Mallory hadn’t said a word to Zhen as they drove home. She just stared ahead and clenched her fingers around the wheel, like if she didn’t it was going to fly loose. Her eyebrows were pulled together so tight Zhen knew she would be complaining about lines in the morning.

Finally Zhen turned to the side. “Wanna talk about it?”

“Nope.” Mallory said, slamming on the breaks outside of Zhen’s house. “Maybe tomorrow, when I can think straight and every word wont be a curse.”

Zhen nodded and climbed out of the car. “Please be careful driving home.” Mallory nodded and drove away faster than Zhen would have thought possible. She stayed where she was standing for a moment before starting across the street to the house. Cho Hee had left the light on, so Zhen found her way to the door with ease. “I’m home!” She called, moving into the front room and sliding off her shoes.

“Zhen Ai! Nice of you to join us.” Mr. Kim’s voice rang, and Zhen’s stomach plummeted. She stood in the threshold for a moment, before Mr. Kim gestures for her to join them. She was afraid he might tell her the Shin’s no longer wanted to host her, since Cho Hee was sitting in a chair across from him with Dae Hyun behind her, a hand on her shoulder and a worried expression on his face. She sat in a seat beside Cho Hee and held on to the seat until her fingers turned white. “We need to talk about a few legal things.”

Zhen bit her lip. “Am I moving again?”
 

“No! No, of course not!” Mr. Kim laughed. “Well…”

Cho Hee sighed. “Zhen Ai, I don’t want to rush you but… it seems another family has interest in adopting you, and since you never officially decided whether you wanted to stay with us or not, if they sign the papers at the end of this week, you are going to move out.”

Zhen bit the inside of her lip hard enough to draw blood. “Okay,”

“So,” Mr Kim said, straightening his tie. “We need to know before Wednesday your final decision.”

“You don’t have to decide tonight of course,” Cho Hee said.

Dae Hyun nodded. “But soon.”

Mallory lay with her face down in the pillows on her bed. Her phone binged and she lifted her face, revealing the black tears pressed into her pillow. She bit her lip, hoping it would wash out, and sat up, grabbing her phone.

She opened the message to find an “I’m sorry. Can we talk?” She groaned, deleted the message, and slammed her face back down into her pillow. Why had she gotten so mad at him? He wasn’t wrong! Claude was way out of bounds, but so was he. Did he really have to show that he had a thing for Mallory, and Claude was pissing him off? Suga had understood why she was there the night before, so why was he so pissed about it at the event?

She rolled onto her side and, when her phone binged again, she contemplated not answering. Curiosity got the better of her, however and she lifted the phone to see the message. We could go get some bulgogi. She frowned. Why did he have to know how she worked? She texted back to tell him that she was already out and wouldn’t be home until late. The texts stopped after that.

But Jimin called. And she answered. “How mad are you?”

“Mad enough to stain my white pillow.”

Jimin gasped dramatically. “No! Not the pillow!” She laughed, shaking her head even though she knew he couldn’t see it. “There, see? Just keep laughing, and stop crying, because I know you are. I can hear it in your voice.” Mallory cleared . “That’s not going to help. Are you mad enough to not come camping later?”

“No. I’ll still be there,” Mallory sighed.

“Awesome.”

Zhen had been sitting in the chair for the hairstylist for what felt like hours, contemplating what had gone on the night before when suddenly she was pecked on the cheek. She looked up and into the mirror to see Jungkook standing beside her, watching as the hairstylist curled her hair. “Hey,” She said, smiling.

“How’s your morning?”
 

“Stressful.” He held out a coffee cup and she smiled. “Thanks.” She said, taking a long sip.

He nodded. “So what exactly are you modeling?”
 

“Those clothes over there,” She said, pointing over her shoulder to a rack full of clothes. He turned and started towards it as she took another sip from her coffee. This meant they were good, right? He kissed her, brought her coffee, in the clear?