𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓. stag fight

KANG JIHYUN'S FUNERAL WAS A SWEET SORROW, FOR, in those moments of raw pain when it felt as if the loving self screamed in silent anguish, there were the memories of the good times that came as a blossoming spring meadow.

For a moment, after the death of her father, Jieun felt sick. The voice in her head wanted to take a weapon and take everything living apart. But she tamped it down; the fuse was lit, but she took no action.

She looked at the altar and rubbed her tired eyes.

The flowers lay next to his portrait, their beautiful petals curling at the edges from the summer heat, their petals were delicate works of art and their hues are medicine for her soul. She guessed it was not just her that felt that way though, flowers were brought into hospitals and graveyards, sent to express love, and planted in yards though they bear no edible fruits. There was something about their beauty she needed for her whole being, to be fully human, she wondered if everyone was all a bit like that. Without the flowers, the world would only be concrete.

"It's okay to let it out," A different voice said, coming from beside her.

Jieun whirled and sees a man, standing and looking down at her.

The man was somewhat short for his build; were he a few inches taller he would be all the more handsome for it. Somehow he isn't lanky though, there's bulk on him too; muscles beneath the suit he wore. His face was mostly obscured by a scraggly beard that clung to his skin like winter-ravaged ivy tendrils. He meets her gaze not with shyness but with a blunt refusal to avert his gaze first.

Turning back to the altar, she offers no response. The man's eyes follow. He stands there for a moment. Then he says in a low, soft voice, careful not to cause any of the nosy persons around them to listen in. "There's no shame in letting it out."

"Letting what out?"

"Look," he says, "I know you're hurting." his voice hoarse and congested, pulling a cigarette and lighting it. "Your father..." The wrinkled toxic stick had a slow creeping stench. Within moments its chemicals invaded the room. "was my most trusted friend and brother. And a good father," He paused, "just remember that."

"Did you have something to with this?" No response, "Did you make him..." She didn't want to finish. "Who killed my father?" He looks at her. Silence. "The police dropped his case because of his involvement with you ―"

"Little girl, I didn't make him do anything he wasn't willing to do."

Her mind replays the event, it happened so fast, and none of it made sense. Her father fought back, the man who hated violence and continued the promise his mother gave him, fought back.

"You know why they dropped the case?" He asks in a masculine and gruff tone. "Because there was no murder weapon, no witness. They have no leads."

"So that's it?" Her voice cracks. "Fuck! A person died!" The air was suddenly rent by the sound of breaking glass. Her eyes are shut tight and a million new knives fall softly over her exposed skin. Footsteps, who she can assume are the man's bodyguards step up to him, he waves them off. She freezes, all but her heart remaining statue. When she finally allows her eyelids to flutter open she sees that the ground is stained red, the color creeping outward among the shards of her skin.

"What did you say to your dad?" He breathes in slowly. "You were the last one to speak to him." She lifted her gaze and turned her head to look at him. She couldn't understand why he had begun to act the way he was. "He was in hiding, so I'm curious. What did you say to make him run right over?"

I won't wait for you anymore. I'll consider you dead, so don't come back.

She was quiet for a moment. She looked at him with a swift grimace flashing across her face.

He nodded, and slid open the door, leaning back so far that his head tipped back over the frame. He spoke into the air. "Maybe he wouldn't have died."

She takes in her surroundings. A black wrought-iron gate sits between her car and the narrow driveway that extended so far down, She can't see what's at the end of it. Cameras surrounded her on both sides of the car as she rolls down her window to press the button on the box in hopes that whoever is on the receiving end can offer her some sort of hope and guidance in this situation.

"Can I help you, ma'am?" The voice asks.

"I think so," she mumbled. "My name is Jieun Kang. I'm here to see Ben Sparrow." She waited for some sort of response from the voice, but it never came. Instead, the gates began to open.

Slowly creeping down the driveway, her heart rate speeds up again. Unsure of what she was driving into, she put her trust in her dad.

