37. FIT RIGHT IN

The hectic two days that all of us spent in Seoul saw us not only celebrating but working as well. Imo, Soo and ChanYeol’s mother spent their time shopping with Xing, Gina and the kids while the rest of us had multiple work meetings. Hyukjae went visiting his Seoul friends.

Chan Yeol was transferring to work from Daegu HQ with Puppy, Siwon and DongHae, for the duration of his stay there. His Seoul team threw a ‘Baby Shower for the Baby’ party for him at the Seoul HQ and the Daegu trio attended it as well. According to them, Beagle was bouncing around like an excited little puppy. They dragged back Hyori with them for the evening party. Apparently she was stationed in Seoul for a year.

Kris and Luhan relaxed with Leeteuk and Sunwoo hyung. The four of them kept harassing us for special treats in between our meetings. Heechul would instruct his father’s cooks to prepare the desired treats but the tiresome quartet wanted Kibum in the kitchen. We told them to wait till after lunch when Kibum’s part in the meetings would be over. We had slotted only Police Agency Hagwon meetings post lunch. Kibum spent an hour in the kitchen and then left to join the shoppers after lunch. During lunch, all we heard from Luhan and Kris were complaints of how we never told them that we belonged to elite families of Korea.

I gave Dumb and Dumber a sardonic smile, “Heechul and Abeoji are family. Stop fan boying.”

“That’s exactly what we are talking about Bunny. They are your family. And, so is this Noble laureate who hardly speaks.” Luhan pointed out the obvious for the n^th time.

“Guys, I hardly speak because who can get a word in when Jjong is present. Now I will turn totally mute because these two just had to get Ji married to another yapper.” Leeteuk shook his head as he defended his silence.

“Live it up while you can. If my father loses the next election, we will be back to normal again.” Heechul grinned at Luhan and Kris.

“And I am normal. Not a single person is illustrious in the Oh family unless you count Sehun’s brush with fame because of Minx,” Sunwoo hyung winked at me.

“How did you manage to produce such a handsome son?” Kris asked Sunwoo hyung with a grimace. “My daughter has not been able to take her eyes off him. Now that he is 16, I can see the wheels of her brain working out schemes to ditch her current boyfriend.” His words made all of us laugh.

“Oooh I am so looking forward to beautiful grandbabies from the two. We must tell them to give us at least one granddaughter to dress up. Right Key?” Heechul wagged a finger at me.

Kibum nodded, “You are lucky you got Duckie to dress Hee hyung. I got only a boy. How much can you dress a boy who refuses to even learn how to put an eye liner? Jinki hyung was a more docile teenager. Umma told me she taught him to use makeup before he left for college. I am most unfortunate. Teukkie hyung I want to have another baby, a girl this time.” Kibum began harassing Leeteuk.

“Get Kai and Amber married and have granddaughters to play with Kibum.” Luhan advised.

“What? No way. I am too young to become a grandparent. Not to mention, Hae hyung will murder us if we even utter a word about his precious daughter’s marriage or children.” Key shuddered at the thought of DongHae’s reaction to Kai and Amber. He then turned to me and began whining, “Hyung, what revenge are you extracting from Tae and me? Out of all the girls in whole of Korea you had to set up Kai with Amber only? Every week we get a complaint from both her fathers about Kai. My boy is very well behaved and I am highly upset with them for alleging otherwise. And you are of no help at all hyung. Stop laughing all of you. I am turning old before my age because of Amber. And she refuses to wear any dresses that I purchase for her.”

“Key what do you mind the most? Her fathers or her refusal to dress as a girl?” Sunwoo hyung soberly asked while the rest of us tried not to choke on food while laughing.

The question left Key speechless for some time which made us laugh harder. He was such a fashionista. “Her dressing, for certain. Hae hyung and Hyukkie we can deal with. But her clothes definitely cannot be ignored. And I blame Jinki hyung and his loyal Puppy for all my pre-mature wrinkles. For their own son they get Duckie.” He turned to poke a tongue out at me. “Mean man.”

I laughed so hard that I fell off my chair. I left it to Heechul to explain. He did not disappoint me, as I lay laughing on the floor.

“But Key, Duckie was only 4 years old when Kai fell in love with Amber. Don’t rile up Jinx or he will refuse to marry Byong with Duckie. Siwon and I had our hearts set on him from the time I was pregnant.” Heechul tried to remain calm as he thought of losing Byong.

“What nonsense Heechul. You did not even know what gender your child was till she was born.” Leeteuk looked in surprise at Heechul.

“Gender did not matter. We wanted Byong for our son-in-law, that’s all. We want to be officially related to this clumsy man.” Heechul smiled around the table as he pointed at me.

Luhan and Kris gasped and looked in astonishment at him while I continued to roll on the floor in laughter at the announcement, having heard it before. Kibum forgot his complaints after this new kernel of information.

Sunwoo hyung asked the question that was clear on Luhan and Kris’s faces, “You would have turned your son gay just to become related to Jinki?”

Heechul beamed in response and nodded happily. Luhan and Kris looked at us in shock and then looked at each other both shaking their heads silently.

“Stop thinking whatever you two morons are thinking,” I warned the two. Their expressions had sobered me up and I righted my chair to sit back in it.

“Nothing much, Jinki. Just that both your kids are already booked. Both Leeteuk’s kids are boys and they are too young for my daughter,” Kris began.

“And I have only two sons,” Luhan added.

“I don’t think my son has shown any gay tendencies,” Kris swallowed when Leeteuk stared at him.

