Bang YongGuk, in HanSan village

After a quick shower at home, I took the road to Sujin parents house. I made sure to wear casual yet pretty clothes. I toke extra care of Taeyang hair,adding more pins than necessary. I looked at her swirl in her dress and remembered just before leaving to make her wear her old shoes instead of the new immaculated ones I just bought for her. My fiancée gave me the address by message in the early morning and I let the GPS  give me directions. I arrived in front of a little house in the middle of nowhere and looked around. The place was beautiful but I had no idea if it was the right one. Soon, I heard a little girl from afar. « YongGuk uncle, here I am !! »

She ran to us and I looked at her adorable dress. « Hi, Moonah. You're doing well here ? »

She hugged Taeyang strongly and soon they were jumping around together. « Yeah !! »  I took the box of red ginseng I bought coming here and started to follow my daughters. Apparently I wasn't parked at the ideal place. We walked five minutes before Moonah pushed a little barrier. I looked at the small house yet quite big garden it had.  « Mom !! Uncle is here. »

Sujin arrived, in a farm outfit, ready to prepar kimchi or other traditionnal meals. She ran a bit to me. « Hey Seoul guy !»

« Hey countrypumpkin !! » I reached to kiss her and she pushed me back in an abrupt manner. I frowned. « None of this in the house. Manner hands please. »

I pouted and sighed like a capricious little boy making her laugh. Yesterday without her felt long. She looked at what was in my hands and frowned. « Advice of my mom. » I justified myself.

« Okay, let's go. » She said with an encouraging smile.

I prepared my best smile and entered the house.Two people were in the living room. A middle aged man with a friendly expression, her mom that looked grumpy. « Hi I'm YongGuk I'm the fiancé of Sujin. Hmm I've brought this for you. »

Her dad came to salute me. « Oh you shouldn't have. Red ginseng gosh. Thanks you ! » He went in the kitchen to put it away and let us alone with the mom and the sister. The atmosphere was awkward. I felt her mom stare at me with some confusion in her eyes. I smiled to her and she looked away in a embarassed manner. She looked back at her daughter with a frown and back to me she seemed puzzled. Considering her relationship with Sujin and her beliefs; it wouldn't be surprising she thought Sujin would marry an old and ugly man.

I stayed still and Sujin came back  to my side. « Sit down. » She shortly introduced me to her little family before realizing her daughters were not here. « Moonah where did you bring Taeyang ?! » She shouted, nicely.

Soon, the two girls appeared in front of us and Sujin hugged Taeyang. Taeyang looked at Sujin mom and came to her side. « You are my mom's mom ? »

The woman widened and looked at Sujin that sent her a daring look. « Yes. »

Taeyang climbed on the couch and sat on her lap. « Hi my name is Bang Taeyang ; Tae Yang like the sun. and I'm 9 like Moonah so it will be really easy to remember. When Mom told me we'll come here, I was really excited. I'm sure you are someone amazing because you gave birth to  Mom. »

The woman looked petrified. Sujin hided a laugh at this cute behavior. Her mom finally said something. « Do you want me to show you the garden? »

We followed them in the garden and soon Taeyang went with Moonah and her Grandma to see the animals. I discovered the place where Sujin grew up with sparkles in my eyes.

« So you're the man calling my daughter his angel. Sujin, he's too handsome for you. » Her dad suddenly .  Sujin groaned, and for all answer, he laughed. « I'm joking. You have a work Mister YongGuk ? »

I nodded slowly. « Yes, I'm a lawyer. »

He seemed gladly surprised of this answer. «That's a nice situation. » It wouldn't surprise me that Sujin was secretive about me to her parents, it would explain why they seems so surprised of my appearance and everything. It was logic for them that if she kept me secret for so long it was for a good reason.

We talked about me a bit of time and soon, Sujin looked outside laughing. "Since when Mom liked this cat ?"

« She does. You know her well, she is bad with showing her feelings. » Her dad wisely said. We looked at her put the sleepy cat on Taeyang lap and smiled. Sujin Mom seemed delighted to spend time with Taeyang.

« Do you think you can give them a ride ? » Sujin asked to her Dad.

« A ride ? » I repeated, clueless about what they were talking about.

« Yes I have a small boat. We should go right now to be back for lunch. » Her dad explained.

I looked at Sujin,  feeling hesitant and she subtly squeezed my hand, in a reassuring manner. We walked to the garden when her mom snatched her away from me.

« You have to help me prepar lunch. No groan ! You lazy daughter. » She yelled to Sujin, she sent me a pout and followed her mom. Taeyang looked at this interaction with wide eyes. " She called Mom lazy." She said with confused eyes before laughing. "Lazy mom !!"

 As we walked to the shore I looked at Sujin dad hold the hands of both my little girls and chitchat with them. We came to the port and he leaded us to a little motorized boat, he took care to help us climb on his boat.  It was a magnificient view. This village was so beautiful.  « You live in such a beautiful place. »

He slowly nodded. « Yeah. I think so too. Which city do you come from ?»

