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{23}

“So, the rules of the game are simple. The point of the game is to get rid of all your cards. They’re distributed amongst all of us as evenly as possible and then we each put a card, or multiple cards, down in the order of ace to king. But in this game you’re allowed to lie, so even if you don’t have a certain card, you still have to put something down. For example, say it’s my turn and I put down two aces. Then you would have to put down a two, but if you don’t have a two, then you can put down another card but you still have to say it’s a two. If no one thinks you’re lying then we just move onto the next person, but, if someone does think you’re lying then that person can say—.”

“Hayeon! Are you teaching our nieces and nephews how to play BS?!” I crossed my arms and my younger sister looked over her shoulder, panic written all over her face as her eyes darted from me to the curious kids circled around her. Luckily, my siblings were around in the family reunion. It had been a while since I last saw the two of them, and I hoped that my younger sister became more mature, but unfortunately she did not.

“Psh, no,” she scoffed, her face turning red as she fought hard to keep in her giggles, a sure sign that she wasn’t being truthful. You’re such an awful liar.

“But Auntie, you told us earlier that the game was—.”

“Jae! I think your mom called you! You should go to her, like, right now!” Hayeon blurted out, pushing the child away in some random direction and I rolled my eyes.

“You never change,” I sighed and walked away when Hyoyeon sat down with them, determined to win in a game of BS against the children of our cousins.

“As long as they don’t know or say the word it’s fine, Taeng,” Sunny patted my knee as I sat beside her, the campfire engulfing my legs in warmth. I gently tugged at the collar of my Mickey sweater and took a deep breath. “The summer’s almost over, it’s getting colder…”

“Yeah, but I kind of like the cold,” I said, looking up at the clear, starlit sky. Even with all of the trees in the camp grounds, we had a perfect view up above. It was amazing, especially when there was no rain.

“How’s school?” Hyukjun asked from across the fire and I grinned.

“One more year, after June I’m going to be starting my residency,” I told him proudly and he whistled, clapping my back. I was genuinely excited to be done with school. I had gone through a lot of hardship to just get this far.

“Hell’s going to start for you, heading into emergency medicine.”

“I thought you wanted to go with cardiology…?” My decision was a long and hard one, but I ended up choosing to go down the road of emergency medicine not too long ago. Dr. Huang told me a student that was supposed to go into the subject dropped out of medical school after witnessing a certain incident and that his scheduled residency would remain empty. I could literally start my residency right after I graduated in his place. Paired with the fact people always told me I worked well in the ER and that emergency medicine took one third of the time for a cardiologist to finish up residency, it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up when I wanted to push for a better future for Tiffany and I. Besides, being an adrenaline junkie, I think I always had a secret desire to work more in the ER.

“I’m guaranteed money faster with less studying, it was too good of a deal to let go,” I told my cousins, tapping the arm of my camping chair.

“Are you prepared for that?” Honestly? Probably not, but it’s not like all students that are going into emergency medicine expect to be hit with gruesome, bloodied up bodies on their first day. At least I hope not, that would be a major downer.

“We’ll see,” I shrugged. Even if I did become a little traumatized from the experiences and images, there’s nothing else I could do. It wasn’t just because I was deep into the medical scene, but I found a love for being a doctor. There wasn’t anything else I could imagine myself doing anymore.

“Dammit! You didn’t bring the roasting sticks for the marshmallows!” an older nephew of mine, ‘Bowser’, yelled at his younger sister. I blinked. I swear it wasn’t that long ago when he was barely 11, looking like he was barely 7. Now all of a sudden he was swearing around children, cocky with authority and settling into his early twenties.

“When the Hell did Bowser get so old?” I asked Sunny and she laughed, slapping her thighs.

“When the Hell did you get so old?” she asked with a smile and I furrowed my eyebrows, my mouth open as I thought.

“I don’t know,” I mumbled and she laughed even more. I didn’t feel old, but the simple act of watching a child grow up into an adult made me seem old. A weird thought came to my mind: Bowser was now older than Yuri. I took a quick glance at Hyukjun. “Wait a minute, we can’t make s’mores?!”

“Okay never mind, you’re not that old,” Sunny joked as I stood up and walked over, brainstorming with other adults over our predicament.

“Now what? The children are going to be whining and upset if we really can’t make s’mores,” Jiwoong tapped his chin, his trusty headphones resting on his neck. “And we can’t drive somewhere and buy sticks; we’re pretty far from a store…” I pouted and stared at the ingredients for the treats all lined up on the table, next to a griddle. I tilted my head as I stared even more.

“Wrap up the s’mores in tinfoil and put it on the griddle,” I pointed and everyone else followed my finger. “It’ll cook through still, and won’t burn as easily as leaving the s’more directly on it.”

“Oh my gosh, Taeng you’re either a genius or really desperate for s’mores!”

I finished off my second grilled s’more and my fingers, cleaning away all of the melted chocolate. I’m content. I smiled to myself as I helped the children fold up their treats in tinfoil, warning them to be careful because of the heat. “Aunt Taeng, where’s Aunt Tiffany?” Oh dear. I hadn’t talked to Tiffany in a long time, ever since she never texted that she loved me back. It was a petty thing to be upset over but with our distance and our lack of consistent communication it made me feel insecure all over again. I needed to hear those three words from her; I was greedy for Tiffany’s love. But I smiled at my niece so she wouldn’t have to experience any of my negative emotions.

“Aunt Tiffany’s busy working, we don’t want to bother her do we?” my niece shook her head vigorously in response. I didn’t know my girlfriend’s presence mattered to the children in my family. Is she my family? I liked to think so; I hoped she thought the same way.

“Jae, don’t eat too much sugar, you’ll get a nosebleed,” my cousin told her son and I sputtered. That’s an interesting tactic.

