How It All Began

Legs shaky and wobbly took tentative steps, only for them to stop, from a body not yet ready to garner the balance needed for fine tuned motor skills. A hesitant movement stopped the momentum needed to keep going, only for the body to land harshly onto a bottom squishy from a diaper. A deep inhalation into a mouth opened showing off toothless gums, and a quivering uvula preparing for the onslaught of pained and frustrated screams. Eyes closed and fine lines in a face scrunching up, only to become smooth again once startled out of the concentration it took for a barely year old baby to realize the object soon ed into his gaping maw. Tears soon disappeared as eyes opened to look up at the smiling concerned face of an older sibling, gurgling around the pacifier in his mouth. Small fists waving in the air as arms outstretched naturally. Larger hands reaching down, moving under small armpits to heft up a growing baby boy into arms likened to safety and love. Head burrowing into a chest, rubbing snot that bubbled out of a small nose, only for tiny fists to clench onto the shirt. the material and bringing it close to a mouth that was covered by the pale blue and white pacifier. Eyes and face scrunched again as he realized the target of his drooling mouth was taken away from him by the obstacle of the hard plastic in between his lips.

A small giggle vibrated in the chest and baby, causing him to look up blinking wide dark brown eyes at the face of his Noona. Arms moved around his body, holding him close, as a hand moved to the diaper covered bum, balancing him securely in her arms. Shifting him slightly she had him resting on her right hip, her right arm snug around his form. His fists still clenched tightly on the cotton material of her shirt; holding on, and not wanting to let go. Small cooing noises escaped around the pacifier, with the bubbles of spit he seemed to also form around the soft plastic. The teenager holding him pressed her lips together and blew, blowing a raspberry towards him, making a smile spread across his face as he continued to form spit bubbles to escape with the amounts of drool as well. The blue and white pacifier started to slip out between his lips, only for a finger to gently catch it and press it back into his mouth. He giggled again, and blinking brightly moved his head down close to her ; taking deep breaths in of the scent of safety and home welcoming him. He closed his eyes, refusing to give those watching peeks of his dark eyes so much like his appa’s. Cheeks and lips moved as he on his pacifier, the only tell-tale sign that he wasn’t fully asleep yet.

Her body rocked back and forth, swaying gently, face tilted down watching her nam dongsaeng’s eyelids flutter, then fully close, watching his cheeks as they stilled, and the pacifier becoming immobile; ready to slip out at any moment from a lax jaw. Lips moved down, pressing onto the soft skin of his forehead, taking in the scent that all babies seemed to have naturally seeped from their pores. Of baby powder, baby shampoo, and that distinct smell that made her little brother hers. Her head moved up, looking around the room, taking in note the older woman sitting on the couch watching them both. Her umma still looked young for her age of thirty-one years of life. She still had the natural beauty that had proclaimed her features when she was twenty.

Yeon-hee smiled at her eleven year old daughter, Jin-Hee, holding Seong Seok, her year and a half month old son. Her daughter loved her little brother, to the point where he was always running to her if his umma was nowhere to be found, and she was there to pick him up in case he fell from his tentative steps on his own. She smiled at her two children, noticing that Jin-Hee looked like a perfect blend between herself and Seunghyun; while Seong Seok had his eyes and smile. Her son looked like a mini me of his umma, but when he smiled, it was pure Seunghyun. The way his eyes crinkled up and closed into the perfect eye-smile, and his lips spread into a goofy smile, no question whose appa was his.

As if knowing whose eyes were on him, Seong Seok fought the urge to fall into deep slumber; his eyes opening, his face scrunching up looking exactly like his appa in that moment when woken up from deep slumber. It was no secret that Seunghyun valued his sleep as much as his children did, and many a morning was spent with the three of them trying to wake up daddy. He would never be as angry when he opened his eyes to welcome in the sight of his two children and his wife versus the times before it was his four friends: Jiyong, Daesung, Youngbae, and Seungri. The pacifier slid out of his mouth as he moved his head back and forth as if telling those around him he refused to go to sleep and visit the world of Nog.

Nimble fingers caught the pacifier before it could fall to the floor, holding it in her hand; Jin-Hee looked down onto her little brother as he started to squirm in her arms. Using both arms now to keep him still, to keep him from falling, she started to walk quickly towards her umma. Knowing that no matter what Seong Seok’s fussiness would quit as soon as he was in his umma’s arms.

“Here give him to me.”

