47. THE BEST DRAGON

When I next woke, it was dark outside. The clock read 7 pm. Puppy was again sitting in the chair next to the bed, holding my hand, telling a story in a very soft voice to Minx in his lap. Kai was sitting on his other thigh and Jiyeon in a chair nearby. I closed my eyes and listened to his sweet voice. The story was about cops and robbers. He must be recounting one of his cases. It was not possible to hold Kai’s attention otherwise. Seriously, I suspected the boy had ADHD. He hardly every sat still or did anything for more than five minutes.

I opened my eyes to see Minx and Jiyeon making all sorts of faces as the story progressed. Kai interrupted to know when shooting would begin. He wanted guns and bombs. I grinned at that. I squeezed puppy’s hand to let him know I was awake.

He squeezed my hand and looked at me as he continued with his story adding a sudden gunfight for Kai. He sent the kids over to Siwon to continue the story. Heechul moved to make room for the kids and continued talking fashion and clothes with Kibum and imo. Soo was reading a novel. She’d once blamed me for making her a book worm. I was happy that at least someone in the family had picked up my reading habits.

Puppy moved my bed up and helped me off the bed. I noted that the glucose IV had been removed, though the catheter remained. Puppy knew without my having to say that I needed to make a bathroom trip. He kissed me softly in the bathroom and we whispered our love.

As we came out, we could see Siwon totally engrossed in the story with sound and visual effects of a heavy gun battle. Jiyeon had her eyes and ears covered and Minx was trying to coax her out. Puppy walked me to and fro in the room itself.

Jiyeon went to Heechul and asked if she could do his hairstyling like the day he had first come home. He nodded and dug in his bag for his hair brush, rubber bands and hair clips. He moved forward on the couch so Minx could stand behind him. Jiyeon stood on his side. He continued talking as the girls pulled his hair every which way. After tying his hair up in four different places, the girls came to me.

The smell of a hair salon was intolerable to me during the pregnancy and as a result my hair had grown longer as well. They made me sit on the bed and climbed up behind me on either side. Very gently they brushed my hair and put clips in the front.

“Wow ummappa you look so pretty.”

“Yes oppa you look pretty with long hair. You should keep them this long.”

I kissed both of them in thanks and they skipped off to Kibum. Puppy helped me lie back and lowered the bed. I whispered in his ear, “Thank you jagi. You have no idea what a wonderful difference you have made in my life. Love you.”

“Ditto yeobo ditto. While you were sleeping appa called asking if they should come today. I told them to come tomorrow. I did not want to stress you with umma and hyung’s presence. Also, the nurse will kill me if I asked for Byong one more time.”

“Sweet jagi. I am too happy to take any stress, even of your mother and brother. I just worry that you get troubled about them. Who knows maybe seeing her grandson will change your mother’s attitude.”

“No way. She will just find faults with him. Compare him to hyung as a newborn and then begin harassing hyung to marry quickly and give her a grandson to dote over.”

“Don’t let her behavior depress you jagi. She will come around one day.”

“No hope yeobo. Appa told me earlier what she does with the fridge we got her for New Year. She tells everyone that hyung bought it for her. On the other hand imo tells everyone we got it for her.”

“Let it go jagi. We didn’t do it for accolades or recognition. We did it out of love and desire to do something for our families.”

“What do you think will happen when your mother sees the fridge at home for the first time? Want one for her room as well?”

“Don’t make me laugh jagi, it hurts. Appa will kill her and us if we get her a fridge for her room. A tv was different.”

“I agree. My mother is upset we didn’t get her a fridge as big as ours. How big a one does she need for a family of three?”

“Do you think Minx and Byong will one day have conversations like this about us with their spouses?”

“No way. We will be better parents yeobo. And we don’t plan to depend on them or ask them for anything. We will be self sufficient.”

“Yes, we will have to redo our financial planning.”

“I agree. I have a few ideas running around my head. We will discuss them once you are healed enough.”

I nodded and squeezed his hand. “I love you to death jagi.”

“Not even death cannot part us yeobo.”

I nodded again. He let my hand go as the door opened again when uncle entered the room. Uncle grinned looking around the big room. “Jinki you pulled a full house again. I hope you got to rest and the chatter did not trouble you much.”

I smiled broadly at uncle. Puppy got up and hugged him in welcome. Uncle pulled his hand out from behind his back and presented me with a huge bouquet of yellow roses.

“Congratulations on becoming an ummappa once again.”   

