CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

 

It has always amazed Jongin the fact that Soojung could fall asleep so easily. After her phone conversation with her mom, both of them have decided to go back inside because it was getting colder. He excuses himself to go to the bathroom for 5 minutes and when he returns, Soojung was already back in the bed fast asleep.

 

But he kinda liked seeing her sleep. That sounds really creepy, but he does. She just look so beautiful and angelic when she does. He wanted look away and just go to the other side of the bed next to Somin to sleep, but she just couldn’t.

 

“Do you like her?” He looks down to see a wide eyed Kim Somin, looking at him innocently. “Why are you smiling while looking at her?”

 

“Why are still up, little girl? Go to bed.” He scolds her but she doesn’t move an inch.

 

“I can’t. I’m hungry.”

 

“Well, you should have eaten your veggies at dinner time.”

 

“I know. But I hate veggies. Can you please come with me to the kitchen to eat?” She asks cutely. “I can’t go there. I think there are ghosts downstairs.”

 

“You go there if you want.”

 

“Fine, I’ll just ask Soojung unnie to come with me then.” Pouting, the little girl proceeds to shake Soojung’s body to wake her up until Jongin stops her.

 

“Don’t do it! She’s sleeping and-” Jongin was unable to finish his sentence as he hears a sound. He looks over Jihoon, who was awoken by their conversation and was about to cry because his sleep got interrupted. “Oh no. Please don’t cry.”

 

He tries his best not to let him cry, but it doesn’t work. Jihoon starts to cry making Jongin panic.

 

“Great, now he’s crying. Soojung unnie will eventually wake up so I don’t have to do it.”

 

Not wanting Soojung to wake up, Jongin hurriedly takes Jihoon outside so he could bawl his eyes out as loud as he wants. Somin follows them outside. She smiles at him, knowing that he has no choice but to accompany her downstairs. For some reason, it annoys him.

 

 

Somin was all smiles as she ate a chocolate bar, while Jihoon sits on his baby chair with a bowl of marshmallow. Meanwhile Jongin was still searching for a food to eat at the refrigerator but wasn’t able to choose one for his liking. In the end, he doesn’t pick any and just grabs a marshmallow from Jihoon’s bowl, only to be glared by the little one.

 

“What? I gave this to you! You should be thankful!”  He doesn’t mind his glare and continues to eat the marshmallow. But Jihoon gets mad and blocks his face with his tiny hands so he wouldn’t be able to eat. “Fine. I won’t eat. Jeez.”

 

He looks over to Somin to ask her for food when he realizes that he had given sweets to both of the kids. “What have I done? Your parents are going to kill me.”

 

“Don’t worry. We won’t tell them.” Somin hands him a tiny chocolate bar which he gladly accepts. “Right, Jihoonie?” She looks over to the younger boy, who ignored her as he ate his marshmallow.

 

“What are your parents even doing? They’re not doing it… are they?” He asks to himself.

 

“What is it?” The little girl asks curiously.

 

“Nothing important. Just eat.” He sighs. He was low key excited to sleep in the same room with her, and not because he wanted to sleep her. He just wanted to experience how it’s like to cuddle with her while sleeping.

 

 

It was already morning when Jongin had successfully made Jihoon sleep. Somin slept comfortably beside them as soon as they went back to the bedroom from the kitchen, but the youngest of the Kims was a lot harder to handle. When he sees Jongin with his eyes shut, Jihoon would make a sound to wake him up.

 

The only thing that made Jihoon sleep was Jongin’s voice. He remembers that when he was younger, his mother would hum him songs to sleep so he does the same to the kid. It successfully makes him and Jihoon sleep.

 

That was the first thing Soojung sees when she wakes up: Jongin and Jihoon on the other side of the bed while Somin was laying much closer to her. She looks at the three with a smile on her face, thinking that she was dreaming of her future life with Jongin when suddenly Somin moves her arm and hits her in the face. That’s when she realizes that she’s in fact awake and not dreaming.

 

“Oh my God.” She glances at the clock and sees that it was 9AM. “I woke up early. Nice.”

 

An hour later, Jongin wakes up alone with no Soojung or any kid in sight. At first, Jongin thought that Jihoon got squashed by him or fell from the bed. Luckily, he saw Soojung’s note in his night table saying that she and the kids have woken up. After reading it, he quickly jumps out of his bed to get ready for the day.

