shot clock || na jaemin (the court series #1)

quarter four: minute four

seven months after sooyoung had left incheon, incheon comes to find her. which sounded more like the premise of a horror movie than the melodrama her life was turning out to be, but sooyoung had learned to roll with the punches. she had originally wanted to visit incheon as a way of surprising her family back in south korea, but with her returning to the basketball team, she was busy with games, which meant that she was gonna be playing over winter break. lower audience turnout, but still. games. 

when jisoo had first proposed the idea of all of them coming to chicago to celebrate christmas together, sooyoung had laughed in her face. literally. they had been facetiming (something they were doing more and more lately, now that sooyoung felt comfortable with having her phone again), when jisoo suddenly had perked up, explaining her plan, practically yelling in excitement in the middle of the 127 café. hyeri had walked by, shushing her, but gave the both of them a thumbs up of encouragement.

"jisoo, darling, that shit is expensive, you know that right?" sooyoung had said, letting bruno to climb onto her bed next to her. technically, he wasn't allowed to do that, but he had a literal puppy face so there wasn't a single person in the family who was strong enough to actually enforce that rule. "me flying out to south korea is one thing; all seven of you flying out here is a very different thing."

"so if i figure out the whole flight ticket pricing situation, you're okay with us coming to chicago?" jisoo says quickly, yasmine calling her over. apparently mark had wanted to try to create a watermelon smoothie, in the middle of december, only to accidentally pull the plug the the smaller, employees only coffee machine while he was walking. the espresso machine was sacred in the 127 café, sometimes being the only thing keeping them running.

"okay, i'm gonna go save mark before mina buries him alive. but don't worry about the ticket prices! just check your phone for the date confirmation! mina - mina no, do not throw hot oil - mina! i gotta go sweetie! i love you!" and the call had ended.

sooyoung sighed. she really missed incheon. or seoul. whatever.

"young-ie, you know getting to the airport five hours earlier than you need to doesn't mean that the airplane's gonna go any faster, right?" shaun says casually, happily munching on a sugar cookie sooyoung had baked in giddy nervousness. she was a bundle of nerves, bouncing here and there in anticipation, her previous swagger nearly completely gone.

the longer she attended therapy, the more sooyoung felt herself start to become who she had been when she was around the people herself - only, she was able to find the energy to be herself for herself. she didn't need to rely on 'anchors' as isabella called them. 

"yeah, i know. but daddy, can't you at least consider it?" sooyoung says, turning to her stepfather. mr. park raises his hands in defense, gesturing at shaun.

"you heard your brother," mr. park replies, wanting to stay as neutral as possible. to be honest, he was almost nearly just as nervous as sooyoung was. he wasn't dense; he knew that sooyoung didn't exactly feel like she was part of the park family any more. everything from her last name to her changing demeanor made him realize that she had found a new family in her friends. but he still loved her like a daughter and she still loved him like a father. although he had met jaemin and jeno (and technically all the 'dreamies' as sooyoung called them) already, he still had a certain want to impress her new family.