52. ANGRY DRAGON

As expected, Siwon cornered puppy the next day after my conversation with Heechul and Kibum to get more details from him. Taemin we never expected to speak with puppy and he didn’t either as he had too much ego to accept puppy could know and do something better than him.

Heechul was one very happy person from then on. I’d no idea whether they achieved their goal or not, but they sure were happy in the attempts. Kibum on the other hand was pouting more often.

Minx passed another year of her life in April and imo and uncle threw a big birthday party for her. It was Byong’s first public appearance and he was one very happy baby, all smiles and gurgles. According to everyone our whole family was all smiles and gurgles.

Heechul was on hormone therapy and found himself relating better to Kibum who had experienced the same things as him. I told Siwon to gear up for more tantrums than usual. I was glad that Kibum and Heechul were comparing notes, there was no way I was willing to wear face masks and hair curlers again. Like Kibum, Heechul would be away from public for the duration of pregnancy.

Kibum and Heechul had begun work on the general hagwon. Taemin was the happiest of the lot because finally Kibum was doing something that Tae and my father considered suitable for him and a Lee. Puppy would laugh when I muttered names for them under my breath.  

When Heechul began his IVF procedure, I wanted to go out and help but Siwon insisted I save my energy for when the baby came. He took a week off work to help Heechul rest. Their baby was expected by the end of the year.

Kibum and I took care of the new hagwon. I began dividing my time between the three JinHee academies that were running in Daegu by April end. Byong would go to work with me. He never gave me any problems at work. The mothers simply doted on him. He never lacked for people to play with him through the day. How could he? He was a charmer like his father. His smile stealing everyone’s heart.

In two weeks, Heechul returned to work, that is work from home. Soo became his personal assistant doing the outside work. She was one happy college student. Along with her college, she had a neat little part time job that her friends would give an arm and leg for.

In his second month, Heechul began feeling the pregnancy hormones at play. He made Siwon change his after-shave and perfume. He couldn’t tolerate the smell of any food cooking. Siwon began having his meals at our home. We began packing and taking for Heechul the only food he touched, noodles with black bean sauce. He would eat it with such blissful expression that Siwon wondered how he could eat just one dish all the time and for how many months.

“Well, Siwon if his body demands it then he may end up eating it all the time for next 6 months.”

“What? He will get sick of it.”

“No he won’t. That’s the specialty of pregnancy. You can eat one food item 24 hours a day and still want more of it.”

Heechul’s morning sickness was not too bad. And thankfully Siwon did not suffer from sympathetic pregnancy. I think his disappointment was only surpassed by puppy’s. Puppy had been longing to see Siwon cry so he could and exact his revenge.

Hagwon mothers began visiting Heechul at home, keeping him company and sharing pregnancy tales with him. By the third month of pregnancy, Siwon’s daily visits reduced in frequency. Hagwon mothers were bringing food for him.

First time they brought the food for him and Siwon, Heechul cried for full one day. A man who had lived a hidden life for nearly a decade couldn’t absorb the amount of love and care he was bestowed with by the people his father had feared ostracism from.

It took a whack from Kibum to make him stop crying. Of course the whack was accompanied by a reminder that too much crying led to swollen and red eyes, red leaky nose, and puffy blotchy face.

Heechul immediately demanded treatment for all of it. Kibum was one happy Diva in his element as he set about prettifying Heechul again. No wonder they were in ‘husband and wife’ relationships. I conveniently forgot I was in one before my puppy.

Thinking of puppy I was reminded of our own relationship. Even though he was our children’s father, in bed he had begun demanding to be a bottom again. His reason was simple according to him, he wanted to experience the same high as I did. We had been experimenting daily for a month but had still not found that one thing which would do the trick for puppy. I was beginning to lose faith in my ability to please my puppy.

One day Minx brought to us the animal ears and tails she received as a birthday gift. She made me wear the rabbit ears and tail and puppy the dog ones, insisting they were more suited to us as we were the tokki and puppy in the family. She retained cat’s for herself, gave wolf’s to Sehun, lion’s to Kai, deer’s were given to Jiyeon and cow’s to Soo.

Minx’s gifts did the trick for us and puppy hit his first high that night. Seeing that Kibum was still pouting and whining at me for more tips, I gave him the latest one to go for more visuals if necessary. Sadly, it didn’t work for them. I told him to compare notes with Heechul.  

When Heechul was in his sixth month, Nat Geo aired the documentary on my pregnancy. They did a good job of hiding our identities and except for those who knew about it, no one could make out who it was talking about. We were spared the dreaded media glare.

