Chapter 3
6 months.
This has been repeating in Jennie's head since her parents walked out of her office. They gave her 6 months to prepare for the wedding. Of course that includes announcing to all of Korea that the country's Golden Girl is officially off the market. She was also given the opportunity to arrange the wedding details, well both Chaeyoung and Jennie, since that's the least they could do considering they blindsided them into an arranged marriage. Everything related to the wedding would be in their hands while everything regarding Company Merging matters would be handled by both their parents.
This also means that Jennie was left with 6 months to turn it all around. She wanted to do this right. So she has 6 months to somehow tell Chaeyoung about her feelings without the younger girl thinking it's forced, court her properly and have at least how many months of them both as a couple before they get thrown into a marriage. She didn't want to just ignore Chaeyoung till the day of their wedding. She deserves better than that. She deserves to marry someone who actually worked hard to win her heart. That's exactly what Jennie's going to do.
Closing her eyes, Jennie feels her belly doing flips. She hasn't been this anxious in her life. This feels so much worse compared to the first time she produced and composed music for a Kpop Group that ended up getting internationally acclaimed. Sighing, she grabbed her phone and a neatly stacked pile of papers from her desk and headed to the door. Pausing in front of her double doors, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, grounding herself and trying to grasp some sense of control. She lifted her chin and squared her shoulders, quickly assuming a powerful stance and putting on her best emotionless mask that she practiced throughout the years, Jennie walked out her office towards the elevator. It was time for her Music Class with none other than her now childhood bestfriend turned fiancé. Fantastic timing.
Getting off the elevator at the 4th floor she walked the halls gracefully making the swarm of students part like the red sea. They looked at her with a mix of fear, admiration, respect and lust. She was used to it. Most of the students scurried to their respective classes as to not be the receiver of their Headmaster's cold glare since it was almost time for class.
Entering the lecture hall without glancing at the students, she could hear them scrambling to get to their seats before she could reach her desk. She placed her things neatly on the desk and looked up at them using the coldest tone she could muster.
"I expect all of you to be prepared for today's lesson. No excuses. You all know the drill, I'll be going on with my lecture and will randomly call one of you to answer some questions."
It's the start of the first semester and she was teaching the 3rd years. Chaeyoung's batch.
Looking at all of them nod their heads in understanding she noticed that Chaeyoung was not in the class. Not letting the students see her disappointment she cleared her throat and started her lecture. 15 minutes into her lecture she was stopped by someone opening the double doors in a hurry at the back of the class, causing everyone to look at the source of the sudden interruption.
There she was, Park Chaeyoung.
Her Park Chaeyoung.
She looked at the girl trying to gasp for breath, looks like she ran her way to class. She was wearing black jeans that hugged her hips perfectly, paired with a white shirt that she tucked in, over it was a long cream coat that was hanging on her shoulders. She clutched her signature Louis Vuitton bag with her left hand and hugged her books and papers to her body with her right. Her blonde hair was slightly dishelved from running all the way up the 4th floor, her chipmunk cheeks were red from embarrassment.
Jennie thought she was stunning.
Realizing that they've been staring at each other for a long while, the younger girl started to bow repeatedly in embarrassment while spilling out apologies for her tardiness.
"Mianhe! Mianhe! I got caught up in something! I promise it won't happen again! Mianhe!" The younger girl's cheeks getting even rosier in embarrassment.
Catching the younger one's eyes, Jennie cleared her throat and gave her a curt nod.
"Sit down."
Letting out a breath of relief, Chaeyoung scurried down the stairs to her seat at the front and began taking down notes that she missed. Throughout the lecture, Jennie would roam her eyes around the class to see if they were listening to her or not. Not that she needed to make sure. Of course they'd be listening. She would steal a glance at her fiancé with worry. Whenever she caught the younger girl's eyes, Chaeyoung would hurriedly look away as if getting caught red handed. The girl seemed to be flustered, her cheeks were still red and she was fiddling with her pen. A habit Jennie knew all too well since she grew up with the girl, she knew that Chaeyoung likes to fiddle with things whenever she felt nervous or when she's lost in thought. She made a mental note to ask about it later on.
The moment the bell rang, everyone gathered their things and hastily walked out of the hall in fear. As per usual, most of the class was called for a grilling, well it was a graded recitation but they called it a grilling since that's literally what it felt like when it was in Jennie's class. If you weren't "grilled" in her class for the day, you would be considered as a very lucky cookie.
Almost immediately, Chaeyoung was showered with compliments and greetings from her classmates that were hurriedly walking out. Chaeyoung, on the other hand, took her time to organize her things since she didn't get a chance to fix her things due to her tardiness. When she was finally done, all of the students were long gone which meant it was only her and Jennie left.
"Chaeng?" Chaeyoung didn't know that her cheeks could heat up more than it already did but the moment she heard her voice, her body reacted to it almost immediately. It was her voice. The voice and tone that Jennie only uses when talking to her. Soft and sweet. Unlike the cold and powerful one she uses with everyone else.
She appreciated that Jennie would still treat her the same as she did when they were younger. When Jennie turned 18 years old 4 years ago she became too busy and started drifting away from the younger one. Being the only heir to the company, Jennie was taught the ropes of the business and would shadow her father a lot to get a feel of it all. They both knew that Jennie doesn't cut their time together on purpose, but she has been busy with music, with her sky rocketing career and debuting idols left and right. Almost immediately, the sleep overs stopped. Jennie wasn't able to pick Chaeyoung up for school nor would she be able to hang out with her as much as they would both like. They just drifted apart.
They both didn't want to. They both knew that the other didn't want to either. So whenever they see each other at a family event or whenever the opportunity presents itself, they would immediately take it. Whether it be a free morning when Jennie would pick Chaeyoung up or whenever Jennie would catch Chaeyoung after school and drop her home or a weekend where their families would get together, you would always find the two in another secluded area in the house talking and catching up or just simply enjoying each other's presence just sitting next to each other. But the older that they got, they noticed the air around them was different. Though neither of the girls would tell the other, they could feel this tension whenever they're around each other.
Both girls were smart. Smart enough to recognize that they held special feelings for the other but oblivious enough to not notice that their feelings were reciprocated.
Chaeyoung jumped when Jennie gently wrapped her fingers around her forearm in concern. "Chaeng? Are you okay? Are you sick?"
Chaeyoung shook her head in response. "No no i-im sorry! I'm okay"
She let out a sigh and locked her eyes with the older one's cat-like eyes. She felt her cheeks burn up in embarrassment and anxiousness again being in close proximity with Jennie.
"My parents talked to me earlier this morning before I left for school"
Jennie nodded with the explanation Chaeyoung gave her. She looked at the girl in front of her and squeezed her forearm lightly before taking the girl's books and papers into her other arm, clutching it to her body.
"Walk with me to my office Chaeyoungie"
A shiver ran up Chaeyoung's spine at the sound of her nickname coming out of Jennie's mouth. Jennie wasn't asking her to. She was telling her to walk with her. She said this with such a soft yet powerful voice. It confused Chaeyoung how Jennie could sound so sweet and soft but leave no room for arguments whatsoever.
Chaeyoung could only nod at this and when Jennie shot her a gummy smile, Chaeyoung swore she'd spend the rest of her life trying to make the girl smile like that over and over again.