1: To The Party
It's Complicated.Regular - Korean | Bold - English | Italicized - Chinese
Chaerin's POV
"-are you sure you can't come to the party today? I'm more than positive Daniel and his crew wants you to come" a girl said "come on Cherry, can't you skip today?"
"I already told you Jas, my dad and uncles are coming back from Korea today. I can't miss this. Tell the boys sorry for me" I said
"ugh you're no fun" Jasmine pouted
"I turn here, don't be a whiny baby and go get ready for that party. Besides, Angela is going. You won't be alone" I said stopping at the corner. Jasmine scowled and stuck her tongue out at me before continuing ahead. I chuckled and turned the corner, walking to my house.
"hey" Jason said as I entered the house "you're finally home, what took you so long Chae?"
"Jasmine and I walked home instead of taking the bus, mian oppa" I said "where's Nathan? Luke?"
"Nathan's upstairs probably sleeping, Luke's with nai nai* and ye ye* at their house" Jason said
"how is he? Nathan I mean" I said discreetly "is he still-"
"yeah, but not that much anymore. His friends - Nick and Morgan - walked here with him today. They said the bullies didn't do much today" Jason sighed "I told umma to just let him be homeschooled"
"but she doesn't know right?" I asked "Nathan told us not to tell her or appa or yeye or nainai"
"they don't know" Jason said again
"umma neun? where is she?" I asked
"work" he answered "umma will be back in about an hour or two. Appa and the samchuns won't land until 8. It's 5 right now"
"arasso" I nodded "I'm gonna go take a shower oppa, I'm sweaty"
"that's what you get for walking from the academy you little brat" Jason said pinching my cheeks
"ah ah oppa!" I whined swatting his hands "that hurts!"
"dress nice for the party" Jason ruffled my hair
"deh Jason-ssi" I saluted going upstairs to my room.
Today was the first time I'm going to see my appa since last year. He and my uncles had a revival tour with their company mates for the past year. Frankly, I'm surprised that all of them are still able to dance with their ages. I'm even more surprised that they still have a tremendous amount of fans.
My appa, you probably know him..if your generation is 20 years earlier. He was - I mean, is - part of a Korean boy group. Why? My yeye and nainai told him to join just cuz. I thought it was weird that a Taiwanese-American was part of a Korean group, not to mention that my samchuns, Jackson was Chinese and Bambam was Thai. I learned it was normal. They were called GOT7. Growing up in LA, that name sounds weird right? I learned that it's completely normal in Korea. My appa's name is Mark Tuan. Have you ever done some research on your famous dad? Trust me, it's weird - especially if you go on some ancient tumblr blogs. But from what I remember, my appa was the one who brought in martial arts tricking into k-pop. He was the visual of his group, and a lot of girls fawned over him. But it was my umma who he married.
Umma told me once that her story with appa would give me such a huge headache that I would need painkillers...she was right. She told me how my halmeoni and halbae forced her into an arranged marriage with a douche, but she fell in love with appa. Umma ran away from her house and lived with GOT7, but then halmeoni and halbae drugged her and sent her to LA. By that time, she was already pregnant with Jason. Then she said that uncle Joey saved her while giving birth and that's how she met yeye and nainai. She lived with them until appa came to LA for a concert, then she went back to Korea and left Jason here. Umma said she went to her parents' new hotel launching and happened, appa unexpectedly came, her douche of a fiance came, the douche stabbed appa, appa was hospitalized-okay I'm going to stop here. It's giving me a headache right now just reciting it. The important thing is that umma and appa got married and had Jason, me, Nathan, and Luke.
I took my shower and got ready for the party. It was going to be held at umma's hotel so I had to at least be semi-formal. I dried my hair, curling it into loose waves. I applied simple makeup, and changed into a dress with matching heels. By the time I was finished it was 6:30 and umma was home.
"Chaerin-ah" umma said as she saw me go down the stairs "your science teacher called"
"waeyo?" I asked
"you ditched class yesterday?" umma asked
"a-ah umma. I can explain" I said
"what did you do?" she asked, I could tell by her expression that she was not amused
"I was at the dance studio" I muttered "Jasmine, Angela, Tara, and I were working on a routine..."
"routine for what?" umma asked
"a dance competition" I said
"Chaerin Tuan, I'm fine if you join dance competitions and it's great that you're practicing, but school comes first." umma reminded me
"deh" I nodded
"now let's go. We're going to head to the hotel early" she said
"jigeum? It's barely 6:30" I said
"it takes 45 minutes to drive to the hotel and I'll need you and Jason to help me finalize things for an event happening next week." umma said
"what event?" Jason asked
"it's a convention for surgeons" umma said "Chaerin-ah, go upstairs and help Nathan"
"deh umma" I said obeying her. I walked up the stairs and went straight to the door that had a big N on it. I knocked on the door "Nae-ah! can I come in?"
I heard him say a yes through the door and I entered his room. Nathan's room was simple, the whole theme of it was blue..but it's a shame that he can't see it. I smiled and walked towards him.