 

Dressed up in a Ralph Lauren suit, Jongin made sure that he looked pleasant that morning. He even pushed his hair back, something his mother always ask him to do but he doesn't do a lot. He goes out of his room and greets the servants happily who were cleaning at the corridors. They just looked weirdly at the young heir as he went downstairs.

 

“Hey, have you seen Soojung?” He asks Jinah as he passed by her in the living room. As usual, she was checking herself out in front of the mirror.

 

“She went to the kitchen with Mingyu to help.” She answers, fixing her hair and not even looking at him.

 

“Alright, thanks.”

 

He heads to the kitchen, avoiding more servants who were cleaning in the hallways. But instead of going straight there, he stops abruptly when he spots the brunette in a red dress with his younger cousin in the dining room, helping the maids to set up the table for their brunch.

 

Quietly, he sneaks up behind her to back hug her. When she felt hands wrapping around her waist, Soojung couldn’t help but to let out a loud squeal in shock. She felt relieved seeing that it was Jongin smiling widely at her.

 

“Merry Christmas!” He greets her. “You look quite stunning today.”

 

“Why, thank you Mr. Jongin. I could say the same with you. And what’s with the hair?” She giggles, fixing his tie and his collar. “Nana unnie did my hair and makeup.”

 

“Oh no, please don’t be like Heechul hyung and Puff noona.” Mingyu looks at them with his tongue sticking out in disgust.

 

“We’re not like those two!” Jongin raised an eyebrow.

 

At the very same time, Mrs. Kim enters the dining room and Jongin took this as a chance to show off his fiancé.

 

“Mother, look.” He takes Soojung’s hand and twirls her around. “Doesn’t Soojung look so lovely?”

 

“Always have been and will always be.” His mother agrees. “You two better go to living room. The gift opening will start soon.”

 

“What gift opening?” Soojung asks, looking a bit panicked. “I didn’t bring any gifts for you guys.”

 

“Don’t worry. You don’t need to bring one.”

 

Apparently, the gift opening is a tradition the Kims have been doing for long. The kids are given gifts and they open it all at once in Christmas morning. Well, the young adults are given gifts too, even though they don’t want to.

 

“Wow, a new pair of Adidas. How... cool.” Jonghyun says. “When will I ever receive keys to a penthouse? I mean, even Jongin lives alone. And he’s younger than me!”

 

“Oh my Gosh, auntie!” Jinah holds up the black Versace dress that she got. “This hasn’t even come out of the market, has it?”

 

“Nice! Cristiano Ronaldo’s jersey with his autograph on it! Thank you!” Mingyu smiles as he thanks his aunt, the only one out of the cousins who actually does it.

 

The younger kids may be less choosy compared to the adults, but their gifts weren’t cheaper than those who are older than them. Somin receives her very first Burberry coat, while Jihoon gets a huge Spiderman stuff toy. He looks very confused when he saw it though.

 

Sitting at a chair near the fireplace, Soojung looks across the room to see what Jongin got. It seems like he got a hoverboard. He excitedly takes it off the box to brag it to his cousins. He tries it for the first time with Mingyu assisting him, but falls quickly.

 

“Honey, this is for you.” She hands her a small box, making her very surprised. She wasn’t expecting a gift at all. “Open it.”

 

Soojung does what she orders, but she doesn’t know why she was shaking. Was it because she was touched? When she opens it, there was a pair of diamond earring. They looked so precious that she didn’t know if she should accept it.

 

“Isn’t this too much?”

 

“Listen, Soojung. At first, I didn’t want my Jongin to have his marriage arranged. He’s so precious to me and I want him to be happy.” She says, glancing quickly at his son. “But knowing that you’re very precious to my son and seeing how elated he is when he’s with you make me really happy as well.” She turns back to her and continues, “You may be not really my daughter, but I do love you as one. You’re a part of this family. We love you. Please accept it.”

 

Soojung was out of words. She hated how emotional she always gets. She was pretty sure that she was about to cry because of the tears forming in her eyes. It wasn’t just the gift that made her like that. It was those words that she heard. She wishes her mother would say them to her one day.

 

“Thank you so much.”

