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74.  DRAGON - (BYONG’S WEDDING – 11)

After dinner, there was even more reason to stay awake. Taemin had arranged for dancing in one of the large rooms for the older generation. For the youngsters he had arranged for dancing in the bar. Alcohol flowed freely in both rooms. However, Kai and Sehun were made responsible for keeping alcohol away from anyone below 20 years of age. Beagle who did not drink, stood next to the bartender to help Sehun and Kai.

When the tiny tots quickly exhausted themselves from jumping in place in the name of dancing, they were handed over to nannies by their mothers, Minx and Amber. The five kids were quickly followed by Baekkie and Wenhan. Yibo remained wide awake and dancing with Yixing and SooYoung.

Puppy and Siwon pushed everyone under the age of 35 into the bar. Minx thanked him because it kept Jae-Mizui away from Minho and Kiwoo away from his parents. Our matchmaking daughter had taken it upon herself to find a bride for her brother-in-law during Byong’s wedding.

As we relaxed and enjoyed with our friends and older guests, Vasily took Brenda for a late-night swim. Harold had made a beeline for Jiyeon earlier in the day, as predicted by Sehun. But Jiyeon quickly warded off his advances with a laugh and pushed him towards Jeysee. Harold tried to tempt Jeysee into dancing with him but Yesung pulled her by the hand and quickly made his way to the bar to keep his wife out of sight.

Harold laughed merrily and looked around before his sight fixed on Suzy and Eunha standing at the periphery, working on their digipads. He decided to make them have fun and took drinks for them. The smooth charmer soon had both ladies laughing at his jokes. We weren’t overly concerned because both women were quite sensible. Heechul decided there was no harm in Harold making them loosen up and enjoy themselves, both women were too serious for their own good.

In an hour, all our guests were enjoying themselves by dancing, drinking or doing both. Puppy and I sat down at one table to relax and watch everyone have fun. We were soon joined by Siwon, DongHae, Yesung and Beagle. Apparently, despite all our efforts, the five older teens had still found a way to get drunk. Beagle and Yesung had escorted them to their bedrooms before joining us. Both made sure that our nephews shared their room and Yoochun roomed with Jung brothers.

Minho, Heechul, Hyukkie, Jiyeon and Jeysee also made their way to our table and we pulled in more chairs to accommodate everyone. Puppy draped an arm over Minho’s shoulder. When I raised a brow, he put one hand over my thigh and rubbed it in plain view of all. When I tried to pull away, not wishing to offend our anti-gay guests, Puppy tightened his grip and shook his head with a smile, “Yeobo, I don’t care what anyone decides to think here. All our guests know about us. Stop worrying.”

“Oh yes, it’s not as if we are going to get any further promotions in the agency,” DongHae grinned and draped an arm over Hyukkie’s shoulder to pull him closer.

“But why create bad press oppa?” Jiyeon gave her media-savvy opinion.

“There is no media here, just our family, friends and some un-wanted guests,” Puppy grimaced remembering his uncles.

“Hyung, do you mind not getting the final promotion because of us?” Hyukkie asked his husband.

“Come on, you should know better than to ask me such a stupid question,” DongHae took hold of Hyukkie’s hands and kissed each one, before lacing their fingers together. “If I cared about promotions, I wouldn’t have stayed back in Daegu. I am looking forward to retirement now.” Hyukkie smiled and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

“You are lucky, you are retiring in three more years Hae,” Siwon whined. “I still have four more years of service left.”

Heechul turned to DongHae and asked, “What do you plan to do after you retire?”

“Relax and enjoy my days with my family,” DongHae smiled at Hyukkie but the younger one frowned.

“What do you mean by ‘enjoy your days with me’? I have to look after my business. I cannot afford to spend entire day lazing with you,” Hyukkie poked DongHae’s cheek.

“But baby, I will feel lonely without you at home?” DongHae turned sad eyes in appeal to his husband.

Heechul laughed, “Just because you are retiring, you cannot expect Hyukkie to give up running his dance academies. I plan to continue working even after Simba retires. Right, Simba?” He batted his eyes at Siwon.

“The thought of asking you to stop did not even enter my mind, babe. You’ve worked too hard to simply give it up,” Siwon smiled at Heechul and covered his hand with his own over the table.

