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79. EINSTEIN - (BYONG’S WEDDING – 16)

At lunch, keeping in view how both our assistants were busy, Puppy gave Yesung and Jeysee the task of arranging a meeting with his business partners during tea time. Yesung took the numbers from Puppy and messaged each one. Jeysee brought out her digipad and began making notes for the agenda as dictated by Puppy and Beagle.

With them working, I looked around the room at our guests and family having lunch. Heechul caught my eye. He picked up his plate and pulled Siwon to join our table. Siwon, predictably, immediately got busy with Puppy and Beagle. He insisted that even future partners should be invited to the meeting as they had equal stake in the security firm. When we ribbed him about it, he coolly reminded us that he was simply ensuring his future and was certain others would be similarly concerned.

Yesung got a new list of names to message. Siwon, Puppy and Beagle added more points to the agenda to cover even future partners. They decided that the next few days in Jeju were perfect to lay out detailed plans for Dragon Security to cover the coming five years and all the partners. Jeysee beamed when DongHae joined our table and smiled at Yesung instead of ribbing him. All of them concluded that daily tea-time meetings would be perfect without raising any eyebrows from the rest of our guests. Puppy messaged Taemin to make the conference room available for the purpose.

Heechul and I discussed our assistants and I updated him about their new dating status. When he stopped guffawing, informing everyone else on our table about the recent events, he wondered if we were going to lose Eunha and Suzy at the same time. Kibum caught the tail end of our discussion and suggested to move both Eunha and Suzy to the new business to work with Puppy and Beagle. After considering the matter from all angles and observing Jeysee taking notes, we thought it best to retain Suzy as our common assistant for JinHee Hagwons while Eunha and Jeysee would assist in Dragon Securities. It did not occur to us to confirm with the three ladies first.

Our discussion was interrupted when Sooyoung, sharing the adjacent table with Soo’s boys, squawked loudly, “Eww, Joongie oppa. Boys are so icky!”

We turned to see Joongie wink at her, “But Youngie you cannot break the family tradition.”

“What tradition, oppa?” Sooyoung poked Jaejoong’s shoulder. “Don’t turn your actions into family tradition. Umma and imo did not fall in love till they were really old. I am only ten.”

“Who is talking about our parents? I can’t help it if they were stupid enough to wait for that long. Look at Byongie hyung, Minx noona and Kai hyung. Their fates were already sealed by the time they were Bacon’s age. You are growing too old. If you wait any longer, no boy will take any interest in you.” Joongie gave his pearls of wisdom to the scowling girl.

“Good! Boys are yuck! Eww, eww, eww a million times! Boys are good only for pranks,” Sooyoung shuddered, “Yuck, yuck, yuck! Now I will have nightmares with boys chasing me in my sleep all night long. How can you spoil my mood by talking about boys? You are so mean, oppa.”

All the boys laughed at her reaction and Junsu asked the million-dollar question, “If not boys, are you interested in girls, little Youngie?”

Sooyoung jumped out of her chair and wagged her finger at the boys, “How can you be so awful to me. I am your only sister. You cannot gang up on me and bully me like this.” The little girl announced with all the dignity she could muster, “I don’t want to fall in love. I want to own a business empire.”

“So do we,” Yunho joined the conversation. “Joongie and I plan to open a chain of restaurants. What has business got to do with falling in love?”

Joongie nodded and kissed Yunho’s cheek. When Sooyoung made gagging sounds, he turned and grinned at her, “Youngie you are not our only sister. Why are you forgetting Minx noona and Irene?”

Sooyoung harrumphed and spoke slowly by enunciating each word, “You are so dense, Joongie oppa. No wonder it took you so long to realize you are in love with your best friend. How could you not know till now that you loved Yunho oppa? You live next door to him and meet him daily? You mother baby Irene and Minx unnie mothers you. I am your only sister whom you can bully. Now eat your lunch in silence and let me eat mine in peace.”

But, Youngie,” Jaejoong was unwilling to give in to her demands.

“No buts oppa. I heard appa tell umma about what happened to you all, two days ago. Can you imagine what will happen to any boy who shows the slightest interest in me? Appa will get him thrown in jail for just looking at me. And I cannot even think what others will do to him.” There was silence on the table and Sooyoung looked at each boy in the eyes before continuing happily. She at last had managed to halt the teasing. “Have pity on that unknown boy and be happy for him. Let me build my business empire. Maybe if I find someone more powerful than my father I will think about falling in love.”