“Ne, umma.” Jin-Hee moved towards the older woman sitting on the plush white couch, leaning over slightly to hand over the wriggling form over, untangling his clenching fists from her shirt. As soon as Seok Seong was in Yeon-Hee’s arms he stilled. He moved his head up, blinking his eyes furiously at her, only to close them and burrow his head into her chest. She held him close to her, supporting him with her left arm under his bum at the back of his knees, whilst her right hand rubbed over his back; soothing and comforting. She leaned back into the couch; her eyes watching her son’s form as he burrowed his head into the valley between her s. He turned his head finally to the side, pressing his ear close to her chest to hear the steady thump thump of her heart beat. It was as if he never left the womb, he was surrounded by the love and protection that she gave him, as well as the comfort of knowing she was there by the sound of her heart beating in her chest.

Yeon-Hee leaned down, pressing her lips on the crown of his head, his fine black hair tickling her nose and lips. She smiled at the sight of him, but as she looked up, her smile grew for Jin-Hee as well. Her eyes took in the form of her daughter, noticing the difference between her two children, but also the similarities as compared to both their parents. She had to admit, her and Seunghyun made some really good looking babies. Her mind was starting to drift off into a memory of the two of them figuring out parenthood on their own with Jin-Hee; the funny moments where a wet Seunghyun would run behind a three year old Jin-Hee dripping wet from the bath she had escaped from. He was holding a towel, trying so hard to catch his daughter, with Jin-Hee squealing with laughter and giggling as she zoomed in front of her appa. Wet puddles left in the wake of both parties as Seunghyun found himself sliding over hardwood floors and slipping in the wet trail of his daughter. Yeon-Hee chuckled to herself, lost in the memory as her eyes looked through Jin-Hee; only to come into focus when the sound of Jin-Hee’s voice penetrated the fog of memories.

“Umma? Umma. Umma. Umma…” Jin-Hee’s fingers grasped onto the loose cotton pants that her umma was wearing, tugging on it trying to get her attention. Her voice still at an insistent whisper for she didn’t want to wake the baby up.

Yeon-Hee shook her head, and she looked down at Jin-Hee, smiling. “Ne?”

“Can you tell me the story of how you and Appa met?”

“You want to hear that story again?”

Jin-Hee plopped her body softly onto the cushions of the sofa, leaning her head against her umma’s shoulders, her eyes taking in the sleeping form of her baby brother. “Ne.”

Yeon-Hee smiled, letting the haze of memories to take over her mind’s eye, she moved her right hand down and started to run her fingers through the shiny black hair of Jin-Hee.

“About eleven years ago, before you were born, your Halmoni wanted me to go on nothing but soghe-tings which are—“

“Blind dates, right?”

“Ne. Your umma went on so many that were horrible that she started to give up—“

“One of them was with the guy with the toupee that kept sliding off, right?”

Yeon-Hee chuckled, “Ne. Do you want me to go on or do you want to tell me how it went?”

She moved her head to the side looking down at her daughter as Jin-Hee moved her fingers over in a zipping motion, only to twist them as if to lock the zipper, throwing the imaginary key behind her. She leaned down and kissed Jin-Hee’s forehead, lifting up, and her hands continuing the motion of running through shiny black locks of hair. “Well, after awhile I couldn’t take it anymore, I really couldn’t. It was one bad date after another…”

Yeon-Hee looked down at the pink and red liquor that filled her martini glass, the slice of orange hugging the glass rim, while the slice of lime floated in the center. Slim fingers held onto the stem of the glass, gently cradling the bottom of the glass. She sighed again, bringing the glass to her lips to sip on the cosmopolitan she had ordered from the cute bartender. Her eyes were staring into the depths of the drink looking for an answer to her problems that were waiting for her at home, back in South Korea. The cacophonous atmosphere of the club lost on her as she was too far gone in her mind to realize the music that was blaring through the speakers and pumping into the air of the building.

Taking another sip of the cosmopolitan she twirled the liquor around before swallowing. Her tongue instantly deciphering the taste of vodka, lime juice, cranberry juice, and the tanginess of the triple sec. She wondered if the bartender knew he used too much vodka throwing the recipe completely off-kilter; the purpose behind mixed drinks was the object of disguising the alcohol in such a way that it was both tasty and hidden from the customer. She smiled slyly to herself as her brain took apart the drink in front of her, chasing away the memories of just twenty-four hours ago away, only for her to instantly dwell back onto it.

