A/N Vocab for those non Taekwondo Students
Dojahng = Taekwondo School
Sahboonim/Sahbumnim = Master Instructor
Kwanjangnim = Grand Master

Chapter Thirteen

The next morning came too early once again. Nik and Aaron had been up since five. Aaron showered while his mother took the van to gas it up and then returned to shower as well. They woke the girls around six so they could each shower and get ready for the day before Nik headed over to Shinhwa’s room to wake them. Luckily for her, everyone was awake, albeit moving slowly and all were quite groggy. She asked if there was anything she could go ahead and bring down to the van, but the men all being the gentlemen they were refused and said they would head down early. She gave them a quick smile before heading back to rush her sisters.

Briley was putting on her makeup as Lily blow dried her hair for her when Nik walked back into their room.

As a huge shock, everyone was ready and they were able to take off before 6:45am and the Texan was thrilled. They were all back in the same seats from yesterday. “We should play a game,” Aaron said from the back seat.

“I lost the game.” Nik smirked at the road as Lily, Briley, and Aaron all groaned in unison.

“What game?” Junghyuk asked from behind Nik.

“Oh my gosh, they’ve never played The Game.”

“What game?” Choongjae asked, looking at Lily with confusion.

“The game,” Lily started, “is a game that everyone loses.”

“It was really popular back when Mom and Lily were in high school, and they can’t help but bring it up to annoy each other.”

“I don’t get it,” Dongwan said.

“Basically, you lose if you think about the game,” Briley tried to explain. “We didn’t play it when I was in high school, but these two have forced me to play it.”

“Still lost,” Choongjae said.

Lily bit her lip as she tried to find a better way to explain this ridiculous game. “So once you think about the game, you lose. When you lose, you announce to the room that you lost, thus ensuring everyone else around you also loses.”

“So what’s the point of it?” Minwoo asked.

“There is absolutely no point,” Aaron complained.

“But now y’all are all stuck playing it as well. Just remember, you can’t try not to think of The Game. There is no strategy to win. There is no winning. Just prolonging losing again. And always, ALWAYS, announce when you lose,” Nik couldn’t help feeling accomplished. “Now, what game are we actually going to play?”

“I know! We should play ‘Would You Rather’!” Briley said excitedly.

“Sounds good, just remember my almost nine year old is in here when you think of your questions,” Nik said, peeking at her friends through the rearview mirror.

Everyone agreed, and decided that Aaron should start. He looked at Sunho and asked, “Would you rather travel to the past or to the future?”

Sunho thought for a minute. “Future. I can’t mess anything up there, but if I went to the past I could completely change too much. Minwoo hyung, would you rather win the lottery or marry your soulmate?”

“Soulmate, easily. Briley, would you rather stay seated where you are or change seats to come sit up here with Junghyuk hyung?”

Her cheeks flushed and Dongwan gave him an irritated look. “I’m happy here, thank you.” Dongwan had a triumphant look on his face. “Lily, would you rather be kissed in the rain or under the stars?”

The entire van burst out laughing with the exception of Lily whose ears had turned completely red and Choongjae who may have been slightly curious about her answer. “Ughhhhh, um...I don’t know.” She couldn’t make eye contact with Choongjae, who was watching her closely. “I guess, under the stars. Less chance of getting sick.” She turned to look at the youngest girl and mouthed ‘I hate you.’ Briley stuck her tongue out at her, happy to have caused some mayhem. “I guess it’s my turn. Oh I’m terrible at this. Pilkyo, um, would you rather have green or purple hair?”

He turned to look back at her. He thought for a moment. “Purple I guess.” He made a dissatisfied look.

“Dark purple would look good,” Nik smiled, and Pilkyo looked a little more comfortable.

“Momma used to have green hair. It was cool.”

“Oh really? I need to see pictures,” Pilkyo grinned. “My turn. Junghyuk, would you rather Hyemi have twins the first time she gets pregnant, or has three girls one after the other?”

“All girls, twins would be too hard on her body.” All three women ‘awwed’ at his sweet and thoughtful answer. “Though, I guess three pregnancies would also be hard. Still, she’s too small to carry two at once.” He then turned. “Wannie, would you rather live without wifi or air conditioning and heating?”

“Both sound terrible. I guess without wifi. Jae, would you rather be hairy all over or completely bald?” Everyone started laughing again.

