Kim Moonah

Dad came back from his trial and I smiled to him. "Guess what ? I'm going to eat with TaeWon." We talked a lot during the day and today he asked to have lunch with me. It's been around a week since we met and we usually chatted in the kitchen room when the coffee machine and snacks were. Today, he asked me to have lunch with him.

"Really ?" Dad looked amused, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh. Do I need authorisation?" I asked.

Dad shook his head. "Of course not." He took some cash out of his wallet and gave it to me. "He's a college student so invite him okay ?"

I smircked, putting the money in my pocket. "Not too sad I'm not eating with you ?"

He laughed. " You wish I was. I'm eating with Mom today."

"Really ?" Mom was so busy with her book that we saw her rarely at home these days.

"Yes, I had to schedule a meeting as a lawyer. But I am eating with her." He looked excited about that. It's true that this book has been mom energy and time like crazy these days. When it was noon, Dad stood up. "I'll be back at 2pm. Have fun."

I looked at him rearrange his hair and laughed. "You'll find Mom in sweaters. Don't bother."

He rolled his eyes and finally left. I took my time to pack my things and went to the bathroom before taking the elevators.

As I reached the front of the building, I found TaeWon, he smiled seeing me walking to his sides. "Your dad had no problem with you eating with me ?"

"He's inviting. Where do you want to eat ?"

TaeWon laughed. "He is pretty cool. Seriously, I saw him at the court last week, he's really talented and everyone in that office look up to him. But he's kind of ... scary."

I bursted in laughters. I knew Dad could be scary but at home, he was completely different. He played with my siblings, letting my sister put makeup and nail polish on him and was really soft with WooJun while playing sports. I never heard him scold them. I don't even remember him scolding me. With Mom he was always so sweet that we tend to even forget Dad was an ace lawyer.

"Am I that funny ? Your dad has really an aura." He said, quite puzzled about me laughing.

"I guess it can be true." I said, shrugging.

"Wait, you mean you're not afraid of him ?" TaeWon asked.

I shook my head. "He rarely gets angry at all."

We headed outside and TaeWon suggested noodles. I agreed and as we walked there I looked up at the sun, happy the weather was so fine today.

"Oh but you got hazel eyes."

He got closer to me to look at it and smiled. I gulped. We usually see each other in office light, not sunny places like this. But still, it took him some time to notice. At night it wasn't really noticable, but in the bright daylight plus the sun, it was obvious. "Yeah, they get gold in the sun." I said, not knowing what to say.

"Stop bragging okay !"

I blinked, not used to that reaction. People were always throwing me compliments about my eyes. As he started to laugh, I was even more confused. He even had to drink some water. When he finally calmed himself, he explained. " People must comment on them all the time. Sorry I just wanted to say something refreshing."

"Yeah it's just a bit disturbing. People tends to behave a bit weird with me. I never liked this."

Taewon got closer, adjusted his glasses and stared at my eyes. "If I can be  honest, your eyes are  the least interesting thing about you."

I thanked him and looked straight into his dark brown eyes, almost black color. It looked so nice with the jet black hair and the glasses. As we realized how close our face were, I sat properly and drank a bit of water. As our plates arrived, I was happy. It looked delicious.

*

When the meal was over, it felt like we were old friends. The conversation was fluid and we seemed to have a lot of common interets so we never ran out of things to discuss. We were walking to have coffee when someone poked my shoulder. "Moonah !"

"Mom !" I said. She was in her usual jeans and sweaters holding the hand of dad, sporting his tailored suit. They were mismatched clothing-wise. It was a funny contrast.

Taewon bowed down. "Nice to meet you, I'm TaeWon."

"Kim Sujin, I heard  a bit about you and your brother." Mom said, before laughing at TaeWon reaction. "What do you want ? I'm inviting."

"Hot chocolate, double vanilla shot." I said, I always took it at this café shop.

Mom corrected me, smiling. "Hot chocolate with one vanilla shot. What about you, Taewon ?"

"No it's okay, don't bother."

