"I guess I should go now. Will text you later." Baro told me as he wore his shoes to step outside. 

"Sure you don't want to stay for dinner?" I asked again. 

"Nah, it's fine. I'm having dinner at home." He then added, "Besides, I believe you guys need some time to yourselves."

 

I smiled, understanding what he meant and waved him goodbye as he walked out backwards, still facing me. Only when he reached the end of the walkway did he then turn his back and, we parted.

 

As I entered the dining room just beside the main door, I saw that everyone has settled down at their respective seats, waiting. I could still sense the heavy atmosphere like before. I took a deep breath as I approached my seat, not knowing what to expect for that night's dinner. Omma had cooked for us kimchi bokkumbap (kimchi fried rice) and Boram Unni had kindly reheated the food for us.

 

"Let's eat." Boram Unni commenced our dinner just like how Appa always did.

 

Despite the absence of Appa, we ate in silence. It wasn't always like this when we ate together with just the four of us. It has always been noisy. We took turns picking on someone to express our undying affection for that lucky one of the day and just joked around. Oh, how much I miss those times. Taking one bite after another in complete silence was really taking a toll on me. I could only do it away with occasional fidgeting which weren't all that helpful. 

 

Suddenly, Seunghyun smacked his spoon on his then empty bowl, which made everyone look up, surprised. 

 

"Well, are we really gonna sit down quietly like this throughout dinner?" he chided. Seunghyun is a life-saver.

 

"Thank you Seunghyun for saving me! May God bless you!" I exclaimed as my heart felt at so much ease when Seunghyun broke the heavy silence.

 

Before I knew it, the three of them gazed at me as though I said something wrong. 

 

"What? I was seriously dying from the silence okay!" I fretted back.

 

Hyunseung Oppa and Boram Unni exchanged glances before a wide grin formed on their faces. Realizing how silly we acted that night, all of us let go of our discomfort with a long string of laughter which easily cured the once tense atmosphere.

 

"Ah, that felt so much better," I beamed as I looked over at my brothers and sister who finally stopped laughing. Seeing how everyone had calmed down, I added on,"I'm sorry for being rude towards Appa just now. I got carried away before without realizing it but I still meant what I said though... About how I don't know Appa being a good guy or a bad guy."

"Dude, after hearing what you said, it struck me. Somehow, I've been trying to avoid admitting it but sometimes Appa does seem like a stranger to me. Has Appa always been like this before?" Seunghyun directed his question to our older siblings who were listening intently.

 

"Hmm... To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure myself. I think there was a time when Appa wasn't as cold as he is now. I don't remember it myself but Omma gave me a picture for me to keep. It was taken during a day when Appa, Omma, Hyunseung and I were out for a family picnic. Hyunseung was still small, in Omma's arms and I was sitting on Appa's laps. We looked like we were having a good time. So I guess something happened afterwards." Boram Unni addressed her brother's curiosity.

 

"When Omma was pregnant with Seunghyun, we moved house. Do you remember Nuna?" Hyunseung Oppa continued.

 

"Yeah, we did move house. I went to a different school for my first year in elementary. By then, Appa has been quite distant to us. He didn't appear in most of the pictures in our childhood photo albums. I went to middle school and that was when I found out about the hidden camera in my name tag. For the first time, I confronted Appa to not let me go to school." Boram Unni explained further.

 

"Yeah, I remember how scared you were at that time." Hyunseung Oppa said.

 

"How scared were you? Did you pee in your pants?" I think Seunghyun's getting a tad bit excited.

 

"You don't say. It was one of a kind." Hyunseung Oppa answered for her sister.
 

"What happened? Tell me!" Seunghyun continued to pester his brother. I even got interested as I started to lean forward to hear from Oppa.

 

Hyunseung Oppa glanced nervously at Unni who was shooting invisible lasers with her eyes. After the pretty short consideration time, he quickly blurted,"Your Nuna sweated like mad as if she ran a few hundred metres and even after the talk ended, she was frozen in her spot for a few minutes in a very weird pose."

 

"HAHAHAHAHA! You've got to show me the pose one day!" Seunghyun chuckled so loud. 

 

"HA. HA. Says the guy who didn't even dare to say a word to Appa." Boram Unni made a comeback putting him in a spot.

 

"Seems like the 'guys' in this house are such cowards." I jested, enjoying the scene of both my brothers being embarrassed and gave my sister a high-five.

 

Just then, the door opened, revealing Omma in her tight yoga suit, with her rolled up yoga mat slung on her shoulder.

 

"Guess what? I've got a new idea for your daily lunch!" She announced as soon as she removed her shoes.

 

"New ideas are good. But new ideas from Omma? Not good at all." Hyunseung Oppa complained.

 

"No no. It'll be really fun. Listen. Starting from tomorrow, I... am going to hide your lunch boxes!" Omma gleefully said as though enjoying seeing us suffer more than before.

 

"JKSHDYIGAAAAGHH!!" We all groaned at what seemed like a 'good idea' to Omma.

 

So, Omma and the four of us had been playing this lunch box game - which of course, was created by Omma herself- where we have to fight for the best lunch box. So four lunch boxes will be prepared by Omma in the morning. Usually, whoever gets it fast will get the best lunch (e.g. rice with egg rolls, kimchi & braised chicken), followed by an adequate lunch and finally, the slowest of us will get the worst lunchbox (usually biscuits or just a piece of donut). Yes, regardless of Omma's sweet and kind persona, she has a really evil side to her. We concluded that it was her way of relieving her stress.

 

With Omma's new idea in place, we had to prepare ourselves for a daily treasure hunt to earn ourselves a lunch meal. On the bright side, staying at home will be more exciting than before. 

 

"Don't forget to wash the dishes! Goodnight!" Omma mused before she closed her bedroom door shut.

 

The four of us who were left dumbfounded by Omma's sudden entrance finally got back to our senses. We exchanged looks and as though someone else gave a cue, we chorused,"Scissors, paper, stone!"

 

It turned out that all of us showed paper except for Seunghyun, the youngest, who showed a fist which punched the air at the knowledge of his loss. 

 

"Better luck next time, dongsaeng!" I clucked as I jumped to ruffle his hair.

 

"Why am I so bad at this game?! And you! Don't expect me to call you Nuna after this." He replied before he slowly picked up the dishes and dragged his feet to the kitchen sink.

 

As soon as I entered my room, I reached out for my bed and embraced it. Indeed, it had been a long day for me. I was about to get to sleep when I was awakened by my phone's vibration. It was a text from Baro.

 

 

 

Baro really gives weird nicknames and the thing is, it changes every time.

 

 

That small talk continued through the night and we talked about the randomest things. Time passed and the night deepened as a new day prepares to greet us. 

 

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This chapter took longer than I expected but I had a good time writing though! Hope you guys enjoyed it! Do subscribe if you wanna see more & comment on what you think of  it below!

감사합니다! Kamsahabnida ^_^

 

Ok, I think I'm calling this corner 'Beautiful Korea' where I share some of the photos I snapped during my recent travel to Korea. Enjoy!

Busan's skies were stunning on my last day in Korea and I just had to dedicate a farewell post on instagram haha.

I was greeted by this scenic view as soon as I exited the taxi to get to a seafood restaurant by the seaside in Busan.

 Stay tuned ! Oh, and I just created a tumblr account. Follow me here to see more of my travel pics that I posted if you want to :)

Much love,

kimchi_ramen

Photo credit to me.