31. FUNNY COUPLE

Next day, I observed and helped the nurse give him a sponge bath. I had done it for Kibum when Jongin was born, but puppy’s surgery was different.

Puppy whispered, “Yeobo finally you see me .”

I laughed at his sense of humor. My puppy was really the best.

“Puppy if you wanted to be in front of me, all you had to do was wait for twelve hours.”

“Toki this has more flair.”

“Flamboyant puppy. Are you taking some sort of revenge on me for not speaking my feelings aloud earlier?”

“Sweet toki it’s lovely to hear your feelings aloud. Sing a song for me please.”

“I will later.” I looked at the nurse to show we had company.

The nurse began giggling at our conversation, “I don’t mind. You go ahead and sing to him. Looking after Officer Jonghyun-ssi is turning out to be great fun. Thank you.”

“Everything I do.”

And I sang my promise to him as we completed sponging him. My puppy smiled.

“Love you toki.”

“Love you too sweetest puppy.”

“You are the funniest couple I’ve seen.”

We smiled at her in unison.

Once he was fresh and everything else was done in the room, he insisted on lying in a semi-supine position and talk to me. I held his hand as he recounted what had happened at the time of shooting. I kissed his cheek.

I recounted my conversation with his superintendent. He was not happy with the prospect of a desk job but understood its necessity. I also told him about my conversation with his father.

“Toki who can resist falling in love with you.”

“Crazy puppy.”

“Always, for you.”

Ah, it felt so good to hear it. I went to the bathroom and the string unfolded to its full length. I came out to see puppy his ring.

“Yeobo you can untie the string now. I am recovering.”

“Oh no. The string stays put till we go home. It’s my way of telling the powers above that we both are a package deal. Puppy I am always with you.”

“You are one crazy toki.”

“Always puppy. Always, for you.”

He grinned.

In the evening, there was a surprise for him. Imo came with Minki and the girls. He was carefully hugged by Soo and Jiyeon. Then it was Minki’s turn, who had patiently waited. I held her in my arms as she kissed him on his cheek and whispered, “I love you appa. Come home soon.”

I looked at her in surprise and puppy asked her in shock, “What did you say minx?”

She patiently whispered each word again, slowly and carefully, “I love you appa. Come home soon.”

“Toki did you hear that? Did you hear what she called me?”

I nodded. I was smiling broadly, very proud of Minki.

He whispered back to her, “Appa loves you too minx. So, so very much. I’ll come home soon. I promise.”

She kissed him a lot more before sitting back in my lap. Her fingers crept in between my shirt buttons and she began touching my with her finger. I rubbed noses with the little minx, “Soon baby. We will be home very soon.”

Puppy looked at her, guessing her actions and winked at her. I got up to sit on the couch so imo could have her time with puppy. The girls saw our destiny string and were curious. I told them the story of it. Soo was all raptures. Minki was sleepy in my arms, touching my . I began to softly croon to her, kissing her head. I’d missed her so much. She fell asleep.

I sat silently and listened to imo and girls talk to puppy. Imo was giving little sips of juice to puppy. Jiyeon was patting his hand, telling him to get well soon and return home. She missed talking to him. Soo was telling him how proud she was of his bravery and how she was telling everyone in her school about him. She was imploring him to come to her class for a brief talk. Her teacher had extended the request. Imo got up and began brushing his hair.

At that moment I felt honored to be part of that loving family. This family had taken in not only a homeless father-daughter duo, but also welcomed my puppy with open arms.

There was a soft knock on the door and it opened to reveal my mother. She hesitated at the door till imo beckoned her in. Puppy bowed his head to her. I moved to the far corner of the couch to make space for imo, so umma could sit near puppy. I was so surprised to see my mother there. She timidly asked puppy how he was doing. When he spoke to her with his charming smile, I could see the joy on her face. She extended the package she was holding.

“I have brought my special soup for you Jonghyun to make you heal much faster. Please do me the honor of having some of it when you are hungry.”

Soo took it from her and I guided her to keep it on the bedside table.

“Thank you so much umma. If you don’t mind staying for a while, you can feed it to me before you leave.”

The smile on my mother’s face was worth watching. Minho had always rejected her. And puppy welcomed her love whole-heartedly. I briefly wondered why puppy’s relations were bad with his mother and brother. What I had seen of them, I was not surprised. His mother had not stayed the night, even though I had offered her the couch to sleep on. She had not touched him even once. But she had made a fuss about staying in the hospital as if she was going to move mountains for her son. His father seemed the only sensible person in the whole family.

Knowing puppy was in the safe hands of my family I closed my eyes and dozed off with Minki sleeping wrapped around my chest.

When I woke up it was to see my mother feeding Jonghyun some of her soup. He was exclaiming at its deliciousness. She promised to bring it for him daily till he was completely healed. Minki was talking about her school day with him. I looked at my watch, he had been sitting for a long time. True to my assessment, as soon as he had drunk some soup, he tried to stifle a yawn. Umma caught it. She patted his head and asked Soo to lower the bed so he could sleep. I got up to do it. Then I drank the remaining soup. Puppy fell asleep with umma still patting his head. My family left soon after, promising to come again the next day.

By next day, puppy was walking and eating semi-solid food.

After 11 days of hospital stay, puppy was allowed to go home. I called uncle. He helped puppy get ready while I signed the necessary discharge paper work. I called his father and informed him about our leaving the hospital. I gave him uncle’s address so they could visit puppy there.

When we reached home, I took deep breaths of the clean smell of our home. Puppy was doing the same. We both grinned like two idiots. In the room, puppy was settled on the bed near the door. I took his spot. He dozed for some time. His father came to visit him at imo’s. Umma also came with her soup.

That night, Minki got her wish of hearing a lot of bed time stories from her appa. She sat by his side, instead of in the lap. I had explained to her the precautions she would need to take around him and it included not sitting in his lap for another week and not climbing into his arms for at least 3 months. She was told to be careful of his chest.

He kept reading her stories and she kept saying “appa more” at the end of each one. After he had read nearly the whole book, she came to me. I knew it was my turn to pacify her to sleep. Puppy watched her le. When she had fallen asleep, we wondered how to sleep. We couldn’t sleep in our usual family way. I couldn’t hold him to sleep for fear of my sleepy movements hurting him.

Finally, he slept on his back with his fingers laced together over his stomach. I slept on my back too with Minki’s head on one of my arms and puppy’s head on my other arm.

“I love you puppy. Missed sleeping with you. This is heaven.”

“Yeobo our little heaven. Always. Sing me a song.”

I softly sang us to sleep.