Paper Roses 3/10
Title: Paper Roses 3/10(Final Installment to Paper Cuts and Paper Cranes)
Author: giveitupjessica
Rating: PG-NC-17 (depending on the chapter)
Pairings: 2min, onkey, jazzhyun, taemin/sulli
Genre: AU, romance, comedy, pregnancy, angst
Summary: I walk into the room. Today was going to be one of the most important days of my life. I was more nervous than I've ever been in my life. I notice a bouquet of roses on the table on the other side of the room. I walk over and admire them. I pull the little heart shaped paper from the middle of it. Don't be nervous baby. I'll be right beside you the whole time. I love you and I will continue to love you until the last rose in this bouquet dies I smile and bring my hand up to feel the flowers in front of me. That's when I realize every last one of them are made out of paper.
A/N: So I'm glad that you all are liking my collab project. I'm excited to be writing it. We'll see where that story takes us. We're already working on the second chapter. Keep an eye out for it. I just need to write my part. haha. I didn't forget about Paper Roses though. I would have posted this update sooner, but I've been busy today. Preparing for the fight tonight PACMAN!!! Woot! Anyways, enjoy and comment!
CHATPER THREE
“Hey Leeteuk hyung,” I say as I walk over to him, “Can I talk to you for a second?”
“Sure,” we walk outside and stand in the brisk winter chill, “What’s up?”
“It’s about Jazzy.”
“Look I know that you were with her and you’re Yoogeun’s dad and I don’t plan on trying ot replace you in his life.”
“Not like you can.”
“Exactly.”
“Why are you back?”
“What?”
“Why are you back? After all these years, why are you back in her life? Didn’t you hurt her enough in high school?”
“I was young and foolish back then. I didn’t know what I had.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you’re back.”
“I’m back because I just am. What do you want me to say? I ran into her by chance one day, we got to talking, and here we are now.”
“I thought it was over between you two.”
“Jonghyun that was years ago. We’ve both grown and matured. Besides I never really stopped loving her.”
“She belongs with me and Yoogeun.”
“She’s a grown woman and can make her own decisions.”
“I still love her.”
“Yeah and you show it so well. She told me what happened when you came back from the States.”
“That’s none of your business.”
“She made it my business when she came to me crying her eyes out. Yes I may have hurt her in the past, but not like you hurt her.”
“Shut up!”
“Deal with it Jonghyun, you hurt her and in turn hurt your chances with her.”
“She still loves me.”
“Yet she’s with me.”
“That won’t be for long.”
“We’ll see about that. We’re getting closer with each passing day.”
“We share a son.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
“It means everything. She still loves me Leeteuk hyung. So don’t get too comfortable because we’ll be back together before you know it.”
“If you say so Jonghyun,” he then turns and to go back into the house. I take the few steps to catch up to him and place a hand on his shoulder which causes him to stop.
“She will never love you like she loves me. We belong together and there’s nothing you can do about it hyung,” I enter the house before him and start to look for Jazzy. I stop a maid that was passing by, “Excuse me, have you seen Jazzy?”
“Yes. I believe Miss went into Master Minho’s room with young master Yoogeun.”
“Thank you,” she bows to me before scurrying off to do her duties. I make my way to Minho’s room, I knew exactly where it was even though I haven’t set foot in this house in years. I needed to talk to Jazzy again. I needed to make her see that we belong together. I stand in front of the familiar door and take a few deep breaths before knocking on it.
“Come in,” she softly says from inside. I slowly open the door and peek in.
“Hey,” I whisper before slipping inside and quietly closing the door behind me.
“Hi,” Yoogeun is laying on the bed in front of her, squirming.
“What’s going on?”
“He didn’t take his afternoon nap, so I’m trying to get him to take one before dinner. That’s the reason why he’s been so grumpy.”
“Ah, I see. Any luck?”
“No, he refuses to even close his eyes.”
“Mind if I try?”
“Sure,” she moves over in the bed so I can sit next to her.
“Yoogeunnie, appa’s here,” I pick him up and hold him in my arms. He starts to cry, but Jazzy takes a pacifier out of her pocket and stuffs it in his mouth. He stops immediately and looks up at the both of us, “Do you always have a pacifier in your pocket?”
