Family Tree

A Fire in My Heart

Jessica was sprawled out on the couch reading a magazine while Taeyeon was sitting on the floor studying on the coffee table. The house was filled with a calming silence until the door flew open. Jessica and Taeyeon looked up at Krystal who entered the household angrily and stomping her way upstairs.

Taeyeon looked at Jessica, “Did Amber and Krystal break up?”

Jessica set down her magazine, “I better go see what is up.”

Taeyeon watched Jessica head upstairs before resuming her studying.

 

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Jessica entered her room hesitantly while Krystal was on the bed crying. Jessica approached her sister and started rubbing her back caringly, “Krystal do you want to tell me what happened?” Krystal said something but was muffled by the pillow she was crying into. “Krystal you have to get up and tell me.”

Krystal slowly got up, “I can’t be with Amber.”

“Did something happen at the party?” Krystal shook her head ‘yes.’ “Is it something you can tell your big sis?”
“The dragons were there...”

Jessica thought about what Krystal could be referring to, “Wait you don’t mean those people that kicked us out do you?”

“They are Amber’s aunt and uncle.”

Jessica laughed nervously, “No way...that can’t be. They said that those monsters were our only close relatives. Why send us to them if Amber’s parents are also our dad’s cousins?”

Krystal’s tears stopped and she looked at Jessica in confusion, “Did child services lie to us? This doesn’t make sense.”

“We could go ask I guess, but what are you going to do about Amber? Did you talk to her about this issue or did you run away again?”

Amber looked away from her sister, “Just ran...away.”

Jessica hit her sister in the arm, “How could you do that to Amber! She is probably worried sick.”

“I didn’t know what to do. It was too much for me to handle at once.”

“Fine, but you need to talk to her. I will go to child services and ask about Amber’s parents.”

“I don’t want to know the truth...that would mean Amber and I have to breakup.”

Jessica pulled Krystal into a hug, “Even without Amber I know you can find happiness and we don’t know what is going on yet. Just wait a little longer and we can sort this out.”

 

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The weekend approached and the Jung sisters were up early ready to go out and get the answers they needed. Krystal was going to meet Amber while Jessica was going to take the train downtown to meet with their child service agent.

Taeyeon saw the younger sister leave as she headed to the Jung sister’s room to see if they wanted breakfast. “That is early for her to leave. I wonder if Jessica is up then...” Taeyeon continued to make her way to the room and saw Jessica was also getting ready to leave, “Where are you going?”

Jessica saw Taeyeon in the doorway, “Downtown.”

“Did you want me to come with you? It is a long trip.”

“If you want. I am leaving in like 10 minutes though...” Jessica saw Taeyeon run off to her room which made her laugh at the dork.

 

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Taeyeon and Jessica were waiting at the train terminal for the train to come, “Sica...do you mind me asking why we are going downtown? Shopping?”

Sica? Jessica liked a newly formed nickname but she answered Taeyeon lethargically, “No we are going to the city hall.”

“Are you going to report your guardians for abandonment?”

Jessica never thought of doing that, but what if that means they get relocated? She liked living with Taeyeon. Secretly she didn’t want to move out. “Umm not exactly. It is complicated.”

Taeyeon looked Jessica in the eyes, “I am here if you need me,” she took Jessica’s hand and held it. Both liked this little interaction and they only separated when the train came.

 

Although Taeyeon went on this trip with Jessica blindly, she thought this was the best idea of her life. She loves the alone time she gets with Jessica, “Hey Sica, I was thinking of asking my parents if you can stay until we graduate next year. I mean after that, we will be going to university then. What do you think?”

Jessica looked at Taeyeon, “Tae, there is something I want to tell you first. It might make your parents change their mind about letting me and Krystal stay with you.”

Taeyeon looked at Jessica intently, “I doubt my parents would mind once they meet you.”

