Whisper Of Death

Chapter 9 | barriers.

“Let’s eat. This food is making me hungry.” Jaemin’s father called out. Florence smiled shyly as she watched everyone sit down. Jaemin looked up, holding his hand on the seat next to him. 

“Are you coming?” He asked sweetly. Her cheeks flushed red, knowing that everyone’s attention was on the new married couple. She nodded her head and sat down next to Jaemin as she looked up, she saw Jinwoo staring at her husband in disbelief. 

“Are you really my brother?” He asked in disbelief. Jaemin felt the annoyance already built inside of him. He just knew his little brother would say something stupid and end up making Florence feel uncomfortable. “Jinwoo. Eat.” He simply replied back to the younger one who was still gobsmacked. Jinwoo frowned as he took a bite from the pancake and immediately widened his eyes. 

“This is so good...” He whispered softly. Florence chuckled cutely and softly before replying “Gomawo.” “Ah she speaks Korean well!” He joked which made Florence laugh now. Jaemin didn’t understand the dry humour of his little brother and what confused him even more was that Florence was amused by this. “Of course she can. She lives in South Korea.” Jaemin mentioned grumpy while rolling his eyes but made sure his wife couldn’t see that. Maybe it was a bit childish of him but he had wished he could have made her laugh like that too. 

Little did he know that Florence could see Minjun in Jinwoo. It filled in a void that she felt as soon as she married Jaemin. A sense of something familiar surrounded her and it made her more comfortable than she was before. Jinwoo already felt like a familiar person. Not like someone who was new to her and that she had to get used too. 

“I was just joking with her, hyung.” Jinwoo said with a smile as he ate the rest of his pancake. Florence turned her head towards the right side to take a glance at her husband. Jaemin didn’t budge and focused his eyes on the breakfast she had made for him. She waited for him to say something about it but he didn’t. He just quietly ate, not even once looking up at her. 

He knew she was looking and he even had a intuition of what she wanted to hear but he didn’t do it. He didn’t give her what she wanted. Florence bit her underlip softly before looking back to her own plate and took little bites of her creation. She suddenly didn’t feel excited or hungry anymore. The one she wanted to impress seemed truly uninterested. Disappointed and discouraged, she finished her plate while she waited for anyone else to finish. Jinwoo was quick to notice that Florence felt upset with the way Jaemin was behaving but what surprised Jinwoo mostly was that she didn't make it apparent that she wasn't happy with Jaemin. She just took it in and acted like nothing happened. That showed to Jaemin that there were certain things that Florence went through for her to be behaving this way. Jinwoo looked at Jaemin who didn't look up at anyone. This was typical Jaemin. He always did this but he never feared something to lose and now the same way, he doesn't feel like he will lose something if he carries on acting this way.

He knew that Florence would always stay.

“Florence darling. Have some more.” Jaemin’s mother insisted. Kindly, Florence shook her head. “I am not so hungry.” She replied with a lie. Ignoring her wishes, Jaemin’s mother put more pancakes on her plate.

“You should. You look so thin. It makes me worried.” She expressed her concerns about Florence’s habit. Florence blinked a few times before bowing her head low out of respect. Jaemin looked now at Florence and when Florence turned her head to look at him, he gave her quick smile. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what he should say to her. It was rather weird for him to have her around and he still needed to get used to her.His sudden way of changing how he treated Florence confused her very much. Just right before his family came in, Jaemin was flirting and now he just turned coldly. She couldn't comprehend it. Maybe he was shy in front of his parents and wanted to be more respectful around them. However, a quick 'how are you?' or 'you made amazing food' would have been appreciated by Florence and equally would have made her feel better and somehow loved.

Loved.. That word.

'It is to early for me to say that... Of course he doesn't love me. He doesn't even know me and... I don't know him.' Florence thought and started to beat herself up for how she was thinking in the first place. She liked to think that Jaemin would love her one day. That's what she was wishing and hoping for.

Nothing more was more lonely than being in a relationship where you feel like you have to be with each other without having that emotional or mental connection together. 

"It's time to go." Jinwoo said as he finished his last piece of pancake. His brother's voice made Jaemin realise that he was just staring at Florence. He cleared up his voice and quickly looked away. He focused his gaze on his little brother and just nodded his head.

Today was the first time where Jaemin truly didn't wanted to go to work. Everyone knew how much of a workaholic he was but today he just wanted to spend the day with Florence. He had no idea what he wanted to do to with her. He just simply wanted her to be by his side. He wanted to feel her presence and hear her warm and soft laugh. 

Jaemin couldn't help but to smile at this point just to imagine the cute laugh she had earlier on when Jinwoo was surprised about her Korean. Jaemin would be lying if he hadn't said that he also was slightly surprised by the way she spoke Korean. She didn't sound like a foreigner at all. She was very good. 

"What are you waiting for son? Normally you are the first one to leave the table." His father was so kindly to remind him of that. He didn't wanted Florence to know that some things he did was unusual. For example, this. He didn't wanted her to know that it was unusual for him to sit down and her for her to realise that it was probably because of her. He sighed and nodded.

"I am coming dad." Jaemin said. He turned his head towards Florence. "I will be home late. Don't wait for me and go to sleep." He coldly said and just left after his father and brother. Florence didn't even had enough time to process what Jaemin had just said to her or even reply back. She just watched Jaemin leaving after carelessly talking to her the way he did. 

"Sorry.. He can be like this sometimes." His mother excused his behaviour. Florence looked at her and quickly smiled and shook her head. "No it is okay." She replied with a smile but anyone who just witnessed her heartbroken smile could tell that she was upset. 

"No it is not and I will speak to him about it. He is a married man now. His wife will always be wanting the best for him and seeing what you have done to day, regardless of him telling you to sleep. He and I both know that you will stay awake until he arrives home." Jaemin's mother said. A part of her was relieved that Jaemin had found someone like Florence but then the other part of her was terrified that Jaemin's attitude could or might ruin their relationship. 

"You shouldn't have talked to her in that way." Jaemin's father said as they got in the car to get to work. Jaemin was a bit confused and started the engine of the car and slowly started to drive away from the porch of the house.

"Or the way you didn't even care to thank her for the breakfast she had made for all of us." Jinwoo added. Now Jaemin's irritation build up. He just nodded his head.

"Look son, women need time and need to know that you prioritise them over everything. If you make Florence feel like you prioritise work over her, she will grow detached from you. You don't want to build that gap so early in your relationship because it might be harder to fix it." Jaemin's father gave some advice.

"But I do prioritise work for good reasons, dad." Jaemin said with a sigh. Jaemin's father chuckled before he shook his head.

"I thought like you once. I thought have a good job and good money would stabilise my household as well as my relationship with my family and your mother but that wasn't the case." He explained.

"I soon realised that it didn't matter how much I earned. Being away from your mother and not prioritising to spend time with each other had made me realise that we could drift apart and mostly break our household."

"Money is never needed where love is. Where love is, everything around it fulfils it's self." He said with a smile. Jaemin sighed as he thought about what he had said to Florence.

He sighed and scolded himself for already bringing up that barrier that he had promised he would work on.

_

Hello everyone! 

I am so sorry that I have been gone for a while. I was super busy with university and then working and moving at the same time. I truly did not have enough time to sit down and write. I am so thankful of how this story is growing and I PROMISE, I will be updating more frequently. 

I love you!