Meeting Parents
Tell Me You ExistIndex:
(YJ) – Young Jae speaking
(DH) – Daehyun speaking
(JU) – Jongup speaking
(MJ) – Mrs. Jung speaking
(DJ) – Mr. Jung speaking
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“Okay, I’ll see you later then. Remember, get me LOADS of pastries!” (DH) Young Jae gave a small nod as Daehyun flashed a grin. Once Daehyun began to walk down the sidewalk, Young Jae took in a deep breath as he turned to face the bakery. Taking a few steps forward, Young Jae had just reached out to grab the handle of the door before the door practically flung open.
“YOUNG JAEEE~!!!” (JU) Young Jae gasped as he felt himself pulled into a tight embrace. Once more, he felt his feet leave the safety of the ground, causing him to unintentionally kick his feet a little in an attempt to feel reassured once more. After a moment or two of awkward kicking, Young Jae finally felt his feet back firmly on the ground as Jongup carefully released Young Jae from his hold. “You’re here! You’re here! I can’t wait to play! What should we play first?” (JU)
“U-Um…” (YJ)
“Oh! Let’s go inside first! My parents really want to meet you! I told them a whole lot about you!” (JU) Young Jae quietly whined to himself as he felt Jongup leading him into the bakery. What was even there for Jongup to talk about? They hadn’t really gotten to know much about one another, so Young Jae didn’t understand how Jongup could possibly talk so much about him to his parents. However, this at least gave Young Jae the chance to meet Jongup’s parents and possibly see if Daehyun really is related to them or not.
Once inside the bakery, Young Jae noticed a man now standing behind the counter. Normally, whenever he came here, it was just Jongup by himself. Of course, he did only come here about five or six times, but all those times, he had not seen this man once. Of course, it may have just been simple coincidence. Young Jae knew how much time and work had to be placed into baking something delicious and it did make things difficult when one had to bake a bunch of pastries all at one time. “Dad! This is Young Jae!” (JU)
Jongup’s father narrowed his eyelids a bit as he seemed to examine Young Jae with a sharp eye. Young Jae felt nervous under his gaze, but he tried his best to keep himself as calm as possible. It was kind of difficult since the man had a sort of serious look on his face and with his slightly long black hair; it made him look kind of scary. When he realized that he was supposed to say something, Young Jae quickly bowed as he cleared his throat. “H-Hello sir! M-My name’s Yoo Young Jae!” (YJ)
“So… you’re our little boy’s crush, eh?!” (DJ)
“Daaaaad! He’s just my friend! I don’t like boys…” (JU) Jongup’s father let out a slight chuckle as he dusted his hands off on his pants before walking out from behind the counter. Once he was close enough to the two teens, Mr. Jung held his hand out, to which Young Jae hesitantly took hold of. In that instant, Young Jae felt his hand practically being crushed as Mr. Jung shook Young Jae’s hand.
“Nice ‘ta meet you, boy! I’m Mr. Jung. I heard many good things about you… Young Jae, was it? You should meet the Mrs! I think she’ll like those chubby cheeks of yours. HEY, HONEY! COME OUT HERE!” (DJ) Young Jae had jumped a bit by just how loud Mr. Jung was. Even though Mr. Jung had turned to face the back doorway, Young Jae could still feel the power behind his voice. If he was like this, then what was Jongup’s mother like? Wait… What did his cheeks have to do with any of this?
“My, what is it?” (MJ) All three males turned their attention to the backdoor, which was now open. Standing at the doorway was a kind-looking woman with a warm smile that would make anyone feel like they were welcome. She had light brown hair, which had been placed into a braid that was currently draped over her left shoulder. Young Jae couldn’t help but stare in awe at just how friendly this woman looked. “Oh? Who’s this?” (MJ)
“This ‘ere’s Jongup’s friend, Young Jae! Look at his cheeks! Ain’t these the kind of cheeks you wanted our kids to have?” (DJ) Mrs. Jung made her way up to the trio before looking up at Young Jae. She blinked a few times, her smile remaining on her face as she examined Young Jae’s face. Reaching up, Mrs. Jung lightly pinched Young Jae’s cheeks before her smile grew a bit.
