See The Light

Ali’s POV

I walked around showing Maranda the building. The first place we went was the daycare. I had told her she didn’t have to take Landon there if she didn’t want to but I still thought she should know where it was. I see that Got7 was in their practice room so decide to introduce them.
They were my main group I worked with so she would need to know them pretty well.

“Hey guys!” I announced walking in with Maranda and Landon.

They all look over seeing us. “Hey Ali.” JB said walking over.

I then see Jackson bee line to Landon. “Hey Buddy. What’s your name?” He asks him.

I notice the worried look on Maranda’s face that Jackson is oblivious to. “Landon.” He says sheepishly grabbing tighter onto Maranda.

“Guys this is Maranda, Kat’s friend. She is my new assistant.” I tell them.

“Oh!” Mark says to her. “We have heard so much about you. I’m Mark.” He stretches out his hand causing her to flinch. He noticed lowering his hand.

They all seemed to notice but Jackson who was still talking to Landon.

“Maranda, why don’t I show you your office now.” I say to her leading her out of the room giving the boys a look to say I will explain later.

I show her, her office and set her up with a log in for the computer. She still hadn’t put Landon down. It made me even more worried what she had went through. Kat was right. She was a shell.

After that I said she was done for the day.

JY’s POV

I was walking back into the building after meeting with my wife and her mother for a late lunch. I see Maranda sitting outside with Landon playing with a stick he had found on the stairs.

“Hello Mrs. Woodall.” I great her as I start to walk by. “Hi Landon.”

“Hi Mr. Park.” Landon says looking up from his stick.

“What are you guys doing out here?”

“I was waiting for Kat, Sir.” Maranda says not looking up.

“Oh is she on her way out?” I ask assuming she was done for the day.

“No Sir. She is still working.”

“Well then why are you out here?” I ask surprised. “Come on. You can come to the office.” I then stretch out my hand for her when I see her flinch. “It’s ok.” I say to her bending down on my knees.

She then cautiously takes my hand standing up. She bends down picking up Landon then following me to Kat and my office.

We walk in and she goes over to sit on the couch. I then turn to Kat. “Look what I found sitting outside.”

She then looks up from her computer. “Why were you outside?” She asks Maranda.

“I shouldn’t bother you when you are working.” She says to her looking down.

Kat’s POV

I couldn’t believe Maranda went and sat outside. “Well why didn’t you call me to let me know you were off?”

“I. I don’t have a phone.” She stutters out.

Of course she doesn’t. “JY, I think I’m done for the day.” I say logging out. “First meeting is at 7:00 tomorrow with Got7.”

“I will see you then.” He says as the three of us leave the office.

Maranda of course got into the back seat of the car with Landon. I took them to the house getting Maranda new clothes before going to the phone company. I picked her out the Galaxy S7 Edge in silver along with a blue and white rubber case to be safe knowing Landon was more than likely going to get ahold of it at some point.

I hear my phone start to go off as I am walking out of the store. “Hello?” I answer not looking at who it was.

“Hey Sugar Lips.” I hear Mark say.

“Well hello there Stud. What can I help you with?” I say with a smirk.

Mark and I had a very flirtatious relationship ever since I started working at JYP so this was not unusual.

“So we all met Maranda today.” He says turning serious.

“You didn’t meet Maranda.” I say flatly. “You met the shell her dickless husband created.”

“So what happened? We all saw the black eye she had. Except for maybe Jackson. He was too busy with Landon I don’t even think he saw who was holding him.” Mark then says laughing.

“I don’t know the full story. Just that she couldn’t do it anymore. She was brave enough to run away though so I know Maranda is still in there somewhere. We just got to get her to come back out.” I then got an idea. “What are you guys doing tonight?”

“Nothing. Just going home. We figured you didn’t want us over tonight with what was going on.”

“No! Come over. I think it may help getting her around people again. I think David and Landon have been her only social contact the last four years.”

“Works for me. I’ll let the guys know.”

I then hear Jackson in the back ground yelling, “Do we get to go to Kat’s?” excitedly.

“Yes Jackson, we’re going.” Mark yells back at him annoyed. “Are you sure about this?” He says to me sounding put out with Jackson.

“I’m positive. I think Jackson is exactly what we need right now. When Maranda sees Landon is having fun then she may too.” I realized I had pulled in front of my house. “I’m home though so I’ll see you guys in a little bit.”

