Chapter 6: The family

 

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Heechul stared at his phone as he sat inside his room; finally he dialled a number and put it close to his ear. He just hopes that what Kyuhyun told him would work like a charm.

Finally, the other line picked up

“Yeoboseyo?”

“Yeoboseyo ~ Umma!”

-

Youngmi woke up to the sound of her sister’s voice in the shower; she let out a groan and covered a pillow over her head. Sometimes she just wishes that she was always away on a trip. Out of the blues her phone rang and just as she was about to throw it to the wall she saw who it was from.

Youngmi-ah, I’m coming over today

-Heechul :3

Youngmi ran a hand through her hair and sighed as she then decided to get out of bed. Because she got her work done yesterday, her one week leave started today. She hasn’t spoken to anyone about the conversation she had with Heechul since she was afraid that they might make it worst.

She wanted to talk to Leeteuk about it but she was suspecting Heechul might have a conspiracy with him since he is after all his only hyung and Leeteuk is bound to take his side!

She stretched herself and walked into the bathroom to do her usual morning routine; after changing and everything else, she went downstairs upon hearing a car park up infront of their house. She greeted her umma & unnie then headed for the door then just as she opened it Heechul was about to knock.

“Good morning”

She told him, he pinched both of her cheeks before walking past her to enter the kitchen where he greeted Youngmi’s umma however as he saw someone unfamiliar he turned to the girl and asked her.

“Who are you?”

Hyunjung couldn’t help but frown at how impolite he was; Youngmi’s umma just laughed, she was used to Heechul’s odd ways. At first she found it disturbing but as time went on she got used to it.

“It’s Hyunjung and in case you didn’t know I’m your future sister-in-law”

Heechul took a seat with Youngmi on the table.

“Oh… well I haven’t seen you before anyway, umma –“

Hyunjung almost spat out her coffee, she turned to her mother then to Heechul

“You call her umma?”

“Hyungjung-ah, Heechul’s getting married to your sister”

Hyunjung rolled her eyes and excused herself as Heechul resumed talking

“As I was saying; Umma can I take Youngmi with me tomorrow?”

Youngmi turned to him with her eyes wide open and the fork of pancakes on .

“Where?!”

Youngmi exclaimed

“Gangwon, I want my parents to know”

“Know what?”

She asked again

“About the wedding and stuff”

“You mean they don’t know?!”

Youngmi’s mother cleared making the two of them turn to her, the lady gave them a smile

“I think it’s a good idea for you to go Youngmi-ah, you have to meet your in-laws! Heechul-ah, you take good care of her, araso?”

“Umma!”

Heechul clapped his hands; he was like one of those girls who were so proud of themselves for having such a beautiful face. Youngmi sighed in defeat and laid her head flat on her empty plate.

Sometimes she can help but wonder why she even dreamed of getting married.

The trip to Gangwon

Heechul breathed out heavily as he drove along the familiar path and every second they got closer to his home was making his heart race; both of nervous and anticipation.

His family has never met Youngmi in person, heck they don’t even know a thing about her except that she’s Heechul’s girlfriend. Today, aside from introducing her to the family, he actually has secondary plans of his own and this plan was something that Kyuhyun suggested.

“Umma, I’m coming home in 2 days and I’m taking my girlfriend with me”

The lady on the other line squealed and out of nowhere he heard his grandmother’s voice

“Heechul’s taking his girlfriend here?!”

Heechul sighed figuring that he was on loud speaker; sometimes he wonders if she does it on purpose or she doesn’t have any clue at all that she puts him on loudspeaker.

“Good, good! The family’s having a party in 2 days!”

“Anyway, I want you to meet her and umma…”

“Neh?”

“Can you help me with something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

Heechul pumped a fist in the air silently celebrating that his mother agreed to help him

“Well actually she’s my fiancée and I want you to make her want a traditional wedding”

The lady fell quiet for a moment then spoke

“You’re getting married?”

His ears almost broke when he heard a unanimous scream from the other line and he figured that maybe the whole family was there

“MARRIED?!”

He pulled the phone away from his ear then only returned it when the screams died down.

“Aish ~ you really have to stop putting me on loudspeaker anyway can you help me with this umma?”

