Chapter Text
The day Park Jihyo found out she was pregnant, her world ended.
She had scoffed.
She had denied.
She had screeched and sobbed and wailed but alas…
“Ms. Park, there’s nothing you can do to stop the fact that there is a bean sized human growing inside of you.”
She smacked the examination table. “You’re lying. I’m—I’m Park fucking Jihyo. I’m the CEO of Park Industries. You can’t stop me from doing anything , legal or not.”
Well, as it turns out, she ended up having the kid. She treasured the little bean—now grown into an actual living creature that came out of her—close to her chest, hearing her screams as she sobbed into her best friend’s arms.
“I know you’ll be a great mom,” Nayeon had murmured, kissing Jihyo’s temple. “You’re Park fucking Jihyo. You’re gonna be the greatest.”
Jihyo stayed on maternity leave for exactly 63 and a half days, Nayeon somehow taking care of her and the baby (whom she named Yunjin) and stepping in as temporary CEO.
And here Jihyo was, cleverly hidden in sunglasses and a mask as she watched as a young woman— much taller than herself—walk towards her, an iced latte in one hand, and her phone in another. She had a beanie on, a baggy sort of sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt, and beat up Air Force Ones on.
“She looks just like you, Ji,” Nayeon whispered, her lips grazing the tragus of her ear.
Jihyo leaned her head onto Nayeon’s shoulder for a moment before standing up, straightening herself out, and walking up to the daughter she had barely seen for 13 years.
“Ah–” The tall young woman looked down at her as she made her first sound. “Huh Yunjin?”
Yunjin smiled and nodded. “Are you the driver my mom hired?” Her Korean was a bit hesitant, and her American accent shined through a little bit but it wasn’t bad for someone who hadn’t been in the country for a decade.
Jihyo laughed awkwardly. “Um, no. I’m your mom.” The CEO pulled down her mask slightly. “Hi honey.”
“OH!” Yunjin leaned down and hugged her mom lightly. “Hi… Eomma.”
Jihyo smiled at her child, seeing the discomfort in Yunjin’s eyes, she beckoned her child to follow her. “This is Im Nay—”
“NAYEON UNNIE!”
It was hard to hide the betrayal in her heart when she saw Yunjin wrap Nayeon into a tight hug. She knew sending her executive assistant to see her child in New York every time she was there for business was a bad idea in the end, but this was something else. A type of unnatural jealousy flooded through her.
The resentment stewed in Jihyo as they sat in her car, Nayeon and Yunjin laughing about something from New York.
You did this to yourself, she thought bitterly. This is what you could have had.
“Hyo? Are you gonna go home..?” she heard Nayeon ask her.
Fuck this. She sped off towards the empty penthouse she called home. She heard Nayeon suggest slowing down, but she didn’t stop. She merely sped into the parking garage beneath her building and slammed on the breaks as she got into her parking spot.
“Jesus, Eomma,” Yunjin grumbled, stretching as she got out, taking her luggage from the trunk. “Did you have to go so fast?”
“Don’t curse,” Jihyo muttered as she swiped her keycard to the private elevator that lead up to the penthouse, which took up the entire top floor of the building (What could she say? She liked the view). She watched Yunjin shift from foot to foot uncomfortably as they all stood in awkward silence. Nayeon on her phone, Yunjin slumped casually with worried eyes, and herself standing tall and powerful like she did when she rode into work.
Am I casually power posing?
She sighed before the door opened, displaying the beautiful, semi-modern architecture of her house. The floor plan was mostly open, with a short hallway left of the foyer and another one that was directly beside the kitchen to the right.
“Yunjin, you’ll be on the left side of the penthouse. We moved your things from the New York townhouse to here, so hopefully the transition will be smooth,” Jihyo informed as she bustled around the main entrance, taking Yunjin’s luggage from her and placing it at the maw of the hall and rapidly cutting up an orange. “Orange?”
Yunjin blinked. “Um. Sure?” She looked over at Nayeon, who was now sprawled on the couch in front of the massive TV and fireplace. “Does Nayeonnie live here..?”
