July 2

Human lives are not pieces of string that can be separated out from a knot of others and laid out straight. Families are webs. Impossible to touch one part of it without setting the rest vibrating, impossible to understand one part without having a sense of the whole.

Our family. We were strange little band of characters trudging through life, sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.

Last night’s happenings are really devastating and totally unexpected. Our day started off well and smooth and just because of Alfie, our family ended up in a mess. Our kids were frightened by seeing their dad beating somebody up (I’m telling you, they are really scared of him), for it is their first time of seeing him in that situation.

In our children’s eyes, Jiyong is this sweet and very soft hearted human being that cannot even kill a single mosquito. Yes, he is so sweet and his heart is just so big that he can give love to everyone, but of course, all of us have limitations and I guess, Alfie really crossed that line wherein my husband can’t just take it, resulting to him, beating that jerk up. Gosh! Alfie is doing it again, he’s messing with our lives and I’m already in alert if ever he’s planning of doing something stupid once again.

“Babe” Jiyong called and wrapped his arms around me.

“mmmmm”

“Wake up” he said while leaving soft kisses on my shoulder.

“It’s still early…my alarm hasn’t ring yet” I muttered.

“Babe…just wake up…you need to see something” he said and I lazily opened one eye and looked at him.

“What is it?” I asked with my hoarse morning voice.

“Move here and look down” he pulled me to the edge of the bed and my eyes almost popped in shock with what I saw.

The moment I looked down, I saw our kids sprawled and scattered all over the floor. Gabrielle, who moves a lot whenever he’s sleeping, is almost near our bathroom door already. Danny and DK looks so sweet and peaceful, hugging each other and same goes with Gabby and Isabella.

“aww babe” I looked at Jiyong who cannot stop from smiling.

“How come we didn’t even hear them came in?” I asked curiously.

“Babe…we are so exhausted last night that we don’t care about our surroundings already” Jiyong answered and I smiled at him.

“I wonder why they’re here? I mean…when I tucked them in bed last night…I even waited for them to drift to sleep” I told him and he pulled me for a hug.

“I guess they pretended to be sleeping so that you can leave them already” he said and I smirked.

Well, it seems like our kids planned this surprise sleepover without even one of us having a clue, but I know that there’s a real and deeper meaning as to why they have decided to sleep here (it’s rare of them to sleep in our bedroom, sometimes, we have to beg them to sleep with us).

“Babe…why don’t you transfer them all here” I said while patting our bed.

“But…they might wake up” he said and I shook my head.

“Trust me…they won’t….these kids are totally like you…especially the boys…they sleep like logs and will not even wake up until you shake them as hard as you could” I said and he laughed without a sound.

“That’s so weird” I said (that’s the first time I saw him laugh without even making a sound).

“What?” he asked.

“You’re laughing…but it’s soundless…that’s just so unusual” I answered and he leaned in for a kiss.

“That’s another talent of mine that you haven’t seen yet” he said and I rolled my eyes at him.

Jiyong and I transferred our kids from the floor to our bed so that they can be comfortable. It took us a few minutes to get them all settled for they keep on squirming and wriggling. Now I know why we had our bed customized. Well, about three years ago, Omma told us that she’s got a friend who makes furniture and we had our bed made as big as possible (my mother in-law convinced me in having a big bed coz according to her, she can feel that we’ll have more than six kids and yes, she’s right for the month after she said that, I discovered that I was pregnant with Karielle).  A total of ten people can fit in it (yes, TEN).

“Wow Mrs. Kwon…you’re able to lift DK even with your injured hand” Jiyong told me after we transferred the kids.

“I know right? I’m really a superwoman” I told him and he kissed my temple.

Truth is, I’m still sleepy and all I want to do is go back to bed and drift to dreamland. Thing is, I don’t think I can go back to sleep anymore for my husband is so wide awake and I’m sure that he will not let me go back to sleep again.

“I’ll go to the girls’ room” I told Jiyong.

“Huh? Why?” he asked while playing a game on his Ipad.

“I want to sleep a little more” I answered and he looked at me and chuckled.

“Aigoo…alright…go ahead” he said and I kissed him.

It seems like he’s really in a good mood this morning. Well, I know that I’ll be waking up in a matter of an hour, but I just have to close my eyes even just for a while for it’s still shutting down.

My alarm woke me up, and it annoyed the hell out of me (I will really change my alarm tone for it’s just so loud). At one point, I got a little confused on where I was and when I remembered that our kids are all in our bedroom and I’m in the girls’ room, that’s the time I can say that my senses are back to normal already.

The whole house is still quite and when I checked on Karielle, she’s still in deep slumber while thumb (a funny fact: Jiyong used to thumb when he was young as well). It is really unusual to wake up without the noise and the kids running around. I guess they really slept late last night coz up till now, none of them are awake.

“Oh!” I said the moment I opened our bedroom door.

Our kids are all awake already and they are staring at their dad who is sleeping like a log on the couch. It is really weird for none of them are talking and all they did was look at each other and go back to staring at Jiyong again.

“Hey guys” I greeted upon absorbing the scene.

“MUM!” the kids got out of our bed one by one and hugged me.

“How was your sleep?” I asked while kissing Gabby’s cheek.

“It’s not good mum” Danny answered and I looked at him curiously.

“Why is it not good?” I asked and he looked at DK then to me.

“DK noona keeps on hugging me and it is so cold here in your room…I feel like I’m inside a fridge” he answered, making me laugh.

“Dad and I actually saw the two of you hugging each other sweetly awhile ago” I told him and he gave me a disgusted look.

“Wait…why did you guys transferred here? And…how were you able to sneak in?” I asked curiously and the younger kids all looked at Isabella.

From the way it looks, it seems like Isabella is the one who thought of this whole sleepover thing. Oh well, it’s all good to me. Actually, I find it really sweet of them to sleep in our room even if sleeping on the floor is really a pain.

“Mum” Isabella called, her face serious.

“Yes baby girl?” I asked and sat beside her in bed.

“They are all afraid of dad…last night…we cannot sleep because we keep on remembering what dad did to that duck face….they are afraid that he might do that to us as well” she said and I looked at my kids in shock.

I don’t know how to deal with this. I didn’t even expect that our kids are going to be frightened as hell after that incident. And just by thinking that they are afraid of Jiyong because he might beat the out of them as well, is just a little disturbing. Alfie really messed our kids’ minds and he will totally get it from me once our paths crossed.

“Babies….listen to me” I said while looking at them one by one.

“Dad is not bad…the guy that he beat last night did something wrong to mum and dad just protected me…OK? In behalf of your dad…I’m sorry for scaring you….look….things like that happens whenever you’re protecting someone you love….sometimes…you have to use your fist to tell those people that they have done something wrong…you guys don’t have to worry about anything…your dad won’t even spank you or pinch you…so erase the bad thoughts in your minds and let’s all move on for dad just did that because of me” I explained to them.

“But mum…the noonas told us that…that duck face likes you…is that true?” Danny asked and I looked at the girls in shock.

It seems like my kids have named Alfie as duck face already and it’s really funny. Thing is, I’m really wondering how and why my daughters learned about Alfie (Jiyong told me that he didn’t tell our daughters the real reason why he wants them to watch over me).

“Who told you that?” I asked the girls and Isabella sighed.

“I heard dad and Aunt Daryl talking about him mum…duck face likes you and he will not stop from courting you…mum…you’re already married…why is that duck face liking you still?” Isabella asked and I sighed because I can’t find the right words to explain e