“Bald. If I want hair bad enough, I’ll wear a wig. Aaron, would you rather smell like a fart for the rest of your life or drink a diarrhea milkshake?”

“FART!” Aaron shouted without question.

The game then continued for over an hour. Most questions were quite ridiculous and funny, but some got personal. “Ok, last question,” Nik said. “We’re almost to our rest stop.”

“So the last question is mine,” Minwoo said excitedly. Everyone groaned quietly. He had asked some of the hardest, and most awkward questions. “May I ask the question to all three women?” He asked the van. The girls all reluctantly nodded and his grin grew. “Would you rather get to go on a date this week with the person sitting next to you, or everything continue being group related, so with all of us?”

“If we choose date, we would still get to do some group stuff, right?” Nik asked. Minwoo thought for a moment before confirming that yes, they would still get to do some stuff with the group.

“Then sure, a date would be fun,” Briley said with no hesitation.

Lily looked to Choongjae for a moment but couldn’t quite make eye contact. She played with the hem of her skirt as she answered, “Yeah, a date would be nice.” Her ears and neck flushed a deep shade of red.

Nik stayed silent as she continued driving. She chewed her lip but refused to look anywhere but ahead of her as she turned the van into the convenience store that they were going to take a short break at. “Well?” Pilkyo finally asked as she put the van into park.

“Well what? Oh, sorry.” She stared at the steering wheel she still rested her hands on. “Honestly?” She turned to meet his waiting gaze, trying her best to maintain eye contact. “I agree with them.”

“You’re not actually going to say it?” Minwoo asked from right behind them, smirk playing on his lips.

Nik groaned and swatted at his leg from her seat. “I agree. A date would be fun.” Minwoo cheered and Pilkyo smiled. Everyone then filed out of the van and headed to grab snacks, stretch their legs, and go to the bathroom.

Once back in the van, they decided games were done. Sunho and Aaron were playing a game on Aaron’s tablet, Dongwan and Briley had started back on their drama, Choongjae was watching as Lily got some work done, and Junghyuk, Minwoo, and Pilkyo were resting their eyes and listening to their headphones. Nik had a single headphone in as she watched the road while listened to music quietly and also eavesdropping on Lily and Choongjae’s conversation.

Lunch came and went. They didn’t sit to eat to ensure that they made it to Little Rock in time. With how much distance they had left, they would get there about an hour before Nik’s first class started.

“So we have a couple options since we are making such good time,” she informed the three men closest to her. “I can drop all of y’all off and quickly unload everything at the hotel and then book it up to where the tournament is while y’all relax but not have a vehicle, or I could also just drive straight to the tournament and give y’all the keys so y’all could go do what you want.”

“Can we not hang out and watch you today?” Junghyuk asked.

Nik shook her head and frowned. “This afternoon and tomorrow morning are all seminars and clinics. I only have three clinics today and four tomorrow, so I’ll be done before supper tonight and around lunch tomorrow.”

“What about Aaron?” Pilkyo asked.

“Originally he was going to stay with my instructor’s wife, but then Briley and Lily offered to keep him during my trainings. Then yesterday during one of our rest stops Sunho offered to keep him busy.”

“Can we check into the hotel without you?” Minwoo asked.

“Yes, but I need to give you my card.”

So they agreed that they would check in and get situated at the hotel during Nik’s trainings and then come pick her up after she was done. She tried to pursued them to just stay at the hotel and she’d walk the quarter mile from the training to the hotel, but Pilkyo insisted that she would need a break.

At about a quarter after two, Nik was dropped off in front of the convention center hosting the World's training and tournament with her dobok in hand. She waved as Pilkyo drove the giant van down the narrow streets of downtown Little Rock before running into the building to change and find her instructor.

Once at the hotel, Junghyuk and Pilkyo went in to check in and get the key cards while everyone else loaded their stuff onto a dolley to bring in. Their rooms were next door to each other, which made everyone happy. “There’s a pool downstairs,” Aaron informed everyone. After unloading, they all decided to lounge around the men’s suite.

“Do you want to go swimming?” Sunho asked him.

He shook his head. “Not right now. Tonight after supper I might, though.” Everyone agreed.

An hour passed, they had the TV on but no one was really watching it. Everyone was laying around in companionable silence either napping or playing on phones or laptops. Lily and Choongjae had set themselves up on the floor by the window with Lily finishing up her work so she would be free for the rest of the week.

