"Yeoboseyo?"

"Why do I always listen to you, Taewan? ... Don't worry! He'll follow along... Does that sound about right?" my voice sounded annoyed.

"Hey...at least you're calling me... and you’re not being carted off to some remote part of Korea again." I heard the humour in his voice.

""My father viewed it a little differently, and once again I tasted the sting of his shinai."

"That ! All I can say is ‘Sorry, man’... So I guess going to the movies or hanging out is probably out of the question?" Taewan inquired.

"Yeah! Like I could handle sitting on my for 2 ½ hours! ... But one positive came out of this... He decided to tell me about how serious the threat was and that it had been a direct threat on my life." I told him.

"No way! Seriously!" Taewan's voice shot up a few notches." Well!!! Come on!"

"Some wacko-stalker with a camera was following me around everywhere.  They were sending my dad photos of me at school, at the park and on the bus. Remember the day we skipped PE and my dad had us chauffeured to his office?" I asked.

"Of course, who could forget that?"

"Well, some nut job was sending out photo every ½ hour from when we were on the run, at the restaurant and the Internet cafe...and back to the school. All pictures were threatening because my eyes were all x-ed out... What really freaked everyone out, was when they received our school uniform with blood on it." My voice sounded strange to me even.

"Holy Crap! No wonder your dad acted that way...any parent would have. Did they catch the ones responsible?" he asked.

"Nope...that crack-pot is still out there... somewhere." That thought sent a shiver in my spine. "They should have told me sooner...I would've acted differently had I known."

"Sure...who wouldn't with a crazed maniac hanging around." he added.

"Great...thanks for that imagery this late at night." I barked at him. "I'm hanging up now."

                                        ....

The Jeung family headed out for church. My dad drove us in his Land Rover. It had the most room to accommodate my dongseungs' booster seats and my almost adult body.

"Did Sunflower help you sleep good last night?" Sunhee asked.

"Yes, she sure did!" I grabbed her knee. "Thank you very much!"

She squealed in delight and giggled like a lunatic.

"Sunhee, that's too loud!" my stepmother scolded. "You could cause an accident, shouting out like that."

I looked up at the rear view mirror and saw my father's eyes giving me a hard stare.

During mass, I had to focus on staying still as I sat on the wooden church pew. I maintained controlled through my breathing. My dad looked over at me occasionally as he tried to suppress a smile. Of course, it would be funny to him. Thank goodness, it was a shorter mass today. I only had to bear it for an hour.

 As we exited the Church, "I'm so glad the whole family could attend today...How long has it been since I last saw you, Seungri? It's been months? Look how you've grown?" The Father shook my dad's hand and patted me on the back. "I'd love to hear your confession one of these days." He said it with lots of humour in his voice.

I smiled and bowed politely to him.

 I haven't been baptized; my real mom said it was up to me to decide if I wanted to choose a faith to follow. She believed that living true to yourself and respecting all others was all that was necessary for being a decent human being. I kind of liked that thinking, but my father insisted I attend services as part of "the family".

"I was hoping to get a workout in before lunch, is that possible yeobo?" my dad asked my step-mom.

"Shouldn't be a problem as long as we can eat by... say 1:00pm."  she looked at her watch.

"Deal! ... Seungri, as soon as we get back, get change into your dobuk and meet me in the studio." He was looking at me through the rear view mirror again.

"What about me? I want to practice with you, too?" Sunhee shouted with excitement.

“I don't know...you better asked Eomma. She's the real boss." He said that to tease my step-mom.

"Please!! Eomma!" she begged. "Even Jaihee wants to watch."

"I don't know...sounds like that might be a little bit too much for our father to handle." my step-mom throw it back at my dad. I pressed my lips together and looked out my window, trying to look neutral.

"It should be fine...Jaihee, do you want to come a watch for a little bit, too."

He smiled and nodded his head. "Yes, Appa. I can do it, too."

Our Jeung family practice session was quite comical with the little ones trying to show us their stuff. My dad stood in front of us and led us in a stretching warm-up for a short five minutes. Even Jaihee was doing it.