“Yeollie, I miss this in Seoul. I miss our family. Can we not move to Daegu? Your father is also retired now. There is nothing stopping us,” Ji put her head on Beagle’s shoulder and whispered.

“Whatever you say. I will start the proceedings for my transfer to Daegu on reaching back home,” Chan Yeol couldn’t refuse his wife anything.

“How can you do that Beagle? Your job is in Seoul headquarters. Your job profile does not exist in Daegu,” Puppy reminded him.

“I don’t care. I will take a demotion, or whatever they are willing to give me in Daegu,” Beagle smiled at us. “We will move to Daegu. My mind is made up.”

Puppy looked at me and I gave a discreet nod. He grinned and faced Chan Yeol again, “Tokki and I have been discussing this for some time now. Sort of our back up plan since we fell in love.” He suddenly had complete attention of everyone on our table. Uncertain about the reception of his words, Puppy became silent. I put a hand on his thigh and squeezed it to give him the confidence to continue. He looked at me once more before explaining, “I want to open my own security business. I will be forcibly retired by the agency before the end of this year, because I refuse to move away from Daegu for promotion. Tokki and I have been talking about this for a long time. Beagle, if you want, we can become partners.”

Siwon jumped up from his seat, upset and frowning, “Why did you never tell me this, Jjong? Am I no longer your confidante?”

“Of course you are, Super. I just wasn’t sure how you would take my decision to leave the agency this year. You are much more committed to our work than I am,” Puppy quickly raised both his hands in the air to stop Siwon from protesting further. “I don’t mean any disrespect, but I prefer to retire or resign. What I am not willing to do is move away from my Tokki. I think it’s time to start again, while I am still young enough to.”

Siwon sat down pacified and wagged a finger in Puppy’s direction, “I understand you perfectly Jjong. Make sure you keep a position open for me. Whether you like it or not, I am joining your business as well after my retirement. Maybe not as a partner, but wherever you can use my expertise and experience.”

Puppy beamed at him and nodded, “We can always expand it into other fields and areas when you join.”

“But Beagle has not given his answer whether he will become your partner now,” Minho quietly pointed out. He looked relieved that we were not going to leave Daegu.

Chan Yeol bounced in his chair, “Is there anything to think? My response should be understood without my needing to put it in words. Yes, Puppy appa. Yes, yes, yes, I would love to partner you in your business venture. What do you have in mind?” Ji got up and came over to us to hug and kiss Puppy. Beagle followed just a step behind her. One could see his excitement pouring out in waves from him. He was half walking, half dancing.

“Ahem!” Yesung cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. When we focused on him, he blushed. Jeysee leaned over and whispered in his ear. He looked at her for a long moment and she whispered again. He looked around the table at all our faces, some impatient for him to continue.

DongHae, sitting on Yesung’s other side thumped his back, “Get on with it. Are you waiting for drumrolls or a trumpet?”

Yesung flushed even more and managed to choke out, “I received my transfer papers last week.”

“We all know that. Tell us something new,” DongHae interrupted again when Yesung gave a long pause. Hyukkie tried to hush his husband but DongHae waved it away.

“Ah, what I am trying to say is that I got my transfer papers for posting in Hwacheon,” Yesung paused again to look once more at his wife. Jeysee patted his shoulder and said something in his ear, too low for any of us to hear no matter how much we strained. Yesung nodded, flushed darker and almost whispered, “I, no, she, no, we. Yes, we. We don’t want to go to Hwacheon. Jeysee is near her family again and does not want to move. Umm, what I mean to say is, umm.” Yesung stopped once again and looked helplessly around the table. He sighed deeply and leaned back in his chair shaking his head at his inability to complete whatever he planned to say.

“Spit it out man. I have no idea how Jjong gets any work out of you. Maybe your new posting is for the best. We can now get a more competent person,” DongHae got irritated with Yesung’s humming and hawing.

Puppy and Siwon stared at the embarrassed young man and announced together, “You want in.” Yesung immediately beamed at them and nodded happily. Jeysee also smiled, glad that someone understood her husband’s mumblings.

“In what? There is no way I am going to sign papers to refuse your new posting. With Jjong leaving, I want more competent people in the team. I will be very happy to load you myself on the train to Hwacheon,” DongHae threatened Yesung who lost his smile in an instant.