“Pretty much. Best invention ever. It will always quiet him down immediately. A temporary quick fix.”
“I see,” I stare down at him and bring my free hand up to brush his cheek, “You don’t know how much I’ve missed him.”
“I can guess.”
“And you,” I look at her.
“Jjongie.”
“Jazzy.”
“Now’s not the time. I thought you were going to try to put buggy down for a nap.”
“We’ll talk once he’s asleep?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Watch and learn,” I start to gently rock him. He spits out his pacifier and starts to wail at the top of his lungs.
“I’m watching, but what exactly am I supposed to be learning? How to make him cry?” she says to me sarcastically. She lifts her hand and let’s Yoogeun grab onto it, “Appa’s full of it huh buggy?”
“Don’t talk like that about me to our son,” I scold.
“Well show me your skills. Put him to sleep.”
“Give me a second. Geez.”
“Buggy, please stop crying,” I start to rock him in my arms again.
“Yoogeunnie, no more crying okay. It’s time to take a nap,” I wipe the tears off his face and then take a deep breath. I open my mouth and start to sing to him. The first song that came to mind was ‘Nothing Better.’ I softly sing it to him and his cries slowly die down. I continue to rock him in my arms as I sing. I watch as his eyes start to get heavy and then I feel a weight on my shoulder. I look over, still singing, and see that Jazzy’s head is resting on it. Her eyes are closed and a smile is on her lips. I’m almost done with the song and I see Jazzy’s finger slip from our son’s hand. He’s finally asleep and it seems like his umma is asleep as well.
I adjust our positions on the bed so that we’re all laying down. I have Yoogeun sleeping on my chest as I rub his back and hum a song. Jazzy is laying beside me and I move my arm to place around her. The bed shifts beneath us as she snuggles closer to me, wrapping an arm around my waist. I smile to myself. This is exactly how things should be.
*~*
“Minnie,” I shake my boyfriend’s shoulder, he’s been asleep for two hours now and it was time for dinner, “Minnie wake up.”
“Baby not now. I’m still tired. Go to the bathroom,” he mumbles.
I look over at our dads who are giving me a questioning glare and I can’t help but blush, “Um…”
“We’ll just meet you two downstairs son. No need to explain. We’ll just pretend we didn’t hear what he said,” my says as they both get up and leave the room.
“Thanks,” I wait until the door is closed again before I turn back to him, “Minnie.”
“Fine baby. Just give me a couple minutes to wake up.”
“Minnie, wake up. It’s dinner time.”
“Is that we’re calling it now? Shouldn’t it be called dessert time?”
“Get your mind out of the gutter baby. It’s really time for dinner, you’ve been asleep for the past two hours,” he finally starts to open his eyes and stares up at me.
“What time is it?”
“Dinner time. Come on let’s go,” I stand up and offer him my hand.
“Carry me.”
“No. The last thing we need is for me to carry you downstairs after what you said in front of our dads.”
“Oh my god! They didn’t hear me talking! Please tell me they didn’t,” he’s turning red now as well.
“Not everything. Just the first thing you said, but I’m sure they knew what you were suggesting.”
“How embarrassing.”
“Don’t worry, they said they’d just pretend like they didn’t hear a word.”
“But still. Now I will never be able to look either of our dads in the eye again.”
“Minnie, you’re overreacting. I’m sure it’s not too surprising to them.”
“But still. I’m sure they prefer not to know what we do in the bedroom.”
“True. Not like you can do anything about it now anyways. What’s done is done. Now let’s go downstairs. I’m starving.”
I hear the buzzer of the intercom go off and I walk over to my dad’s desk. I push the button on the device, “Yes?”
“Minho. It’s your umma.”
“I know.”
“Can you get Jazzy, Yoogeun, and Jonghyun too? We can’t find them. Your appa said Jazzy took Yoogeun to your room for a nap. Maybe that’s where they all are.”
“Sure thing umma. We’ll be down in a little bit.”
“We’ll wait for you guys to start.”
“No need. Go ahead and start without us.”
“Okay. Thanks Minho.”
