"Jennie, you need to wake up. Now."
Jennie groaned and swatted at Jisoo's hand. "Five more minutes."
"Jennie, I know it's really early, but you need to take this phone call."
Jennie, still yet to open her eyes, reached over with her hand and took the phone that Jisoo was offering her.
"This is Jennie Kim," she said, with no hesitation in her voice when she said her last name. It'd taken her a few months to get used to it, but now she truly felt like it was her name.
"We are so sorry to deliver you this news, Miss Kim, but your uncle, Seungri Kwon, passed away this morning."
"What!?" Jennie's eyes burst open then, and Jisoo jumped in surprise. "What happened to him?"
"He was attacked, ma'am, in the yard late yesterday afternoon during outing. He sustained severe internal injuries, and passed away this morning about an hour ago."
Jennie didn't quite know what to say. "I see."
"Our condolences. Since his brother, your father, is in solitary, I'm afraid the funeral arrangements fall to you. You can, of course, opt for us to arrange it, if you'd prefer-"
"Um, I'll arrange it," Jennie muttered. "Who do I contact about his...remains?"
"You're welcome to contact the detention center directly. We offer our sincerest condolences."
Jennie sighed. "Well, thank you."
She hung up then, and set the phone down, a look of shock on her face.
"Remains?" Jisoo asked. "What-"
"Seungri is dead," Jennie said quietly. "Attacked."
"Holy shit."
"I know."
"And I went and said I'd arrange for the funeral."
Jisoo sighed and moved in closer. "You really don't have to."
"No, of course not. I'll have some of dad's employees take care of it, I want nothing to do with him."
"Are you okay?"
Jennie let out a laugh. "Jisoo, I never cared for him in my life. Yes, it's a sad feat, but honestly, he had this coming. I'm not surprised he got beat up, though that he passed from it is a little unexpected, it's not shocking."
"So you're okay?"
"Yes."
"Permission to make jokes about this?"
"Yes."
Jisoo opened her mouth, tried to think of a joke, but it was too early. "I'm too sleepy. It's like five in the morning. I'll think of one later."
"Why were you awake anyway?"
"Jennie, your phone rang for ages until I finally answered. You sleep like a damn rock."
"That's true."
"Now lie down and let me sleep again," Jisoo muttered, "We have packing to do tomorrow. Well, I do. You get to go down to Sing Sing for a delightful visit."
Jennie grimaced. "I don't want to."
"You don't have to."
"They requested it. I don't know why, but I guess it's to yell at me once more before they're put away for life. Or to beg me to try and help them."
"Nevertheless, you don't have to visit."
"One last time. I'll bring a copy of the New Yorker, and be strong. I'm not going to cower."
"You still ok to go alone? 'Cause I can totally come along..."
Jennie shook her head and yawned. "No, I'll be fine."
And so they slept a few more hours until Jennie's alarm rang, and begrudgingly as one could, Jennie crawled out from underneath Jisoo and got ready for the day.
One more day, and she'd be done.
One last time seeing them, and she'd be done.
She thought of her uncle, and felt a little twinge in her heart – but it wasn't emotion towards him, it wasn't sorrow or anything of the sort; no, she just felt the tiniest bit guilty of the fact that she could've cared less that he was dead.
But, then again, he had tried to ruin her life by acting according to her parents' wishes. Not to mention his crimes sent shivers down Jennie's spine.
"Got what he deserved," she muttered as she buttoned up her shirt. She smoothed out her hair, which was tied into a ponytail, and did one last check on her makeup before turning to leave.
"You leaving?"
Jennie turned around to find Jisoo sitting up in bed, hair a mess, eyes dazed and sleepy, looking as adorable and enticing as ever.
"Yeah."
"C'mere. A kiss for good luck."
Jennie went over and kissed Jisoo, softly as she could, and made a little face when she pulled away. "Your breath stinks."
"It smells lovely," Jisoo hummed. "No, I know, it stinks."
"That's why you should cut down on all your coffee," Jennie smirked. "But I gotta go now. You're all cool about having to start with the packing on your own?"
Jisoo nodded. "I recruited Irene and Lisa to come help me."
"Not Chaeyoung?"
"She's working."
"Didn't she just finish a shift yesterday?"
