Eun's diary

Man! How long has it been? I don't know where to start! Can't believe it's been almost half a year since I had the chance to write something here. Every single day's a challenge, I mean, taking care of Ho was one thing, taking care of 2 babies, now that's tough! Plus, it's peak sailing season meaning I didn't have much daytime to spare helping my wife out so I tried the best I can to help her after getting off work. But gosh, it's tough. The Gu's really helped out a lot. They come over almost every single day to give my wife a helping hand, Mrs. Gu would help cook and that alone is already an incredible aid. Old Gu would also come over and play with Ho every day and now that Ho can run real fast, we had to keep a cautious eye on that young boy, even a bell's not enough. One time he ran off into the woods without us knowing and we spent the entire afternoon looking for him only to find him playing by the creek nearby. Thank goodness it's not flooding season! Perhaps I shouldn't have named him Ho after all...he's truly turning into a tiger now, so energetic, always jumping and hopping and running around at home, not to mention his noise! He's been speaking to us in broken sentences lately but still hasn't quite got the hang of the meaning of some words. Like he would have a favourite word for an entire week and he'll use that word for almost everything.

How's our new daughter you may ask? Well...the poor girl is still staying with us. Her father never came back, well, we know he's still alive, but after he had heard the bad news, he has never left the sea since. Actually, he did come over to captain's office once and I happened to bump into him, I asked if he wanted to see his daughter but he answered me that he didn't have one and left in a hurry. Originally my wife and I wanted to ask for his opinion before naming the girl, but now that it looks like the girl's here to stay with us, we've decided to name her Seon, which means kindness or virtuous. She's indeed an angel. Unlike Ho, she's always so quiet, almost never cries and mumbles just enough to grab our attention.

Anyway, that's enough update I guess, got to head back home to help my wife with our chores. Winter's coming soon and so preparations need to be made.

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'Seon ah~ Look at you! You look so pretty! Did Mrs. Gu make you a new dress today?'

(Eun's face glows as soon as he sees his daughter calmly sitting on her chair upon his return. The little girl immediately waves her arms, motioning for Eun to pick her up, which he did.)

'Aigoo my precious girl~ Did you have fun today? Where's your brother, huh?'

'ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!'

(Little Ho pokes his head from the floor above with the attempt to scare his father, and it worked.)

Eun: 'Son! Mr. Tiger! What are you doing up there?'

Ho: 'Daddy! Come! Roar and Woof having a fight!'

Eun: 'What?'

(Eun carries baby Seon upstairs to see what his son has to show him. Soondeok and Mrs. Gu are preparing dinner in the kitchen while Old Gu is just about to finish off his chores before the sun sets - gathering the chicken back inside their coop, so forth. As he climbs up the stairs, he can see the entire top floor – now Ho's bedroom – being filled with sticks and leaves and tiny wooden figures which Old Gu had so nicely carved out for the little boy.)

Ho: 'Daddy! Look! Woof and Roar about to fight!'

(Ho has a tiger figure in his right hand and a wolf figure in his left. Before Eun can say anything, Ho starts playing around with them, banging them against each other as if they're really in a fight. Ho, of course, would add a bunch of sounds to make his 'play' more realistic. Seon, on the other hand, just watched in silence, on her thumb while resting her heavy head on Eun's chest.)

Eun: 'What a nice...um...drama you have here, son. Nice, very nice. But remember, we shouldn't fight, we should be nice to others.'

(Ho looks at Eun with his big beady eyes.)

Ho: 'But daddy, tigers and wolfs not friends. Not friends. They roar and woof, each other! Not friends. Tiger try take wolf!'

Eun: 'I know honey, but maybe that's because they don't know each other yet. What if Mr. Tiger here and Mr. Wolf here actually talk instead of fighting? Maybe they could work things out and they wouldn't need to fight.'

Ho: 'Like?'

Eun: 'I don't know...like...'

(And just then, Soondeok's voice to the rescue)

Soondeok: 'BOYS! Come down now! It's time to eat! Ho yah! Remember to put away your toys before coming down!'

Ho: 'Yes mummy.'

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(Later that evening.)

'You're back so soon, Oppa. I thought you went to put Ho to bed?'

'He said his wolf pack still needs time to divide the kill...I told him to go to bed right after he's done.'

(Soondeok rolls her eyes)

'Oppa, you know how long that's gonna take?! He's been doing this since lunch time!'

'Really?'

