ACT VI | SCENE XXVIII

❝COFFEE & CAKE❞

NEITHER OF THEM said anything to each other as the waitress placed their coffee and cakes on the table. "anything else?" she plastered a smile on her face, lashes batting flirtatiously in jimin's direction. he shook his head, smiling politely. "no, thanks."

jangmi took a sip of her latte. "you're quite the ladies' man." she remarked into her cup, amusement in her voice. he watched her as she placed the cup back on the table. she seemed relaxed, which was something he'd never seen whenever they were alone. "i'm not." he shook his head, staring at his cappuccino. "right. work comes first." she mumbled. "actually, second." he corrected. she leaned back, pinning him with a curious look. "what's first then?" she inquired. he stared at her for a moment, taking in the fact that she seemed interested in what he was saying. "rosalie."

she smiled slightly. "that's good, i guess." she bobbed her head, cutting a small piece of her angel cake and forking it into her mouth. it basically melted in her mouth in soft sweet creamy goodness. jimin had to press his lips together not to chuckle at the look of pleasure that passed over her face. he lifted his cup to his lips when his mouth still curved up involuntarily, taking a small sip. "how was it? living in france." he asked, eyes moving back to her. she paused for a moment, eyes moving up in thought. "it was quite interesting. fun and different. especially since we were living in a chateau."

"did you stay in the chateau a lot?" he asked. "with hoseok visiting and being friends with brigitte?" she raised a brow. "i went to paris a lot, mostly because hoseok always wanted to visit the louvre. and bordeaux with aunt nayeon for business. or to lyon to visit her husband's niece. i wasn't just stuck in champagne."

"sounds like you travelled a lot." he remarked. she nodded. "once, hoseok, brigitte and i even went to andorra for a weekend. he had some event to organise there and they forced me to go because they thought i needed to have fun."

"andorra?" he repeated. "yeah. it's this small country very close to france. it's gorgeous." she told him. "ah, clearly you had more fun than i did." he commented, taking another sip of his coffee. "i'm sure work must have taken you out of the country or at least seoul a couple of times." she looked at him. "yeah. only to do more work."

"sounds to me like you're complaining." she pointed out. "i was only stating a fact." he countered, taking a bite of his cake. he nodded his agreement with her earlier reaction, it tasted amazing. "you can never give in, can you?" she folded her arms over her chest. "it's not so much that i can't as i won't." he corrected. she scoffed lightly, shaking her head. "you're impossible."

"as are you." he retorted. she tilted her head to the side, an incredulous look colouring her face. "that's where it comes from." she muttered to herself, stabbing off a piece of cake. "where what comes from?" he asked, unable to hide the curiosity in his voice. "i wasn't talking to you."

"really?" he quirked a brow at her, a judgmental look passing over his face. "what? i really wasn't talking to you." she stated defensively. the look remained on his face. her hands came around her cup as she sighed. "i was just thinking of rosalie." she let out. "she does this thing where she always gets her way. and it just occurred to me that she gets that from you."

"it seems to be a park trait." he mused, resting his chin on his palm. "bora doesn't seem like that though." she noted. "that's because she's the best person in our family." he smiled, lifting his fork and digging into his slice of cake. "that i agree with." she nodded.

"jangmi?" he called after a moment of silence filled by the sound of forks hitting plate. "hmm?" she glanced at him. "how was it being pregnant?" his voice was the softest it had been all day. she let out a heavy breath, eyes moving down to her cake as she pushed it around a bit. "according to hoseok, i was twice as annoying. i cried over everything and i ate like a horse. but most of all, it was scary."

"what happened?" he questioned, leaning in a bit. "being pregnant wasn't so easy for me, probably because i had rosalie young coupled with my small size. during my third trimester, i started having these horrible pains and i was bleeding a lot close to my due date. the doctors said it was a placental abruption. something about the placenta coming off the lining of my uterus. and i had to get a caesarean because of excessive bleeding and attempting a natural birth would have been way too risky."

"that must have been so scary." jimin sounded breathless. "i thought i was going to lose her. it was the most frightening thing." jangmi's eyes became glossy and she moved her gaze down. the memory still scared her whenever she thought of it. "so you and rosalie could have died. that's why you named her gijeog." he blinked repeatedly, understanding the full weight of his daughter's korean given name.

"oh my god." his fingers brushed through his hair, eyes glancing out the window. his heart was beating painfully against his chest as he imagined never seeing jangmi again or rosalie dying before he ever got to meet her. he swallowed, adam's apple bobbing with the action. he shook his head, not wanting to think about it.

"is there anything else?" he brought his gaze back to her. "no." she lied, staring down at her half eaten cake. "well, nothing as serious." she added as an afterthought, knowing a half truth was better. "why didn't you tell me?" jimin questioned, unable to get over the fact that jangmi would knowingly neglect to inform him of such a vital part of her pregnancy life. he regarded as she mulled over his question quietly, trying to decipher the emotions that ran over her face.

"look, it's not something i like to talk about. i wouldn't take back any of it because it brought me the best thing i could ask for." she finally answered, gaze meeting his, her golden brown eyes catching the sunlight so that they seemed to glow like two gold coins. his breath caught in his chest as he remembered how his heart used to stop whenever that happened. he glanced away from her and down at his coffee, sniffing a bit.

"you should've at least said something." he mumbled, his thumb tracing over the rim of his cup. she pursed her lips to stop herself from a biting retort. why didn't he get it? talking about it made her uncomfortable and agitated. it was something she wished she could just erase from her memory - the suffocating fear that she was going to lose the most important person in her life before she could meet her. "i never brought it up because i'd rather not..." she paused and let out a sigh. "i wish i could forget it. the fear of losing my family again." her voice was low.

all the fight in jimin went out at that. he took in a sharp breath. "okay, i get it. but please, don't keep things like this away from me." he laced his fingers through each other, pinning her with a serious stare. she sighed, nodding her head. she forked more cake into her mouth, eyes down again. jimin stared at her, hoping she'd keep her promise. even though she'd probably hoped the same all those years ago only for him to break every one he ever made.

"friends?"

"friends."

☀☀☀

not sure if i ever added this in the past chapters but gijeog means miracle, so rosalie is literally jangmi's miracle (reference to word choice in scene ii). even though jimin and jangmi still have outstanding issues, at least their friends now. yay?
a bit more spicy drama coming up so get your popcorn ready ;)