51. SECRETS REVEALED

Our days and nights settled into a routine. Puppy and I spent the nights satisfying our needs. Our days were spent with our extended family. Umma, Kibum and Heechul visited daily. Byong was a really easy baby to care for. All he was interested in was having his milk bottle, le from me, sleep, follow every one with his eyes when awake, flail his arms and legs at anyone who played with him, and put on weight.

I realized I couldn’t sit idle for long. My brain needed to keep busy. Umma suggested to watch tv like she did most of the day, but I told puppy one night that I was beginning to go stir crazy. Next day we sat down to do our financial planning. With two children to provide for, we needed to redo our finances and make their as well our futures secure. It took us a week but we succeeded to our liking.

I wanted to invest in fixed assets like houses for the four children. Puppy suggested buying a 3-storey townhouse with three 2-bedroom flats for our family. Even if Byong and his wife decided to stay with us after marriage, they could use one of the flats, while we used one. Minx and her family could either use the third flat or rent it out for a steady income.

We decided to invest in two 2-bedroom flats in a newly constructed apartment complex for Soo and Jiyeon, planning to give them as their wedding gifts. They could rent them out, move in themselves or sell them. We’d take housing loan, mortgage, for all of them for various durations. For Soo, we decided on a 5-year term, a 10-year loan term for Jiyeon and a 20-year term for our house. The monthly mortgage payments could be easily paid by renting out the apartments and from the hagwon income.

Puppy was not sure if we could get long-term mortgages but I told him what I had heard appa discuss with Taemin. Korean government was starting a public housing finance corporation KHFC in the same month, that is, March 2004. It was specifically for the purpose of meeting the long-term mortgage requirements of people like us.

We decided to begin the search for our investments in May, once I was completely back on my feet.

I was also discussing Hagwon work with Heechul during his visits. He and Siwon were planning to begin their own pregnancy once Byong was three months old. We didn’t know how their pregnancy will proceed so we planned for the worst case scenario of him on bed rest.

Umma wouldn’t let me do computer work, so Soo began reading and responding to my work-related emails with my help. I taught her to read, analyze and prepare various statistic reports, general reports and financial reports as well.

Heechul brought up the topic that had been under discussion for some months, opening an academy for general students on similar theme as our Police and Public Administrative hagwons. He felt that we could use similar fee structure to interest families who were financially struggling to make ends meet with the expensive private education.

I was holding off because I was not sure it made economic sense. We would be charging lower fees from students but paying higher salaries to teachers. There was a sense of community that made some parents contribute more on a monthly basis in our current two Daegu hagwons, helping us cover the cost of extras that we provided the students. This would be missing in the general hagwon parents. We could not emulate our present model so easily for the general students.

Also, I had an infant to care for and Heechul would be pregnant. How would we manage setting up a new hagwon?

Puppy had a solution for these issues. He suggested we open a hagwon for not only general students but also offer special classes for dyslexic students. Secondly, our fee structure could be based on the monthly household income. Finally, we should take on Kibum as partner for the general hagwon.

I was not keen on taking up Kibum as partner. My past experiences with my family had made me wary of them and I did not trust any of them. To be in a business relationship I felt there had to be a level of trust between partners. The second reason was even simpler. Taking on Kibum as partner would mean disclosing our hagwon finances to him and any intelligent person could then guess at my income from the hagwon business. I did not feel comfortable with my family knowing my income.

Uncle and imo laughed when they heard my reasons for rejecting Kibum as partner. Both of them felt I should accept and let my family know exactly what kind of financial success they were dealing with when talking to me. But I was not interested in any kind of showing off.

Siwon and uncle suggested we try the new partnership and hagwon for a year or two. Heechul tested the waters with Kibum the next day and received a shocked yes in response.

“Jinki hyung is Heechul hyung telling the truth or just pulling my leg? If he is only teasing me then I have made a big fool of myself by squealing out a yes like a high school girl.”

“Hey if you don’t believe me then I retract the offer,” Heechul pouted.

“Oh no Heechul hyung. I think I am in shock. Jinki hyung will you pinch me?” Kibum appealed to us.

Heechul gave him a big pinch on his arm.

“Ouch hyung! Not so hard. I have sensitive skin.” Kibum pouted.

“Puppy save me. I think I am going to be stuck with two pouty Divas with the new hagwon.” I begged my puppy.

Puppy intervened, “Really hyung-deul if you both behave like this, tokki is going to back out. He wouldn’t be able to take the competition from you both.”

“I don’t pout puppy.” I pouted.

Everyone laughed. I showed them my tongue and spoke to Byong, “You had better be careful of these people. They don’t care about your ummappa. And your appa is the worst case.”

“Don’t listen to your ummappa Byong. He is in a stinky mood right now. And if there was no one around, your appa would show him how much he is loved.” Puppy wagged his finger at Byong.

“No, you won’t Jonghyun. Jinki hyung is supposed to be resting and healing. You have to wait till Minx’s birthday.” Kibum admonished puppy.

“Do you really think these two animals would wait that long Kibum?” Heechul asked him in his vast wisdom.

“Yes I do. Taemin and I waited for over five months.” Kibum explained.

“Just see how red the two of them are right now. I am sure they are burning up the bed every night.” Heechul pointed out.

“Hyung you know you cannot.” Kibum turned to me.

“We don’t Bummie, don’t worry.” I tried to reassure him.

Puppy choked, undermining my confident calming tone. I turned bright red again.

Heechul his hair deep in thought. I was so glad umma was watching tv and couldn’t hear us.

