63. HOLIDAY PLANS

Sehun’s parents were surprised that his tickets were already booked. Minx knocked and entered the house and made a bee line to hug Sehun and confirm if he had eaten something. We parents sat in the living room and called the two of them there. All four of us had stern expressions on our faces.

“Minx what makes you think that we agree to your requests because of your threats?” I asked her in a very soft voice. She knew that the softer I spoke more upset I was with her.

“Ummappa you always agree after I stop eating.”

“I agree because you are able to convince me with your reasons for your requests. Do you really think threats would work with me?”

“Oh, they don’t work? That means Sehun went on a hunger strike when there was no need to?” She turned to Sehun with tears in her eyes. “I am sorry that you suffered because of me.”

“Don’t worry Minx. We didn’t know they would listen to logic like ummappa and puppy appa. Now we know. Next time we will talk first before going on a hunger strike.” Sehun comforted her.

All of us looked aghast at prospects of future hunger strikes.

Puppy called Minx to his side. She plonked on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her. “Baby girl, we booked Sehun’s tickets the day he asked to come with us. We were just giving hyung time to change his mind on his own. We would have spoken with him ourselves to make him agree. Don’t start giving such evil ideas to anyone. What will umma now think? That you are teaching bad things to Sehun. Do you want her to think that?”

“I am sorry umma and appa. I will not trouble you like this again.” She apologized to Sehun’s parents.

Sehun’s mother called her to sit on her lap. “Minx you’d better tell me your ideas first. You know I can help you. Both of you can seriously hurt yourself with such madcap schemes. Have we ever kept you apart before?”

Minx shook her head.

“If you two misbehave like this again, we will.” Sehun’s mother ended with a sweet smile.

The children looked at her in shock and then at the rest of us. All of us nodded in agreement.

“Puppy appa you cannot separate us. Ummappa please tell umma it was not Minx’s fault. I am the one who did it.” Sehun appealed to us.

“Sehun you should have tried to talk to us first.” His father spoke up.

“I will appa. I promise. I will talk to all of you first. But don’t separate us.” Sehun pleaded.

“Sunshine, you are dear to our heart. You are puppy appa’s cardiac fungus. Come on we are not so heartless. But you’ve promised not to scheme again.” I went and hugged him trying to put him out of his misery.

With the children properly chastised, our preparations for the holiday began. Everyone was super excited. To our amusement, the announcement to our family and friends brought different drama on.

First to begin whining was Kai. Sehun and Minx told him how they got Sehun included, and Kai was threatening his parents with a hunger strike if they did not go with us. Taemin reminded him about the annual trips they took abroad, but it made no difference. Kibum got Tae to agree, and they sat with uncle and puppy to book their tickets as well. My mother tagged along but appa refused.  So we had four more joining us on the trip.

Amber was whining constantly to Heechul and me. DongHae was always working and she had never been on a holiday, like us. We spoke to him and he planned out with Siwon to book two more tickets.

I called Doc, not seeing any point in leaving him behind when all of our extended family was going. It took a bit of cajoling but Leeteuk finally agreed.

We did not get all the tickets on the same flights but there was very little time gap between the two different flights to cause any problem. Sehun was travelling with us because his ticket was booked the earliest. The others were booked on an earlier flight. Fortunately, hotels had extra rooms requested by us.

We had many dinner meetings to finalize the plans and organize a smooth trip. DongHae and Leeteuk were in charge of the first group to land and would keep things ready for the arrival of the rest of us. Rooms were allotted to prevent confusion there.

Kai and Sehun would share a room and Byong insisted on sleeping with them. That made Puppy very happy. The two pre-teens wouldn’t be able to get into any mischief with Byong present all the time.

Amber and Minx wanted to share one room, while Soo and Jiyeon would share one. Duckie couldn’t decide whom to sleep with. She had a choice of rooms with Soo, Amber and even my mother. Umma opted to sleep alone and any child was welcome to share her room at any time. The couples of course had their own room allocations. That left DongHae and Leeteuk. They good naturedly shrugged and agreed to share a room.

DongHae teased Amber, “I thought we’d be sharing a room. Now you have abandoned me. Traitor! It would serve you right if you ended up with a step-father after this trip.”

Leeteuk blushed. Puppy and I looked at each other. So that’s the way wind blew. I discreetly poked Doc and he turned pinker. Ah-ha! It was going to be an interesting trip. The two of them alone every night for nearly two weeks.

