20. EVERYTHING I DO

That night after the impromptu party was over and everyone had gone home, puppy waited for an hour before texting me. From our nightly conversations, we knew the timings for everyone to fall asleep.

Toki awake?

I called him. We whispered as usual, talking about the evening and the dinner.

“Toki you have such beautiful rhythmic body. Why did you not dance before today?”

“Minho didn’t like me to dance. And till tonight I never felt free from him.”

“Yeobo will you dance with me one day?”

“Hmmm.”

“Which one?”

“Whichever you want.”

“MJ’s The way you make me feel? I want to see you dance to it again but not with your brother. Will you dance with me?”

“Why didn’t you dance today?”

“I was watching you dance. I wanted to dance with you, but couldn’t. I sang for you instead. So will you dance with me yeobo?”

“Hmmm.”

“You know when you sang the song with your father and your brother it made me realize how close the three of you are. What happened yeobo?”

“We were very close at one time. We were like one soul before my marriage. It was lost for a while because I was lost for a while. When I moved to Daegu, for a brief period of time we were close again. We used to sing this song together all the time. The three lonely Lee men. Today dancing with Tae and singing with appa and him I felt the closeness once again, even if for a few minutes.”

“You are still close. You cannot be so much in sync with each other without being close in your hearts yeobo.”

“I am still there for them. I will always be. But they weren’t there for me. They left me alone. That song is a farce. A mockery of my love for them. But it felt good to pretend for some time tonight.”

“Yeobo meet me outside in a few minutes?”

“Puppy it’s so very late and Minki is sleeping with me.”

“Please toki. I have to give you something and it can’t wait for later. Have Minki sleep with imo. Want me to call her and ask for her permission? I’m sure she won’t say no.”

“Give me five minutes. I’ll meet you at the beginning of the lane.”

I changed clothes and woke up imo to sleep in my place with Minki and Jiyeon. Told her puppy wanted to meet me for a few minutes and I’d be back soon. I met him outside and he took me to the park again. He twined his fingers with mine and pulled me deep into the park to sit on a bench there.

“Toki which was the song you sang the few lines of?

“Bryan Adam’s Everything I do.”

“Will you complete the song for me?”

And I softly sang to him from my heart the song that defined my feelings for him.

Look into my eyes, you will see, what you mean to me
Search your heart, search your soul
When you find me there, you’ll search no more
Don’t tell me it’s not worth trying for
You can’t tell me it’s not worth dying for
You know it’s true, everything I do
I do it for you

Look into your heart, you will find there’s nothing there to hide
Take me as I am, take my life
I will give it up, I would sacrifice
Don’t tell me it’s not worth fighting for
I can't help it there's nothing I want more
You know it’s true, everything I do
I do it for you

There's no love like your love, and no other could give more love
There's no where unless you're there, all the time, all the way

Everything I do, I do it for you

You can’t tell me it’s not worth trying for
I can't help it there's nothing I want more
Yeah, will fight for you, I'll lie for you
Walk the wild for you, I'll die for you
You know it’s true, everything I do
I do it for you

As my last soft heart-felt note drifted into the night, he was silent for a while.

“Thank you yeobo. I knew you loved me as much I love you. If you sing me this song, I will wake up even from death to be with you. I promise, you will never regret loving me.”

“I know. That is why I couldn’t sing all of it earlier. It’s only for you to hear.”

He pecked my lips. I returned his brief kiss.

“You will always be my sweet toki. When I went home after dinner, I took the CD of ‘All for Love’ from uncle.”

“Why?”

“Yeobo sing the song once more. Let’s make it true again by singing it together. We can teach it to Minki to sing with us. Our JinMinJong song.”

He rubbed his nose with mine as I softly laughed at his name for the song.

“So you brought me here in the middle of the night to sing songs for you.”

“That’s just an excuse to spend a night with you.”

“ert.”

“Always, for you.”

I rubbed our noses again as I began the opening notes softly. He kissed my hand as he joined me with his beautiful voice.

When it's love you give
I'll be your man of good faith
When it's love you live
I'll make a stand I won't break
I'll be the rock you can lean on
Be there when you're old
To have and to hold

When there's love inside
I swear I'll always be strong
And there's a reason why
I'll prove to you we belong
I'll be the wall that protects you
From the wind and the rain
From the hurt and the pain

Let's make it all for one and all for love
Let the one you hold be the one you want
The one you need
'Cause when it's all for one it's one for all
When there's someone that you know
Then just let your feelings show
And make it all for one and all for love

When its love you make
I'll be the fire in your night
Then its love you take
I will defend I will fight
I'll be there when you need me
When honor's at stake
This vow I will make
That it's all for one and all for love
Let the one you hold be the one you want
The one you need
'Cause when it's all for one it's one for all
When there's someone that you know
Then just let your feelings show
And make it all for one and all for love

Don't lay our love to rest
'Cause we could stand up to the test
We got everything and more than we had planned
More than the rivers that run inland
We got it all in our hands

Now it's all for one and all for love
Let the one you hold be the one you want
The one you need
'Cause when it's all for one it's one for all
When there's someone that you know
Then just let your feelings show
When there's someone that you want
When there's someone that you need
Let's make it all, all for one
And all for love

“I promise you yeobo, I will never leave you alone when you need me.”

“I know.” I kissed his cheek.

We sat silent for a while.

“Jonghyun?”

“Yes?”

“If anything happens to me, look after Minki.”

“Don’t say that. Nothing will happen to you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Still, puppy. Promise me.”

“Don’t even think of leaving me alone. I won’t be able to survive.”

“I will never willingly leave you Jonghyun. But fate is stronger than our wills.”

“Then it’s good I brought these for us.”

He showed me two red loops.

“What are these?”

“Yeobo you have heard about red string of fate?”

I nodded.

“I brought these red string bracelets for us.” He slipped one around my right wrist and the other around his right wrist.

I stared shocked at him.

“Yeobo these bracelets symbolize our twined destinies. As long as you wear yours, I know you will always be with me. We wear the red thread of destiny and fate will always keep us together, bound by an invisible red string. Do you believe so?”

I touched the red thread looped around my wrist and traced the invisible line to his wrist. I traced it back to mine again and mock pulled the string. He brought his hand to mine and twined our fingers.

“Yeobo these fingers will still be twined even when we are old. Believe it.”

I looked up and smiled at him. “I believe it.”

“Yeobo toki, we will together watch Minki grow up. We will take care of her together. We will find a good son-in-law or daughter-in-law for us. Then, we will take care of our grandchildren. And we will die together.”

“I am older, I will die first.”

“No, you won’t. I refuse to live alone without you by my side. I will ask Minki to bury us together in a single grave or keep our ashes in a single urn, whichever custom you want to follow. Even death cannot separate us.”

“Crazy puppy.”

“Always, for you. Always.”