“You know a while ago you confessed you loved me. To tell you the truth...I do too.” Jessica saw Taeyeon’s eyes light up, “but I didn’t tell you because I thought if your parents found out, we couldn’t stay in your house.”

“Is that why you didn’t give me an answer? If my parents found out I was living with my girlfriend there would be trouble for me?” Jessica nodded her head in response. “Pabo. My parents are not going to care. My parents lived together before they got married. Us living together isn’t a problem.”

“My parents would have disowned me....”

“Your parents and my parents are not the same...I mean not everyone thinks the same.” Jessica was listening to Taeyeon with eagerness, “Jessica Jung, please be my girlfriend. I will do anything and everything to take care of you.”

Tears were welling in Jessica’s eyes. The word girlfriend was something she wanted for a while now but her overthinking the situation got in the way, “I would like that.”

Taeyeon smiled as wide as possible and grabbed Jessica’s hand, “I promise to keep you close and take care of you no matter what.” Jessica loved the comfort that Taeyeon gave her. Moments like these were precious and something she never wanted to forget. Jessica decided to relax her head on Taeyeon’s shoulder and get some much needed rest before they arrive downtown.

 

Taeyeon was hesitant to wake Jessica up. She loved the skinship from her new girlfriend...ah that word made Taeyeon feel giddy inside. “Sicaaaaa. We are here.”

Jessica slowly opened her eyes and looked at Taeyeon, “Was I out the whole time.” Taeyeon just smiled and helped her get up.

They walked to the city hall hand in hand making this small trip into a sudden date. Jessica almost forgot the purpose of coming downtown because she was loving the time she had with Taeyeon.

The two girls finally made it to the city hall and Jessica led Taeyeon with her to the Department of Child Services. “Miss who are you here to see?”

“Mr. Go was handling my case. I have an 11am appointment.”

“He is running a bit behind. You can take a seat and wait.”
Taeyeon sat next to Jessica, “No wonder you were up at 8am this morning. I thought I was seeing things on the weekend.”

“A two hour train ride here makes me get up early.”

“Why did you make such an early appointment anyway?”

“I needed to see him immediately and this was the only time.”

The secretary stepped out, “Miss Jung...”

Jessica got up and saw Taeyeon wasn’t following her so she went back and took Taeyeon’s hand, “I need you for support.” Taeyeon smiled and happily followed Jessica into Mr. Go’s office.

“Girls sit down.” Taeyeon and Jessica sat in their seats but Jessica refused to let go of Taeyeon’s hand the whole time. “Jessica why is it you wanted to see me? Also where is Krystal?”

“Krystal couldn’t come. Well there was an issue with our guardians you placed us with. Are you sure they are our only family nearby?”

Mr. Go looked at his computer and pulled up the Jung’s file to reread the family relations. He turned his computer around so Jessica could see what he was displaying. “Here are the list of known family members and current locations. Left is your mother’s side while the right is your father’s side. As you can see both your parents were the only child and your grandparents died while you were young as you already know. As you can see here, you have some relations because your grandparents had siblings. On your mother’s side as you can see here, they live in America because your grandmother and grandfather from that side immigrated from there, but your dad’s side, they live here in Korea, so we only looked at his side for your relocation.”

Jessica was trying to read the names that were on the screen but saw none with the last name “Liu” matching Amber’s parents. “So we were put with Quin family, but I was told that he had a brother with the last name Liu. What is the relation and why do they have different last names and wouldn’t we be related to the Liu family?”

Mr. Go looked just as confused as Jessica and Taeyeon. Taeyeon was in her seat very lost. She knew Amber’s last name was Liu...just as she was putting the pieces together she realized that everything made sense to why Krystal came home crying that one day. Amber and Krystal might be related.

Mr. Go finally found the information that he was looking for, “Here. Jessica it looks like Mr. Quin was adopted by the Liu family when he was 12 after his parents were killed in a fire but never took on that family name...”

“Wait, did you say his parents also perished in a fire?”