Puppy poked me to look at Soo who was glaring at DongHae. My jaws dropped at that. We looked at each other with raised brows. Who was little Soo interested in, DongHae or Leeteuk? Both were way older to her. She was 22. DongHae was 39 and Leeteuk was my age, 38. There was no way imo and uncle would agree to either one of them.

The children were planning what to pack in their bags. They drew up a list and when I looked it over, I found more than half of it to be food.

“What do you guys think? They don’t have food in US?” I asked them.

“Omoni they don’t have as much rice as we eat. And their munchies are different. Every time we travel abroad umma packs loads of munchies for appa and me.” Kai clarified.

“Bummie, come here.” I called over Kibum. I showed him the kids’ list.

“They are right to take so much food hyung. Kai knows how much we miss Korean food abroad.” Kibum seconded Kai.

“But why don’t you expand your palate and learn to enjoy foreign flavors.” I asked him.

“Your brother kept looking for rice dishes when we went to Paris. Same is for US as well. You do get Chinese and Japanese food, but it’s more for local palates. I always pack loads of dried Korean food for the trips, both as snacks and for food. I’d advise that with so many kids we take a bagful of snacks and ramyun packs.” Kibum gave his voice of experience.

“I want Minx, Byong and Sehun to try out more of local food. But you are right, there is no harm in playing safe and taking a bagful of food. If children leave any of it, Tae can always finish it off.” I laughed at my own joke. Kibum laughed with me.

Tae came over to check why his name was popping in our conversation. When he saw a list of food in our hands, he grinned. “Hyung, this is good. The food is simply awful abroad. Kitty swipes tomato ketchup from all the places we visit. So be ready to be hauled into a few police stations. Following his example, Kai has started swiping coffee sachets. I wonder why, since he doesn’t even drink coffee. He collects all of them and hands them over to appa at home. Not just that, do you remember that Jeju trip when we were teens? Imo may again swipe the hotel towels for all we know.”

“What? We have kleptos in the group? There are three police officers along as well. Bummie why don’t you buy ketchup bottles instead of stealing them? Do they serve proper food on the flight or not? I don’t want to die of hunger before we reach our destination.” I thought aloud.

“Hyung, restaurants have a different flavor of ketchup. And I don’t swipe. I always ask the servers before taking any.” Kibum defended himself.

“Kitty they don’t understand your request and simply nod. Hyung our flights will have good food. If you are still hungry, you can have my share as well. I eat very little when flying.” Taemin assured me.

Kibum pouted. Tae put his arms around him and tried to comfort him only to dig a deeper hole for himself with his next words.

“Kitty, please don’t watch any more movies based on the cities we will be visiting. You create such hype in your mind and then are disappointed when reality does not live up to your expectations.”

“Hyung you better be careful or I will sleep with umma during the trip.” Kibum wagged a finger at Tae.

“That’s exactly what I want Kitty. So many nights. So many pretty ladies. I want to taste the local flavors.” Tae winked at Kibum and me, then ran for his dear life as Kibum began to hit his shoulders.

Kai asked me, “Do American ladies taste different from Korean ones?”

I mentally face palmed. We’ll need to gag Tae during the trip. There were impressionable children along. Sehun went to Minx and lifted her hand to his mouth and .

“Ummappa I think Minx tastes the best. Kai you taste the local flavors alone. I don’t want to.” Sehun called out to us. That turned everyone’s attention to our little group. I looked over and saw most of them hiding their laughter.

Kai took Minx’s other hand and it. He made a face as he gave his verdict, “Yikes, she tastes horrible. How can you think she tastes good, forget best?” Minx punched him in the tummy. Sehun high-fived her. Kai doubled over. “Minx you taste like a rat. Punching me won’t change the fact.”

“So you have tasted a rat?” Sehun asked him, defending his girl.

“No way. I just said the worst tasting thing I could think of.” Kai answered. He then went to Amber and took her hand. Before she took it back, he it and then looked at her. “Wow, you taste like salty vanilla ice cream and a little bit of potato chips. Can I have another taste?” He asked her.

“No you cannot.” Amber replied haughtily. “And if you ever try again, I will kick you where it will hurt the most. I am black belt in Taekwondo.”  

“So am I. Want to see who’s better?” Kai challenged her. She stood up and began attacking him with her hands. Within a minute they were seriously sparring.

“Puppy!” I called out and began separating the two. Puppy immediately came over and held back Kai as I held on tight to a wriggling Amber.

