Midnight Kiss | KNJ

Chapter 15.

Sophie

"How are you doing, sweetie?" Mary asked me when Jin ran to the kitchen to bring out the main dish of the night, some fancy steak he drove two hours for to buy. I still couldn't comprehend to what lengths my brother would go for food.

I turned to face Jin's Mom, meeting her warm brown eyes and returning the smile that was somehow permanently etched on her lips. "I'm doing great." I was doing great, right? I mean, besides my confused feelings being all over the place after the exchange with Namjoon in the kitchen earlier.

Narrowing her eyes for a moment, Mary turned her head towards Dad a second before he started speaking. How she'd known he was about to do that was beyond me, but maybe some things just came with time.

"Are you handling everything okay, sweetheart?" Dad's worried tone sparked a hint of annoyance in me. What was with the excessive use of pet names tonight?

Swallowing my slight vexation, I said, "Really, everything is going great," I made the extra effort to look both of them in the eye, willing them to see I was being serious. "I think that coming here was the best thing that could have happened to me." Besides, this way I'd never have to see Eric again. I felt my lips frown a bit at the thought of him, but I thankfully Jin came back with a platter and diverted Dad and Mary's attention.

Jin proudly put the steak on the table, "This is a special ..."

I zoned out, having heard how special the stake was three times before. Jin'd had to explain it to every person that had entered the kitchen while it was cooking. Instead, I helped myself to some salad and poured myself another glass of wine. Not the one I'd bought, of course, I tried not to roll my eyes at my chef brother and his picky choices of drinks.

---

Staring at the empty plate before me, I wondered how I'd managed to stuff myself with so much food I could barely think. Was there such a thing as food high? Because there was no other way to explain the way I felt right now.

The conversation through dinner had been light, Mary asked about Maggie and Jin talked about his girlfriend until he'd had to go grab another bottle of wine, Dad asked about my classes and I told him they were hard but fun. Mary asked about Nina and I explained how she'd got me to go out more, causing a silent look to pass between Dad and Mary. They'd told me about home and Nancy, our pet bunny.

We were on our third, and last, bottle of the fancy wine, when the doorbell rang. Were the guys back from their dinner outing already?

Jin ran to get the door and a second later he returned, his arm messing up a head of hair the same dark shade as his. "Lily," I smiled at my step-sister, while a small knot started to form in my stomach.

Lily's smile didn't reach her eyes when she returned it, and Mary swept her into her arms before she could see the disappointment colouring my features. Dad reached over and squeezed my hand and I smiled weakly.

My relationship with Lily was nothing like mine with Jin. When Mary and Dad got married, Jin was fourteen, I was twelve, and Lily was nine. Things had worked out pretty neatly because our ages weren't that different, and at the beginning, Lily was overjoyed that she'd gotten a sister, practically overnight. We'd played together, I'd let her borrow my clothes and I'd helped her learn how to braid her hair. But once I went to high school, Lily stopped speaking to me, completely out of the blue. Sometimes she even acted as if I wasn't even there. Dad and Mary tried to help, but there was no way we could get her to speak to me. A year later, when she could bear to say a few words to me, I'd asked Lily why she was upset with me. She'd said, "You forgot." I'd had no idea what she'd meant and still didn't, but that was the last time she'd answered me when I asked her that question. 

The distance was still present in our relationship and it hurt that she still didn't want to fix it, but I was done breaking my back trying to get her to talk to me. She was seventeen and I hoped she'd try soon.

I quickly excused myself, blinking away the glossiness that coated my eyes. I'd promised myself I wouldn't let it get to me anymore, dammit.

In the kitchen, I opened a window, taking a big gulp of air, and then focused on decorating the cake. Deciding to focus solely on the task before me and not the way my heart was slowly cracking because of Lily, I topped the cake with whipped cream and fresh berries. As I was washing some mint leaves to decorate the cake with, I heard deep voices coming from the dining room. I guessed the housemates were back from their night out.

I was looking down at the cake, proud of my work when Jin barged into the kitchen. "Gabbing some extra plates for the boys," Jin explained as he loaded up on plates. Before leaving, he squeezed my shoulder and cast an apologetic, and mildly encouraging, nod at me. I guessed everyone had noticed that Lily still didn't want much to do with me.

Sticking the last few mint leaves in, I closed my eyes and exhaled, plastering a smile on my face, and carried the cake to the dining room.

---

Namjoon

We were home a bit earlier than we'd promised, but Jungkook and I had reports to finish and the others had simply grown bored at the burger shack. Silently hoping that Jin's family - okay, mainly Sophie - would still be here, I followed Yoongi into the dining room to say hello. Immediately, my eyes searched for Sophie, but she wasn't there. Gosh, after our little exchange in the kitchen, I was just praying she wouldn't start avoiding me.

In that moment I couldn't have helped myself. How could she have said that she wasn't talented enough. I'd seen many artworks - too many if you asked me -  in my life, and her drawing of the Golden Gate bridge was absolutely stunning. I had to remind myself again that I needed to stop thinking about her in that way. Jin had been more than clear on his stand about this when I'd heard him talking to Jimin.

It'd taken me a second to realise that there was another girl sitting at the table. "Hey, Lily," Tae said as he plopped down in an empty chair next to her. Lily blushed a little and smiled nervously at us. Mary asked us to sit and just as we were all seated, the door to the kitchen opened and Sophie appeared.

My breath hitched a little and I sat up straighter, hoping that no one was paying attention to me. It turned out that nobody was. All of the gazes in the room were on Sophie and she greeted us with a quick hi, before setting the cake on the table. Sophie nervously tucked a strand of her short brown hair behind her ears when she'd noticed all the attention that was on her. My lips curled up at her cute embarrassment. Between the seven of us and Jin's family, the table was cramped, to say the least. Jungkook'd brought some extra chairs and my shoulders were squeezed between Yoongi's and Hobi's.

"Sophie babe, did you make this?" Jimin asked, earning a sweet smile from Sophie. "Let me help you cut it," Jimin offered, which now earned him an approving nod from Jin's Mom. I didn't know I could still be amazed by his skills with women. My gaze slipped to Lily, and I noticed that she'd come to resemble Jin even more since the time I'd last seen her.

I almost looked away but then I saw the slight frown on Lily's lips and a gaze in her eyes that could melt icebergs. I followed it and it lead to Sophie. Why on earth would Lily be throwing daggers with her eyes at her step-sister? But that thought quickly disappeared when Sophie started laughing at something Jimin'd said. A pang of jealousy hit my chest and I reminded myself to see her as a friend.

When the cake was served and Sophie'd been showered with compliments at how delicious it was, Mary leaned over to where Sophie was sitting and I could just make out what she said. It made me clench my fists again this night.

"Are you sure you don't want to tell me about anyone new in your life?" Jin's Mom asked with a knowing smile.

Sophie blinked, "What?"

"Jimin seems like a great guy," Jin's Mom said and turned back to Sophie's Dad to ask him for a refill of wine.

Sophie was frozen in place for a second before she turned back to Jimin who was showing her something on his phone. Looking up our gazes met for a second before Jimin made her smile again and I saw Mary's subtle smirk.

I could feel my heart crack a bit at all the smiles Jimin was receiving from her. I'd give anything to have her smile like that at me, but the message in Sophie's eyes had been clear. Friends.