I got a call from a drunk Minho two days later, very late in the night. Everyone was asleep except the inhabitants of our room. Puppy and I were awake because a teething Byong was running a slight temperature and fussing because of it. We were taking turns walking and crooning to him to calm him down. I ignored Minho’s call. When Minho kept calling repeatedly, Puppy picked up the phone and put it on speaker with a low volume. 

“Hello.”

“I want to talk to Jinki.”

“He is sleeping.”

“Wake him up. I want to talk to him.”

I took the phone from an unwilling puppy.

“Yes Minho what do you want?”

“Angie baby why don’t you pick up my calls?”

“I was sleeping. My name is Jinki. Don’t call me anything else. Why are you calling so late in the night?”

“So you had another child?”

“My life is none of your business.”

“It will always be my business. I love you Angie. How could you hurt me like this? What wrong did I do that you are punishing me by having someone else’s child? Only I can be the father of your kids.”

“Minho I have moved on with my life. I suggest you do the same.”

“You are my life Angie. I love you. Come back to me. I am still waiting for you.”

“I will never go back to you Minho. Stop waiting.”

“I love you Angie. You cannot leave me. I know you also love me.”

“You had a fine way of showing your love to me Minho.”

“What do you mean? How can you doubt my love for you Angie baby?”

“I don’t want to argue about it. It is late. Go to sleep.”

“How is Minki doing? I want to meet her.”

“She is doing well. You are in US. How can you meet her?”

“I returned to Korea last year and stay with my parents. I want to meet Minki.”

“Minho don’t disturb her please. She is finally getting on with her life.”

“How can you keep my daughter away from me? Do you have any idea how much I am suffering? Only thing that keeps me going is my love for you and Minki. I am her father.”

“It’s midnight and you are drunk. We will talk another time when you are sober.”

“You bloody . You cannot keep my daughter away from me. I want to meet her and I will meet her. I don’t want her to grow up to be a like you.”

I ended the call and switched off my phone. Picking up a still-fussing Byong from puppy’s arms, I buried my face in his sweet smelling neck. Puppy wrapped his arms around both of us, kissing my cheek and rubbing my back to calm me.

“Yeobo don’t worry. I am there. He cannot take her away from you.”

I buried my face in puppy’s neck. He had a more soothing effect on me.

“Why does he have to disturb her jagi? Why can’t he let us live in peace?”

“I think he really misses you both. Having enjoyed myself your and Minki’s love for so long, I can understand how lonely he must be feeling without you. He is the worst idiot for not realizing how precious you both were when you were still living with him.”

“Jagi just loving is not enough. How about taking her responsibility?”

“He is what he is. We both know he will never change. Stop worrying too much about it. Our baby girl is mature for her age. With our love and support she will be able to handle meeting Minho. Trust me. Otherwise she will grow up and may turn around and say ‘you kept me away from my father’. Better to let her decide whether she wants to meet or not, whether she wants Minho in her life or not.”

“You are her father, not Minho. Just donating does not make anyone father.”

“I know that and you know that. One day she also will know that. Maybe she knows even now. Let us be confident about our love for each other as a family, and let them meet.”

I nodded, “Yoda puppy.”

He kissed me, “Love you yeobo. How about letting Byong le you? It might calm him down and put him to sleep. Else, he will keep us awake the whole night at this rate.”

I lay down in the middle of the bed and put Byong to my . He began ling immediately. Puppy hugged me from behind, pressing soothing kisses to my shoulder to keep me calm. True to puppy’s words, our baby was asleep within a few minutes. Puppy began crooning in my ear to put me to sleep as well.

A week later, on Saturday I tried to quickly finish up my hagwon work to return home. Kibum had left early that day to go shopping for maternity clothes for Heechul. Imo and umma had accompanied him on the shopping trip. I had offered my clothes but was rejected as the colors were not to Heechul’s liking. Just like Kibum he refused to wear anything but pink during the pregnancy.

He had called me earlier in the day, “Jinx you are a useless friend during my pregnancy.”

“Huh? Why? What happened Cinder? I am coming right over.”

“No you stay put. Send Key instead. You do not understand me and my emotional needs at all.”

“Don’t say that Cinder, I am your BFF. Tell me what you need, I will get it on my way.”

“I want to feel pretty. I need new makeup. The one I have is making my face look blotchy.”

“Oh! I have not purchased makeup in years. But it’s okay. I will swing by the shop and get you loads of make up to play with.”