“Umma, I can’t do this anymore!!” A foot stomped down in classic spoiled kid tantrum mode, she knew it, her umma knew it; yet here she was doing it.

“You will, and you can!! Do it for me!! Please Yeon-Hee, one more date, just one more.”

Yeon-Hee sighed in defeat as her umma pulled aegyo on her, she couldn’t believe her umma was using her own tricks against her. “Umma…please…not another one. Didn’t I tell you about the last one?”

“Please Yeon-Hee, just one more.”

“One more, you promise? The last one?”

“Ne and ne.”

Yeon-Hee looked away from her umma, looking outside the window; her eyes drawn to the leaves changing color as Mother Nature announced the coming of fall which would soon lead to winter. She turned her head back, looking at her umma, an idea forming in her mind as she thought of one thing alone: escape. “Okay.”

Yeon-Hee’s umma looked at her daughter incredulously, not believing her ears, and her eyes instantly squinting as she hoped her eyes would pierce Yeon-Hee’s mind. This was not like her daughter; she gave in too easily, which instantly made her wary. Her mind scrambled over every sentence, every moment of their conversation looking for holes of any kind that she had been tricked.

Later that night she had packed two bags quickly and quietly, tip-toeing past her Appa’s study as her parents spoke to one another, figuring out the next soghe-ting they would put their only daughter through. She hadn’t dwelled next to the doorway long enough to figure out who it was, only catching the words “son” and “husband”. Her umma was on a rampage to get Yeon-Hee set up with her future-husband-to-be, so in love was she of her nieces and nephews that she demanded Yeon-Hee to immediately start giving her grand-babies.

“Just one. It’s all I’m asking for.”

“Ani!! I’m too young to give you babies Umma!”

“Just one….just a little one?”

“ANI!!”

“Can’t you go to a bar and find a handsome man, get drunk and knocked up for your umma?”

Yeon-Hee’s eyes widened as what her umma just said registered in her brain, “ANIYO!! APPA!!”

She watched as her appa shake his head, moving in between the two out of three most important women in his life, his dead umma being the third. He stood in his wife’s eye-sight, his arm around her as he moved her out of the room away from Yeon-Hee. “Now now yeobo, if she’s not ready, she’s not ready. She’s still young, plenty of time for her to give us grand-babies.”

She smiled ruefully as she looked down into her drink, again bringing it to her lips to take another sip, feeling the cool liquid slide down and leave a trail of warmth that seemed to blossom through her body.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay going by yourself?”

Yeon-Hee looked at her friend, Lee Hwaran, taking note the concern in her eyes; she nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. “You know me, I’ll be fine. I’m a big girl now.”

Hwaran rolled her eyes, only to reply with, “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“Ch’yeah.”

“Don’t you ‘ch’yeah’ me young lady, do I need to remind you that time you wandered and got lost?”

“We were ten! And it was at the zoo!”

“Exactly my point! Or how bout the time you wandered off again only for some weird stranger to return you?”

“Aish…that was my sixteenth birthday party, and that ‘weird stranger’ was my Uncle.”

“Don’t care, he was creepy.”

“You’re just saying that, because you have some weird fear of guys with braces.”

Hwaran shuddered at the image of the metal on teeth, “Well it’s not right to have that much metal in your mouth. It’s unnatural!”

“So is your fear of braces!”

“Shush…okay. Still, will you be okay?”

“It’s a packaged tour.”

“That doesn’t mean anything, you can still wander off. You always do it if something is too boring, and I think this will be….are you listening to me?”

“Yes Umma. I promise not to wander away from the group and I’ll look both ways before crossing the street.”

“And make sure you use protection when…”

“LEE HWARAN!”

“Okay, okay. You’ll be back in two weeks?”

“Neh. Just long enough to escape Umma and her mad design to have me popping out babies as her own personal baby maker machine.”

Hwaran chuckled. She was about to say something further until a voice full of articulation came over the loud speaker of the airport, “Hello passengers of Flight32 bound to Paris from Seoul, please pass through security and reach your boarding gate immediately.”

“Looks like that’s you.” Hwaran grabbed Yeon-Hee into a hug, “Be safe.”

Shaking her head to escape the reverie she was in, Yeon-Hee brought her glass back up to her lips and took a longer sip; enjoying the feeling of warmth that became more prominent with each time she introduced the liquor into her system.

