23. FORTY & FOURTEEN

Sunday we woke up late. Even though Puppy and I woke up early as usual, we refused to let our bodies leave the bed and willed ourselves back to sleep as the house was totally silent.

It was Kris who finally woke up everyone at 9. He had set his alarm for 10 so we could reach the airport in time to pick up their wives. Actually, we could have slept for another hour but he was too worked up and refused to let any one of us off the hook.

Dumb and Dumber were in their element that morning. Luhan and Kris constantly bickered over each and everything. It drove the rest of us crazy but we bore with it, understanding their anxiety. Mostly we wanted to laugh at their stupid name calling. We must have heard every synonym for ‘short’ and ‘tall’. In the end they resorted to questioning each other’s intelligence.

We were glad it wasn’t us having to wait. Jjong and I could see JiYeol trying to avoid thinking of their upcoming parting. Whenever they got anxious, Beagle’s jokes would get a little more desperate and Ji would go completely silent. We wondered how to ease their minds, but it wasn’t in our hands. It was upto imo and uncle to decide.

I sent them off to do some simple housekeeping to calm their anxiety. Doing household chores together would benefit them. Jjong and I cleaned up the kitchen. We decided to leave Ji and Beagle alone at home so they could start on lunch. I thought it best to have an early lunch so Gina and Xing could rest for a few hours before we had to go out for our third date. According to Beagle we had to be out of the house no later than 3:30 in the afternoon.

We left JiYeol to cook with only one-word warning to Beagle to “remember” and made our way downstairs. I observed that neither Dumb nor Dumber brought their bouquets. I waited till we reached the van then reminded them, “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Huh? I have my mobile with me.” Luhan checked his pocket.

Kris checked his appearance and shook his head. I banged my head on the car and asked Jjong to explain to D and D.

“Ummm, you forgot the flowers.” Jjong grinned as they immediately scrambled up.

They returned within a few moments, red in the face and clutching their bouquets. Jjong and I decided against teasing the poor men any more. During the ride to the airport, I grilled them about the likes and dislikes of their wives and made notes in my phone to remember them.

We had to wait a while at the airport but finally we saw Xing walk towards us. She was really ‘little’ Xing, tiny and slim. Her face glowed as she spotted Luhan. They ran towards each other and then stopped, bowing to each other in greeting. Jjong and I stared at them in shock. Luhan gave her the flowers and took her luggage from her.

We bowed in greeting to her as Luhan introduced her to us. She immediately started thanking us for inviting her. Once we were standing around waiting for Gina, and Luhan and Xing began talking in Mandarin, I texted Luhan to hold her hand, kiss her cheek and tell her he missed her.

Luhan turned to me, pink in the face and shook his head. I nodded and glared at him. He hesitantly held her hand. After a few minutes he moved nearer to her. He waited a few more minutes before kissing her cheek and saying something to her. Her blush was our response. I wondered how they’d managed all these years.

Kris kept looking at his watch and then paced around. It was another fifteen minutes before Gina appeared. He rushed to her and hugged her, dropping the bouquet on the floor. Then they walked to us and Kris forgot all about the bouquet. Jjong tried to gesture to him but he didn’t understand.

Gina was introduced to all of us and we shook hands with her. Gina was as tall as me and svelte. Where Xing looked sweet, Gina looked stately. Jjong elbowed Kris and pointed towards Xing’s bouquet. Kris threw me a scared look before rushing back to find the bouquet. He reappeared with a little worse for wear flowers and gave her the bouquet which she quickly hit him with and laughed at his dropping it.

As we returned to the apartment, the two couples caught up with each other. Jjong took my hand and put it on his thigh. “Happy yeobo?” He softly asked.

I nodded, smiling broadly. “How can I not be happy when my friends are over the moon? Thank you for the wonderful idea.” Jjong kissed my hand. Kris cleared his throat behind us.

“What? You have your wife with you now. Stop interrupting us all the time.” I grinned at him.

“Stop distracting Jjong. We need to reach the apartment in one piece.” Kris glared at me.

“You call this distraction?” I was surprised. “He has not taken his eyes off the road even once.”

“His mind is distracted.” Kris grumbled.

“Gina please don’t tell me you never hold hands as he drives.” I pleaded with her.

“Kris does not like it. He finds it distracting.” Gina clarified with a small smile.

“I am going to whack you Kris. Luhan please tell me you are different.” I called out to the couple at the back who were watching us with interest.

Xing turned pink again. “What if I am?” Luhan counterquestioned.

“Good, at least one of you is intelligent.” I smiled at him.

