BABY MAMA | pjm

XIX

ACT IV | SCENE XIX

❝CHANCES❞

WATER TRICKLED DOWN jangmi's fingers as she kept her hand under the tap longer than necessary. her gaze moved to jimin who was staring at her warily. she cleared her throat. "and your mother?"

"we're not exactly on speaking terms right now." he shoved his hands into his pockets. "why?" she questioned, eyeing his form. he'd clearly come here straight from work with his sleeves rolled up, white shirt still tucked into his black trousers.

"uh..." he watched as she began to move about the kitchen, pulling out pots and pans. "she's not showing any remorse about insulting me, is she?" she scoffed slightly when jimin nodded. "don't worry. i never expected her to." she told him, getting started on the carbonara sauce.

"do you have any problems with my dad being at the party?" jimin asked. jangmi paused, wondering why he was so concerned about her opinions. he never cared much about them when they began to drift apart. "who am i to stop a grandfather from being there for his grandchild's birthday?"

"you did it to me already." he muttered. he saw how her body froze when the words left his lips. her head turned towards him slowly, face deathly calm. "don't act like i did that on purpose, jimin. you didn't want to see or have anything to do with me, so i left. don't speak like the first thing that crossed my mind when i found out i was pregnant was how to keep the baby away from you."

"i had no idea you ever came, jangmi. i thought i made that clear. i never turned you away." he rasped. "well, i didn't know that. i thought you did. and you could have." she replied. her voice cracked as she ran her two hands over her hair, frustration colouring her face. "no, you don't know that i would've because i never even got the chance. just like i missed the birth of my daughter. her first steps. her first words. her first laugh. her first everything. and three birthdays. i lost out on four years our child's life, jangmi. four years." jimin's voice was laced with anger and pain and regret.

she stared at him, unable to say a word. he was right. he had been deprived of a significant part of rosalie's life. and jangmi grudgingly admitted to herself that that was unfair to him. sighing, she placed one hand on the counter and leaned against it. "it's not something i willingly took away from you. i had to leave to be able to take care of the child growing in me."

he brushed his hand through his now tousled hair, fingers gliding through the glossy raven locks. "look, i'm not blaming you..." he started, his tone soft but voice still on edge. "then why did it sound like that to me?" she cut in, pinning him with an unreadable look. "but," he ignored her, "couldn't you have tried some other means to get to me?"

"like what? should i have sent you a letter by post with a copy of the result of my pregnancy test attached?" one hand moved to rest on her hip, left brow lifting in question. "i don't know." he pushed an exasperated breath out his mouth, feeling the deep sarcasm of her words grate his nerves. "just tried harder. put your pride aside." he let out. "jimin, do you know how long i waited outside your house just trying to see you for only a minute? when your mother finally came out, she made it more than clear that you wanted nothing to do with me."

"but i didn't know you came. i never even got the chance to make the choice to see you or not." he groaned. it was taking all his strength not to raise his voice. "you can't blame me for that. put the blame on those security guards and your mother. they took that chance away from you, not me. so please stop making me look like the bad guy here." her voice cracked, annoyance and frustration colouring her tone.

"you keep making it seem like all that mattered to me was keeping my pride. if that was really the only thing i cared about, i never would have showed up at your place. i never would've made an effort after everything that happened between us. but the only thing on my mind was taking care of my baby. and i couldn't do that here by myself and the last thing i wanted was to bother hoseok's family with my issues after everything they had done for me. trying to raise a kid all on my own without a proper job... or a husband would've been damn well near impossible especially since people tend to judge. and i was reasonable enough to realise this."

her cheeks were flushed and her ears red, eyes glinting with a fierceness jimin found familiar to her. her hands were curled into fists as her chest heaved with every deep breath she took. jimin recognised the look. when her eyes got like that, it meant she was ready to fight for what she believed was right.

"yes," he heaved out a heavy breath. "this isn't about you or me. it's about rosalie. everything is about her. it's just that every time i see her, i realise just how much i've missed out on and it makes me so mad."

"now that you're in her life, why don't you make the most of it? of this second chance? please, let's just drop the topic for now." she turned back to her cooking, washing her hands again. "your father, even your mother if she's willing, are welcome. i have no qualms about their presence. and i'm sure it'll make rosalie more than happy which is all i care about. you're her father, you're allowed to have guests at your daughter's birthday party. so feel free to bring whomever you want." she stated with a finality that told jimin she would no longer entertain any further discussion on the topic.

and he knew, that was that. for the moment, anyway.

☀☀☀

damn i'm on fire lolol. i'll be starting law school real soon so i'm trying to get out as many chapters as possible before i get drowned in textbooks, assignments and legal documents all over again fml. istg didn't i just graduate uni yesterday? i just want to not have to go to school but i don't want to adult, is that too much to ask?
on to a more important issue, so jimin and jangmi sort of fought again but at least their positions are a bit more understandable now...i think. i was trying to make their feelings a bit clearer, so you know it's not exactly their faults and just circumstances... ah i'm confusing myself.