“How about Luhan uncle’s older grandson?” Junsu pointed out a probable candidate.

“Oppa, your information is outdated. He has a girlfriend in Beijing,” Sooyoung giggled and picked up her plate to join her brothers on another table.

Junsu was crestfallen, “I didn’t know that. And now she has left.” Yoochun rubbed his arm to comfort him and Junsu smiled at him, “But, in a way I am glad. I have to agree with her. Any boy who dares to date her deserves all our sympathies. Beagle imobu will tear him apart.”

Yoochun shuddered, “I never knew your gentle-looking family was actually so demonic.” Yunho nodded and fearfully looked towards our table. When his eyes met mine, he quickly looked away but couldn’t help glancing at me once again. I winked at him and he looked at Yoochun to escape my teasing. He leaned over to whisper in Yoochun’s ear and, as one, both boys glanced my way. Their eyes opened wide in shock when I winked again. They shook their heads to inform me fearfully that they had done nothing wrong. I nodded my head in acknowledgment and heard Kibum and Heechul chuckle. I saw them blowing kisses towards the two teens who immediately looked at their plates in alarm. At their frightened reactions, the three of us burst out in laughter.

“Stop your silent bullying,” Byong’s voice distracted us from Yunho and Yoochun. He pulled chairs and sat down near us with Duckie and Jae-Mizui following suit. When we grinned at him, he smiled before turning to frown at Duckie’s friend. She scowled at him in return. He burst out bluntly, “Jae-Mizui, I know you are Duckie’s maid of honor. But do you have to follow the two of us everywhere? We’ve not had a moment alone since you landed in Daegu.” When she made to protest, he held up his palm, imitating my action. “Don’t bother to explain. I have heard it all. Duckie is not going to change her mind. She will not be a runaway bride.” He leaned over and kissed Duckie’s cheek.

Duckie pecked his lips and her thumb over his cheek, “Ignore what she says. Why are you letting her words bother you? I think she is upset because you set up Kiwoo oppa with Suzy unnie for lunch today.” Jae-Mizui sputtered indignantly and kicked their chairs.

Byong laced his fingers with Duckie’s and began to pay attention to the business discussion around him. He and Duckie held a very brief whispered conversation before he cleared his throat to gain everyone’s attention. When he failed, Duckie loudly thumped the table and then smiled innocently when Siwon scowled at her. “Moron has something to say.” She blithely announced.

Byong grinned and blew her a kiss before addressing his father, “Appa, I want to join your business. I have finished my business grad studies and instead of doing masters in the same field, I want to train for personal security side of your business.” Puppy and Siwon simply raised their brows in question, knowing there was more.

It was Duckie who continued for them, “We have discussed this and researched all morning.” She smiled at all of us to let us know that Byong had her full support.

Byong took out his phone and glanced at it before explaining further, “There are short training courses that I want to join. We have carefully charted them out so as to maximally utilize the entire year.” He sent the information to all of us and we looked at our phones as he spoke, “From April to June I will attend armed security guard training in Seoul. From August to October I will do similar training in Beijing. November I will spend in Canada with Yifan uncle, for a month-long elite bodyguard course there. December and January, there is a specialized course in Australia. February, I will be in USA. March, I will go to Germany. Next year April, I will be ready to join your firm.”

Once we assimilated his words, all we could do was stare at him. Was this the same Byong who always shied away from studies? The young man whom we had to push and pull into studying business management?

“Don’t look so shocked. I can practically see the wheels of your brains turning,” Byong grinned at our reactions. “Let’s say I never found anything worth my time till now. Appa’s new venture has me all fired up. And we are talking very short courses, ranging from one month to three months. It’s just not enough time for me to get bored with them.”

Duckie lovingly touched his cheek and beamed at him, “I have to find a new name for you. Moron doesn’t fit you anymore.”

“Call me whatever you want, Sweetheart. I will still always be your moron. Do you want to tell them the next bit?” Byong pecked her lips and gazed adoringly at her.

Heechul tensed up next to me. We could guess their next piece of news. Duckie confirmed our suspicion, “I will be travelling with him. I am taking a year long hiatus from college. I will do short courses of some type in whichever city we are in.”

Both Kibum and I put an arm around Heechul and kept him seated. He looked at us and we comforted him silently. Kibum whispered to both of us, “It’s only a year. It will pass very quickly. Consider it a 12-month-long honeymoon for them.” I looked at Puppy and he blew me a kiss. Our non-verbal communication was interrupted with Jaejoong’s loud exclamation.