“What if I am not?” Luhan continued.

My smile vanished. I gave a deep groan. Puppy looked at me with interest. I saw his tongue wet his lips. I tried to control my blush. My groan had turned his thoughts naughty. He was definitely distracted now.

“Why are you blushing?” Luhan asked. “What did I miss? What did Jjong do? What did you do?”

“I didn’t see anything. Neither of them moved.” Kris answered Luhan.

I turned to look at both of them and saw the puzzled looks on their wives’ faces. They were trying to make sense of our conversation. “You two are the most patient women on this earth to survive so many years with these two idiots. My hat’s off to you.” I smiled at them taking off an imaginary cap.

Both blushed and tried to come up with a suitable response.

“We are not idiots.” Kris protested, including Luhan as well in his reply.

“Professionally you are super intelligent. But when it comes to personal life, Sehun has more sense than both of you put together.” I smirked at them.

“Who is Sehun?” Gina asked Kris

“You wouldn’t believe if we told you. Ask Jinki only.” Kris responded.

“Jinki, who is Sehun?” Gina did as advised.

“He is my 14-year-old future son-in-law.” I clarified.

Xing and Gina stared at me while struggling for words.

“Their 13-year-old daughter and their neighbor’s son have apparently been in love for many years. The day they landed here, the whole Australia knew Jinki is going to be a father-in-law soon.” Luhan explained to his wife.

“And Sehun has more sense than you, according to Jinki. Why?” Gina asked.

Her question silenced both men.

“Because every day he shows us and our daughter how much he loves her and how precious she is to him.” I answered for them.

“Oh!” Both women said together.

“I wondered why I was being missed suddenly. He had never missed me before during his earlier trips.” Gina spoke aloud. Xing nodded her head in agreement.

“Because we never met Jjong and Jinki before.” Luhan answered. “Seeing them together, I realized how much I missed you little Xing.” He then shifted to Mandarin and rest of his words to her were lost to us. But Xing’s blush told its own story.

“This is why I called him an idiot Gina.” I clarified for her. “Sehun refuses to be away from our daughter for even a day. He went on a three-day hunger strike to make his parents send him on vacation with us, so he wouldn’t be apart from her. That was when he was 12 years old. When a 14 year old can find ways to express his love, then why can’t a 40 years old man do the same?”

Kris blushed and whispered to Gina, “Jinki is teaching me how to show you how much I love and appreciate you. I am trying very hard to learn as much as I can.”

“And it’s been thirty minutes since you met her again and you have yet to tell her you love her. I am a very bad teacher.” I borrowed Jjong’s puppy expression.

Jjong laughed at my words, “Let them be Tokki. You are trying to make a tiger change its stripes. Stick to Hee and Key hyung.”

“No, no. Don’t stop Jinki. I planned to tell her when we were alone. I have been planning a lot since yesterday. It’s just that I am so happy to see her, I forgot everything I planned.” Kris blushed again as he said the last words.

Gina smiled broadly and held his hand, “Oh Kris you look so cute when you blush. I had forgotten. You haven’t blushed since we were very young. After joining the police force you always look cold and distant.”

“For you I am always the same boy you fell in love with Ginnie. You are always so strong I thought if I showed any weakness or emotions, you wouldn’t like it.” Kris held her hand and spoke softly.

I tuned out the couples. It was my way of giving them their privacy. Jjong and I smiled happily at each other. We’d broken the ice that had accumulated over their marriages. Hopefully in the next one week, it would be completely melted.

At home we introduced Ji and Beagle. Ji hugged both the women and Beagle blushed when they cooed over him. They guided them into the other apartment to refresh themselves. It was decided that Kris would take the master bedroom for the first three days and Luhan for the next three days. Ji told me there were loud squeals from both wives as soon as they entered their bedrooms and saw the scarves. JiYeon brought coffee for them and we left to give them privacy.

Back in our apartment, Ji and Beagle moved to the balcony to talk and Jjong pulled me into his lap again to share our coffee. We called and spoke to the rest of our family. They had moved from the coast to central Australia to experience the famous Australian outback. According to Minx, the desert of Australia was so unlike any place they’d seen. They were hoping to drive through kangaroo territory soon. Byong was spending most of his time sitting with the bus driver talking his ears off.

I grinned at Jjong, “He is totally your boy in the yapping department.”

“And yours in the looks. We managed the right combo yeobo.” Jjong kissed my cheek.

“I wanted him to look like you,” I pouted.

“Coo at each other later. If I have to listen to more of your sappy talks, I need to be rewarded with permission to kiss Hunnie.” Minx yelled into the phone.