“Did I just read what I think I read?” Choongjae asked her quietly.

Lily flushed slightly. “Yes, sometimes I have to edit articles about .” She refused to look up from her laptop screen, but she could feel Choongjae leaning in more to read the article she was currently working on. Luckily for her, this one was much less explicit than some of the others she had done in the past, and there were no awkward photos.

On the other side of the room, Briley and Dongwan were finishing up the drama they had started on Monday. They had Briley’s laptop open in Dongwan’s lap with Briley using his arm as a pillow.

Aaron had convinced Sunho to take him down to the gym since he didn’t get to go that morning. Aaron was running on the treadmill and Sunho had asked him to sing any song he could think of from start to finish as he ran. Not long after they had started this, Sunho had texted Minwoo to come down and they started teaching him simple dance technique since that was where Aaron was the least trained.

It was a little after six when Pilkyo’s Kakao sounded. He smiled as he reached into his pocket, and the five others in the room looked up to check what was going on. His face quickly fell.

PandaNik
6:12PM Hey~ Just got out

6:12PM I have good news and bad news

6:12PM Good news, I know what we’re doing for supper

6:12PM Bad news, Sahboonim asked if we could all go out to eat together

“What’d she say?” Junghyuk asked, leaning in to read over his shoulder. “Oh, that sounds like it will be a lot of fun.”

“What is it?” Lily and Briley asked at the same time.

“Her instructor wants us to all go eat together,” Pilkyo said, sounding more than a little nervous.

“So what are we going to do? You can always refuse,” Junghyuk smirked. He loved watching his Momma Bird squirm. Pilkyo didn’t respond to him, he just looked back down at his phone.

LittlePrince

6:17PM Sounds good. Do you want us to come pick you up first so that you can change?

PandaNik

6:17PM No, Sahboonim said we are fine the way we are.

6:17PM Thought I scared you off for a minute ^^;

6:18PM I’ll send you the address, meet us there in 45? It will take us that long just to get out of here.

LittlePrince

6:18PM Sounds good~ Should we dress any certain way?

PandaNik

6:18PM No makeup, that’s about it

LittlePrince

6:19PM No makeup?

PandaNik

6:19PM Don’t ask. Just trust me. See you soon~

Pilkyo sighed and scratched at his head. “We need to get ready. Have to leave in 20 minutes.” He then quickly messaged Sunho and Minwoo to come back up so everyone could change quickly.

When they came up, Aaron quickly changed into a clean pair of kick pants and one of his taekwondo shirts. Everyone else changed into something a bit nicer: clean jeans and button downs for the men, Lily in a black maxi skirt and a red blouse and Briley in denim shorts and black and blue blouse. Pilkyo then drove them all to the restaurant Nik had sent him.

They showed up about five minutes before Nik and her instructor pulled up. She waved nervously to them as she walked next to her taekwondo father, a very muscular bald black man that was about a head taller than her. They were dressed the same, both in the white dobok pants and a black shirt with their dojahng logo on it. Nik had her hair pulled back into her typical braided ponytail, but her hair had obviously been sweaty and her fringe was still sticking to her face some.

“Sahboonim, this is everyone,” she said, smiling and biting the inside of her cheek before she continued to introduce each person individually.

He smiled his big, inviting smile, and shook everyone’s hand as they were introduced. He then turned to Nik, “None of them are wearing guyliner.”

Nik rolled her eyes. “I’ve told you. They do that for shows and concerts, sir. Now please, be nice?” She pouted up at him.

“When am I not nice?” he asked, clearly enjoying picking on his daughter.

She scoffed and asked if they could at least make it inside before he embarrass her. They all agreed and headed in. Nik had thought ahead and called to make a reservation so there was a table set up for eleven waiting on them. Sahboonim sat at one end of the table. To his right was Nik, Pilkyo, Lily, Choongjae, and Junghyuk. On his left was Aaron, Sunho, Briley, Dongwan, and Minwoo. Nik said a silent prayer that her instructor wouldn’t completely humiliate her in front of everyone.

It took less than a minute after being seated for the instructor to start. “So, when am I getting a new student?” he asked, quirking his eyebrow at her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir,” Nik replied, lifting her menu up higher to hide her face.

“I’m assuming you are the one Nik is interested in. How do you feel about her?” he asked Pilkyo. Nik made a weak sound but didn’t interrupt.

“We are in the process of getting to know each other.”

