"She looks just like a dream. The prettiest girl I've ever seen. From the cover of a magazine" Something about you by Eyedress 

I don't really know what to put as a warning, but Jaeyun and her mother get into a fight

In between the silence, all that could be heard was the metal chopsticks against the ceramic plates and low chewing of food. Probably the most awkward lunch any of them had ever had. Jaeyun had quietly asked Jay to sit next to her before they'd started eating as Nari sat in front of her with her mother and grandma on each side, while her father and grandpa were sitting on opposite ends of the table.

"Who's this?" her mother asked, pointing at Jay on her side and switching to Spanish like how Nari and her had done before. Unlike Jaeyun, her mother's first language was Korean, but she was still pretty fluent in Spanish after living more than 20 years in Argentina.

"He's Jay, he's a friend" Jaeyun answered without looking at her.

"Nice to meet you Jay" her dad said, speaking in Korean.

"Me too Mister Kwon" Jay answered, polite as always.

Jaeyun smiled at Jay, such a small smile, gone as soon as it had stretched on her lips, but her mom caught it anyways.

"Do you like him?"

"What?"

"Are you two dating?"

"No, we're not" the lie slipped from her lips as easily as it had before with her grandma, and Jaeyun felt guilty.

"Good, I don't want you ruining your career" her mother said, going back to grabbing food with her chopsticks.

"Excuse me?" Jaeyun scoffed, finally looking up.

Her mom rolled her eyes.

"You made such a fuss about coming here, I don't want you wasting it because of... some boy you just met" her mom explained, like it was obvious.

"I made a fuss about coming here?" she switched to Korean "what about you? Huh?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" her mom inquired.

"Oh, you need a refreshener? Sure" Jaeyun clapped her hands before continuing, her chopsticks clanking against her plate "you didn't want me coming here, you barely said anything when I passed my audition and, even better, you didn't go to the airport with me to say goodbye" she explained "do you remember now?"

Her mom looked at her, speechless the only emotion in her face, but Jaeyun already knew what her mother was thinking. How can you be so disrespectful? I'm a busy woman, I have other responsibilities. Jaeyun knew what all of that meant.

She was never an option.

Her mother rested her open palms on the table, using them to get up and, literally, look down on her.

"I can't believe you right now"

Jaeyun got up to, faster than her mother had done and with much more force "I can't believe you" she said, controlling the tone on her voice "You come here and act like you made such a sacrifice when you didn't even dare to call me when I fractured my leg" those last words made the pain on her throat come back.

"I was busy-"

"I was depressed!" Jaeyun yelled.

Her mom rolled her eyes, again "Yeah, sure" the woman said "you have depression, I've giving you everything a mother can give you in life and this is how you repay me?"

"Oh yeah, you gave me so much bull-"

"Okay that's enough!" her dad stood up too, interrupting their fight "your mom done a lot for you, the least you can do is be grateful for that"

"You didn't call either!" Jaeyun yelled, throwing the small control she had over her emotions out the window "not even a text, an email, a letter, I don't know! You said nothing, did you even know what happened?"

Her dad didn't say anything, but his silence said everything she needed to know.

"You so much say you were busy, but Nari called me every day, she checked up on me whenever she could" she pointed out "and she even tried to come here, she was in the middle of exam season!" tears started pilling on her eyes, she couldn't take it anymore "you gave me a roof over my head, but I never had a home with you"

With that she left, ignoring her mom's yells. She walked to the end of the hallway and opened the door to her old room, resting her back against it and letting out the tears she had been holding.

She just wanted to have a nice afternoon with her sister, grandparents and her boyfriend.

Jay.

She had completely forgotten he witnessed all that. She held her breath for a second, now feeling embarrassed. How could she even explain all of that? The Evermore girls knew she didn't have a good relationship with her parents, but she had barely mentioned them to him. What was she going to do?

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and before she could ask anything Jay spoke from the other side.

"Are you okay?" he said.

Jaeyun only opened the door and pulled him in. Closing the door again, she rested her forehead against it for a moment before turning around.

"I'm fine" she said, cleaning her tears away "Sorry that you had to see... all that" she quickly added, walking towards the freshly made bed and sat down, Jay following after.