“Don’t be mean hyung,” Hyukkie berated his husband. “There is no need to take out your unhappiness at the poor man. Careful. You are turning into a crotchety old man.”

DongHae pouted, “I am not unhappy or mean. Or crotchety or old.”

“My dear husband, you are unhappy,” Hyukkie wrapped his arm around DongHae’s shoulders to comfort him. “You want to order them to keep a place for you in their business, but your pride is holding you back. Right now, you wish you could order Jjong hyung like Siwon hyung did. But you can’t, because he is your oldest brother-in-law at the moment. And that is making you cranky.”

DongHae blushed and pouted even more, “Why am I married to a know-it-all?”

There was laughter all around the table, except from Yesung and Jeysee who were too scared of DongHae to utter a peep. Beagle grinned at a disgruntled DongHae, “Hae hyung, stop scaring away our future employee. We need good and trustworthy people like Yesung for our business to grow quickly.”

Luhan chimed in as he joined our little gathering, “What are you growing quickly Beagle. Trust me you cannot grow facial hair in a few days. You have to realize that you will always remain the baby of our group.”

Beagle grinned at the older man and winked, “Lulu hyung, do you want your next month’s pension or not? Don’t forget this baby’s fingers can work black magic on your government records.”

“Still the same old blackmailer,” Yifan pulled up another chair and punched Beagle’s shoulder playfully as he sat near him. “Ji, you failed to teach him manners even after fifteen years of marriage. You should take lessons from Xing. See how tame Shorty is.”

Jiyeon laughed heartily and countered Yifan, “Oppa I like my man as he is – a wild beast. Keeps our marriage spiced up.”

Yesung watched in awe as Luhan burst into laughter and leaned across Siwon to pat Jiyeon’s cheek. He gulped when Luhan turned to look at him. Luhan scowled at Yesung for greater effect and Beagle roared in laughter at Luhan’s silent power game. “Lulu hyung, don’t frighten the mouse. You and Hae hyung are going to make sure we don’t have any employees.”

“The mouse does not work for you by the looks of it. Isn’t he a member of Puppy’s team?” Luhan looked at Puppy for confirmation.

“What is scary about this dwarf?” Yifan’s long arms punched Luhan in the shoulder. “He is a tame little deer. And little deer, the one you are trying your funny faces on is a part of Puppy’s team. That’s how he was introduced to me.”

“You will know only if you stop dancing with your wives. Dancing? You both were simply throwing your arms and legs around. I pity your wives,” Ji teased both men and we laughed. “Anyway, just to bring you up to date, Puppy oppa and Yeollie are opening a security firm together. Siwon oppa and Hae oppa are booking their future in it.”

“What? Puppy is starting his own security firm? I insist he open a branch in China with me. Whatever little Xing may say, retirement is totally boring. A few more days at home and she will boot me out,” Luhan punched the air as if he had won some award.

Yifan stood up and shook Luhan, “What do you mean he should open a branch with you? What am I? Dead? There is no way you will get into business before me Shorty.” We rolled in laughter. Dumb and Dumber were at it again.  

Heechul pointed out a simple fact to Yifan, “How do you plan to make Luhan wait till you retire? You have many years to go still. And he is already retired. You people will never learn to use your brains.”

Understanding dawned on Yifan and he sat down with a long face muttering to himself, “I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit. Why did Shorty retire first? This is not fair. Maybe I should kick him back into his old job. Or just plain kick him. If I am lucky, he will hit his head, get amnesia and forget all about becoming a businessman. Who in their right mind will do business with a dwarf?”

Listening to him, Jiyeon doubled up in laughter and DongHae smiled in satisfaction. He was not the only one with pride issues in the gathering. He reached over Hyukkie and patted Yifan’s shoulder in silent understanding of his pain. Minho observed everyone and sat back in contently. He smiled and moved his chair closer to Puppy to say softly, “When you open your business, I will be your first client to take care of my hospital’s security. Give me family discount.”

I tried to hold back my laughter at that. Minho raised hurt eyes to look at me and I began to laugh aloud. Oh my god, our family was really funny. One couldn’t get over marrying the youngest. Another wanted family discount. Our friends were even nuttier. One wanted to jump into the new venture with his eyes closed. The other wished him to get amnesia. Puppy and I shared a quick look, while our hands shared a long conversation. We watched as good natured ribbing broke around the table.

