51. JOOHYUN, JUNGKOOK, TAEYONG

Siwon and Sunwoo hyung, who were nearest to the new and now unconscious father, rushed to catch him before Sehun hit the floor. Hyemi noona half sobbed and half laughed, “Like father, like son. At least the son held out till after the birth.”

There was a ripple of laughter in the room. Puppy and I stood rooted to our spot. All I could think was that I was a grandfather and my baby, whom I had almost lost at birth, was now a mother. Tears began coursing down our cheeks. Kibum and Heechul hugged us and cried with us. That is how Chan Yeol found our group when he came searching for Kibum.

Beagle, maknae of the grandparents, poured a glass of water over Sehun’s face to bring him around. When Sehun opened his eyes, Beagle almost climbed over him, “Hey new dad. Welcome to the world of awake. You are a father of three at one go. Wow! You have matched my record without much effort.” Chan Yeol kept blabbering and thumping Sehun’s back at the same time, almost sending him sprawling on his face in the process.

Siwon pulled Beagle off Sehun to allow Sunwoo hyung to hug his son. A crying Puppy joined them to make it a three-way hug. They beckoned to me to join them but I could only stand immobile and shed more silent tears. Puppy walked over to me and pulled me from Kibum and Heechul to hug me. I wrapped my arms tightly around him and began sobbing my heart out. I couldn’t even decide why I was crying. I only hiccupped, “I want to see her. I want to see my baby to be sure she is fine. Jagi, I want to see her.”

Kibum wailed to Heechul, holding his shoulders and shaking him hard, “I also want a granddaughter. Tell Amber to give me one quickly.”

Hyemi noona shook her head in wonder at us and asked the most important question, “When will Minx be shifted into the room and when can I meet my grandchildren?”

Sehun unentangled himself from everyone and hugged his mother, “Very soon umma. They will shift her into the room as soon as the anesthesia wears off. Maybe another half hour, max. They are so perfect umma. So tiny. Their fingers and toes are even tinier. I am so blessed. I am a father now, umma.”

Chan Yeol sped off to tell rest of our family. Siwon reminded Heechul and Kibum to call and inform the newly wed couple who were at the airport. The newborns were wheeled out of the surgery unit and we stopped the nurse to take our first look at the most beautiful babies in the world.

Sehun picked up each one proudly and introduced to us. “Meet my daughter Joohyun. Isn’t she as pretty as her mother?” When we all nodded awestruck, he gently put her down to introduce her brother, “Meet my older son Jungkook. Isn’t he perfect?” We nodded once again and he tenderly picked up the third baby, “This is my youngest, Taeyong. He is so adorable.”

Byong came running down the hallway and skidded to a halt next to the babies, along with Duckie. He srunched up his face at the first look, “Hyung, they look like little rats.”

Sehun only smiled at him, “Adorable little rats. So perfect, aren’t they?”

“The beached whale gave birth to pink little rats. Are you sure they are your babies? They don’t look like you from any angle.”

“Yes Byong they are mine. I watched the doctor bring them into this world. They must look like Minnie.”

“If you say so. I can really believe that noona looked like a rat too when she was born.”

Even I couldn’t help the bubble of laughter that escaped me on hearing them. Duckie wanted to hold one baby but the nurse quickly wheeled them away promising to bring them to the room when Minx got there. Sehun went to the recovery room again to be with his wife. He was walking on sunshine. I again hiccupped remembering my babygirl’s surgery, and began my litany of wanting to meet her.

Leeteuk had joined us by that time and seeing me beginning to cry again, eyes and nose red, he told the nurse to take Puppy and me into the recovery room to meet Minx. We found her holding hands with Sehun and smiling. Sehun quickly stepped aside so we could hug her from both sides, as she lay on the bed. We kissed her cheeks and she giggled. She wiped my tears and kissed my cheek. As I stopped crying, reassured about her safety, Puppy gave a sob and held tight to her.   

“Stop drowning me in your tears. You will scare the babies if you continue the waterwoks with them. You are both too old to cry like this.” When Puppy continued to sob, she used her ultimate weapon, “A fine example you are setting for Sehun.” The new father just shrugged at us, too happy to be concerned about anything.

