jennie's past is coming back to haunt her, and it was in the form of slicked back hair, an armani suit and a gold watch.

 

"jennie," he smiles coyly, "it's so nice to see you here." 

 

jennie's eyes are wide, and her lips are permanently etched into a downward smile, there was no time for small talk, no, just time for how to avoid this man in a civilized manner. 

 

awkward reunions, she settles for that.

 

"right... hanbin..." she smiles fraudly, her lips shortly afterwards, "i'm kinda in the middle of something right now so why don't we chat later?"

 

he raises a brow, "hm? what is it?"

 

"none of your concerns, i'm sure." she giggles nervously, avoiding having to look at him in the eyes by covering her whole face with the humongous cup of jungle juice.

 

"oh no jennie, i'm allowed in your personal endeavours." he sets down her cup of jungle juice, fingers on hers. then, a smirk climbs into his chapped lips, and it's so devious and enticing at the same time, as like before. his charm never left him, did it?, "after all, i am still your husband."

 

—

 

jennie is a lot of things at nineteen, and one of them is that she was still devoted to the lord... although flawed with her ways on how to follow the rules of the lord, she still definitely got the spirit, and she believed that she was indeed following said rules.

 

one of the things that the bible told her to do... or rather, a twitter thread about the bible... was to never have premarital in the .

 

but since that offer of hanbin and his fraternity ikon felt so good and so expensive (their homemade 36 thousand dollar tape), it had put a lot of thought in her mind.

 

h36kdst (homemade thirty six thousand dollar tape) was in her bucket list of things to do before graduation and she could have some extra cash, but it disobeyed the golden rule of the lord: no premarital ... in the . and if she were going seven ways, she'd need all the holes she can get. 

 

so jennie hatches up a plan.

 

at nineteen, she marries hanbin overnight— a vegas wedding, if you must, but in busan.

 

now she can have it both, that 36kdst and marital ! and little jennie thought she was a genius, after all, she could just divorce him, right?

 

wrong.

 

hanbin proved to be a little . he was bent in his morals (suprisingly) and still thought of marriage as a sacred thing that couldn't have just been thrown away so easily, no matter whether they loved each other or not. to that, jennie argued, 'you've just ed me up with your fraternity members and you still remember your morals?', and he replied 'well you married me, and as a son of a father who left him for a waitress in new york and a single mother struggling to make loose ends meet, i believe that you should honor our marriage'. 

 

mic drop.

 

jennie, thinking this was absurd, burnt all evidences of their marriage, pawned off her ring, and moved to gangnam. and for what seemed like forever, she had succesfully evaded hanbin... like an immigrant with the embassy.

 

that is, until now, because there they both were, in the mini-bar, staring at each other, in faces with emotions neither can comprehend.

 

"i've missed you," hanbin breaks their silence, and then a smirk creeps to his lips, a teasing smirk that did nothing but mock her, "wife."

 

jennie cringes inwardly. "i've mentally broken all ties with you, can you not?"

 

"we're still husband and wife in the papers, and i plan to save that marriage."

 

"hanbin, i was nineteen, i was in crack and i was . this is like marriage — i never consented with a working mind, there is no working marriage; w-we didn't even have a relationship!" 

 

hanbin raises a brow, "collect your thoughts, darling." 

 

jennie lets out a sound that was in between a train whistle and a burning teapot, her face scrunches up and she was sure that she've lost at least two strands of hair in the process. hanbin was being insufferable.

 

"look here. the only two interactions we had in college was when we were on weed in your ing basement and that time we were partners for a class that you didn't even take. the third was when you invited me to that..." jennie cringes, not wanting to say the word, "... that thing. an-and that's it! why are you so emotionally attached to me?" 

 

hanbin lets out a wry laugh.

 

jennie thinks he's on crack, and her face says it all, what, with her gaping mouth and squinted eyes. 

 

that speech and her face doesn't seem to pry hanbin off of her, because, with no hesitation at all, like the snake he is, he rests his whole body nearer, still with an evil smirk on his handsome face, "no, but the documents say so." 

 

"so, why are you torturing me?" she asks, a certain urgency in her tone.

 

"no reason."

 

and jennie thinks that hanbin's just around to push her buttons.

 

she scoffs, eyes on the ceiling, "come on now!" she averts her gaze on hanbin's wide, brown eyes, "i have a hot boyfriend i could be canoodling with right now, hanbin. and if he knows i have a husband, he'll kill me."

 

"let him." hanbin an eyebrow, "i won't stand in your way, promise." he has his hands up like a criminal under arrest, eyes wide.

 

they have a staring contest.

 

jennie glares at him.

 

and he gives up, a dry laugh escaping his throat again, "okay, i was lying. i just really need more drama in my life..." jennie hitches her breath, "...yep, i'm gonna bother you and your little potential boyfriend, that's what i'm gonna do."

 

jennie thinks this is some kind of petty revenge scheme from the universe, like, maybe because she gave all the boys from her class a beej so she could win prom queen and the universe didn't like that, maybe it was that one time she sold off her stepsister's pet goldfish for some crack, maybe it was just her and her crack.

 

she's a changed woman, she wanted to tell the universe. her taxes were enough punishment for her.

 

and as jennie was left dumbfounded, with hanbin disappearing into the crowd with a glass of champagne in his hands, she thinks back to what her conversation with jisoo was pre-supply closet.

 

she was a . and she has to face thaf. she should stop being a .

 

a lightbulb basically drops itself on jennie's head.

 

dramatically, as if she were in a movie, she keeps her eyes onto the direction hanbin disappeared too, a cunning look on her eyes, ominous grin on her lips. 

 

quietly, she whispers under her breath, "game on."

 

—

 

it was eight in the morning