“What? No way. You stay away from his lips or I am going to ground both of you for life that is only if I don’t kill you first.” Jjong yelled back as he almost fell off the couch in shock. Then he whined to me, “She’s going to be the death of me. She definitely has your evil mind.”

“Minx don’t hassle appa,” I rubbed Jjong’s back to calm him down and admonished Minx to behave. “He will start calling you all the time and make Hee umma separate you from Sehun for the duration of the trip.”

“Minnie keep quiet. Why do you have to rile up appa? Give me the phone.” We heard Sehun gently scold her.

They talked in hushed whispers for a few moments before Sehun spoke to us, “I am sorry appa. You know I will not do anything without your permission. Don’t worry Minnie is safe with me.”

“I am also sorry appa. I was just teasing you two,” Minnie apologized in a subdued voice.

“We love you both.” We said in unison. “Now tell us what’s happening.” I added.

“We had crocodile finger chips yesterday. Do you know it’s a specialty in many places here? Key umma had two plates all by himself.” They laughed as they related their culinary escapades.

“Ummappa, Hee umma is upset because he found Kai trying to kiss Amber unnie. When he told others, Siwon appa scolded them both. Their punishment is to sit on opposite ends of the bus.” Minx related the shocking news to us.

“Ummappa, Hee umma is asking if you have spoken with Amber noona’s parents as yet?” Sehun conveyed Heechul’s message.

“Sunshine give the phone to him, I want to talk to him. And take care of each other and Byong.” I told Sehun.

They gave the phone to Heechul. “Jinx, have you spoken to Hae hyung or Hyukkie?” He did not even say hello and began his grilling.

“Hello to you too Cinder.” I laughed at his worried voice.

“Forget hello, Hae hyung is going to kill all of us when we go back. I am dying with worry. I didn’t sleep a wink last night.” Heechul screeched.

“You didn’t sleep because of the kids or because of Super?” Jjong teased Heechul.

“It is no joke Puppy. I have bags under my eyes today. All my photographs will be horrible. I have even lost my appetite.” Heechul began ranting.

“Calm down hyung. Why not ask Super to speak with Boss? They are best friends after all.” Jjong suggested.

“Simba is trying not to kill Kai. If I let him talk to Hae hyung, both will plot how to do it together. He is very upset with Tae and Key also for not teaching Kai more sense. Key is not talking to Kai for shaming him. Tae is trying to hide his grin around us. Jinx you have a really erted brother.” Heechul’s rant continued.

“Take a deep breath Cinderella. And one more. One more. Now listen. Make Amber in charge of caring for Duckie. Tell Duckie not to leave Amber alone. When Duckie is sleeping, tell Minx and Sehun to be with Amber. The three of them will not give an opportunity for Kai and Amber to be alone. Lock the girls’ room at night and keep the key with you.” I kept thinking of what Jjong and I did with Ji.

Jjong nodded in agreement with my words and spoke, “Hee hyung they are in love. We cannot prevent it forever. We just don’t want it happening in Australia. First, all of you need to calm down. Continuing the trip like this will crash everyone’s pleasure. Relax and we promise Kai will not attempt anything embarrassing anymore.” He looked at me as he made the promise and I nodded.

“Both of you are life savers. I was on the verge of pulling all my hair out. Can you imagine me bald? I will go talk to Siwon and Key. By the way, we have not told imo and uncle anything.” Heechul gave a big audible sigh.

“Cinder, give the phone to Kai. We want to talk to him.” I made our request.

Puppy smiled at me and kissed my cheek. We really were becoming pro at this kind of talk with the youngsters.

“Hello omoni.” Kai’s hesistant voice rang out in greeting to me.

“Hello Kai.” We said in unison. Jjong continued softly, “Kai stop the speaker option and let us know when done.”

After a few seconds Kai responded. “Done.”

Puppy continued in a patient tone, “What is this we are hearing Kai? You have forgotten all we taught you?”

“P-Puppy ap-appa I-I umm I?” Kai began stuttering.

“Eight more days and we will be back in Korea. In Australia Amber is under the care of your omoni and I. Anything wrong will reflect directly on us. Do you want us to lose the trust of Amber’s parents? You waited so patiently for over two years. Why not a few more weeks?” Jjong’s patient tone did not change.

“I am sorry appa.” Kai spoke in a very small voice.