“Babygirl don’t scare us like this again. Next time tell us when you are in pain.” Puppy tried to control his sobs.

“Don’t worry appa, there will be no next time. That’s it. I am putting a full stop at three. The end.” Minx grinned at us. I could see Sehun jumping out of her sight. The poor boy must be feeling so relieved.

I was equally relieved to hear that. I hugged her tight once again and kissed her forehead. “Thank you for the three perfect angels. We love you baby. Take care and come quickly to the room. We’ll be waiting there.”

“Ummappa, I also contributed towards those angels,” Sehun pushed out his lower lip and softly complained.

We hugged him next and kissed his cheeks, “Thank you Sunshine for making us grandfathers. May they fill your every day with happiness and bliss!” I whispered to my son-in-law, my voice breaking again with emotions. He hugged us tight before we left the couple alone to share the joy of their parenthood.

In the room, we found another type of celebration in progress. My father had managed to smuggle in a few bottles of champagne and everyone was holding paper cups of it. The first great-grandchildren of the family were born. Hyukkie and DongHae were being harassed to convince Amber to produce the next Lee generation as quickly as possible.

All the kids surrounded my father and he began giving them a sip each from his cup, ignoring the frowns of their parents. “It’s a tiny sip only. Why exclude them from celebrations?” Appa exclaimed when Taemin scowled at him. When Jaejoong came back for more, appa pinched his cheek and handed him a candy.

“Oh no harabeoji, Amber unnie said no candies for Jaejoong for a month for scaring Minx unnie before the wedding.” Duckie quickly took away the candy from Joongie.

“Noona don’t be mean. If you deprive me of my candy, I will remember it when it’s your wedding.” Jaejoong gave her a killer smile.

“My dear Joongie, try these scare tactics with your mother and Ji imo. I am going to tie you to your chair every time we are together for the wedding celebrations. You forget, I am dating the master of mischief.” Duckie sweetly responded and kissed Jaejoong’s cheeks. “Unless you want me to cut all your hair in your sleep, you will remember to behave in my wedding.”

Jaejoong hugged Byong and appealed to him, only to have Byong point to his own black eye, “Joongie you don’t want your face to look like mine, do you?”

At Byong’s words, Junsu ran and hid his face in imo’s lap, Yixing climbed into his father’s arms and Baekhyun hugged Jaejoong in consolation. Aunt Hee Young handed cookies to the kids to divert their minds from dark thoughts, “You can have these instead.”

“I want maple syrup cookies. When is Kris uncle coming again?” Junsu asked his grandmother. Puppy took out his phone and began messaging Kris and Luhan about the newest additions to our family. Heechul and Kibum took videos of everyone celebrating.

“Name one baby after me,” Taemin suddenly pouted. “I feel sad that no one has named their kid after me till date.”

“Taemin, the youngest is named after you - Taeyong,” Hyemi noona’s assurance brought a smile to my bratty brother’s face.

I took out my phone and messaged Puppy.

You know his eyes are totally like Minho

Even Jungkook. Their tiny faces were totally dominated by their eyes.

Except for Joohyun all have lips like Sehun

Their noses also looked like Sehun’s to me.

Joohyun is a copy of Sehun except for her eyes

Joongkook is the most like Minx

They are so adorable

Thank you yeobo for making me a grandfather. I love you so much.

I love you too. Silly Puppy

Always, for you

We wrapped our arms around each other as we compared the features of our grandkids. In all the loud celebration taking place in the room, Puppy and I were in a world of our own. We slowly let the joy of our three new angels settle deep into our souls, bringing special smiles on our faces. The moment we saw Joohyun, Jungkook and Taeyong for the first time through the tears in our eyes, our lives were filled with new colors.  

When Minx and the babies were brought to the room, Byong mercifully did not further. Everyone stayed on till it was night and the kids began nodding off one by one on the elders. When there were no more couches for them to sleep on, we bade good bye to them. Kibum and Heechul had to be dragged away from the babies. Both left planning for shopping trip next day with imo, Soo and Ji to buy clothes and accessories for the newborns. All efforts to make them see reason were obviously falling on deaf ears.

