Chocolates and Jellies

Chapter 41. Cousin

JENNIE

"Jen, we're here."

It's already daylight when we arrived at my grandparent's house. It is a 3-storey mansion situated on the outskirts of the city.

"Will you gonna be okay inside? I can go with you if you want." Jackson said while looking at me worriedly.

"No, it's okay Jackson. I can handle it. Besides, It won't take long."

Right. I've already thinking this for too long since he visited me at the hospital. And I want this to end. We may be related by blood, but he can't force me to marry someone whom I didn't love. Jackson and I have similar opinion with this one and I have Lisa now. I have to fight my feelings that I have for her.

Jackson nodded as I went outside his car. The place were surrounded by many guards and noticed my presence as I walked closely towards the main gate.

"Is Mr. Daniel Kim around? I want to talk to him." I said to the man who stood behind the gate. I think he's more of a security guy based on his outfit. He's wearing a white longsleeve and a pair of jeans. He was looking at me seriously through his glasses.

"What do you want from him?"

I inhaled deeply. I don't like to be entitled by this but I want to talk my grandfather right away. I opened my bag and picked my ID and presented it to him. "I'm Jennie Kim, the granddaughter of Mr. Daniel Kim. I want to talk to him."

His eyes widened as he heard me. He then smiled at me with sarcasm. "Oh well, I didn't know that my cou-"

What does he mean by that?

"Hanbin!"

The man in front of me was so startled hearing a woman's voice coming from the house. I looked where it came from and I saw an old woman standing at the door wearing an expensive dress. She looked at me seriously from head to toe that made me nervous. I bit my lips and stand firmly as she slowly went to our place.

"I'm so sorry Halmeoni. I didn't know that your beloved granddaughter will be here today." The man named Hanbin chuckled at the old woman without looking at him.

"Please prepare something inside Hanbin. Leave us here." The old woman said while looking at me. Hanbin just nodded and went inside. As the time went by, I could see the similarities of her eyes from my mother.

"Daniel went outside. He'll be back at lunchtime. So please, stay for a while." The old woman's eyes soften from being so serious into something warm and caring. I didn't expect that she'll be turning into this one.

"Can I excuse myself for a while?" I asked at her which she quickly approved. I have to tell Jackson about this. Even though I'm so scared about what might happened, I have this feeling that they won't do anything to me.

I picked my phone and called Jackson. He answered it right away. "Jen, have you talked to them already?"

"No. Grandpa is not here and I have to stay here for a while."

"What do you mean?" Jackson asked. I know he's scared what might happened to me here.

"You don't have to worry about me. Okay? You don't have to wait for me."

I could hear Jackson's sigh on the other end. "Alright. But you have to call me if something happened, okay?"

"Okay, I promise. Trust me on this."

"Okay Jen, see you." Jackson ended the call as I turned around and saw grandma stood on the front porch.

"Are you done?" She asked. I nodded.

"Okay, we shall go inside. Hanbin prepared some coffee for us." She smiled warmly. I thought of her to be something so strict but she's the total opposite. She was about to go inside when I asked.

"Can I ask? Who is the man from earlier?"

She faced my way and smiled. "Oh, you're talking about Hanbin?"

"Yes."

"He's Kim Hanbin. He is your cousin."

"Cousin?" I was so confused right now. "I thought my mom was the only daughter you had?"

She smiled sadly at me. I know there's a lot of things that I have to know. She walked towards my place and held my cheeks with both of her hands. "Let's get inside while waiting for you grandpa. You have to know everything."

I followed grandma as she walked inside the mansion. I didn't expect that this mansion would be so spacious and fancy. There were different paintings that were so expensive. But what caught my attention was a painting of a family. It was the same picture Jackson showed me at the hospital that day. It was located at the center of the living room.

Grandma ordered me to sit on one of the couch and she sat on the other adjacent to mine. Hanbin went towards us handling two cups of coffee. His stares were so intense that made me uncomforfortable.

"Stop it now Hanbin. You made her uncomfortable." Grandma warned him that made him laughed so hard.

"I'm so sorry Grandma. It's just that I can't help but laughed at her expression. She's so cute." He said as he sat beside grandma. I could tell that they're close with each other. But I'm so confused as to what this Hanbin talking about earlier. I didn't noticed that I was staring at him for a while that made him coughed to catch my attention.

Hanbin stood and moved towards me. "By the way, I didn't formally introduced myself. I'm Kim Hanbin, your cousin." He smiled.

"I'm J-Jennie K-Kim." I stuttered replying him as I accepted his right hand. He chuckled as he shook our hands.

"I know. And you're the heiress grandpa chose. How lucky." His tone changed with his last statement. Grandma interrupted that made the both of us dropped our hands.

"Anyway, thank you for coming here Jennie." Grandma smiled at me while sipping her coffee.

"Thank you also Grandma. But I didn't want to stay here for too long. I just want to talk to Grandpa. I know the two of you knew why I am here." I said while slowly thinking what I needed to say to them. I missed Lisa already.

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