parents | na jaemin

ELEVEN

"how've you been jaemin?"

jaemin let out a small smile as he walked into the cozy office. he took a seat on the couch, setting his backpack down against the little coffee table.

"all good, thanks for asking taeil," jaemin smiled.

"that's good to hear," taeil nodded in satisfaction, sitting across from jaemin. "how is everything going with ahyoung and her family?"

"better," jaemin answered honestly. "we see each other a lot, and i think it's been getting better. we're even going on vacation together next week. i think...maybe i'm, well, not friends with her, but, well..."

"acquaintances with neutral feelings?" taeil suggested, causing jaemin to nod. "vacation sounds nice, and that's good progress from before," he said. "do you still feel angry?"

"i think it's slowly going away," jaemin said cautiously. "like before, i stopped bullying her because it made life easier for me, but now i actually don't want to."

"that's really good jaemin," taeil said encouragingly. "i'm really happy for you, truly. and i think, even if your parents didn't know what was going on, they can tell you're growing and changing. your mom seems less worried for you when she books your appointments."

"yeah, i think home life has gotten easier," jaemin continued. "to be honest, i can't exactly pinpoint all of the changes, but i can feel it. and i think i'm happy about it. even if it does remind me of..." he trailed off, his voice not wanting to continue.

"it's okay, you don't have to say it if you don't want to," taeil said softly, standing up to rub the younger's shoulder. "but what i can say is, i know she would be proud of you and how much you're growing. she's happy for you jaemin. and so, so proud."

~

"incheon airport, please."

the fated day, in which the min and na families would be taking their vacation to taiwan, had finally arrived. upon the news of this endeavor, ahyoung was obviously disturbed (and quite frankly, upset), but her negative feelings had begun to subside as the days went on. while there was definitely a lot of questioning, especially ahyoung trying to gaslight her dad into thinking he'd be uncomfortable, the trip had arrived, and ahyoung had no idea what to expect.

now, she was sitting in an uber with her parents and younger sister, all squished together with their backpacks and a couple carry-on suitcases that didn't fit in the trunk. it was times like this where ahyoung missed her older sister, who had decided to go on exchange and study abroad in japan for the summer. hayoung always thought of fun things to do, random conversations to have, and always made boring endeavors interesting. even if ahyoung and hayoung did fight a lot as kids, they had grown up a lot since then, and ahyoung had started to miss her older sister. especially now, knowing that the only people she'd be able to talk to for a week were her parents, jiyoung, mr. and mrs. na, and jaemin.

to think, i'm missing a whole week of work, talking about random shit with jaehyun, and hanging out with jeno for this...

"ahyoung," mrs. min turned to face her daughter. "remember this is a family vacation, so please include jiyoung in at least a few of the things that you plan on doing with jaemin."

"you assuming i'm making plans with jaemin is hilarious to me," ahyoung snorted.

"well, he's the only other person your age on this trip, and you guys seem to be getting along fairly well now, so yes, i do assume that," her mom retorted. "who knows, the two of you could secretly be dating behind my ba--"

"ew mom no!"

a short fifteen to twenty minutes later -- with some squabbling in between -- the min family arrived at the airport. after grabbing a couple of luggage carts, they headed inside, ahyoung struggling to maneuver the cart alongside her dad.