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66. AIRPORT (BYONG’S WEDDING - 3)

“Why do my bags have the same number as your mother’s?” That was my father’s first question to me in response to my greeting at the airport. “What makes you think I will share a hotel room with her when I can’t stand to live in the same room as her at home?”

“Appa it’s a matter of just a week. Think of what everyone will think if you sleep in a different room at the hotel,” I tried to reason with my belligerent father.

Appa glared at Beagle who was trying to move his bags for check-in, “Me and my bags are staying right here in Daegu unless you shift me to another room. Give me and Heechul’s father one of the Presidential suites.”

I looked at the screen in my hand and shook my head, “That is allotted to the Minister of Education and his family. I can give you a single room on the third floor.”

“No, it’s two floors down from them. I want a room on the fifth floor only, with the rest of them,” my father shot me an annoyed glare.

“All are full appa. You should have told us earlier about your preference,” I looked at the fifth floor suites’ occupancy and shook my head at my father.

“I would have if I had known I am surrounded by idiots in the name of family. Move someone to vacate a bed for me,” appa continued to be unreasonable.

I thought for a moment and then moved Minho to a single room on the third floor and placed my father’s name next to Heechul’s father. Beagle’s screen showed the change immediately and he changed the tags on my father’s bags. I saw Hyukkie pull his hair and change the tags of Minho’s bags. My father thankfully left me alone to talk animatedly with his new roommate.

Wedding drama had officially begun.

My screen blinked and I checked to see the plane seating arrangements had been altered. From our family onwards, everyone had been moved back by two rows to make space for the security men of the politicos. I grinned. So, the planners had forgotten the very important security detail. Anyway, the plane’s last two rows were unoccupied by anyone else, so it did not make that much difference.

“Key, you have to put the twins’ stroller through check-in. You have done it enough times to know the drill. Now get them out of it and give the stroller to Sehun,” Uncle was trying to reason with Kibum who was moving around the check-in area pushing two years old Chen and Ren in their twin stroller.

“My babies will get lost if I take them out of the stroller. I will die if that happens, not to forget Amber shooting at my dead body,” Kibum looked at Uncle with a pout and pleading eyes.

Uncle called over Ashe and Carmen and handed them one toddler each to look after till we boarded the plane. Sehun quickly folded the empty stroller and sped away before Kibum could even process what had happened. Once he did, he couldn’t decide whom to run after – the twin duo or Sehun. Fortunately for him, he was distracted by Suzy with some of the hagwon staff that arrived for check-in.

Soon Appa, Abeoji, Siwon and DongHae became busy looking after our political guests in the VIP waiting lounge of the airport where Puppy kept guiding them. It was more a case of Siwon and DongHae ensuring everyone’s comfort. Heechul, Kibum, Minx, Soo and Ji were taking care of all our other guests after the security check.

Uncle had a cool method of handling the kids by making a youngster in charge of a bunch. Minho supervised the youngsters and ensured no kid strayed away and got lost. Together the two had even roped in Minseok’s 25-year-old daughter and Joonmyun’s 19-year-old daughter into looking after the kids. Minseok’s 16-year-old son naturally gravitated towards Junsu, Joongie and their friends.

Basically, kids got divided into two groups. Teens were with Junsu and Joongie. The pre-teens were with Yixing, Sooyoung and Baekhyun. The very young kids were with the supervisors Ashe, Carmen, Jae-Mizui, and Kibum’s nieces. When Eunha saw it was getting difficult for Minho to manage the supervision, she gave a digi-pad to Jeysee and pushed her out of the waiting area to take Eunha’s place in helping us with the new arrivals. I messaged Eunha to remind her that Uncle and Minho were also incharge of cabin bags that carried a load of snacks and kids’ games for all ages to play. If Minho and Eunha could get them to sit down and play, it would prevent all kids from creating havoc in the waiting area. With food in their bellies we hoped no kid would get cranky.