“No problem,” I turn to Taemin who is still sitting on the couch in shock, “Minnie. Come on already.”
“Give me a second.”
“I’m leaving without you,” I start to walk to the door and that’s enough to make him jump off the couch and walk to my side.
“You’re so mean.”
“I’m hungry.”
“You should be comforting me. I’m in shock.”
“Fine,” I pull him into my arms and kiss him, but before he can deepen it I pull away, “There’s nothing to worry about. Now let’s go.”
“You’re so mean.”
“You already said that.”
“I’m just trying to emphasize my point.”
“Okay.”
I start to drag him down the hall until we reach my bedroom. I open the door without knocking. Why should I knock, it was my room anyways. I do make sure to be quiet, not knowing if Yoogeun was still sleeping or not. I knew how he was if he was abruptly woken up. I step into the room, the light from the hall spilling in around mine and Taemin’s body. I glance at the bed and smile at what I see.
“Aw, look at them,” Taemin says, we both reach for our phones and snap pictures.
“I hope you plan on sending me a copy,” Jonghyun says, eyes still closed. He pulls Jazzy closer to him and adjusts the little mound that sprawled out over his body.
“I just did,” I say before placing my phone back in my pocket.
“Is it time for dinner?”
“Yeah. But you guys can stay here for a little bit. I’ll just tell them that you’re all sleeping.”
“No, that’s okay. I’m starving,” he starts to rub Jazzy’s shoulder, “Jazzy. Wake up it’s time for dinner.”
“Mmm,” she mumbles, burying her face into his side.
“Wake up,” he continues to rub her shoulder. After about a minute she slowly starts to wake up.
“Is buggy still sleeping?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t wake him up. I’ll just set him down in the living room. So that if he does wake up, he’s right there.”
“I can go get his car seat.”
“No, that’s too much work,” she finally sits up, rubbing her eyes and looks over to the door, “Hi guys.”
“Hi noona,” Taemin says with a smile on his face.
“Want me to take buggy?” she says, looking down at Jonghyun.
“No I got him,” he does his best to get off the bed without disturbing the sleeping baby in his arms.
“He’s going to be up all night. Maybe I shouldn’t have put him down for a nap before dinner,” she says as they both walk over to us. She brushes the hair out of her son’s face and smiles.
“We still need to talk Jazzy. You fell asleep before Yoogeunnie,” Jonghyun tells her.
“Later.”
“I’m holding you to that.”
“Come on already!” I say, “I’m hungry.”
“I thought I told you to get Jazzy, Jonghyun, and Yoogeun as well,” my mom begins to scold me as I take my seat at the table.
“I did, they’re just putting Yoogeun down in the living room. He’s still asleep,” I start to put food on Taemin’s plate.
“This all looks delicious Mrs. Choi,” he says as he starts to eat.
“Thank you sweetie. I try.”
“You cooked all of this?”
“Yup. That’s where I’ve been all afternoon.”
“I could’ve helped you had I known.”
“No worries. Key here helped me and so did Jazzy.”
“I feel bad though.”
“Aw, you’re too sweet Taemin. You can help me clean up afterwards if you want.”
“Okay,” he smiles at her.
“Umma, he’s just trying to find an excuse not to look at any more documents,” I say before stuffing more food in my mouth, only to have him elbow me in the stomach. I cough and try not to let the food spray out in front of me.
“I am not Minho. Don’t tell your umma lies like that. I really wanna help you clean up Mrs. Choi.”
“It’s okay Taemin, I wouldn’t want to look at documents either. I stopped doing that a long time ago. I find whatever I can not to look at them now.”
“Honey,” my dad looks at her surprised.
“Don’t act so surprised dear. How many times do you actually think I dust the mantle? Have you even checked it? I think the last time I did it was last week.”
“Still. I can’t believe you make things up to get out of helping me. This is your company too.”
“It was my company too. Now it’s yours, Minseok’s, and Minho’s. You don’t need me. I’ll just do my duties as a wife.”