“Jinx is having his fun with puppy I am sure of it. They are definitely burning up the bed. But he is still not actually doing it. Jinx you have to tell me what you are doing. I need to be prepared for my cub as well.” Heechul looked at me speculatively.

“Hyung how come you never told me? I had such a difficult time with Taemin when Jongin was born. How can you be so mean to me?” Kibum pouted at me.

I looked from one Diva to another. Then I looked at puppy in mute appeal for help. He just blushed and shrugged burying his red face in Byong’s tummy.

I crooked my finger at Heechul and Kibum. They came closer to me. And I told them in a very soft voice that I made sure wouldn’t reach puppy to punish him for leaving me alone to deal with the situation. Puppy would be crazy with curiosity by the time we were alone at night. I grinned at the thought of teasing my puppy even more.

“Doc said no contracting of abdominal muscles. That means no and no bottoming for me. But it still leaves a lot of activities open for a creative mind. And trust me my puppy is very creative.” I winked at the Divas staring at me with their mouths hanging open.

“Don’t tease us Jinx. Give us details.”

“Hyung, Jonghyun must be amazing in bed to make you blush like this. I have never seen you blush before when explaining any ual mystery to me.”

“God has given brains to both of you. Use them. Stop picking mine.”

“That’s not fair.” Both protested.

I shook my head in a no.

“Come on Jinx spill the beans. Help me out here. Do you want me and Simba to die during those two dry months?”

Heechul then looked at puppy pretending to play with Byong, “Jjong can we trouble you for a cup of coffee?”

Puppy looked at me and I discreetly nodded. He took Byong with him to hand over to umma for a while muttering under his breath, “Come on Byong, time to play with halmeoni. These three will just corrupt your mind.”

“Okay here is the thing. I will not tell you what exactly we do. I will just tell you one secret of happiness that most people in this world do not know, but my puppy has tapped on to. It’s up to you what you do with it.”

Both nodded eagerly.

“The secret needs perfect physical and mental understanding between the partners. Only then your brain will open itself completely to your partner.”

I stopped and took a deep breath trying to put things in order in my mind to explain what I felt when puppy took me to my ual high.

“Go on hyung.”

“Sshhh Kibum. Jinx will explain. Patience.”

“We physically, but we in our brain. Your partner has to stimulate you ually to a level where it mimics a drug high. When one reaches such a level of excessive ual stimulation that it becomes like a high from a drug, brain s without any actual physical one. It's like a series of s in the brain which keep it at a sustained high level of stimulation. It’s like a chain reaction of s in the brain that you cannot stop. Body becomes extremely sensitive and every touch at that time triggers another in the brain.”

“Oh my lord!” Kibum exclaimed. Heechul immediately shushed him.

“This kind of ic high does not happen just like that for anyone. And once you do experience it, be prepared. It will take you time to come down from the high. It could be half hour or even a couple of hours. Tell your partners to not force you down but to ease you out of it. With their help you can calm down quicker. What makes you high and what brings you down, you will have to find out on your own. But I will tell you this, it’s a euphoria that cannot be put in words.” I ended with a red face.

My revelation was met with a stunned silence. I had managed to silence even Kibum. The few minutes of silence helped me regain my composure.

“Hours hyung? Hours? Jonghyun makes you for hours? I am down in less than five minutes. I am doomed. I will never experience your kind of high. Taemin and I don’t have that kind of mental understanding. ually we are okay. This is so unfair. Why was I not paired with a more understanding partner? Why do you have all the luck hyung?”

Heechul pinched Kibum to stop his whining.

“You don’t Jinx?” Heechul asked his own question.

I shook my head.

“How long did it take you to find out what makes you high?”

“About a year Cinder. But I think it was so long because puppy had his surgery that year, so we were careful.”

“I am not asking for what puppy does exactly, but if you can give a hint to reduce the experimenting time for me and Simba. Please?”

“He should continue doing what you like. There can be many things you like. Which exactly will take you high, you will have to find out.”

“I can ask Taemin to do that. He has to listen to me. I want to experience it as well.”

“What happened the first time you got high? Were you to trying for it intentionally?” Heechul continued his serious grilling.

“No, it was not intentional. When I accidentally got high for the first time, it scared us. I couldn’t speak for 30 minutes. Puppy thought he had done something wrong. It took me three hours to come down that night. Puppy kept touching me to make sure I was alright and accidentally kept triggering more ic chain reactions in my brain. I finally managed to tell him to stop touching me till I calmed down.”

“Thank you Jinx for sharing this. I know it’s very private. Still, you shared it with us. I am sorry we embarrassed you.” Heechul hugged me in apology.

Kibum looked deep in thought. I was sure he was planning how to get Taemin to do what he wanted. Puppy knocked and entered the room to find all three of us sitting silent. He raised his brows in question. I promised him details at night. He nodded his understanding of my silent promise. Kibum looked at Jonghyun with new admiration then got up and kissed me.

“Hyung remain happy like this forever.”

He kissed Jonghyun next. “Thank you for making hyung so happy. Since I first met him, I have seen him genuinely happy only with you.”

“You are welcome Kibum hyung. I have promised him to spend my life making him happy. Now have the coffee before it cools.”

I kept my promise and told puppy about my conversation with the Divas. We knew he would be next up for grilling by Siwon and Taemin. I trusted him to deal with them the best way possible without embarrassing either of us.

“Is it really uncommon to get so high yeobo?”

“Yes. It takes a rare level of understanding.”

Puppy jumped off the bed and did a short victory dance followed by a few muscle pumps. I laughed at his antics.

“Crazy puppy.”

“Always, for you.”