 

 

In just a short time, Jongin had managed to learn how to ride the hoverboard. He has become too obsessed with it, using it to roam around the mansions or just annoy Soojung by doing circles around her. But instead of being annoyed, Soojung got dizzy so decided to just sit in the swing when Jongin had invited her outside in the garden.

 

“You can’t catch me!” He shouts at Somin who followed him around the pathway, trying to catch him.

 

Soojung smiles seeing how cute the little girl was. She was about to record a video or at least a picture of them running around when she realized that Seulgi sent her a message, wishing her a happy holiday. She smiles and quickly sends her holidays greetings.

 

“You’re really going to leave tonight?” Soojungs looks up to see Jonghyun.

 

“Yeah, I have to.” She answers as he takes a seat at the chair near her. "It was fun spending Christmas with you guys though."

 

“It’s a pity, but who am I to stop you.” He then looks over at his two cousins who were chasing each other near the fountain. “Well, just send my regards to your sister. And if you see a really attractive British woman, please ask for her number and send it to me.” He jokes, and she laughs.

 

“I think my sister would be glad to hear that I met you again.”

 

“Would she really?” He asks her. “I will never move on if say things like that.”

 

“But I’m serious.”

 

“You know, I was very heartbroken when I heard the news that’s getting married, even though I knew that I will never get the chance to be with her. She has always had a crush on that gardener’s son anyways-”

 

“Excuse me?” Soojung looks at him. She didn’t know about that. “Do you mean Lee Donghae?”

 

“Ah, yes. That hyung. I used to hate him, but whenever I go your house, he would greet me with a smile. I thought that he was weird, but I realized how nice he really is.”

“How do you that my sister liked him? Did she tell you?” She asks in curiousity.

 

“I guess you were really young back then that you didn’t notice.” Jonghyun chuckles. “She never told any secrets to me, but whenever we talk about him or whenever he passes by us, she would have this look on her face. I can’t really explain it.”

 

It that she doesn’t remember anything about how her sister acted when she was with Donghae back then. But even if she does, she wouldn’t probably even know that she liked him because she was too naïve. She was still until now. She never even knew Derek was flirting with her back then until he actually confessed to her.

 

“You know, that look Jongin gives you when he talks to you. It’s the same expression.” He adds.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Jonghyun wasn’t able to continue his sentence when they suddenly heard Somin screaming and crying. As soon as they heard that, they both went running to where she and Jongin were. They see her in the floor, crying because of her wounded knee.

 

“What happened?!” Soojung asks Jongin who was comforting the little girl.

 

“She fell, and... that’s it. Basically.” He answers.

 

“Ha. That’s what you get for being so pesky.” Jonghyun sticks his tongue out at his younger step sister, making her cry a lot more. If Soojung was really close to Jonghyun, she would have probably kicked him for doing that. But since he was Jongin’s older cousin, she decided to just bite her tongue to prevent her to say anything.

 

“Hey, remember that time when the same thing happened to you when you fell because you didn’t know how to tie your shoelaces-” Jongin teases her, but she wasn’t having it. Not when a kid is crying in front of her and is obviously in pain.

 

“Jongin, please. There’s no time to joke around. She needs help. I’ll call someone to help.” She stands up and heads back to the mansion to call anyone, something Jongin did to her years ago. But just when she was about to enter, Jongin suddenly passes by her with Somin on his back. He seemed to be on a hurry to put her down since he kept on saying ‘so heavy’ repeatedly.

 

Confused, Soojung looks back to where she left them, only to see Jonghyun trying to ride on the hoverboard Jongin was using earlier. He wasn’t successful as he fell in only 10 seconds.

                                      

 

Even though her flight was at 7PM, Jongin has promised Soojung to show her around Seoul last night so they had to leave a little earlier than she planned to. She kind of regrets that though. She had too much fun with the kids that she wanted to stay a little longer.

 

When Jongin enters his room, he founds Soojung planting lots of kisses continuously at Jihoon’s chubby cheeks, making the baby giggle uncontrollably. He couldn’t help but to feel jealous, but not because he wanted to be kissed by her, but because whenever he does that to Jihoon, he would just shove him away and get mad.

 

“Who’s the cutest baby in the world? You are! Yes you are!”

 

She finds Jihoon too cute, that she didn’t notice Jongin standing there behind her. He literally had to clear his throat for her to know that he was there.

 

“Ready to go?” He asks her when she finally looks at him.