Cyprus trees that extend at least eight feet in height line both sides, until she reached the cobblestone path that circled the front of the house. Two men wearing all black, with their hands folded behind their backs, stand guard out front. She pulled directly in front of the house, took in a deep breath, and step out of the car.

A warm breeze hits the side of her face and an eerie feeling washed over her. Security was nothing new to her. This was different, though. She was stepping out into the unknown in a body that doesn't even feel like hers anymore.

"I'm looking for Ben Sparrow," she tells the two men who were watching her intently.

She let her grief get the best of her as her appearance looked rugged, nothing she had ever let happen. It flowed through her as a river in mountain passes ― but it will erode, she knew it would in time.

Without a word, one of them pushes the door open as his eyes stayed glued to hers. They both step aside to make way for her. Looking back and forth between the two of them, she walked into the house while the room closed behind her. The sound of it latching startles her.

Stepping hesitantly into the room, furnished with a modern-day all-black and brown decor, her footsteps echoed in the open room.

Then, she sees the same man who she conversed with at her father's funeral staring back at her, sitting behind his cherry oak desk. Emotionless dark green eyes stared into hers.

Her fingers grazed over the wooden box she had in her hands. "Ben Sparrow?"

"Maybe," he says, "What's in the box?"

She drops the box on the desk in front of her separating the two, taking out a crumpled-up piece of paper from her jacket, growing angry, "This is my dad's killer. Find him." Ben said nothing, his gaze on the poorly caught security camera picture on the paper. "You said he was your most trusted friend and brother."

"If I find him?" He asked tentatively.

A layer of tears clouded her vision. "I'll kill him myself."

He frowns, finally looking her in the eye, as if her words somehow piqued his interest. "You'll kill him yourself..." She notices the walls were bare. No family photos, no signs of life. His home was beautiful but so empty and lifeless. "Do you know what it is to kill someone?" She swallowed down a lump lodged in her throat.

His expression remained callous and indifferent as he walked beside her, forcing her hand and setting a knife he had hidden in his back pocket into her right palm. "Stab me." She does nothing, a tear instead sliding down her cheek, he pushes her hand with the knife towards his chest, and she pulls back, afraid. "Think of me as the killer and stab me." She fights to pull away, another forceful pull towards him now the knife lay on his throat. "Stab me!" He yelled.

She let out a cry, coughs, and feels her gut rising at the thought of hurting a human being.

Ben reaches down and grabs the knife from her. Then stabs his desk. He clicks his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "That's too bad."

Her blood begins to boil, though she does nothing. "Too bad? How can you call him your best friend and sit there and do nothing!" He doesn't react. She clenched her fists at her side. "You're a shitty friend. I'll find him myself."

DAYS PASSED AND SHE MADE NO PROGRESS, all the flyers she handed out and posted on the streets didn't help as much as she wanted. She even put out a cash reward, and still no calls.

At the counter of the convenience store was an old woman, not the kind you pity with their old bones and feeble limbs, but the kind who could still run an army kitchen given half a chance. She stood quite tall and slim, her short grey hair neat and likely styled with old-fashioned rollers, the kind women used to sleep in. Her face is made up with discrete make-up except for her lips were cherry red. Were she any paler her mouth would be garish, but against her sun-kissed skin it looked right.

When she extends her hand to shake Jieun's she can see the soil beneath her fingernails. A gardener she'd bet. Then she noticed her neck scarf, patterned with small roses.

"Sorry to bother you," she started, "Could I put up some flyers?" She hands her the piece of paper, and the woman looks at her somberly and nods.

For a moment, as she taped the paper to the windows she catches the reflection of herself.

She looked terrible. Her hair was unkempt, and her eyes were puffy to the point of closing, she was broken, shattered, and ground into the earth by the heels of her feet. The shards of her old self would become seeds.

She had the appearance of one who had died a while previously and was casually rotting from the inside out.

"Jiji? Is that you?"