Just then we hear screaming from the living room. I guess Yoogeun is awake. Both and Jazzy and Jonghyun jump out of their seats and run to their son. I watch as Leeteuk watches them go, he has an uneasy expression on his face. I wonder what that’s all about. It isn’t long before they’re back at the table settling in their seats.
“Want me to get his high chair Jazzy?” I ask her.
“No, it’s okay. He just woke up. You know how he is.”
“True. He likes to be held.”
“Yeah,” she settles him in her lap and continues to eat. Trying her best to stop him from pulling the table cloth and her plate.
“Let me take him while you eat Jazzy,” Jonghyun moves to grab him, but neither of them are having it.
“It’s okay Jjongie. I got it. Buggy quit being a brat to your appa. He’s just trying to show you he loves you.”
*~*
Minho, my dad, his dad, and I go back to the home office after dinner. I did help his mom clean up afterwards though. My headache was finally gone, but once I looked at the papers again, I could feel it coming back. Maybe it was all in head though. Maybe I was just trying to find an excuse not to go back to reading these papers. It was all just so boring.
“You really don’t have to be here if you don’t want to Minnie. You can go and rest with everyone else. Play with Yoogeunnie a bit or something,” Minho says to me, taking up his spot from before.
“It’s okay. I’m fine. I should be here.”
“Listen to your boyfriend son. We can all tell that you’d rather be anywhere but here,” my dad says to me as he picks up a folder and starts to flip through it before discarding it and picking up another instead.
“I want to be here. How many times do I have to tell you that?” I say with a huff. I felt like a little kid now. I wasn’t a baby. I needed to learn about these things too. Plus it involved as much as it involved everyone else in the room. So it was only right that I stay here instead of going off to play with Yoogeun like Minho suggested.
“If you insist. Come here,” Minho pats the spot beside him and I quickly occupy it. I take the folder I was reading earlier and flip to where I was last. My eyes start to scan over the document. Nothing was really standing out to me. It all seemed like the same old things. I feel like I’ve read some of the same sentences and paragraphs in the documents I had to look over in China. This whole thing was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. So frustrating.
I’m getting to the last few pages and I’m proud that I’m finally finishing a folder. Granted, the other three were probably on their third folders. But this was still a small accomplishment for me since I really didn’t want to be doing this. I felt like I was in China all over again when all I did was sit at a desk and read over papers that I barely understood. Something catches my eye right as I’m about to turn the page. Minho told me to keep an eye out for anything that seemed fishy. And the paragraphs I was just now ready seemed a little off. I knew that I didn’t understand a lot of the legalities that the paragraphs mentioned, but I got the gist of it.
“Taemin,” Minho leans over to me, “Did you find something? Your face is scrunched up. You know like it always does when you’re thinking hard. What are you looking at?”
“This,” I hold out the folder so we can both see it. I point to the paragraphs I just read, “This doesn’t seem right. I could be wrong, but I don’t know. You said to keep an eye out for these kinds of thing. And I just got this feeling when I was reading this part. It doesn’t seem right.”
“Here, let me read it real quick,” I move it so he can take the folder from my hands, but he just leans closer to me. He places an arm around my shoulder and pulls me close. It feels a bit weird being this close in front of our parents, but he doesn’t seem to care. So why should I worry about it and from what I can see with my peripheral, they are still engrossed in their own papers, “Hm.”
“So? It’s perfectly normal isn’t it? It’s not what we’re looking for huh? I’m sorry baby.”
“Hm,” he says again, eyes still on the papers I’m holding in front of us, “Appa, Mr. Lee.”
“Yes?” they both say, looking up from their folders.
Minho finally takes the folder from my hands and holds it across the table, “Read the last few paragraphs on this page. I think Minnie may have found the loophole.”
“Really? I found it?”
“I think you did baby. I would never have noticed it, had I been the one reading it.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not useless then.”
“You’ve never been useless Minnie,” he looks at our dads, both hutched over the paper, “So, what do you think?”
“I think you’re right Minho,” my dad says, “This has to be what they’re going to use against me.”
“How could we have missed it?” Minho’s dad adds, “We looked through this folder countless times already.”
“Untrained eyes Choi, untrained eyes. He caught something which seemed like just a formality to us.”
“Thank goodness your son is here then.”
