Jasmin's POV
Surprisingly, Do and I made it home safely, and now she's freaking out.
"How the fuck did he find us?! How the fuck does he know that we moved to America?!" She angrily says, gripping her hair.
I put my hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes. "Do, Baby, calm down. I know this is a bad situation, but I'm here for you. We'll get through this together."
She starts crying. "Jasmin, I'm scaaarrred. He's a dangerous man. He's going to kill us."
She sobs and sniffles. "Oh, Baby." I immediately embrace her, her crying into my chest.
"I have to tell Mom about this. She's gonna freak." She says through her tears.
I convince Do to sit on the couch with me and watch TV. I stroke her hair and sing to her in her ear, my arms wrapped around her, until she falls asleep.
.....
Ma and Joan walk through the door with some bags. Do immediately stands up.
"Mom, Lanh is back. He knows we're in America." As soon as those words come out, Joan drops the bags in her hands.
Her eyes get big. "What?! We have to go, we have to go! We have to go right now!"
Joan starts panicking and runs down the hall. She comes back with some luggage.
"Joan, where are you going?" Mama says. "Guys, we have to get a motel. Then, after that, we head to South Korea. There's no way he'd suspect us being there."
"No!," I immediately object. "Look, I've already moved houses. There is NO WAY I'm just gonna up and move countries!"
"We can't stay here, Jasmin!" Joan says. "But, Joan, we haven't even been in this house for a year yet." Mama says.
"Then what the fuck do you want us to do? Got any bright ideas? Hm?" She says, raising a brow at us.
"We don't have to move. We can just go to the cops." Mama says.
"For what? So they can do jack shit? The American cops don't know about Lanh's death threats. They're not gonna do anything until it's too late. Documenting shit to them isn't gonna help anything. If we don't leave, we're fucked."
"Baby, don't be so irrational-" Ma says, Joan immediately speaking afterwards. "Irrational?," She says with a frown, raising a brow and looking at Ma incredulously. "I'm thinking like a fucking mom. I'm thinking with my brain."
"We need to figure out what he wants so maybe we can appease him. We also need to figure out how he found us." Do says.
"Figure out what he wants?," Joan says, looking at Do. "He wants me," She says, looking at all of us. "He's never gonna stop until he gets back what he had. He's gonna take me away."
Joan low key sounds like she's on the brink of tears. I step closer to her and hug her.
She hugs me back with one arm. "What are we going to do?" Mama questions.
Joan and I disband the hug. She speaks, looking at each of us. "Here's what we do: we lay low so he can't run into us. No leaving the house unless we need to, and we use a buddy system. Got it?"
"But what about our jobs?" Mama says. Joan's facial expression is serious and tense as fuck as she looks at my mom.
"Fuck those jobs. This is life and death at this point." "But we need money, Baby. If we do things your way, we're gonna run out of groceries. And let's not forget utilities and mortgage."
"Fuck, ok, new plan: we all go together to buy some guns and other weapons. Do, Jasmin, we'll teach you how to shoot. ALWAYS. STAY. ARMED. WHEN POSSIBLE. NEVER leave your piece at home. We can't risk that."
"Sounds like a plan to me." I say. "Agreed." Mama and Do say. "And still use the buddy system whenever you can. Lanh can't take out two people at the same time."
"Got it." We respond.