“They’re perfect! Oh my…! You’re a very handsome boy. Are you dating our Jonguppie?” (MJ) Young Jae honestly had no idea what was currently going on. Why was Jongup’s mother pinching his cheeks? Okay, so she wasn’t pinching too hard, but she was still pinching his cheeks despite not knowing who he is. He also continued to wonder why they both thought that he was dating Jongup.
“Mooooom! I’m not dating him! He’s just my friend!” (JU)
“My… the way you talked about him though, I thought that you were dating him!” (MJ) Mrs. Jung finally released Young Jae’s cheeks before pulling her hands away and neatly folding them. With a smile, Mrs. Jung slightly bowed her head before looking back up at Young Jae. “It’s nice to meet you, Young Jae. I’m Jongup’s mother.” (MJ)
“It’s um… It’s nice to meet you.” (YJ)
“So polite… Oh! Are you hungry? I was making a bit of an afternoon lunch. Would you like to join us?” (MJ) Well, he was feeling kind of hungry. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to join them for a little lunch, right? Sure, he felt rather uncomfortable around them, but it would be rather rude of him to reject their offer. Of course, before he could give a response, Jongup had taken a hold of Young Jae’s wrist before he began pulling him towards the backdoor.
“Come on! The food’s really good! You’ll like it a lot!” (JU) As they walked into the area where the family lived in, Young Jae carefully looked around out of curiosity. It may have been simply decorated, but that’s probably what gave the home its charm. It was cute and gave a really warm welcome feeling to Young Jae. When it was combined with the Jung family, it seemed to compliment one another well. “Here! You can sit in my older brother’s spot.” (JU)
Jongup practically forced Young Jae onto the cushion seat before he ran around the table and sat across from him. Young Jae blinked a few times, looking at the small, wooden table. There wasn’t any food set, but Young Jae was certain that the food was going to be set shortly. Looking up a bit, Young Jae looked around for a brief moment before his eyes landed on the family portraits. He probably would have gotten a better look at them, but Jongup’s father had walked into the room and pulled his attention away. “Ah, Young Jae! If you’re going to be part of this family, you gotta arm wrestle with me! Whaddya say?” (DJ)
“A-Arm wrestle?!” (YJ)
“That’s a yes! Jongup, move over!” (DJ) As Jongup moved to the side a bit, Mr. Jung sat where Jongup had been sitting before putting his right elbow on the table with his left hand holding the edge of the table. Young Jae stared at the hand out of disbelief before looking up at Mr. Jung, hoping that he was just kidding. However, the grin that Mr. Jung was currently sporting seemed to say otherwise. “Come on! Put’er there!” (DJ)
Young Jae looked at Jongup, whom seemed to be watching rather eagerly. He wished that someone was there to give some sort of explanation, but it seemed like he was currently on his own. Letting out a small sigh, Young Jae reluctantly set his right elbow on the table before taking hold of Mr. Jung’s hand. Mr. Jung seemed to look excited as his grip instantly tightened, showing off the muscles that Young Jae was fairly certain he was no match against. “Ready! Set! Go!” (JU)
Once Jongup waved his hand around, Young Jae attempted as hard as he could to push Mr. Jung’s arm down. Sadly, it seemed like he only managed to make it waver as Mr. Jung merely sat there with a grin on his face. Young Jae already knew that he wasn’t going to win this one, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t continue trying… right? “That all you got, boy? Come on! You’re a man! Put more o‘a that elbow grease into it!” (DJ)
“You can do it, Young Jae! He’s super easy to beat!” (JU) Young Jae didn’t necessarily understand how Jongup could say it was easy to defeat his father. From what he could see, Mr. Jung was far too strong for Young Jae to defeat. The fact that he didn’t even seem to be struggling whatsoever told Young Jae that Mr. Jung wasn’t really trying at all.