“How does that even work?” I asked her and she glared at me. I smiled more.

“Jae gets nosebleeds pretty often,” she told me and I hummed. Obviously nosebleeds weren’t welcomed to Jae, so associating sugar with nosebleeds was probably a smart, but slightly twisted, way of getting him to cool down on the sweets.

“Taeng!” Hayeon suddenly threw herself onto me, almost making me collapse onto the hot griddle. I let out a cry as I stabled myself but soon enough she was trying to climb on me. What is this idiot doing now?!

“What—! What in the world are you doing?!” I swatted her away as she tried swinging her leg onto my shoulder. “Are you drunk?!”

“Psh, no!” she insisted, red in the face with an empty bottle in her hand. She glanced at it and widened her eyes with surprise. “Oh! This is beer! Oh maybe I am drunk.”

“You’re stupid and no one should’ve ever let you drink in the first place,” I commented, helping her get to her tent that she shared with some of our cousins.

“At least I’m not allergic like Jiwoong! He’d just blow up from both ends!”

“Yes, yes, Jiwoong would spend his days in the bathroom if he drank, I know. Go to sleep and get up in the morning, when you’re sober,” I pushed her in the tent, making sure she laid on the air mattress before going back outside. What a handful.

“You know we’re the best when we drink,” Hyoyeon popped up beside me, beaming as she cradled her infant son.

“How can you even talk about drinking when you’re holding him?” I scoffed and she laughed. She was so bright and still hilarious, despite having birthing a child only four months earlier. How and why was she like this all the time?!

“Dude, calm down, I’m not drinking. I’m just saying things get fun when the cousins get a little tipsy,” she grinned and we sat around the significantly smaller fire. “I don’t wanna get my little Doughboy drunk off of secondhand alcohol.”

“Please tell me you’re not calling your son ‘Doughboy’ as a nickname,” I groaned as she nodded. “Why do you hate your son?”

“Look at him! He’s chubby!” she said, showing him off, and I shook my head. “No?”

“No,” I repeated and she huffed.

“Well I like it, he’s Doughboy now, and Hyuk likes it too!” she said, pretending to be super teed off, and walked away with her son in her arms. What happened to those motherly instincts she’s supposed to have? Having a child just made her more childish. I smiled to myself though, because if she wasn’t a complete dork then I wouldn’t know who she would be, it just wouldn’t be Hyoyeon.

“Was Hyoyeon screaming about Doughboy again?” Sunny asked, sitting beside me like earlier and I hummed. “It’s pretty catchy actually.”

“It is,” I had to admit, it was cute and funny and surely he would never hear the end of it. “How is she the first one to have a child between us three?”

“Hyoyeon just has it easier, her life, I mean. She was dealt a simple hand, she’s not in the army or dating a superstar,” Sunny smiled and I sighed, eyeing my breath as it appeared as a little cloud of fog. “You probably got this for the past God knows how times in the past couple of days, but how is she?” I couldn’t help but tuck my bottom lip under my teeth, absentmindedly biting as I went blank.

“I think she’s in Taiwan now, she left Thailand not too long ago,” I nodded, trying to remember our past conversations and what I saw online. I didn’t know for sure what she was doing at the moment and it made me upset. It’s so late, what time is it even?

“I know you’re struggling with your relationship nowadays, but don’t worry about it too much. After all, love wins,” my cousin assured and I smiled, nodding.

I put out the fire and brushed my teeth before saying goodnight to some of my uncles who were still up, smoking. I ped part of my green tent’s flap open and sat down, taking off my shoes before pulling my feet in. Before I could re-zip the tent closed, Jae scurried over, kicking up dust behind him. “Aunt Taeng! Can I sleep with you?” he asked, shaking his stuffed monkey as he spoke, and I frowned.

“Why don’t you sleep with your mom?” I wondered and he shrugged.

“I want to sleep in your tent,” he said simply and I shrugged with him. I couldn’t deny a child when I was this tired.

“Okay, does your mother know?” he nodded with a growing smile. “Take off your shoes and come in then.” He beamed at me and quickly took off his sneakers, placing them right beside mine, before jumping into my arms. I chuckled and held him as I closed the tent, turning on my lamp that was in the corner.

“Why is your tent small?” he questioned, slipping underneath the blankets with his toy before I could even blink. He sure doesn’t hesitate to feel at home in here.

“It’s made for only one person, Jae,” I explained and pulled some of the blankets to my side. “But you can sleep in here with me since you’re small enough.”

“Didn’t you share this tent with Aunt Tiffany before though?” This kid is going to be the death of me, oh my God. I could feel my face turning red with the memory of how close we were that one year she came with me to a reunion. Oh my gosh I’d kill myself if he knew I nearly died being in this little tent with her!

“Let’s go to sleep, Jae, it’s late,” I said quickly and he obeyed, snuggling against me and I smiled, patting his head as I laid beside him. Exhaustion weighed down my muscles as I thought back on the night and how random it seemed, with relatives jumping out and popping up in front of my face along with their strange behaviors and problems. I turned off the lantern and let out a breath, feeling warm with the little bundle of heat next to me. It’s been a while since I slept beside someone else. I suddenly realized the last time I saw him was also the last time I saw Tiffany. It’s been a long time since I slept beside her. My thoughts couldn’t help but wander to my girlfriend when I was with my family, when I was with kids.

“Love you, Aunt Taeng,” Jae mumbled suddenly and threw his arms around my ribs, squishing his plush monkey between us. My heart swelled at his cuteness. I smiled and kissed his head, patting his back with one hand. I felt immensely better, knowing that this adorable, pure child loved me. Who could hate me when he loved me?

“Love you too Jae, sweet dreams.” I needed this family reunion; I needed everything my family had to offer, from their stupidity to their innocence to their warmth.