38. CONDITIONS

The next two days, Puppy and I took our visitors - Kris, Luhan and their families, around Daegu. It gave imo and Soo the opportunity to spend time with Ji, to their hearts’ content. Beagle went to the station to work, with DongHae and Siwon smoothing things out for him in Puppy’s absence.

On Saturday, HyukHae and Sichul went with our visitors to Busan for two days. All the kids, except Junsu and Joongie, accompanied them. On Sunday evening, our four teens returned home with Byong and Duckie. The others went on to Jeju island for a few days and then they were moving on to Japan for a week before returning back to Daegu.

It was on Monday, when the kids were in school and we were at work, that Ji went into labor. All of us left work and congregated in Leeteuk’s hospital. Beagle turned out to be a clone of Puppy. He started experiencing labor pains along with Ji. Doc watched our family circus for a while and then wisely separated the mother-to-be from the rest of us. Ji smiled at him in thanks. Imo and Soo were allowed to go with Ji to the delivery room. The rest of us had to cool our heels in the VIP room and keep a hyperventilating Beagle calm.

Puppy got him talking about baby names and that diverted his attention. Ji and Beagle had decided to name the baby Yixing, in honor of the two couples who had supervised part of their courting. Also in thanks of the two honeymoons that JiYeol had in two years of their marriage, one in Canada and another in China.

Ji managed to surprise us with a very short labor of only two hours. Within an hour of entering the hospital, Ji gave birth to a boy. Beagle ran to her to hug her and cry in relief that she was alright. Then he saw his son and cried all over again. Ji kept smiling through it and patting his back to calm him down.

We had to wait our turn to meet the baby till both mother and son were brought back to the room. Uncle was celebrating by distributing chocolates to all the hospital staff. Kibum was working out a schedule with umma while we fed Junsu and Jaejoong. Tae called the vacationing group and gave them the good news. Appa stood in front of the nursery looking at the new addition to our family. He couldn’t understand why the baby was not given a good solid Korean name.

As Ji was brought back to the room, the congratulatory messages for her and baby Yixing began pouring in from all the people we had called or texted. Even Sam sent her good wishes from Australia. Junsu and Joongie insisted on being the first to kiss their aunt. While everyone waited their turn, Kibum and I went to the nursery to hassle the nurse into giving us baby Yixing quickly. The nursery incharge was used to us by now, having borne the same impatience when Junsu and Jaejoong were born. We texted Puppy to quietly bring Beagle to the nursery. The poor boy, a new father, should at least get to enjoy his son peacefully before the family took over.

Puppy had shown him how to bond with the baby, using Ji’s dolls at home. The nurse allowed Beagle to hold the baby and through the window we motioned him to open his shirt buttons and put the baby on his chest. The nurse laughed when she saw three of us with our shirt buttons open. Kibum winked at her and appa whacked us to behave. Puppy had handed nurse the video camera to capture Beagle’s first alone time with the baby.

Soo and imo wanted to be the ones to take care of Ji in the hospital and home. So after making sure Ji was comfortable, the rest of us went back home with Junsu and Jaejoong. Uncle went to his office, Puppy also went to work, while Kibum and I prepared the house for Ji’s arrival in a few days’ time. Junsu and Joongie kept us busy and entertained.

Soo’s boys were really poles apart in nature. Junsu was a calm child and Joongie totally opposite of him. Kibum was sure that Joongie was conceived during the Australian holiday as he compared the baby to a hyperactive kangaroo. We counted the weeks and realized that Kibum was right. Kibum smirked. He now had more ammunition to tease Teukkie with.

Kids arrived home from school and appa’s driver dropped Kai and Amber at our place. Sehun had joined us as well, wanting to spend more time with Kai. There were wild screams when Yixing’s birth was announced. Everyone wanted to go to the hospital but we held them off. They immediately called Beagle to congratulate him. While Amber, Duckie, Byong and Kai changed clothes and freshened up, I braced myself, after seeing Sehun and Minx hold a whispered conversation.

“Ummappa when can I marry Minx? I am already 16 and she is 15. If you give your permission, we can marry even now.” Sehun hugged me for greater impact as he whispered in my ear. Minx followed him by hugging me from the other side.

“Oh no, no, you are not getting me to agree by squeezing me to death. Two more years. Wait for two more years.” I silently prayed that Puppy would not blow up at the news.

“Seriously ummappa? We can marry when I am 18? You are not going to refuse then?” Sehun whispered excitedly. He knew that if he spoke aloud, Kai would hear and all of us would be in trouble with DongHae. He had learned his lesson well in the past two years.

