“Are you sure it’s going to be okay?” you asked. JaeJoong looked at you and smiled that smile that melted you. 

“Yes, it’ll be fine. My family are really good people. They only want to see me happy. Don’t worry so much. Your accent is cute, at least I think so.” he kissed your temple and looked concerned at you. You were shaking like a leaf. 

“I know, you’ve told me stories about how great they’ve been, but… I don’t know, I just want them to like me. I don’t want to be a burden to you.” you said as you intertwined fingers with him. He brushed your caramel hair out of your pretty light eyes.

“Jagiya..” he whispered close to you, his luscious lips mere inches from yours. “You will be fine. I promise.” you practically swooned. 

You were all smiles and giggles until you got to his parents house. Thankfully they weren’t standing at the front door like you had feared.  You very quickly thought that perhaps everything would be as okay as JaeJoong tried to convince you. Until the door opened. 

“Ahh JaeJoong ah.. we’ve been waiting….” the woman, you recognized was JaeJoong’s adopted mother. You knew his adopted story. He’d told you after your 6th or 7th date. 

“Ahn young Umma ni. This is my girlfriend _______-ah. _______-ah, this is my Umma ni.” he said with a smile. She smiled half heartedly. You gave a 90 degree bow and handed her the fruit basket you had both picked out. She looked at it and hesitated a moment. 

“JaeJoong!” she whispered harshly, “You didn’t tell us she was a foreigner!” 

The wind from your sails completely disappeared. You set the basket down, and covering your mouth with your hand, you bowed, apologized in hangul, which shocked his mother, and walked away from the house and headed back up the street to where you had parked. 

“Umma NI!” he reprimanded. “How could you say such a thing. Why are you like this?” he said angrily. 

“She’s an outsider JaeJoong. You didn’t warn us of that.” he wrinkled his brow. 

“I shouldn’t have had to say anything about her other than she’s my girlfriend. You should accept her no matter what. You accepted me! She’s been very nice to me, she’s taken care of me when I was sick, and makes me feel very important and special. How could you be so mean to her like that??” he turned and walked away, leaving the basket and running after you.

He caught you before you got your keys out of your purse.

“I’m sorry Jagiya… no please, don’t leave. Please. I’m sorry.” he wrapped his arms around you. The smell of his cologne wafted up to your nose and tickled your senses. He wrapped his arms around you and held you close. “Shhhh, don’t cry. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. If I knew she would react like that I wouldn’t have brought you. I never want you to feel like there’s something wrong with you. Okay? I love you.” he stopped short after saying that. It made you look up.

“What?” you said in between sobs. 

“I… love you. I guess I didn’t realize how much until she was mean to you. If you really want to go, we’ll go.” 

“But you shouldn’t leave.” you chokingly protested trying to get your emotions under control. 

“Yes I should. My family should care about me. They don’t know anything about other than the fact that you’re not Korean. You could be the greatest person in the world, you could cure… cancer or something, and all they’d have seen was the fact that you aren’t Korean. I can’t accept that.” he said. 

You both got into the car and drove back to your apartment. He made you dinner, since he was always known as quite the cook. His phone rang half way through his cooking. 

“Yabusayo?” he said. You heard him from the living room where you were watching tv. Since he told you he wouldn’t let you help. You heard him talking. His voice rose and fell as the conversation went on. When it was done, he came into the room smiling.

“That was Umma, she’s inviting us to dinner this Friday. She wants to apologize for the way she acted. It’ll be awhile before they get used to you. But I’m positive once they get to know you like I do, they’ll love you as much as I do.” he said. Before he turned to go back into the kitchen you called him.

“JaeJoong Oppa…”

“Yes?”

“I love you too.” you smiled. He almost dropped his phone. Before you even knew it, he was right there on the couch with you, his plush lips pressed against yours, with an ebb and flow that made you shiver.