"You don't have to apologize" he said "you didn't... you didn't tell me about them"

Jaeyun chuckled dryly "what's there to tell? They only care about looking like good parents" she said "you know? I had to sneak out to go audition for BigHit" she explained "I don't even know how they let me come here"

Jay stayed quiet, not knowing what to say.

"She..." Jaeyun started, elbows resting on her knees and palms pressed together "she assumed we were dating, which isn't a lie, but when I told her we weren't she said that was good because I shouldn't waste my career after making such a fuss for coming here" she said, waving one of her hands in front of her "you heard the rest"

"Yeah" Jay sighed, rubbing his hands against his thighs "I was gonna ask your sister to translate that part, but it seemed private" he chuckled, making her laugh.

"Sorry again" she said.

"Hey babe, it's okay" Jay said, turning towards her "do you... do you wanna stay?"

Jaeyun sighed "Not really" she was happy, even relieved, that she had finally said what she'd wanted to say for years, but her mother was like a ticking bomb. You never know when it's gonna go off "I'll just... I'll have to talk to my sister first"

As if on cue, her sister opened the door.

"Sorry" she said, eyes wide open while looking at both of them.

"It's fine, I should be sorry-"

"No, no, it was wrong of them to come unannounced" Nari said "not even I knew they were coming here" she added, brushing her hand against her hair, looking at them again "are you... are you guys dating?"

Jaeyun almost choked on air "What? Why does everyone-"

"I just heard him call you babe, Vero" Nari said, switching to Spanish again.

Jaeyun froze, for once not knowing what to do.

"I- well-" she stuttered out as she walked to the door and closed it, making sure no one heard "so... yeah"

"What the f-" Jaeyun stopped her sister from yelling by hitting her arm "hey!"

"If anyone else hears you it's gonna get worst" Jaeyun said "look, the relationship's still pretty new, that's why I didn't tell you" she glanced at Jay then back at her sister "no one else knows, so please just... don't tell anyone, specially grandpa and grandma"

Nari nodded "I won't"

"Thanks"

"Are you... are you leaving?" Nari asked after a couple of seconds of silence, switching back to Korean.

"I really don't wanna be here right now" Jaeyun said. She didn't want to, but she knew it would be bad if she stayed "we can still hang out tomorrow and the day after tomorrow" she said "I have some many things planned, I was thinking you could meet the members too after we go out for lunch, I do need to be back at the company on my birthday for the live-"

"It's okay" Nari grabbed her arm "either way, I'm pretty tired, I'll just go to sleep and wake up tomorrow" she joked "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll just go back to the dorm" Jaeyun brushed it off and hugged her "I'm glad you're here"

"Me too" her sister said "And you" she pointed at Jay, arm still around Jaeyun's shoulders "hurt her and I'll kill you"

"Never"

She didn't even look at her parents as she left.

[***]

"My grandma wants us to date by the way" she said as they walked to the car "would you be cool with that?"

"Mmm, I don't know" Jay said, pretending to think "I already have a girlfriend"

"Really? I bet she's pretty and-"

He kissed her forehead with a smile.

"Yeah, she is"

She wanted to kiss him so bad, but she settled on smiling back at him, remembering they were in public and quickly got into the car.

"You can just drop me off a few blocks away" Jaeyun instructed "I don't mind walking" she added, taking out her phone to text the girls about what had happened.

"Actually," Jay started, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel "I was thinking... maybe... you could stay with me"

Jaeyun narrowed her eyes at him "At your dorm?" she asked.

"No, no" he quickly answered "I... I booked a hotel for the weekend"

Jaeyun's phone almost fell off he hand.

"You what?" she exclaimed.

"I wanted to stay close!" Jay defended himself "you said you guys might be going out and... I don't know, if you wanted all three of us to... hang out?" he shrugged his shoulders "I can cancel it right now if you want-"

"No, no" Jaeyun quickly cut him off "you spent money on it, I don't want you to waste it" she added, almost in a whisper as she pinched her lower lip, deep in thought.

Jay didn't know if he should tell her how cute she looked.

"Just..." Jaeyun started after a minute of silence "I'll stay with you" she agreed "to be honest if I went back to the dorm, I was gonna stay in bed all day" she added, leaning back on her seat.

Jay stopped at a red light "I'll call the hotel" he smiled.

Jaeyun tuned out his conversation over the phone, looking down to her own as she typed onto the group chat.