Kibum came over to find out what we were keeping from him, “I cannot believe you people are again excluding me? Jinki hyung, why am I always the last to know anything? You really don’t love me. Let me call Tae hyung. We will be your first clients Puppy. You will give us family discount right?” A slightly tipsy Kibum whined nonstop. And, Puppy and Beagle got their second client in the resort with another family discount.

Heechul stood up and wagged his finger at Kibum, “Key, Taemin and Minho will have to wait. How can Puppy and Beagle take any clients without signing their first contract with JinHee hagwons?” He turned to face the new business-in-discussion owners, “You better gear up for pan-Korea facility because we will insist that all our franchises sign up with you as well. We take our data, staff and student security very seriously.”

Beagle started to laugh, “Hee hyung aren’t you going to ask Puppy appa for family discount?”

Heechul glared at the young man and snorted, “JinHee Hagwons can afford to pay the market rate for your security services. We work only with the best. So make sure you don’t slack off, Beagle.”

Luhan took out a paper and pen from the inner pocket of his suit jacket. He began to write, then stopped. Looking around the table, he spoke to Puppy, “How can I note down potential client names when we don’t know what our business will be called?”

Yifan scowled at him and grumbled, “Call it JongChanLu Security.”

“What sort of a name is that? You can’t label my future employer with such a weird name,” Siwon laughed at Yifan and DongHae nodded to agree with him.

“Fine, then call it Dragon Security. That way I can join it whenever I retire,” Yifan poked his finger in the table for emphasis.

“How do you even know you would want to join the business at that time?” Luhan teased his friend to wind him up even more.

“I am the dragon in my agency and Jonghyun in his. You are just a little deer. What do you know about dragons?” Yifan smirked.

“I know that one of the so-called dragons is a big idiotic lump of wood. There, we are calling it Dragon Security. Now pipe down and cool your heels till you retire. We will bring you into a successful business so you don’t have to strain your idiotic brain for it,” Luhan wrote the name in capital letters and underlined it multiple times.

Minho started laughing, “You people are really funny. I have never seen a business being named or take off like this. It takes a lot of planning and research. Deals don’t get done like this. Ever.” No one paid his words any attention.

The loud laughter and leg pulling at our table attracted more of our friends. Teukkie and Soo joined the pouters for missing the beginning of the discussion. Minho teased Teukkie further, “Yes Doc you missed a lot. They even named their business and signed up their first three clients. I don’t think they count you as a friend.”

“I gave you two kids, four when counting all of you. And you didn’t even think of calling me when making such a momentous decision?” Leeteuk complained to Puppy.

DongHae sorted him out, “They did not say anything except say that Jjong wants to start a security firm when the agency forcibly retires him this year. Minho asked Beagle, who agreed to become Jjong’s partner. Siwon booked a place for himself. Hyukkie booked one for me. Then Luhan came and insisted that they open a Chinese branch at the same time with him as the partner. Yifan whined till Luhan agreed to the name he suggested and agreed to make him a partner in Canada when he retires. Minho gave his hospital’s contract for a family discount. Kibum wants same discount for this resort. Heechul says JinHee hagwons will sign the first contract for all their franchises at market rate because they are too rich to need a discount. Now, I wonder if I missed anything.”

“Puppy oppa, send a contract to me also. We need your best and priority services. We have got the most to lose because of our top-secret research projects,” Soo hugged Ji as she made her request. Beagle pointed her to Luhan who noted down number 4 and circled it before adding their hospital’s name. Siwon roared in laughter when Teukkie beamed in approval at his wife.

This attracted Marc. Yifan explained to him in a mix of English and French. He was retiring in three months, and insisted Luhan note down his name on top next to the other partners. He also dictated the names of three clients that he was sure he could rope in for his branch in France.

“Why don’t you make it an international chain of firms? There are already two confirmed international partners to begin with and one to join soon,” Hyukkie suggested loudly to get himself heard over all the chatter.

“Good idea hyung,” Beagle took out his digipad and messaged Eunha and Suzy to come to the table. Puppy and I silently watched all the activity and planning around us. We didn’t need to say anything, actually, we didn’t get an opportunity to say anything more. Everything was happening too fast. When Eunha and Suzy came to talk to Beagle, Harold followed both of them. The two got busy messaging all of Puppy’s friendly spies. Harold got the details from Marc and sat deep in thought, rubbing his chin.