“Kai no more tasting and no more repeating what your father says. Amber is a girl. You should have better manners than to fight with a girl. Violence never solves any problem.” I admonished Kai. DongHae watched us in amusement.

“But omoni Sehun tasted Minx’s hand and she didn’t refuse. I want to know what Korean flavor is like and how American flavor will be different.” Kai again defended himself.   

“Tae you better watch your tongue in front of your son. If you don’t, I will begin whacking you once again.” I loudly called out to Tae who was still away from the living room. Must be kissing his Kitty to make up for his foot-in-the-mouth disorder.

“Omoni violence never solves any problem.” Kai reminded me and all the children laughed, high fiving him. Even the adults were laughing.

Tae entered the living room again, with his arm around Kibum’s shoulders. I glared at him. He picked up Kibum’s arm and his lower arm. “Hmm Kitty you taste the best. Forget about local flavors.”

“And exactly how many have you tasted hyung?” Kibum batted his lashes at him.

“Only you. Who wants to taste second best? Only you Kitty.” Tae assured him.

I stared open mouthed at them.

“Is this how you are in front of Kai? You better start behaving or I am cancelling your tickets.”  Uncle scolded the two of them.

They looked at his serious face and separated from each other. I breathed in relief. I didn’t want Minx and Sehun to get any ideas from these two. Puppy and I looked at each other. We knew we’d have to seat Tae and Kibum a little separately from the children. Like, them in the front and kids in the back or vice versa.

When sleeping I mentioned another worry to puppy.

“Jagi I don’t want Sehun rooming with Kai. I didn’t like Kai’s grown up behavior and his instigating Sehun to follow him.”

“Yeobo it wouldn’t matter. We can separate Sehun from Kai, but we can’t keep him innocent forever. He has same age and older friends in school who for all we know may be a worse influence on him.”

“You are right. I am now even more worried.”

“Silly tokki. Have some faith in him.”

I arched my brows at puppy. “Cardiac fungus.”

“On second thought, don’t trust him. He is 12. He will hit puberty any time. He will begin to see our baby girl differently. Holding hands won’t be enough. I don’t think I can bear to see him staring at her chest. Or find out they are kissing. Yeobo I think we should hide her.” Puppy started to hyperventilate.

I rubbed his back and tried to control my own breathing. “Let’s pray that he has late puberty. Not for another 4 or 5 years at least. Oh my god. Why do children grow up?”

“I will pray hard every night.”

“Minx asked me today about why girls bleed.”

“What? Where did she learn that? She is only 11.”

“Jagi, she is staying in a houseful of women and grown up girls. Apparently one of her school friends began menstruating and told her about it.”

“Oh god. What did you tell her?”

“I told her to ask her appa.”

“What?” Puppy sat up in shock, his eyes bugging out.

I laughed at his actions. “Calm down silly. I explained it to her. We anyway need to prepare her for the changes that will occur soon in her body.”

Puppy glared at me, not at all amused by my joke and lay down again. I kissed him softly to stop him from glaring.

“Yeobo why don’t we let imo or umma explain such stuff to Minx?”

“Because she is our daughter and our responsibility. It’s a natural process of maturation. If we start shying away from discussing these matters, she will become even shier and maybe even stop talking about her life with us. Don’t forget, when she becomes a mother we will have to take care of her.”

“Yeobo, why are you talking that far into the future? I am finding it difficult to get past the next few years, and you are talking about her motherhood.”

“I am just trying to refocus our attention to a distant goal to make the difficult path to it bearable.”

“I am not even thirty and you want to make me think of becoming a grandfather?”

“I think 50 is a nice age to become a grandfather.”

“Yes. I agree. I should be at least 50 when I become a grandfather.”

“If you are 50 then, I’ll be nearing 60 years. No, that will be too old. I want to be young enough to play with my grandchildren. I want to be 50.”

“I will be 42. Men marry at 42, not become grandfathers.”

“You should have thought of that before falling in love with me.”

“You didn’t tell me you planned to make me a grandfather at 42.”

“If I had? You wouldn’t have fallen in love with me?”

“That was not even a possibility. One look at you and I was in love. You can make me a great-grandfather at 42 and I’d love every minute of it. Because I’ll be with you. I love you yeobo.” He began kissing me deeply to reaffirm his love.

“I love you too jagi.” I mumbled into our kisses. Future would take care of itself. We needed to take care of each other at that moment.