“See ya soon.” He says hanging up the phone.

I walk into the house seeing Maranda sitting in a chair in silence while Landon was playing with some of his new toys at her feet.

“I got this for you. And don’t complain cause you needed one.” I say handing her the phone. “I saved my phone number in it. Along with JY’s, the company number, Ali’s, and all of Got7’s. They are on their way over for dinner actually.”

She looks at the phone then back up at me. “Kat, I.”

“No!” I say cutting her off. “No complaining. You needed it.”

She stares down at the phone in her hand clearly thinking through what to do. “Thank you.” She lets out in a sheepish voice. “Should I make dinner then?” She ask standing up.

“Huh?” I ask going to the kitchen.

“You said they were coming for dinner. Do you want me to make it?” She asks following me in after picking up Landon.

“If you want to. Saves me from burning myself.” I say shrugging my shoulders. “After dinner we need to go to the store. You both need things.”

She starts getting out pans then walking over to the fridge to find something to make. The whole time with Landon on her hip.

“Maranda. Nothing is going to happen to Landon. You can put him down.” I say stopping her.

“I don’t want him to break anything.” She says looking at the ground.

“He is a kid. If he breaks something on accident it’s ok. I won’t be mad.” I then take him from her walking to the living room. “Come on Buddy let’s go play.”

I set Landon down on the floor and he goes over picking up a couple toys then comes back over sitting at my feet. He was sitting there quietly pushing his car back and forth on the rug when the boys come in. He then quickly picked up his car running into the kitchen with Maranda. Clearly the guys scared him too.

“Hey Kat.” Mark says sitting on the couch next to me throwing an arm around my shoulder.

“Kat? That’s how you greet me now?” I ask jokingly upset.

“Hello Beautiful.” He corrects.

I then see Jackson come in. “Where’s Landon?” He asks looking around the room.

“In the kitchen with Maranda.” I say pointing.

He almost ran in the direction of the kitchen. I got up following him in there to make sure Maranda was ok.

“Hey Landon.” Jackson said as he walked in there.

Landon stood up from his spot running over to Maranda grabbing her leg. She picked him up putting him on her hip again. I notice an almost hurt look on Jackson’s face but he covered it well. Kids loved Jackson so one running away from him was something new. He didn’t seem to want to push it and just came over to the table sitting down feeling defeated.

We all ate dinner pretty quickly. All the guys complemented Maranda’s cooking to which she just got shy about. You could tell she wasn’t used to praise anymore. Her normal response used to be, ‘I know.’ Now it was just, ‘Thank you’ while looking at the floor.

We all got the dishes cleaned up before I turned to Maranda getting her and Landon out of the house to go shopping. Mark and Jackson decided to go with us to help while the rest of the boys went home.

We started with stuff for Landon. “Ok Buddy what kind of room do you want?” I asked him as we walked through the children’s section of the store.

“I don’t know.” He said sheepishly.

“Ok. Do you like cars or dinosaurs?”

“Cars.” He said a little more confidently.

“Alright cars it is!” I say walking over to the furniture. I picked out a race car bed, dresser with cars painted on it and car sheets.

“Kat, you don’t have to get all of this.” Maranda whispered over to me.

I look over at her seeing the pleading in her eyes to not buy this. That told me that she was sparking. She hated when people would pay for her. So the fact she was internally fighting herself was a great sign.

“Ok.” I say to her. “Call me a bitch and I won’t buy anything.” I say with a smile.

She looked at the ground not able to say it. Mark and Jackson then come back with their own cart filled with different toys and clothes for Landon.

“How’s the furniture going?” Mark asks seeing the look on Maranda’s face.

“Great! Right Maranda?” I ask her.

“Yes.” She chokes out.

We finish picking out Landon’s stuff and move on to hers. This might get her. I started throwing in clothes and see her eye slightly twitch. “Was there something you wanted to say Maranda?” I asked her with a smile.

“No.” She whispered back to me.

I continued throwing things into her cart. Each time causing more visual pain to her.

“Kat maybe you should slow down a bit.” Mark whispers to me.

“Nope. If she doesn’t want me to buy any of this stuff then she has to call me a bitch.” I say to him. “Right Maranda?”

“I can’t.” She whispers looking at the ground.

“Well then let’s keep shopping.” I say throwing more stuff in.

We got to the intimates part of the clothing section last.