However, before Young Jae had the chance to give up, he suddenly felt Mr. Jung’s arm moving backwards. His eyes widened a little as he saw Mr. Jung putting on a face of sort, almost as if he was struggling. It was confusing, but before he knew it, Young Jae found himself pinning Mr. Jung’s hand to the table’s surface. Jongup cheered happily, but Young Jae was still very confused by the situation. “Ah… You’re a strong one, Young Jae! You are more than welcome to our family.” (DJ)
“Um…” (YJ)
“Sorry to keep you all waiting! Everything will be out shortly.” (MJ) Mrs. Jung knelt down and set the tray down before she began to set up the table. Plates, cups, chopsticks and spoons have each been set before bowls were placed next to the plates. Once things seemed to have been set up the way she wanted it, Mrs. Jung gathered up the tray and got to her feet before quickly making her way back into the kitchen.
“Jongup! Go help your mother.” (DJ)
“Oka-” (JU)
“I-I can do it.” (YJ) Young Jae quickly got to his feet and began walking before he could get a response from either Jongup or Mr. Jung. Entering the kitchen, he had immediately spotted Mrs. Jung, whom was currently transferring food from the pots to serving dishes. Stopping a comfortable distance behind Mrs. Jung, Young Jae fiddled with the hem of his blazer as he kept his head low. “Um…” (YJ)
Mrs. Jung briefly turned to look behind her, but she hadn’t expected to see anyone there. When she spotted Young Jae, she gasped as she completely turned around and jumped back a bit. Young Jae had jumped as well, taken by surprise by Mrs. Jung’s reaction. When she was able to calm down a bit, Mrs. Jung let out a light laugh as she put a hand up to her chest. “Young Jae! You scared me. What is it that you need?” (MJ)
“Um… I-I wanted to… help…” (YJ) Mrs. Jung smiled as she put her hands on her hips.
“My! I haven’t had any of the men of this household help me for a while now. Your help would be lovely.” (MJ) Young Jae nodded, though as he began to help Mrs. Jung, a thought crossed his mind. What did she mean by a while? Did that mean that there had been a male in the household that had helped her in the past? Young Jae was curious about it, but he pushed those thoughts off to the side for the time being. “Here. Transfer this plate over to the other room. It’ll be safer to transfer it one at a time.” (MJ)
Taking hold of the plate, Young Jae nodded a bit before he turned and made his way back to the living room. Well, it was apparently their dining area too, but it seemed to be mainly their living room for the most part. Once there, he set the dish in the middle before he made his way back to the kitchen. They repeated this a few times before finally; they had moved everything that was needed. Once they were seated, both Jongup and Mr. Jung had both dug in without a care in the world. Young Jae was a bit surprised by how eager they were, but they had reminded him of how Daehyun usually began eating. Mrs. Jung giggled a little as she picked up her chopsticks. “Oh, don’t be shy, Young Jae. Help yourself to whatever you like.” (MJ)
“U-Um… Thank you.” (YJ) Picking up his pair of chopsticks, he happily began to eat. After a few bites, Young Jae was surprised to say that the food was rather enjoyable. If he recalled from his childhood, his mother wasn’t exactly the best chef in the world. Had it not been for his timid nature, he probably would have opted not to eat his mother’s cooking back then. “This is really delicious, Mrs. Jung.” (YJ)
“My, really? I’m glad to hear that! Please, help yourself! Eat as much as you like.” (MJ) Young Jae nodded as he continued to eat. Every now and then, he would glance up, listening to the conversation that the other three seemed to be able to produce. He did join in every now and then, but he remained quiet for the most part. It’s not that he didn’t want to join in on their conversation; it’s just that he found it more interesting to listen to what they had to say.
It was rather… pleasant.