“That is what the death certificate says for that family. Oddly similar to how your parent’s passed. Anyway, the Jung family can only be traced as far back as him because his mother was your grandpa Jung’s sister making Mr. Quin your father’s cousin.” Jessica and Taeyeon kept looking at the charts seeing that if Jessica were to move to a new guardian, she would have to move to America. She would just have to keep it a secret from Mr. Go that the Quin family already abandoned them. “So how is your new family?”

Jessica didn’t want to lie and tell Mr. Go that they are a horrible family but she had to lie, “Oh you know everything is okay.”

“Oh since you are here, your lawyer has some paperwork for you to sign.” Jessica looked closely at the paperwork in front of her while Mr. Go summarized what was in there, “Jessica you know in one year you get the Jung inheritance right?”

Taeyeon’s ears perked up, inheritance? If she remembered right, Jessica was known to be very wealthy before the accident happened to her parents.

“I remember. We don’t need the guardian after I get that right?”

“Yes, but remember that until then, the Quin family is signed onto the rights of that inheritance till it is passed to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“As it states in that clause, the Quin family are your legal guardians and last blood relatives of the Jung family so if you give up your rights to that inheritance or in case of death, the Quin family gets your grandfather’s inheritance.”

“So when I sign this paper, that means they have legal guardianship and I am signing the inheritance to them until I come of age? What if I don’t give them the guardianship?”

“Well that means we need to find you a new guardian then.”

“Do I have to go to a blood relative? Can someone else be the guardian?”

“If you refuse guardianship we would like you to move to a blood relative or you can be adopted by another family.”

All this legal stuff was giving Jessica a headache. No way in hell did she want those demons to be her legal guardians, but she didn’t want to leave Taeyeon. Anything but that. Can she handle one more year of being in the care of the Quin family? So many things she didn’t know what to do. Should she sign the paper or not?

 

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Krystal went to meet Amber at a café that was near both of their homes. Amber was fidgeting her seat until she shot up when she saw Krystal enter, “Krystal here!”

Krystal walked over slowly to the table and sat down in silence. She had been rehearsing what to say on the way over but didn’t know what to do when she saw Amber in person. “Amber we need to talk.”

“What is wrong? You just left the party without telling me and the past few days you have been distant. Is something wrong? Did I do something wrong?”

“I think we need to break up...”

 

 

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Author's Note

Wow this was a really deep chapter. I hope I didn't lose you guys. I tried to help you a bit with pictures, but I got confused a bit myself at points.

Comment comment comment. As I said in my other fanfiction, the more you comment, the faster I update ^^

Also if you didn't see already, I made another taengsic one-shot: The Musical

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Comments

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Nevieforever0925
#1
Chapter 20: I really enjoyed this story and loved it. Thank you
Justanordinarysone
#2
Chapter 20: Reread it and wow. I love the suspense and all of it actually <3 Thank you author for the ff! :DD
Justanordinarysone
#3
Chapter 20: Yay! Taengsic! ^-^ This story is DAEBAKK. Hated theit guardians in Korea though. How could they be so bad? *rolls eyes* Thank you for the awesome ff author! :))
daniellebird
#4
eh Minhyuk? i hate him so much !!!
huangse12 #5
Chapter 20: Lol amber become a bad guy in this story '_'
Whatever
Nice story :)
Raven9
#6
Chapter 20: Yuri is not dead \o/ you scared me.
great ending
thanks for sharing
Raven9
#7
Chapter 18: Noooooo Yuri is dead???
Sad very sad
Raven9
#8
Chapter 7: is impossible not to fall in love with this story. Taengoo my life u r sooo cute
Raven9
#9
Chapter 3: Taengoo my Taengoo is sooooo sweet♥♥♥
irfy_isml #10
Chapter 20: New reader here! Love the story but I'm a bit confused. So who is krystal actually marrying to?! And is it already the end of the story?