Finally Puppy and I were left in the check-in area to greet the arriving guests with Jeysee and Suzy. Jeysee took charge of their luggage and tagged it for check-in by Sehun. Suzy handed them their boarding passes and guided them to the security check and waiting area. Hyukkie and Beagle were near the plane getting the checked-in luggage loaded into our aircraft. We had to make sure no piece of baggage was left behind before our plane took off.

When we saw a number of reporters suddenly descend on us, Suzy and Leeteuk went to take care of them. Jiyeon joined the duo to give appropriate media bytes. Suzy was quickly replaced by Minx to take our still arriving guests through security check.

When every guest had arrived and all the baggage was checked-in, we went through our own security checks. Leeteuk was very vocal in holding small weddings for his sons.

Jiyeon laughed and , “Keep dreaming Teukkie oppa. There is no way you can do that. Just our family alone is too large to let you get away with small weddings. How will you avoid inviting your hospital staff to the weddings?”

Jeysee smiled at Teukkie, “Don’t worry. We are there to help you.”

“Or you will get lucky and your sons will run away to get married,” Minx gave her own helpful suggestion.

“At the moment, I really wish they would do just that Minx,” Leeteuk gave a huge sigh and gazed at his sons at the other end of the waiting lounge, fervently wishing for Minx’s words to come true.

I looked around at our very large group and noticed Minho and Eunha sitting on two chair surrounded by many kids, narrating a story with actions and sound effects. I checked the children around the two and found that some of them did not even belong to us or our guests. Each child was holding a forgotten cookie in their hand and listening open-mouthed to Minho and Eunha enact the story.

Puppy grinned at the sight, “Is Sehun going to be proven correct? Do you think our Eunha will marry Minho and live miserably ever after?

I stared at the duo and shook my head, “He is too old for her. She is too good for him and too nice to become a widow at 50. She should marry someone who can give her lots of kids to manage.”

Puppy softly laughed, “What makes you think Minho is incapable of giving her those kids? And, it’s not as if he’d leave her destitute. He is the owner of a hospital and needs an heir who is not my child or grandchild.” Puppy put a possessive arm around Minx’s shoulder, “Yeobo, I refuse to let either my daughter or my grandchildren be considered his legal heir. They will inherit only your and my businesses.”

I couldn’t help wrapping an arm around his waist, “Jagi, do you have any idea how much I love you?”

Puppy nodded and his eyes twinkled at me, “As much as I love you.”

“Gays are an aberration of nature. Homouality is a disease. You should get yourself treated for it,” Puppy’s maternal uncle exclaimed as he walked by us. He stared at us and took out his praying beads to zealously begin praying.

My usual calm and quiet Puppy exploded in sudden fury and hissed, “Out! I don’t want you anywhere near my family. Leave right now and I will have your luggage deliver to your doorstep.” At his angrily whispered words and the hand he began to raise, I wrapped both my arms around him to hold him from getting physically violent with his elder. Puppy commanded me in a strained whisper, “Tokki, let go of me.”

“No, I won’t. He is your elder. Even when angry you cannot raise your hand on him. I can’t let you do anything that you will regret later,” I held on tightly to Puppy and tried to speak as soothingly as possible to calm him down.

“I promise I won’t hit him, no matter how much I want to. I will simply him out of the airport. I refuse to let anyone like him attend our son’s wedding,” Puppy glared at his uncle. But I wouldn’t let go.

Teukkie and Ji quickly stepped in front of us to shield us from others’ view. Minx asked Suzy to our guest away from our vicinity as she wrapped her arms around her angry father from the other side.

“Ignore him, Jjong. It is not the first time our family has heard or dealt with similar comments,” Teukkie attempted to defuse Puppy’s rage and pacify him.

“We don’t invite those people to attend a family wedding either, hyung. We keep them as far away as possible from our family,” Puppy answered with clenched teeth indicating he was still seething.