Mom slapped gently his shoulder. "Don't vex me like this. Just tell me what you want."

*

Bang YongGuk

Sujin paid for the drink and gave the drinks to Moonah and her friend with a smile she couldn't hide. Since she knew about Moonah having a slight crush on a guy she was curious on the type of guy Moonah would like. She gave him a smile and I came to take her hand. "Well, we'll still have a bit of time left before break is over. I'm going to make your mother have her daily portion of fresh air."

"I'm tired." She complained.

"That's exactly the reason why you need a walk ! Let's go. See you, kids." He said before dragging me outside. We walked together and once we were far enough from he coffee shop, she chuckled. "He's handsome."

I nodded. "Yeah. Really handsome."

"He looks really polite and well-raised." Sujin took a sip of her caramel macciato and  handed me her drink. We loved to taste each other drinks. Sujin liked just a sip of my ice americano while I've learned to tolerate a sip of her sugary drink.

"I hope it works out the way she wants. They look good together, right ?" Sujin said. I nodded, reluctantly. Taeyang and Moonah would always stay my little girls forever but they were becoming young women and sometimes it was hard to realize. Sujin pinched my cheeks. "YongGuk ... we already had that talk. They are young women and you need to accept that."

"I do." I said pouting. Sujin kissed me. "You have an adorable little daughter at home, remember ?"

"Of course I remember !"

*

Bang YongGuk, a month later

"What do you mean by Moonah boyfriend ?" Kang Joon said. I smiled. "Moonah has a boyfriend. His name is Jang Taewon."

"Wait wait wait, Moonah has a boyfriend ? But she's like twelve. Since when ?"

I laughed. "Kang Joon, she's nineteen.  It's been a month I guess"

He groaned. "And you did nothing to stop that ? Come on shes too young. I don't agree with that, he could be a real jerk and  a real ert you know ?"

"Yeah you know better than anyone else, right ?" I said, before sipping my coffee.

He gasped before severely blushing. "Gosh Hyung, I felt like she was nine years old yesterday."

A smile was drawn on my face. I had the same though. But Moonah gave time to her boyfriend without forgetting her family. She would babysit her siblings or go shopping with her mom. Unlike Taeyang that we would barely see between practice and dates with her boyfriend.

"We just have to accept it. Moonah is smart, and she knows she can counts on us."

Kang Joon sighed loudly. I never thought I'd be friends with him one day but I appreciated him. He was funny and cute when he wanted to. He just made me think of Moonah when he smiles and I just feel really comfortable now around him. Years ago, it would be impossible. But slowly a friendship was born between us. We would often have coffee together like today and I loved to visit him and see Moonsoo. Each time I saw this little girl, I was reminded of the younger Moonah.

" Anyways, How is he ?" KangJoon asked.

"He's nice. He's into astronomy and so far he gave Moonah a moon necklace." They had dates everyweekend so far and saw each other almost on a daily basis. Moonah just looked happy all the time, with a silly smile on her face. It reminded me the power of first love. I just hoped that she won't get hurt too much.

Kang Joon sighed. "Tell him that if he breaks her heart, he will have two angry fathers as enemies."

*

Moonah

Taewon insisted to make me visit his university. He was convincing. “Look at the law building. You’ll be just at five minutes walk from my building.”

As he made me visit the whole campus, I was gladly surprised of the whole atmosphere. “So youre joining ?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

He pouted “Moonah, please, we’ll be a campus couple.”

“Taewon it’s serious stuffs. I don’t want to choose my university just based on where my boyfriend is.” I still had trouble to figure out what I really wanted to study.

He nodded. “Of course. Maybe I went too far. But whatever you chose, you should hurry.”

I nodded and proceeded to kissing him. The university was empty anyways. Taewon pushed back some hair strands behind my ears and smiled.

“Can I see where you live ?” I asked.

He seemed flustered at that question. I smiled. “I can’t ?”

“Well … How do I put this … A pretty girl who happens to be my girlfriend asked me to show her my apartment.”