“Thanks uncle. You didn’t have to. But I love them. And congratulations to you too on becoming imobu-harabeoji again.”

“I am too young to be a grandfather of two.” He mock pouted.

“You will always be young uncle. Age is just a number.”

“I think I should start counting backwards now. Has the puppy stopped crying now?”

Puppy turned pink and sat on my bed facing uncle who was sitting in the chair vacated by puppy. “Those were tears of happiness uncle. Even Super cried on holding Byong.”

Uncle looked at Siwon who turned red and came over to give uncle a welcoming hug. He was followed by everyone. Minx hugged him last and sat down in his lap demanding her favorite ice cream sundae on the way back home.

Nurse brought in Byong in his crib at that moment. Finally he was shifted to the room. We thanked her and she left giving me weird stares again. Puppy and I grinned at each other and shrugged. Everyone tried to gather round the crib but gave up. The honors of holding Byong went to uncle. Children gathered around uncle.

“Jinki he has your lips. I win the bet on lips part.”

“What, who has won the bet?” Taemin cried out as he entered the room, followed by appa.     

Appa kissed my forehead and asked about me. Tae kissed my cheek. I assured them that I was doing fine. I shooed them to see Byong, seeing the longing looks they were throwing towards uncle. Byong was passed on from uncle to appa and then to Taemin.

I wondered at his ability to sleep through so much noise and arm transferring. I whispered the same to puppy and then turned my face away from everyone to hide my blush at his response. “Well, yeobo he must be used to all the noises we made right up till last night. And being rocked must be nothing new to him.”

“erted puppy.”

“Always for you.” He grinned.

Umma entered the room in a panic. “Baby is not in the ICU. Nurse said he is not there. Where could he be? Has he been kidnapped? Oh no. We must find him quickly and get him back into the ICU.”

I nudged puppy towards umma. He got it and went to hug her and calm her down.

“Baby is here umma. Calm down. What were you doing in the ICU? Why did you not come to the room directly?”

“Oh puppy, I went there to get an update on the baby for Jinki. I didn’t want to disappoint him by a lack of update on the baby’s status. Last time was really horrible for him.”

Minx came to her on hearing that. “What do you mean halmeoni? Was I not a good baby for ummappa?”

Puppy picked her up so she could hug umma along with him.

“Minx you were a very good baby. I meant there were problems with the surgery and your ummappa was not allowed to see you for two days. He was very worried about you and I kept checking the ICU and gave him updates on how you were doing there.” Umma explained to her.

“Oh so ummappa didn’t see me for two days?”

“Your ummappa was very clever. He snuck out when everyone was sleeping, even the nurses, and went to see you and hold you. He even helped the nurse feed you. He loved you so much, he couldn’t stay away from his little baby girl.”

“You knew umma?” I asked her in surprise.

“Of course Jinki. I am your mother, I know everything. The nurses told me the whole story every morning. Why do you think I was so worried this time?”

Everyone stared at us. Kibum broke the stunned silence that followed umma’s narrative.

“Hyung you went to the NICU alone every night?”

I nodded.

“You mean to tell me that you got up from the bed without help, walked there and back without help and lay down again without help at night, the same day of the surgery and the next day also?”

I nodded hesitantly not sure where this was leading. Puppy immediately held my hand and squeezed it in support.

“Were you out of your crazy mind? You knew you were not allowed to even sit up in bed without help and you got up on your own. What if you had pulled a stitch or caused internal bleeding or internal injury? What if you had fallen on your way and back?” Kibum exploded.

“Puppy please help me sit.” I quietly asked. Puppy immediately moved the bed so I was sitting up.

He then stood between everyone else and me, arms folded face stern. Only umma and Minx were behind him. I touched his arm to break his protective stance and calm him down.

“Bummie it’s not like that. I was worried about Minx.”

“Don’t bummie me hyung. What you did was wrong. We told you she was alright. You did not believe us. You did not trust us.”

Puppy’s body tensed up again. I rubbed his arm to keep him cool.

“Kibum, I had promised her when I was seven months pregnant that I will keep her safe. As long as she was inside me I believed she was safe. Then I fell down and my placenta ruptured, literally suffocating her inside me. I could not keep her safe inside me. When we reached the hospital, her heart rate was sinking alarmingly. A few more minutes delay and I would have lost her. I would have failed to keep my promise to her. Think of it from my point of view Bummie. No one would let me see her to be sure that she was alright. I had been lied to so many times during my pregnancy, I had lost my faith in humanity. In my last months of pregnancy, she was the only thing keeping me alive and if I lost her, I had nothing more to live for. I had to see with my own eyes that she was alright. I had to touch her, feel her breathing, feel her heartbeat to believe that she was alright. I had to make sure my baby was safe. I just did what I had to do. Nothing mattered to me except her safety. I don’t expect you to understand Bummie. It’s okay if you don’t. I just did what I had to do.”