After the warm-up, dad led us through a couple for basic moves. My dongseungs were really focused on my dad and their tasks. I was so impressed that Jaihee could pay attention and actually do it.

"Okay, Sunhee. Let's see what you know. Boys, let's sit down and watch your sister perform." My dad grabbed Jaihee off the floor, swung him over his shoulder and walked over to the side and sat down. I followed his lead.  Jaihee wiggled off my dad's lap and on to mine.

 I was quite surprised at how far Sunhee has progressed. Her face was serious as she showed off her skills. We clapped and shouted as she finished with a 'Tada'!

 Even through, Jaihee isn't old enough for formal training.  He obviously has been paying attention.

"Me, next!"  He quickly hopped off my lap to take centre stage from his sister. Sunhee was about to push him over when a firm "Sunhee!" from my dad made her rethink.

"You had your turn. Don't be selfish." My dad motioned her over to sit in his lap. She stopped frowning and quickly skipped over to him.

"Okay, little man. Show us what you've got."

He could do quite a lot of the basic skills properly without being shown. He even did a jump and roll to our complete amazement.

"I think I better treat my dongseungs very well because in a few years they're both going to be able to put me in my place." I said to my dad half-jokingly.

“I have to agree with you there...Okay..." He clapped his hands, "Little ones... time to head back to the house." My dad grabbed them both up in his arms and walked over to slide his flip-flops on. "I'll be back."

A couple of minutes later he was back. "Ready for a real work-out now, I'd love to see you try some moves on me."

"I'm a little rusty, Aubojee...." I stood up and bowed to him. "...And not to mention, stuff and sore from ...”I didn’t need to fill in the blank, “so I'll apologies ahead of time."

He smirked back a grin, bowed back then stood in the fighting stance.

I tried to remember all the little moves he did on Kang Bok Gu awhile back during my exile. He started to advance toward me. I kept my hands up to protect my face. He did a simple combination move, which I countered with a block and punch.

As we traded light punches and blocks, he decided to up the caliber of his moves. He sidestepped one of my punches, grabbed my wrist and pulled me through, landing a solid blow to my midsection. 

I stumbled past him, fighting to regain my breath. "Come on, at least give it a little more effort."  He complained.

I threw a punch combo with a kick at the end of it.  But I misjudged my kick and totally missed my target.

"Enough of this!" he barked. "Bring it! Or I will!" He was serious. "Prove to me that you can defend yourself! Especially now, that you know why it's so important."

"You want me to go all out?" I wasn't too sure if I was going to measure up to his standards.

"Of course! ...I want a real workout. Both body and mind!" He could see my hesitation. "If you can't be the aggressor...then I will." He grabbed me by the arm and jerked me around so fast that I was facing away from him with my arm held tightly behind my back before I realized what he was doing.

"Are you such an easy mark?!" He hissed in my ear.

Fine.

I quickly went limp in his arms, relaxing all my muscles so my whole body weight was thrown on him. As he was trying to compensate for my sudden limp noodle body, I pushed my momentum downwards and rolled out of his grip.

I sprang to my feet, ready to fight. This was my chance to show him that I could take care of myself. To prove to him I have the ability to protect myself from the enemy at my door.

I launched an attack, a combination of punches and kicks designed to push back my opponent.  He had no choice but to move back.

 He smiled. "That's more like it."

We battled it out for a good 30 minutes. At the end, we laid side by side on the floor, panting for breath. He reached over and patted my arm.

"I will admit that I feel a little relieved... Now that I know you have the basic skills to protect yourself. I might sleep a little easier at night." I looked over at him. He was staring at the ceiling; he was dead serious. I had no idea how hard this whole ordeal had been on him.

He closed his eyes and he slowed his breathing. I lay beside him. My mind was in a whirl of thought.  So much was happening in my life. Who knows what will happen next? Would I make the cut and stay on as a trainee?  Do I really want that? What about that lunatic who’s stalking me? Does he or she really want to hurt me? Even kill me?

A few of minutes go by. My dad cleared his throat and looked at his watch. His eyes got bigger. "Aigoo!! We're in for it! "He jumped up and extended his hand down to me.

"It's well past 1:30pm... Your mother isn't going to be happy with us. We'd better head in." I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up.