Gone, Meetings, I Love You

["Why aren't you wearing the ring?"]

I glared at my father sitting across from me.

["I'm not marrying him."]

He rubbed his face with his hand and sighed looking at me with pleading eyes.

["Why are you so stubborn? Why can't you just do as I say?"]

I rolled my eyes and glanced around my father's office.

["Why do I have to marry him? I don't see the point? I shouldn't have to marry if I don't want to."]

My father walked around his desk and sat on the chair next to mine.

["Because it's good for the company. We'd be making connections and merging companies together. It's a great opportunity!"]

I faced away from my father.

["I don't want to get married. Especially with somebody I know nothing about."]

My father reached over and grabbed my hand in his.

["Listen, you know that because your mom is pregnant with a boy, you can't inherit the company anymore. So unless we marry you off, you'd be weighing the family name down. That's gonna give us a bad image."]

I pulled my hand away from his. Being irritated and frustrated, I spoke without thinking.

["Why can't you just let me cut ties with the family and I can go back to Korea? I was perfectly fine being there. And better for you guys, since I was gone just like you wanted me to be!"]

Suddenly I felt a sharp sting spread across my cheek.

["Be quiet! You have no right to say that!"]

I furrowed my eyebrows in anger.

["No right? It is completely my right! Especially since all this wealth, isn't even yours! It's my mother's! And now, you're giving everything to her, that old hag? Just because she asked you to? Just because she's having a son? All the hardwork mom put into her company, trusting you to keep it safe, until it is passed down to me. All of that, for nothing? For her?! Are you kidding me? And you're telling me I have no right? I have every right!"]

Before I knew it I was standing and leaning over my father.

["How dare you speak to me like that, I can't belie-"]

["I dared because it's not fair! After she died, you pushed every single memory we had with mom away! You pushed it all away because you felt too guilty! What, you didn't think I wouldn't understand just because I was young? You forgot you put me through all that "training" just so I could be the perfect heir of the company. All that training that lost me my childhood. I had to mature and grow-up faster than other kids do. So yeah, I noticed. I also noticed how it was your fault mom died. Are you shocked? Is the guilty feeling coming back? Because it should! Because the same thing you are doing to me right now, you did to mom! And you know it! Forcing her to do things she didn't want to. You forced her to make more unecessary connections for the company. That added more stress on her and she ended up having a stroke! You. Killed. Her!"]

Streams of never-ending tears fell down my face.

I looked at the shocked look on my father's face.

["You're my only daughter... You can't just leave..."]

I laughed.

["Your only daughter? A daughter you love and cherish more than anybody? Cut the crap. If you did, you wouldn't be putting that old hag's words over my own. Here's a better idea. After the "new heir" is born, have a new daughter with her. Hopefully your new family will be treated better than the last one."]

I turned and went to walk away. I didn't even look back. As soon as my hand felt the cool doorknob I stood and sighed.

["I'm not a Kingsley anymore. I'm not your daughter anymore. From now on, I'm Jessica. Jessica Barns. I'm the daughter of my mother. And that's it."]

I left the room and went straight to my room.

It felt like Deja vu when I began packing my clothes again. This time I took a whole big suitcase instead of a small bag. I decided I wasn't coming back.

I put everything in there. All my clothes, which wasn't much, two photo albums with my mom and I, a few plushies, some little things that I kept around for memories, all my mom's favorite music books, and a few of my favorite books.

In my small bag I placed my laptop and it's charger, along with my phone's charger, and my dolphin plushie, Finn, as well as my emergency money I kept in my nightstand drawer.

I sighed and looked around my room to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything. Then, without any hesitation, and no regrets, I left.

As soon as I opened the door, I noticed Edwardo wasn't standing outside my room like he usually was.

'Maybe, they finally agreed to let me go?...'

I shrugged and continued walking and left the house.

I didn't have a specific place to go, so I decided to stay and Alice and Alex's house for the meantime.

I knocked on the door and waited for a while, but got no response. I went over to the side of the house and got the spare key hidden inside a bush. I unlocked the door, put the key back, and went inside.

["Alice! Alex!..."]

I walked up to the spare bedroom which I usually stayed in.

I put my things down and walked to each of their rooms.

Empty.

I wasn't even expecting their parents to be there since they are always away on business trips. And just as expected, their parents weren't home.

["Alice? Alex? Where are you guys?"]

I pouted and walked back to the guest room and grabbed my phone.

