CHAPTER SIXTEEN: 

"Hey" Minhee walked over to Jungmee. 

Jungmee sighed as she fixed her dress. "I can't wait for this day to be over." The wedding ceremony ended quickly. They had signed a civil wedding certificate in the hotel meeting room with the family gathered. It felt more like a business agreement than an actual wedding. There were no decorations just rows of white chairs with light blue ribbons. The huge table had a marriage certificate which she signed. She was officially married to a strange man whom she had no interest or concern in. 

Minhee turned around and watched as her father engaged in a conversation with Mr. Park. They chuckled as they sipped on their drinks. Her father was getting older and noticed the crow's feet on the side of his eyes when he smiled. She never noticed it before. 

"It's okay." Minhee fixed Jungmee's hair. It was pulled up into a loose bun with the framing bangs sticking out. It looked elegant yet casual. She wondered how her sister could pull such a look. 

"Congratulations." A middle-aged woman approached Jungmee. "You are going to make such a lovely wife." 

"Thank you." Jungmee bowed and watched as the older woman patted her back and walked off. "I don't even know who she is." She scoffed as she looked around the room for an empty table to sit at with her sister. 

"Does Taehyung know?" Minhee asked as they walked off to sit together at a table. The wedding ceremony ended quickly and all the guests were walked to the reception in the hall across the wedding room. 
There was a couple of decorations in the room. A couple of round tables with light blue lilies in the middle as a centerpiece. The chairs have ribbons made of silk behind them.

Alcohol and champagne were served at a small bar and small appetizers were being served for the guest before the meal and cake. 

"Yeah," Jungmee sighed as she pulled on her white dress. "I hate this dress so much." 

Minhee looked at her sister and sighed. "Do you know anything about Park Jinhwan?" They both adverted their eyes to the tall handsome man standing on the other side of the room. Jungmee had engaged only in one conversation with the man. 

"Yeah." Jungmee laughed remembering the conversation. 

"What's so funny?" Minhee furrowed her eyebrows. Her sister was acting weird and had never seen her act this odd before. 

"Before the ceremony, he approached me to tell me that he still had a girlfriend. This is all a stunt for our parents and that he simply has no interest in me." Jungmee laughed. "I told him to off and leave me alone." 

"What did he say?" Minhee asked as she looked back at her sister. 

"He told me he won't be living with me. He has an apartment for himself and that he not interested in me at all. Honestly, I am so glad because he is such a conceited jerk." Jungmee laughed again. "I would hate living with him." 

"Oh," Minhee whispered. It suddenly became awkward between the two sisters. Jungmee grabbed a drink and silently took a sip of her champagne. 
"How is the baby?" Jungmee smiled as she looked down at Minhee's tummy. It was not as noticeable as she had expected it to be. Minhee was doing a good job at hiding it under her beautiful purple jeweled dress. She had a silky see-through scarf covering her tummy, nobody had questioned her so far. 

"Thirteen weeks." Minhee smiled. The thought of carrying a child that belonged to Jimin put a smile on her face. Despite her not being with him, she was happy to have something that reminded her of Jimin.

"Have you thought of names?" Jungmee asked as she took another sip of her drink. 
"Nope." Minhee sighed. She looked around hoping no one would hear what she was about to say next. "I am going to the ultrasound soon and I am hoping Jimin can come with me." 
"How are you going to do it?" Jungmee asked. 
"I was wondering if you can come with us. Dad is going to think it will be just you and me but I really want Jimin to come too. He needs to find out the gender of our child." Minhee responded. "I was wondering if you would be willing to help me?" 
"I would love too!" Jungmee smiled as she looked around the room. She found her father staring at them both with a cold stare. "I got an idea."

Minhee stared at her sister and chuckled a bit when she noticed her sly smile spread across her lips. 