“Make sure you pick out something for you.” Mark says winking at me.

“Well you are the one that is going to see me in them so why don’t you pick them out?” I say running my hand down his torso.

“Deal!” He almost yells picking through different sets. I roll my eyes at him and go back to getting stuff for Maranda.

We get done with the shopping and head to the check out. I thought for sure she would break seeing the total. But the shell held out. I was handing the checker my card when I was stopped by Jackson.

“Wait.” He said getting out his wallet. “Put half on this one.” He then hands her his card too.
I glance over at Maranda who is very wide eyed. She then bites her lip looking at the ground.

“And these are separate.” Mark says putting about ten pairs of lingerie on the belt before getting out his wallet.

We get everything paid for and head back to the house. Both Mark and Jackson were fixing Landon’s room for him while Maranda and I put away her clothes in her room.

“You really didn’t have to do that.” Maranda said to me folding clothes.

“You needed this stuff Maranda.” I say to her as I am hanging up shirts. We get everything put away and I decide to go mess with Mark.

I started to put on the black set with blue lace when I realized I couldn’t get the bra to snap. “Mark! Could you come here! I need your help!” I call for him.

He opens my door freezing in his tracks when he sees me.

“I can’t get this to snap.” I say turning around slowly.

“Umm.” He says trying to regain himself. “Ok.” He then slowly walks over to me quickly snapping it shut.

“What do you think?” I ask turning around with a sly smile.

“Umm. It uh. It looks good.” He stutters out. I could tell he didn’t actually think I would show him how I looked in any of the things he had bought me. “I gotta go. We have an early day tomorrow.” He says before turning around running out of the front door.

“Well how am I supposed to get out of this thing then?” I ask myself trying to figure it out. I give up just throwing on a t-shirt and sweats before going to check on Jackson. “How’s it going?” I ask him seeing the dresser and bed are both done.

“Good. About to finish the whiteboard wall and then it’s done.” He says standing back to check the whiteboard paper was straight. “Where did Mark go?” He asks turning to me.

“I put on the lingerie he got me to show him and then he freaked out and left. I’ll take you home when we’re done.” I tell him as I put the last bit of clothes away. “Only bad thing is I don’t know how the hell I’m going to get this damn bra off.”

I then feel one of his hands grab the back of my shirt and in one swift movement my bra was popped open. “Thanks!” I say to him sliding it out of my shirt.

“Anytime.” He says walking over to the bed making it.

I go back to my room tossing the bra on the bed before putting on a normal one. “Maranda, Landon come look at the room!” I yell down the hall to them as I am walking back to Landon’s room.

Landon being a little excited forgot about Jackson being there and ran straight into the room. He froze for a second when he saw him but quickly got distracted by the room. “This is for me?” He asks surprised pointing to himself.

“Yeah Buddy. It’s all yours.” Jackson says with a big smile.

Landon didn’t know what to do with himself. He had the biggest smile on his face just looking around the room. Jackson and I couldn’t help but laugh at him. I even caught Maranda with a little smile on her face at the sight of him.

“Hey you want to see something cool?” Jackson asked Landon kneeling down in front of him.

“Yeah!” Landon said excitedly.

Jackson reached over grabbing a box of dry erase markers then walking over to the wall with him. “This wall has special paper on it so you can draw on it.” He says kneeling down again. “See.” He starts drawing scribbles on it to show him. “And then when you are done and you don’t want the picture anymore you can erase it.” He then swipes the eraser across the middle showing him.

“Cool!” Landon yelled picking up one of the markers drawing.

“But make sure it’s only this wall you draw on.” Jackson says to him. “The other walls aren’t cool like this.”

“Ok I won’t.” Landon says very seriously to him.

Jackson takes Landon around the room showing him all the different toys that we got him in his room while Maranda and I sit on the bed watching them. Even though it was very small and subtle I noticed the smile had yet to leave Maranda’s face.

Jackson and Landon started playing with the nerf guns shooting at each other. Jackson was missing Landon on purpose. Landon finally hit Jackson with one causing him to dramatically fall to the ground pretending to die.

I then turn seeing Maranda laughing at them. Jackson noticed to and his eyes darted right for us. Maranda ended with clearing her throat then looking at the ground.

After that I took Jackson back to the dorm. I thought about having Maranda do it but I had already got a few scratches in the shell. I didn’t want to push it anymore.

Notes