**Mentions of abortion and there will be an image of an ultrasound shown in this chapter

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Chaeyoung looked up when she heard an airy laugh from Jennie. “You are kidding me right?”

Seeing how Chaeyoung furrowed her eyebrows and looked at her, Jennie realised she was serious. The smile that was originally there dropped. “What the Chaeyoung? In case you don’t remember, we are not together. What’s the point of keeping the baby?”

“You don’t understand Jennie! You weren’t there when the baby’s heartbeat was heard just now. You weren’t the one who saw the small bean that is our baby! It’s an actual human being!” 

“So what?! We both don’t want the child! Think about it this way, we are heading towards where we want to go in the future. You are in the dean’s list and you’ll most likely graduate as the valedictorian. I have this super awesome chance of becoming a pro-athlete and I have literally a whole- company waiting for me to take over afterwards.”

Chaeyoung scoffed at Jennie’s thinking, “ Are you hearing yourself?! This all happened because we were irresponsible enough to let it happen. A harmless life would be killed because of our careless mistake!”  

“Chaeyoung! It’s not like you will be killing someone yet, the thing is still a bean!” 

A glare was sent towards Jennie’s direction. “I really don’t wish to continue this conversation with you. If you don’t want the baby, I can take care of him or her myself. You can have nothing to do with us.” And with that, Chaeyoung opened the car door again and slammed it shut. She could make out Jennie's silhouette hitting the steering wheel, seeming to throw all her anger and frustration on it. 

She walked even further, towards the bus stop when she heard the screeching sound of tyres and the loud engine revving out of the carpark. Chaeyoung let her tears fall. 

“It’s gonna be just us then, baby. I’m sorry I had wanted you gone before.  It’s all okay now, I brought you into this world and I will take care of you.” Chaeyoung’s palm rested on her abdomen, where Dr Kim had done the ultrasound on just now. 

Chaeyoung reached home 30 minutes later. Seeing Chaeyoung walking in dejected, Alice voiced out, “Sup! Where did you go? It’s almost 10pm.” 

“Hey unnie… I was just working on some projects in school.” Chaeyoung lied. Her sister’s fidgeting behaviour had immediately shown that she was lying, but instead of exposing her, Alice nodded, “Ohh, faster wash up then. You must be tired.”

Alice knew her sister had a lot on her plate these past few days and she really didn’t want to stress her out even more. Anyways, knowing her sister, Chaeyoung would let her know sooner or later. 

And she was not wrong, she could hear Chaeyoung asking for permission to enter her room 1 hour later. 

“I have decided that I want to keep the baby…” Chaeyoung finally voiced out after a moment of silence. 

“Okay.. And I will support your decision. Is this Jennie’s decision too?” Alice asked cautiously. She could only see Chaeyoung shaking her head slightly and she sighed. Her sister was too nice sometimes, even to the extent of now carrying a baby that she would be caring for, for the rest of her entire life. When the other parent of the baby didn’t even want to take responsibility for her. 

“Do you want to reconsider again then? It will be hard for you to raise a child alone.” Alice asked softly, hoping that Chaeyoung really did consider all hardships that would come together with single parenting. 

But a soft smile went up her face when she saw the determined look Chaeyoung had as she shook her head. “The child is innocent, I will definitely hope that Jennie might come around but seeing her reaction just now, I think that’s impossible.” Chaeyoung smiled sadly.

Seeing her sister sad, she tried to change the topic. “When will you tell our parents? And how are you planning to go ahead with it?”

“I think I will take the next semester off, since the baby should be born sometime at the end of the year, or early next year. And about mum and umma, I guess I will tell them when I decide on what the actual plan is.”

Alice looks at her sister, a warm, proud feeling spread through her body, making her smile proudly at her sister. 

“What?” Chaeyoung looks at the weird expression her sister is showing.

“This is the first time you’ve been sure about something that had an unknown finale. You have always been such a safe and cautious person, that I was quite sure that you would’ve chose the abortion route. You have grown up, Chaeyoung ah!” Alice threw herself onto Chaeyoung dramatically, making Chaeyoung laugh out loud. 

Jennie stared into space as she mindlessly threw her baseball to the wall, catching it when it bounces back.

She really doesn’t understand Chaeyoung. Both of them were on the route to a bright future, why would Chaeyoung want to give it up just for a mistake that both of them made.

She groaned again, putting down her glove and the ball as she stood up, stretching her back. She heard a knock on her door and her mother’s head popped in. “Are you okay sweetie?”

“Hey mum, yeah I’m good…Just a little tired I guess…” 

Her mother sat on her bed, putting her arm around her. “Is the training too much for you? Or are the school requirements getting tougher to complete?”

Jennie leaned in on her mother’s shoulder, finding comfort. With the tough look she showed outside, nobody would’ve guessed that Jennie is a mummy’s girl, and she loved it. 

“None of that… Can I ask you a question, mum?”

“Of course.” Her mother her hair.

“Was I an accident? – Ouch Mum, that hurts!” Jennie rubbed her head where her mother knocked after hearing her question.

“Of course you were not an accident, both umma and I had discussed for a long time whether we were prepared for another responsibility before having you. Now where did this question come from?”