 

“Honestly, I am not. I mean, yeah my things are all arranged now. But I want to stay.” She pouts, and Jihoon copies her. “Oh my gosh! Did you see that? He just pouted! I should have taken a picture of him!”

 

“You really like children, huh?” Jongin chuckles as he took beside him. Jihoon didn’t look happy when he did. “You can’t have Soojung to yourself, kid.” He tells the him, but he didn’t seem to understand.

 

Soojung lets Jihoon sit down beside Jongin to check on her things. “I think the reason why I love kids is because I’m always the youngest in my group of friends, and in my family.”

 

“Seems reasonable.”

 

Suddenly, Jongin’s cousins came barging in his room without knocking the door. As expected, Jongin gets mad about it but they didn’t really mind him nagging.

 

“I can’t believe you’re leaving already! Jongin told me your flight was much later!” Jinah cries as she threw her arms to hug her. “We only got the chance to hang out once! You’re always with Jongin! I hate him!”

 

“Excuse me? I’m right here?” Jongin waves his hand in front of her.

 

“I know. That’s why I said it.” She sticks her tongue out.

 

“Oh, my son is here. I didn’t even know.” Heechul chuckles after seeing Jihoon at the bed. “What’s up son?!” He raises his hand for a high five, waiting for him to hit it with his, but the baby just looks at him.

 

“I’m sorry. Is Puff unnie worried?” Soojung asks Heechul, who didn’t seem so bothered.

 

“Are you kidding me? She was so happy that Jihoon didn’t sleep in our bedroom that she watched her stupid dramas until midnight.” He then turns to his cousin and asks, “Can Jihoon sleep here with you tonight-”

 

“No, Heechul hyung.” Jongin stops him before he could even finish his sentence.

 

“Noona, please promise me that you’re going to watch me play in a match one time.” Mingyu tells her. “Preferably, a match against Imperium Academy so you could watch me beat Jongin hyung.”

 

Jinah who was standing beside her laughs loudly. She loves how cocky his younger brother could get sometimes just because his team beat them once. “Oh little bro, I love you but Imperium will surely get your next time.”

 

Meanwhile everybody was chatting up and helping Soojung with her things, she notices a quiet Somin standing alone in a corner. She approaches her with a smile and asks her about her knee.

 

“You’re coming back, right?” The little girl asks, ignoring her question. Her heart immediately melts because of her question. Soojung wanted to say yes, but she knows that it’s false.

 

“Sorry baby, but I don’t think we will see each other in months.” She smiles at her softly, tugging a strand of her hair in her ear. “But don’t worry. I’ll tell Jongin to visit you a lot so you two can play, okay?”

 

“But it’s Jongin who’s going to miss you a lot.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Somin glances at her cousins before whispering to her ear. “I think Jongin likes you. He looks at you like Prince Kit does to Ella.”

 

"I see you've seen the live action." She couldn't help but to laugh. She thought that it was cute that a little girl would compare her and Jongin to Disney characters, but what she said was something impossible. "Oh, how I wish I could bring you along with me."

 

 

It was actually Jongin’s first time roaming the streets of downtown Seoul where the crowd would usually go. If only Soojung didn’t request to go there, he wouldn’t really come to that place because it’s where the Ehra High kids would go to hang out.

 

But he wasn’t worried about seeing them. He was more worried about the fact that Soojung was wearing just a coat and a hat when the dress she was wearing inside was really thin. Nevertheless, she looked quite happy and entertained by the bright lights and the people around.

 

“Oh my god! It’s Jinri!”

 

“Jinri? I thought she was in South Africa?” He asks in confusion as he looked for her around the area.

 

“No silly, I meant there.” Soojung points at a very big picture above them that showed her best friend in a makeup advertisement. She was so amazed she had to take a picture of it. “So cool.” She gushed.

 

Both of them stood there admiring their friend’s huge picture, but after smelling food that was coming nearby, they look away at the same time to search where it was coming from. They approach a street food stall but they do not recognize any of the food.

 

“Don’t tell me you’re going to eat one of those.” Jongin whispers.

 

“What’s wrong with eating street foods?” Actually, she hasn’t tried any Korean street food before. It may look a little strange to her eyes, but she wants to try eating it. Jongin hasn’t eaten any street food either so he looked at the food weirdly. “Ahjummah, please give me that.”