“I also want to go with Byongie hyung. Let me go and ask appa for permission.” Jaejoong ran off before anyone could stop him. We waited for explosion and were not disappointed.

My father came striding towards us and made his stance clear with a loud warning, “No grandson of mine is going to become a bodyguard. Jinki, you have taken leave of your senses if you think I will give permission for this. Do you want everyone to laugh at me? Grandson of Lee Daewon training to be a bodyguard! Absolutely, no way!”

Kibum looked in panic at Heechul and me. It was Heechul’s turn to wrap a reassuring arm around his shoulders. Siwon answered my father, “Byong is going to study how security business works. He will not be working as a bodyguard but employing security personnel to work for him. You only say that to run any business well, one must know what the actual work involved is like. He wants to own the most elite security business in the country and internationally. Didn’t Kai study hospitality management to help Taemin run your chain of hotels?”

My father glowered at us and remained belligerent, “And I was never in favor of it. My grandson washing dishes! And now Byong wants to be a bodyguard! You are a bunch of brainless fools. Do what you want to. Don’t come asking me for help when you realize your stupidity.” He wagged at a finger at me to underline his contempt for my decisions. I clenched my fingers into a tight fist to sit silently. When I did not give him the satisfaction of arguing with him, he huffed loudly to show his displeasure before walking away to speak to my mother. I sighed.

Kibum reached beyond Heechul to pat my shoulder, “Don’t worry hyung, umma is used to his tirades. She will silently listen till he runs out of steam and leaves her alone. Soon she will forget whatever he said. Her forgetfulness is actually a blessing in disguise for her.”

A dejected Jaejoong walked over to us and sat down in Byong’s lap, “Hyung, I am sorry to make trouble for you. Harabeoji is really scary. And umma is worse than him. She twisted my ears. It hurts. I am sure they are red. Appa said if I talk anymore nonsense he will ban me from dating Yunho. Why is everyone so mean to Joongie? All I wanted to do was secure the future so Yunho and I could have our family without any money problems.” While narrating his woes, Jaejoong turned to straddle Byong’s lap. He resembled a baby koala, the way he was wrapped around his older cousin.

Byong and Duckie rubbed his back and made cooing sounds. Yunho stood behind Byong and patted Jaejoong’s hair while consoling him, “Don’t worry, Joongie. We still have our original plan. You study to be a chef and we will open a chain of restaurants. We will be a great success, baby. We will live in a big house.”

Jaejoong spoke into Byong’s shoulder, “I want to live in a penthouse with six cats, one for each of our children.”

Yunho smiled indulgently at his boyfriend, “Of course, baby. Wherever you want and whatever you want.”

“But it is still unfair,” Jaejoong was far from pacified. “Why is umma always scolding me? She never says one harsh word to Xia. I think she stores all her bad moments so she can lecture me at least once a day.” Duckie made even more cooing sounds. Jaejoong turned his head to look at her, “I am definitely going to run away one day.”

Yunho wailed in distress, “No baby, you cannot run away. What will I do without you?”

Jaejoong snorted, “Don’t be an idiot, Yun. Of course, I will run away with you. I can’t have you turning to Chun again for comfort. It will breakup Chun and Xia. That will waste all my effort in bringing them together. So, when I run away, you have to come with me.”

“You don’t believe me when I say I love only you. How can you be so stupid? Didn’t I agree to have six babies with you? And who did I give that huge hickey to – you or Chun?” Yunho folded his arms across his chest and reproachfully stared at his new boyfriend.

Jaejoong uncoiled himself from around Byong and wrapped himself around his upset boyfriend who immediately hugged him in return. Jaejoong’s voice reached us from somewhere in Yunho’s shoulder or neck, “Don’t call me stupid. You are an idiot because it took you so many years to realize you do not love Yoochun. Who knows what your idiotic brain will decide, if I run away alone. It’s safer to take you with me. Come, we will go and ask Sehun hyung to help us create a plan to run away together.”

Jaejoong separated himself from Yunho and took his hand to march him away. Yunho looked at us and rolled his eyes, but let the younger boy lead him wherever he wanted. It took only the length of time for the two boys to be out of hearing range and then there was no dearth of laughter at our table. We laughed till either our tummies hurt or tears rolled down our faces, or both.

Duckie leaned into Byong and stopped laughing after a lot of effort. She wiped her cheeks and whispered loudly, “You are an Einstein in comparison. Poor Sehun oppa!” They clutched at each other in merriment as her proclamation brought another wave of laughter to our table.