Ho Seok and I and sat in the woman’s house at her table. She has a more traditional style home so we sat with our legs crossed on the floor. I didn’t mind, her little pooch sat on my lap and stared at Ho Seok. But unlike Ho Seok he didn’t seem jealous or irritated at all; he just stared back at the dog with the same odd eyes it gave him.

            “Do you feel homesick at all? I couldn’t image being so young, so far away from home.” The woman placed a tray down on the table. I immediately took over placing out the cups and pouring the tea. First to her, then Ho Seok, and myself last.

            “Of course I do. I miss my mom and dad, but I think I miss having conversations with my older brother the most. I had to get a new phone when I moved here, so I kind of lost communication with them for a little while…” I felt like I was cracking; my heart felt like it was about to crumble. I had lost communication, then when I remembered the house number, I never bothered to call until recently.

            “Ah, that’s a shame.” Her attention was then turned to Ho Seok, she looked so astonished I had to see what was so fascinating about him myself. He and the dog were just continuing their staring contest. “Who is this young man to you? Your boyfriend? Husband?” I felt my face get hot, and shook my head no.

            “No, no, no.” this snapped him right out of his trance. “He and I are just… friends.” He huffed in disbelief.

            “He seems to be… slightly…” the woman was trying to find the words; I guess with age and knowledge leaves strength and energy.

            “Handsome? Wealthy? Charming?” he tried to fill in the blanks but he was completely wrong.

            “Headstrong.” His face dropped and mine lightened up. I had to contain my laughter by keeping my hand over my mouth.

            “Headstrong? Excuse me, I have a lot of work to get back to.” Ho Seok stood up. I pulled his pant leg.

            “You can’t be rude, finish your tea before you go. Sit and stay.” His mouth twisted and he slammed down on the floor bottom first. Crossing his legs and giving the woman an offended look, he snatched up the tea cup. “Ho Seok, what are you-” He through back the drink in one gulp. The cup was still steaming when he picked up the cup, I could only imagine the pain he was going through internally. His face was still stern, he stood again and took me by my arm, making me stand with him.

            “Thank you for taking us into your lovely home.” He said, respectfully bowing, I did also, and headed for the exit.

            “Feel free to visit again.” She said softly, the dog climbing into her lap.

            “Goodnight Ma’am!”

            Once outside, Ho Seok let out a groan of pain.

            “That was ing HOT!” he growled for deep in the back of his voice. His rude tendencies were catching up to him tonight. He walked down the street from the direction he looked like he was coming from when he first arrived. Around a corner, there was a black car waiting.

            “How could you get lost? And why in the world would you follow that old woman to her house? So irresponsible! Walking any further, and you would have been in a bad part of town. You worried everyone.” He kept nagging and scolding me but I was drifting off into my own head again. My inner thoughts about the old woman clouding my mind. “Sam? Are you even listening to me?” We pulled up to the house and I looked at him. “Never mind, I have work in the morning.” He got out the car and I followed up behind him.

            Inside, YoonGi and Tae were still awake. When we entered, they stood and looked at us. Ho Seok didn’t even acknowledge them. YoonGi let out a head breath, I bowed to greet him.

            “Are you alright? He didn’t say or do anything out of line?” I shook my head no. “Okay- please get some rest then.” He began his way up the stairs to his room. Tae and I made eye contact for a moment. Those dark emotionless eyes on someone who seems so energetic, just crying out for an answer. But no question was spoken of.

            Tae opened him mouth, as if to say something but hesitated too hard and took back his action. I decided it was odd enough standing in front of him right now, I cut it short by heading to my room.

            Thursday

            In six days I will be going to America.

            Luckily, Isabel came over early in the morning to make breakfast since she and Jin were going out together today. I guess from last night, only Jimin, Tae, Ho Seok and YoonGi knew about my adventure from last night. The thought made my head spin slightly. After breakfast, Jimin helped me clean up the kitchen.