“Before this, at least you were sitting and talking with Amber. Maybe even holding her hand. But now? No one is allowing you anywhere near her. Was it really worth this separation? You just got her to accept you and you cannot even sit next to her. Think it over Kai. We understand what you are feeling. We understand how you want to be near her. We know you want to kiss her to express your love. But this is not the right time.” Jjong continued.

“I know now appa. I am very sorry. Please tell them to at least let me sit with her in the bus.” Kai requested in a dejected voice.

“What is the guarantee that you won’t misbehave again?” Jjong asked.

“I promise you. I won’t. Trust me.” Kai pleaded.

“Kai trust once broken is not so easily regained.” Jjong advised. “Do you think your omoni and I are two people who keep our promises?” He asked further.

“Yes. Omoni never promises anything if he cannot keep it. And if he promises, he definitely keeps it. You are just like him Puppy appa.” Kai responded.

“We will get you the permission to sit with Amber. But, I am promising you something today. If I find you touched Amber again withour her parent’s permission, I will cut you open and hang you upside down from the nearest tree to die. And no one can save you from me at that time, neither your parents nor your grandparents. Do you understand me?” Puppy spoke very softly to Kai, using one of our usual threats.

There was a shocked breath from the other end. And total silence.

“Don’t just nod your head Kai. I need to hear your words. Is my promise clear to you?” Jjong continued softly.

“Y-y-yes a-a-ap-appa.” Kai stuttered again.

“Kai you know I love you very much. You will always be my first born.” It was my turn.

“I-I l-love y-y-you t-t-too om-omoni.” Kai continued to stutter, his voice quaking with fear.

“I have high expectations from my children. I am letting this incident pass without any punishment. But next time you touch Amber without her parent’s permission, I will cut off your , make a necklace of it and put it around you neck before Puppy hangs you from the tree. That’s my promise to you. Understood?” I waited for a response.

There was a longer silence this time. Kai had completely lost his power of speech. We waited patiently. Finally we heard Sehun.

“Ummappa, appa? What did you say to Kai? He nearly dropped the phone, his hands are shaking so much.” Sehun was curious.

“Sunshine, ask him if he understood my promise?” I said to Sehun. We heard him follow, “Kai, ummappa is asking if you understood his promise.”

“Ummappa he nodded. I think he has understood. What did you promise him ummappa?” Sehun was even more curious now. Then he answered his own question. “Oh! That! Oh no! You made him your promises?”

He immediately asked Kai, “Kai did they promise you that? No wonder you are so white. You know your eyes look like an alien’s right now.” He called out loudly, “Minx come quickly and take a picture of Kai like this. Hurry. You don’t want to miss this.” We heard Minx join him. Sehun spoke to her quietly but was still audible to us, “Kai got his promises from Puppy appa and ummappa. Oooohh I was waiting for this moment for a long time. Now he will stop harassing us. Take one photo from this angle also. Good. Now you can get him some water to drink to calm down.”

Puppy and I grinned on hearing the monolog from Sehun. Our work was done. We disconnected and called again. Sehun had apparently forgotten all about our call.

“Sorry ummappa I forgot about the phone call.” Sehun immediately answered while laughing.

“Sunshine give the phone to Hee umma again and look after Kai.” Jjong asked.

“Sure appa. Thank you for letting me witness and record this moment. I love you.” Sehun blew a few kisses to Jjong before handing the phone to Heechul.

“Jinx, Puppy, what happened? Why are Minx and Sehun laughing and Kai near tears?” Heechul was just as curious.

I ignored his question and made our request, “Cinder do us a favor. Let Kai sit with Amber again. Of course let the other three be with them as well.”

“No way, Jinx. I am not willing to take that risk.” Heechul protested.

“Nothing will happen hyung. Trust us. Let them sit together with the kids, maybe in the last row. He will behave. We promise you.” Jjong soothed a worried Heechul.

“No. You talk to Simba about it.” Heechul gave the phone to Siwon.

We had to repeat all of it to Siwon who began laughing softly. “Ok Jjong, I understand. I agree Kai will behave for the rest of the trip. I think I will add a threat of my own. Just for good measure. Hmmm let me think of a good one. How about behind bars for molestation? Yes, I like the sound of it.” We could see him mentally rub his hands together at the threat he thought of.

“Kai come here.” We heard Siwon call out. After a few moments we heard him speak again, “You can sit with Amber again. But no touching. You touch her and I will put you behind bars for molestation. Got it? Good boy. Now off you go and keep your every body part to yourself.”

Puppy and I unsuccessfully tried to control our laughter. We disconnected the call knowing that Siwon would go and gloat to Heechul about it. And we had a more difficult call to make.

“Hello DongHae?” I spoke as our call to Korea connected.