"you're wearing heels noona?" he asked and I hummed, signalling a yes. "tell me what you look like"
"I have a dress on, it's black on the top and galaxy-styled from the waist down. I have black heels. My hair is curled. I barely have any makeup on" I told him and he listened intently, trying to picture an image in his head.
"good, noona looks best without her makeup" Nathan smiled. I chuckled and pinched his cheek
"aigoo, umma's home. We're heading to the hotel now" I said grabbing his hand
"arasso. noona, can you grab my phone and beats?" Nathan asked
"sure" I muttered getting the items from his desk. "how was school today? Were the boys still bullying you?"
"not a lot" he said
"my poor dongsaeng" I cooed his hair as I guided him out the room "noona's sorry"
"waeyo? It wasn't your fault noona" he said. I looked at him and felt like my heart was going to shatter to pieces, again. "na gwenchana, at least I'm alive. I just miss colors, the world's so dark..and black."
"noona's still searching you know" I said helping him down the stairs
"searching for what?" Nathan asked
"eye surgeries" I said "I'll give you your eyesight again one day, I promise."
"don't promise something you can't fulfill" Nathan said "that will only give me false hope"
"Nathan-"
"Chaerin-ah" Jason whispered as we reached the first floor. I looked to him and he shook his head.
"I-I'm sorry noona, I didn't mean it like-"
"gwenchana. It should be me who's sorry" I said
"are we all ready?" umma asked exiting the bathroom
"annyeonghaseyo umma" Nathan smiled, looking front of him.
"Nathan" umma smiled back cupping his cheeks and giving him a kiss on the forehead "how was school today?"
"good" he answered
"well that's good" she said "let's go?"
"let's go" Jason nodded and the four of us piled into the car.
"what about Luke" Nathan asked
"he'll meet us there with your yeye and nainai" umma answered starting the car. I helped Nathan wear his beats and I put it to one of his playlists. Once in a while, I heard him say 'change it to ____ please, noona' and I nodded, obeying his request. I started texting Jasmine who was still raving about how I should go with her.
"Jas, if you ask me again. I will personally kick your head open" I said irritated
"Chaerin Tuan, that's not how you speak to friends" umma said
"mianhe umma" I mumbled
"hi Mrs. Tuan!" Jasmine shouted
"umma, Jas says hi" I said
"hi Jasmine, how's tennis?" umma asked
"great Mrs. Tuan, I'm trying out for a singles spot on a club team" she answered
"you'll definitely make it, Jasmine" umma said kindly
"umma, drive" I said putting the phone off speaker
"ugh I'm so jealous" Jasmine said
"why" I said
"it's not fair you can speak 3 languages, I wanna speak 3 languages too" she whined
"I learned it since I was born. We went over this, I live in America, my parents and uncles speak to me in Korean, and my grandparents speak to me in Chinese. Simple as that. They do it to all my siblings" I explained
"life's not fair" she said "why can't my parents speak to me in Thai?"
"one of my uncle's is Thai" I said
"I remember, Bambam right? It's really funny for a name" she laughed. I joined in with her laughter.
"it's time for you to meet Angela at the party" I said "I'm also losing battery, I'll talk to you later Jas"
"Bye Cherry~ Have fun" she said
"you too" I said before hanging up. It took only 15 more minutes until they arrived at the infamous K-T hotel branch. Yeah, my umma's side was immensely rich, but she wanted us to live a normal and carefree childhood - the total opposite of hers, as she says.
People showed us respect as soon as we walked in, that's mostly due to the fact that our umma was the owner and president and as much as she hates to say it, one of us will inherit the hotel chains in the future.
Jason and I helped umma finalize details for the surgeon event next week, while Nathan sat down, tapping on the table as he listened to music.
"mama" a five year old boy blubbed running into the vast room. Nainai and Yeye followed closely behind.
"4 kids, dear. Exceeded my expectations" Yeye said
"that's a way to welcome, papa" umma laughed as she picked up Luke "I hope Luke wasn't much of a trouble"
"Cherry was the most troublesome" Yeye teased. I stared at him in shock and he laughed
"stop messing with our granddaughter" Nainai chuckled giving me a hug "you get prettier everytime I see you, Cherry"
"it's because I'm mama and papa's daughter" I smiled, laughing in embarrassment immediately afterwards
"aigoo" Jason sputtered putting me in a headlock
"oppa! ah oppa let go!" I shouted patting his arm "my hair! oppa hajima!"
"I wanna join in too!" Jackson shouted putting Jason in a headlock, making him let go of me
"komawo samchun" I smiled before running to give appa a hug "appa~"
"uri ttal" appa chuckled returning the hug "you look so grown up from the last time I saw you"
"it's been a year appa, of course" I said
"Jackson-ah, when will you grow up? aigoo" Jr said prying him off Jason "do you do this with your kids too?"
"oh, you don't?" Jackson asked
"ani, I don't try to kill my son" Jr shook his head
"I'm playing, not killing" Jackson said
"then why is Jason coughing?" Bambam asked
"Jackson samchun, your arms hurt" Jason coughed, rubbing his neck.
"let's eat dinner first" Nainai said ushering everyone around the table. I helped Nathan to the table and sat next to him and Jason.
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