Gina, Xing, Soo, Jiyeon and Jeysee arranged for coffee to be served at our table which very soon was swamped by all our friends who were just a little bit tipsy. Eunha and Suzy sat on either side of Luhan making lists of confirmed partners for that year and the business they would bring with them immediately. Beagle and Yesung began planning different security areas for which the Korean firm could begin offering its services immediately on formation. They decided to begin work first and Puppy would join on his retirement later in the year. Till then Puppy’s participation was to be kept private to avoid any legal issues with KNPA.

Kibum suggested a move to the conference room to keep the new business silent and out of sight of the agency and political guests. Taemin got the security cameras switched off for as long as our impromptu conference remained in progress. Vasily and Brenda sat in bathrobes, uncaring about the formal dresses worn by others. Kai and Amber went to each one’s room to bring them their laptops.

By the end of three servings of coffee and a serving of light snacks, Dragon Security had opened confirmed branches in 8 countries in the next six months and was committed to open in 9 more during the next four years. It had a total of 43 contracts signed verbally over phone calls and another 29 signed over emails and text messages. Jiyeon had drawn a logo and gotten it approved by the confirmed partners.

Puppy and I continued to watch silently as Puppy’s dream of starting a security business grew wings that night and soared high as soon as it was mentioned. It took the partners only fifteen minutes to work out a profit sharing deal that suited everyone. Eunha self-appointed herself as Puppy and Beagle’s assistant, understanding my wordless looks.

Kiwoo and Carlo’s son were called to join the conference. They were the only lawyers in our guest list that everyone felt safe to involve in the discussion. Both of them understood the details and quickly drew up a legal contract. Jiyeon and Eunha got the new business’s first contracts digitally signed by all the confirmed partners. DongHae and Yifan spent the time booking domain names for the business for all the possible countries and every possible combination.

As the last contract was signed, Kibum opened champagne to celebrate the new business. Vasily got down on his knees and proposed once more to Brenda. She laughed and pulled him out of the room. We were not sure whether she said yes or not.

Minho sipped his champagne and wondered at our way of conducting business and forming partnerships. Heechul scowled at him, “Didn’t Puppy invite you into the family? I still say we boot you out.”

Minho pulled his chair closer to Puppy who grinned at my best friend, “Hee hyung, stop terrorizing him. He is our client now and under our new firm’s security net. You wouldn’t want us to fail on our first day, would you? Think of Ji and her wish to move back to Daegu.” Heechul hissed at Minho and went to seek out his beloved Ji.

Bottle after bottle of champage was opened and consumed like water. All of us were borderline drunk by the time we trooped back into the dancing room. We found only a handful of our guests still dancing. Two of Puppy’s uncles were completely drunk and still guzzling every drink in sight. Kai called Sehun and both put the drunk men to bed before the older men said anything to irritate Puppy. When the room emptied of all other guests, Kai opened more champagne for our family, friends and Puppy’s new business partners.

Heechul and I wanted Kibum to send his staff to the swimming pools to check for any drunk swimmers. But Kibum had thought ahead and since the day of our arrival, he had arranged for lifeguards at each of the pools to take care of drunken guests. The three of us grinned at each other, many years of working together had tuned us finely to each other’s thoughts.

Sun was rising in the horizon as we sent off last of our group to their bed and then checked the bar for stragglers there. One young guest had fallen asleep under a table. Sehun and Byong pulled him out and got the staff to carry him to his room. We made sure that ample hangover remedies would be available during breakfast. Sehun, Minx, Byong and Duckie hugged Puppy and me to congratulate us for the new business, before giggling a good morning to us. We waited to make sure Duckie and Byong entered separate bedrooms.

When we were finally alone in our room, I pulled Puppy into the balcony and wrapped myself around his back. Putting my chin on his shoulder, I hugged him closer to my body. We watched the sky lighten over the sea. Just like the sun, Puppy’s new future was dawning bright in front of us. I kissed Puppy’s cheek as he whispered our wish into the early morning air.

“Bless our family and friends with an eternity of love and happiness.”