“Hello Jinki. How are you doing? How is everyone?” DongHae responded.

“We are having great fun here. Everyone is fine.” I decided to come straight to the point. “A week ago there was an interview here for an Australian paper. Amber confessed to liking Kai during it.”

DongHae yelled, “What? Why didn’t you stop her Jinki?”

“She blurted out before we could stop her. Anyway, they are on a road trip with the rest of the family. We just wanted to give you a heads up on it.” I tried to reassure.

“She is only 15. She is too young for a boyfriend. And Kai is a brat just like Tae. She is just a baby.” It was DongHae’s turn to hyperventilate.

“Hyung she is 15. Most girls her age have boyfriends or serious crushes.” Jjong spoke soothingly.

“He had better keep his distance or I will break every bone in his body.” Hae’s protective instincts came forward.

“He will. Don’t worry. He won’t misbehave.” We tried to pacify him. “Everyone’s keeping hawk eyes over them.”

“Ok. Thanks for letting me know. I will call and speak with Siwon. Take care. Bye.” Hae hung up the phone without waiting our response.

I put my face in Puppy’s neck, trying to control my laughter. “Jagi, he reacted just like you did when you came to know about Sehun.”

Jjong pinched my thigh, “Stop making fun of us. Some one has to be the man in the family.”

“Oooooh my manly man.” I hopped off his lap and pulled him towards our bedroom. “Let me refresh your memories of my manhood.”

“Promises promises.” Jjong raced me to the room and locked the door as soon as we entered.

Our clothes went flying around the room and I proved to him that he was not the only man in the family. Not even five minutes later we lay side by side panting for breath.

“I love your manhood. Especially when it’s hard and deep in me.” Jjong was about to kiss me when there was an urgent knock on the door.

The knock was followed by Beagle’s low whisper, “Appa everyone’s here for lunch. Hurry up.”

We laughed as we cleaned up and dressed. That was the second time Beagle had to call us out after our quickies. I left the room before Jjong, after giving him one quick hard kiss.

“Jinki this is not done. You keep disappearing when you have guests. Do you know how rude it is?” Kris grumbled the moment he saw me.

“Are you implying that I am a bad hostess oppa?” Ji pouted at Kris.

“No Ji I didn’t mean that at all. Damn how to explain this?” Kris began scratching his head in frustration.

“Be nice to them oppa. They are supposed to be on their mini honeymoon.” Ji whispered loudly.

“Kris, stop haranguing Jinki. We didn’t mind talking to Jiyeon and Chan Yeol. Did we Xing?” Gina intervened.

Xing shook her head. “I liked talking to them.”

I wondered why Luhan was silent. He was looking me up and down and then gestured to my chest. “You missed one button Jinki.”

I winked at him as I closed the button. Jjong appeared next to me and put his arm around Luhan, “So hyung did you like the peak you got of my Tokki’s chest?”

“Eh?” Luhan immediately became flustered and spoke to Xing, “Don’t take him seriously. I have no interest in Jinki.”

“Hyung, are you saying my Tokki is not attractive?” Jjong teased Luhan further.

“What? No, I did not say that. He is very attractive. I mean I am not interested in him. I mean, oh damn. Xing is going to divorce me now.” Luhan started fumbling with words and looked at his wife fearfully.

Jjong cracked up in laughter. We could see Kris looking at us in fright and that made me join the laughter. Dumb and Dumber were such easy targets.

“Relax oppa. They are just pulling your leg. Don’t worry you are not getting divorced because of these two crazy men.” Ji soothed a very ruffled Luhan.

I saw Gina and Xing attempting to hide their smiles. It was going to be a fun week with them. Ji and I served lunch, insisting that everyone sit and enjoy. I had no idea what happened to Jjong but he kept feeding me bits of food. I smiled at him and took his offerings happily.

There was a steady stream of conversation through the lunch, in an attempt to know our guests better. The conversation was dominated by Puppy and Beagle who kept a continuous barrage of questions for Gina and Xing. By the end of half hour, we knew all about their families and kids.

Beagle and Ji looked at the clock and told us to hurry or we’d miss our date. Everyone pitched in to clear the table and load the dishwasher. As advised by JiYeol we grabbed thick jackets and left for our date. Beagle made a call as we entered the van.

Jjong drove and Beagle guided him. Kris and Luhan were restless in excitement promising their wives an unforgettable time. We were still in dark and kept asking but to no avail. After a short drive we reached our destination. We stared at the sight in front of us with open mouths.

JiYeol had really outdone our previous two dates.