“Stupid, silly Jinki. You don’t play with makeup. It is serious matter. I want the latest eye liner that is there in the Elle magazine.”

“But you got an eye liner just last month Cinder.”

“Tell Key to give me a call. I will tell him what I want. He will understand better than the stupid friend I am talking to.”

“Yes Kibum is better at shopping than me. He shopped for me also when I was pregnant both times. I will send him out immediately.”

“Good bye fair-weather friend.” He ended the call on that sarcastic note.

I was left staring at the phone. Special remedial steps were needed to mend my value in Heechul’s eyes. I went to Kibum’s office and he was more than happy to leave the work to me and go shopping. I handed him my credit card with my special shopping requests for Heechul. Kibum would find out the makeup Heechul wanted, and then go buy clothes as well, to make Heechul feel beautiful. I also asked him to buy pretty lace and silk just like I had bought for Kibum for his honeymoon and his pregnancy. These were to be given to me for presenting to Heechul later.

I couldn’t buy the y lingerie for Heechul myself because Byong was always with me and next day was Sunday, that meant puppy would accompany me to the shop. With puppy along I will be forced to buy some for myself. And I refused to wear that stuff. Neither did I want to give puppy any ideas. So, Kibum was going to buy for me. Plus I was sure that by now with years of experience of wearing them, he’d do a much better job.

Just as I was closing up my office, my phone rang. It was Minho. I opened my office and sat down again.

“Hello Minho.”

“Angie I am in Daegu and want to meet Minki.”

My mind went blank.

“Can you meet me in half hour with Minki?”

I gathered my thoughts.

“Today is not possible. I will get late in my office. Tomorrow noon?”

“Ok.”

“Come to imo’s house. We stay with her.”

“Fine. I will there at noon.”

My good mood evaporated. That night after Minx slept, puppy and I went for a bike ride to our park leaving Byong with imo. I’d been fidgeting in my clothes since the phone call and puppy had prevented me from taking a long shower and cleaning myself. I seemed to be having a bad trip down the memory lane that night. Walking under the stars in the still of the night holding hands, puppy softly talked me.

“Yeobo, you have come so far in your new life. You are getting along with your own family. You are able to talk to them about painful times with them. Why let Minho’s visit derail you?”

“I don’t know jagi. The memories just slammed into me after his call. I sat in my office alone for a long time unable to do anything but remember the worst of my life with him. I tried to think of good times, but I couldn’t. My skin is itching. I am feeling dirty again. You should have let me clean myself.”

“No yeobo. You are not dirty. You never were. You are pure as the first snow of winter. There is nothing to clean.”

“I let other men touch me. I can still feel their hands on me. I need to shower. Let’s go back.”

“You didn’t do anything. Purity is a state of mind and heart yeobo. They didn’t dirty you, they dirtied their own souls. You are and will always be clean.”

I let his words calm me down. But my skin still itched once in a while.

Puppy called Leeteuk and got a prescription for an anti-anxiety medication from him. We picked it up on our way home. By the time we reached home, I was constantly scratching my body. My skin was crawling. Puppy talked to Leeteuk again and gave me double dose.        

Imo was very upset herself and told us point blank that Minho was not stepping into her house. Seeing my state, she agreed with puppy that I should not meet Minho or talk to him. It was decided that uncle and puppy would take Minki to meet Minho outside.

Byong slept with imo and uncle that night. Puppy held me in his arms, talking and singing to me. As the medicine took effect and I was on the verge of sleep, I looked at puppy’s fierce expression. Kissing him, I tried to assure him that I was alright. He immediately smiled and kissed me back. I slept safe in his arms.

Next day I insisted on going along with them. My puppy couldn’t deny my any wish so he agreed. Minx chattered like an excited magpie. We met Minho in a children’s park. Years had not been kind to him. He had lines on his face. His eyes were bloodshot. He smelt of stale alcohol. Minx kept flitting between Minho and puppy. Minho had brought a Barbie doll for her as a belated birthday gift.

After half hour, Minx went to play on the swings and puppy requested uncle to accompany her. Once the three of us were alone, puppy got his fierce look back again.

“Minho-ssi, I want the names and addresses of the two men who touched Jinki in Seoul.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you don’t understand me, then let me speak plainly. Give me the names and addresses of the two men you brought to Jinki in Seoul.”

“What are you talking about? No one Jinki. He willingly had with them.”

“Give me their names right now or help me god, I will break your face right here.”

I held puppy’s arm to keep him from acting out his threat.