"What are you guys doing?" Hoseok asked as he walked over to the back of the house. The girls were wearing their sweatpants and throwing logs into the pit. Jungmee had let go of her hair and removed the thick layer of makeup that covered her face. Minhee has removed the dazzled hairpins she wore and put her long hair into a bun. It was getting curlier, just like their mother's. 
"Burning our wedding dresses," Minhee answered as she poked the log with a stick. 
Jungmee grabbed a can of soda and took a sip of it. She proceeded to open a bag of chips and pop a couple into , making crunchy noises.
"Don't you think dad is going to get mad?" Hoseok looked around hoping their father would not see this. 
"Who cares?" Jungmee replied as she grabbed the match and threw it inside the pit. The pit engulfed in flames. "Perfect!"

Minhee and Jungmee clapped hands. "You go first Minhee," Jungmee responded as she took a seat on the chair and watched as Minhee brought out the dress. She tossed it into the flames and watched as it went from white to black within a matter of seconds. Minhee chuckled loudly. 
"This is fun!" She smiled as she took her seat next to Jungmee. 
Hoseok looked up and noticed their father standing at the balcony of the second floor. He glared at his daughters as they continued to throw their wedding items. 
"Are you throwing your rings too?" Hoseok asked bringing his attention back to the girls. 
"No, we will be donating those." Minhee smiled. "Instead of keeping them, we will donate them to some charities so they can sell them and get money for them."

Hoseok took a seat next to Jungmee and watched as she continued poking the burned dresses. 
"Dad is watching," Hoseok stated as he sank into his seat. 
"Don't care." Jungmee shrugged, she turned her head towards Hoseok. "What is he going to do? Kick us out of the house?" 
Hoseok nodded his head and continued watching as Minhee threw the veil into the pit. 

"That's it, out of here." Mr. Lee snapped and approached the girls as he noticed them throwing more things into the pit. " I am sick of the attitude coming from both of you." 
Minhee immediately stood up from her seat and looked down at her shoes. Somehow she still managed to be afraid of her father. Jungmee continued sipping on her drink and throwing more things in the pit. However, she was also afraid of her father, her fingers trembled as she threw pieces of her wedding dress.
"Jungmee!" Mr. Lee exclaimed. "Stop it now!" 
Jungmee sighed and stood up from her chair. She grabbed the bucket of water and threw it on the pit to diminish the fire. She took another sip of her drink and walked past her father, ignoring him. 
"See ya later Hoseok." She waved back and lazily walked inside the house to get her purse and head to her new home. 

"Good night Hoseok." Minhee stated as she follows after her sister. She quickly glanced at her father and whispered "Good night"

"I am so done with these girls." Mr. Lee stated as he brought up the hose to completely turn off the fire. 
Hoseok watched as the father continued throwing water from the hose. He quietly walked back inside the house and stormed up to his bedroom. 
The house felt emptier now that the girls were no longer here. It was quieter nowadays with him being alone. Yoongi was constantly working and sending off Minjung to daycare. Same with Namjoon. Hoseok was all alone in the house, trying to find peace with himself. However, he could not take it. He was going insane as every single day passed. His parents were back for the weekend and were going to stay a couple of days. He was having a hard time communicating with Mr. Lee because of what he did. He removed the two happiest people in his life and he hated that. Hoseok felt happier when the girls were around but now he feels empty.

After watching the girls leave, he marched into his room and quietly sat on his mattress. He sighed as he thought about his sisters, he wished he could speak up and confront his stepfather for all the pain he was causing. Hoseok walked over to his nightstand and picked his prescribed bottle. He stated at the carved fine print that had his name and the type of antidepressant he was consuming. He snapped open the bottle and jingled the pills within the bottle. It sounded like music to his ears. He grabbed one pill and swallowed it without water. He laid back down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling. 
"I wish I was dead." He whispered as he closed his eyes. "Life would be better." 
 

Minhee arrived at her home. She quietly opened the front door and removed her shoes at the entrance. 
"Where have you been?" She heard the cold distant voice ask behind her. She froze as she heard his cold footsteps approach her. "Minhee?" He whispered as she brought his hand to her shoulder. 
"I was hanging out with Jungmee." Shelved away from him and turned to stare at him. "She wanted to have a get-together." 
Why am I answering him? Minhee asked. He is not important to me, he is not someone I love. He is not my Jimin. 
Jungkook smacked his lips together. He absolutely hated how she flinched at any sudden touch from him. "Be careful." Jungkook sighed. "I don't want y