Jin looked up from the couch as he heard a knock at the door. A smile crept to his face, and he stood up, pausing the TV and looking over at Namjoon. "C'mon, Dad. We have a surprise for you."

Jimin and Jin had worked it out so Jin would watch Namjoon while Jimin picked up Lisa from the hospital. They were both a little worried about what his reaction would be, and they thought things might go more smoothly if Jin helped gear Namjoon up.

Namjoon got up from the couch and followed Jin to the door, whereupon Jin opened it to reveal Jimin and Lisa.

"Joon!" Lisa cried out, immediately flinging her arms around Namjoon's neck and giving him a tight hug. "I missed you. And I know, I wasn't conscious so maybe that shouldn't be possible, but I really did. You too, Jin."

"Lisa..." Namjoon uttered, shocked, but his arms wrapped around her after a moment and locked her into an equally tight embrace. "I thought...I wasn't sure if  you would..."

"They can't get rid of me that easily," Lisa said with a small laugh, pulling back so she could meet Namjoon's eyes. Even so, he didn't completely let her go, his hands just sitting loosely on her waist as though he didn't want to lose contact with her for a moment. Her smile softened. "I'm sorry I made you worry."

His breath came out shaky, and his hands tightened around her, pulling her back into a hug. "I'm just glad you're here."

"Oh, I'm back all right," she said, setting her chin down on Namjoon's shoulder and closing her eyes. "You guys aren't getting rid of me, either. And I want my due share of the blankets, Mister. I'm telling you now so don't say I didn't tell you later."

Jimin slipped around the entwined pair, and he and Jin retreated into the kitchen, keeping an eye on the two as they pulled apart and talked in low voices.

"He seems better, right?" Jimin asked, his brow creased as he watched them.

"Definitely," Jin agreed with a sharp nod. "I think that's just how Dad gets when someone is missing from the family. It's like he's completely lost."

"That's not healthy," Jimin mumbled, and Jin winced, not wanting Jimin to feel guilty for what had happened in his youth.

"But none of us are to blame for that," Jin stressed, watching Jimin now instead of Namjoon and Lisa. "That's how he is. It's not your fault or my fault or Lisa's fault. Okay?"

"But..." Jimin looked up at Jin. "Do you think he'll be fine now? Or...should we still be worried? He adamantly refused to go to the doctor each time I brought up the subject – he clung onto the bed rail and wouldn't let go – so I don't even know if we have any options, I just-"

"Shhh," Jin said, placing a hand on Jimin's head. "We'll take it a day at a time, okay? Just be observant. If Dad is still having a difficult time, then we'll discuss that when it comes up, okay? There's no point in worrying about what might happen when we don't know how likely it is."

"I'd feel better if we had a plan in advance," Jimin said, ducking out from underneath Jin's hand and crossing his arms. "I think we need to be prepared for that chance."

The two stared at each other, feeling uneasy since they didn't agree on how to take care of Namjoon, and it wasn't altogether that often that they disagreed on anything. The moment broke and they looked away, silently agreeing to resolve the issue another time.

"You two! Come on in here," Jin called out in a louder voice, taking a few steps toward the reunited pair and waving them closer. "I've got a meal all prepared."

Lisa pushed away from Namjoon, clapping her hands together like a seal. "Jin's cooking? I need to get injured more often!"

"Jin! You're encouraging bad behavior!" Jimin said, turning to Jin with a panicked expression, but the master chef spread his hands in the air as though unveiling a banner.

"I can see the headline now: Kim Jin's Cooking – Worth a Brick to the Head!"

"This isn't an advertisement for your show!"

Jin was about to reply when his cell phone started ringing, and he slipped it out of his pocket, waving the others toward the kitchen. "You all get started, I'll join you in a minute," he promised before holding the phone up to his ear and moving into Jimin's bedroom for some privacy. "Hey, Jungkook. You never call me – what's up?"

There was a pause on the other end. "Oh, Jin, hey..."

Jin blinked, setting himself gently on the edge of Jimin's bed. "Did you call me on accident?" He laughed. "You sound surprised to hear me answer my own phone."

"No, I meant to call you, I just-" Jungkook exhaled on the other end, distorting the line for a second. "I sort of wanted it to go to voicemail?"

Jin quirked an eyebrow. The request was strange, but then again, Jungkook was a strange kid. "Okay, well, I'm here now, did you want to talk?"

"Um..." Jungkook's pause was longer this time. "Could you just- could you hang up, and then I'll call back and just let it go to voicemail?"

Jin opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say. "You want me to hang up...so you can call again...and leave me a message?"

"Exactly," Jungkook said, sounding heavily relieved, and although Jin didn't understand what the heck Jungkook was doing, he didn't see any harm in agreeing.

"All right...I'll hang up and just...ignore your next call then," he said, still confused, but he hung up as asked. A few seconds later, his phone began ringing again, and Jin watched it but didn't pick it up. While it was ringing, he realized that he didn't know if Jungkook wanted him to listen to the message or not.

After the phone stopped ringing, a notification came up alerting him that he had a new voicemail. His finger hovered over the banner before swiping, and he held the phone up to his ear.

"Hey Jin, it's Jungkook, but you already knew that...Look, I saw something and I wasn't sure if I should tell you or not but I asked a friend and she said that I should tell you so if you're upset with me, you should be upset with her instead...Basically...what happened was, I was at work today, and you know how your girlfriend is working on the same set as me? Well...okay, so...Gah, I don't really want to say this but I'm already halfway through the message now...Okay, so- I saw her kissing another actor on set, and I didn't know if you guys had an open relationship or anything like that so maybe it doesn't even matter but I thought I should let you know at least. Okay, bye!"

