CHAPTER ELEVEN 

Take It Too Fast

[ Author's note: This chapter has a lot of flashbacks necessary for the story---please bear with me :D ]
 

[ Jimin's. ]

[ 5 Months, 1 Week, 5 Days. ]

Take it slow. 

That's what Minjeong said as we finished our conversation that day, just in time for Ate Seulgi to enter the room and freak out over what happened to her cousin.

I didn't have time to think about it since I had to do something about Jeno Lee—a restraining order isn't enough, I needed him out of town. 

But Minjeong tells me to go easy on him—even if I didn't want to, I knew I had to obey her.

The good news is, I already posted an announcement dun sa bulletin board in the middle of the town na off limits muna ang farm ko from boys—at least, hindi nasingle out si Jeno dun sa prohibition, like what Minjeong wanted.

I don't know why she's still kind to him after he made bangas to her face; basta, I don't like him. No, I hate him now. 

Para hindi ako maguilt trip with the construction the boys did, I already paid them with their services—I cut a lot of money from Jeno's, and Minjeong didn't dare disagree with me about that.

With the wooden house, it was still a little rickety and fragile even with the repairs so we decided to just use it as a storage, and I moved out from Aling Pacing's BnB to the room Minjeong's been using for a while now.

I struck a deal with the hopeful Ate Seulgi to let me stay there, though I had to sleep on an extra mat the first two nights since it felt awkward for both of us to sleep together after what I said.

In the third night, Minjeong let me sleep beside her—I didn't sleep a lot that night, since I was kept awake by my restless thoughts and I was afraid that I'd hurt her wounds if I stirred around in my sleep.

Fourth, fifth, all the way to the seventh night, medyo nasanay na ako katabi siya matulog. Both of us didn't really have anyone to share a room with, much less one bed while growing up, so it took some time to strike a rhythm, but eventually we did.

The downside is, I woke up with a lot of pictures of the two of us sleeping soundly together in my camera, probably Chaewon's doing, but I didn't really mind that.

"Kelan mo kakausapin si Mang Tomas?" Minjeong asked me that on the seventh night—I've put it off for so long that I forgot about it, but I knew na I needed to confront him or I'm going to lose my mind.

I turned towards her, smiling a little as I saw the tips of her ears turn red while she's just looking straight up at the ceiling. 

"What do you think?"

"I think kailangan mo yun para sa sarili mo," she says, finally turning to me and looking at me eye to eye. "Closure, ganern. Sasamahan naman kita, if need mo ng tagasapak."

I raised my brow at that. 

"You couldn't even—"

"Bla bla bla, Jimin. Basta, sasamahan kita dun if need mo."

I smiled at that, nodding as I inched my hand closer to her hand, wanting to hold it under the sheets.

"Tomorrow siguro?" I said, though I'm still unsure. "I still don't want to see his face, but I know I deserve the truth, at least."

"Tama behavior," sagot ni Minjeong, yawning while stretching her limbs though she winced as she hit a bruise that must still hurt. "Tulog na tayo, Jimin."

Her fingers brushed slightly with mine, and I pouted as she took her hand away but then she moved her hand to interlace my fingers with hers, while she stared at me momentarily before turning her back towards me.

Gosh… she used her right hand to hold my hand then she turned to face her right, so I'm practically hugging her right now.

"Para kang bata," she says as I feel myself getting stolen by dreamland little by little. "Kailangan, hawak kamay pa pagtulog?"

"You like it anyway," I said, and thank God she's turned away from me since I turned red with what she said next.

"Yeah, I do."

"G-Goodnight, Minjeong."

"Sweet dreams, Jimin."

…that was last night, at mukhang nagcarry over yung pamumula ng mukha ko this morning, since Chaewon was literally teasing me through her eyes nung breakfast.

(What if I want us to be too fast?)

I sat next to Minjeong for breakfast ulit, and she immediately gave me some sinangag and the ulam like clockwork, like what she's been doing for me ever since I started to live with them.

She's been like this ever since masapak siya, and I don't hate the attention at all.

In fact, I really like it… a lot.

"Anong agenda niyo for today?" biglang tanong sa amin ni Ate Seulgi na kanina pa tahimik while drinking her morning coffee.

"We're going to talk to Mr. Tomas today." mahina kong sabi, testing the waters a little on how she'll react.

"Oh," Ate Seulgi says, then staring at Minjeong who's looking away from her. "What for?"

"Magsosorry lang kasi dinekwat namin yung tools niya noon," Minjeong lies, and hopefully Ate Seulgi—or even Chaewon—don't see through it. "Alam mo naman Ate, ayoko nung may kaaway dito kahit papaano."

"Pero nandun si Jaemin," Ate Seulgi says, her brow raised in curiosity. "Possible din na nandun si Jeno, if ever."

Oh. "Ate—"

"Wala na ako pakielam dun," natatawang sabi ni Minjeong while she's stabbing another piece of bacon with her fork. "Ako na yung nasapak, ako pa yung iiwas? Dapat loud and proud ako."