 

If she heard the vendor right, the one that she picked was fries coated hot dog bun. She thought it didn’t look nothing like a hot dog, but it was actually quite delicious and she liked it. Jongin just started at his fiancé as she ate her food with one of his eyebrow raised.

 

“Take a bite.” Soojung says, putting it in front of him but he just shakes his head. “Come on, Jongin. Eat it.”

 

“Fine.” He sighs. When he takes a bite, his weirded out expression immediately changes. “Okay, it’s not that bad.”

 

 

The sun finally sets which means Soojung has eventually has to go to the airport. When Jongin’s driver picks them up, they directly headed to the airport after their short but enjoyable trip in Myeongdong.

 

“I honestly had a great time.” She smiles. It was probably her best Christmas ever. “Thank you, Jongin.”

 

“Wait, stay here.” Jongin quickly opens the car’s front door to get something, making Soojunf confused. When he finally got it, he hands her a box that reminded her of the box his mother gave her before. “For you.”

 

“What is this?” She asks, not knowing what it was about.

 

“A Christmas gift. Christmas wouldn’t be completed without a gift.”

 

“What? I don’t have any gifts for you!” She says, panicking a little. “Now I’m feeling guilty. I should have bought you something!”

 

“Just open it, Soojung.”

 

Soojung looks at him before actually opening the box. She wasn’t sure if he was joking, but it didn’t seem like it with his serious expression. Carefully she opens the box, revealing a diamond choker that matched the diamond earring that his mother gave her.

 

Her jaw immediately drops upon seeing it. “It’s stunning.”

 

“Merry Christmas, Soojung.” Jongin, who is now grinning at her, takes it from the box to put it around her neck. When he finishes, he slips his hands around her waist to back hug her again. “I’m sorry you missed The Winter Ball because of me.”

 

“Jongin, stop apologizing to me! You’ve said sorry like a thousand times already!” She laughs as she caressed his cheek. “It’s alright. I don’t even like those fancy balls anyways.”

 

“But Yoon Mirae and Tiger JK performed at the end of the night though.”

 

“They did what?!” She accidentally shouts in shock. She has been a fan of the couple and would do anything to see them. “Jinri didn’t tell me!”

 

“I guess she didn’t want to disappoint you.” He chuckles. "Don't worry. There's another ball coming up before our graduation, and I will surely take you that."

 

“Whatever. Past is past. What matters is the future.” She tells herself not so quietly. “Anyways, thank you so much for this, Jongin. It’s really beautiful.”

 

With a smile, he replies, “You’re welcome.”

 

Jongin doesn’t know why but he always gets lost at Soojung’s big brown eyes. He was about to bid his farewell, but it didn’t come out at first as he was distracted. When he tries for the second time, he suddenly felt Soojung’s hands holding his face and her lips touching his. Shocked but was clearly enjoying it, Jongin kisses back.

 

“It didn't happen last night so…” Soojung says after she breaks off the kiss. “Well, I really have to go.”

 

Still dumbfounded, Jongin was unable to say any words and could just mumble some words, which Soojung takes as a yes. He was frozen so she was the one who hugs him for the last time.

 

“I guess I’ll see you before school start.” She says, holding her luggage. She walks away but stops abruptly when she remembers something, “And oh, advance happy birthday!”

 

When she’s finally out of sight, Jongin finally moves by lifting his hand in the air and jumping happily. Unfortunately for him, when he turns around, he sees his driver, who saw everything from start till the end. He looks at the young heir as if he was a crazy person.

 

“Are you okay, sir?”

 

“Never been better.”

author's note: 

Okay, there may be a little bad news for y'all. The wedding will not happen soon. It's still winter in the story and I was thinking of getting them married on summer. So yeah, we won't be hearing the wedding march so soon. Sorry. 

I think this is probably my favorite chapter so far. I had so much fun writing it. There are also scenes that I didn't intend to add at first, but I thought it would be better if I included it. I hope you all liked it as much as I did. A little spoiler for the next chapter: there will be a flashback.

It's also the last appearance of Jongin's cousins + the kids. It makes me sad because I really love those characters ORZ

Last thing, I made a little video for you guys. I'm not sure if I should call it trailer though, but I was pretty much inspired by this story. I still added the word 'trailer' on the title anyways lmao.