“So why’s a pretty girl like you here by yourself?”

Startled Yeon-Hee looked up at the young man next to her, surprised to hear Korean in a French bar in the middle of Paris. Her eyes swept over his figure, taking in the simple printed tee that was white and grey hidden under a black blazer that seemed to point out the broad shoulders. He had two long necklaces that hung down, she couldn’t figure out what they were, unless she had the nerve to lean forward and take them in her hands. She figured another cosmopolitan and she would have the guts to do so. The black slacks he wore were loose and baggy, not to the point where he became a gangster wannabe, but enough to show that he knew the fashions that were acceptable for such an atmosphere as the posh one that exuded from the Parisian club. As her eyes slide lower and past his legs she found a pair of black and white original adidas encasing his feet.

“Like what you see?”

“Maybe.” She replied back with a teasing tone, her eyes moving back to his chiseled features of his face. Her eyes moving over the strong jaw line, the dark piercing eyes that seemed to see right through her to her soul. His eyebrows almost looked as if his whole demeanor screamed “danger”, but as soon as a smile graced his lips his face immediately softened. She liked what she saw, but she wouldn’t tell him that; that would take away the fun of the chase, the fun of the game. Raising a single brow at him, she challenged him, “Who says I’m here by myself? I could be waiting for a friend or boyfriend.”

“Because I’ve been watching you all night, you came in here alone, you ordered your drink alone, and there has yet to be anyone to approach you let alone have you been interested long enough to any guy who may be interested.” He answered her challenge, raising a brow of his own.

Yeon-Hee made a face, unable to hide the creepy factor of someone watching her, let alone in a foreign country; now she saw the dangers of being a lone female in such a place without friends or family. “Stalker.”

“Hey now, for all you know I could be your ideal type.” He moved so he stood next to her, leaning on the bar on the right side of his figure. He towered over her, and now that he was in the light, she could see his hair looked silver or could it be white, she had no idea. It was a color that was definitely not natural of anyone their age nor of the Asian race in general.

“With that hair? It would be like dating a very tall gnome.” She chuckled at her own joke, taking in note that this was the most fun she had in awhile.

“A gnome? That’s the best you could come up with?”

She shrugged, “Truth be told, couldn’t think of anything else with white hair.”

“I’ll have you know lots of women love my hair.”

“Then maybe you should go find them.”

“Oh..ouch. Feisty. I like that.”

It had been awhile since Yeon-Hee found a partner in banter, it took a certain skill of thinking on your own feet, improv, with a side-order of witticisms most did not have.

“So does Ms. Feisty have a name?” He reached over and took her free hand in his, marveling at how much larger his was compared to hers.

“Kim Yeon-Hee. You?”

“Choi Seunghyun.” He brought her hand up to his lips, pressing them against her skin; taking in note the smooth softness of her flesh under his lips, the smell of her skin permeating his nostrils, she smelled delicious to him.

Yeon-Hee watched this, chuckling to herself at the smoothness in which he executed his greeting met with the chivalrous motion of kissing the back of her hand. His hot breath tickling the back of her hand, sending goose bumps to erupt over her skin, as the small hairs on her arms and back of her neck seemed to stand straight up. “Smooth.”

A tug at the corner of his lips, sending a smirk her way, he brought her hand away from his lips, but not letting go fully. “I try.”

Yeon-Hee didn’t bother removing her hand from his grasp; she strangely enjoyed the warmth he offered.

“Is that when you knew you were in love with Appa?”

“Ani baby girl.”

“Well skip to that part!”

“You don’t want to hear how smooth your Appa was?”

“ANI!!”

“Okay, okay, let’s see…”

“It was when you were on the bridge thingy!”

Chuckles could be heard, “Are you sure you don’t want to tell the story to me? Maybe I forgot.”

“Ummmaaa~” Jin-Hee whined.

“Okay okay…”

The night air was crisp and clear, the lights from the Institut de France reflected off the dark waters of the Seine River below the famous lovers’ bridge of Pont des Arts. The dark chain link fence was barely visible underneath what seemed like millions of padlocks. All in different shapes, different colors, and different messages of love engraved in a myriad of languages hung from any space their owners could find. The “love locks” adorning the Napoleonic passarelle under the watchful eye of Notre Dame Cathedral seemed as a testament to not only time, but the hope for eternal love from those lovers taking advantage of the City of Love’s romance.

“Did you bring it?”