“Aigo ~ this kid, why do you want a traditional one? What’s wrong with the modern style wedding?”

Heechul sighed

“A modern wedding is in a church and Youngmi wants it to be in a church!”

“Aaaaaand?”

“I’m an atheist!”

“So? Can’t you go to church just this one time for your bride?”

“Aniyo ~ its complicated umma! But please just help me with this one”

The lady on the other line sighed

“Aigo ~ araso, araso… we’ll see what we can do”

Yes! Kyuhyun’s suggestion was to bring home Youngmi to her in-laws and make them convince her. Because she’s such a sweet girl and can be shy, she’ll be too caught up with the moment and will be too shy to refuse their request.

Youngmi let out a heavy sigh; she was nervous as hell, she glanced at the cake on her lap which she bought for the family meeting. Heechul smirked sensing the tension in the atmosphere and also noticing how she hasn’t said anything throughout the whole ride.

“Nervous?”

He asked, she turned to him with her eyes widened

“Who the hell wouldn’t be nervous?!”

Heechul laughed

“Don’t worry! it’s not like they won’t like you and not let us both get married”

He sniggered quietly. Youngmi glared at him; the silence went back but not for long Youngmi started a conversation.

“So what’s your family like?”

Heechul could almost laugh, she sounded so awkward when she was nervous however he held it in.

“You sound so awkward when you’re nervous ~ my family’s pretty huge... cousins and stuff, you know the usual big family”

“I never met your sister, doesn’t she come to Seoul?”

Heechul shrugged

“Yeah but she comes home often and she’s been nagging me about how I should introduce you to her next time, to be honest we bumped into each other when I visited you at the hospital”

“And?”

“I dragged her out with me ofcourse ~ you were busy that day”

Youngmi sighed and pouted

“You know your unnie is very much welcome in my office & I’ll be more than happy to meet her”

Heechul smirked

“Well today’s your chance to meet her and the whole family”

Heechul slowed the car down making Youngmi’s heart thump because it could only mean that they were either so close or they’re already here.

“We’re here ~”

Heechul sing sang in a teasing voice and stopped the car; he fixed his clothes and fixed his hair at the rear view mirror as Youngmi took one last deep breath and gripped the box of cake in her hands.

He motioned her to smile then got out of the car, Youngmi rolled her eyes at him then pushed the car door open afterwards she got out and saw Heechul greeting his family. She guessed the lady who hugged him was his umma and beside her was his appa and the person who was running along was presumably his sister.

As he was hugging his sister, she noticed Youngmi and looked at Heechul as if asking with her eyes if she was his girlfriend. Heechul turned to Youngmi just as she reached his side.

“Oh yeah, this is Youngmi”

She smiled not knowing what to do nor say; the lady clasped her hands together and watched her in ‘aww’ then gave her a big hug.

“Omo ~ you must be Heechul’s girlfriend and you even brought a present!”

She used the term ‘girlfriend’ because Heechul asked her to pretend like she knew nothing at all about the wedding. Youngmi handed her the box of cake as she was then greeted by his sister and his father.

“Why don’t we all get inside?”

His mother said and so they all did; Youngmi quietly followed, Heejin whispered to her donsaeng as they walked together.

“Are you sure she’s your girlfriend?”

Heechul pouted and ‘tsked’

“Yeah I am, would you stop being jealous?”

Heejin gasped in disbelief

“I am not jealous!”

Heejin walked away as soon as they reached the house to help her mom in the kitchen and being Heejin, she asked Youngmi if she’d like to help out and Youngmi quietly nodded in agreement and followed them both to the kitchen where in some of Heechul’s Aunts were there & his mom went around introducing her.

Heechul and his dad took a seat in the living room.

“So... you’re getting married to that girl?”

“Yeah, she’ll give you pretty grandchildren you know”

His dad chuckled

“I thought you didn’t want to get married? You always said you just wanted children”

“Things change appa and it caused me an accident to meet that girl”

“Well most meetings are an accident and –“

“Aniyo... I really mean literally; remember my accident in 2006? That’s the reason why I met her”

His dad thought for a moment

“So is that bad or good?”

