missed chance

34 | greek gods

Opening the doors, the wall of the adoption home was filled with colorful paintings. Which looked like it was painted by the kids themselves. Some pictures of the children are hung around the place.

"Hello, welcome," a young lady said, "I am, Shin Ryu Jin. You can call me Ryujin." she said.

"Lalisa Kim-Manoban. This is my wife, Jennie." Lisa said. Jennie's eyes were locked on the end of the hallway where it seems like a garden or a playground of some sort lay.

"May I usher you to the office?" Ryujin asked and the two agreed. They went inside a room where they sat down. Jennie's eyes were still locked on the kids jumping around the playground. 

Lisa was talking to Ryujin and another one named Yeji, who was telling them about the adoption home. Jennie, feeling uninterested with the talk, she excused herself and she walked to the playground.

"We lost our child," Lisa said when Jennie left, "I'm sorry if my wife seemed a little down or broody. She got into a car accident, and our daughter died inside of her." Lisa explained, trying not to cry.

"I'm sorry for your lost." Yeji said, "Not to pry, but we have seen it in the news. Mrs. Jennie is a very famous person, and honestly I am a fan of hers." Yeji said shyly.

"Of course, it was all over the news." Lisa said giving them both a look saying it was okay, "To be honest, this may be the last resort to fixing our marriage."

Ryujin and Yeji gave her a sad smile before they all turned their attention to Jennie, who was sitting at one of the benches on the playground.

---

"Can I be the fairy this time? I don't wanna be an elf again." a little girl said to her friends while they were playing with some sort of play pretend.

Jennie looked at all the kids with a smile, she has always been fond of kids.

Growing up it was her and V. And they did everything together, like twins. Well, some would say Jennie being a girl — having a sister was better. But Jennie knew having a brother was awesome. V was the adventurous and naughty one, and he would always tag Jennie with her, enjoying their childhood together.

Once they went playing around the forest part of the house in Daegu, where V challenged her to jump over the little gap on the land. Jennie having such short legs, did not make it and ended up breaking her arm. But she knew it was worth a few laughs.

Now sitting here, and looking at all the children running and jumping around makes her happy. Imagining her own daughter, would Laryne be a smart, adventurous, and naughty kid like her when she was young?

An unknown tear fell from her eyes, and she didn't even notice she was already crying.

"Why are you crying?" Jennie turned at her side and saw a little girl who was looking at her and confused why she was tearing up.

"Nothing, just very emotional today." Jennie laughed.

The girl stood up and kissed Jennie's cheeks, "They always say kissing it better works. Are you better now?"

Jennie smiled and wiped her tears, "Yeah. Much better."

"Good. It's not nice to cry. Did you fall earlier? Are you hurt? Why are you crying?"

"You ask, too much. I'm okay," Jennie said, "What's your name?"

"I'm Athena Isabelle." Athena said and reached out for a handshake, "I am five years old. I've been living here for a year now."

Athena Isabelle.

Isabelle.

At the mention of Isabelle, Jennie broke down in tears more as Athena looked at her confused, "Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry. Don't cry."