            “Hey, are you okay? YoonGi told me not to worry too much last night… he said Ho Seok would bring you home.” Jimin pulled me to the sink to ask. His voice was lowered like he was trying to be secretive, but everyone else was upstairs getting dressed. He sounded concerned, so I had to give him credit; I smiled lightly.

            “I’m fine, I just… got a little last in thought, and ended up somewhere new.” I thought about what he just said. “Wait, how did Ho Seok find me? And so quickly?”

            “Jin told Ho Seok to chip your phone when you were in the hospital.” I thought about it; the last time I was in the hospital is when I hit my head and lost my sight for a few weeks. “Ya know, he’s the head of security and can do stuff like that.”

            “Good thing for me then; some knight in shining armor he is.” Defeating old woman and their little dogs. I just accepted it, every decision Jin has made for me has been extremely positive, I can’t be upset now.

            A little bit after everyone headed out, YoonGi called me to his room. He was going to work late today; something about finishing up some readings of files, and placing final signatures before actually putting pants on. I don’t know. I knocked on the door lightly.

            “Come in.” he spoke out. I gently pushed the door open to see him sitting on his hamster style bed. He was fumbling with something on his wrist, when I approached him, I realized it was cufflinks. I came to the recuse.

            Sitting next to him on the bed, I took over and clipped both neatly, and straightening out his sleeves.

            “Thank you, Sam.” He said sighing, he looked more tired than usual, but it made him look immortal, it was hard to look away from his pail skin. “How are you holding up?” he reached down and began to look through his briefcase that sat next to the bed. I sighed.

            “Better- I think I found a friend.”

            “The old woman? From last night?” I raised an eye brow at him, unsure how he knew about her. “Ho Seok is good at getting information, and tracking people.” I sighed again.  “Don’t get too flustered – Jin is the one who taught him everything. Be more scared of Jin.” We both chuckled and this time YoonGi let out a sigh.

            “Hyung! Ready to go?” Jimin called from down the hall.

            “Yeah, I’ll be right there.” His head dropped, then he looked at me. His unusually warm hand touched my shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay?” I nodded. “Good, just let me know when you leave the house. Even to visit your ‘old friend’.” He pet her head, then dropped his hand to his side, while the other help his briefcase. “I’ll be going.”

            A little bit before lunch, I decided it was time I see the woman who was on my mind all day. Since I was already in the kitchen, I made some snacks to take to her, but realized, I didn’t know where she lived. And I wasn’t going to risk taking the random walk.

ME: Hey! YoonGi-Oppa?

YoonGi: ‘Oppa’? Your making me feel old. What’s up?

ME: Well, you are older. But I need to ask a favor!

YoonGi: I’ll try my best to help.

ME: Can you get me the old woman’s address from Ho Seok?

YoonGi: Going to pay her a visit?

ME: Yes! She’s lives alone and has been on my mind.

YoonGi: Two Conditions!

YoonGi: 1. You have to make me pancakes for dinner tonight; American Style. 2. Take a driver.

ME: DEAL!

YoonGi: OPEN IN MAPS

ME: Thank You Oppa!!!

YoonGi: That’s right, I’m cool Oppa. B)

            Pulling up to the house, I saw her sitting on her front porch with her dog.

            “Hi!” I called out, waving. She looked up and smiled a deep smile.

            “Oh, I didn’t think you would come back, and if you did not so soon!” her dog found the energy to be excited. Maybe because its master was excited, so her was happy too. “Oh Chippy calm down.” She giggled to the dog.

            “So your name is Chippy?” I asked the little dog as he wagged his tale spinning in tight circles. “Hello ma’am.” I said smiling at her.

            “OH, don’t call me ma’am, you can call me grandma, darling. I don’t mind.”

            Inside, I unpacked the snacks and Grandma’s face lit up.

            “This is so wonderful! Thank you dear. Thank you so much.” She took my hand in hers and was holding her composure. “I don’t get many guest these days, so you’re a dear to have.”