“Let go off my arm Jinki.” Puppy quietly told me.

“I won’t let you embarrass yourself in front of Minx Jjong.” I whispered back.

“If not here, I will haul him to the police station and break every bone in his body if he does not give me their names this instant.”

Minho scrawled through his mobile and gave the name, phone number and current addresses of his friends. Puppy noted them down.

“Let me be clear to you Minho-ssi. You may tell yourself it was willing . In my books it was . If you ever call or contact Jinki in any way again, I am going to book you and your friends for .”

“He is lying. We never him. He agreed to it.”

Puppy let loose a hard punch to Minho’s abdomen. Minho doubled over in pain. I held puppy’s arm to make him stop.

“Don’t ever call Jinki a liar. You him with your friends. Not once but twice. You mistreated him throughout your life together. Apologize to him right now for all your misdeeds.” Puppy hissed at him and punched him again in the back with his free arm.

“I am sorry Jinki. I thought you enjoyed it. You know I love you. I have done everything possible to please you during our life together. I am sorry if I hurt you.” Minho whispered to us.

Puppy pulled out his arm from my grip that had relaxed on hearing Minho’s words. He held Minho by the neck, pulled him close and gave two quick punches in his abdomen again. It looked as if he was hugging Minho.

“I mean my words Minho. I will make your life a living hell. You and your friends will not be able to show your faces to anyone once I am through with you. Contact Jinki again and see what revenge I extract.”

“Jjong please stop. Let him go.”

“Jinki make him stop. I didn’t do anything wrong. I just wanted to meet Minki.”

“Minho I have friends in Daegu, Incheon, all over Korea and even across the world. I can make you a criminal wanted by Interpol in less than five minutes. Don’t even think of my family ever again. I am just giving you a sample of what awaits you should you contact my family again.” Puppy kept punching Minho as he spoke.

He stopped only when Minho nodded his understanding and then patted his cheek, “Good that we have reached an understanding Minho. You willingly accept to not contact my family again. I did not make you. You agreed on your own. This is the difference between my definition of and yours of willing . Get it you bastard. Now go say good bye to Minx without disclosing what just happened.”

We watched as Minho painfully walked to Minx and uncle and in less than a minute left the park without hugging Minx. He had clearly gotten puppy’s message.

Puppy turned and gave me a dazzling smile. “Never again yeobo. There will be no further repeats of last night ever again.”

I nodded. I wanted to feel bad for Minho but a part of my heart was jumping with joy at my puppy’s actions. “Thank you, jagi. Let’s go home. I want to kiss you.”

At home after I’d made good on my words in our bedroom, I fed Byong mashed fruits, while puppy related his conversation with Minho. Imo laughed and hugged puppy. Uncle punched him in the arm. I couldn’t help grinning myself. Who would have thought we were such a violent family.

Minx thankfully suffered no ill effects from meeting Minho. Siwon and Heechul came over for dinner. Imo had invited Leeteuk also. Her way of making sure I was really alright.

As I handed a glowing Heechul his y gifts that Kibum had sent over with imo, I whispered to him, “Here Cinder something to make you feel really pretty and y in bed. Make full use of them in the next two months. And if you tell Siwon that I am the source, I am not going to help you ever again in future.”

He immediately went into my bedroom to check his gift. On seeing the y he squealed like a girl. “Jinx I have never worn anything so delicate before. You really are my BFF. Thank you also for all the makeup and clothes. I feel like a new person today.”

I hugged him, “Silly man. Wear the red tonight. Keep the lace one for last. But promise you won’t tell puppy about this. He will either get himself some of these or make me wear them. I am very happy with our cotton ones.”

“I can’t imagine how you could take Key shopping for all y and naughty stuff earlier. He was telling me about all that you got for their honeymoon and for him during his pregnancy.”

“Don’t sprain your brain. Just enjoy.”

When I looked at my extended family at the dining table, I felt a deep contentment. Minx was sitting beside puppy. She had given up her prized place in her father’s lap as her gift to her little brother. Byong was sitting happily and gurgling in puppy’s lap, making a grab for his food repeatedly. Puppy was feeding Minx and himself, with a few grains and sips making their way into Byong’s mouth as well.

Heechul sat between Minx and Jiyeon, happily munching his black bean noodles while the girls felt the baby move in his tummy. Soo and imo were discussing the Nat Geo documentary with Siwon, Leeteuk and uncle. I sat next to my puppy sharing our love through discreet looks.

Some kind god above somewhere had become happy with me at some time, to bless me with such loving family and friends.