Jaeyun: Sooo... My parents showed up

Yua: shit

Raon: I'm so sorry Jae

Mari: You okay eonni?

Nara: are you coming back eonni?

Jaeyun: I'm still going out with my sister tomorrow

Jaeyun: I'll just stay at a hotel nearby

Jaeyun: I'll text you the address when I settle

Raon: Are you sure? You can just come back and stay with us.

Jaeyun bit her lip, not sure what to come up with. She looked up the window, fingers levitating on her keyboard as she saw blurred store signs pass by.

Jaeyun: I just wanna be alone right now

Jaeyun: Sorry

Yua: don't apologize!

She started typing.

Yua: DO NOT SAY SORRY AGAIN

Jaeyun: Fine!

Jaeyun: I'll text you when I get there

Yua: love you!

Raon: Take care!

Mari: Get yourself a spa day

Nara: 😁

Jaeyun smiled while reading their replies, locking her phone just in time for Jay to end his call.

"They'll have the room ready in a bit" he said "we can go and wait at the lobby if you want"

Jaeyun sighed, letting her body slide down a bit on her seat "sure"

Jay kept driving in silence, but still reached towards her hand, intertwining their fingers and giving her a reassuring squeeze.

[***]

"This is... nice" Jaeyun said, carrying her small suitcase into the room.

"You like it?" Jay asked.

"Do I like it?" Jaeyun mocked "I've stayed at nice hotels before, but this one is... way nicer" she chuckled.

Jay smiled at her, leaning forward for a quick kiss.

"Wait, hold on" she exclaimed, leaning away and pushing him aside.

"What?" he chuckled, almost falling from her push.

"I told the girls I was gonna text them when I got here" she explained, grabbing her suitcase and standing in front of the long mirror at the entrance of their room. She snapped a couple of pictures, making sure Jay was nowhere in sight, before choosing one to send them.

"Did you finish your photoshoot?" he asked, already on one of the sides of the bed, taking of his jacket with a smirk.

She threw her own jacket at him "Yes, I did"

She took off her shoes and plopped herself on the bed, letting out a long sigh from her lungs. She heard him shuffling around the room, moving their suit cases and hanging their jackets, then plopping next to her too, the bed wobbling a bit under his weight.

Jaeyun shifted her position, resting her head on her arm and looking at his side profile "hi" she said.

He also shifted, a small smile on his face "hey" he said "you come here often?"

Jaeyun chuckled "dumbass" she mumbled, slapping his arm.

"Your dumbass" he answered, wiggling his eyebrows up and down, causing Jaeyun to laugh even more. She hadn't realised how much she needed it after the day they'd had, and it wasn't even noon yet.

Jay was happy to see her smile again, not just the small polite smiles she put on as a mask, but her true smile, even if it was over him being ridiculous.

It was weird to him, he always saw Jaeyun smiling or with a soft gaze on her eyes. Even when working on Evermore's next album, her focused face was still serious, but not like today. Jay had noticed the change from the moment her mother had opened the door. She was shocked, yes, but it was like he could hear the alarms blaring from inside of her mind.

During the two months they had been together, she hadn't spoken much about her parents. If she mentioned family, she always talked about her grandparents and her sister, so much so he thought they had passed away when she was young and it was still a difficult topic to cover.

This, somehow, felt much worst.

"I gonna go take a shower" Jaeyun said, grabbing some of her stuff.

Somehow, Jay's goofiness made her feel better, but the hot water of the shower relaxed her some more. After cleaning up and starting to get changed, she realized she had only grabbed half of her pyjama, her shorts.

"Shit" she whispered to herself, quickly mapping out a plan to go grab a shirt and get back inside the bathroom until idea popped into her head.

"Hey" she said, sliding the bathroom door open. Jay's eyes glanced at her naked shoulder before looking at her again, a little red appearing on his cheeks "did you bring that green shirt? The one with the white and red design on it?" Jaeyun asked, feeling herself blush while talking. She covered part of her face with the door.

Jay takes a few seconds to answer, his face frowned in thought "yeah, I did" he says.

Jaeyun scratched the back of her neck, too nervous to say the next thing she wanted to say. She could feel even more heat going up her cheeks.

"Umm, do you mind if... I mean if you don't want to that's fine, I'm just wondering if- If I can" she stopped herself before she could say any more nonsense, resting her forehead on the door to try and calm herself down.