Jihyo laughed loudly at the suggestion, ignoring the flash of hurt that showed on Nayeon’s face. “Absolutely not. She lives far from here. I don’t like mixing work and life too much.”
“...Cool.” Yunjin looked at her luggage before picking it up. “I’m going to go to bed now.”
Jihyo nodded. “Good night then, honey.”
“Good night, Eomma. Good night, Nayeonnie.”
“Good night Yunjin-ah!”
“I love you,” Jihyo called softly as her daughter walked into the darkness of the hall.
…
Yunjin knew, from Nayeon’s stories she had told her throughout the years, that her mother struggled, and that was why she couldn’t raise her. Fine.
Yunjin had to give her mom points for accuracy on the bedroom, as she walked in ( Nayeon unnie probably sent pictures ), but she couldn’t help a surge of negative emotions from coming over her.
The New Yorker collapsed onto her familiar bed, its fluff surrounding her as her spine relaxed for the first time in 17 hours.
A ding! sounded from her phone, causing Yunjin’s heartbeat to leap into her throat as she rapidly flipped it over.
fimmies!!
kkura: yunjinnie~ we miss u already
chaewonnie: JEN U NEED TO COME BACK PLZ
chaewonnie: KKURA UNNIE IS BEING ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING WITH CHAEYEON.
manchae: im liteally dyign jen hlep
chaewonnie: LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EUNCHAE HAHAHAHA
zuha: lmao manchae turn on ur autocorrect
manchae: I KNOW WHERE ALL OF U LIVE
manchae: except for u yunjinnie ur special
yunjin: made it to korea safe lol
yunjin: going 2 bed. im tired.
yunjin: love u guys
Then a singular message, not on the main group chat.
zuha: we need to talk abt what happened
From five hours ago.
zuha: kirin ik ur online.
zuha: yunjin.
zuha: jen, come on.
Sent 2 minutes ago.
Yunjin decided to ignore it.
It wasn’t like she could do anything now.
…
Im Nayeon knows there are two sides to each coin.
She was 22 years old when she watched one of her best friends give birth to the child she watched be sent away to a boarding school in New York at 4.
She watched as her best friend fell into a spiral afterward, digging herself deeper and deeper into the inescapable hole of work.
She listened as Jihyo wailed that she had , as she went out to the bar yet another night, as she came into the office yet another day with her eyes sparkling in the way that showed she had another hook-up.
She allowed Jihyo to send her to New York as frequently as she wished. She was Jihyo’s eyes as Yunjin—now known as Jennifer, as she preferred—grew up. She’d stay for days, weeks, months acting as a surrogate mother to Yunjin, but always made sure to remind her who her mom was. She’d tell stories of their youth, tell her lies of how her mother was doing, the success she found yet how much she loved and missed her.
“Nayeon, how long are you going to let her drag you around like this?” Jeongyeon, a longtime friend of both Jihyo and Nayeon, asked, sitting back on Nayeon’s bed as she folded her clothes into the brand new suitcase that Jihyo had gotten her for her birthday.
“It’s fine, Jeongie. I love seeing Yunjinnie, she’s adorable, even as a pimply teenager.”
Jeongyeon sighed. “That’s not really what I meant, Nayeon.”
She knew what Jeongyeon was going to say. She wasn’t ready for what Jeongyeon was going to say, and yet she was.
“How long can you love someone when they don’t love you in the same way?”
Loving Jihyo, for Nayeon, was a simple fact of life. Nothing could change it and Nayeon wasn’t sure she wanted it to ever be changed. It had been ingrained in her since she and Jeongyeon had first met the small, wide-eyed 10 year old on their school’s playground. It had warped and deepened and become something of a caged animal within her.
But Nayeon would do anything for Jihyo.
Including taking care of the child she didn’t truly want.
Nayeon knocked on Yunjin’s door.
“Come in.”
Nayeon stood awkwardly by the entrance. “Do you like it?”
Yunjin nodded. “I’m kinda surprised Eomma wanted me to live with her.”
“She loves you, Jen.”
“I know, but still…” Yunjin sighed and stared out the window. “I’m nervous.”
Nayeon walked over and wrapped Yunjin in a tight hug. “Me too, honey.”
Me too.