❝JUSTDON'TUNDERSTAND❞

“Dad, no!”

Vickie loves her dad.  She really does.  After she was born, and after her mom died four years later, he took care of her.  He put up with her and her complaints, comments, actions, decisions that affected Wu Zheng as much as they affected Vickie.  She was a careless little girl, and when Wu Zheng had to leave her alone in Taiwan to go to Seoul for his job, she learned how to be mature.  Vickie cannot thank him enough for teaching her to stand on her two feet, but now it's like the ground beneath her wants to swallow her whole.

They lived in Taiwan together for eleven years of her life, and then Vickie lived alone with her grandmother in Taiwan for the next two years.  Their hometown was in Taipei, but Vickie called it Tai-lung because they only lived some miles away from Keelung.  Tai-lung, for her, was a combination of the busy Taipei and the much-calmer Keelung.  There were less cars, but it was still excessive.  Their little house was in the Pingxi District, where they hold the yearly Lantern Festival.  The house was near the river, and it was very amazing, day or night, festival or none.

Tai-lung was beautiful, but now Vickie feels like it's the last place on Earth she would want to go to.

“Vickie.”  Jinki placed his hand over Vickie's.  It was forming into a fist; her jaws were shivering.  Not many noticed the small fit she was having, but they still looked when they heard the thud she made on the table.

“Vickie, dear, I...”  Wu Zheng sighed.  He was still talking in Mandarin, so as to not bother Jinki with the matter.  “I know you love it here, but we just have to go back to Taipei, our hometown.”

“Your hometown, dad.  Seoul is my hometown now.”  Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes.  Her voice was shaking;  Jinki tightened his hand around hers.

Wu Zheng laid his eating utensils on his plate.  “I don't know any other way to tell you, Vickie, honestly.  But I do know that we must go back.”

“Why?  After seven years, why now?”

Vickie didn't need an answer, neither did she want one.  Wu Zheng still answered her though.  “Your grandmother passed away yesterday evening and she needs us to take over her business since I'm the only child, and you're her only grand-daughter.”

Vickie only sighed.  She briefly closed her eyes, and tear droplets fell from both.  Her eyes were lined with tears, eyelashes glared with the lights of the bar.  Her eyes twinkled solemnly.  Wu Zheng began tearing up as well, something that has never happened since Vickie was four years old.

Wu Zheng's mother had developed a business operating in lights and electricity.  She produced a light bulb that took energy from the sunlight, even if it wasn't plugged in, and the bulb never turned warm, no matter how bright the light it was making.  This had given Song Electric Company a strongly established name in the line of businesses in Asia.  And with success came money, and with money came rivals, so Wu Zheng's mother signed a last will of testament saying her company was to be in the hands of her only son, Wu Zheng, after her death.

It has all been written and made legal, and Wu Zheng can't back out on his new responsibility.  Convincing Vickie to come back to Taiwan was much harder than he had thought though, unfortunately.

Vickie stood up, walking away from the table.  She wiped her eyes with her arms, brushing past all the customers on her way to the ladies' restroom, right behind the stage.

Jinki looked over to Wu Zheng, staring at him and telepathically asking him if he should follow Vickie or not.  “Please do”  was Wu Zheng's faint reply to Jinki, softly sobbing and wiping his eyes.

Jinki successfully caught up to Vickie.  He grabbed her arm as fast as possible so that she would stop in her tracks.  “Vickie, what's going on?”

“Something...  you shouldn't care about.”

“I care about it, Vickie.  Tell me, please.”  Jinki begged.  Vickie didn't turn around to face him—she did not want him to feel pity for her.  She wanted to be strong, or at least look like it.  Her guards were letting her down, however.

“It's nothing, Jinki—”

“No!”  Jinki felt Vickie gasp.  He's never raised his voice on her before.  “I'm sorry.  I just want to know.  I don't like it when you cry, remember?”

Vickie gave up.  She turned around, and her face was mushed up from all that crying in one whole day.  “Taiwan.  Dad said we're going to have to go back to Taiwan.”

Jinki just blinked at her.  Vickie brushed his hand away from her arm and began walking towards the restroom when Jinki caught ahold of her, hugging her from the back.

And that was when Vickie realized the sadness she's feeling right now was nothing compared to the wonderful days she had for the past seven years.  The first three years were amazing, but once she had entered college and met Jinki... everything seemed magical.  It wasn't like unicorns and pegasi roaming everywhere kind of magical, but it was like suddenly everything made perfect sense.

Suddenly, things were more clearer, more understandable, as if Vickie never had to worry about anything at all.  She felt like she was safe, like nothing bad will ever happen as long as Jinki was close to her.  And right now, everything was happening all at once.

Jinki turned her around, and as they looked into each other's eyes, the many moments they spent together replayed and replayed.  When it all stopped and they were mindful of their surroundings, the space between them was lessened by Jinki, their faces inching closer.

Then that kiss Jinki had been longing to happen, happened.