>["Guys, where are you? I'm at your house. I left my family. Did you guys go out to eat? Can you bring me something?"] -Me

I pouted and sighed. I sat down on the bed and laid down on my side. I played some music from my phone and decided to wait for Alex and Alice to come back home.

~:~ Alex & Alice POV (3rd person) ~:~

["Do you think it'll actually be them?"]

The boy turned to the girl and rolled his eyes.

["Are you seriously asking me that again?"]

The girl pouted and crossed her arms.

["Sorry, but I'm just worried..."]

The boy began to walk faster and follow the main trail in the park.

They both decided the park near their house would be a perfect place to meet up. Public, but with enough privacy.

["Oh? Is it them?"]

The girl pointed to a group of three boys.

One of the boys had soft pink hair and was smaller than the other two. It was the same description they were given of Jihoon the day before.

["I think so... let's go..."]

The boy grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her quickly, but gently, towards the three boys.

["Hi, ummm..., I'm Alex... Are you Vernon, Jihoon, and... Dino?"]

The tallest boy of the three turned around with wide eyes and smiled.

["Yeah, hi! I'm Vernon. This is Dino and this is Jihoon."]

The two boys that were introduced bowed and gave a slight smile.

["Hi... I'm Alex... oh, and this is my sister, Alice."]

The girl waved and smiled brightly.

["So! Ummm... should we get going and talk? About everything?"]

The three boys nodded towards Alice and she looked over to her brother as an indication to lead them to the area they could sit down and speak in.

~:~ Woozi POV ~:~

V

ernon told the siblings everything that happened in Korea. In return, they told us basic information about Jessica's family and what has happened since she got here.

["So now... she's... ummm... sort of... engaged..."]

There weren't many things I could understand, but the word "engaged" was a word that I understood clearly.

'Engaged?! What?!'

My eyes widened to the point they could fall out of my eye sockets.

"Vernon! Did she just say Jessica is engaged? Since when? Why? What's going on?"

The siblings looked at me and back to Vernon.

["He's just shocked... Give me a second..."]

He gave them a nervous smile and then turned to me.

"Jessica's father want's to marry her off to the son of another wealthy and successful company so they can merge together..."

I looked at Vernon and then to the siblings.

They were about to speak before one of their phone's went off.

["It's Jessica!"]

My eyes widened again and I slightly leaned over to hear what they were gonna say.

["She left her house? She's at our house! Oh my gosh! We were about to tell you it's going to be difficult for you to see her since she's guarded all the time, but it seems she's at our house right now!"]

My brows furrowed in confusion trying to understand. I looked in Vernon's direction so he can translate.

"Wow, ummm... so there was a guard assigned to follow Jessica around apparently so it was going to be difficult to see her without her father finding out, but now it turns out that Jessica left her house and is currently and their house right now."

I blinked a few times trying to process everything.

"So I can go see her?"

Vernon nodded and I looked at the siblings.

They both gave me two thumbs up.

I began to get up from my seat and everyone followed.

["Let's hurry! Our house is this way!"]

The siblings began to run in a certain direction and the three of us followed close behind.

Soon we reached their house, and all of us were out of breath.

["Stay in the kitchen and get some water to help you catch your breath for a bit. We'll bring her down to meet you in there, okay?"]

I nodded not even understanding most of what they said.

"Stay in the kitchen, get water, and wait for a bit. They're gonna bring Jessica down to meet us here."

Just as Vernon finished explaining they had already opened the door and were walking inside.

["Kitchen is that way. We'll only be a minute. Water is in the fridge. Help yourselves."]

We thanked them and went to the kitchen and got some water.

"They told me their parents are always on business trips. So most of the time they have the house to themselves."

I nodded and put my cup down after drinking the water and I went to go sit down on the sofa.

I looked over to the stairs they walked up.

My heart began to speed up.

'She's so close... She's here right? Please... I want to see her now...'

I kept my eyes on the top of the stairs.

Soon Dino and Vernon joined me and sat down with me.

They both did the same and kept looking at the top of the stairs.

'Please...'

~:~ Jay POV ~:~

It was only a dream. I knew it was, but it still affected me greatly. I kept thinking about it. I didn't even notice Alex and Alice sitting infront of me until Alice lightly flicked my forehead.

I looked at her and sighed. Tears coming up on my eyes.

["Are you okay? What happened?"]

Alice slowly rubbed my arms up and down in a comforting manner.

