ACT VII | SCENE XXXIII

❝KIMCHI❞

JANGMI HUMMED AS she made breakfast. rosalie was still fast asleep in her room and jangmi wanted to keep a cheerful front in case she woke up. she was starving though, having skipped dinner the night before.

she had woken up earlier on her bed, no jimin in sight unsurprisingly. she did feel grateful for him showing up and making her feel better. she hadn't been able to bring herself to tell any of her friends the events of yesterday. even when brigitte had woken her with a call to let her know she had arrived in france in one piece.

she paused when she heard the doorbell ring. wiping her hands with a towel, she made her way to the front door. she was surprised to see who stood behind it. racking her brain for a few seconds to remember her name, she put on a smile, hand holding the door close to her. "jeon nari, yes?"

the chirpy woman nodded. "hello, han jangmi." she said, almost stiffly. "how did you find me? and, uh, why are you here?" jangmi questioned, feeling wary of the woman's presence following the events of the previous day, not ready for any more drama at the moment. "may i come in?"

"sure." she pushed the door open wider, stepping to the side to let her in. "i'm making breakfast so we'll have to talk in the kitchen." she informed as she shut the door before leading the way to her kitchen. "so what brings you here?" she resumed her cooking as nari sat on one of the chairs at the dining table.

"uh..." nari glanced around at the house. she caught sight of the small cat pawing at a blue ball underneath her at the end of the table. she raised a brow, noticing its resemblance to the cats she had seen at the parks' a few times. "i just had a few questions." she tore her gaze away from it.

jangmi paused in the middle of pulling out dishes for a short moment. "okay. you can ask." she smiled slightly. just then, they heard the door being unlocked, pulling their attention away from each other. hoseok made his usual dramatic entrance. "your sunshine is here..." he trailed off as he realised jangmi was not the only one there. she chuckled at his expression. "hello," he glanced at the other woman in the room.

"hello," she looked at him curiously. "hobi, this is jeon nari. jeon nari, this is jung hoseok." jangmi introduced, amusement still dancing in her eyes at hoseok's confused yet curious expression as he dipped his head down politely at nari who did the same.

"so sunshine," jangmi chimed teasingly. "what have you got for me?" her eyes shot to the wrapped package in his hand. "my mum sent me a whole lot of kimchi yesterday and she asked me to bring you some, so here i am and..." he paused, staring at her. "what the hell happened to your face?" moving closer, he brushed her hair out of her face, fingers grazing over her now darkening bruise.

jangmi sighed. she had forgotten all about her unhidden bruise. "not now." she answered pointedly. "fine. we'll talk about this later." he let go for the moment. "what about my little angel?" he changed the subject. "she's still sleeping."

"mummy?" they heard a tiny voice down the hall. "or not." jangmi added. "mummy's in the kitchen, mon amour." she called out. rosalie's tiny feet padded towards the kitchen. "hey, angel." hoseok scooped the sleepy girl up in his arms. "uncle hobi!" she chirped. "whoa! let's go brush your teeth." hoseok scrunched his nose.

rosalie pressed her hand over mouth, giggling at his face. "go clean up and come eat breakfast, okay?" jangmi smiled. "okay, mimi." hoseok chimed as the girl nodded and walked out of the kitchen.

she turned her attention back to nari. "sorry about that." she smiled at the woman. "it's okay." nari replied. "so you said you had a few questions." she placed the bowls on the table. "um, i just wanted to know about you and jimin." nari stated. "what about me and jimin?" jangmi glanced up from the table at her.

"your relationship." nari expatiated, lacing her fingers together on the table. "relationship?" she cocked a brow. "jimin and i are just friends, if that's what you want to know." she stated. "you have nothing to worry about. you two have a thing. i'm not going to come between you. even though i never planned to, i got a little reminder." she gestured to her face.

"i'm sorry about that." nari apologised. "no need for you to apologise. it's not like you did this to me." jangmi shrugged. "is that all you came here for?" she folded her arms over her chest. nari pursed her lips, a bit hesitant to speak. "i was curious. jimin never mentioned a kid in all the time i've known him. i mean, i understand him not exactly wanting to broadcast having a child out of wedlock but i feel like it would've slipped out at least once."

"that's because he didn't know about rosalie until a while back." jangmi continued to set the table. "he didn't?" nari sputtered. "yes." jangmi nodded. "why?" nari asked, curiosity seeping into her voice. "nothing you need to know." jangmi answered frankly. she stopped to stare at the woman. "you're wondering if he did a dna test and if not, why he believed me." she concluded.

"i—" nari started. "your face says it all." jangmi cut her off. "look, jeon nari, you are free to do whatever you want with jimin. whatever we had died years ago. if you want to marry him, then by all means do so. but if you've come here to make sure i don't try to rekindle my past relationship with jimin, you're wasting your breath as i have no plans to. and don't ask me to keep rosalie away from him either because i won't. not that he would let that happen anyway."

nari's mouth opened and shut like a fish. "i can see you aren't trying to be with jimin in that way." she glanced in the direction hoseok had disappeared to. "i'm just...it's jimin's intentions that have me worried." she sighed out. "what?" jangmi looked up at her as she finished setting up the table.

"i heard what happened from his mother. no one's seen him since last night. that's why i came here. i was hoping you'd know where he was." nari stated. "what happened?" jangmi was now curious. "uh, i'm not exactly sure. the details i got might be warped." nari's eyes strayed to the bruise on her face. "i think you should ask jimin. he'll probably answer your call even though he's been ignoring everybody else's."

jangmi ran a hand through her hair. "jesus christ, what did that idiot do?" she muttered to herself. "he really blew up over the whole thing." nari commented quietly. "i guess i should be leaving. sorry, i intruded." she got on her feet.

"yeah, okay." jangmi nodded, following nari to the door. she opened it. "goodbye, nari." she said as the woman stepped out. "goodbye." nari nodded, turning around as jangmi shut the door.

she walked back to the dining area to find hoseok setting rosalie down in her place. "that's new." she remarked, referring to the red alice band on the girl's hair. "uncle hobi gived me it!" the small girl chimed. "well, it's very pretty. just like you." she kissed her daughter's temple causing giggles to erupt from the girl.

she looked up to find hoseok staring pointedly at her. she knew what that look meant. they were discussing her bruise whether she liked it or not.

☀☀☀

i believe it's a certain sunshine's day. happy birthday tae! ❤❤