❝ chapter twenty-three

e r i c ’ s

[blue text = spoken in english]

Two months since I last saw Yongsun personally and 4 hours since I last saw her in a video call. She was busy with her promotion then right up to her concerts and I was busy with mine, I didn’t even get a chance to step foot in Korea yet. It was fine up until last night when she got upset at me for staying longer than I intended and asked if I was gonna live here forever. God, Kim Yongsun. I knew I was supposed to be back in Korea since last two weeks, but I somehow stayed longer because my visa still allowed it and because I had things to do too. Not that she knew about the latter though, it was supposed to be something for her. 

    “Hey bro, should we leave now?” Eddie asked. “Let’s go around the city for a while then get breakfast.” 

I nodded. Parts of me were dead tired, three hours of sleep weren’t definitely enough but then, I couldn’t turn him down. It’s rare to catch breakfast together once I’m back in Korea. We stroll around the hotel, then the park then a nearby place around the neighborhood before we both settle on this cafe we both like and order ourselves coffees and breakfast burritos. 

    “So?” Eddie asked after taking a sip of his coffee. “How is it going with sis in law?” 

    I put my cup down. “We’re trying.”

    “Is she no longer mad at you about the club incident?” He laughs. 

    “Thankfully, yes.”

Yongsun and I have this habit of sending each other selfies or pictures of where we are or what we’re doing when one of us ask instead of typing because it’s quicker and a picture describes everything a text can’t. Two days ago, Eddie and I met with some of our friends and we went to the club and drank and that was when she asked me what was I doing and I sent her a picture of myself with a cup of whiskey so she told me to not drink too much. 

Later that night, I ended up drunk calling her and she wouldn’t answer my call the next day. Worst, I had no idea what did I said that night. Not sure if she was mad at what I said, or she was mad I promised to not drink too much then I did exactly the opposite of it. 

    “I know this might be too early to ask but do you want to marry her?” He asked. “You know, do you have plan in marrying her? I mean, the fam likes her a lot. We like her a lot.” 

    I smile. “Yeah. I mean, of course I want to marry her but it’s not only my decision. Only time will tell whether it’s forever or it’s temporary.” 

    “I hope it’s forever, bro.” He said. “Bring her to mom and dad once, they’re dying to meet her.” 

    “If you guys want to meet her too, then you really need to polish your Korean a little bit more.” 

Eddie groans but he eventually agrees that he really has to, it’s suffocating him to know that he’s Korean but it takes his brain quite a while to generate what people are saying in Korean. Brian has it even worse though, the kid has probably gives up on it already. He’s the only one among us who really isn’t patient and interested enough in learning new languages. 

    “When are you going back?” 

    “Next week.” I said. “If I stay any longer, I think I’m going to be in so much troubles when I’m back.” 

Later that day, Eddie insists that he wants to buy a gift for Yongsun because it seems to be about the time to acknowledge each other’s presence properly now and they never really have a chance to meet properly except for the last time with Chloe and KCON, both for works. Brian has it a little bit more personal though not as private, it’s a video call for his birthday but nonetheless, it’s better than Eddie. Except that was the last time they’ve ever talked so now, he’s threatening me if I ever bring Yongsun to Atlanta while he’s still in New York, he’s going to kill me. Geez. 

Eddie asks me to help him choose and I tell him to buy whatever he likes, it’s from him anyway and she will likes it. 

    “How is Brittany?” 

    “She’s good, she’s on a trip again.” He shrugs and finally picks something.

    “Without Rocky?” I asked. “She always brought him along.” 

    “The kid wanted to stay with me this time, not sure why but he didn’t seem quite interested in going when she asked so I kept him here.” 

    I chuckled. “You know, anyone would have thought you’re talking about your son when we’re actually talking about your dog.” 

    He laughs. “Well, they’re not entirely wrong. He’s my son, Brian acknowledges him as his nephew.” 

    “And I don’t?” I asked and he only laughed at that. 

In the end, he finally decided on a special-scented candle, specially made for movie time. We’re not really sure how it works but the staff said it’d make the perfect scent for movie times, not that we know there was suppose to a specific scent when you’re watching a movie. Plus, Yongsun loves watching movies so I guess it wasn’t that bad. He even made the effort in writing a card in Korean himself and asked me to check if it made sense enough. 

Later that night, he got nagged at by Brian for buying Yongsun’s gift without him and for making it seemed like he didn't like her. I told him it was fine and Yongsun never really cared about those types of thing but two days later, a hotel staff rang my room’s bell and gave me a package from Brian Nam, geez.