Chapter 4

-2023-

Jennie anxiously dropped off the twins at the kindergarten. It had been a week since they arrived but she only had the courage to let them go now.

She cried when she saw them enter their classroom without even looking back. All of a sudden, the past few months came crashing back and the fear of losing the girls caused pain on her chest.

Knowing that she had to talk to talk to someone about it, she went to a familiar café that she often went to whenever she was in town. She checked herself on the rearview mirror, making sure it wasn’t obvious that just shed tears a few minutes earlier. It took her a few moments to calm down and to step out of her car.

The interior had always been the same as the one she usually come to during the time she was in medical school. But this particular branch had large glass windows where the customers could enjoy the view of the sea and the beautiful Jeju sunset.

“Jen! Boss is in his office right now.” Lisa, the pretty Thai barista said as soon as she saw Jennie. Every other baristas stopped what they were doing to give Jennie their hello’s, knowing that she was close to their boss.

Jennie walked towards the other side of the café and entered her bestfriend’s office without even knocking. 

Minho held up his hand and motioned that he was on the phone and gestured her to take seat on the couch. She accepted his offer and took a seat. 

She found herself restless, trying to figure out on what to say to her bestfriend. For sure, she’s going to talk about the girls. But how could she say that a world star was staying with them? And the fact that she never for once mentioned of her little encounter with Hanbin 5 years ago, she got even more nervous. 

“Sorry about that. Business emergency. I had to fly out tonight since the new investor at the Gangnam and Apgujeong branches got sick and decided to withdraw all his investments. Had to troubleshoot so there wouldn’t be a delay in the opening of shops.” Minho explained. 

Jennie had always been good at hiding her emotions. She didn’t want to burden him by telling him that she was having a hard time. But she always knew that though Minho was a busy man, he would drop anything just for her. He was a successful businessman who could stay anywhere, but he chose to constantly come back to Jeju. This made her pause and rethink what she wanted to say.

“This is why you can’t find yourself a girlfriend! You’re married to your work! You’ve been flying around 200x a year for business meetings, I bet you haven’t been home for a while now.” Jennie teased.

“You know home is where you are, Jen.” He responded, making Jennie uncomfortable. 

There had always been this line between the two of them that he would sometimes cross. Jennie wouldn’t deny that there were many instances that she would imagine what her life would be if she would just give in to him. He was trustworthy, sweet, and familiar. But with his constant flying around and her fear that a relationship might ruin such a beautiful friendship, she would constantly wave off those thoughts.

“I dropped the girls to preschool.” Jennie said, changing the topic. She saw Minho flinch, and she knew fully well that her changing the topic hurt him a little. But she’d rather hurt him little by little by her vague rejection than lose him forever.

“That’s why your eyes are all red,” Minho noted. “They’re just in preschool, Jen. No one’s gonna take them away again— especially that you’ve quit your job and can focus on taking care of them.” 

Jennie became silent when she was hit with another truth. She quit her job. It was getting real now.

“You miss your job. I know you do. This is what I’ve been telling you. We can just get married to fool those social workers and that way, if you’re at work, I can take care of them.” Minho reminded her. This was one of the reasons why Jennie knew he would drop anything for her. But she couldn’t do that. She knew he deserved someone who was better than her.

“You know I couldn’t let you do that. You deserve to get married to someone who’s in love with you.” Jennie said like it was a bullet shot straight to Minho’s heart. 

Translation: Jennie wasn’t in love with him— a truth that he had to accept.

Not wanting to create another awkward silence, Jennie changed the topic—something she would often do to avoid things that she wasn’t comfortable with.

“Sua asked about their dad.” 

“And did you distract her and changed the topic.” Minho words were sharp knives. He was clearly hurt.

Jennie felt the blades from the truths that came out of his mouth. They’ve been bestfriends way too long for him not to know how she cope.

“I don’t think that they’re ready for the answer, Min.” She replied.

“No, Jen. You’re the one who isn’t ready.” He rebutted.

Deep down inside, Jennie knew that Minho was right. 

———

Jennie was about to exit the shop when she saw Lisa, Dahyun and Seulgi (3 of Minho’s barista) squealing behind the counters. They were all busy watching something over someone’s phone.

Jennie Kim wasn’t the type to poke her nose on other people’s business but she stopped on her track as soon as she heard his name—Kim Hanbin. She pretended to look for something inside her bag as she began to eavesdrop over the trio’s conversation.

“I’m sure that’s him! When he tried to reach the doll on the top shelf, his hip tattoo peeked out! No iKONIC would mistake that for something else. It’s really Kim Hanbin!” Dahyun said.

“But what is he doing in a local toy store? I would understand if he’s action figures of his favorite anime but dolls? I’m sure Hanbyul’s way past that phase already.” Lisa questioned.

“You’re missing that whole point Lis! Kim Hanbin is in a toy store just a block away from here! It’s not rush hour yet, should we ask permission from Boss to take a 15 minute break? Hyunsukie and Byounggonie can cover for us.” Seulgi suggested.

The 3 girls nodded their head and began to walk towards their boss’ office and that’s what triggered Jennie to walk again. She knew that she shouldn’t have to worry about him since he was an adult anyway, but she was uneasy just leaving him to handle his fans.

She drove towards the only local toy s