Finally, only Sehun and we two sets of parents remained in the room. Hyemi noona helped Minx with her soup, as we discussed the night stay. Sehun refused to leave Minx in the hospital. Minx looked pleadingly at her mother-in-law, between sips of soup, “Umma if you don’t mind, can ummappa stay tonight? You can stay tomorrow night.”

“What babygirl? You don’t want your appa to stay?” Puppy’s eyes filled with tears. “Yeobo my baby does not love me.” I wrapped him in my arms and kissed his head to calm him. I was expecting this the moment Minx asked for me to stay. If there was anyone who occupied as much space in Puppy’s heart as I did, it was Minx.

The new parents and Hyemi noona exchanged glances, silently wondering how to handle the new situation. I wiped Puppy’s silent tears, lost for words that would console my love.

Finally Sunwoo hyung settled it for us, “I don’t know anything about child care except to change diapers and hold the baby in my arms. Puppy took complete care of Byong as well as Jinki when Byong was born. I think he should stay the night with Jinki and Sehun. Hyemi can stay tomorrow.” His words made Puppy shed more tears in relief.

I was happy that our girl had such understanding parents-in-law, who put her wishes before theirs. Sehun’s parents let us know they’d be back next morning with clothes for Sehun and soup for Minx. Puppy ordered more soup from the hospital kitchen for the night which we would microwave whenever Minx felt hungry. Then we went to the hospital pharmacy to buy toothbrushes, giving the new parents some alone time.

When Minx settled for the night, Sehun took to the smaller couch to sleep, leaving the larger couch bed for us. We sat together playing with each other’s fingers waiting for him to sleep off. Then we silently arranged the three babies between us as we lay on either side of the bed, waching the little angels. We looked at the clock. It was already approaching two hours since their last feed.

As we waited, Joohyun who was tucked near Puppy’s heart began fidgeting. He took her to the crib and quickly changed her diaper and then cradling her in his arms, he went out to request the nurse for her feeding bottle. He returned with three bottles, two of which he handed to me. Settling down at the head of the bed, he began to feed Joohyun. She a few mouthfuls and fell asleep. I began to rub behind her ear to keep her awake. The sound of her feeding or may be the smell of milk, woke up the other two.

Puppy held out his other arm and I settled the youngest, Taeyong, there and put a bottle in his tiny mouth. I kept rubbing and tickling Joohyun and Taeyong as I fed Jungkook. Taeyong quickly finished his bottle and fell asleep, followed by Jungkook. Joohyun refused to finish her bottle. We burped the three in turn and checked their diapers before settling them down on the bed. The new parents slept through it all.

After I returned the bottles to the nurse, Puppy pulled me down to sit next to him and gave me soft kisses in between even softer whispers of “I love you.” We looked at our children sleeping like logs after an exhausting day, and our grandchildren sleeping like angels.

I put a pillow on the other side of the bed and spent the next few hours soaking in the sight of our family while sitting between Puppy’s legs, my back to his chest with his arms wrapped around my waist. I rested my head on his shoulder and there was no need for words as we kissed occassionaly and just gazed at the sleeping five.

A couple of hours later, Jungkook began to stir and blink his eyes. I picked him up and we cradled him in our arms together. I checked his diaper and it needed changing. Puppy kissed my neck and removed his arms from around me. He left to get the feeding bottles from the nurse while I changed Jungkook. I handed him to his grandfather to feed while I changed his brother and sister.

As Puppy had predicted, all three had woken up within minutes of each other. Taeyong began to softly wail out of hunger. I sat down on the bed with legs folded Indian style and put both babies on each leg with their heads resting on my thighs. Puppy handed me two bottles and we fed all three of them, as their parents continued to sleep without stirring.

They were Minx’s children for certain. They kept waking up at regular intervals through the night for diaper change and feeding. We’d decided to let Minx get her rest for the night to help her recover faster from the surgery. Also, there was no way Minx would have enough milk for all three at one go. One baby would need to feed from the bottle.

Puppy and I hugged and kissed the little bundles of joy. We fed and changed them through the night. When they slept, we hugged and kissed each other. We enjoyed every moment of the night.

Our life was oh so perfect!