The Christmas Party

Her Brother's Blessing

"So what's going on with all of this?" Taehyung asked, waving his hand all around me in a vague gesture which I supposed was an attempt to capture the essence of my being.

I sat across from Taehyung over our brunch and coffee at a small downtown café, the snow falling gently in lilting patterns from the grey sky. Jennie and I hadn't explicitly discussed what we would tell everyone or how: in fact, the conversation never crossed our minds yesterday as we sat together cuddled up on the couch and enjoyed the simplicity of each other's company, so when Taehyung texted me on Saturday evening after I'd dropped Taehyung off at home and asked to go to brunch, I texted her asking what I should tell her brother.

She responded simply, blunt and unhelpful as ever: Tell him whatever you want.

When I demanded to know what she told him, what she had been telling him all along, she told me to talk to her brother unencumbered by any expectations or ideas I may have had.

"What's going on with what? My outfit? I like this shirt." I said, playing dumb until Taehyung clarified exactly what he meant. I wouldn't walk headlong into another Kim trap.

"Nice try. What is going on with you and my sister?"

"What do you mean?"

"Mhm. Mhm." Taehyung hummed, nodding his head, exasperated. "You know exactly what I mean. Going on a date, cuddling on the couch the other night, Jennie not coming home Friday night and staying at your apartment all day Saturday. What happened Friday night? Did you sleep with my sister?"

"First of all it wasn't a date."

"Mhm," Taehyung hummed, his face arranged in such a way that told me he wasn't buying anything I said.

"Second of all you lay your head on my shoulder all the time!"

"And yet, Jennie does not. Never. Not with anyone. Not even with that scumbag Jongin. Why did she do that with you? What's going on?"

"Third of all, I did not have sex with your sister, so calm down."

Taehyung narrowed his eyes.

"Interesting, I like that you casually avoided my question about what happened on Friday night."

"What did she tell you."

"Nothing."

"Really? Jennie said nothing?" I asked.

"She said to talk to you."

I chewed on the side of my lip contemplating how I would play my cards.

"No," I said much too quickly.

"Mhm." Taehyung hummed again. "Okay so you like my sister."

"I never said-"

"What are your intentions with her?" Taehyung asked, crossing his arms across his chest. I felt like I was on the other side of the interrogation table.

"My intentions?"

Taehyung shook his head, polished off his drink and took a deep breath. "I don't know what's going on between you two since you won't tell me anything." I opened my mouth to speak, but Taehyung put his hand up. "Just let me say this before our conversation goes any further, because I know something happened Friday." I closed my mouth and listened to Taehyung's monologue.

"I don't know what you're doing, but I've never seen my sister this carefree and happy since our parents passed away. Like, she's actually happy. She's actually enjoying her life and working much less and is much, much less stressed out. All of this seems to correspond to when you and her made your little deal and began hanging out quite literally daily. I know you've been trying to befriend her for three years and you've been so patient with her for so long and it seems like your patience has finally paid off.