“Yes. Good job son,” my dad smiles at me and I return it.
Author: giveitupjessica
Rating: PG-NC-17 (depending on the chapter)
Pairings: 2min, onkey, jazzhyun, taemin/sulli
Genre: AU, romance, comedy, pregnancy, angst
Summary: I walk into the room. Today was going to be one of the most important days of my life. I was more nervous than I've ever been in my life. I notice a bouquet of roses on the table on the other side of the room. I walk over and admire them. I pull the little heart shaped paper from the middle of it. Don't be nervous baby. I'll be right beside you the whole time. I love you and I will continue to love you until the last rose in this bouquet dies I smile and bring my hand up to feel the flowers in front of me. That's when I realize every last one of them are made out of paper.
A/N: So I'm glad that you all are liking my collab project. I'm excited to be writing it. We'll see where that story takes us. We're already working on the second chapter. Keep an eye out for it. I just need to write my part. haha. I didn't forget about Paper Roses though. I would have posted this update sooner, but I've been busy today. Preparing for the fight tonight PACMAN!!! Woot! Anyways, enjoy and comment!
CHATPER THREE
“Hey Leeteuk hyung,” I say as I walk over to him, “Can I talk to you for a second?”
“Sure,” we walk outside and stand in the brisk winter chill, “What’s up?”
“It’s about Jazzy.”
“Look I know that you were with her and you’re Yoogeun’s dad and I don’t plan on trying ot replace you in his life.”
“Not like you can.”
“Exactly.”
“Why are you back?”
“What?”
“Why are you back? After all these years, why are you back in her life? Didn’t you hurt her enough in high school?”
“I was young and foolish back then. I didn’t know what I had.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you’re back.”
“I’m back because I just am. What do you want me to say? I ran into her by chance one day, we got to talking, and here we are now.”
“I thought it was over between you two.”
“Jonghyun that was years ago. We’ve both grown and matured. Besides I never really stopped loving her.”
“She belongs with me and Yoogeun.”
“She’s a grown woman and can make her own decisions.”
“I still love her.”
“Yeah and you show it so well. She told me what happened when you came back from the States.”
“That’s none of your business.”
“She made it my business when she came to me crying her eyes out. Yes I may have hurt her in the past, but not like you hurt her.”
“Shut up!”
“Deal with it Jonghyun, you hurt her and in turn hurt your chances with her.”
“She still loves me.”
“Yet she’s with me.”
“That won’t be for long.”
“We’ll see about that. We’re getting closer with each passing day.”
“We share a son.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
“It means everything. She still loves me Leeteuk hyung. So don’t get too comfortable because we’ll be back together before you know it.”
“If you say so Jonghyun,” he then turns and to go back into the house. I take the few steps to catch up to him and place a hand on his shoulder which causes him to stop.
“She will never love you like she loves me. We belong together and there’s nothing you can do about it hyung,” I enter the house before him and start to look for Jazzy. I stop a maid that was passing by, “Excuse me, have you seen Jazzy?”
“Yes. I believe Miss went into Master Minho’s room with young master Yoogeun.”
“Thank you,” she bows to me before scurrying off to do her duties. I make my way to Minho’s room, I knew exactly where it was even though I haven’t set foot in this house in years. I needed to talk to Jazzy again. I needed to make her see that we belong together. I stand in front of the familiar door and take a few deep breaths before knocking on it.
“Come in,” she softly says from inside. I slowly open the door and peek in.
“Hey,” I whisper before slipping inside and quietly closing the door behind me.
“Hi,” Yoogeun is laying on the bed in front of her, squirming.
“What’s going on?”
“He didn’t take his afternoon nap, so I’m trying to get him to take one before dinner. That’s the reason why he’s been so grumpy.”
“Ah, I see. Any luck?”
“No, he refuses to even close his eyes.”
“Mind if I try?”
“Sure,” she moves over in the bed so I can sit next to her.
“Yoogeunnie, appa’s here,” I pick him up and hold him in my arms. He starts to cry, but Jazzy takes a pacifier out of her pocket and stuffs it in his mouth. He stops immediately and looks up at the both of us, “Do you always have a pacifier in your pocket?”
