Ch 35 - Ding Dong, the Witch Is...
Breaking for youJong Kook awakes the next morning to a great cacophony from the main rooms of the apartment. Take a couple of moments to gather himself first, he heads out to the living room to see what the hell is going on.
Charity, as expect, is behind the island in the kitchen, working on breakfast. Her hair is up in its usual messy bun, no makeup, oversized shirt and ripped jeans. He glances at her to take all this in and then quickly away again, feeling just the briefest tinge of awkwardness left over from their near kiss the night before. Thinking back, though, the feeling quickly dissapates as he remembers how not awkward it had turned out to be.
They'd leapt apart at Kwang Soo's yell and both immediately flushed red. Charity had slid back down to the floor and busied herself with the trampoline parts while Jong Kook sat stunned, trying to figure out what had just happened. What had almost just happened. Kwang Soo was glowering at Jong Kook, his expression speaking a thousand admonishments and threats without uttering an actual word. A moment passed, then another, then Charity asked for help propping up a last piece of the nearly-completed trampoline. Glad for something, anything at all to do, Jong Kook slid himself down to the floor beside her and held the pole as she wrapped the padding around it. In just a minute or two, they were all back to working on the project for Zoe, with no further discussion of the incident. Oddly, though, it hadn't hung heavy between them. They didn't jump back every time their fingers brushed or carefully avoid each other's eyes. In fact, after the initial shock, everything was... Jong Kook had searched his mind for the word as he'd laid in bed, and finally settled on comfortable. Everything was comfortable. And fine. Everything was totally fine. More fine, really, than he'd have any right to expect, considering what had almost happened. There were no agreements to forget it had ever happened, or assurances that one or the other of them hadn't meant for it to happen. It happened, the moment passed, and everything was fine. And comfortable.
Looking away from Charity, Jong Kook now turns his attention to the awful racket, which happens to be Zoe in the trampoline, yelling, "BOING! BOING! BOING!" with each bounce. Right next to her is Kwang Soo, still in ratty pajama pants and an old t-shirt, bedhead flying around, also yelling, "BOING! BOING! BOING!" as they jump in tandem. Jong Kook watches them for a minute, still too close to waking up to fully take in what he's seeing. He decides to ignore it and heads to the kitchen for a glass of water.
Charity is already pushing a glass across the island as he reaches it, and he takes a seat across from her. "Yo, Kim Jong Kook," she says. "Sleep well? I'm making breakfast. You'll never guess what we're having."
"Eggs?," he asks, draining his cup and swiveling on the barstool to watch the circus in the living room.
"Got it in one," she replies. "You hungry? Time to eat?"
"You know I can't resist your... eggs," he says jokingly, and she snorts in response. "What're you up to today?"
"Spending the day with Zoe, you?"
"MR. KIM! JONG! KOOK!," Zoe shouts, punctuating each bounce. "WE'RE GOING! TO! DIBO! VILLAGE! WOULD YOU! LIKE! TO COME!"
Jong Kook laughs, his head bobbing up and down as he follows her movements. "Ah, no thank you, Zoe, I have a full schedule today, but I hope you have a great time." He watches as Kwang Soo comes dangerously close to brushing the ceiling with his head, but shows no signs of stopping his bouncing as long as Zoe is still going. Perhaps the competition between the two has not yet burned out.
Jong Kook turns back to the counter. "So you've got Zoe to yourself today?"
"Mmhm," Charity nods as she pushes bacon and eggs onto three plates and sets them in front of the stools. She bellows, "KIDS! FOOD!" with a tone that indicates it's not an uncommon occurrence for her.
"Ah, you must be looking forward to that, then," Jong Kook says, sliding a protective arm around his plate as Kwang Soo and Zoe clamber into place. The two descend upon their eggs like they've just run a marathon. Charity smiles indulgently at them, looking for all the world like a proud mother supervising her pack of small children.
"I am," she agrees.
"No Miranda?," Jong Kook clarifies.
"Nope." Charity shakes her head and grabs the pan of leftover eggs and a fork, not bothering with a plate, and leans against Jong Kook's end of the counter. "By the court order, we are technically on Miranda's time, but also by the court order, she's not to impede or interfere with any time I want to spend with Zoe during her time. If I was still in the States, in theory, I could pick Zoe up to hang out every single day and she couldn't say boo about it."
"Does the same apply to Miranda once Zoe is back on your time?" Jong Kook finds the arrangement kind of fascinating, in a sympathetic way.
"Nope!" Charity smiles. "My decisions as her mother will always trump anything else going forward. Miranda lobbied for this period as a 'transitional time,' since Zoe lost her father and would be moving to Korea in short order, and convinced the judge it would be in Zoe's best interest to handle these changes slowly. I was shocked that the judge went along with it, to be honest, but it's not forever."
"From the things Zoe has said, it seems like Miranda plans for it to be forever, though."
"Miranda can talk until her wrinkly old fall off out of pure weariness of having to listen to her."
Just as Jong Kook almost inhales a bite of his eggs in response, the doorbell rings. "I'll get it!," yells Zoe, hopping down from her stool.
C
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