Enhanced || JJK

XL. The Class of 2077

It was the day of our graduation. We had handed in our thesis, receiving the compliments of our professors, now all that was left to do was celebrate.
We had our graduation gowns on and our degrees in hand and Lia wouldn't stop taking pictures of us.

"Wow! You guys look stunning! One more, one more! Now kiss!"
"Lia!" Jungkook reprimanded his sister, nodding in the direction of our parents who were talking not far from us.
Both my parents and Jungkook's were there, they had met for the first time and now they were talking to each other. Jungkook and I were pretty nervous and kept looking in their direction, checking if everything was going smoothily, considering that both my parents and his didn't really seem fond of each other. But on that day, they were all looking happy and chatting together with a smile on their faces, so we were relieved and tried to enjoy the moment.

"What? They know you're a couple!" Lia argued. "And you definitly need a photo in which you're kissing, so come on!" Ever since she had gotten a boyfriend, she didn't seem to be grossed out by us being lovey-dovey.
Jungkook shook his head, but he had to agree with his sister, so he checked if our parents were watching then he rapidly kissed me on the lips.
"Got it!" Lia exclaimed, satisfied, while I was left a bit surprised and flustered.
"Okay, now it's my turn!" Tae announced, coming next to me. "You need to get out, Jeon!"
"You don't want me to be in the picture?" My boyfriend complained.
"No, you take a picture with your sister and I'll take one with mine!" He argued, pushing him away. They were starting to act more and more like brothers.
"Come on, come on, guys! Don't argue!" Jimin intervened, to mediate. "I'll take the picture, you four go stand there!"
"Wait, wait, if we're all taking a picture, you should be in it too!" Tae countered. As predicted by Jungkook, my best friend had soon become really close with Jimin, right after starting to go to the support group, and the three of them were slowly becoming inseparable. They had their inside jokes and they teased each other constantly, it was endearing to watch.
"Yeah and also my brother should be in it, where is he?" Lia added, talking about her oldest brother, Jin. We had lost sight of him but after looking around we found him not far, swarmed by fans in graduation gowns, asking for a picture.
"Ah, I'll go get him", the youngest of the Jeon siblings announced defeated, as if she was used to that type of situation.

"Oh, if that isn't our two favourite interns!" We recognized a voice coming from behind.
Dr. Jung walked up to us with the brightest smile, followed by Dr. Min and Dr. Kim. Jungkook and I both gasped, we didn't expect them to come, given how busy they are.
"We had to come! We couldn't miss it, right guys?" was Dr. Jung's answer, while looking at his colleagues.
"He actually forced us..." Dr. Min answered, making us burst into laughter. His bluntness never stopped being funny.
"Yeah, we really have to get back to the Lab, but we wanted to just come by for a moment and congratulate both of you on this huge milestone... There's a bright path ahead for both of you, I'm sure..." Dr. Kim was the one especially good with words and his comment really warmed our hearts.
We thanked them for coming and asked to take a picture together. Then, before leaving, they reiterated their offer to have an interview to become an official member of the Lab. We said we were still thinking about it but we assured the three scientists that in any case we were going to collaborate with them again in the future and they left with a smile.

Jungkook and I had talked about it and we really thought it was a huge opportunity, but at the same time we were also curious to continue our education, so we were still debating on that. There was also a chance that our final decisions could've been different, given our goals were very different. He wanted to keep studing and maybe find a good PhD program that could match his particular interest in how to remove the enhancement or he was also thinking of entering the field of bioethics and try to find a better line between what was ethically right in the case of making GM humans. I was more interested in using genetic engineering to cure diseases or try to understand how to avoid mistakes while modifying the DNA, which led me more towards working at the ALF Lab.

So, despite having both just graduated from the same faculty, we were both headed in two very different directions and that probably would've scared me. I wondered if it was going to drive us apart, given that we were probably going to be busy and not be able to see each other as often. But then I thought about all the years we had spent being so close but never together, always in the same space but never in harmony. And now that we were finally a couple, I was sure that there wasn't going to be any amount of distance that could tear us apart. As long as we were in each other's heart.

"Okay, I managed to drag away the big bro from the fans, so shall we take this picture?" Lia arrived a minute later, with Jin.
"I told you that if I came, today wasn't gonna be about you, brother", Jin told Jungkook, who laughed.
"Yeah and I told you I really didn't care... I just wanted all of my people here", my boyfriend admitted, dragging his big brother next to him for the picture.
We all posed and my dad offered to take the picture. Then I took a picture with my parents and Jungkook with his family.

That's how I was reminded of this story today. It's been twenty years already and those same pictures are in our family photo album, which I opened today for the first time in a long time. And those were only the first pictures of a long series, because that had become our new tradition. Since we both weren't really the types to take pictures, we had decided to schedule a 'family' photoshoot every month, even though back then we weren't even a family yet, but it had already started to feel like we were.

Just this afternoon, my husband and I had a small fight and I had decided to get the house in order to get my mind off of it. Maybe it was fate, but I found the old mini pen drive where we used to store our photos, that's why I connected it to the i-wall and started reminiscing about those times. And thinking about how badly we wanted to be with each other, I immediatly forgot about the reason we had fought earlier and went to call him.

We all started to look at the pictures together and our youngest one smiled at every photo, while the oldest looked a little weirded out. "You look old now!" She commented, while going back and forth between scanning our faces and looking at the pictures. We all laughed. Those are the moments when I remember how grateful I am to my husband for the life he helped me create for us.

And yes, both our kids are Naturals and they're the most wonderful kids I've ever seen, but maybe I say that because I'm their mom.

The End

"You really really know me, the future and the old me, all of the mazes and the madness in my mind.
You really really love me, you know me and you love me and it's the kind of thing I always hoped I'd find.
Always thought I was hard to love 'til you made it seem so easy..."

If you read this far, thank you...

Mypoornerves 💜

Apr 5, 2024