MUSH & MUSHIER

Jinki had been trying to finish the report for the past many hours but got interrupted every time he began working on it. It was due first thing on Monday morning and he had done only half of it and it was already 9 on Sunday night. When he had sat down to work in the evening, Sulli wanted to check on music colleges and their application processes. So, Minho and Jinki had spent hours checking for the best music colleges in all of South Korea. There was a ton of printouts to check again later.

After dinner, Minho got busy with his own work as it was the end of financial year and he was buried under work. Sulli began dancing and singing to music videos when Jinki asked her to get him a slice of ice cream cake. She complied with a smile and put a slice in front of both her fathers before going back to her song and dance.

Trying not to feel harassed by the shoddy research carried out by one of his department staffers, Jinki quickly ate the ice cream and still felt like ringing up the staffer and calling him an idiot for messing up a simple research task. Now he’d need to spend an hour or more finding the right data himself.

“Sulli, can you get me a slice of the ice cream log?” Jinki needed more comfort food.

“I am busy dad, you can get it yourself,” Sulli laughed at her depressed-looking father.

“Come on baby, you are nearest to the kitchen,” Jinki smiled at his daughter.

“Can’t you see I am preparing for the SM auditions dad? It will be good for you to exercise if you get it yourself. It will take me time to slice up the log.” Sulli poked her tongue out at Jinki.

“It’s already sliced up, won’t take more than half a minute. Please baby,” Jinki smiled at his daughter whose eyes were dancing merrily at the fun she was having troubling him.

“You are getting fat dad. Too much chocolate is not good for you,” Sulli more.

“All I am asking is for one slice to help me through baby. Please?” Jinki was sure Sulli would not refuse again.

“No. I am busy. Get it yourself,” Sulli went into her bedroom.

Jinki got up and went to his bedroom to get his blood pressure medicine. As he passed Sulli’s room, he saw her preening in front of the mirror. Something just broke inside him. All the nights Minho and he had spent looking after the little baby. All the times when they gave her every little thing her heart desired. Jinki remembered all of it. He swallowed his pill dry and walked back to the living room. As he passed Sulli’s room again, he softly told his daughter, “You can forget continuing your piano lessons.”

He ignored the sputtering girl and went to prepare tea in the kitchen. He stared out of the kitchen window and tried to control his haywire emotions. He tried to figure out what was irritating him so much about his daughter. Why was he losing his control with her so often?

“Dad, you can’t do that. You know how much I want to continue my lessons. It’s been so many months that I haven’t taken any because of my exams,” Sulli was totally shocked.

Jinki turned to look at his daughter with pain-filled eyes, “You made me beg for a slice of ice cream. Beg. I wonder why I even thought to ask you in the first place. My mistake.”

“I was only teasing you dad,” Sulli tried once again.

Jinki put his right hand palm up to silence her. He didn’t want to hear how she once again refused his requests because she was playing games with him. She was old enough to know there was a time and place for games and teasing.

He poured two cups of tea and put one near Minho’s laptop, bending down to place a tender kiss in the hair of the man who was too busy to even look up from the charts he was analyzing. Jinki reminded his husband in a whisper, “Don’t burn your tongue again Minho.” When Minho absently nodded, Jinki went back to his report.

Sulli followed Jinki with a pout. She knew that if she went to Minho with her complaints, it would further irritate Jinki. Jinki always made sure no one disturbed Minho when he brought work home, which did not happen often. Both Minho and Jinki believed in leaving work in the office and spending off-work hours with their family.

“Dad, please. I am sorry,” Sulli tried again when Jinki sat down with his own laptop.

“Go and dance. I will not disturb you anymore,” Jinki looked coldly at his daughter. He pursed his lips to silence all the words bubbling in his mind to be poured out for the benefit of his daughter. “Just go, before I say things I will regret forever.”

When Minho came to him two hours later, Jinki was still finishing his report. Having to research had taken up a lot of his time. Minho looked in at Sulli who was busy with her smart phone in her room and prepared a cup of hot chocolate for Jinki, knowing how much it helped the older man de-stress. Minho sat next to Jinki and read out figures from the printouts that Jinki was looking at and then filling into his report. When Jinki had emailed the report to all the concerned persons, he leaned back into the arms that Minho wrapped around him.

Minho tightened his arms and absorbed Jinki’s weight against him, “Thank you for the tea darling, I really needed it. God I hate March end.”

Jinki nodded and pressed a kiss into Minho’s jaw line, “Today is 31^st. You are done for this year love. Has Sulli gone to sleep?”

Minho shook his head and Jinki burrowed deeper into him. He wondered how to tell Minho about his altercation with their daughter. Minho was always putty where Sulli was concerned. “Love, I told Sulli she cannot continue her piano lessons.”

Minho sighed deeply, “She must have done something to irritate you again.”

Jinki nodded, “Give her a few days to feel her punishment and then restart her lessons.”

“Mush,” Minho pulled Jinki to sit in his lap so he could kiss him properly.

“Mushier,” Jinki grinned and let Minho distract him completely.