Puppy turned around and wrapped me in his arms, holding me next to his heart, safely hidden from everyone. It didn’t matter to him what anyone thought. He whispered in my ear, “Yeobo don’t think of it. It is long over. You don’t have to make anyone understand anything. I love you. I will keep you and our children safe. Always. I promise you once again. I will keep our family safe.”

“I know jagi. I know. I am alright. Thanks to you, my past does not have the power to hurt me anymore. It is over. It is a part of my life and I can talk about it without feeling the pain of it. I love you and have full faith in you. Look after Minx. I think she needs us right now.”

He looked down at me and seeing my calmly determined face, he squeezed me tight once more before unwrapping his arms. He went to umma and took Minx from her arms. He rubbed noses with her and hugged her tight to him. He held her in one arm and held my hand with his free one.

No one had any idea what to say or do. Imo and uncle were trying to absorb what I had said, they’d not known the full history of Minx’s birth. Even Kibum looked at a loss for words, though he looked ready to cry. Taemin was looking at Byong in his arms, then at me and puppy.

“Well Tae who does he look like?” I asked him.

“Damn you hyung. You made me lose 1000 won. I had bet he will resemble Jonghyun only. But his lips are yours. His face also looks round like yours. How did you manage that? How can he resemble you in anyway?”

“We picked a donor who looked like me.” 

“Kitty tell Aunt Hee Young that I lost the bet. Hyung must always do things differently from others. Damn him. Well hello baby Jinki and baby Jonghyun. I am your uncle Tae. Make sure you grow up tall like me, not a shorty like your father.”

“I am not short.”

“Only in your dreams Jonghyun.”

“It’s okay appa. You are taller than me.” Minx consoled him.  

That broke the frigid atmosphere in the room and there was soft laughter all around. Imo pulled Kibum aside to talk in whispers with him. Umma walked to Tae and appa to look at her grandson. Heechul and Siwon came to us and I knew what they would ask.

“You must tell us how to select the right donor. We also want our baby to look like both of us.” Heechul said.

“Puppy is the one who came up with the idea. He wanted the baby to look like me so we picked a donor who resembled me the most. We even checked photographs and details of her family going back at least till the grandparents.”

Puppy advised them, “Since you’ll come to the hospital till tokki is here, why not talk to the doctor and take a donor file for yourself? That is if you are sure you want to have a baby.”

“Oh we are very sure.” Siwon answered for both of them holding tightly to Heechul’s hand.

I nodded and smiled, “You will make good parents. Congrats.”  

Grinning they said their goodbyes to everyone. I looked over at imo and Kibum who were still deep in conversation.

“Puppy would you please tell imo that Minx is hungry otherwise she will keep scolding poor Kibum till he really starts crying. He was just concerned about me. He did not mean any harm. Please go and get her off his back. And tell umma that I need my soup. I am hungry.”

Puppy diplomatically separated imo and Kibum, sending Kibum to feed me and sending imo and everyone home to feed Minx and Jiyeon. I received hugs and kisses from everyone and made them promise to come again after school next day. Girls could bring their homework along to do in the room.

I whispered in Minx’s ears, “Minx no more kissing Sehun on the cheek.”

“Ummappa can I kiss his forehead then?” She whispered back to me.

“No you cannot kiss him anywhere. Promise?”

“Promise. But why?”

“I will explain when I am back home. Okay? Just keep your promise and trust me.”

“Can I kiss his hand at least?”

“Why?”

“He tastes like cotton candy and I like candy floss.”

“Okay only his hand. But we will discuss more about it when I am home. Not a word to anyone about it.”

“Pinky promise ummappa.”

We did our pinky promise and she skipped off home holding Soo’s hand.

I looked over to see umma setting out food for puppy who had Kai in his lap again, both of them getting ready to eat together.

Kibum approached me with a soup bowl. I smiled at him and he smiled back tremulously.

“Bummie stop worrying. I am not upset.”

“I am sorry hyung. I am really sorry. I did not mean to upset you. You need to be calm and happy at this time. Why do I keep failing you?”

“Hush, you are not failing me. I am touched by your concern. I know what you said you said out of consideration for my health. Look at me Bummie.”

