Mochi

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

My father looks at me tenderly, completely oblivious to his fiance's approach. Appa's mother trails only a step or so behind her, and with a start, I realize that this is the first time I've ever seen Grandma smile.

Warning bells go off in my head. If that woman is smiling, it probably isn't a good thing.

Seeing the look on my face, appa turns around and spots his soon to be wife and mother.

"Mother, " he greets curtiously, "I see you've met my fiance."

The elderly woman smiles, and as I gaze at her split face, and her wickedly white teeth, I am somehow reminded of a predator.

"Oh yes dear, " she replies haughtily. "It's about time you finally settled down with a nice Korean girl. You need to hurry up and tie the knot so she can produce an heir for you. Neither of you are getting any younger."

Apps scowls, and I can feel tears beginning to well up from within my eyes.

"I already have an heir, " he refutes, far more politely than I would have. "Olivia will always remain my heir, my firstborn, no matter how many other children I have."

His mother's face hardens, and I prepare myself for her harsh words. But my father quickly notices, same as I, that his new fiance is scowling, clearly displeased by such news.

"Does that bother you?" He asks, voice hard and unforgiving. "If it does, feel free to break the engagement right now."

The woman gasps, feigning tears at my father's harsh words.

"I'm hurt that you could think so lowly of me!" She exclaims, dabbing daintily at her eyes with an expensive looking handkerchief.

Appa gives her a dubious look, and she begins to lose hold of her own act, anger clearly evident in her stance and in her eyes.

"Well?" Appa speaks. "This is your last chance to back out. No child that you ever have will be heir to my company, if we even have any children. To be honest I'm not really looking to become a new father again, so if you were hoping to birth an heir, you might want to look elsewhere."

She frowns, tears immediately forgotten as her anger grows.

"How rude!" She exclaims. "Why didn't you mention such a thing before?"

My father chuckles, not in the least bothered by her statement.

Enraged, the woman yanks the ring off of her finger, and throws it at my still chuckling father. Stomping off, she continues to mumble beneath her breath about appa's nerve, and I watch with relief as Grandma follows her after shooting my father a withering glare.

 Appa smiles fondly at me, and then excuses himself. And as he heads to the refreshment table with more of a spring in his step than I've seen in a long while, Jimin's arms wrap around me from behind.

"How are you holding up?" He asks softly.

"I don't know, " I reply. "I don't think it's really sunk in yet. Everything is going to change now, isn't it?"

I turn to face him apprehensively.

"What if you get tired of me? What if it doesnt work out between us? I can't lose you…"

He reaches out, and cups my face with tentative fingers and a confident smile.

"You won't, " he assures ms softly. "You have absolutely nothing to worry about. You'll see."

"What?" I laugh. "Are you gonna tell me something super cheesy, like, you can already see us married and with three kids or something?"

"I was thinking two, but I might could get behind a third. Or a fourth…"

He smiles, and I feel like I could fly away at any moment.

"Do you think Seokjin will mind if I steal you away for the rest of the party?" Jimin purrs.

I shiver in excitement, and nod my head.

"Yes, but he'll get over it."

His smile grows even wider as he grabs my hand, and drags me away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Have you seen Olivia at all?"

Namjoon and Seokjin stand on the balcony overlooking the ballroom, each searching for Anna.

"She's probably run off with Jimin already, " Jin chuckles softly. 

"Probably, " Namjoon frowns. "But the whole plan was ditched. I was supposed to get to put on a show tonight, be the bad guy, the Disney villain."

"Aish, " Jin replies tersely, "I know you were excited, but everything worked out for Olivia, and that's ehat's most important."

Seokjin, the first to give up the search, turns around and regards Namjoon with a small smile.

"I wonder what their happily ever after will look like, " he sighs. 

"I know you've heard just as many rumors about Park Jimin as I have. Honestly, I'm not sure he's the kind of guy for happily ever after."

"For her he is."

Seokjin's reply drifts into the air around them, and both men fall silent for a moment.

"You'll see, " Jin smiles confidently, "I'll bet you five thousand dollars that they get married right out of college."

"Within the year?"

"Within the month, " Jin asserts, smiling crookedly.

"You're on!" Namjoon exclaims. "There's no way they'll last that long."

"What do you think they're doing anyway?"

"Come on Jin!" Namjoon exclaims exasperatedly. "He's only the most notorious playboy in school. Even you can't have that hard of a time imagining what they're doing!"

"Hey!" Jin exclaims, "you never know!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My ears just keep ringing, and I wince in irritation. I even try shielding my ears, thinking that perhaps the restaurant's ambient noise is causing it, but to no relief.

"What's wrong Jagi? You don't like it?"

Jimin sits across from me, eying me with concern. Between us, the table is laden with a variety of pork, beef, and chicken all grilled to perfection, in my opinion.

"No the food is great, my ears just keep ringing is all."

"Maybe someone is talking about you, " he teases, finding his smile once more.

"Probably."

He presses a thumb to my cheek.

"Hey, turn that frown upside down, " he tells me, pinching at the skin of my cheek.

"What am I, five? Are you my grandma?"

But I laugh nonetheless.

"No, " he replies, smile growing even brighter as he continues, "I'm your boyfriend, am I not allowed to find my girlfriend adorable?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because."

I squirm in my seat, blushing an embarrassing shade of scarlett as Jimin continues to tease me.

"That's not really an answer." He laughs.

All of my questions, my doubts, and my insecurities melt away when Jimin looks at me like that, with eyes so tender that it makes my heart ache.

I stop thinking about the past, or fretting about the future. I never thought I'd see the day when I could finally call Jimin my own, but it did. I don't know what tomorrow holds, or even the day after that. I can't say with certainty that everything will work out perfectly, or that Jimin and I will be together forever.

But we're together now, and I am more than content to live in the moment.