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“RAWR!” (JU) Young Jae yelped as he suddenly felt himself being tackled to the ground. Once they made a rather rough impact with the ground, Young Jae groaned a bit as he attempted to regain the breath that had been knocked out of him. Looking up a bit, he saw Jongup now looking down at him with a grin. “I caught you! I’m the dinosaur and you’re the prey. Can we play that game? Pleeeeease? My older brother and me used to play it a lot!” (JU)
“H-How do we play…?” (YJ)
“We’re supposed to wrestle and the one who gets pinned down gets eaten! I always lose… but I think I can beat you!” (JU) They were supposed to wrestle?! Young Jae was definitely certain that he was not going to be able to play that well. Wrestling was something that he had not encountered yet and he was a bit worried that things may go wrong. Plus, there wasn’t any sort of matting or anything that would keep them from receiving too much damage.
“Can’t we, um… play something else…?” (YJ)
“Aww… Okay then. We can play something else. What do you want to play?” (JU) As Young Jae began to think, Jongup got to his feet before helping Young Jae up as well. Once he finished dusting Young Jae off, Jongup grinned happily as he awaited Young Jae’s answer. Sadly, Young Jae didn’t really have any ideas as to what they could play. The only thing he could think of were to play some sort of video games, but he didn’t know if Jongup would find it fun or not.
“Um… Do you… have any board games?” (YJ)
“Board games? We have tons!” (JU) Jongup quickly made Young Jae sit back down by the table before he made his way to the hallway. Opening up the hallway closet, Jongup took out as many games as he could hold before he made his way back to the living room. Setting the games on top of the table, Jongup quickly spread everything out before he looked at Young Jae out of excitement. “So, which one do you want to play? We have loads of games that we can play!” (JU)
“Um…” (YJ)
“What are you rascals doing?” (DJ) Both teens looked up at Mr. Jung as he entered the room with a grin. Sitting down at the table, Mr. Jung looked at the games before his eyes instantly honed in on one specific game that he found the best out of all of them. Leaning forward a bit, Mr. Jung took hold of the game before moving it closer to Young Jae and Jongup. “This one’s the best! You have to play this. I call the shoe.” (DJ)
Looking down at the board game, both Young Jae and Jongup seemed to have a sort of uncertain feeling. The game that Mr. Jung wanted to play was Monopoly and considering how long and tedious the game is, neither teen wanted to play it. Sure, it was fun at the beginning, but the longer it got, the more boring it would become. “Are you su-” (JU)
“Set it up, Jongup! I’ll go see if your mother needs any help before we play.” (DJ) Once Mr. Jung was out of the room, Jongup let out a sigh as he quickly got up and brought the rest of the games back to the hallway’s closet. While he did that, Young Jae began setting up the game. Well, at least it would be fun for the first ten to twenty minutes… right?
As Jongup sat back down, he watched as Young Jae neatly organized everything. From the board pieces to even the fake money, everything was organized in a neat manner. In a way, Jongup was quite impressed by how everything looked. Normally, they just left everything stacked and just picked out whatever they needed. Young Jae, on the other hand, was even using the weird plastic thing to hold the paper money separately in their own little groups. “Um… What piece do you want to use?” (YJ)
“I like the… dog!” (JU) Jongup quickly swooped up the dog piece before putting it on the ‘GO’ square. With the dog and the shoe pieces in place, Young Jae pursed his lips as he tried to decide which of the pieces he wanted. There were so many and yet, none of them seemed to grab his attention. Though… there was probably one piece that seemed to have at least caught his attention.
“Um… I think I like the thimble…” (YJ)
“The what…?” (JU) Young Jae looked up at Jongup, thinking he was joking. However, seeing the confused look on his face seemed to tell him otherwise. Looking back down at the pieces, Young Jae picked up the thimble before raising the piece up for Jongup to see. “That’s called a thimble? I thought it was called a finger hat!” (JU)
“A… finger hat?” (YJ)
“Yeah! You put it on your finger and it looks like a hat for your finger!” (JU) Jongup had attempted to demonstrate by putting the thimble on the tip of his finger, but his finger was too big for it to fit. While holding it in place with his thumb, Jongup looked around for a brief moment before his eyes landed on a nearby pen. With a grin, Jongup practically launched himself towards the pen in an attempt to reach it. Just as he had grabbed a hold of it, Jongup fell onto the ground with a rather loud thump. Young Jae blinked a few times before his eyes widened with worry.