“What do you take me for, stupid?”

“That’s still on debate.”

“BWOH!!” The loud deep voice of Seunghyun could be heard through the night’s air. Stopping immediately from walking, jerking on her hand.

“Shhhhh…you’re too loud.” Yeon-Hee chuckled, pulling on the hand that grasped at her, trying to get him to move with her on their way down the walkway, her eyes leveled on the fence looking for an empty spot.

Seunghyun tugged on her hand, stopping her abruptly, and pulling her back to him, her back hitting his chest; he wrapped his other arm around her holding her close. His voice tickled her ear, “Say it.”

“That you’re stupid? Okay. Babo.”

His arms tightened around her more, as his nose nuzzled her ear, his breath tickling her causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stick up, shivers going through her at the proximity of him to her. “Ani. If you don’t say it, I’m leaving you here.” He let go of her and was about to turn away from her and walk the way they came, only to feel her pull on his hand, stopping him as she hugged him from behind.

“Saranghee, Babo.”

He chuckled. “I was just teasing. No way to get rid of the babo, jagiya?”

“Ani. Now let’s find a place!” Yeon-Hee let him go, only to grab his free hand with her own and start dragging him down the walkway, their eyes searching for an empty spot on the fence amidst the other padlocks of love.

“Found one!” Yeon-Hee bounced around gleefully; to any outsider who didn’t know her they would think she was younger than her twenty years of life by the simple child-like glee that exuded from her body.

Seunghyun watched, his smile broad over his face, as he removed the padlock from his pocket, it was a simple brass locket that they had earlier sat under a tree spending the day picnicking and enjoying one another. That day they had both just talked and talked about their hopes and dreams; all the while he was busy engraving their names in Hangeul into the brass, trying profusely not to slice his hand open. He had found out that she had come to Paris under a packaged tour that she had blatantly ignored after the second day; “too many old buildings” as she decreed it. The irony hadn’t left him at all when he found out the reason to her fleeing their home country, the dreaded chain of soghe-tings that her parents had constantly barraged her with their pleadings to go onto. He had escaped from the same thing; the irony had not escaped him at all.

He had booked the flight immediately after his umma told him she had the perfect girl for him, he didn’t care if it had broken the girl’s heart that he had not shown up. A shudder of abject horror went through him at the thoughts of the countless girls he had met thanks to his Umma. He met a variety of girls from the most homely beings in the world to the most spoiled shallow superficial beings found in the shapes of young women. Young or old it didn’t matter, his umma seemed to make sure he met such a variety not knowing what exactly the taste of girls he preferred.

The snapping of a lock brought him from his thoughts, and he looked down at the squatting form of Yeon-Hee, knowing she was his ideal type. It must’ve been the romance that seemed to be another particle added to the prominent oxygen, because he was fully in love with this woman, he wanted her in a way that was both primal and endearing at the same time.

Yeon-Hee felt his gaze on her, and she looked up at him, only for him to get on his knees beside her, his large hands cradling her face, and she moved her nose into his palm, turning her head just right to kiss him. Only for him to draw his face close to hers and capture her lips into a kiss that was both scorching and sweet. This was their first kiss. In the week and a half of them spending together he had yet to make any kind of initiative in making the first move, yet here he was with his lips devouring hers in a deep and passionate kiss. Only to draw away, and kiss her nose, his lips smiling; it was too early for the proverbial “I love you’s” they both understood that, and on some subconscious level they admitted to not being ready just yet. Yet, they both wanted to see where this would lead them once their two weeks was up, and once they were both in Seoul, South Korea; home.

“Ewwww…kissing!”

“You won’t say that when you’re older Baby Girl.”

“Ani. Boys have cooties!”

“You don’t know how happy your appa would be if he heard you.”

“Why’s that?”

“Ask him later.”

Jin-Hee looked at her umma dubiously, wondering if this was some “adult” thing that she would learn “later”. How she hated that word, right with the phrase “when you’re older”.

“What happened next?”

“You know what happened next.”

“I want to hear you tell it to me.”

“You sure?”

“Umma!”

“Well, we had three days left in Paris…”

“Ani! I want you to skip when you both went back home.”

“But you’ll miss out important stuff…” Yeon-Hee looked at her daughter who glared at her, chuckling, knowing that her daughter didn’t want to hear about the kissing her parents did, or the cute moments; she was like her Halmoni, she wanted the juiciest tid-bits now.