"Do you wanna wear it?" Jay asks. When she looked at him again, he was blushing even more, his head turned to the side, not being able to look at her.

"Yes" Jaeyun answers in a whisper, loud enough for him to hear.

Jay smiles "sure"

After handing her the shirt, she closed the door and turned around, trying to control the little squeal that threaten to come out of her throat. It was like she was a teenager all over again, she missed the feeling, whatever it was.

She looked at the shirt before putting it on. The fabric was definitely softer than she thought when she first saw it, and it also smelled like him (or like his perfume, but still, same thing)

She slid open the door again once she had it on, brushing her hair to distract herself from the nervousness.

Jay looked her up and down, running his hands through his hair.

"You look good" he said, a smile on his face.

Jaeyun saved her brush inside of the little pouch she had brought and walked up to him.

"Thank you" she said with a smile, grabbing his shoulders as she spoke. He slid his hands around her waist "but I don't think you'll be getting this shirt back" she added, her hands now locked behind his head.

"Really?" he asked, a playful tone on his voice "why?"

"Do I really need to explain?" she replied, a smile growing on her face.

"I'll let you keep it" he said, leaning down to peck her lips "so, I'm guessing by your outfit, we're staying" he predicted.

"You always know what I'm thinking" Jaeyun said, hugging his waist and pushing her head against his chest. Almost by instinct, Jay rested his chin on the top of her head "it's supposed to rain today, I just wanna watch tv and sleep"

He rubbed her shoulders, humming in response. Without saying another word, they both walked towards the bad, not even questioning who would take each side.

"What do you wanna watch?" Jay asked her, seeing her flip through the catalogue of the first streaming service she'd clicked on.

"I don't know" Jaeyun said, still tapping the buttons of the remote "what are you in the mood for?"

Jay stayed silent, deep in thought while staring at the tv.

"I'm never seen that one" he said, pointing at the tv.

"This one?"

"No, the other one"

"This?"

"No, that next one"

She couldn't believe it when she realized which show he was talking about.

"You're never seen Grey's Anatomy?" she exclaimed.

"Is that a shock?" he asked, confused.

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"Aren't you from Seattle?" Jaeyun asked in return, like it was obvious.

"I lived there till I was nine" Jay said "I barely remember it"

"Still!" Jaeyun insisted, but quickly spoke again, already seeing Jay's lips move "I don't care, we're watching it" she decided before he could say anything.

The first episode started playing and Jaeyun leaned back, resting her head on Jay's shoulder.

"So, they're doctors?"

"Surgeons" Jaeyun explained "well, interns, for now"

He only hummed in response, watching the tv.

The episodes kept playing and Jaeyun was surprised, and also relived, that Jay was enjoying the show. She remembered countless nights of watching episodes and episodes with her sister until late at night. Just laughing, crying and complaining about the series.

She looked away for a second, checking her phone to make sure that none of her members had called or texted her and as she was looking back at the tv, she glanced at the hotel room window, recognizing rain drops hitting the glass. She adjusted the bed covers just as a thunder broke through the air.

She brushed her shivers off, focusing on the tv she Jay laced their fingers together.

Another thunder hit the air and Jaeyun could swear, if it wasn't just her anxiety talking, that she felt the vibration on her skin. She didn't realize how much she'd reacted until Jay spoke.

"You afraid of storms?" her asked, moving the blanket up a bit.

"More like thunders" Jaeyun admitted. She could almost hear her younger self screaming at her for saying that in front of Jay of all people "I don't know, the sound startles me" she shrugged. Jay smiled down at her for a moment, kissing the top of her head and looking back at the tv.

[***]

She didn't know how many episodes had passed; she was sure they had already started season 2 when Jay woke her up again.

"Hey, you doze off" he said in a whisper, brushing his thumb against her cheek.

"What?" Jaeyun said, lifting herself up with her hands, her voice groggy "shit"

"It's okay" Jay said "do you wanna go to sleep, I can pause it" he proposed, remote already in hand.

As much as Jaeyun wanted to protest, she knew she had been up since 5 am due to practicing and anxiety over seeing her sister.

"Sure" she mumbled, already half-dozed off and leaning back into the bed.