Jisoo nodded and tapped her nose. "Yes, but she's doing a double shift to get tomorrow and the day after that off so that she can make our farewell party."
"Right."
"Now get your butt moving."
"I will. One more kiss."
Jisoo rolled her eyes but kissed her anyway, and then laid back in bed for a little while before she'd get up and start packing.
The moving company was coming in three days, and they'd only just barely gotten started on packing their things.
The move itself was only a week away, and Jisoo was jittery and as nervous as ever. Jennie was nervous too, and by extension, Dalgom was as well – he could sense the tension in the air, and the pile of cardboard in the foyer seemed to interest him greatly. Though they'd managed to put the boxes high up enough that he couldn't get to them, he had spent most of the day before sitting in front of the cupboard, staring up at the cardboard, his little nose twitching in curiosity and annoyance that his mommies had dared to deny him what was obviously a brand new toy.
When Jisoo did finally roll out of bed to take him for his morning walk, Jennie had gotten to Sing Sing, and as Jisoo strolled through the sun-lit paths of Central Park, Jennie sat in a plain grey room, waiting for her father to be brought in.
At first it had been arranged that she'd meet with both her mother and father, but her mother had backed out – of course she had. Jennie wasn't surprised at all that her mother had no desire to see her, and was glad that she only had to deal with her father for the brief visit.
The door buzzed, and in walked her father, clad in an orange jumpsuit and looking absolutely trashed. His goatee looked even messier than usual, and the change from finely tailored Italian suits to a jumpsuit sure brought his class and aura down to a normal person's level.
Jennie knew that Jisoo would've said he looked like a hobo, and almost laughed at the thought. But she didn't, no – she clenched her jaw and sat up straight, peering into her father's eyes without ever flinching, not even when a glare entered the brown of his eyes.
She put the New Yorker issue on the table before him, spread out onto the article about herself, and smirked when she saw anger flare up in his eyes when he read the article's title.
"The Kwon family: the story of a gay daughter growing up with two homophobic parents"
"Is this a joke?"
Jennie shook her head.
"Are you happy now?"
Jennie cocked her head slightly. "How come?"
"You've sufficiently wrecked our family name," her father snarled, "Brought it to ruin. The company is destroyed, our wealth – everything your mother and I worked so hard to build, you've ruined."
"Oh, no," Jennie said coolly, "I believe that was all you. I cannot take credit for your expertly hidden blackmail and embezzlement schemes coming to light."
"I know it was you, Ruby Jane," her father hissed. "You told that group to leak the information."
Jennie didn't flinch when her father said her old name.
"It was not."
"You had a hand in it."
"There's no way you could ever prove that, given that it's false."
"Have you no respect!?"
Jennie was almost amused by how riled up her father was.
"Respect?" She asked, her tone of voice never changing or rising. "Tell me, father, what have you ever done to earn my respect? What part of the years of abuse, of name-calling and beatings and conversion therapy, what part of you taking every precaution to ensure my misery, what part of that was supposed to get me to respect you? Or was I supposed to respect you for your talents? For your financial prowess? Because, seeing how all's exposed now, your 'empire' was built upon a basis of lies and deceit. You never worked hard for anything other than for covering your ass all the way."
Her father stumbled slightly with his words, but his anger did not die down. "We will make your life a living hell, Ruby Jane, because this? This is too far."
"Too far? This, to you, is too far?" Jennie laughed. "Do you want to know what I regard as 'too far'? Threatening my wife. I told you already in Carson City to back off, but you didn't listen. You had Seungri come and harass her, you brought her shit that I did not want her to deal with, you hurt my wife, and if it were up to me, I'd gladly have your head on a spike for that. That was too far. So go ahead, try to make my life a living hell. We'll see how well you succeed from prison. I don't expect you to make friends – your assets are frozen, your schemes exposed, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of your future cellmates held a great hatred towards you. After all, you have successfully put away hundreds of criminals..."
She signalled to the guard that she was done, and as he came over to take her father away, she got in the very last words.
Her father was glaring at her, and as he stood up, he made an attempt to spit at her. But she'd known to expect it, for some reason, and side-stepped right in time for it to miss.