“Pretty much. Best invention ever. It will always quiet him down immediately. A temporary quick fix.”
“I see,” I stare down at him and bring my free hand up to brush his cheek, “You don’t know how much I’ve missed him.”
“I can guess.”
“And you,” I look at her.
“Jjongie.”
“Jazzy.”
“Now’s not the time. I thought you were going to try to put buggy down for a nap.”
“We’ll talk once he’s asleep?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Watch and learn,” I start to gently rock him. He spits out his pacifier and starts to wail at the top of his lungs.
“I’m watching, but what exactly am I supposed to be learning? How to make him cry?” she says to me sarcastically. She lifts her hand and let’s Yoogeun grab onto it, “Appa’s full of it huh buggy?”
“Don’t talk like that about me to our son,” I scold.
“Well show me your skills. Put him to sleep.”
“Give me a second. Geez.”
“Buggy, please stop crying,” I start to rock him in my arms again.
“Yoogeunnie, no more crying okay. It’s time to take a nap,” I wipe the tears off his face and then take a deep breath. I open my mouth and start to sing to him. The first song that came to mind was ‘Nothing Better.’ I softly sing it to him and his cries slowly die down. I continue to rock him in my arms as I sing. I watch as his eyes start to get heavy and then I feel a weight on my shoulder. I look over, still singing, and see that Jazzy’s head is resting on it. Her eyes are closed and a smile is on her lips. I’m almost done with the song and I see Jazzy’s finger slip from our son’s hand. He’s finally asleep and it seems like his umma is asleep as well.
I adjust our positions on the bed so that we’re all laying down. I have Yoogeun sleeping on my chest as I rub his back and hum a song. Jazzy is laying beside me and I move my arm to place around her. The bed shifts beneath us as she snuggles closer to me, wrapping an arm around my waist. I smile to myself. This is exactly how things should be.
*~*
“Minnie,” I shake my boyfriend’s shoulder, he’s been asleep for two hours now and it was time for dinner, “Minnie wake up.”
“Baby not now. I’m still tired. Go to the bathroom,” he mumbles.
I look over at our dads who are giving me a questioning glare and I can’t help but blush, “Um…”
“We’ll just meet you two downstairs son. No need to explain. We’ll just pretend we didn’t hear what he said,” my says as they both get up and leave the room.
“Thanks,” I wait until the door is closed again before I turn back to him, “Minnie.”
“Fine baby. Just give me a couple minutes to wake up.”
“Minnie, wake up. It’s dinner time.”
“Is that we’re calling it now? Shouldn’t it be called dessert time?”
“Get your mind out of the gutter baby. It’s really time for dinner, you’ve been asleep for the past two hours,” he finally starts to open his eyes and stares up at me.
“What time is it?”
“Dinner time. Come on let’s go,” I stand up and offer him my hand.
“Carry me.”
“No. The last thing we need is for me to carry you downstairs after what you said in front of our dads.”
“Oh my god! They didn’t hear me talking! Please tell me they didn’t,” he’s turning red now as well.
“Not everything. Just the first thing you said, but I’m sure they knew what you were suggesting.”
“How embarrassing.”
“Don’t worry, they said they’d just pretend like they didn’t hear a word.”
“But still. Now I will never be able to look either of our dads in the eye again.”
“Minnie, you’re overreacting. I’m sure it’s not too surprising to them.”
“But still. I’m sure they prefer not to know what we do in the bedroom.”
“True. Not like you can do anything about it now anyways. What’s done is done. Now let’s go downstairs. I’m starving.”
I hear the buzzer of the intercom go off and I walk over to my dad’s desk. I push the button on the device, “Yes?”
“Minho. It’s your umma.”
“I know.”
“Can you get Jazzy, Yoogeun, and Jonghyun too? We can’t find them. Your appa said Jazzy took Yoogeun to your room for a nap. Maybe that’s where they all are.”
“Sure thing umma. We’ll be down in a little bit.”
“We’ll wait for you guys to start.”
“No need. Go ahead and start without us.”
“Okay. Thanks Minho.”