Jieun looks away from the window and towards the voice. There stood two girls, one she knew to be Aisha and another she'd never seen before. She avoided their gazes, "Oh, hey, how've you been?" The tension was like a mask over her features.

"I feel like I should be asking you that." Aisha scanned her somber face, "Miguel's been worried, he says you haven't spoken to him since the tournament, are you mad at him or something?"

Jieun's eyes finally meet hers and held it for an endless moment, surprised she didn't gasp at her appearance. "Just dealing with something right now."

"What's the paper for?" Tory Nichols steps close, tearing the paper off the window. After a moment she looks up at the Korean girl, eyes sorrowful. "Oh..." she connected the dots, "I'm so sorry,"

"I don't need your pity." Jieun snatches the paper, taping it once more. Aisha and Tory look at one another.

"Blocking people out won't help you y'know." The blonde spoke, her head turned towards her. "I may not know exactly what you're going through but I know a thing or two about grief." Tory protested, "and I don't know you, but I'm willing to listen."

Jieun wanted to cry. After the funeral she was told to go to counseling to 'reduce the effect of this most adverse of experience.' she remembered the woman who questioned her at the police station saying. "Death is tough and trauma effects on the young are so often overlooked, storing up issues that could be resolved by talk therapy." She could practically hear her voice playing in her mind.

"Yeah, Jiji, if you need someone we're here." Aisha immediately responded she felt sick to her stomach. Jieun seemed, for the most part, attempting to seem normal. But Aisha had a feeling, no, she knew Jieun needed someone close.

Jieun covered her eyes, she could feel her chest tightening, trying to stop herself from breaking down. And it made the two's heat break. "Thank you," she said shortly. She planted the sole of her shoes on the bottom rung of the concrete for balance. "Really, I'm uh..." She looks to the blonde, "I'm sorry for taking the paper from you like that."

"It's okay, I get it." She smiled softly.

"Hey," Aisha says, scrunching her nose at the pair. "You guys in the mood for a little beach trip?"

"Oh, I don't think ―"

"Look," Jieun's heartbeat quickened at the interruption. "Right now, what you need, is a distraction." She paused, "and you'll be helping me too since the last person I want to see is Sam."

"What if I get a call?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Tory started, "but I'm pretty sure the beach gets reception too."

Jieun holds still, staring at the two, eyes locked right on them. There was a wrinkle in her nose that had nothing to do with a coming sneeze. Then, she laughed. It was small but it was there. "Okay," Aisha fist-bumped Tory, "wait, what happened with Sam?"

"Jiji, honey. You missed out on a lot."

"OKAY, THIS IS NOT THE BEACH." TORY began as the three stood on the fenced ledge. "Where are the homeless dudes on rollerblades and the guys shoving shitty hip-hop demos in your face?"

The beach club was like magic for Jieun. She loved the bustle, the sound of the colliding plastic balls, the sounds of the palm trees that whispered stories about the sea breeze.

Aisha chuckled, "No, don't worry. They'll come after they pass out the hors d'oeuvres."

Down by the pool laid Sam LaRusso and Robby Keene. Sam tilts her head to spot the three, she lets out a sigh. "What's going on?" Robby whispered to her.

"It's Jiji and Aisha." At the sound of the first name, Robby quickly turned his head it was a miracle he didn't get whiplash to find the girl. "Aisha and I haven't spoken since everything went down at Vallet Fest, Jiji and I haven't spoken since Miguel and I broke up."

As Sam continued, Robby laid his eyes on the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

Perfect chestnut hair that rested just above her shoulders and chocolate brown eyes that could swallow galaxies. Her perfect skin looked so fragile yet so soft. Cheeks the color of pink roses and eyelashes longer than anyone he'd ever seen.

"I feel like we should clear the air, but at the same time, I'm still pissed at Aisha and them for ruining our performance." She said.

"And Jiji?"

"What?"

"What happened with her?" He narrowed his eyebrows, watching the blonde girl give Jieun a soothing hug. She nestled into her arms as Aisha what seemed to be her let out another joke and the three laughed again.

