8 Years [ENGV]

#3

JISOO

I woke up feeling Haein's arms around me, giving me a feeling of comfort and security. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, I didn't want to leave there, I wanted to feel his arms around me throughout the day, protecting me from the cruel reality that awaited me.

"Are you awake?" I heard his hoarse voice, which sounded like a sweet good morning melody.

"Hm..." I nodded.

"I didn't mean to wake you. I'm sorry."

"It wasn't you. I woke up alone." I said, cringing, trying to prolong that contact as much as I could. It took him a while — maybe he wanted to let me go as much as I wanted to get out of there —, but he got up, let me go, and it was as if I was diving into the deepest, darkest waters. I felt fragile, unprotected, and defenseless.

"Can I take a shower?" He asked and I nodded. He got up and went to the bathroom. When I heard the door close, I sat up and swallowed hard. His clothes scattered on the floor made me question why this had happened, why I had allowed this to happen, and why I had no regrets.

But in the end, these were irrelevant questions compared to the real questions that needed to be asked. The reason Haein was there came back to my mind; Haeji, Jung Hae-Ji, our daughter, was alive. The life I had created in my womb, the child I had brought into the world, was alive. I put my robe back on, left a pair of men's sweatpants on the bed, and picked up Haein's clothes. I went to the laundry area in the kitchen, putting them in the washing machine and returning to the living room. The papers on the floor; It seemed scary, but I had to face the truth. I gathered the papers and swallowed hard. I picked up the photo of the girl, my girl, my Haeji. So beautiful, so cute, so much like me, but at the same time, so much like Haein. I smiled involuntarily. So I thought about what could be done now. Now that we know the truth, how are we going to deal with it? How are we going to solve this?

The doorbell rang, bringing me back to reality, I left the papers and the photo on the couch, and went to the door, but it was soon opened by Jennie — who knew the code.

"Hi, Jisoo. You took too long." She said, smiling and approaching me, giving me a hug. "I need your help with the baby shower decorations. Taehyung said I could choose whatever I wanted, and it would be perfect." She rolls her eyes. Jennie is very spoiled by Taehyung, and she often gets irritated by it, which I never understood. She turns to leave her purse on the couch and then notices the papers and the photo. Jennie turned to me with a frown. "What papers are these? Who is this child?"

"Jisoo, my..." Haein appeared in the room, and Jennie turned to him, shocked. "Clothes..." Haein stopped talking and gave a shy smile, waving. "Hi!" He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck, shy, after all, he was only wearing a towel wrapped around his waist — a very pleasant sight, by the way. Jennie turned to me, staring at me, waiting for an explanation, and apparently she was also angry.

"Haein, can you go back to the room? I left a pair of sweatpants for you on the bed." Haein nodded. He smiled again and waved to Jennie, but she must have been glaring mad at him, after all, he cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck again before turning around and leaving. I confirmed that she really was glaring at him when she turned to me with the same angry expression. "Calm down, or this baby will be born here in my living room." She seemed even more irritated and took a step towards me. I took a step back, raising my hands.

"Can you explain to me what's going on here?" She orders authoritatively.

"I promise to explain everything to you later, but Haein and I need to sort this out first."