Yeon-Hee stepped out of the airport, looking up at the overcast cloudy sky of Seoul, South Korea. She was home. It felt so good to be back, taking a deep breath in, she drew in the scent that she would never get tired of.

“Missed it that much?” An arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to his taller frame.

Yeon-Hee tilted her head looking up at Seunghyun, “Ne. I will always love Paris, but this, this is home.”

He nodded his head, agreeing with her. They had agreed in Paris that when they returned home they would try for a relationship here; they both had nothing to lose from trying anyways.

“No no no. Not that part.”

“Which part?”

“The part with the snow and how Halmoni surprised you. The part where you say ‘fate had a hand in’ you and appa’s love life!”

“Ahhh..that part. Why didn’t you say earlier?” Her voice teasing her daughter.

“Umma…”

A larger hand held a smaller one as they walked towards the restaurant where they both agreed to surprise their parents of their relationship, to stop the never ending soghe-tings; both not wanting to go through that hell again, not without the other anyways. They were about to go inside, only Seunghyun pulled on Yeon-Hee’s hand pulling her body forcibly towards him, before she could react he claimed her lips with his. Her arms moving around his neck, his arms moving around her waist to pull her snugly into his form; she fit him perfectly it seemed. They stopped when they felt something wet hit their foreheads, only to look up into the sky; it seemed fate was in their favor. It was the first day of the snowfall that weathermen had been talking about since their plane landed two days ago. Both faces broke out into huge smiles, only for them to both start laughing at the irony. It was something one could only find in the dramas that plagued their Halmonies’ television sets.

The sound of voices interrupted their laughter, and they both turned simultaneously to the entrance of the restaurant, taking in note both sets of parents looking at them. Neither party of ummas and appas ignored the fact that their children were wrapped around the other.

“Oh good. You met Choi Seunghyun. You know, he was the young man your appa and I had set you up on a blind date for. Now when you two giving me grand-babies?”

“WHAT?!” Both Yeon-Hee and Seunghyun exclaimed eyes wide as they turned their full attention to both sets of parents looking at them proudly.

Yeon-Hee and Seunghyun sprang apart, fingers pointing at one another, as they exclaimed in utter amazement, “YOU?!”

“And did you give Halmoni grand-babies?” Jin-Hee looked up at her umma.

Yeon-Hee gave her daughter a blinding smile, and leaned down and kissed her daughter’s forehead. “Yes, I gave her one right after the wedding. You.”

“And then Seong Seok-ah?”

“Ne, and then Seong Seok-ah.”

A deep voice boomed through the room, still loud even if he spoke at a normal decibel, “What are my two favorite girls doing?”

Jin-Hee’s face broke up into a big smile, as she launched herself off the couch and ran up to his tall figure, colliding with his legs, only to wrap her arms around one of them, “APPA!” Her small face looked up at him, her face bright and full of excitement, “Umma was telling the story of how you two met!”

Seunghyun chuckled, and reached his arms down and picked her up, cradling her close to his form as he moved to the couch where his wife sat, a tired and passed out Seong Seok laying on her chest, his fists clutching at her shirt, holding onto for dear life. He loved his son just as much as he did his daughter, but when his own Umma came over, she swore up and down that Seong Seok was him in mini-me form. “That story again? Don’t you get tired of it?”

Jin-Hee shook her head in blatant denial, “Aniyo!! Never!!”

He sat down, leaning over to catch his wife’s lips in a deep kiss, only to pull away at the sound of Jin-Hee exclaiming, “EWWWWWWW!! COOTIES!!”

Yeon-Hee chuckled into the kiss, breaking away from him, only to look over his form; he still looked the same as he did eleven years, minus the silver hair, it was now back to the natural black color that both his children sported. Every now and then Uncle Jiyong would come over and rope Jin-Hee into evil plots of changing her appa’s hair color to something else, or a color she had discovered the name for in her class.

Looking back now, she wondered if she knew what she knew now. That this man next to her was the love of her life, a wonderful husband, and a just as wonderful appa; and they were still as much in love as they were then at the bar. She knew it as soon as she laid her eyes on his form leaning next to her, that this man was hers. Just as much as she was his.

Seunghyun could see where his wife’s thoughts were going, her face couldn’t hide any emotion nor what she was thinking very well at all. He pressed his lips on her cheek, and whispered in her ear, “Je t’aime. Saranghee. I love you, Kim Yeon-Hee.”