"She took Miguel's side." She rested her chin on her arms. "We didn't talk since the party, and then, after the tournament, I called so many times my phone bill came back overpriced ― she completely ghosted me, y'know she told me once that she will never believe a boy over me." She scoffed to herself, "what a hypocrite."

"Did she tell you that or you just assumed?" He argued.

"What else could it be?" Sam's voice abruptly changed, becoming low and even. "I guess I'm not surprised, she replaced Yas and Moon with me and now she replaced me with Miguel." Her words stick in her throat as she catches another glimpse in her peripheral vision of the trio talking amongst each other. "That's just what she does."

Robby turns back to the three. He opened his mouth and found that he didn't know what to say. He didn't know why he was upset, Jieun wasn't a friend, after all. "I say go talk to them." He started, "worst case if a fight breaks out, we could record it."

Sam nodded, not catching the look in his eyes as he continued his glances at Jieun. "Yeah, who knows, maybe I'll come back with a new Miyagi-Do student."

Tory and Jieun raced each other to Aisha, who was accompanied by Sam. "Look what I got!" Tory called out, smiling at the group, and pulled out a bottle of Vodka.

"Where'd you get that?"

"I swiped it from the bar." She responded in a neutral tone. She then turned to Jieun, head gesturing for her to show what she got.

Jieun let out an 'ah' and pulled out a red and gold colored pen, mouth situated in a curve at her accomplishment. Aisha and Sam looked at each other. "She's like way better than me." Jieun smiled sheepishly.

"No, no. This is great." Tory takes the pen from her hands, "this could be the most expensive pen in the world ―" she points it high in the air, "and I couldn't be an, even more, prouder mentor." She continued in a neutral tone. Aisha and Sam continued to give each other worried glances. "Oh, relax. All the adults are getting wasted. No one's gonna notice if we have a little fun."

Aisha chuckled. "You should put that back. You'll get into big trouble." Sam then looks at Jieun, "and I'm pretty sure I saw that pen in the home section at Target."

Jieun quirked an eyebrow, of course, Sam had no idea about what she had been going through but the way she directed her voice to her, was off.

"And you are?"

"Oh. Sam, this is Tory. Or as Jiji likes to call her, honey badger." She lets out a chuckle. "Tory, Sam."

Tory's gaze dropped to the girl. "Oh, the Sam." She scoffs, "Come on. Like anyone's gonna miss one bottle of vodka. I could swipe half the silverware in this place before anyone would notice."

"You shouldn't steal anything."

"What are you, a nun?"

At this, Jieun silently chuckled, "And, what's gotten into you, Jiji?"

"Excuse me?" She replied dully.

"Why're you acting so differently, the Jiji I know would never do something like this," Sam said matter-of-factly, disappointment lining her face at the girl standing. Aisha and Tory said nothing.

Before Jieun could respond, Tory took over. "Come on, are we gonna drink or not?"

Aisha bit her lip, sneaking a worried glance at her friend beside her. "Okay, one drink."

"That's my girl!" Tory laughed, dragging Jieun and Aisha.

By this point, Tory and Aisha whispered amongst themselves as Jieun sat in the unsubdued light of the morning. The sky blue except for a few strands of stratus that trail like airplane trails.

Feeling a strange sense someone was watching her she looks to her left, and there a boy she was familiar with reached her gaze. He immediately looked away, making his getaway through the exit, she quickly followed, not bothering to tell her two friends where she was going.

"Hobbit?" She whispered, he stopped in his tracks.

Robby blinked, his neck and cheeks flushing red. "You know you're shorter than me, right?" He coughed to ease the one-sided awkwardness.

She crossed her arms, "Yeah, I guess that nickname doesn't really suit you, huh?" A laugh escaped her lips. Her laugh seemed to be Robby's serenity at that moment. Her laugh was a natural spring, the water deepening the hue of the rocks. "Wow," she said, "Didn't picture you to be the country club type," she paused, softly doubling over with a gentle pat to her right arm.