“Good maybe since I’m marrying her... not sure anyway I’m taking her to see grandma later”

“No need, the whole family’s coming over for the party later tonight”

Heechul nodded remembering

“But isn’t the house too small for all of us to fit in?”

He asked with questioning eyes and his right brow raising

“Ah you’ve been gone from home for too long, the terrace has been expanded so the party’s gonna be held there”

Heechul got up and went to the kitchen to find Youngmi laughing along with of his aunt and his mom even; the lady caught a glance of her son who was leaning against the door frame and motioning her about the plan, she just smiled at him making Heechul puff out a sigh then enter the room.

“So when is grandma arriving?”

He asked sitting down next to Youngmi who was cutting up vegetables, his aunt turned to him. Youngmi guessed she was the one whom he was very close with seeing as though they just high-fived each other as a greeting.

“It’s been a long time since you’ve visited Heechul and now that you did you’ve brought a pretty girl with you... I didn’t even know you’d find someone”

His aunt said eyeing him as she continued to cut meat, his mom got up with some of the cut up veggies and meats. Heechul rolled his eyes.

“Pffed ~ I was born to make women fall inlove with me & even if Youngmi doesn’t admit it she loves every part of me!”

He declared making Youngmi roll her eyes at him.

“You’re so full of yourself”

She mumbled.

“Grandma’s here!”

Heejin exclaimed as she then ran out of the kitchen, Heechul took away the knife from her hand and placed it aside then pulled her along almost causing her to stumble.

“Halmeoni!”

Heechul exclaimed as he saw the lady who was just as happy to see him, he hugged his dearest grandma and just like Heejin she was a bit startled to see Youngmi.

“And you must be Heenim’s girlfriend!”

She said giving her a hug whilst Youngmi could just smile

“It’s very nice to meet you too ma’am”

His grandma laughed at her formality and insisted that she call her ‘halmeoni’

-

The evening came and the terrace above the house was lighted up, food was everywhere and even some karaoke. Heechul was going around introducing his girlfriend to everyone then when dinner came, everyone sat around the table and that’s where the questions came in.

“So where do you come from Youngmi-ah?”

Asked one of his cousins

“Seoul, I was born and raised there”

“And your job?”

His uncle asked

“I’m a doctor and was actually Heechul’s doctor when he was in the hospital after that erm – incident”

“So you prescribed his medicines?”

His umma asked and she nodded; Heechul laughed heartily and dropped his chopsticks, he pinched Youngmi’s cheek

“Isn’t she just adorable?!”

“So when are you getting married?”

The question came from Heechul’s grandma making everyone fall quiet and turn to the couple; Youngmi could feel her heart pounding fast as she turned to Heechul. The guy was practically stoked himself and couldn’t say a word then the unexpected happened...

Heechul grabbed her hand & pulled her up with him

“Youngmi is not my girlfriend, she’s my fiancée!”

And so the evening pressed on; ofcourse, everyone seemed to have approved of the marriage which relieved Youngmi. Once the party was over, Heechul was nowhere to be found while Youngmi was in the kitchen helping her future mother & sister-in-law with the dishes.

“So have you made plans already, Youngmi-ah?”

His mom asked

“Uhm... Heechul & I haven’t really agreed to anything yet, he wants something traditional”

“And you want?”

Heejin asked waiting for her to answer

“Well... I’ve always wanted a modern wedding, wedding dress, flowers, and a veil in my head and that other stuff”

“Maybe Hee’s just having thoughts about financial matters and things like that... he’s pretty cheap after all”

Heejin stated making her umma eye her, the lady then completely forgot about hers & Heechul’s plans, Youngmi was just too sweet to resist. The way she said those were just so sweet, the lady wanted to watch her walk down an aisle, wearing a beautiful white wedding gown instead of a hanbok.

She held dried up her hands as Heejin & Youngmi placed away the last of the clean plates.

“Well, you just follow your heart Youngmi-ah... you can only get married once & I’m sure Heenim will give in to you eventually, I know he loves you enough to make you happy”

She said, Heejin just smiled as an idea popped up unto her head. Youngmi just smiled aswell but little did the lady just know how stubborn her son is.