Broken

76

Summer vacation, freedom for some, torture for others, dreadful for Jihyo and Dahyun. They were going to Korea to spend a week and a half there, and it was not the most excited they had been about it. Sure, everyone knew they got engaged, and their parents were ecstatic, their sisters had very different reactions, though. Nayeon was (still) milking it for everything it had, and Jihyo was adamant on not spilling any of the details, whilst Tzuyu had been very happy, but not, at all, interested in any of the gossip, she just heard what her sister told and was happy with it.

The problem was, they were going back with all their friends for this vacation, and they knew all of the girls had been holding out on pressuring them to spill everything in order to do that in person. That, and Jeongyeon and Sana had become part of their friend group, and were joining them on Jeju for a few days during their vacation, and Jihyo was so not enthusiastic about that. She didn't hate them and whatnot, but she didn't want her best friends throwing dirty jokes about her engagement with her soulmates around.

Although, all these worries were for another time, right now, she had two weeks worth of schoolwork to get up to date and a few more extra hours at her jobs to work through, she wasn't exactly free for the time they were to spend back home, and she couldn't just up and go without preparations...... Okay, she could afford to not get paid for those days, her parents would gladly send her money if she asked them, but they already helped her with the engagement, paying for the dinner and hotel, she didn't want to burden them that much. And the school work, well, that had to be done anyways, and if all nighters were needed, that's what she was going to do.

"You are not trying to kill yourself, are you?" Chris asks when he gets back from the market, finding Jihyo drowning on books and papers.

"Not at all, I'm just, you know, getting my work done?" She bites back, not really thinking much about it.

"Ouch! But seriously, when did you sleep last?" He feigns offence, but can't help but being worried.

"I don't remember. And not so important right now. I'm almost done with this music history dissertation anyways."

"We have a dissertation for music history?" Chris is honestly concerned.

"I'm very much worried about you, are you sure you can pull this off and graduate at some point?" Jihyo stops a little and sends a worried look.

"Look, I'm going to pull through, right now we are worrying about you."

"And I'm very thankful for that. But I have to finish this before we go, and there is no other way around it but actually doing it." She smiles warmly. "Don't fret too much, I'll survive."

"I'll try not to. Just promise me you will get to relax when you go home with Hyun." He pleads. "She is trying to be strong and not show it, but we all know she is worried about you too."

"I know, and I love her for it. Don't worry, we'll rest."

"Good. Now, excuse me while I go to my room and have a mental breakdown because I just found out about a dissertation I didn't know existed."

"Have fun." Jihyo chuckles as the young man goes into his room.

She does hear some desperate screaming and a few books being dropped, a muted bang and a pained screech. Deciding to tune out, Jihyo proceeds with her work, it was the last of her papers and she intended to have a nice sleep before they depart the following evening. Dahyun gets home a few hours later, carrying takeout and the older woman couldn't be more thankful, she forgot about her body needs and felt how empty her stomach had been when it started complaining with the smell of the thai food on those bags.

The next day is spent with Jihyo sleeping most of the morning away, Dahyun having sneaked out to have breakfast and got back to bed right away to sleep a bit more. They spend the afternoon finishing packing and leave for the airport around five, they were meeting Nayeon and Momo in Vancouver, so they could fly together to Seoul, which was promising to be a long flight, as they hadn't met since the engagement, and Jihyo had managed to dodge the subject so far. That meant Nayeon was on a bloodhunt for each and every detail of what happened, and one can't really run away inside a plane.

Landing back home, Jihyo and Dahyun had lost their souls, Momo was embarrassed for everyone involved or not, but tried to help the younger couple where she could, and Nayeon was ecstatic with everything she got out of her little girls. Sure, she had been worried about the break up, but she was very happy to know that they got over it and even gotten engaged after that. Jihyo was her baby, to love and care and squeeze, and would always be, no matter what anyone else said.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Momo asks her girlfriend, who was spacing out while they were waiting for their luggage.

"I was just thinking about our baby girl."

"Yeonnie, I love you, and you know I love Jihyo as well, but she is a grown woman. We shouldn't keep calling her our baby girl. What will our children think?"

"First, she will never not be my baby to love and care and squeeze. Second, our children are still in the distant future, and will have to learn how to cope with me babying their aunt for as long as I live."

"I give up with you." Momo huffs in defeat. "Look, the bags are coming!"

They make quick work of their luggage, hauling their bags into the trolleys and pushing past another crowd. The eldest couldn't help herself and asked one of the security guards what had brought so many people to the airport, it was a girl group that was supposed to be arriving anytime now. Some photographers started taking their pictures, but looked stunned when they realised the group were not the girls they were waiting for, which got them intrigued but none dwelled on it for long, papa Im had found them and rushed everyone to the car, he was stressed with so many people at the airport.

Dinner was to be at the Im household, so papa Im dropped Momo and Dahyun off first, so they could greet and spend some time with their families before everyone gathered that evening. That, and it wasn't even lunch time yet, they could get some relaxing time as well, and he knew his girls fully intended on sleeping as soon as they could. Mr Im explained that Mina, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu were arriving on a later flight, and mrs Myoui would pick them up, something about Tzuyu having gotten into an early internship project and having to push their flight to the last minute possible.

All in all, they had a good lunch, mama Im made sure to cook her girls' favorites, Jihyo told them about the engagement (she kept the details to herself this time around), Nayeon was questioned about when she was planning on proposing to Momo, who, in turn, said she had something up her sleeve, but they should get to Jeju first. The kids excused themselves and headed to their own rooms, Nayeon knew Jihyo had been pushing it for the last few weeks, Dahyun made sure to keep Momo and her up to date, and was glad that her baby sister was taking some time off.