WHEREVER /JJK

Chapter 9 - Jia's Story

Jia's photoshoot was canceled due to the rains. Although it wasn't pouring that heavily, they had to pack up since the shoot was supposedly outdoors. Jia chose this opportunity to call her family and told them she was taking them out for pizza. She met them at their favorite pizza place and settled comfortably for bonding with her family.

They ordered the Shrimp and Quattro Formaggio pizzas, some fried chicken, and Pasta Arrabiata. She sighed happily. It was great to see her parents and sister happy, eating together as a family. They have truly come a long way from the time when things were not as pleasant, money was hard to come by and her dad had to take on extra jobs just to make ends meet. Through all of those difficult times, her dad never complained.

2010

It was Christmas season and their father took them to the mall to pick out their Christmas gifts. Without looking around, Jia already knew what she wanted. It was a beautiful Fossil watch, the kind with a round face and thin leather strap. But she knew it was too costly for her dad, and he had to buy gifts for her mom and her sister too.

Still, she couldn't resist heading to the display and took a look at the watch she liked so much. How wonderful it would be if she had enough money to buy the things she liked, and give gifts to her parents and sister without having to worry about the days to come. Although her father had a laundry business, there wasn't enough money to spare for little pleasures. The business barely brought in enough for their daily needs.

"You like that watch, princess?"

"No appa. It's nice but too expensive."

"What do you want for Christmas then?"

"Anything you give me will be nice I'm sure."

"Ah, my princess is such a considerate daughter."

She forgot about the watch and moved on to look at other things. On Christmas day, the family opened their gifts after having dinner. Jia's heart raced when she saw the Fossil box and looked at her dad, scared to open the box.

"Go ahead, princess. Open it."

"Appa, this is too expensive. Can we take it back?"

"No, we can't. Open it first Jia. Enjoy it, you worked hard, you deserve this."

Jia opened the box and true enough, it was the watch she admired. She hugged her father tightly, fighting back the tears.

"I promise you appa, I will study even harder. I will work hard and take care of you and eomma. Just wait."

That night, she overheard her mother scolding her father for spending too much on gifts.

"Taking out another loan just for gifts? Was that really wise, yeobo? We have so many unpaid debts as it is."

"It's ok, Jia and San-ha need encouragement, yeobo. Let's reward them for their efforts. Other young people are not working as hard. Our daughters will succeed in their careers one day, you'll see."

"But this will mean you getting more odd jobs, you'll have to work harder. Let me work yeobo. I want to help you."

"No. You help out with the laundry business, that's enough. We will manage. God is always good to us, have faith."

It was at that moment that Jia made plans. She vowed to get a college scholarship at a good university, to ease her parents' worries over her education. She would work hard to give her parents a better life, pay off all their debts. She also planned to shoulder her sister's schooling. She wanted to buy a nice house, to let her parents rest from hard work, and buy them a car they could use whenever they needed to go elsewhere.

She wasn't aspiring to be rich. All she wanted was a comfortable life for her family. But she knew she needed to focus, and set her priorities. 

Since then, she worked hard to earn a scholarship. One of the top electronics companies in South Korea awarded her a scholarship as their CSR project and allowed her to choose a college in the US. She chose New York University as an investment for her career in digital media.

She was thankful for what she has become. Each night, she thanked the Lord for being good to her. She graduated with honors, she now earns more than enough for her family. But she lost someone dear to her. Her heart ached, she missed Jeon so much.

---

"Unnie, why do you look sad?" Her sister San-ha was looking at her.

"No I'm not. Keep eating San-ha, cold pizza won't taste good."

"Are you ok, Jia?" Her mother asked, looking worried.

"I'm ok eomma. I'm happy we had a chance to eat out. We don't do this a lot."

"You've been losing weight, baby. You work too hard. You can turn down some of the offers you've been getting. We're ok now. The money you've been sending us remains unspent in the bank."

"Eomma, I gave that for you and appa. Take a vacation somewhere, or buy something nice for yourselves."

"No. We're ok, Jia. That money is there for whenever any of us needs it. Appa has stopped working odd jobs after you paid off the loans. But we won't give up the laundry business. Let me and appa continue to work, Jia. It's not good for us to be idle."

She was pleased with how well her family looked. They were all healthy, her parents didn't need to work that hard anymore. Jia needed to keep assuring herself that losing Jeon was worth it if it meant her family would continue living comfortably.

---

Jeon and Jin were having drinks after the shoot got packed up. Of all his friends in the group, Jeon was closest to Jin. He was older but always treated Jeon as an equal. Jin never took advantage of his being older when they were back in school. He was and still is, the wackiest in the group, but also the wisest.

Seeing Jia these past few days unsettled Jeon. He thought being with Hei-Won had already healed him from getting affected by Jia, but all it took was a few meetings with her and the old pain was back again. He needed to get someone else's perspective because he also had Hei-Won to think about.

"Jin-hyung, help me out. I really don't know what to do about Jia."

"Ah Kookie, are you still angry with her?"

"I can't help feeling angry."

"Then tell her why you're angry."

"I don't know if I'll stop feeling this way after telling her that."

"Maybe not, but getting it off your chest will help ease it. Jia is not a bad person, Jungkookie. She prioritized her career because of her family. She's not well-off like you are. Look at things from her point of view."

"I understand that, why do you think I stuck by her all these years? It's just that she did something that made me feel like I was played with."

"Giver her a chance to explain. But Kookie,  your friendship isn't actually your main problem."

"What do you mean?"

"Your feelings for Jia. I can tell that you still like her, that's why you're angry. That's a problem for you and Hei-Won. Worry about why you still have feelings for her, because Hei-Won has been good to you."