“No problem,” I turn to Taemin who is still sitting on the couch in shock, “Minnie. Come on already.”
“Give me a second.”
“I’m leaving without you,” I start to walk to the door and that’s enough to make him jump off the couch and walk to my side.
“You’re so mean.”
“I’m hungry.”
“You should be comforting me. I’m in shock.”
“Fine,” I pull him into my arms and kiss him, but before he can deepen it I pull away, “There’s nothing to worry about. Now let’s go.”
“You’re so mean.”
“You already said that.”
“I’m just trying to emphasize my point.”
“Okay.”
I start to drag him down the hall until we reach my bedroom. I open the door without knocking. Why should I knock, it was my room anyways. I do make sure to be quiet, not knowing if Yoogeun was still sleeping or not. I knew how he was if he was abruptly woken up. I step into the room, the light from the hall spilling in around mine and Taemin’s body. I glance at the bed and smile at what I see.
“Aw, look at them,” Taemin says, we both reach for our phones and snap pictures.
“I hope you plan on sending me a copy,” Jonghyun says, eyes still closed. He pulls Jazzy closer to him and adjusts the little mound that sprawled out over his body.
“I just did,” I say before placing my phone back in my pocket.
“Is it time for dinner?”
“Yeah. But you guys can stay here for a little bit. I’ll just tell them that you’re all sleeping.”
“No, that’s okay. I’m starving,” he starts to rub Jazzy’s shoulder, “Jazzy. Wake up it’s time for dinner.”
“Mmm,” she mumbles, burying her face into his side.
“Wake up,” he continues to rub her shoulder. After about a minute she slowly starts to wake up.
“Is buggy still sleeping?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t wake him up. I’ll just set him down in the living room. So that if he does wake up, he’s right there.”
“I can go get his car seat.”
“No, that’s too much work,” she finally sits up, rubbing her eyes and looks over to the door, “Hi guys.”
“Hi noona,” Taemin says with a smile on his face.
“Want me to take buggy?” she says, looking down at Jonghyun.
“No I got him,” he does his best to get off the bed without disturbing the sleeping baby in his arms.
“He’s going to be up all night. Maybe I shouldn’t have put him down for a nap before dinner,” she says as they both walk over to us. She brushes the hair out of her son’s face and smiles.
“We still need to talk Jazzy. You fell asleep before Yoogeunnie,” Jonghyun tells her.
“Later.”
“I’m holding you to that.”
“Come on already!” I say, “I’m hungry.”
“I thought I told you to get Jazzy, Jonghyun, and Yoogeun as well,” my mom begins to scold me as I take my seat at the table.
“I did, they’re just putting Yoogeun down in the living room. He’s still asleep,” I start to put food on Taemin’s plate.
“This all looks delicious Mrs. Choi,” he says as he starts to eat.
“Thank you sweetie. I try.”
“You cooked all of this?”
“Yup. That’s where I’ve been all afternoon.”
“I could’ve helped you had I known.”
“No worries. Key here helped me and so did Jazzy.”
“I feel bad though.”
“Aw, you’re too sweet Taemin. You can help me clean up afterwards if you want.”
“Okay,” he smiles at her.
“Umma, he’s just trying to find an excuse not to look at any more documents,” I say before stuffing more food in my mouth, only to have him elbow me in the stomach. I cough and try not to let the food spray out in front of me.
“I am not Minho. Don’t tell your umma lies like that. I really wanna help you clean up Mrs. Choi.”
“It’s okay Taemin, I wouldn’t want to look at documents either. I stopped doing that a long time ago. I find whatever I can not to look at them now.”
“Honey,” my dad looks at her surprised.
“Don’t act so surprised dear. How many times do you actually think I dust the mantle? Have you even checked it? I think the last time I did it was last week.”
“Still. I can’t believe you make things up to get out of helping me. This is your company too.”
“It was my company too. Now it’s yours, Minseok’s, and Minho’s. You don’t need me. I’ll just do my duties as a wife.”
Just then we hear screaming from the living room. I guess Yoogeun is awake. Both and Jazzy and Jonghyun jump out of their seats and run to their son. I watch as Leeteuk watches them go, he has an uneasy expression on his face. I wonder what that’s all about. It isn’t long before they’re back at the table settling in their seats.
