Our Child

Chapter four

Jennie barely rested on Jisoo's weekends. It was a time for extra shifts and accounting. She hated maths. Rosie had taken Saturday off to go meet someone, and today she could not be happier. She had been mumbling song lyrics the whole morning. As the afternoon lull set in, with the two of them drying dishes, Jennie began to tease.

"Singing your Sunday hims, church girl?"

Rosie scoffed, "Is it a crime to be in a good mood?"

Even her retorts sounded vaguely complimentary. Jennie, after all these years, knew what that meant. It always tracked back to some sort of woman.

"What's her name?" Jennie asked.

The shop owner stalled, looking up from her dishes, "I-"

"Save it blondie," Jennie smiled, "Your eyes widened, back's gone stiff and your face is bright red."

Rosie only continued to malfunction, leaving Jennie to her thoughts. Fondly, Jennie wondered if Annie would act like Rosie when she gets her first crush. Or maybe she would throw a giant tantrum just like her mother. Or maybe, she would simply blush and giggle.

Like she did.

"Hey, you still there Jennie?" Rosie soothed, rubbing Jennie's arm.

"Yeah- yes, yes... sorry," Jennie blinked.

A beat of silence followed. Rosie simply waited for her friend to say more. Sadly, Jennie offered a small smile of compensation. They both know what she was thinking about. Tensely, the two went back to work like normal.

Eventually, Rosie broke, "You spoke to her, didn't you?"

Jennie thought over her words before speaking, "Annie wanted us to spend some time together, as a family."

"And you agreed?"

"You know I'm soft..." Jennie said, quite defeated.

"Soft for who?"

The mother did not answer, not deeming the question civil.

Rosie found a new one, "Were you... happy with them?"

"All of us together?"

"Yeah."

To be truthful, Jennie had not given that much thought. Her mind had been racing with a million different worries from the week, she almost forgot to unpack the most important part. She remembered of how nervous she had been at the start, how she had begun to relax, to laugh.

I should have gone to dinner.

Blinking again, Jennie answered, "I suppose I was."

"... Do you forgive her?"

"No."

That question was almost too easy. It reminded her of exactly why dinner was off the menu. No matter how much she loved Annie, how pretty a picture it was when they were all smiling together like that, Jisoo still chose to leave. Not the other way around.

"You didn't answer my question, Rosie." Jennie sighed, changing the conversation, "Who's the new girl?"

Rosie groaned, "You're not going to like it."

The whine in Rosie's voice almost instantly improved the mother's mood.

Jennie rolled her eyes, only half joking, "Unless it's my ex wife, you're free to gallivant with whoever you want."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Jennie verified, becoming much more amused.

"You won't be mad?"