“Nowhere! I was just curious hehe, after hearing a few conversations between my friends.” Seeing how this was a good opportunity to gauge her mother’s response to having a baby at her age, Jennie continued asking nonchalantly, “One of my friends accidentally got another girl pregnant.”

Seeing her mother frowned, “Who? Is it Lisa? Or Momo?”

Jennie, who could feel her mother’s change in emotion, quickly shook her head, “No, no, it’s just someone from my class, not really close to her. What do you think about that?”

“Well, I think it’s incredibly reckless of her to just knock someone up, is she planning to take responsibility?”

Jennie shook her head again, bracing herself for her mother’s reaction. And she was right.

Her mother scoffed, “Youngsters nowadays have no sense of responsibility. After getting someone pregnant, isn’t taking responsibility the least they can do? Imagine how scared the pregnant girl is feeling?”

Now that was something Jennie hadn't thought about: How Chaeyoung was feeling. But she continued to argue, “But mum, look at it this way, we are still so young, and my friend did suggest paying for the abortion. Both of them have a good future ahead, won’t it be wasted if they give it up for that baby?”

“A life is still a life, Jennie. Whatever choices she makes now, she will just have to ensure that she will not regret it or feel guilty about it. But you, young lady, you better not be doing this kind of silly thing. Your umma might kill you if that happens.” 

Jennie gulped silently and nodded. Her mother patted her and kissed her hair, “Now, go to bed, I get that you are worried for your friend but you have an 8.30am class tomorrow morning, get some rest.”

Jennie mumbled a good night as she hugged her mother, brain fried from the conversation. 

Jennie didn’t get any sleep at all, walking like a zombie to her locker. An envelope immediately caught her eye when she opened her locker.

She opened up the letter that was inside.

Jennie, 

I know that nothing can change your mind about your decision and I respect that. I just thought you might want a copy of this as well. 

-Chaeyoung-

Jennie looked around her surroundings, ensuring that no one was near her, before taking out the other item in the envelope. An ultrasound image. 

Her hand trembled when she saw the tiny bean even closely. Her heart pounded with an unknown feeling. Yes, Kim Jennie was not a medical student and she didn’t know how to read an ultrasound but this image, it showed so clearly of the tiny hands and legs of the baby. 

She hastily puts the image and the letter back into the envelope when she hears Dahyun and Momo’s bickers nearing her.

“Hey Cap, whatcha doing?” Momo stops their bickering when she saw the captain standing motionlessly in front of her locker. 

Jennie forced a smile and took out a few books that she needed for class, “Nothing much, what were you guys arguing about?” 

“Momo unnie said that Mina unnie is a good ballet dancer, so I said ballerina, but she keeps saying that there’s no such word!” 

Jennie looked at her 2 members blankly, before patting Momo’s shoulder, “You are lucky you are good at baseball.” And walked away. 

It took Momo a while before she responded with a “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jennie knocked hesitantly on the door, before opening the door when she heard a ‘Come in’.

“Oh Jennie, how can I help you?” 

Jennie closes the door behind her, takes a deep breath before sitting in the chair. “Hey Coach, there’s something I need advice on.” 

Taeyeon senses the severity of Jennie’s problem when she doesn’t spot any hint of a smile on her usually-cheerful ace pitcher. “Is everything okay?” 

Jennie scratched her non-itchy head, wondering how she should phrase her question. “I don’t know how I should ask this to you, but if I put it bluntly, IgotsomeonepregnantandIdontknowwhattodo.”

Taeyeon’s eyebrows furrowed, trying to make sense of what Jennie was rapping. Her eyes then shot big when she formed the possible sentence in her brain, “You got someone pregnant?!”

Jennie groaned and covered her face, “I know it’s bad, what should I do now? I know it’s mean to just leave her alone and not take up the responsibility, but I did recommend her to get an abortion, but she doesn’t want to! And now she just showed me the baby’s ultrasound and I feel like I want to take responsibility but at the same time, I don’t want my future jeopardised!” 

Seeing her ace pitcher close to an anxiety attack, Taeyeon got up and sat beside Jennie. “Why do you think your future is ruined, Jennie?”

“Because! I- We both have our future set out for us! Having a baby there is going to ruin whatever plans we have ahead of us!”

“And how will the baby ruin it?”

“I-The baby-I don’t know!” Jennie ruffled her hair as she laid back on the chair agitated. “You see Jennie, while I personally don’t think that having a baby out of the whims is a good idea, but if things have already happened, I don’t see why you are hesitating to take responsibility for something that you have done. Yes, it might deter you some time to get to the goals you have set for yourself, but if you are willing to put in the effort, what is stopping you from achieving your goals and having a happy family at the same time? Now, who is that girl? Do we know her?” 

Jennie sighed, thinking about all the plans she had laid out for herself for the next 10 years. “It’s Chaeyoung.”

“Oh? The girl who came to our game a few weeks ago? The student council kid?” Taeyeon couldn’t hide her shock. 