I laughed. “We could kiss in peace.”

Taewon nodded. “Phrased like that ...”

He lead me to that small building and opened the door. “Please, enter my humble house.”

The little room was super clean. I looked at the few books and decorations with a lot of interest. “Sit down.”

He showed me the bed before blushing and showing me his desk chair. “Do you want something to drink ? A beer ?”

Realizing what he just asked me, he shook his hands. I laughed. Taewon was just so goofy sometimes. “No just forget about that.”

I laughed. “In less than a month I’ll be 19. It’s okay.”

We were watching a movie on his bed,when my phone ringed. I first declined the call and came to hug TaeWon like I wanted to. But the person insisted.

I answered and sighed. “Taeyang, you’re bothering me. I don’t have time right now !”

Sobbs. Taeyang was crying. “Moonah. My boyfriend is leaving South Korea.”

I bite my lips.”Where are you ? I’m coming right now.”

“I’m in the changing room of the figure skating center. The manager just told me. He didn’t even told me himself.”

I stood up. “Wait for me okay !” I turned to TaeWon. “I have to leave. My sister needs me.”

“Everything is okay ?”

“No I have to find my sister, I'm sorry, I'll call you later" I kissed him goodbye and gathered my things to leave.

I took the bus to the ice staking park and ran inside. I had no care for the employees telling me I couldn’t enter the pro area. I looked at the boyfriend of my sister knock on a door.

“Taeyang please we need to talk. I meant to tell you, I promise.”

I pushed him aside. “Leave.”

He fell on the floor and I looked at him determined. “Leave or I scream right now.”

“You’re crazy.”

I cleared my throat. “You’re the one messing with my sister but I’m the crazy one … huh. You’re a ing bastard.”

He scoffed. “Taeyang, let your sister out of this talk. We need to-“

I started to scream and he seemed surprised. “Told you. Now leave.”

He left, after muttering a sweat under his breath. I knocked on the door. "Taeyang, it's Moonah."

I could hear her cry and her ugly sobbs shattered my heart into pieces. "Taeyang, please unlock the door."

A moment was spent without any noises and suddenly, the door opened. I ran inside the room and locked us inside. She hugged me really strongly and I hugged her back. ““What happened ?”

“He got a deal in Canada to pursue ice skating, he is leaving next week. He didn't told me...”

I hugged her tighly. Taeyang was so pure in her love, she gave her heart easily. She loved that dumb boyfriend of hers so much.  I comforted her in my arms for a moment and when she stopped to cry, I pulled away. “Let’s go out of this stinky room, please Taeyang. I'm going to pass out soon.”

She realized where we were and had a chuckle. “I can’t smell it anymore. Let's go home.”

I looked at Taeyang put back her shoes and saw her feets, they were athlete feets for real. With little scars and swollen, dry skin. Taeyang looked tired. I tend to forget that Taeyang trains twelve hours a day for competitions. She always gave her best in figure skating and already won a few prices with her boyfriend. Him leaving was a betrayal to their relationship but also on a professionnal level. We  exited the room and I rolled my eyes seeing the dumb idiot she had as a boyfriend coming to our sides.  As he tried to approach her, I pushed him with all my strengh, making him fall on the floor. He wasn't expecting that.

"Leave her alone."  I warned him.

"I need to talk to her."

"You had all your ing time to tell her you were leaving and you didn't ! Shut the up." I yelled at him, getting really frustrated at his behavior.

I dragged Taeyang outside the center and I stopped myself only when we were at the bus stop. We took the bus and she rested her head on my shoulders. She was tired. I looked at her and smoothed her long hair resting on her shoulders. “Maybe you want to eat something first ?”

“Let’s have  fried chicken delivred at home. I need a shower.”

"Yeah you stink. Even your hair smells like stinky feet." I added, sincere. She had a weak chuckle and I patted her head. It was a good start.

Hey ! Here a new chapter for you guys ! Hope you enjoy reading this one . I hope everyone is safe during those difficult times we are  ging though. May you and your family stay safe and healthy !