Jeans | Y.Jw

| 2.24 |

I had never really been in Mary's room. In the time Jungwon was gone and I would look after her, she had always just brought me to Jungwon's room - and seldom I had been invited into the tiny living room. By most Mary's room could be compared to a broom closet, and I don't blame her for never inviting me into her room. It was even smaller than Jungwon's. I was just surprised we had managed to sit two people in the room and pack down Mary's belongings in two seperate bags.

"Are you sure this would take as long as you expected?" I questioned in amusement as I folded up yet another of Mary's sweaters, and stuffed it down in a duffel bag.

"No," Jungwon shook his head quietly, "It was mostly to also spend time with Mary... I was hoping to take her out to eat some place nice before she leaves."

"She would love that," I nodded in agreement and he snickered in amusement. Finding simply the thought of taking his sister out to eat to be something that was joyful for him.

"Just her and I, if you don't mind," he shrugged and glanced over at me as if to get confirmation that it was alright.

"You don't need to ask for permission," I reminded him in a mocking tone and he nodded quietly, "you know that."

"It's just... now that I brought you all the way back to Liverpool I felt like I needed to-" he immediately started excusing, letting the words fall out of his mouth at such a speed you would be surprised he didn't even mess up one syllable.

"I grew up here too," I reminded him and he stopped in his sentence, looking at me with those round and wondering eyes. Once, a long time ago, they didn't seem as round as gentle as they had become when he looked towards me like that, "I can just go and check if my parents want to see me... maybe Lin is home. I'll entertain myself."

Jungwon looked down at the trunk he was packing before finally closing it. The locks on the trunk let out a hollow clasping sound when he closed it completely and he fell back against the wall behind him with a heavy sigh. His eyes closing and his head leaning back, Adam's apple bobbing up and down along with a lump going down his throat.

"Tired?" I questioned and he nodded before glancing around himself.

"Sometimes..." he trailed off and let his head drop down a bit to look around properly, "sometimes I forget how we started off. You know?" he questioned and picked around his thumb nail when he looked over at me, "not because I don't have the same memories as you have of us here. All the trips to the harbour and sneaking in and out of each other's rooms... they're still there. But I barely even recognize that we're back here. I tend to forget that we were just two teenagers head over heels for one another, running around in this town."

"We're still those teenagers," I reminded him and he shook his head quietly, "we are."

"No... we're not," he sighed before chuckling sadly to himself, "I'm not in some irrelevant small town band anymore. You're not the smart girl barely anyone knows, but if they know you they love you. I'm not... now I'm... I'm a guitarist in a growing band, set to break into the American market properly with our next release, my future is set... for the rest of my life. You're a part time worker in a bakery. People get mad at you and treat you terribly if they see some minor inconvenience with something in the bakery. Our roles have gotten reversed."

I stayed quiet as I fell down from sitting on my knees. Letting my hip first bump the floor before I leaned against the wall beside me. My eyes stayed fixated on his side profile as his head lowered momentarily and he eventually lifted it back up again.

"You used to have a future set for you, and people got mad at me at any minor inconvenience," he sighed, turning his head to look over at me with a forced smile, "now it's all mixed up. Changed. My future is set and people get mad at you... and I feel like it's all my fault."

"Why would it be-"

"You moved away from everything you knew for my sake," Jungwon whispered, "you don't belong in London. You belong somewhere, here, up north. Studying at some small university. Getting married, settling down. Maybe getting kids along the way. I  can't promise you any of that."

"I don't need any of that," I reminded him and he nodded, scratching the side of his nose.

"It's what you deserve," he corrected.

"I will never want to settle down and get kids, if I have to go around and act like a submissive housewife," I frowned and accidentally let out a small laugh, "I will rather live a hectic and chaotic life, as long as I am happy."

"Ji you deserve be-" he started with closed eyes.

"Then let's be those teenagers again. Let's go down to the harbour some evening, you can get a cig if you feel like it..." I trailed off with a small smile when I noticed the corners of his lips tug down slightly, "we'll walk back here, sneak in through your window - talk until the sun starts to rise in the distance and by then we'll snuggle closer and fall asleep. Like we used to."

"Alright," he nodded, answering in what was barely even categorized as a whisper. Barely even a sound, "we can do tha-"

I didn't see Jungwon when he answered, the door had instead swung open - almost hitting me in the face had I not quickly held my hands up to stop it. On the other side of the open door I could hear what sounded to be happy chatter.

It was first when I managed to push the door a bit closed again that I got a proper look of everything. An older Mary, a few years shy of the age of 10, had clutched tightly onto Jungwon as he relished in the hug he was getting. Eyes closed and a content look on his lips.

"We'll just be here until you go to the train station, alright?" Jungwon eventually questioned and pushed Mary a bit away from him - rubbing his hands gently up and down her arms, "tomorrow evening we'll go out to eat."

"We?" Mary questioned and I smiled softly when she turned her head to look at me, "hi Jill," she excitedly waved at me.

"Hi Mary," I waved back in return and her grin got even wider before she looked back down at Jungwon.

"Have you been crying?" Mary questioned and carefully touched Jungwon's cheek, "why do you look like you've been crying?"

"I just missed my baby sister, that's all," Jungwon excused and moved his hands to tickle her sides.

Immediately a bubbling of loud laughter escaped Mary. I watched in quiet amusement as Jungwon continued to tickle her sides, clearly enjoying how happy she was looking. There couldn't possibly be any doubt that he had missed her and was enjoying his time back.

"What is going on up here?" a voice called out and I noticed the identically faltering smiles on both Mary's and Jungwon's faces. For a second they were impossible to tell apart.

"Less than mr. Baker," I whispered towards Jungwon, who managed to have time to dart his eyes over to look at me before the door opened up yet again.

Luckily I was quick to shield myself this time. But neither were Jungwon and Mary for the horror that had just opened the door to the room.

"The heck are you doing here?" mr. Baker questioned as I stayed quiet in an attempt to just listen closely, "didn't I tell you to not come back here?"

"Ji?" Jungwon called out quietly and I quickly crawled up in Mary's bed to get around the door and look at him. I didn't even glance at mr. Baker. I convinced myself that he wasn't there if I didn't acknowledge him, "can you please take Mary to my room? I think it is well overdue that I have a talk with... you know," Jungwon murmured and nodded his head towards the spot that I could just sense in the corner of my eye, a giant shadow standing there.

"Of course," I hummed and grabbed Mary's shoulder, maneuvering her out of the room and out on the hallway.

In a few seconds I had rushed her down to Jungwon's old room, fishing out a notebook and pencil for her to sit and draw while we waited.