“My sons already have girlfriends back home,” Luhan was sad.

Dumb and Dumber looked at each other and sighed. It was my turn to stare at them with my mouth closing and opening speechlessly. Kibum closed my jaw, “Hyung stop imitating Hyukkie.”

It was Sunwoo hyung who broke the silence with a loud laugh, “Really, leave it to Jinki and Jjong to get friends like you. Stop dreaming. Teukkie’s sons are not only too young, but, as you both pointed out yourself, none of your boys are gay.”

Kris and Luhan flushed red in embarrassment. “Gina would kill me if she came to know,” Kris muttered.

Heechul patted his back and pronounced sagely, “Don’t worry. Our families have this effect on people. You will get used to it.” Teukkie rolled his eyes.

Two extra years had not made any difference to Dumb and Dumber. They were as whacky as the time we met them. When the shoppers returned in the evening, Gina ran after Kris to hit him with her purse. Luhan’s boys and Kris’s boy kept staring at little Junsu and Jaejoong in wonder at how convolutedly their fathers thought. Duckie had forgotten and given Joongie a lollipop and he was happily trying to make Kris’s son share it with him, smearing it all around the older boys’ lips and chin in the process.

We returned to Daegu late at night as the kids had school and they had already missed two days. Byong was to stay with Heechul and Siwon, Kris’ daughter was staying with Amber and Kibum was taking home all the remaining boys except Sehun. Minx was sleeping over at Sehun’s house in Kiwoo’s room. Kiwoo was living in college campus. This freed up kids’ rooms at our place for Kris and Gina. Luhan and Xing would be using our room while Puppy and I slept on the new sofa--bed in the family room.

“Puppy appa can I now kiss Minx on the lips?” Sehun tried his luck again in the train.

Puppy looked at him in horror, “While she is staying at your house? Absolutely not! Stop trying to give me a heart attack. I am too young to die.” His words made Hyemi noona crack up in laughter.

Kris’s daughter wisely kept silent. She had come to know last year how our kids couldn’t go beyong innocent skinship. She had been aghast and finally thankful that her parents did not indulge in such barbaric customs. The boys were teasing the hell out of Kai and Sehun, taking care to keep out of DongHae’s hearing range. Byong and Duckie were a disappointment to Puppy and Siwon, with their constant refusal to spy on the teens.

It was only when we reached Daegu that Soo pointed to my hair and tried to discreetly brush them with her fingers. Her actions got the attention of Puppy who took one look and exclaimed, “Tokki, did you hold Joongie?”

When I nodded, Soo clarified, “I am sorry oppa. Joongie has stuck his lollipop in your hair. And since it must have been when we began our journey, it is all dried up and stuck tightly in your hair.” She tried to pull the offending item off but it really hurt me, making her stop.

I sighed, “Let it be Soo. I will go home and wash it off. May be Puppy will get it off when it’s properly wet.”

“You mean shower together Tokki? Soo get Joongie to stick another lollipop in his hair tomorrow.” Puppy kissed Soo’s cheek as if it was her personal achievement. Well, in a way Jaejoong was.

Thankfully, teens were tired after a full day of activity and not in a mood to tease me about my new hairstyle. Byong and Duckie were asleep in our arms like Junsu and Jaejoong. Everyone bundled up in the right vehicle and went home.

First thing that Ji did on reaching home was to check on her doll house. She still maintained it well even after her marriage. Beagle had added two more exclusive dolls to it and helped her arrange all the miniature furniture they had bought in Australia. He really was a very good and understanding husband to Ji. They had visited Daegu every weekend since their marriage, till the time Ji became pregnant. He had helped Ji set up a home office in Seoul which was run by both Ji and her mother-in-law. Ji’s new family doted on her like crazy.

Umma kept reminding imo about her good fortune to find good husbands for both her daughters and, in case of Ji even good in laws who treated Ji like their own daughter. Soo would pretend to be jealous because Leeteuk had lost his family at a young age.

Since we didn’t have any bathroom of our own for the duration of our guests’ stay, Puppy’s hopes of a shower with me were dashed. Ji laughingly pushed him aside and wet my hair to carefully remove the lollipop. Puppy watched the whole procedure with a pout and a constant whine.

“Puppy, don’t set a bad example for Beagle. You are 34 years old now. Act your age.” Uncle intervened, trying to hide his smile.

“This is the thanks I get for finding Beagle. I am surrounded by heartless people who do not understand my pain. I need to do all this stuff for my Tokki,” Puppy refused to stop.

“Ji move away from Jinki. Just let his mutt do it. I can’t take his whining any more. It’s been twelve years and he behaves as if he just fell in love with Jinki.” Uncle continued to grumble as Puppy quickly hugged him and then sat behind me to work the lollipop out of my hair.

“I suggest we cut off the bunch of hair. It would be easier,” Luhan had his own suggestion.

“What? Cut my Tokki’s beautiful hair. Shame on you, hyung.” Puppy responded before any of us could.

“Whatever man! Just leave the crazy guy to love his rabbit. At least we’ll have a few minutes of peace. Imo I am hungry. What’s there to eat?” Kris ignored Gina’s jab in his stomach. According to him nothing should stand between a man and his stomach.

Imo put a bunch of vegetables and fruits in front of me to cut for food and fruit salad while Puppy and I conversed in whispers. Luhan tried to sit near us but Xing pulled him to sit at the dining table with Kris and Beagle.

I looked at the increasing size of our family. Dumb and Dumber fit right in.