As soon as your sister’s car pulled into the parking spot in front of your family’s small house it was only a race to the door. The ride there, your sister was a ball of energy that went off when she hastily put her car in park.

“OOOOPPPPAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!” she left the car door open and the keys in the ignition in her haste to be reunited with her fiancée.  The front door slammed open and you looked up from putting your bag on, still seated inside the car. Your future brother-in-law Hwangin, clad in his military fatigues, stood at the entrance of the house with his daughter in his arms. He quickly handed Mieun to your mom who stood behind him to watch the reunion. Hwangin jumped off the porch in one swoop and you looked away so as not to watch their public display of affection. You took your time gathering your things and then leaned over to turn the car off and to grab your sister’s purse as well.  You did your best to keep your eyes averted from the couple who clung on to each other like leeches as you walked around the car to close your sister’s door.

You looked straight ahead with your eyes fixed on the front door where your father joined your mother at the threshold.  You found yourself in a sprint of your own and in seconds you wrapped your arms around his waist. He patted your shoulder while murmuring, “Our maknae Mikyung-ah.”

“I missed you dad,” you replied back.

“Let’s leave those two alone for a while,” your mother patted your shoulder too and you smiled in response while your dad reached out to help you with your sister’s purse, in own military uniform. You tossed the car keys onto the shelf next to the door and quickly ran to your room to deposit your bag. You pulled your hair tie off and ran a brush through your hair as fast as you could. You regretted doing so when you felt a sting in your scalp when you pulled a little too hard. You raced down to the living room where your dad was seated with his granddaughter in his arms. You looked around for your mom and figured she was getting dinner ready.

“Mikyung-ah, when did this baby get so big?” your father looked up at you for a second before looking down at Mieun whose eyes were focused on him. You crossed the room to sit beside him and smiled at him. “She kind of looks like a mixture of you and your sister when you two were her age.”

Your smile only got bigger, “But I see more of Hwangin oppa’s features in her.”

Your dad frowned and brought the baby up to his face to peer closely at her, “I don’t see it.”

“You’re just bias appa.” You and he smiled at you.

“That may be the case, but she still looks like my two daughters,” he paused, “In my eyes.”

“It’s only you who thinks that,” your mother emerged from the kitchen with a wide smile of her own. She turned that smile to you, “Can you help me finish getting dinner ready Mikyung-ah?”

You nodded but felt a little reluctant to follow her to the kitchen, not wanting to part from with your father even for a moment. He must have sensed your feelings because he stood up from the couch with you.

“I’ll go with you too. I don’t want to be too far from you two after so long.”

You joyfully headed toward the sink to wash your hands and you saw the big pot that you knew had your dad’s favorite meal. By the smile on your dad’s face, you were sure he knew what was inside too. He took a deep breath in to take the aroma in that only had that fishy smell. You looked around for the chives to chop up so it would take care of the smell.

“Now Mikyung-ah, what’s this I hear about a boy.” You slowly brought your head up from your task at finding the plant to see the frown on your dad’s face.

“What?” The word left your lips before you could think properly of a response. The abruptness of it all confused you even more.

Your dad adjusted his hold on Mieun and your mom smiled secretively at you. “Your sister is the one who mentioned it to your mom who told me.”

You looked between the two while cursing your sister at the back of your mind. Your mom was looking at you encouragingly with a hint of curiosity idling in her eyes. Your dad on the other hand had his stern face on and his left hand was clenched. “Is it the boy I saw when I last dropped you off?”

“You saw him?” your mom asked her husband surprised. “Nunji-ya painted a vague description of how he looked but I haven’t seen him myself. Why am I the last one to know? Mikyung-ah?” She pouted.

You cursed Nunji and yourself. You should have immediately denied it when your father had brought it up.

The situation was getting out of hand and the way Taekwoon’s face kept appearing in your head wasn’t helping you concentrate. You looked at your niece to see if she would help you out but she looked completely calm without any plan to be fussy. You looked through the doorway to subtly peer at the front door hoping for your sister, the cause of the present situation, and Hwangin to come in to at least delay what was inevitably about to be upon you.

“Uhhh,” you mumbled and felt your mom move closer to you so as not to miss a word. Your dad stood up once again and moved closer. Your eyes flickered to the baby in his arms, pleading her to do something to distract the two people who were closing in on you. Of course Mieun only started babbling in her content mood.

“At least tell us his name Mikyung-ah.” Your mom took the initiative in the interrogation.

Your eyes flickered to your dad’s knowing that the least thing he would do with a name was a background check on Taekwoon. Your eyes went to your mom who you knew would start asking all of her contacts about him and his family. You knew perfectly well what they would do after seeing it many times happen to Nunji’s past boyfriends. This was why you did your best to hide you and Sanghyun’s relationship which turned out to be easy given how long you two dated. But you hadn’t been mindful of Taekwoon with the way he snuck up on you and implanted himself in your brain.

If you said his name now, there was no going back knowing the next step would be the two of them demanding they meet him. In person, no less.

You cursed your sister again but added in Taekwoon for not having a common name like Kim Kibum or Lee Minhyuk. That would at least throw them off a little.

Their eyes never removed themselves from you reading your expression and body language. Given how long you were taking to answer them, you were basically admitting that there was a boy. You muttered your sister’s name. You were trapped and it was all Nunji’s fault.

“Yah, why are you trapping my precious dongsaeng like that?” speak of the devil and the devil shall appear. It was only then that you realized that the two hunting parental units had cornered you as you felt the counter digging into your back. You glared at your sister and the way she had her claws sunk into the oblivious Hwangin.

“Your mother told me about the boy who has your sister’s interest.”

“Forget about him, Hwangin-oppa and I decided that we want to get married this weekend.”

Leave it up to your sister to save you with an atomic bomb.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Your college entrance exams are next year and you all know how important it is to get into a good college especially if you want a good job. An honorable job.” You did your best not to scoff at your homeroom teacher’s words. You’ve been hearing these speeches since you were young and up until middle school, you had been taking these words seriously much like a lot of Korean students not yet in college.

The pressure was no joke. Even Nunji nagged at you to study and even bragged about getting into Yonsei University. You’ve heard your mom mention her achievement on multiple occasions whenever she