freckles

* chapter one hundred and ten *

"When do we show her?" Hoseok whispered to Jin, both of them sat at the counter top. Jin turned on the stool, looking at Claudette in the family room.

"It's like a bracelet." She spoke softly to Eliot as her Golden Retriever sniffed the new gadget adorning her wrist. "It'll help me." She let Layla sniff it for a few seconds. "It's a good thing. Look Ana, it's black." When Claudette held her wrist in front of Ana, the little puppy tried chewing on it, Claudette chuckling softly.

"I don't know." Jin whispered back. "She's acting kind of off right now."

" 'Cause she found out she could die at any minute." Jungkook swiftly pushed himself on top of the counter, sitting criss-crossed on it, facing the older two. "I would act like that too."

"Maybe the library will make her happy?" Hoseok suggested, Jungkook shrugging his shoulders. "She could start organizing her books, keep her mind off the news."

"Guys," Jin hit Jungkook's knee gently, nodding over to Claudette. "Look."

Ana sniffed Claudette's locket, nudging it a few times and whining before sitting and looking up at Claudette. Claudette smiled sadly and took it off her, showing it to Ana again and then to the other two.

Namjoon lowered his book slightly, him sat in the living room as well. Except he was on a couch, and Claudette was on the floor with her dogs.

"That's my mom." Claudette's voice was much more sad now. "And that's my dad, and that's me." All three of her dogs gathered around her, looking at the locket. "I don't remember them."

Jungkook stared at her, Jin forcing his eyes away, not wanting her to see him staring. Hoseok wasn't even looking in the first place, but he was listening. Namjoon let out a slow breath.

"Namjoon?" Claudette looked up at him, Namjoon lowering his book even more.

"Yes?"

"You like your parents, right?"

"I love them very much."

"Do you talk to them often?"

"I try to call at least once every few days."

Claudette smiled softly and nodded, looking back at her locket again. "I should talk to mine." She looked back up at Namjoon, a soft frown on her face. "What if they did want me?"

"I'm sure they did want you." Namjoon closed his book fully, putting it away fully. "There are cases when parents give up their kids because they can't provide for them. So they let their kid live where they get the things they need."

"But what if I needed my parents?" Claudette looked Namjoon straight in the eye, Namjoon staring back. "Then what?"

"Then..." Namjoon blinked, silently panicking once he couldn't find something to say. "Have you ever tried finding them?"

"There are so many people in Paris." Claudette shook her head, putting the necklace back around her neck. "I didn't have enough money to hire someone or whatever. And I wasn't about to go knocking over every door, asking for a woman who looks like me."

"Maybe I-"

"No," Claudette shook her head again, looking down. She already knew what he was going to say. "I don't even know if I want to meet them."

"And why is that?" Namjoon asked carefully, the three boys in the kitchen as still as statues as they listened.

"I guess I'm kind of angry at them." Claudette looked up at Namjoon, confusion, yet clarity on her face. "But at the same time, all I want is to have my parents."