62. KIM SEHUN

It was now January of the year 2009. Puppy was planning big for our eighth anniversary. Byong was about to turn five years old, and Minx would complete 11 years in April. Puppy kept hinting at a big surprise for me.

In January end, puppy presented me with tickets for two weeks holiday in USA with the whole family. We’d leave the day after Byong’s fifth birthday. Uncle, imo, Soo, Jiyeon, Heechul, Siwon and Duckie would accompany us. Uncle, puppy and Siwon had meticulously planned the itinerary.

Hearing that we were all going to USA for two weeks, Sehun began crying. He didn’t want to be parted from Minx for that long a time. Seeing him cry, Minx forgot her joy and hugged him and began crying too. Puppy and I looked at each other. Sehun kept wailing.

“Ummappa you cannot take my Minx away from me. What will I do if I don’t see her every day? Take me also with you. I cannot stay apart from her. Puppy appa how could you forget to buy my ticket? Am I not your son?”

I hugged him and tried to console him, “Sehun it’s not that you are not our son. We didn’t think you would want to come with us. We thought you would like to spend your holidays with your family and friends.”

“Ummappa, you should have asked me then. You are also my family. How can I stay two weeks without meeting Minx? Can you stay two weeks without meeting Puppy appa?”

“What if your parents refuse to send you?” Puppy took Sehun in his arms and tried his bit at consoling him, passing Minx to me.

“They will not refuse if you ask. They already call me Kim Sehun. According to them I’m more your son than theirs. Appa you have to take me with you. You cannot leave me behind.”

Puppy and I looked at each other and nodded together.

“My son does not cry. Come on we will talk to your parents.” Puppy dried Sehun’s tears.

We went to Oh house next door with two sniffling children tagging along holding on tight to each other’s hand.

We’d long given up trying to keep the two apart. They were constantly in each other’s company and had lately taken to holding hands all the time. Puppy and I kept an eye on them but remained silent on their hand holding. Sehun was a good boy and his parents were doing a good job. Puppy and I agreed that a known devil was better than an unknown one.

After that, puppy stopped calling him ‘dweeb’. I thought Sehun had grown on puppy and melted his heart. Whenever I teased puppy about it, he called Sehun ‘cardiac fungus’. That was in honor of the love that had mushroomed in puppy’s heart for the endearing boy.

The moment Mrs Oh opened the door, Sehun hugged her tight and cried loudly once again, “Umma you have to agree. You have to let me go. I promise to be a good boy and not trouble them. Just say yes, please.”

She looked puzzled at us and the crying Minx still holding Sehun’s hand. “Don’t tell me they want to get married at this age and he wants to stay with you?” She came up with her own logic for the crying children and Sehun’s words.

We grinned at her and led the way to their living room. Puppy took Sehun in his arms again and made him sit next to him on the couch while Minx settled on my lap in the chair. “Stop crying right now both of you. Can’t you see you are scaring noona? If you want her to agree, you have to stop making her jump to crazy conclusions. Go wash your faces and drink some milk. Get some water for us also. Trust us, you silly children.” Puppy gently chided the kids.

They left to do his bidding, trying to control the volume of their sobs.

Mrs Oh took a seat and waited patiently for an explanation, trying to hide her joy at the thought of a wedding. If there was anyone more wedding-crazy than me, it was her.

Puppy burst her bubble of happiness and daydreams. “Noona wipe that grin off your face. They are not getting married. Sehun will be an Oh for many more years.”

“Then what do I have to say yes to?”

“We are going to USA for a two-week-long holiday and Sehun wants to come with us. He is crying because we did not book his ticket.” I explained.

“I don’t know if we can afford to send him to USA for a holiday. I will have to discuss this with his father.”

“Noona if you both agree, we will be taking him with us. How can you think we will let you pay when it’s my anniversary gift to their ummappa?” Puppy turned down her offer of payment.

“Congratulations in advance. I have never seen you celebrate your anniversary before. When is it?”

“It’s in March noona. We celebrate it on the day we met.” Puppy continued.

“How romantic!” Her eyes turned dreamy.

Puppy and I looked at each other. We continued with our request. “We are going on 16 February and will return on March 1, the day before schools reopen.”

“Yes, Sehun will have school holidays then. Is it just the four of you going?”

“The whole family noona. Even Siwon and Heechul will come. Kibum and family will not be joining.” I explained. “We do want Sehun to come with us.”

Puppy took over from me. “I am sorry, I did not think of asking your permission for Sehun before booking our tickets. It’s our first holiday away from home. Next time I will ask about Sehun before booking any tickets.”

