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78. CON - (BYONG’S WEDDING – 15)

Once Minho’s laughter and our shock died down, Sehun took Minho under his wing and made him call Eunha for lunch together that day. She reminded him that they’d anyway have it together with the young ones. Sehun poked Minho’s shoulder to make him speak further. Minho blushed when the younger man put the phone on speaker option.

Minho made a hash of his explanation, “Umm, Eunha-ssi, you see it’s like this. I am not talking about the young ones. I am talking about lunch.” His face did not lose its red color. Duckie kicked Byong to halt his snickering.

There was a few seconds silence from Eunha’s end and we heard Suzy’s laughter in the background. Finally, Eunha cleared and responded in confusion, “I never thought we were not talking about lunch. We’ve had lunch together with the kids since we came here and dinner, and breakfast also. We will meet at one as usual.”

Minho gaped at the phone in his hand and looked at Sehun in silent appeal. All of us were trying hard to control our laughter. Minx took the phone out of his hands and spoke to Eunha, “Unnie, it’s me Minx. Minho appa is an idiot.”

Eunha squawked in protest, “No, he is not.” That had Byong letting lose his maniacal laughter. Duckie immediately pushed a pillow on his face to muffle the sounds.

Minx smiled at an even redder Minho, “Unnie, can you come to ummappa’s room right now? Duckie is trying to kill Byong and we need your help to save him.”

“What are the fathers doing? Are they still rolled up in bed? Their son is getting married,” Suzy’s loud mutterings were clearly heard by us, as were Eunha’s admonishments to her, “Hush Suzy. Don’t talk about our bosses so carelessly. Now that you will have to look after both Heechul and Jinki, you will get used to it. In fact, the day Jonghyun does not visit the hagwon you will worry if everything is alright. And, you will not like Jinki’s sad smile when you ask him that. Heechul is worse, he will wink and tease Jinki endlessly about it. Kibum will complain about Taemin not loving him enough, which will then turn into a glare at you because you never ask about Taemin’s health. I think, I will need to make a list of do’s and don’ts for you. I just hope you remain alive at the end of one month after dealing with the three of them.”

Eunha managed to completely silence Suzy. We heard the ping of the elevator during the lecture and soon after there was a knock at our door. Minho immediately hid himself behind Sehun. Minx ended the call and pulled him out from his hiding place.

Suzy took one look at Puppy and me in bed and grinned, “Someone is feeling lazy today.” I winked at her. No wonder she got along so well with Heechul. Eunha gasped at Suzy’s comment.

Byong hit Duckie with the pillow as she tried to hush up his laughter again, “Sweetheart, she is too tame for the third ert. Noona is right. She will be perfect for our Kiwoo hyung.” All of us frowned at him and he crossed his arms over his face to avoid the whack that his father wanted to give him.

Minho protested with a squeak, “I am not a ert. Stop calling me one. You are maligning my innocent name.” Suzy snorted when Minho called himself innocent. Eunha poked her arm to make her stop.   

The kids didn’t stop laughing at Euhna’s action. Sehun sputtered, “Ummappa, we see what you mean. This is classic. We wouldn’t have half as much fun if we set her up with hyung. Minho uncle it is.”

Minho tried to hide behind Sehun again, but, Minx wouldn’t let him. She pulled him to stand near the two women, “Ask her properly appa. I swear, if you don’t, its Kiwoo oppa next. And you will live in your dreams for the rest of your life. That is, if appa and Sehun and Byongie and Duckie and I don’t kill you first.”

“Oh yeah, that totally builds his confidence sis,” Byong grinned at Minho who attempted a scowl which looked more like a pout to us.

Minho nervously played with his fingers behind his back and looked at his feet as he addressed Eunha’s feet, “Would you ladies like to have lunch with me today?”

There were loud groans around the room, except from the two ladies and one very stupid man. Minx and Duckie could never be counted as ladies, ever, at least not by me and Puppy. They were simply too devilish. Minx began swatting at Minho as he tried to hop out of the reach of her hands. The hits were accompanied by a stern lecture, “You are an idiot. A total moron. An utter imbecile. Do it right, or I will hogtie you, roll you in honey and leave you on top of an ant-hill.” There, that was a true Minx promise.

Minho attempted to pacify her as he kept hopping around the room, “Baby, I am your father. Stop hitting me. I am an old man. I never asked anyone for a date before.”

“What do you mean?” Minx stopped, with her hand raised and ready. “You were in love with ummappa. What do you mean you never asked him out on a date? Oh my poor ummappa? He married twice without being on a single date? With Puppy appa I can understand, he was a single father. But how could you, Minho appa? Why did you not take him on dates?”

Puppy burst into laughter and gleefully watched Minho blush and try to get out of the hole he’d dug himself in. Suzy and Eunha watched in amusement. Sehun led them to sit on the vacated chairs and went to control his wife, “Minnie, it’s not about Minho uncle dating ummappa. It’s about the present. It’s about his dating now. I can see, we will need to work very hard with him to turn him into a good boyfriend and an even better husband. Baby, are you up to the challenge? It’s up to us to make sure you have a posse of baby brothers and sisters and that uncle does a better job with them then he did with you. He is a dumb goofus who, by some obscure good deed in his life, is getting another chance at happiness. It’s up to us to make sure he does not make a mess of it. Stop hitting him and let him redeem himself.” The younger man looked meaningfully at Minho.

Byong whispered to Duckie, “Sweetheart, I bet you a 100,000 won he can’t do it.”

