Broken

47

Jihyo was the only one to be up when Momo got to the living room. The tour got Dahyun and Chaeyoung too excited and they went on until, almost, early morning, Mina and Tzuyu had stayed up to make sure none of the two would set the house on fire, or get themselves arrested, Amy was hyping up the duo until she crashed, around two a.m. Nayeon just wanted to sleep a little longer, she had gone to bed with Momo and Jihyo around eleven, but mumbled to her girlfriend to leave her be that morning.

That was the chance the peach was looking for, she had been meaning to talk about how Jihyo was a whole new person after a year apart, how this new relationship was working for her, what has she been up to. Don't get her wrong, she was very happy that these things happened, this Jihyo right now was who they always wanted the girl to be, and if she found people that helped her get to that, it was wonderful, even if she had to get away for that. But Momo wanted to understand how things happened, and she knew Nayeon was avoiding the topic on purpose.

"Morning, Ji. Slept well?"

"Hey, Mo. I did, despite the noise. I'm about to go run, and get some groceries for breakfast on the way back, want to come?"

"Sure do! Just give me a few minutes."

"There's no rush. I'll be here stretching."

"Wait for me! I want to stretch too!" Momo whines a little and goes change.

Jihyo chuckles a little, her sister in-law (kinda) was very cute, these unconscious moments were endearing to her, she got how Nayeon could go hours talking about how cute Momo was that day (it had happened before). So, she just went to the kitchen to get them water bottles for both, while Momo was changing, might as well wait up so they could stretch together.

Momo, on her side, was trying to move faster, she didn't want to make Jihyo wait too long, and her curiosity was taking the best of her, so the first proper-ish outfit she found was the one she went with, maybe some more thought should have gone into that, but when she noticed, they would already be at the market. So, there they were, stretching on the small space they still had on the living room, given how their friends managed to spread out and take the whole place, Jihyo would scold them and demand they clean up later that morning, but now, just let them sleep.

"So, are you going to talk to me, or are you going to keep stalling?" Jihyo asks some time into their run.

"What?" Momo halts, trying to catch her breath.

"I know you want to talk to me about something. You are not the most subtle in hiding things from me, you know?!" Jihyo had stopped as well, and was looking for a bench.

"I tried, though." Momo pouts a little and goes sit down under a tree, the sun was too bright that day.

"I know, and you did great. Now, talk to me." Jihyo follows.

"I want to know about your life here."

"What about it?"

"Everything. What happened to you, how did you become this strong woman, what part did Chris play in this change. All of it."

"Oh, alright. You do remember I was in a very bad place when I came, right?" Momo just nods. "So, when I got here, I really had nobody to rely on, you guys were back in Korea, so Francis thought it would be good to introduce me to his girlfriend. Like, mom and dad talked to him, and he has been trying to take care of me ever since, but Sawa-chan said he asked her to take care of me too, because there are some things I should talk about with a woman."

"I like them, they are very nice." The older one gives a small smile.

"They are, and both are a very important part on how I got better."

"Tell me everything."

"Well, Chris and the Lees were good and all, but they are teens just like me, some things I needed some older guidance with. Francis took care of me like an older brother, he taught me to cook and helped me with homework whenever he could. Sawa-chan took me to the gym to get some more strength and helped me be more confident as a woman."

"Can't say I'm not thankful to them. I think you wouldn't be able to be this well if you didn't come here. I'm just happy you found great people to help you out." Momo brings Jihyo into a warm hug.

"I got lucky."

"And what about that 'wonderful' boyfriend of yours?"

"Chris is great, you know his flower withered when he was a toddler, right? So, he grew up knowing he would never have his soulmate with him. Then he became friends with Amy, they were in the same class, if I'm not mistaken, and then he met Felix a while later, then he fell for his best friend, Fe, not Amy."

"And I'm taking that Felix never felt the same way?"

"Not at all, and Chris got to watch the guy he loved date many others, but never him. It didn't help that Felix likes girls, exclusively. Chris took it all and learned how to move forward, you know, live his own life, be his own person, and now we are dating. He helped me to come to terms with not being with my soulmate, and accept that, sometimes, things don't work out the way we want them to."

"Sounds like I should treat him sometime." Momo tightens the hug a little more.

"Maybe you should. He is really great, you know."

"I can see you like him very much. Maybe Nadumb and I should take him out before we leave."

"I think you two would see why I like him so much on your own." Jihyo answers before getting a playful glint in her eyes. "And I'm so telling that you called her Nadumb."

"Go ahead, I'll tell her you kissed me and asked me to not tell her." Momo smirks victoriously.

"I didn't ki-" Jihyo gets interrupted by a quick peck on her lips from the older girl.

Momo springs to her feet and starts walking away, towards the market so they could get what they needed for breakfast. Might as well just get things done before the troublemakers wake up, but Jihyo had an eerie feeling Nayeon would be waiting for them to arrive, and she would have this conversation all over again. It didn't bother her, though, she was someone else now, she was a person that didn't cling to the past so much now. Might as well show everyone she was.