Sehun and Minx came with our requested water. Sehun was also speaking to his father on the phone. “– don’t refuse. You can’t refuse appa. I promise to be a good boy and give no trouble. They have agreed appa. They are talking to umma right now.”

He handed the phone to his mother. “Umma, appa wants to talk to you.”

We eavesdropped her one-sided conversation. Sehun sat besides puppy, who wrapped his one arm around his thin shoulders.

“Hello?”

“I know.”

“I was also surprised.”

“It’s a gift from Jonghyun to Jinki for their anniversary.”

“I know.”

“But –”

“As you say.”

“Bye, see you later.”

She ended the call sadly. “He says no. We cannot impose on you like this.”

“It is not an imposition noona. But we will respect your wishes.” I answered after a long silence.

Sehun was trying not to cry once again. But his tear-filled eyes told their own story. Puppy hugged him and kissed his head. Minx came up with her solution.

“I will stay back Sehun. I can live with you while everyone is away. Umma, can I stay with you for two weeks?”

Sehun shook his head, “No Minx you should go. I will be okay. Don’t worry.”

She stayed back to console Sehun as we returned home.

Three days later we got a call from Sehun’s mother at night. We went over to their house.

“Please book his ticket and take him with you.” Sehun’s mother told us while a silent Sehun beamed at us. He was pale and had dark circles around his eyes.

“What happened to him noona? Is he sick?” I touched Sehun’s forehead to check for fever.

“He has not eaten anything for three days now. He refuses to eat till we agree to send him with you.” His father explained with an unhappy look.

“Noona please get some juice and food for him. This is not good.” Puppy said to Mrs Oh.

I took Sehun to the dining table and sat him down, leaving puppy to discuss and finalize the trip details with Sehun’s father. Thankfully puppy had booked another ticket on the same flights as ours, the same day as Sehun’s request on the off chance that his father had a change of heart and permitted him.

“Sunshine, you cannot do this to yourself. Look how pale and sick you are looking. How will you travel if you fall sick?” I gently scolded him as I made him drink juice while his mother prepared his food.

“Ummappa there was no other way to make appa agree.”

“This is heavy artillery. Where did you get the idea?”

“Minx gave it to me. She said it works on you all the time. I just didn’t know it takes so long.”

I hugged him, amazed at his determination. “Silly boy. Minx has not gone hungry for more than a few hours at any time. Three days! You have not eaten for three days.”

“It was very hard ummappa. Minx brought me food to eat in my room. But that would’ve been cheating. I must stand by my words.”

Noona set food in front of him and sat on his other side. “Jinki you have an evil daughter. If this is what they come up with now, I wonder what ideas they will hatch ten years from now.”

We began feeding Sehun. After keeping his stomach empty for so long, he needed to pace his eating. “Noona then don’t refuse a small request next time. Save your ‘no’ for a bigger reason.”

“His father did not feel it right to impose on you.”

“If it was you going somewhere and Minx wanted to come, would you find it an imposition?” I asked her.

“As long as you permitted, we’d accommodate her.”

“Then why consider us any different?”

She nodded in understanding.

“Sunshine, next time don’t take such harsh steps. Talk to us. But don’t make yourself suffer like this. It pains all of us to see you like this. I can guarantee your puppy appa will have a word with Minx about this. We agree to her requests because they make sense to us not because of her hunger-strike threats. She makes us agree with her logic. You should try that in future. Promise me no more threats.”   

“No ummappa. I am sorry I cannot make such a promise. What if I cannot make them agree to our marriage? I think I will die without her ummappa.” Sehun whispered, turning pink.

“Sunshine you are only 12. You have a lot of growing up to do. You will meet lots of girls. What if you fall in love with one of those girls? You will break her heart. Don’t make such serious commitments to her now. At least not the commitments even you don’t know you’ll be able to keep.” I whispered back to him, running my fingers through his hair. My voice breaking at the thought of my baby girl suffering.  

“I know my heart and mind ummappa. I will not break my commitment to her. I will never break her heart.” He responded confidently.

“What if she breaks your heart and falls in love with another boy?” I asked him.

“I know my Minx. She won’t do that.” He was confident.

His mother and I looked at each other. She took over from me.

“Sehun talk to us, reason with us, but don’t take such harsh steps. Don’t test our love for you like this again. We promise we will listen to you and try to understand your views.”

He nodded and hugged us both. But did not promise us anything. We realized we were dealing with two very determined and stubborn children.