“Want me to get his high chair Jazzy?” I ask her.
“No, it’s okay. He just woke up. You know how he is.”
“True. He likes to be held.”
“Yeah,” she settles him in her lap and continues to eat. Trying her best to stop him from pulling the table cloth and her plate.
“Let me take him while you eat Jazzy,” Jonghyun moves to grab him, but neither of them are having it.
“It’s okay Jjongie. I got it. Buggy quit being a brat to your appa. He’s just trying to show you he loves you.”
*~*
Minho, my dad, his dad, and I go back to the home office after dinner. I did help his mom clean up afterwards though. My headache was finally gone, but once I looked at the papers again, I could feel it coming back. Maybe it was all in head though. Maybe I was just trying to find an excuse not to go back to reading these papers. It was all just so boring.
“You really don’t have to be here if you don’t want to Minnie. You can go and rest with everyone else. Play with Yoogeunnie a bit or something,” Minho says to me, taking up his spot from before.
“It’s okay. I’m fine. I should be here.”
“Listen to your boyfriend son. We can all tell that you’d rather be anywhere but here,” my dad says to me as he picks up a folder and starts to flip through it before discarding it and picking up another instead.
“I want to be here. How many times do I have to tell you that?” I say with a huff. I felt like a little kid now. I wasn’t a baby. I needed to learn about these things too. Plus it involved as much as it involved everyone else in the room. So it was only right that I stay here instead of going off to play with Yoogeun like Minho suggested.
“If you insist. Come here,” Minho pats the spot beside him and I quickly occupy it. I take the folder I was reading earlier and flip to where I was last. My eyes start to scan over the document. Nothing was really standing out to me. It all seemed like the same old things. I feel like I’ve read some of the same sentences and paragraphs in the documents I had to look over in China. This whole thing was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. So frustrating.
I’m getting to the last few pages and I’m proud that I’m finally finishing a folder. Granted, the other three were probably on their third folders. But this was still a small accomplishment for me since I really didn’t want to be doing this. I felt like I was in China all over again when all I did was sit at a desk and read over papers that I barely understood. Something catches my eye right as I’m about to turn the page. Minho told me to keep an eye out for anything that seemed fishy. And the paragraphs I was just now ready seemed a little off. I knew that I didn’t understand a lot of the legalities that the paragraphs mentioned, but I got the gist of it.
“Taemin,” Minho leans over to me, “Did you find something? Your face is scrunched up. You know like it always does when you’re thinking hard. What are you looking at?”
“This,” I hold out the folder so we can both see it. I point to the paragraphs I just read, “This doesn’t seem right. I could be wrong, but I don’t know. You said to keep an eye out for these kinds of thing. And I just got this feeling when I was reading this part. It doesn’t seem right.”
“Here, let me read it real quick,” I move it so he can take the folder from my hands, but he just leans closer to me. He places an arm around my shoulder and pulls me close. It feels a bit weird being this close in front of our parents, but he doesn’t seem to care. So why should I worry about it and from what I can see with my peripheral, they are still engrossed in their own papers, “Hm.”
“So? It’s perfectly normal isn’t it? It’s not what we’re looking for huh? I’m sorry baby.”
“Hm,” he says again, eyes still on the papers I’m holding in front of us, “Appa, Mr. Lee.”
“Yes?” they both say, looking up from their folders.
Minho finally takes the folder from my hands and holds it across the table, “Read the last few paragraphs on this page. I think Minnie may have found the loophole.”
“Really? I found it?”
“I think you did baby. I would never have noticed it, had I been the one reading it.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not useless then.”
“You’ve never been useless Minnie,” he looks at our dads, both hutched over the paper, “So, what do you think?”
“I think you’re right Minho,” my dad says, “This has to be what they’re going to use against me.”
“How could we have missed it?” Minho’s dad adds, “We looked through this folder countless times already.”
“Untrained eyes Choi, untrained eyes. He caught something which seemed like just a formality to us.”
“Thank goodness your son is here then.”
“Yes. Good job son,” my dad smiles at me and I return it.