Salmon Bagel and a Hot Chocolate

33 - On the Topic of Love

Minjeong had spent the entire afternoon and evening talking to both Irene and Seulgi, the pair getting to know her a little more as they slowly got more and more comfortable with each other. 

It was a great meeting overall, Karina constantly reassuring Minjeong that things were going great and that her mother really liked her. Irene was smiley the entire time, which Minjeong learned was not something that happened with people she didn't like. 

"Jimin, go up and get the photo albums from my room." 

"What? No!" Karina gasped. "No, I am not showing her those pictures." 

"Your baby pictures, sweetheart," Irene laughed. "Those were cute." 

"I'm still cute, thank you very much." Karina huffed and stood up, reluctantly letting go of Minjeong's hand before excusing herself to go upstairs. 

"While she's gone," Seulgi got up and pulled out a couple more albums from the TV console, giving Minjeong a smile. "I've got the good stuff in here." 

"Oh, she's gonna start crying." Irene laughed. 

"She looks beautiful, I don't know what her problem is." Seulgi shook her head while Minjeong looked at them in confusion. 

"Her teenage pictures," Irene explained. "She absolutely hates how she used to dress and pose, but she looks absolutely adorable in them." 

"Well, now I have to see." Minjeong muttered, watching as Seulgi opened the album up, landing on the first picture of Karina with who Minjeong assumed was her sister.

"Cute, right?" Seulgi raised her eyebrows. 

"Adorable," Minjeong nodded, cooing at how small Karina used to be. "Look at her cheeks!" 

"Yeah, I wish they'd come back," Seulgi hummed. "I used to pull them all the time. So soft." 

"I don't see why she hates these pictures," Minjeong said as she looked through the album with a small smile. "But then again, I think most of us don't really like our teenage phases." 

"Funny enough, she hasn't changed," Irene told. "She never really went through phases. A lot of what she did ended up sticking with her until now." 

"Ah, I see," Minjeong nodded softly. "Secure identity." 

"I guess so." Irene muttered, watching Minjeong closely. 

"What are you doing?!" Karina's voice sounded as she ran down the stairs, a look of horror spread across her face when she saw what Minjeong was looking at. "Oh my God... no..." 

"I really expected worse," Minjeong laughed. "This is nothing!"

"This is my personal hell," Karina groaned, falling back onto the couch with her arms around Minjeong. "Please erase your memory or something." 

"Jimin, come on!" Seulgi playfully kicked the younger one's leg. "She loves you enough to find this cute, not embarrassing." 

Minjeong could've sworn her heart stopped beating at the mention of love. She was fully ready to watch Karina run out and disappear or have her straight up ask her about it, but none of that happened as Karina brushed over it like it was just another sentence. 

Maybe she didn't hear it? 

"Okay, but I find it embarrassing," Karina pouted. "My baby pictures are so much cuter, why don't we look at that instead?" 

"Open the album up then." Irene chuckled, her eyes landing on Minjeong. 

There it was again, those looks that Irene kept giving her that she was unable to comprehend. They weren't bad looks, but she couldn't tell if it was something good either. Irene had been watching her the entire time.