She heard Jay's small chuckle followed with the tv turning off and the shuffling of bed sheets.

Even in her sleepy state, she grabbed Jay's wrist and brought it to her waist, feeling the warmth of his chest against her back.

Both of them didn't say anything, just enjoying each other's touch and dozed off again

[***]

Jaeyun woke up, the room still dark and the pitter-patter of the rain welcomed her back, without thunders this time. Jay's arm was gone from her waist, that was enough to make her stir a bit, shifting in the bed to look to her other side, finding Jay laying on his back with open eyes.

"Jay?" she spoke, still half-asleep and remembering him sleeping with open eyes while on I-Land.

He turned his head, suddenly pulled away from his thoughts. Even in the dim light of the room, he managed to see her silhouette.

"Babe?" he said, voice hoarse from sleep.

Jaeyun's stomach fluttered at the pet-name "Why are you awake?" she said, sliding closer to him and wrapping her arms around his torso.

"You know, I've been thinking-"

"Hope you don't get a headache because of it" she interrupted him while smiling.

He smiled, his laugh vibrating through his chest.

"What I mean is" he started "did you... did you actually think I would never be able to... like you?"

So it was that.

"Well," Jaeyun answered, sitting up in the bed, her hand still on his chest, drawing small circles with her fingers "I hated you for too long, that was one of the reasons" she said, already knowing this was going to be hard "but also... I've had crushes in other guys, throughout my life, you know?" she smiled, trying to pretend like everything was okay "but, some of those guys, if not all, never liked me back" she finally explained "one of them even went as far to say that he could never like someone like me, he even said thing about my body and I-" she swallowed hard "every time... every time that I've had feelings for someone else after him... I've never been able to take those thoughts out of my head" she felt a small tear rolling down her cheek "oh fuck, this is stupid, I'm-"

"Hey" he cut her off, quickly sitting up and cupping her cheeks "it's not stupid" he said, holding her face so they could lock eyes with each other "I'm sorry I asked, I should've realized it was a sensitive matter I-"

"No, no Jay" she cut him off this time "you deserve to know, it's okay, really" she reassured him.

He stayed quiet for a moment, looking at her with doe eyes. Of course he was worried, he loved her.

"I know you probably hear this often" he said mid chuckle "but I hope you know that guy was wrong, and he was an asshole" he added, giving her a kiss in her cheeks. He kissed her forehead, nose, the side of her ears, even her jaw and a little bit in her neck.

"I like you" he said between kisses, finally moving to her lips "I like you so, so much" the kiss lasted longer once he spoke, making Jaeyun smile against it.

As his hands roamed to her waist, she cupped his cheeks, both bringing themselves closer to each other. Jay laughed after realizing how they were doing the same thing at the same time. He ended up grabbing her waist and pulling her into his lap.

With their lips moving in sink, she slid her hands from his cheeks to his hair, feeling the soft locks around her fingers and pulling on it a little, him groaning in response, making her smile while kissing him.

He started leaning back on the bed with her on top of him, still roaming her hands through his hair. As he finally laid down, she separated their lips to start kissing his neck, starting first with his jawline and then going down, making sure to kiss his little birthmark, like she always wanted to do. She could feel how he swallowed hard once she started kissing and sucking a little down his neck.

His hands, that were still on her waist, moved in little up and down motions, which started bothering her.

Going back to his lips, she spoke "Oh for god's sake Jay" Jaeyun said while still kissing him, making Jay break away from the kiss and look at her with an interrogation expression on his face.

He opened his mouth to ask her a question, but her hands on his made him stop. She slid his hands from her waist down to her thighs, him finally realizing what she meant.

"That's better" and she went back to kissing him before he could tease her over it, feeling his smirk growing as she kissed him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I was gonna talk about other chapter stuff in this Author's Note but I feel like I should apologize. I don't even know how long it has taken me to post this chapter, sorry.

Little update of my life, I started a new job and later dropped out of college, also I have new friends! Amazing!

also I DON'T KNOW HOW THIS CHAPTER IS SO FUCKING LONG ngl I thought it was barely 1k words, but (according to word) is a bit more than 4k? For reference, the other chapters were normally 2k words. Even though it's long, sorry if some parts feel kinda lazy or flat, I struggled a lot while writing this chapter (I had two breakdowns so I hope you enjoyed it

 See you next update!