet the owner of the house while barging in.
"You good?" Hanbin asks.
"I don't know, how bout you?"
"My girlfriend gone missing, so." Hanbin followed Jiwon who straightly went to the table in his living room.
"I might joining the single club soon, so."
"What's wrong??" Hanbin settle himself in front of Jiwon.
Jiwon gave him a big box of a fried chicken, wordlessly asking him to open it while he open himself a can of beer.
"Would you believe if I said Lisa might out of love towards me?"
"Out of love?" Hanbin raise his voice, "but you two are like—too in love!"
"So did you and Jennie." Jiwon grabbed a chicken and harshly bite it.
They both fall in silence.
Jiwon put down his chicken and gulp down more beer, "Lisa knew I'm not a good boy at all, and she's being so accommodating about it, you know, we even talked about it... so I thought I've found the one." He paused.
Jiwon drank his beer again, he almost finished one.
"Then we met this girl, someone I might banged in a club once, she called me a fuckboy—which was true—and told Lisa to stay away from me... which I wouldn't have thought she would. But she does."
"Oh fuck..." Hanbin sighs.
Jiwon made gesture of 'see?'
"But you know what, you should just talk to Lisa again tomorrow... I mean, that reason is too cliché for her to drop you off..."
"I wish that was too cliché, but I know what makes her backing off is because... that girl said I fucked her then I left when I received a text from a girl named Lisa."
Hanbin's jaw dropped, "What the—"
Jiwon explained the rest of the story with a new opened beer can on his hand, keep stuffing himself with alcohol while sometimes half laughing, half keeping himself from fighting himself.
+
Jiwon sat on a bench in his campus, the breeze tangle his hair, a hand holding a blackened phone screen, the other one holding a can of beer, heads thinking.
He would love to pointing finger at Lisa for being insecure, overacting, or anything similar but the conversation he had with Hanbin open his eyes.
He's the one who's insecure, he made Lisa looks overacting when he's the one who's being an asshole all the time.
He's an asshole.
He don't deserves a girl like Lisa.
And he's been asking too much to actually believe that there's someone who will accept him for who he was.
"Too late, Jiwon-ah..." he murmured, "you wanted to be the last man standing, huh? You got it."
"Jiwon..."
He looked up and saw Lisa. She creased her eyebrows together.
"I was looking for you everywhere." She said.
"Why would you?" he stood up.
Lisa looked confuse, "I texted you..."
"Oh." He knew he has one message from Lisa left unanswered.
"Are you okay?"
"You still care?" he asked.
"What the hell, Jiwon, you're my boyfriend."
"Oh, right..." he scoffed, "this is not how you treat a boyfriend, Lisa, you left him stranded with his own feeling for days while you're busy being confuse!"
"I'm not only confuse..." Lisa said, "I was thinking."
"Yeah sure, keep thinking, keep thinking about you and I, because you won't find any better result than to fucking leave me."
"Why are you like this? I wanted to talk to you."
"You've been silence this past two days because you're preparing scenario in your head, you carefully choosing words to break up with me without looking so wicked." His voice is low and hoarse.
"Enough!" Lisa said, "I am insecure, not only because of you but because every relationship near me is not working. Not my parents, not Jennie and Hanbin, not us."
"Not us?"
"Not us..." she whispers, "I wanted to believe that I could save this one but you... you didn't help at all." She bitterly laugh.
"Lisa..." all the hazy's gone, the clearer mind took over, he can't let her go.
"Maybe we should take sometimes apart from each other," she said, "maybe we're too destructive to each other."
"Lisa, no, you want to talk?" his voice getting softer, "you want to talk, babe, let's talk..."
He saw her eyes are glassy, but she stretched a sad smile.
She took some steps backwards, like avoiding Jiwon, as if Jiwon is a creep that could hurt her, again, see bitterly smiling, "Let's just talk next time."
+
"I'm sure this gonna be fun." Chaerin wear her sunnies while entering the car. She sat at the passenger seat beside Jiyong who's in charge of driving their Porsche SUV.
Hanbin threw himself at the back of the car.
"You'll love the view, the fresh air, the food..." Chaerin said, "oh, kid, I'm sooo gonna stuffed your skinny stomach with all the meat and seafood they have."
"Stop acting like my mom, nuna." Hanbin can't help but smiling at his cousin.
"I always forget that you're not my son."
"Maybe we should get an actual kids for ourselves, honey." Jiyong reach out her other side to take the seatbelt for his wife.
"Oh, thank you, you're always sweet." Chaerin bloomed a smile.
"Cringe." Hanbin jokingly thrown up.
Hanbin fished his cellphone from the pocket of his jacket when it beeped.
Jisoo sent him few photos of coffeeshop's situation today, completed with her cute selfie with Chawoo. He replied with a smiley before move to another chat.
Jiwon text him, asking if he's at the coffeeshop because he'd like to stop by.
Hanbin: I'm not around, goin' outta town for the weekend.
Hanbin: goodluck spending weekend without me.
Hanbin: hope u survive.
He and Jiwon being a best friend just in few days, they got through similar things. But times they spent together was actually him accompanying Jiwon get super wasted and fell asleep, on repeat.
Few hours later, after short naps on the way, Hanbin woke up because Jiyong stopped the car and tell him that they arrived. Hanbin is blinking several times before adjusting his vision with such a magnificent view of a serene lake next to a big white house.
"This is where we gonna spend our weekend." Chaerin smiles, "You like it?"
Hanbin nodded, just imagining himself sitting at the chair in the wooden path that facing the lake, spending some quiet times there is already get him excited. He need this holiday. This getaway.
"Welcome! Mr. and mrs. Kwon. Welcome."
Hanbin saw an old man probably same age with his father is he's still alive.
"Hello mr. Kim." Chaerin greet back. "What a lovely house."
"Oh thank you, I'm glad you like it." He's looking at Hanbin, "leave the bags there, youngman, I'll get it."
Hanbin politely bowing before saying, "It's fine, you can show my sister around, I get this."
"No, no, my daughter will show you around." Mr. Kim said, "Jennie."
Hanbin froze.
"Jennie... the guests here."
"Yes, dad."
That voice he wouldn't not recognized.
That figure that put sandals in hurry, afraid to make the customers wait. She smooth her tied up hair just to make sure she looks good in front of her first day meeting the villa's guests. In her first day of helping her parents working.
"Jennie this is Mr. and Mrs. Kwon,"
Jennie stops, her body stiffen.
"And that's Mrs. Kwon's brother... uh Mr. ...?"
When her eyes swift to see him, medium tall, shining brown hair, the hair she loves to get through between her fingers.
"Hanbin..."
-
a.n/ you guys still there?^^