“Ummappa you are not kidding us are you? Did you talk this with appa first? You know he will throw a tantrum and cry all night if you make such a decision without him.” Minx was our voice of reason.

I looked at the two and kissed their cheeks. “What makes you think I have not discussed this with him?”

“Thank you, ummappa. You are the best father.” Sehun hugged me tighter.

“You are getting strong Sunshine. Ease up and let me breathe. Your Puppy appa has certain conditions first and I totally agree with them.” I walked the two into the kitchen for some privacy, leaving Kibum to deal with the other kids.

“What conditions?” Minx was wary of how our brains worked.

“Simple ones, Minx. Don’t worry. First, no more harassing us for kissing on the lips. You wait calmly for two more years. Second, Sehun has to be in the top three ranks in school and top his school in CSAT. Next, he has to get admission in a good medical college. And you girl have to pay attention to your studies. We will no longer accept your dismal academic performance. You have to make an effort and score at least average marks.” I looked at both of them seriously while plating food for everyone.

“Ummappa I hate studies.” Minx whined and pouted just like Puppy.

“Well, those are our conditions for your marriage when Sehun turns 18. Now you both have to decide what you want. Unless both of you agree and fulfill them, you will have to wait till Sehun is 25 to marry. Choice is yours.” I smiled to sweeten the strictness of my words. But, we couldn’t afford to have Minx fail her classes. She was such a lazy student. Just the night before I had sarcastically remarked to Puppy that despite a good brain, Minx preferred to be lazy and not bother about her school results, just like Minho.

“We will fulfill them ummappa. You just need to talk to my parents and make them also agree.” Sehun smiled with me and hugged me again. “Minnie don’t whine. It’s just two more years. They are not asking you to top the class. That’s for me. You just have to study a little bit more. Do it for us please.” He tried to talk some sense into Minx.

Minx wagged a finger at me as she dragged Sehun away, “You are an evil father ummappa. Just you wait. One day I will run away from home.”

“Please do tell me when Minx. I will pack your bags for you. There will be some peace at last in my life.” I winked at her.

“What? What kind of a parent are you? You should be jailed for torturing your children and for instigating me to run away. Don’t you know you are supposed to stop me? Too much of love from Puppy appa has warped your rabbit brain.” Minx screeched as she scowled at me.

“See Sunshine, this is what you will be getting for a lifetime. Be certain that you want to marry this banshee.” I teased them more.

“I love her anyway ummappa,” Sehun smiled indulgently at Minx.

“Just you wait. Such an evil bunny. I am calling appa to complain about you. I will tell him that you allowed me to marry Sehun.” Minx threatened me and took my phone to call Puppy.

I leaned against the kitchen counter and lazily smirked at her. “Be my guest banshee.”

“Appa do you know your yeobo and our ummappa has given his permission for me to marry Sehun when he turns 18?” Minx hissed when Puppy greeted the call from my phone with his usual, “Everything okay yeobo?”

“So? What do you want me to do? If you don’t want to marry him, I will try to find another boy. But two years is not enough time to find someone else. You will have to give us more time.” Puppy responded in a bored voice.

“What? I never said I don’t want to marry Sehun. Does it not matter to you that I will leave you in two years?” Minx was confused at our reaction.

“Jeez. You will be with us for that long? Tokki can’t we marry her off next year?” Puppy continued teasing her.

“No Puppy we can’t. Sehun needs to get admission in med school first and I want her to pass school with at least average marks. So two years it is. But, good news. She says she is going to run away.” I whispered loudly into the speaker phone.

“Good, keep a packed bag ready for her. Let me know when she runs away. We will go out to dinner to celebrate.” Puppy answered back with a laugh.

Minx stomped her feet in frustration and went to play with Junsu and Joongie. Sehun looked at me thoughtfully and followed Minx. I winked at him and called out, “Sunshine, be very sure. You not only get her tantrums, you get the two of us as in laws.” When I was alone again, I burst out in laughter and Puppy joined me. I sent him a kiss and ended the call to serve lunch to the kids who were entering the dining room for food.

Through out lunch Minx kept giving me strange looks and each time I smiled sweetly at her. It was fun to confuse her. Puppy and I didn’t want to turn into predictable parents. According to us, it was good to keep our kids guessing about our reactions. It kept them in line and kept us from getting bored.

Minx and Sehun didn’t know that Puppy and I had already discussed and decided that we were okay with their kissing and marriage when Sehun turned 18. We must give in with good grace to what we couldn’t change. We had seen their young love blossom and grow stronger over the past 12 years. They were inseparable and obviously meant to be together. Sehun was a good boy and his parents treated Minx as their own already. We were sure that Minx would be happy with her new family.

What more could parents of a girl want when their daughter married?