you got me | chaennie

epilogue

Jennie is standing outside a restaurant in the Busan financial district, palms sweaty and her heart rate like a hummingbird's, as Chaeyoung tries to talk her down over the phone. This is a terrible idea— not necessarily the getting lunch with her mother part—Jennie is in town for once and she does want to see Taeyeon before she has to fly back—but the part where she's going to finally come clean about how she and Chaeyoung met seems insurmountable. Other than basking in the unrelenting high of Chaeyoung's proposal four days ago, Jennie has thought of little else all week but how this conversation is going to go. And now it's here and she wants to be anywhere else.

Jennie slips the diamond band that Chaeyoung gave her off of her left ring finger and places it in her purse. Call her a coward, but she needs at least a glass of wine before letting this particular horse out of the barn and Taeyeon is nothing if not pathologically observant.

"Krystal's right, Jen," Chaeyoung is saying, "Taeyeon might surprise you."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Jennie responds dryly. She really doesn't mind the story of how they met two years ago, and she's never had a problem with Chaeyoung's former side gig, but telling Taeyeon about it is fraught. Jennie tugs nervously at the side of her skirt. "I should have gotten here early to have a drink."

Chaeyoung laughs gently. "I know you're nervous, but I promise you, no matter how this goes, we'll get through it, ok?"

Jennie switches the phone to her other ear, checks her hair in the reflection of the windows next to the restaurant. She closes her eyes for a moment. "You know it's not the actual story I'm worried about. You know I'm not ashamed in the slightest, right? God, why am I this nervous?"

"Because you finally have a relationship with Taeyeon and she's important to you and you don't want this to change anything." Chaeyoung reels off, like she's written this down somewhere.

"That was a rhetorical question, Rosie," Jennie says, smiling. She knows Chaeyoung is nervous, too. There's silence for a moment.

"Right. I knew that."

"I love you." Jennie exhales. Just saying that to Chaeyoung still brings Jennie the most incredible sense of grounding, and the truth of it helps to settle her.

"I love you, too," Chaeyoung says. "You have to go inside now, otherwise she's going to call you and ask why you're running late." Jennie can hear Chaeyoung shuffling things on the other end of the line. "Call me from the airport? I gotta go chase down a lead for the next few hours, but I should be free before you board. Oh!" Chaeyoung adds, suddenly inspired. "Text me right after. Text me how it goes, either way, ok? And then, call me anyway."

"I will." Jennie doesn't want to end the call; that will mean having to walk inside. "I love you," she says again.

"I love you, too, you big sap." Chaeyoung laughs. "You're stalling. I'm hanging up now for your own good."

Jennie huffs. "Fine, fine. Be safe. I'll talk to you tonight."

"You're going to be ok, text me after, alright? Bye!"

Jennie looks at the phone after Chaeyoung hangs up. She's got two more texts from Kai. They're just as unhelpful as the five she got this morning, but they make her smile anyway. His latest texts suggest that, if Jennie chickens out at lunch, he'll be happy to send Taeyeon his copy of the article with Chaeyoung's autograph.

She's pretty sure that he's joking.

Jennie puts the phone in her purse, takes a deep breath, and walks up to the front door. A valet opens it for her. The maître d' welcomes her and asks, politely, if she has a reservation. When she says she's meeting Kim Taeyeon for lunch, he doesn't even look down at the book in front of him before leading her through the seating area to a lovely table by the window.