1996 | Y.Jw

| 2.9 |

Jungwon let out a small sigh as he kept his hands on the steering wheel. He did not like anything of what I was going to do, but he hadn't been able to talk me out of it.

"I'm just saying... Sunoo will not listen to Riki," Jungwon sighed as he stopped by a red light, "you're fighting a lost cause Ji."

"Since when are you one to point out my losses?" I questioned in amusement as I glanced at him.

Once again a small sigh left Jungwon when the light turned yellow and then green. He abruptly took a few other turns before parking on some random street. Pulling the handbrake before turning to me and running a hand through his hand.

"Listen, the last time Riki and Sunoo had a conversation they were screaming from the top of their lungs at one another," Jungwon clarified, "and that was in January. I don't know what it is you think you girls can repair."

"You said it was a misunderstanding about what happened to Lin... Lin can clarify what happened," I shrugged casually making Jungwon just wetten his lips slightly.

"Listen... I love you and I will be more than happy to try and help you with this, but maybe we should do it some other day. Let Sunoo be in his happy little bubble with Lin, and have Riki get over the way he's been feeling since December," Jungwon clarified before sucking in a deep breath, "even I think I'm still hallucinating and right now I'm still doubting if I'm actually speaking to you or look insane as I talk to the air in my car."

"I'm pretty sure I'm real," I chuckled and he sighed once again before closing his eyes tightly.

"We're still in shock Jiyeon. You can't expect us to just be alright the day after and act like nothing ever happened," he reminded quietly, "you girls are more prepared, because you knew you were coming here. We didn't know, so our world just got flipped around once again. For all I know you could even flip this car right here."

"I could, but I'm not going to," I shrugged casually.

"Jesus Christ Ji you don't get it!" he exclaimed in disbelief, "I thought I had lost you, for good," he clarified as a small frown grew on my face, "I was just accepting the fact that I would never see you again, and then you turn up and now I don't know what to do with myself."

"But... do you want me to leave again?" I whispered quietly, having a hard time figuring out what exactly he was saying to me.

"Of course not," he shook his head with a small smile, "I'm just asking you to give me at least a week to adjust to your presence again... please?" he questioned, "I just want us to spend time together without worrying about mending broken relationships."

"Oh... okay," I nodded quietly making him smile and lean back in his seat, looking relieved. 

For a second his eyes closed before a flinch went through him and his eyes sparked open again. Immediately getting a frown from me.

"What?" I chuckled in amusement.

"Nothing I just... no, it was blurry," he waved it off and glanced down the road behind him, checking if he could continue driving.

"What's gonna happen?" I questioned and abruptly grabbed onto his arm. I still hadn't gotten over the worry of maybe we had been followed.

"No one from the lab," he softly assured, "and remember what I said about my skills slowly disappearing. This could be some nonsense Ji, they used to be nonsense when I first got them and I think it's going back the same way."

"But what happend?" I questioned once again making him smile softly.

"What's most important for you to know in this, is if there was anything serious then I was right by your side, protecting you," he assured and booped my nose, only earning a frown from me, "so how about we go to the convenience store and we get snacks for tonight?"

"You're being weird..." I muttered as I crossed my arms and leaned back in my seat, glaring at the road in front of us as Jungwon took it upon himself to check if we could continue driving, which we apparently could.

"I am not giving you unecessary worry," he shook his head in denial.

"Last time you thought like that I was knocked out for two days," I reminded calmly making him glance at me.

"Yeah but this time it will actually be unecessary," he reminded in amusement, "my skills are disappearing Ji, and that's just fine. It feels like a relief, really."

"But doesn't it..." I trailed off with a small frown.

"I don't feel a thing," he shook his head quietly, "not even headaches... you'll be happy to feel yours go away slowly as well."

"But... I just leaned to control them," I murmured quietly before looking out the window beside me.

Jungwon didn't say anything, I even doubted he had heard me before he pulled into a parking lot and got out of the car. I was a bit longer about getting out of the car than he was, which probably was also why he immediately stood by my side once I got out of the car.

His hand softly slipped into mine and intertwined our fingers before he walked into the convenience store with me trailing behind him.

"Jungwon... we don't have any money," I reminded in confusion as he grabbed a small basket and tugged me towards a specific section of the store.

"I do," he shook his head with a small chuckle, "I had a job for a while before they fired me. I guess I wasn't that good at making hotdogs in a fast enough pace. It's fine though," he shrugged before scrunching up his nose once his eyes fell onto the snacks in front of him, "do you know what you like?"

"I don't think I've ever seen anything of this... besides the chocolate," I shook my head as I looked at the colorful wrappers in disbelief.

"Hmmm... so we'll need chocolate," Jungwon decided and grabbed some chocolate from the shelf before frowning once again, "gummies?"

"I honestly don't know," I admitted with a small sigh while shaking my head.

Jungwon didn't say anything else he only let go of my hand and pulled me into him by my shoulders, pressing a small kiss to the top of my head as he swayed me a bit back and forth.

"I think we're going home after this," he muttered quietly, "I'd like for you to tell me why you're so distressed."

"I feel like they're watching," I muttered and ran a hand over my face.

"Listen..." he softly spoke and let go of me to tilt my head up a bit with a finger under my chin, "they're not following you, and if they are I have some payback to give them," he reminded with a small snicker, "they're not gonna hurt you anymore and they surely aren't getting ahold of you once again. You're not allowing that, I'm not allowing that, and the others sure as hell aren't allowing that."

"You can't do anything if they come for us," I reminded as my eyebrows furrowed in hopelessnes.

"I can hide you and I can fight back," he murmured as his thumb placed itself between my eyebrows and smoothed out my frown for me, "I'm not letting you out of sight again, got that?"

"Okay," I murmured with a small nod as Jungwon slowly smiled.

"I'll just take some gummies and we can go home after that, alright?" he questioned and grabbed my hand once again while he finished finding our snacks.