Duckie leaned down to kiss him and then tweaked his nose, “I like to win and this is one bet I don’t want to lose. I don’t want to start our married with my losing bets to you.”

Minho stared at the betting couple, then us and finally the couple standing next to him. We saw the glitter of challenge in his eyes. He picked up a pink rose from the flower arrangement on the table, took resolute steps towards Eunha, and bent on one knee in front of her, “Eunha-ssi, would you do me the honor of having lunch with me today? I find you a fascinating woman. More than any woman I have met so far in my life. I would like to know more about you. Would you grace my lunch table with your presence and grant my humble wish?”

Eunha stared at the kneeling man and slowly flushed pink. With downcast eyes she accepted the rose and nodded her head once. Byong and Duckie began jumping on the bed as Suzy watched Minho with popped-out eyes and wide-open mouth.

Minho ignored everyone and stood up to bow towards the blushing woman, “I will see you in an hour in my room. I hope you don’t mind a private lunch there. I am certain you can understand the six reasons present in this room which would swell up to the entire family by the end of the said hour. A public lunch would be like eating under a giant microscope. Don’t worry, unlike what you have heard today, I will be a perfect gentleman and strive to be a good lunch companion to you.”

Eunha nodded again and without giving any one a chance to speak, Minho strode out of our room. There were loud gasps at his abrupt exit and then joyful whoops from Byong and Sehun. Duckie told Minx, “Unnie, we should have recorded that and shown to Kiwoo oppa. Who would have thought Minho uncle had it in him?” She looked at Eunha who had not moved in shock. “Come on unnie, we have an hour to change you into a siren.” She jumped down from the bed to pull Eunha and Minx out of the room.

Sehun turned to speechless Suzy and sat down next to her, “Noona, I need a favor from you. Can you have lunch with Kiwoo hyung today?”

She looked at him and then at us and then him again. It took a few minutes for her power of speech to return, “Oh no! You are not setting me up with anyone.” She made to get up and leave, but Sehun’s next words stopped her in her tracks.

“Noona, only for an hour. Please. We had fixed up a surprise date for hyung with Eunha noona. But that’s not possible now. My brother is already very shy and if he realizes that he has been stood up, he will literally retreat into his shell for the rest of his stay in Korea. It took us a lot of effort to make him agree for this blind lunch date. He doesn’t know with who it is. Please noona, do Minx and me this one favor.” Sehun’s pleading eyes and equally pleading voice were difficult for anyone to refuse.

Suzy nodded though conflict was quiet visible in her eyes, “Alright, just this one. I can manage to spend one hour with him. When and where?”

Sehun gave her the full effect of his smile, “In the balcony of our room at one. We didn’t think hyung would be comfortable in front of the family or other guests. Thank you noona. We will not forget this favor.” He bowed ninety degrees to her. She accepted and rushed out of the room in embarrassment.

Puppy and I watched in shock as Sehun and Byong did a little victory dance before calling his brother, “Hyung, what are you doing for lunch today?” Byong put the call on speaker so he could hear as well.

“Nothing much, Sehun. Just having lunch with umma and appa as usual.”

“Oh good. You have nothing planned. You see Minnie and I are in a bind. Can you help us out?”

“What did you do now, little bro? I swear, you and your wife will get in big trouble one day.”

“Umm, this is so embarrassing hyung.”

“If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be calling me. Out with it.”

“We had fixed a blind date for Minho uncle and Suzy.”

“Uncle and who?”

“She is ummappa’s business assistant as of last night.”

“Oh, she works with Minx?”

“Yes, she works at the hagwons.”

“I get it now, she is the one with the tight hair buns.”

“The one with the hair bun is Eunha.”

“So, she is the one with the cute button nose.”

“Yes, the one with the small nose and shoulder-length hair.”

“And those long killer legs in stilettos.”

“Right, that’s Suzy.”

“So, what’s the problem with her, Sehun?”

“Ah, the problem. Yes. You see, we had arranged this blind date. But Minho uncle decided to invite Eunha on his own. Now, we have Suzy ready for a blind date but no uncle. Can you do us a favor and have lunch with her today?”

“When will you and Minx get it? I don’t want to be fixed up with anyone. Not even that firecracker. Just let me enjoy my time with our parents and my niece and nephews.”

“Yes, we know you don’t want us to fix you with anyone. But you see we are not doing that. We were fixing up Suzy with Minho uncle. If ummappa comes to know we arranged a blind date for Suzy and she got stood up, he will be very upset with Minnie and me.”

“He’d be right Sehun. He should hang you both upside down.”

“I know we deserve it, hyung. But please, please. Just this one favor, hyung. We’ll make sure umma does not hassle you about marriage.”

“You will get her off my back?”

“Yes, we promise to talk to umma. So, will you do it hyung?”

“Okay. Just this once. What time?”

“Thank you, hyung. Please come to our room at one. The lunch will be set up in our balcony.”

“You will owe me big time after this.”

“Right, hyung. We will owe you one.”

Sehun ended the call. Both young men did another victory jig around the room. Sehun called his wife next, “We did it Minnie. Yes, yes, yes! The plans worked. Eunha noona is having lunch with Minho uncle and I just got Suzy noona and Kiwoo hyung to have lunch with each other today. Yes, baby. Byongie and I are going to our room to make arrangements for their lunch in our balcony. I love you too Minnie. See you later.” We watched our boys in shock. They winked at us as they left our room.

We had just watched master cons take place in our room.