'Yes, and unfortunately, while the wolf pack is dividing up the kill between themselves, Bad Mean Mr. Tiger came along and wanted to snatch it away from the pack. That's why the Alpha Wolf had to step up and fight him off.'

'You know his story too?'

'He did the same scene for 10 times today, Oppa! I've been hearing it over and over again. So you better find a way to put him to sleep or he'll keep it up all night.'

'He's a kid, he'll feel tired and sleep eventually.'

'I guess you didn't have a strict sleep time while you were young, right Oppa?'

'I was the prince, no one could tell me what to do.'

'Uh huh, so I guess that's why you didn't grow to be as tall as the rest of your brothers.'

'What did you say?'

(Soondeok giggles then continues.)

'I mean, I have always wondered why you're the, you know...short one, but now I guess I know why, because you didn't stick to your bed time like all the others. Right Mr. Prince?'

(Eun pouts)

'Fine! I'll put Ho to sleep if that's what you want!'

'Oh Oppa, stop it already, it's just a joke~ Come here, help me put Seon to sleep while I go up and talk to him.'

(Soondeok walks up to her husband and gives him a kiss)

'And when the kids are all asleep, we can have our own little time then~'

'You promise?'

(Eun raises an eyebrow, his voice with anticipation)

'I make no promises, dear husband, it all depends if Mr. Tiger is willing to leave the wolf pack alone.'

'Well, he'd better, because I'll burn the whole forest if he doesn't.'

(With chuckles, Soondeok leaves after hitting Eun on the .)

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(Finally, the couple can chit chat in bed. They don't even need to whisper, not even when Seon is in the same room because this little baby can sleep through anything.)

'Look at my dear husband, I think you've gained a grey hair or two...poor thing...it must be so tiring for you to work during the day and take care of the kids at night.'

'I'm man of the house, it's what I ought to do.'

(Eun gently runs his thumb over Soondeok's hand as he continues)

'It's what I promised, the day I asked you to be my wife.'

'How's work today? Sailing season is almost over, I hope you can get some rest soon darling.'

'Hope so. A new ship docked today so I was super busy in the morning...and also heard some things about Seon's father.'

'What things?'

'His story. Seon's mother, from what I heard, was actually from a well-off family in Goryeo.'

'Really? So she's noble by blood?'

'Perhaps. And somehow she fell in love with Seon's father so they eloped together, finding sanctuary here in Tamra.'

'I see...I can't imagine what Seon's father is going through now...I hope he won't blame himself.'

'He is blaming himself, and heaven knows when he'll learn to let it go...but I suppose it will take quite a while.'

'Oppa, I know I shouldn't say this...but sometimes I feel that we're indeed very lucky. I was very lucky... Can you imagine? Imagine if you didn't fall in love with me after we got married, even though I'd still enjoy being under the same roof as you...it's just not gonna be the same.'

'Hating you every single day? I can't imagine myself doing that. In fact I can't imagine my life without you, without Ho, without Seon anymore. Makes me wanna protect every single one of you, and I will protect all of us.'

'I know you will, darling, I've never doubted you.'

(Just then Eun sneezes)

'Bless you honey! It'll be your first winter here at Tamra, I hope you're ready for the cold.'

'Yeah. About time we start making a list for things we ought to prepare.'

'Actually Oppa, I've been kinda thinking...how about if we move over to the Gu's place for winter?'

'What do you mean?'

'Or we can invite them over, either way. It's more efficient in terms of heating – if you know what I mean. We don't exactly have a big pile of firewood stacked in our backyard this year because we never quite had the time to chop and save up extra timber.'

'I see...well I think inviting them to stay over at our place works just better if they agree to it and we do have an extra room so it's fine with me.'

'So it's set then?'

'Ought to start moving them in soon, the first snow is expected to fall in a week or two.'

'Did captain say you can have a winter break this year?'

'We didn't have time to talk about that yet but I suppose he'll mention it soon.'

'Hope so. My dear husband needs a good long break.'

'If your definition of break means that I'll have to stay at home and babysit the two kids all day, then maybe I'll have to rethink about it a little bit~'

(Eun pinches Soondeok on the nose)

'I hate you Oppa~'

'Just kidding~ I tell you what? If captain won't give me a break, I'll take Ho with me to work.'

'You better not be bluffing, Oppa.'

'I'm not! But the notion of it may make captain give me a break sooner~'

(Silence. It didn't even take them 5 seconds to fall asleep. They had to pick another night to get romantic, again. But what can you say? That's the life of a parent.)