Suzy returned with Heechul and informed me, “Kibum-ssi is talking to Jonghyun-ssi’s parents about it.”

I nodded and spoke to Heechul who gave us a back hug by standing behind us and wrapping his arms around both our shoulders, “Cinder re-arrange the rooms and make sure that Puppy’s relatives are as far away as possible from our immediate family members. Put them on the first floor and put expensive chocolates in their rooms to keep them diverted from the room change.”

“Don’t worry Jinx. We’ll take care of it and their baggage will be tagged with new room numbers on arrival in Jeju, without their knowledge. I will ask Puppy’s parents whether they wish to continue rooming with our family on fourth and third floors or move to first floor with their other relatives,” Heechul took charge of seamless room changes. Then he reasoned with Puppy, “Look at it this way Puppy. You have to bear with their bigotry for only a few days. If you upset your mother by sending her brother or anyone else home, you will have to bear with your mother’s jibes for the rest of your life.”

“Hee hyung, I am not bothered about their negative attitude towards us. What makes me see red is their loud expression of it,” Puppy defended his decision to send home his uncle. “Just imagine how hurt our sensitive Junsu will feel on hearing such comments. Even Joongie who pretends to be so tough but is even more sensitive than Junsu, will be crushed if any of my intolerant relatives says something slightly derogatory about any of us or them. No, you must send my uncle home. I do not want my family hurt because umma will be upset with me. I am a grown man and I can deal with whatever she dishes out to me. It won’t be anything new.”

“Don’t worry about Junsu and Joongie,” Teukkie looked resolute and nodded to himself as if coming to a difficult decision. “If they choose to have boyfriends and husbands and later on get pregnant themselves, then they must toughen up. If a few comments will hurt them, then they must rethink their lifestyle choices while they still have time. They will need to be strong to face this world and our society in particular.”

Jiyeon added while looking at us in a concerned manner, “Teukkie oppa is right. You won’t do any favors to the two boys by shielding them from the harsh realities of life that not everyone will agree with their lifestyle choices.”

Minx hugged her father tight and whispered, “Appa, what makes you think Junsu and Joongie are not facing bigotry at school already? We all did. But we also had our own different ways of dealing with it. Mostly we just ignored it. Don’t worry about them. They’ll be just fine. If I know Joongie, he will lift up his pinkie finger every time he picks up any utensil in front of this unknown side of our family. If he doesn’t then Sehun or Byong will advice him to.”

She kissed Puppy’s cheek, “Appa, you are so sweet to worry so much about us kids. Relax. We will be fine.” And then in a typically Minx fashion she winked at me, “I think ummappa that you have not been paying proper attention to appa. Sehun would diagnose him as ually frustrated. May be we should lock you up in the washroom till we are cleared for boarding our flight.”

As Puppy blushed at her words, Heechul burst out in laughter, “Right on the spot Minx. Simba keeps mumbling about the guests and lists and security at night and it’s a real turn off.”

“We are one crazy family,” Teukkie shook his head in wonder and stared at Puppy who was smiling at our daughter. “Let’s get the show on the road and give our guests the best wedding experience of their lives.”

“Teukkie oppa I never knew you could be so eloquent with words. No wonder Soo unnie fell head over heels for you,” Jiyeon older brother-in-law as they walked away to mingle with the guests.

Heechul, Minx and Suzy went off together to see to hagwon guests and confer with Kibum about Puppy’s parents and relatives. I let go off Puppy but he took my hand in his and squeezed it. His lips curved up in the same adorable smile that had made me fall for him twenty five years ago.

“Jagi, will one lifetime be enough to show you how much I love you?” I gazed into his eyes as my lips formed the barely whispered words.

“Who says we have only a lifetime? Remember we are together till the end of time,” My dragon assured me with sparkling eyes that reflected my face.

“Cheesy,” I scrunched up my nose to smile at him in utter happiness.

“Always, for you yeobo. Always, for you.”