["I... uhh, I had a bad dream..."]

Alex mumbled that he was going to go downstairs, but Alice stayed with me.

["Do you want to talk about it right now?"]

I thought for a bit, but ended up nodding my head.

["Ummm, I ended up getting married with that Eric guy and Jihoon came to get me back, but Eric and my dad both didn't let Jihoon near me. And they made up some fake story about Jihoon kidnapping me and using me for my money. So they threw Jihoon in jail. And then news of that got out and it ruined the careers of the rest of the Seventeen members and they were hated worldwide because of Jihoon, but because of me and..."]

I couldn't keep talking because I was sobbing by the end.

Alice gave me a hug and rubbed my back soothingly.

["I brought something downstairs that can make you feel better... You want to go see it?"]

I sniffed and frowned in confusion.

["What is it?"]

Alice smiled and giggled.

["It's a surprise. You have to come downstairs if you want to find out what it is."]

I pouted and leaned my head on her shoulder.

["Are you coming? Or not?"]

I groaned.

["Yeah..."]

Alice laughed and pulled me up from the bed by my hands.

She jumped around and pulled me along until we got to the stairs.

["You have to promise to close your eyes until we get to the bottom."]

My eyes did the opposite and widened instead.

["You want me to walk down the stairs with my eyes closed?!"]

Alice nodded, no hesitation in her eyes.

["Yeah, okay, whatever. If I die, my blood is on your hands."]

I closed my eyes and carefully and slowly walked down each step.

My heart pounded rapidly from the fear and adrenaline and went through my body.

However, soon enough, I was at the bottom.

["Don't open your eyes yet! Keep your eyes closed a little more."]

I pouted and whined but I did as Alice asked.

I walked a bit more following her voice until she suddenly let go of my hands.

["Alice?"]

No answer.

["Can I open my eyes now?"]

I felt a new pair of hands grab my own. They were cold, and big.

'No... no way...'

My heart sped up and my grip tightened on the other pair of hands.

["Jessica... you can open your eyes now..."]

Alice's voice sounded from behind me.

I held my breath and I slowly opened my eyes.

Before my stood Jihoon.

The one and only Lee Jihoon.

Lee Jihoon with his pink hair and flustered pink cheeks to match. Not forgetting his red nose and the tears streaming down his face.

Soon, tears began to fall from my face too.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't think.

I could only look at his smiling, crying face while he held my hands tightly.

"I missed you."

The second he said those words I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly. His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me close to him. As close as he could pull me towards him.

"I missed you. I missed you too. I missed you a lot. I missed you so much. Too much. I missed you."

He laughed and buried his face in my neck and continued to hold me close.

"I missed you as much as you missed me. I missed you so much, I couldn't stand being without you, especially after just having you, that I came all the way here just to get you back."

We both slightly pulled away from each other, however we were still fairly close.

Jihoon brought his hands close to my face and wiped my tears away, and I began to do the same for him.

"I love you, Jihoon."

He froze and looked at me.

I suddenly felt scared. Maybe I wasn't supposed to say that. What if it was too soon to say that. Many questions began to spill into my head.

However, Jihoon quickly kissed me, and caused all the worried thoughts flood out of my head.

I pulled away from him, but Jihoom quickly closed the gap and kissed me again.

His kisses were needy. Needy and frantic. As if I would disappear from his arms at any moment.

"I love you too. So so much. I love you so much."

Jihoon had pulled away quickly to say and but quickly placed his lips on mine again.

"Oppa... just a second... let's sit."

He pulled away and nodded. Leading us both to the sofa.

When we sat down I noticed that everybody else had left the area.

I giggled at the thought of them leaving because of Jihoon's and I intimate re-union.

"Are you okay?"

I looked at Jihoon with a smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"

He intertwined our hands and smiled while letting out a sigh of relief.

"I'm perfect. Now that you're here with me."

We both looked at each other and smiled.

He slowly leaned over to me and gave me a soft, sweet kiss, before pulling away and wrapping his arms around me.

I did the same and wrapped my arms around his waist.

He pulled me close to him and kept me there.

I leaned my head on his shoulder and he leaned his head over mine.

"I'm never letting you go ever again."

I smiled and sighed.

"I'm never going to leave you ever again."

He chuckled and kissed the top of my head softly.

We both sat on the sofa and in each other's arms for a while. Happy in each other's presence. Relieved to finally be within each other's grasp. And never letting go.