"Sorry to disappoint." He smiled at the girl, she caught on.

"I'm not disappointed."

Beyond the two stood a group of girls who were leaning against their seats, eyes drifting. "Hey, isn't that girl the daughter of that fashion designer?" One said, leaning forward, "You know how people been saying he's been missing for a few months? I heard that wasn't the case. He committed suicide."

The others watched her impassively, "No way, I heard there was a run-in with the police." Another smacked the one who spoke in the head, insulting them in the process.

"You think she has something to do with it?" A girl squinted.

"What did you just say?" Jieun's stare was unrelenting, gasps and small shouts echoed throughout the room.

The girl scoffed, "I said, what if you had something to do with it?"

Jieun took a step closer, yanking their arm, eliciting a painful yelp. "Have any more theories, troll? I'd love to hear them." Robby could tell this was going to get ugly, fast.

"Yeah, actually, like how ―" Jieun stomped on her foot.

Her eyes went flat. She looked down at her hand, then back up, blinking rapidly. "Hey, take it easy! She's just running her mouth like always." One of the friends defended.

No one in the room could possibly understand her pain. That if they could they would spend at least two days screaming themselves hoarse. That their eyes would ache from use.

And those two days would feel like a lifetime when you can't sleep or eat because remembering that your father is gone slams into you whenever you think you're safe from it.

Jieun shook her head, shrugging off Robby's hand. She grabbed the girl by the shirt, pulling her close. "You can't talk about my family like that, Not ever."

"Kiss my ass!" Jieun's head rocketed forward, catching the girl across the nose.

Her hand loosened and the girl wiggled free.

But she didn't run, the idiot. To everyone's astonishment, the girl leaped at Jieun and swung.

She blocked instinctively, then slugged them fully in the face. A second, louder ooh rose from the crowd. They dropped to the ground like a rag doll.

"Stop!" Another friend jumped to stand between them. "That's enough."

Voices yelled over each other to move, trying to get a better view, Jieun assumed. Two boys were laughing, encouraging Jieun with cries of "Finish her!" and "There can only be one!"

The girl had pulled herself up against the table. "That all you got?" She wheezed, wiping the back of her hand across her mouth, then calmly regarding a red smear on her pink sweater. "You hit like a bitch."

"Don't!" Robby shouted at Jieun, arms shooting wide. "She's down! You won, okay?"

She looked him in the eye. Blinked. Then stepped around him and stomped on the girl's hand. She howled as Jieun squatted down to eye level. Her screams stopped and Jieun could feel their jaw muscles tense under her hand. "Learn how to keep your mouth shut."

And with that, a man's hand rested on her shoulder, assuming it was security, she swung at the figure, and he caught her hand with ease. "If you want to fight, there are better ways." Ben Sparrow said calmly.

Robby looked intently at the two, the girl beneath Jieun left quickly at the man's inclusion.

"Get the hell off me, old man." She rebutted, pushing through the stares, though most left as soon as the fight was over.

"Stop acting out, you look ridiculous."

"You expect me to just stay still?" She pushed him forcibly. "How can I live like nothing's happened?" She whispered, eyes facing her feet. By now the crowd was gone, Robby being the only one, yet he couldn't decipher a word between the two. "When I'm the reason he died?"

Ben locked gazes with Robby, then the girl, then to his watch. "If you're really determined to find the man responsible..." Jieun raises her head, a new set of tears ready to break through, "you must be someone capable of hurting others."

Jieun had given him a severe look. A sigh escaped before she could stifle it. "Say goodbye to your friend, we have something important to do."

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄

oh god this was almost 4000 words im so sorry for the long read !!

i really didn't know when to end the chapter, i just wanted to write more progress on jiji's storyline without leaving off on a cliff hanger and confusing u guys

tory and jiji will be best of friends btw, aisha too but u know she leaves after s2 which is so messed up ??? like she would've been amazing in the main cast

reminder that ben sparrow is played by jensen ackles

giggles

much love,