Better Than Gold • Lee Jeno

16 • Princess

The day that Jieun was waiting for finally came. After two long years, she'll be seeing her family again. She missed her parents but she missed her brothers the most. She was feeling the excitement and nervousness all at the same time. I hope we don't act all awkward with each other.

She reached for her phone on the nightstand. "11:39? Oh shit, I overslept." She sat up grunting.

Jungwoo called the other night and told her that she doesn't need to go to the airport to pick them up. He informed her that they will be home at around one or two in the afternoon on Saturday.

She prepared her clothes before taking a bath. Just a shirt and jeans will do. I feel more comfortable wearing these than those outrageous dresses mom prefers me to wear. 

Her phone rang as soon as she got out of the bathroom. The towel still draped on her shoulders over the bath robe, letting the water drip from her hair. She grabbed her phone and sat in front of the vanity. It was Jungwoo.

"Jungwoo!" Jieun shrieked, knowing that her brother will only be minutes away from her.

"Jieun, it's Doyoung. My phone died. I-"

"Doyoung! Oh my God, can you get here faster, please? I don't think I could wait any longer. I should have went to the airport."

Doyoung laughed at his sister. He could vividly imagine his sister's face. "Jieun, that's the last thing you would want to do right now. And stop pouting, I could see you from here. You're so impatient." He heard a giggle on the line.

"As I was saying, is there anything you want? Your favorite coffee maybe? We could buy it for you on our way home."

"No, thank you. Just.. just come home, please."

"We'll be there, Jieun. See you in a bit, princess."

Jieun smiled at the nickname, almost foreign to her as she haven't heard it in a long time. After she dropped the call, her phone rang again.

"Jieun, are you okay??" Jaein sounded too concerned making Jieun confused.

"Hey, I'm fine. Calm down. Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me. Where are you?"

"I'm just home, Jaein. What is happening?

"Oh, thank God! I saw the situation at the airport."

"Jaein, what are you talking about?"

"Your family was swarmed by the media. I thought you went there to pick them up. I panicked when I saw the news."

"No, I didn't. Jungwoo called the other night and told me that I don't need to-" Jieun paused and realized something. "Oh, I see what they did there. They knew about the media." Her voice trailed.

"Anyway, thanks for checking up on me. They'll be here in a few. Let's hang out soon, okay? Take care, Jaein."

"You take care. Yeah, I think I have a free sched this week. Let's catch up soon."

"That's great! Hopefully, we could set up a lunch or dinner with the guys this week so you could meet them. We'll see."

♚

Jieun's family arrived at their residence. Finally seeing each other after a couple of years, the family got quite emotional at their reunion.

"Our little princess." Their mother hugged Jieun tightly.

"Hi, mom."

"Not so little anymore, isn't she?"

"Dad," Jieun went to hug him.