I fight the urge to laugh at her antics, so I just stuff my mouth with food and pray that I live through the day with her adorable antics in full display right beside me.

It was 10 am when we finished with house chores and got ready to leave for another busy day outside. We were walking side by side to Mr. Tobias' shop, and for funsies I did something while I checked myself in the bathroom kanina.

"Ang lakas ng trip mo, Jimin." Minjeong says with a laugh as she points at the bridge of my nose, for I had put an alligator bandaid on it, the same design as what I stuck on her face this morning.

"It's cute kaya!" I said in defense, pushing it into my skin and making sure it's still stuck on me. 

"Cute ba talaga, o gusto mo lang na matchy-matchy tayo? Ikaw Jimin, ha." she says with her brows wriggling up and down, and I grin at her.

"What if I do?"

(Dear baby bunot, I don't wanna take it slow anymore.)

"Baliw!"

I laugh out loud as she whines at me for making banat to her, and once again we're lost in our own world that I do not want to leave anytime soon.

(Dear Jimin, what if I'm wrong when I said I wanted to take this slow?)

Without even realizing it, we were already in front of Mr. Tobias' shop. I took a breath in and then a breath out, and when I couldn't move Minjeong took it upon herself to tug me towards the inside of his shop.

"Mang Tomas," pagtawag niya, and as I hear that man's steps growing closer to us, I wonder if I can even get through this. 

"Mang Tomas, nandito na po kami."

He emerged from the back of his shop, and the first thing he did was wipe his dirty hands on a towel he put around his neck and smiled at me.

"Kamukhang kamukha ka ni Jooyoung, 'nak."

You got this, Jimin, I said to myself, trying to fight back tears as he mentioned my mother in front of me.

"Tell me about him," I said as sternly as I could. "Gusto kong malaman lahat."

"Umupo muna kayo," mahinang sabi niya as he dusted off two chairs for us and then flipped the OPEN sign sa labas ng store niya into CLOSED. "Maglalabas lang ako ng inumin, tapos sasabihin ko lahat."

He disappeared into the back of his shop again, and I feel Minjeong's hand sliding into mine.

"Nandito lang ako," she mouthed, and I nod at that just in time for Mr. Tobias enters the room again, a full pitcher of iced tea and three cups on both hands.

"Where do I start…" he says as he pours us a drink.

[ Jooyoung loves Thomas, she just hates him at the start ]

(To understand the present, you must dive back to the past—at least, that's what Jimin thinks, as she stares at Minjeong who does not want to remember it at all.)

Jooyoung first meets Thomas when she arrives at the farm and finds him absolutely covered in mud, with a pig running endlessly across the whole plot.

"Hello," Thomas greets her, unaware that he's talking to the favorite child of Jang Hyun-seung, his present employer. 

"What are you doing…?" Jooyoung asks, confused as to why this man is chasing a grown pig on her father's property—the only answer he could give is a sheepish grin that Jooyoung is effortlessly annoyed at.

"Wala kasi kayong ulam—"

"What?!"

Jooyoung does not eat dinner that night, the first night she spent at the farm ever since she got divorced with Younghoon, and it's no thanks to this guy who kept smiling at her every chance he gets.

"My parents' first meeting is literally at a hunt for dinner…?" I trailed off, and Minjeong almost laughed if not for the fact that she's trying to focus on getting all the answers we needed with this.

"Kinwento lang sa akin ni Thomas noon, tapos tandang tanda ko pang nagrereklamo si Jooyoung kasi nakakairita daw ang kapatid ko." Tobias says with a laugh, taking a momentary sip before moving on.

[ Jooyoung loves Thomas, though she would deny it over and over again ]

"…and he grins like crazy, I don't even know why! Ugh, I'm so annoyed at him!"

Jooyoung frowns as she hears Younghoon laugh at the other line, and somehow she has an urge to just end the call on him—she hears her already three year old baby Jaehyun's cries on the background, and she decides to stay even just for a while.

["Jooyoung, I don't mean to offend you pero kahit sa text, he's all you can talk about. Are you absolutely sure you don't like him?"]

Curse Younghoon and his innate ability to just ship people together, including himself.

"Younghoon, hindi ako natutuwa—"

["Wait lang, hold. Umiiyak si Jaehyun. Pag-isipan mong mabuti yan, Joo. Alam mo naman ang tatay mo, mas malisyosa pa sa lintik—"]

"Language, Young!" Jooyoung exclaims, and she could practically feel Younghoon rolling his eyes at her.

["When are you going back ba? Hinahanap ka sa akin ni Jeonghun, and I'm not even your caretaker or your husband na."] 

Jooyoung thinks that the two arranged marriages her father had concocted for her had all been utter bull and unmendable failures—Jeonghun was too conceited and too ambitious, while Younghoon… Well, let's just say Younghoon is okay, but it wasn't really meant to be.

Jooyoung was sick of her father pushing her to these relationships without even a second thought—this time, she'd take matters into her own hands and crush it herself.

But first, she had to deal with this guy persistently knocking on her door at ing nine am.

"What is it—"

"Namitas ako ng mangga," Thomas says with that g