Let's Get Married || Jensoo

Chapter 2: Marry In Haste, Repent At Leisure

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The intercom buzzed for the fourth time in quick succession, its low whine penetrating Jennie's hungover state.

"All right. Jesus! I'm coming," she muttered as she rolled off her couch and made her way gingerly towards the wall panel. She slapped the button with the palm of her hand, as she rested her forehead against the cool plaster. "What?"

"Ms Kim, there are some people here from the government who want to see you and Mrs Kim," the doorman said.

Jennie was confused. What the hell had her mother done to have the government knocking down her door first thing in the morning? Drugs? Espionage? Racketeering? And why did they think Chaerin would be there anyway?

"Did they say what it's about?" she asked.

"No, ma'am. Just that they wanted to speak to you and your wife."

Shit. That Mrs Kim.

Jennie felt the hangover all but disappear, replaced by a very different type of nausea.

She looked over her shoulder. The apartment looked okay, no messier than it usually was. She'd gone to a party the previous evening but hadn't brought anyone home, so there wasn't anything incriminating that she needed to put away.

"Did you tell them my wife isn't here just now?" She wasn't sure if the Feds or INS agents or whoever they were could overhear their conversation, but Anthony, the weekday doorman, was a stand-up guy. He'd covered for her many times before, but usually by keeping her mother or particularly pushy wannabe-girlfriends at bay.

"I believe I did." His vagueness and hesitancy seemed to indicate that he was, indeed, within earshot of the agents. "Ms Kim?" the doorman prompted.

"Yeah, yeah. I guess you'd better send them up, then."

She did another quick scan of her apartment. There was little she could do in the coming few minutes to mitigate the fact that it probably didn't look like a marital home, whatever that was supposed to look like. She smoothed her palms down on the front of her rumpled shirt and tried to swallow her nerves.

She was standing there, in the middle of her non-marital home, when suddenly she remembered her wedding photograph. As a joke, Lisa had taken one of the pictures in which Jennie and Jisoo were kissing and had it ostentatiously framed. Jennie had come home one day to find it prominently displayed at her bedside. No matter how many times she hid it, Lisa always found it every time she came over and put it back out on display.

Suddenly, Jennie was very happy that her sister had such a warped sense of humour. She dashed into the master bedroom and retrieved the framed photo from the drawer where she'd put it, then hurried back and placed it on the mantle over the fireplace.

She had no need to retrieve her wedding ring. It was on the ring finger of her left hand, where it had remained since the ceremony. She didn't know why she still wore it. In the beginning, she had done it as a 'fuck you' to Chaerin and the late Grandpa Kim. But she was still wearing it nearly four months later. She rubbed the back of the ring with her thumb as she looked at the photograph. It was surprising how real it looked, like any other couple's treasured memory. But, then, they were wearing wedding dresses and kissing. That tended to indicate a happy day.

There was a knock on her apartment door and she took one last deep breath before striding over and opening it. Two men in grey suits were standing expectantly. The older one had the slumped shoulders of a man who was in a job he no longer loved, but the younger one had a firm set to his jaw. He meant business.

"Gentlemen, please come in. I'm afraid my wife has left for work already, but I'm happy to help however I can." She gave what she hoped was an accommodating and helpful smile.