“A-Are you alright…?” (YJ) Instead of answering his question, Jongup had pushed himself back to his spot before sitting up. With a grin, Jongup opened up the pen before he began writing something on the finger that was currently wearing the thimble. Once he was satisfied, Jongup awkwardly scooted next to Young Jae before leaning towards him and showing him what he had written.
“See? It looks like he’s wearing a hat!” (JU) Young Jae stared for a brief moment before a slight chuckle escaped from his lips. The smiley face that Jongup had drawn had surprised him a bit and in a way, it was rather adorable. Young Jae definitely did like the idea and… he kind of wanted to do it too. Before he could even attempt it though, Mr. Jung had reentered the room.
“Okay, men! It’s time to play a man’s game! I’ll show you how to be a real man!” (DJ)
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“Aish…! This isn’t fair! Are you sure I have to pay you that much?!” (DJ) Despite his confidence at the start of the game, Mr. Jung had proven to be rather bad at playing Monopoly. Despite knowing how boring it was, Jongup had also known how much of a sore loser his father could be at this game. As Young Jae nodded, Mr. Jung let out a slight groan before he began mumbling about how he was cheating. As Mr. Jung paid up, it was Jongup’s turn to go. “Man… I thought I could at least beat you, but you’re just as good at this game as my oldest!” (DJ)
“Your oldest? Who’s your oldest?” (YJ) Mr. Jung’s mood seemed to go from annoyed to sad as his eyes lowered a bit. Young Jae felt like he probably shouldn’t have said anything, but Mr. Jung did technically bring him up first. When he seemed to pull himself out of it, Mr. Jung grinned as he sat up a bit.
“My oldest son, Daehyun! He’s a few years older than Jongup, a bit of an oddball. Still, he was a bright boy who had a good head on his shoulders. He was a good baker too! Better than yours truly, but don’t tell anyone I said that. You hear? I get enough of it from our customers constantly asking why the taste and style is different now.” (DJ) Young Jae did wonder why he kept talking about him in past tense. Did… their son pass away or was he the Daehyun that he had been talking to this entire time? “Boy! You payin’ attention? It’s your turn!” (DJ)
Young Jae blinked a few times as he saw Jongup holding the dice out to him. He had hoped to get a bit more information out of him, but it seemed like that wasn’t happening at this moment. Taking hold of the dice, Young Jae shook the dice in his hand before rolling. Maybe he would be able to see a picture of their oldest son sooner or later.
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“You’ll come visit again, right?” (JU) Young Jae nodded as they stood by the bakery entrance. The sun was just starting to set and Young Jae needed to get home before his grandmother began getting worried. Yes, Jongup was sad that Young Jae was leaving, but he knew that Young Jae would come and buy more pastries one of these days.
“Mhm.” (YJ)
“Okay! I’ll see you soon!” (JU) With a small wave, Young Jae turned and soon left the bakery. With a small sigh, Young Jae adjusted his hold on his things when he heard someone clearing their voice. Looking up, his eyes widened as he saw Daehyun standing there with a smile.
