Chapitre Un

>And everywhere I am there you'll be<

MyungSoo

He pulled his luggage excitedly towards the front door, heart pounding against his ribcage due to excitement. He could hardly contain his joy as a playful smile played on his lips and it just seemed impossible for him to wipe it away. He couldn’t wait to see their reaction, and regardless of how they reacted, he was sure to burst out laughing anyway.

He’d planned this for months, carefully prearranged and made sure that things would actually go smoothly, and managed to fool his family members along the way. And now the time had finally come for him to execute this little mission.

He took out his house keys, unlocked the door quietly so that the people inside wouldn’t notice, and cautiously pushed it open, without making any sound. As expected, the house was quiet, but he knew it wasn’t empty.

He heard some noises in the kitchen, and he immediately assumed that it was his mother preparing lunch, considering that it was noon now. He put his luggage away and, with a deep breath, and still, with a playful smile on his face, he shouted, “I AM HOME!”

His voice resonated throughout the quiet household and within seconds, he heard footsteps running from upstairs and a frying pan fell on the floor, or at least he assumed it was a frying pan. He saw his mother first, appearing from the kitchen, and shock was all over her face as she was rooted to the spot.

Then he saw his sister, who froze as she descended the stairs, and had about the same look as their mother. Both of their eyes were on stalks and their jaws were wide open, and it seemed that his arrival was too shocking for them to be struck dumb.

“Omma.” His sister started. “Are you seeing what I am seeing? Why am I seeing things in the broad daylight?”

“I think so, MyungHee, but it cannot be. Are we missing him too much to start seeing images of him now?” His mother answered, looking as pale as ever with every word she said. “I told you not to watch any of those horror movies anymore, love, now see what happens.”

MyungSoo chuckled and spread his arms wide, the naughty smile never left his face as it clearly showed how much he was enjoying this. “You’re not imagining things, ladies. It is I, Kim MyungSoo, in the flesh.”

It was quiet for a while as none of the women said a word, and MyungSoo raised his eyebrows at them. “Hellooooo?”

“YAH KIM MYUNGSOO!” Both of them yelled, and MyungSoo rolled on the floor laughing, as both his mother and sister ran towards him, ready to give him a good, old, smack on the head. He had to hold his stomach as glee unceasingly coming out of his month, and he even had tears in his eyes while both the ladies vent out their frustrations by beating him.

“You said you’re going to be home for another two months, you big idiot!”

“Do you have any idea how shocked I was to see you standing there at the doorway?! I thought it was a ghost, you miserable child!”

“I was supposed to fetch you at the airport with a banner saying ‘Welcome home, Kim MyungSoo’! Now you ruined everything!”

“I am so going to boil you right now.”

“Okay, okay, I am sorry!” MyungSoo managed to say in midst of his laughter. His mother and sister kept beating him though, but he managed to get them to stop as he stood up. “Look, I am extremely sorry but I cannot help it. I just had to do it.”

“Had to do it.” MyungHee echoed with an extremely annoyed expression on her face. “That is not even an excuse! And you cannot use it to defend yourself!”

MyungSoo laughed again and hugged both his mother and sister, letting go of the longing he had for them throughout the months he was away. These were the women he’d die protecting, loving, and care for. He’d yearned for the day when he would see them again, not only through the screen of his computer whenever they Skyped with each other.

He loved them to bits, but he couldn’t help himself to surprise them that way. Seeing their reactions was very amusing to him.

Despite still being mad at him, MyungHee and HyunJoo, their mother, hugged him back tightly. They were indeed surprised, but it no longer mattered, because he was there now with them. They missed him so much, the reliable son and brother, and they too waited for the days when he would finally be home.

Their little reunion, however, was short-lived, as they suddenly smelled something burning. HyunJoo broke away from the hug and suddenly grew alarmed. “Oh my goodness!” She exclaimed and ran towards the kitchen, while MyungSoo laughed again and MyungHee was shaking her head.

They followed their mother afterwards, to see whether any damage had been done to the kitchen, but everything was fine and they were not going to lose their house anytime soon. “Thank goodness, I almost burned the chicken wings!”

“Is it savable?” MyungSoo asked, peering towards the pan. “Smells so good, mom! I really missed your cooking, you know, when I was at the States. How I wished I could teleport you there from here so that you could cook for me every day.”

“Well, it didn’t matter, did it?” MyungHee asked playfully, and MyungSoo raised his eyebrow at her, not quite understanding what she meant. “If memory serves me right, you had a friend cook Korean food for you there, right? What’s her name?”

MyungSoo’s face brightened at the mention of his friend. “Oh, you meant MinNeul! Well, yeah, she did cook for me from time to time, because I kept complaining on how I didn’t want to eat Western food every day. Her cooking was awesome, but then it couldn’t be compared to mom’s cooking.”

HyunJoo reached over and patted her son’s cheek, completely pleased with the compliment. “Oh, don’t worry. Now that you’re home, I’ll be sure to stuff you with food so that you could put some weight in these boney arms.”

MyungHee threw her head back and laughed, and she crossed her arms as she said, “Well, maybe not stuff him too much, omma. We want him to look as fetching as ever at the wedding, since he has an important role to play there.”

Hearing the word wedding, now it was MyungSoo’s turn to have his eyes widened. He glanced frantically between his mother and sister, and questions came running out of his mouth like a bullet train. “Wedding? Whose wedding? Who is getting married? Are you getting married, MyungHee? Has ChangJo proposed to you already? Why didn’t you tell me? Have you picked a wedding dress yet? Have you-”

Rolling her eyes, MyungHee walked over to him and clamped his mouth shut by covering it with her hand. “Hold your horses, oppa, and listen. First, no, it’s not my wedding. Second, no, ChangJo has not proposed yet, but we’ve been talking about it. And no, I haven’t picked a wedding dress, but a bridesmaid dress.”

MyungSoo frowned, and mumbled something incoherent while his mouth was still covered with MyungHee’s hand. MyungHee laughed and removed her hand. “Sorry, oppa. What were you saying?”

“I think I have an idea who is getting married.” He said, and smile slowly appeared on his face as he looked at both his mother and sister. “It’s KyonDae right? KyonDae and L.Joe? Those two are the ones getting hitched, right?”

HyunJoo nodded her head with a wide smile before returning to her cooking, and MyungHee shrieked while clapping her hands happily. “Yes! They are finally getting married! Isn’t that exciting?!” She held MyungSoo by the shoulders and started jumping up and down.

“Definitely!” MyungSoo said excitedly and mirrored what MyungHee did, and now both of them were jumping in the kitchen. “Only that none of you even bothered to tell me when we skype every freaking week!”

HyunJoo laughed and turned off the stove. She wiped her hands on a piece of cloth and stepped towards her children, stopping them from the jumping as it didn’t sit well with her to see both of them jumping in her kitchen. Someone could get hurt.

“You weren’t supposed to know, actually. It slipped from my tongue.” MyungHee said as she helped her mother serve the dishes on the dining table. “You’ll have to meet the two of them later. There’s something that they want to discuss with you. Just pretend that you don’t know they’re getting married.”

“Okay.” MyungSoo said with a shrug, and moved to help his mom and sister. “I hope they’re not going to ask me for marriage advice or anything. I am not a married man myself.” He added and MyungHee laughed.

HyunJoo, however, sighed dramatically as she shook her head. “Which brings me to say, when on earth would a