“She mentioned that you were a fourth dan, do you still train?”

“Not very often,” Pilkyo admitted. Nik turned and whispered an ‘I’m sorry’, but Pilkyo just smiled at her.

“Does anyone else here train?”

“I do a little, but more groundwork than taekwondo,” Choongjae said.

“I would like to see what you know later. Both of y’all,” Sahboonim smiled then rounded back to his daughter. “Did you know that Kwanjangnim is ordained?”

“Yes sir. He did TK Sahbumnim’s wedding, right?” Nik said, wincing and catching his line of thought.

“That’s right. You know, the headquarters garden would be a beautiful place for a wedding.”

Nik rubbed at her face, trying to ignore her embarrassment. “Were you and Mrs. H planning on renewing your vows there?” she attempted.

“Definitely not. But I thought you may know someone that could use a nice place to get married. And who better to do the ceremony than Kwanjangnim?”

“No sir. No one comes to mind,” she was now pleading with her eyes to make him stop.

He noticed her discomfort but turned his gaze to Pilkyo. “What about you? Do you know anyone looking to get married?”

Pilkyo laughed nervously. Choongjae spoke up before the Momma Bird could. “One of our friends is getting married soon, but him and his fiancée are both in Korea right now. I can let him know, though.” His smile was blinding as Nik turned her head and mouthed ‘thank you’ before she turned her attention back to her loving instructor.

“What are Mrs. H and Jay up to? I figured they would have joined us,” Aaron asked.

Sahboonim laughed and shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. She didn’t want to take any of the trainings this evening and didn’t ask about supper. Oh look, food’s here.”

The conversation then lightened up when the food was brought out. Everyone finally felt a bit more comfortable, except for Nik who was often the of whatever story her father was telling. He told the story of when Nik had a crush on one of their other instructors and how shy she would get any time he was in the room.

Luckily for Nik, the men from Shinhwa also found joy in teasing each other and they started telling on each other. A lot of the stories the girls actually had never heard in their interviews. By the time everyone had finished eating and the bill was paid, Junghyuk insisting on picking up the bill because that is the kind of man he is, everyone was very familiar with Sahboonim’s eccentric personality and a few very embarrassing stories about each person at the table.

“Do you need me to pick you up before the trainings in the morning?” Sahboonim asked as they all stood around outside the restaurant.

Nik shook her head. “No, sir. I am going to run. We are staying close this year.”

“You are not running,” her instructor and Pilkyo said in unison.

“And why not?” she asked, giving both of them an annoyed look and crossing her arms across her chest. “You, sir, have made me run the entire loop around our city on more than one occasion,” she said, addressing Sahboonim defiantly.

“You will be working out all morning, you should rest when you can,” Pilkyo tried to reason.

“A ten minute run will not affect that.”

“It will still be dark,” Sahboonim said. “I will pick you up.”

She nodded, “Yes sir. Will your wife be joining us for taekwondo yoga in the morning?”

“No ma’am. She mentioned something about a zoo or a park or something. Do you need an back to the hotel?”

“No sir. Nine of us are adults. I think we can manage. Thank you, sir.”

“Alright,” he then hugged Aaron and Nik. “Y’all have a good night. Love y’all.”

“Love you, too, sir,” they said in unison.

Before they climbed up into the van, Pilkyo handed Nik the keys back so that she could drive. The drive was quiet. Everyone was full and ready for the night.

“Should we watch another movie?” Lily asked as they pulled into the parking lot of their hotel.

“Y’all can. I have an early morning and should probably get to sleep soon.”

“You said something about us needing to go dress shopping,” Briley reminded her. “But I’m too tired to go tonight.”

“Oh crap, that’s right. Mastership Ceremony is tomorrow night.”

“Jae and I can take them tomorrow morning,” Pilkyo offered.

“Won’t you be bored?” Lily asked.

“Never,” Choongjae gave her a wink and one of his amazing smiles.

“Are you sure? That would be so helpful,” Nik said.

“I’ll come, too,” Dongwan said. “I’m sure we can find something nice.” Briley smiled excitedly at him.

“Well then it’s settled. We’ll take the girls our to buy dresses for the ceremony while Minwoo hyung and I keep Aaron and Junghyuk hyung goes to pick up Hyemi from the airport,” Sunho announced as they all stopped in front of their rooms.

Everyone agreed, said good night, and headed into their suites. They all decided to call it a night early.