MINE

18

Two weeks later...

"Yeah, I will meet you in the evening. See ya." I hanged up and sighed.
Jin was finally coming back from the states.
After that night with Yoongi, I never got a chance to talk with Jin. He had to take off to the states with Yoongi for a concert. We had talked every day and every day I searched for a hint if Yoongi told him everything. I wanted to be the one telling him the truth.

I sat up straight on my desk and sipped on my coffee. There were four more manuscripts to be edited. I sighed at my work. The manuscripts were fat and I had no energy to deal with work and personal life together. It was almost lunch time and I had to pick up Min Gyu from school.
...

In the evening, Min Gyu and i decided to take a walk to fresh up. After roaming around, we settled down in the convenience store to have some ramyeon.
"Eomma, Jin appa told he bought something for me from the states." Min Gyu told.
I smiled at him. "Of course."
"Do you know what it is?"
I shrugged. "I have no idea."
He sighed. "I hope he bought the remote control car I told him about."
I shook my head.

"Oh, Noona. Anneyonghasaeyo."
I turned to see a familiar guy but I didnt know his name. Ah! The guy I met in the convenience store on my first day.
"Oh, anneyong." I said.
He took a seat with us with a happy face. "How are you?" He asked.
"I am fine. What about you? I am sorry but can you tell me your name?" I said.
"I am fine. My name is Jungkook, JK for short." He smiled wide like a bunny.
"I am Ji Hwa." I smiled back.
"I am Min Gyu." My son smiled.
"Hi there." JK waved cutely at my son.

"Are you a student?" I asked.
Jk shook his head. "I might look young but no, I am not a student."
"So you work?"
He shook his head. "Nah..." he smiled.
I was confused. "O...kay."
"Btw, are you new here? I have never seen you around before."
I wanted to roll my eyes. "Yeah, I am new. Oh, I forgot. Thank you for last time."
"Never mind." He waved his hands. "Umm...by the way, if anyone bothers you or your son again, then you can always tell me."
I laughed. "Why? Will you beat them up?"
He grinned and laughed. "Of course."
"Hmm...so you beat people up."
He didnt say anything and just kept a small smile on his lips.
"What is your age?" I asked.
"23." He grinned.
My eyebrows shot up. "Woah...you are really young. You should be in a University now."
He shrugged. "It just turned out this way."

My phone rang and I checked the caller ID. It was Jin.
"Ye Jin-ssi?"
"Ji Hwa-ssi, sorry the flight was delayed. I am on my way to meet you." He said.
"Omo. It is alright. We can meet tomorrow. You should take some rest. It was a long journey."
He let out a little laugh. "Uh...to be honest, I miss you and Min Gyu. I am on my way. Wait for me." He hanged up.
I placed the phone down and looked at JK who was now playing a quiz game with my son.

"Um...Jk, it was nice meeting you again. We need to leave now. See you..." I stood up and clutched on Min Gyu's hand.
Jk smiled. "You can always look for me here." He waved us a bye.
...

Back in the apartment, I cooked dinner for three. Jin must be so tired. Why would he come to meet us? His feelings were too much for me and it was still unbelievable he liked me for all those years.

The door bell rang and I yelled for Min Gyu to open the door since I was busy cooking. I heard the door open and close and muffled noises with quiet talks. And suddenly, Min Gyu screamed with joy. I frowned.
"Eomma! Eomma! Appa bought me the remote control car I wanted." Min Gyu shouted excitedly.
I shook my head. It went quiet suddenly.

"Ji Hwa-ssi..." Jin appeared at the kitchen door, looking all exhausted.
I smiled at him. My hands were busy in cooking.
He took quick strides towards me and crushed me against his chest. I hugged him back.
"You must be so exhausted." I said, patting lightly on his back.
He exhaled. "I am. But I am finally home now and it feels so great...to be home with you."
Suddenly I felt burdened. I needed to tell him the truth.

I wanted to pull away but I didnt want to hurt his feelings. But, uh, well, he wasn't pulling away...