He looked at me.

“See I am happy and calm. What happened in the past is really in the past for me. Thanks to Jonghyun I have my life in the right perspective. My past is a fact of my life. I do not wish to erase it. And I am also not hurt or pained by it anymore. So stop worrying. Now just bring your face near. I have something more to tell you.”

He brought his face near to mine. I kissed his cheek.

“I love you Bummie. Thank you for caring.” I smiled broadly at him.

“Hey hyung. You cannot kiss him. Only I can kiss my Kitty.”

“I can kiss him anytime I want. I have first dibs on him. I saw him first Tae.”

“But I married him. If you want to kiss anyone, kiss your puppy. Leave my Kitty alone.”

“I need variety Tae. I kiss puppy all the time. Your Kitty makes a nice change. Delicious.”

“Hyung if you did not have surgery today, I would whack you for calling my Kitty delicious.”

“You mean he is not Tae?”

“Of course he is.”

“Then why take offense when I say the same?”

“Kitty keep his mouth busy with soup. He is talking too much. Motormouth.”

“Brat.”

“Fatty.”

“Bones.”

“Bookworm.”

“Casanova.”

“Chicken maniac.”

“Scatterbrain.”

“Nerd.”

“Jock.”

“Oh stop it two of you. You are in your thirties now not in teens. What are you teaching Kai?” Umma scolded both of us.

We looked at her and grinned. “We are teaching Kai new words umma,” Tae said.

“Oh lord, hyung did you know you and Jinki hyung look a lot alike.” Kibum exclaimed to Tae.

Tae bent near me and looked at me and then looked at Kibum and pursed his lips.

“Kitty who has more kissable lips? Hyung or me?”

“What sort of a question is that?” Kibum blushed.

I pursed my lips too.

Puppy called out, “Kibum hyung don’t answer that. You will choose Taemin hyung and I can’t see my tokki lose.”

Byong woke up and began fidgeting. Umma checked and changed his diaper. And then scolded us for dallying with my soup. I quickly slurped all of it by drinking it straight from the bowl. Kibum wheeled away the food table and umma brought byong to me for feeding.

Appa exclaimed then, “Not again Jinki. Really? I can’t believe you are feeding the baby again.”

I grinned at him with my teeth showing just to more. Umma frowned at him and drew the curtains to shield me from appa and Kai’s view. Tae walked away with Kibum, continuing to ask him if his lips were more kissable than mine. As I fed Byong with umma’s help, I could hear puppy join the topic with Tae voting for his own and puppy for mine. I heard appa threatening to whack both of them if they didn’t stop the inane topic. But Kai settled it for them by claiming his were the most kissable.

I tried not to laugh at that. Umma called out, “Well done Kai. Show them who is the boss.”

With Byong burping on my chest, umma opened the curtains. Puppy and Kai had finished eating as well. Puppy packed up the containers for Kibum to take back home. Nurse came to check my vitals and inject my medicines into the catheter. Appa took Byong from me.

Umma told puppy to go home as she would stay the night. Puppy shook his head and said he was leaving the hospital only with me, but she was welcome to stay the night as well. He pulled out the couch to turn it into a big bed.

“You can sleep on the bed umma. I will sleep on the chair near tokki.”

Umma gave in. Everyone bade good night to me with appa promising to come in the morning with more soup and food and to take umma home.

Puppy helped me to another bathroom trip and then settled me down for the night. I didn’t want him to sleep on the chair. He had been on his feet almost all day long. Umma had a simple solution. She would share the bed not just with Byong but with puppy as well. None of us wanted Byong to sleep alone in the crib.

As puppy went to change for the night, I whispered to umma to keep Byong closer to her and take care of him at night, so puppy could sleep through the night. He needed the rest for the next day. Umma nodded, she could sleep at home also. But puppy wouldn’t get any sleep during the day either.

All of us settled down for the night and umma patted puppy’s head till he fell asleep in a matter of minutes. We knew he was bone tired.

Byong woke up only once in the night to feed making umma very happy. Minx used to keep us awake all night. We quietly fed him and she changed him. Puppy slept on.

“Jinki I am so glad that you chose puppy this time. He is a wonderful boy. Seeing both of you today, I am sure he will look after you well during your convalescence. He is a better partner and father than your father or even Tae. I am so happy for you.”

“Thanks umma.”

“Be happy always Jinki. I can finally stop worrying about you from now on. I know you are in safe loving hands of puppy.”

I nodded happily at her.

My puppy was really the best. The Best Dragon.