Amore||Jake Shim

seven

"so ava," mrs. shim began, "tell me about nyc. i want to hear all about it."

ava smiled and began storytelling about her experience in nyc from start to finish, while mrs. shim and rosie listened and asked questions here and there.

the first time ava met mrs. shim, ava immediately felt connected. ava would always open up to mrs. shim whenever she needed to get something off her chest.

mrs. shim never failed to make ava feel welcomed and loved. i guess it was safe to say that mrs. shim filled in that motherly love ava has lived without ever since she was three.

"well i'm glad to hear that you had a blast in new york," mrs. shim smiled.

"i-"

"mommy?" a voice called out, cutting ava off.

rosie, mrs. shim, and ava all turned around and found a sleepy brooklyn cutely holding onto her baby blanket.

"hi baby," mrs. shim chuckled, walking over to pick her up.

"who is that?" brooklyn questioned, pointing at ava.

ava smiled, "hi brooklyn. i'm ava."

"ava?"

"that's right," ava nodded with a smile.

"are you jakey's friend?"

ava hesitated to answer the question, not knowing where she stood in jake's life herself.

"that's also right," a voice responded, grabbing everyone's attention.

"JAKEYY!" brooklyn exclaimed, jumping out of her mom's embrace to run to jake.

"hi munchkin," jake chuckled, picking her up.

"you're already awake? were we talking too loud?" mrs. shim asked.

"no you weren't."

"do you want some food? i'll get you food," mrs. shim said, grabbing a plate to put food on it.

"no no mom. i'm okay. thank you," jake smiled.

"but i haven't seen you eat anything for-"

jake cut rosie off, "rosie- i'm not hungry. don't worry."

"i- okay," she sighed.

"well would you look at that? miss brooklyn fell asleep," mrs. shim smiled.

ava watched as mrs. shim took brooklyn out of jake's arms and began swaying back and forth.

"i'll head upstairs and put her to sleep," mrs. shim stated.

once mrs. shim headed out of the kitchen, ava stood up and grabbed the dirty plates and brought them to the sink to wash.

"i'll do them," jake offered, stepping next to ava.

"i've already begun washing them though. it's okay," ava replied.

jake sighed and put his hands under the water, "oops. and my hands are already wet."

he exchanged a playful look with ava, making ava chuckle out of misbelief.

"why don't the both of you wash the dishes together?" rosie suggested, pushing herself in between jake and ava.

"i- yes ma'am," ava chuckled.

as the two washed the dishes together in silence, jake finally spoke up.

"you know ava .. after 'the text' .. i went to new york."

ava froze at jake's words and looked at him, seeing that his attention did not tear away from the plate he had been continuously scrubbing.

"i went to new york and saw you. you were leaving a dance studio and i've .. i've never seen you look so happy in my life," jake sighed.

"you were smiling brighter than ever with your friends and it was quite a sight," jake chuckled, "and that's when i knew-"

"i had to let you go."