            “You don’t have any children?” I felt it was a little too personal to ask but it just came out.

            “I do!” She got excited. “A grandchild too. But they all live in the States.” Grandma took a picture off a shelf from behind her; she looked at it dearly before handing it off to me. “They send me pictures in the mail, but don’t write a return address on them. My son was always so forgetful.” I took the picture and was dumbfounded. The was a man, a woman and a young boy in the picture. I recognized them all. The young boy was Hyo Shin; the boy I used to walk to the train station. Her family had been in Korea all along, but hadn’t come to see her.

            “They-they don’t call? At all?” I was a pain now. Like my heart was breaking for her.

            “I can’t remember the last time they called. But no news is good news.” She smiled, taking the picture back and looking at them dearly. I was fighting back tears, her family was a train ride away and couldn’t find any time to visit. And who was I to tell her, ‘Your family is in South Korea, I know them’? That would break her heart.

            “So are you planning on going home anytime soon?” she was soo cheerful. I pulled myself together.

            “Actually, I’ll be leaving in a few days.”

            “Oh, splendid. I wish we could spend more time together before then but your mother probably misses you.”

            The rest of the time we spent together, we shared stories of our different cultures and growing up. It was silly I was telling a woman maybe three times my age about growing up in American when I wasn’t done growing. But she liked the conversation. Hearing her story made me feel like there will be more to my life then what I feel now. The past is history, now is a present and the future is undecided.

            “Thank you so much for coming to see me, Sam.”

            “It was no problem at all, grandma.” I came down from the porch. Chippy stood next to grandma in the door way and I waved bye to him as I headed to the car.

            “Please come visit before you leave.” She called

            “Of course I will! Goodnight Grandma, goodnight chippy.”

            As I was cooking for YoonGi back home, he paced the kitchen. The smell was intoxicating for him. Only two places were set, and I had everything set out but the main dish. YoonGi sat down for about the fourth time and finally cracked under the pressure.

            “I’m too excited to this.” His voice was not amused.

            “It’s your favorite meal, of course you can be excited.” I smiled as he straightened his posture. The sound of the front door opening and closing made us look at each other.

            “I know that smell!” In the kitchen doorway, Jimin poked his head in. “Sam is making PANCAKES?!?!” he yelled, and Kook’s head poked in over Jimin’s. “I told you I had a gut feeling about coming home for dinner.” He gloated to Kook, but Kook’s response was an eye roll.

            “I’ll eat Sam’s cooking over Korean BBQ any day.” Kook said, and began making places at the table, for him and his brother.

            “So much for a quiet meal.” YoonGi said but he looked pleased that his younger brothers were home with him.

            “Good thing too.” I placed the last cake from the pan onto the stack. I brought it over to the table and placed it down in front of YoonGi. “I made 20 cakes on accident…” I laughed in an embarrassed tone.

            “First DIBS!” YoonGi yelled and took the first eight.

            “Whattt?” Kook watched, while Jimin tried not to drool on himself. Next up, Jimin took four, I took two, and kook finished off the last four. I was pleased that they could eat so much in one sitting. They all cleaned their plates, and the fruit side dishes I made too. It was unbelievable.

            The night ended with me and Jimin cleaning the kitchen. He was curious about my old lady friend.

            Maybe I’ll introduce you to her. She’s pretty adorable, and having a handsome ‘grandson’ around will make her feel cared for. But I didn’t want to introduce them just yet, if she spills the beans about me leaving Jimin would definitely tell his Hyungs. I couldn’t bear to see the betrayal on their faces; if I was going to disappear, I didn’t want anyone to know.

            But in the meantime, I enjoyed the time I spent with them. Even if it’s just eating pancakes for dinner over a favor. I had some happiness left in me for Korea.

*** The Fox Here! So this was a hell of a chapter the stroy bored... sorry if it gets a little messy... long chapters to come! only two more before the finale chapters :)