“Hey. Thought I’d walk you home.” (DH) Young Jae held an embarrassed smile as he kept his gaze towards the ground. He nodded a bit, walking up to Daehyun as he tried to keep himself calm. Daehyun chuckled a bit as he wrapped an arm around Young Jae’s shoulders before rubbing his arm. “Why so embarrassed? Loosen up a bit!” (DH)
“Young Jae!” (JU) Young Jae turned around to face Jongup, whom was currently grinning and holding a plastic bag. Running up to Young Jae, Jongup held his grin as he held the bag out to Young Jae. “My mom wanted to give you some pastries for you and your grandma! You said that you live with your grandma, right? My mom wanted to make sure that she’s eating well.” (JU)
“O-Oh…! Um… Thank you.” (YJ) Young Jae took the bag of pastries before opening it up and looking inside. Although each pastry was currently wrapped up, Young Jae could still smell the sweet scent that emanated from the pastries. With a smile, Young Jae looked up at Jongup before nodding. “They smell delicious! Oh, um… this is Daehyun!” (YJ)
Young Jae stepped to the side before turning to look at Daehyun. However, instead of spotting Daehyun where Young Jae assumed he was, he had disappeared again. Looking around, Young Jae was a bit confused as he rubbed the back of his head. “Um… Where did he go…?” (YJ)
“I don’t see anyone… but that’s okay! I’ll see you later Young Jae!” (JU) Without a moment’s hesitation, Jongup grinned once more and gave a small wave before he ran back into the bakery. Once the bakery door was closed, Young Jae turned here and there as he rubbed the back of his head in confusion. There was just no way that Daehyun could have run away that fast… could he?
“Psst! Over here!” (DH) Young Jae turned here and there before his eyes finally spotted Daehyun, whom was currently hiding in a nearby alleyway. Even if Daehyun did run though, Young Jae was certain that Jongup would have seen Daehyun running there. Still… at least he knew that Daehyun really was avoiding this bakery. Maybe he really was related to them. “Let’s go before they come out again!” (DH)
“O-Okay…” (YJ) Young Jae glanced over at the bakery once more before he made his way over to Daehyun. With a satisfied grin, Daehyun took the bag of pastries from Young Jae’s grasp before putting his arm back around Young Jae’s shoulders. As they began walking, Young Jae couldn’t help but glance at Daehyun every now and then. “Um… Why are you avoiding them?” (YJ)
“Hm? Oh! Uh… I’m not avoiding them. I just… really had to go take a leak.” (DH) Young Jae had a look of both confusion and disgust as he unintentionally imagined Daehyun urinating in an alleyway. He doubted that that was the case, but he couldn’t help but think that it might be the truth. There were plenty of possibilities, but Young Jae had decided to put that way at the bottom of that list. “So, uh… were they… doing well?” (DH)
“What? O-Oh! Um… Yeah… I think so. Mrs. Jung is really nice and Mr. Jung is… kinda weird… but I think he’s a good person. Jongup seemed really happy too.” (YJ) Glancing at Daehyun, Young Jae could see a sort of relieved look pass onto Daehyun’s face. If he was so worried about their well-being, then why didn’t he just go back to them? “Are you… related to them?” (YJ)
“What? Uh… Of course not! What made you come up with an idea like that?” (DH)
“They keep talking about a Daehyun… a-and, um… you seem worried about them…” (YJ) A sort of sadness seemed to cross Daehyun’s face, but he seemed to push all of that aside the second he noticed Young Jae looking his way. With a sort of nervous chuckle, Daehyun rubbed the back of his head a bit.
“Can we… not talk about it?” (DH)
“But…” (YJ)
“Remember…? You have to do whatever I say for a week and… I want you to stop asking about it… okay…?” (DH) Young Jae frowned a bit, but reluctantly nodded. He just had to wait until Saturday to ask again. He knew that this was invasion of personal space, but Young Jae really wanted to know now. This was something that felt important to learn and if there really was a problem occurring between the two parties, then Young Jae wanted to help and try to fix the situation. Yes, he had no right to interfere, but… it was just sad to see family members whom felt so close with one another to be so distant now.
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[[ My Own Thoughts:
Things are starting to reveal themselves. *-*
Let us just see how things continue to progress from here. X3
Comments are loved >3<
I like to see if I need any improvement.
I also like to talk with everyone. X3 ]]
So... I don't know if I should edit Ch. 18 & 19 or not. It's pretty angst and I cry.
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