"I missed you." He said.
"Me too." I flushed as I said it.
He finally pulled away and looked me in the eye. "Hmm...you look exhausted too. Work must be tiring."
"Dont even get me started. It's so exhausting."
He laughed and turned off the stove. He leaned on the counter and stared at me with a small smile on his lips. Suddenly I became self conscious. What? Why was he looking at me like that? Did he know? Omo. No.

"What?" I asked.
"Nothing. Just looking at your face. I haven't seem you for long." He said with the same look.
I blushed. I noticed his hair was overgrown. He kinda looked sexy with long hair.
"Well, I think you need a haircut." I said absentmindedly.
He smirked. "Ah...really?"
I nodded. "Yeah..."
"I will get it done tomorrow. " he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
I gulped down nervously. "Jin-ssi, I want to talk to you about something."
He nodded. "Yeah...go ahead."
"Uh...after dinner?"
"You want me to stay over?" He raised an eyebrow.
My heart skipped a beat. "Haha...no. no. We can talk tomorrow if you want."
He laughed. "No. We can talk after dinner."
I smiled.

Min Gyu was excited with his new car toy and stayed in his room with it after finishing dinner quickly. I checked the time and it was quite late. Jin was already exhausted and I wasn't sure if we should have the talk or not. I didnt want to stress him out. I was having a heated debate inside my mind.

"I will do the dishes." Jin stood up and started to collect the plates.
"No. No. I will do it. Please Jin-ssi." I pleaded, casually grabbing on his wrist.
He looked at me and I removed my hand away.
"You can take rest. I will do the dishes." I said, collecting the plates from his hands.
He smiled at me. "Next time, I will cook dinner for you."
I smiled back. "Sure."

I walked to the kitchen with the dishes and dropped it carefully in the sink. I ran the water and started.
Jin came to lean on the counter beside the sink silently.
I looked at him and smiled. "Get some rest."
"Should I stay over? I am free tomorrow anyway." He suggested.
I thought for a moment. "Yeah, it's late anyway."
He grinned. "Okay, I will grab my bag from the car and will be back in a moment."
"Okay."
He hurriedly left to get his bag.

I was quickly done with the dishes till he was back.
"I will take a shower and change in the other room." He said and went to the other room.

I cleaned the kitchen and finally settled down on the couch, exhausted. Min Yoongi forced in my mind and memory and I cursed under my breath. I  went to check on my son and found him asleep on the bed with his new car. I  ouldnt help smiling lovingly. I cleared the car from him and pulled a blanket over him. I kissed his forehead, turned off the light and left.

Jin was in the hall, looking around.
"Oh. What is Min Gyu doing?" Jin asked once he spotted me.
I walked to him. "He fell asleep." I studied his face and withdrew the idea of the discussion.
"So? What did you want to talk about?" He asked.
"Ah...leave it. It's not so important. You can go to sleep." I said, keeping a straight face.
He looked at me, thoughtful. "Umm...wanna have a drink?" He asked.
I opened my mouth to say something but before I could, he walked over to his room.

We sat in the balcony with our glasses of wine. He bought a new wine from the states and it tasted amazing. The atmosphere was cool and the alcohol felt right. The city was stretched like twinkling stars and it felt relaxing.

"Ji Hwa-ssi." He reached for my hand and clutched it warmly in his big hand.
I looked at him but he was staring at the city. "The more I think, the more I become sure about our future. After all these years, finally you are mine but everything is going so smoothly that it's scary. Like too perfect is also scary." He turned to look at me and squeezed my hand gently.
That pierced through my heart. I didnt have any assuring words for him because I knew I would end up hurting him. But...
I smiled. "Jin-ssi, dont think too much. Everything will be fine." I tiptoed and kissed his cheek. Wait, it must have been the alcohol. I was a little tipsy.
He looked totally shocked. His eyes were wide open. His ears turned red and he broke into a wide and shy smile.
I blushed and looked away.
He leaned closer to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. He sighed and kissed my head.

....