"Pitiful," she tutted. "But it looks like I won, in the end. You tried to wreck me but you failed. Have fun rotting away for the rest of your life, father. I'm sure you'll appreciate the plain and simple lifestyle of Sing Sing. And if you don't...you'll learn. After all, you have no choice."
With that, she left through the other door.
She felt satisfied with herself.
She'd walked out, left them behind, and with each step away from the prison, each mile put in between her and her parents, her mood elevated, till she came home and practically skipped in. Dalgom greeted her happily, and she scooped him up into her arms, a bright smile on her face, before waltzing into the living room. There, she found Jisoo, Lisa, and Irene, all sitting on the floor and piling her various books into boxes.
"How was Sing Sing?" Lisa asked, throwing her a smirk. "You look perky, at the least."
"It was great. I kicked verbal ass. Threatened to put his head on a spike if he came near Jisoo," Jennie cooed at Dalgom, "That's right, I'll murder anyone who tries to hurt your mommy."
Jisoo laughed and got up, groaning a little bit as her stiff muscles complained at the sudden movement. "So it was all okay? What'd he say?"
"He blamed me for everything, yelled at me – I suppose he might've been distracted by the article I showed him in the beginning, I'm sure he had some actual things to say, but- it doesn't matter. I don't care."
"Good. That's great."
"How are things here?"
"Jennie, you own too many candles," Irene declared. "I've packed forty-one as of now, and I think that's the total."
"That's less than I thought."
Jisoo smirked. "I might've gotten rid of a few."
"Jisoo!"
"Jennie, Irene originally found sixty-three candles. We do not need that many candles."
"What if there's a blackout?"
"Then three or four candles will do. Not sixty."
Jennie pouted, but set Dalgom down and joined the packing party anyway. "I'll miss this place," she sighed as she placed a few ornamental statues into paper and wrapped them before putting them in a box. "I liked it."
"It's not like we're selling it," Jisoo reminded her.
"I still get to keep my place, right?" Lisa asked.
"Yes, Lisa, you and Chaeyoung get to keep your home."
"But wait, I didn't tell you-"
"What?"
"We only moved in together like last week."
Irene let out a disbelieved laugh. "Lisa, that's a lie if I've ever heard one."
"What?"
"You've lived together for months."
"No, we haven't."
"Yes, you have," Jisoo joined in on Irene's side. "I thought so, at least."
"And none of you bothered to say anything?" Lisa asked. "Geez, what kind friends I have."
"You would've told us to shut up if we pointed it out."
"That's true."
"For the record, I didn't think you were living together," Jennie said. "Chaeyoung's too careful to just jump into something like that."
"Voice of reason here," Lisa grinned. "Miss smarty-pants."
"I just know Chaeyoung. She likes to have a plan B."
"Wait, what?"
"Don't worry, she doesn't seem to need one with you anymore. You've grown on her."
"That still sounds bad."
Jennie laughed. "It's not. She wouldn't be going with you overseas for a year if she wasn't serious about you."
"Well, that's a relief. Speaking of going overseas...what's this I hear, Irene, about you and Bog-ie boy going to England again?"
Irene rolled her eyes. "Don't call him that."
"What else should I call him? Bogs?"
"Or Bogum?"
"Nah, boring. But seriously, England, again?"
Irene shrugged. "He's making some partnership deals. And we're going on a roadtrip, too."
"Sounds romantic."
"Shut up."
"Everyone's leaving, in some way or form," Jisoo sighed. "This is a little weird."
"It is," everyone else agreed.
"But we'll be there for Thanksgiving," Irene promised Jisoo.
"And Chaeyoung and I will Skype, or something, and drool over all the delicious food."
"That's a binding promise, you know that right?"
"Of course it is, Jisoo. Nobody misses Thanksgiving."
"You tell that to my Mom. She's been rambling about flying you two back over for the day."
"I'll convince Dara at the party tomorrow. She's just there for dinner, right?"
"Yes, Lisa, you don't have to worry about Mom seeing you get trashed."
"Good. Great. Perfect. I'm excited."
"Of course you are, you've been daring Jennie into a darts competition for months."
"I'm beating your ass," Lisa said to the brunette. "You're going down."
Jennie laughed. "You wish, Manoban. I'm kicking your ass."
©artsypolarbear