« Seoul. » I answered. «  I've came here right after Taeyang was born. Life is sweeter in Busan, such as the weather.»

He chuckled. « Yeah for sure. I never been to Seoul since I got married here. But I guess Seoul  it's even worse now. »

« Wait you're from Seoul ? » A grandpa from this isolated village, from Seoul ?! Plus he got the accent of here...

He laughed. « Yes. I was born and raised there. I came here to visit some acquaintance and got married the month after. »

I chuckled. Sujin had his manners, very relaxed and. I told him about this and he suddenly lost his smile. «My only regret in life was to reject my daughter when she needed me the most. I felt shame when all I should have felt was worries. She's been used to people leaving her, not counting on anyone. »

« I've heard of this. » I said in a neutral tone.

« You want to marry her, so it's serious right ? Sujin is so secretive. She wouldn't answer my questions about you. You care right ? » He looked geniously worried about Sujin. I should tell her one day. That her secretive ways are just getting her parents worried.

I nodded. « She gave me a painting recently, to add colors to my office, she adds colors to my life. I care a lot about her and her daughter. I feel happy we're getting married. »

He looked at Moonah and cleared his throat. I smiled. « So what about Moonah ? I'm her Uncle for now. We might not be a traditionnal love story but we're taking things slowly. »

We ate chatting a bit about the wedding. The preparations started a few weeks ago. I took a wedding assistant and had meetings with her to set up my orders. There were millions of things to think about : the cake, the dress, the honeymoon,  the party, the reception room booking. The list was long. He seemed delighted to hear more about that wedding.  Taeyang came suddenly to my side and hugged me. The old man smiled. "Are you enjoying the ride, young lady ?"

Taeyang smiled to him. "Of course ! I'm not even sick !!!"

Moonah came next to us. "Grandpa. I'm hungry."

He dramatically gasped and ran to the wheel. "We have to go back home and feed you some food."

We came back to their home and I found Sujin setting the table. "Dad, I hope you didn't terrorize him." Her dad scoffed. "I almost dumped him in the middle of the ride but didn't. I have a big heart Sujin." The woman elbowed her dad and he just went in the kitchen laughing.

I came to her side. "It was a nice ride. Your dad is really kind."

She was going to answer me when her mom called her in the kitchen. I looked at Sujin serve us food and chuckled. Her food was excellent. I doubt her mom food could be better. Once the food was served, I took my chopsticks and, I was going to eat when Sujin crushed my feet, shaking her head. I had a silent scream. I looked at her with big eyes and she frowned.  Her mom  cleared . « Let's pray. »

It was a weird moment. I looked at Sujin pray with her eyes closed yet trying to keep Moonah from eating.  I joined my hands and had a silent chuckle looking at my confused daughter. If I  raised my daughter fairly well in my opinion, I didn't think it was necessary to teach her about religion, when I didn't have one myself. She looked cluesless about everything. Sujin saw that and winked to her. « Almost over. » She mouthed to Tae'.

We ate in a comfortable atmosphere. The food was excellent and I could guess Suji helped to cook. « It's delicious. »

« Kimchi stew is my speciality. Sujin helped for the side dishes. » We ate talking about the wedding preparations. They looked happy for their daughter and eager to participate too. Sujin and her mom looked quite close today and I easily guessed they had a good talk yesterday.

After the meal, I came to Sujin side. « I want to see your room. »

« You mean my child room ? » She brought me to a simple room with two beds. « I shared this room with my sister. » I looked at the few photos here and gasped. Sujin was stunning with long hair. These days she was complaining about the hair growing thing. I touched her hair in a gentle manner and felt the urge to kiss her. I refrained myself and sighed. She patted my shoulder. « Loving the view ? »

« You look amazing with your jet black long hair. You know what ? These days I think you'd look y even if you were bald. » I succeeded into making her laugh and relax a bit. She's been tense since we started the day.

I sat on her bed and she frowned. « Ah let's not take long. I don't want my parents to think we're doing something unappropriate. » I gave her a look and she sighed, in sign of defeat. She welcomed Taeyang and Moonah in the little room and showed the picture to Taeyang. "Mom you're pretty, lazy sure but pretty."Taeyang explained in a cute voice what she said earlier amusing Sujin a lot.

We took tea together and soon Sujin decided it was time to leave and we got in the car. Her family came outside to greet us goodbye and we were really far from the car. As we arrived ; her mom widened her eyes at the view of my car, silently.She looked at it closely and cleared . « Well have a safe trip home. »

As we arrived home, we looked at the kids rush inside the house . I sat on the couch and Sujin came to my side. « I missed home. »

« Your parents house? »

« No here is my home. I feel so peaceful here. Gosh. » She laughed and I blushed.

« You feel at peace here ? » I said slowly she pecked my lips. « Yeah. You shouldn't be surprised. I'm marrying you so I better be at ease here. »

I blinked a bit. « Sure. »