Lisa
"Your name is Nini?" I'd asked once. I had never heard of anyone with that name before.
"Yeah, it's short for Jennie." she'd told me.
"Nini?"
She had laughed, told me it wasn't her actual legal name. It was a long running joke in her family. Nini's real name was Jennie, named after her mother's late mum, but her granddad from her daddy's side was hard of hearing. Every time they told him that they were naming her Jennie, he only heard the bits of it, and he started to call her Nini. It sort of stuck but Nini's mother wasn't too keen on it at first, thinking the old man was plainly making fun of her own mother's name, but eventually it grew on her and she learned to love it.
Nini sighs. "No one's called me Nini in a long time..." she admits softly. "Except for daddy."
From what I've gathered, she doesn't visit her dad too often anymore ever since she moved to the city. Judd mentioned that they talk on the phone almost every other day, and he'd visit her occasionally on the weekends, but it was hard to get Nini to come home. I could only imagine so, I always knew Nini wanted to flee that old house the very minute that her mother passed on.
Nini begged Judd to move after her mother's death, she couldn't handle the unsettling feeling of not having her mother in the house that they built up together. A house that held both good and bad memories. The house where Mrs. Kim spent the last leg of her life, fighting as hard as she could.
But Judd was the exact opposite. Judd preferred living in that house, in the house that he built with his wife, for his wife. I guess the good memories outweighed the bad in his mind. That's probably why nothing has changed in that house since they moved in. Judd refuses to change a thing, although the house needs some major upgrades.
When we graduated from high school, Nini was planning on going to art school while I planned on enlisting in the Marines. Nini wasn't too keen on my plans, but she never stopped me. Every time I'd bring up the future, she'd brush it off. I thought she was just stressed, trying to handle her mother's death and make it through senior year. I thought we were fine, but apparently we were anything but.
The night after graduation, after nearly three years of dating, I sat Nini down and proposed to her. She had been my best friend, the love of my life. Ever since I first talked to her, I knew that she was the one.
It took us a long time to express our true feelings for each other, and we didn't end up dating until sophomore year, a few months before Mrs. Kim died. We had plans, talked about a future together, but when I told her that I was enlisting, she seemed to shut down, start pulling away from me, but she never stopped me. I never knew that she would reject my proposal over it.
Jennie Kim completely broke my heart. We were head over heels for each other, completely in love, but she couldn't live with the fact that I was going into the Marines. I think it had a lot to do with her father, how he was nearly killed in war when she was just a kid. She was scared, and I could understand that, but it still crushed me to see her throw us away without giving us a fighting chance. Even when I came around and told her that I wouldn't go, she still wouldn't take me back, adamant that I'd end up resenting her for holding me back, and we'd never work out. And with that I left, broken-hearted and ready to head into battle.
The sound of the back door creaking open brings me out of my bad memories, and I look over my shoulder to see Barbara carrying a tray of glasses filled with sweet tea, the ice clacking against the sides of the cups with each step she takes. She sets them down at the table on the patio, straightening out her dress before grabbing two glasses and walking over to me and Nini.
"Here you go, kids." she says, handing us each a glass.
"Thank you ma'am." I say, taking a sip.
"Is he still on the phone?" she asks, while scowling in disapproval.
From what I've gathered, her son must be a doctor of some sorts, and I can only imagine how busy and demanding the profession must be. But that still doesn't seem to curb my irritation. All I want to do is get this over with, and go home.
"That boy." she mutters, shaking her head and marching over to him, clearly going over to interrupt his phone call.
Nini lets out a huffed, and an unamused laugh. "That woman could take over a small village if she really tried hard enough. She just doesn't give up."
I can't help but crack a smile. I've only known Barbara for a half an hour and I already know how much power and determination is packed into her petite frame.
"Beware..." Nini warns. "She doesn't bite, but she sure does have one hell of a bark."
We both watch as Barbara marches over to Taehyung, telling him to wrap up his call. Taehyung throws her an annoyed, and warning look, while covering the receiver with his hand to block out his mother to whoever is on the other end of the line, but she persists.
"So, you're finally taking up photography as more than just a hobby?" Nini asks.
"Sort of. It's still nothing too serious. Bam sort of pushed me into it since..." I trail off, not wanting to bring up the accident. I'm not sure if she already knows, but I'm sure as hell am not going to bring it up. Call me pathetic, but I don't want to confirm that the fears she had about me going into the Marines came true. "Since I came back." I finish.
She nods solemnly. "Good. You were always great at it." she says genuinely.
Now it's my turn to nod, and we both simultaneously cast our eyes back to her fiancée and his mother. Taehyung is hanging up his phone, while shoving it back into his pocket in aggravation as Barbara tugs him back over to us by the sleeve of his suit jacket.
"Got him!" she announces, smiling in triumph as Taehyung scowls.