Jennie nodded her head weakly. “Yeah her, whatever that happened between us was an accident, we are not together. But she has this super strong mindset that the baby shouldn’t be on the suffering end of our mistake, which is why she is refusing the abortion. She told me she will carry on with the pregnancy, whether I would be a part of it or not.”

“Kudos to her for being an adult.” Taeyeon shrugged after seeing Jennie’s stare-of-betrayal at her, “What? You can’t blame me for thinking that way. It’s impressive that a 19 year old has this kind of mindset. And think about it, she is technically the one on the disadvantaged end but yet she’s willing to follow through. You, on the other hand, get to continue playing baseball and going to school. At some point, she is the one that has to stop school in order to give birth. Not only that, she might have to face the criticisms of peers if she comes to school pregnant. So tell me, who are you to complain, Kim Jennie?” 

Groaning at her coach’s words, Jennie realised that Coach Kim was right. While Jennie gets to live her life peacefully, maybe just needing to put in more effort and time to look after the pregnant woman, Chaeyoung is the one who has to carry the kid for nine months, stopping school, suffering from all the possible issues that might come with the pregnancy. Looking back, Jennie saw what a jerk she had been to Chaeyoung the day before. 

But then again, is she really ready to take on the responsibility of becoming a parent? To care for both Chaeyoung and the baby? And most importantly, to face the backlash of both their parents? 

Chaeyoung jumped when she felt someone tapped her shoulder from behind. Jennie smiled awkwardly as she rubbed her nape. “Do you need a ride home?” 

“No, it’s okay, I can manage.” Was the only answer she got as she stared at Chaeyoung’s back view moving further away from her. 

“No, wait! Let me drive you back, I need to tell you something.” Jennie ran up and grabbed Chaeyoung’s arm gently. 

Chaeyoung sighed, “What Jennie? I am tired of your excuses, I will be fine alone.”  

Seeing that they were slowly gathering attention of the few other students who were in that corridor, Jennie just gently tugged Chaeyoung along with her, towards the direction of her car. “I swear, this is serious. I…I won’t be giving you anymore of those bull excuses anymore.”

Chaeyoung looked at Jennie sceptically before giving up, finally accepting the free ride home. Jennie drove them to a drive-thru and got some fries and drinks before parking at the park near Chaeyoung’s neighbourhood. The park where Jennie first found out that she was going to be a parent. 

“Soooo, I would firstly like to apologise for how I acted last night. It was very inconsiderate of me and uncool, I’m really sorry for that.” Seeing no response from Chaeyoung, Jennie continued nervously, “And I received the ultrasound image this morning. I am not sure what the emotion I’m feeling is called, but I know that I would want to be a part of the baby’s life.”

“So what are you trying to say Jennie? You are going to take responsibility? Or you are going to be providing the necessities needed whenever I ask for them?”

“Hold on, let me finish. I’ve talked to Coach Kim just now and I realised that whatever excuses I gave are totally invalid. You are the one who will be doing most of the suffering and I was only selfishly thinking about my own future.” Sensing Chaeyoung was about to cut her again, Jennie raised a hand, asking for Chaeyoung to give her another minute. “If it is okay with you, I would like to be on this scary journey with you. It was extremely selfish and thoughtless of me when I kept pushing you towards the direction of abortion. I have to admit, it was only after the ultrasound image that it hit me that it was a baby, not just some peas that can be easily gotten rid of.”

Jennie glanced at Chaeyoung again. “I am not sure what could come in this journey and what to expect, and it would definitely be scary, but at least it won’t be as scary if we are both in it together. I don’t currently have a solid plan on what to do, but I promise that I will be there for you, and the baby.” 

Chaeyoung grabbed Jennie’s hand, which was trembling slightly, and gave a comforting smile. “Thank you Jennie, that really means alot to me. I am really glad that you are going to be a part of the baby’s life and the baby is really lucky to have you as well. I’m sure we will get over whatever obstacles that come in the way.”

Jennie released the breath that she was unknowingly holding, and finally gave her gummy smile. “Yeah, we will.”

“What’s the plan you are thinking of?” Jennie asked Chaeyoung as she held up the box of fries. Chaeyoung grabbed one and ate it as she replied, “I was thinking that after this semester, I could take the next one off? Since I will be nearing the end of my 2nd trimester after the sem ends. I definitely would not want to quit school, so I would want to go back to school next year. Hopefully, my parents won’t mind helping to take care of the baby while I’m in school or maybe we could hire a nanny? What about you?” 

Jennie nodded as she munched on the fries as well. “I mean, I think I will still continue with school the next semester, but rest assured, I will for sure make some time for you guys. I will take up some kind of part time job during the holidays to save up some money in case we need it. But I think that’s all in my plan. I don’t know what else I can do to help.” 

“It’s okay, we will figure it out on the way then.” Chaeyoung nodded reassuringly.

The 2 finished up the fries and Jennie drove Chaeyoung back home.

“Oh, by the way, when do you think we should tell our parents about this?” 

Seeing the way Jennie tensed up, it is safe to assume that she has totally forgotten about the parents' part. 

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woo, lowkey a serious chapter

I have finally make out time to continue writing this story HAHA apologies for the long wait

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Do let me know if there's anything yall might wanna see in the future chapters =D

Till next time~