The message ended abruptly, and Jin pulled the phone away from his ear, staring at it for a long moment. In this sort of situation, Jin probably should have felt more panicked, but he didn't, not really. All he felt was a little confused.

He called up his girlfriend and held the phone back up to his ear.

"Hey! I was surprised to see you were calling," she answered after two rings, her voice rich with unvoiced laughter. "I thought your step-mom-slash-aunt was coming home from the hospital today?"

"She is," Jin said, feeling a small note of urgency to return to the others, but he pushed it away for a second. "Jimin actually just brought her back home. They're all eating a little something right now."

"How's your dad doing?" she asked, humming in the background. He wondered what she was doing right now because she only hummed when she was working on something.

"He's actually doing pretty well. I'm a bit relieved," he admitted. He'd been worried these past few months what would have happened if Lisa came home and he didn't snap out of it. He was glad that it wasn't an eventuality he had to consider anymore. "What are you up to right now? Sorry if I'm interrupting something..."

"You're not!" she said, laughter cutting off her humming. "I was actually just fixing myself something for lunch. I've got one of those CSI shows running in the background, so you might hear that." Jin couldn't hear the show, but he could hear the rhythmic chops as she sliced something on a cutting board. Probably a vegetable; she liked to eat healthy. She wasn't a complete vegetarian because she claimed that chicken was just too good to give up, but most of her diet consisted of fruits and veggies. The chopping slowed down and then stopped altogether, and then there was a small thud as she set the knife down. "Jin? Is something wrong? You sound quiet."

Jin let out a breath. "No, nothing- well, it's not a big deal, just..."

"Tell me," she said immediately, and he could just see her crossing her arms, phone anchored between her shoulder and ear. "Whatever it is, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Like I said, it's probably just a misunderstanding..." Jin took a deep breath. "One of my brothers thought he saw you kissing another guy."

The line was quiet on the other end. "Jin, I wouldn't do that."

"I know, I know," Jin said, feeling horribly guilty for even bringing it up because it wasn't that he didn't trust her; he just felt like he had to address it. "And it didn't sound like you, so I know Jungkook must have made a mistake, I just thought I should-"

"Wait, Jungkook?"

"Yeah?" Jin asked, his heartbeat quickening and the panic setting in just a tiny bit because her tone had changed. "You guys work on the same set, don't you?"

"Yeah," she said, sounding confused. "We work in the same department. So why would he-" She cut off abruptly, and when she spoke again, her voice sounded sharper than before and just a teensy bit suspicious. "Jin, did you ever mention me by name to your brothers?"

"Uh..." Jin sucked in a breath between his teeth, realizing that – for how serious their relationship was – he'd done little to actually introduce her presence to the family. "Maybe not...by name, exactly..."

He could feel her eye roll on the other end of the line. "That's what I thought, because Jungkook came running up to me today asking whether or not I would feel obligated to tell my sister if someone was cheating on her."

"So, you think-"

"I think he saw someone else on set – someone else he assumed was your girlfriend because you never told them who I am – and thought your 'mystery girlfriend' was cheating on you. Which could have been avoided if you had introduced me to your family," she reminded him. She'd brought up the idea several times, but Jin had always shied away from it. There were a lot of reasons as to why – he wasn't sure how Namjoon would react, there was a lot of bad history with Jimin's past that he didn't want to bring her into without asking Jimin first, and of course the last serious girlfriend any of the brothers had had was Jeongyeon, who had turned out to be a rather toxic influence. Not that he thought his girlfriend was toxic in the least, but the Kim family didn't exactly have a good track record with significant others.

"I'll think about it," he said after a moment, wondering if now might be a good time since Lisa was back and Namjoon was better.

"Please do," she said, her voice growing soft again and hiding a smile. "You've just told me so many stories, and I didn't grow up in a big family so I think it would be neat to see." From what she'd told Jin, her family was compromised of her mom, dad, and aunt who had lived with them, plus her sister. She'd cut off ties a few years back with most of them, although she and her sister still talked occasionally. But she probably still missed the whole experience of coming home to a full house and hugs.

"I will," he promised more firmly this time. Maybe it would be a good idea to introduce her to the family – especially if it helped prevent more misunderstandings. "And I'm sorry that I had to ask you, it's not that I don't trust you, I was just confused and I know my family wouldn't lie to me about something like this so I-"

"Jin, it's fine," she insisted. "I know you trust me, and I trust you too, so don't worry about it. I'm just glad you called and asked me about it before just assuming it was true." She snorted lightly. "I'm going to have to have a chat with Jungkook the next time we're on set. But really, Jin, it's fine. Go spend some time with your step-mom-slash-aunt and your Dad and Jimin and whoever else is there, and let me know how it goes."

"Thank you, Aika. Really. I love you."

"Love you too," she said, and he could picture her leaning against the counter with one arm, holding the phone up to her ear and smoothing her fingers against the marble. "Now go have fun."

"Yes ma'am," Jin responded with a laugh before hanging up. He felt relieved that it had just been a misunderstanding, but he was also a little worried. There was a part of him that had already decided that, whether she'd cheated on him or not, he still wanted to be with her. She was the person he wanted to spend his life with, he already knew that, and her actions wouldn't have made a difference. And that was what worried him, that he would have accepted an intimate betrayal so readily.

His stomach feeling suddenly heavy, he headed back into the kitchen to join the others.

--

published 08/04/20 (mmy/dd/yy)