Chapter 2: Oppas, Ommas, and Pudding

At that exact moment, the doorbell rang.

“Halmoni!” exclaimed Yunji, bolting down the hall to the door.

Seohyun and Yonghwa followed dumbfounded. They didn’t even have enough time to soak in the fact that a little girl was referring to them as her parents. Seohyun was sure she was stuck in a nightmare. None of this made sense.

They looked to see who the visitor was while Yunji jumped up and down chanting “Halmoni! Halmoni!”

“Yunji,” Yonghwa tested the name out. It was a cute name, but there was no way he was a parent already. “Step away from the door. Let us check who it is.”

Together, he and Seohyun looked at the screen.

“Omma!” she blurted. “It’s my omma! What is she doing here?”

Seohyun’s mother rang the doorbell again. Yonghwa and Seohyun fled back to the bedroom, leaving Yunji in the hall.

“This is the worst day of my life. She can’t see me like this,” Seohyun motioned toward herself and her bunched sheet.

“Ok, we have to relax. We can’t just let her stay out there. The little girl knew she was coming. Maybe she’s supposed to be here,” said Yonghwa. He tried to stay calm, but he was a bundle of anxiety. “I’m going to let her in, find out some information that might tell us what on earth we’re doing here. You get in the shower and get dressed quickly. Bali!” he ordered.

He went to the dresser, found a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt and slid them on quickly. Seohyun’s mother continued to ring the doorbell.

When he was dressed, he regarded Seohyun. She had shielded her eyes from the whole thing. He realized that he had changed in front of her without a warning. Still, there was no time to be shy and demure.

“Bali, Seohyun-ah!” he shouted once more before leaving the bedroom.

The minute the door closed, Seohyun sprung into action. What on earth was her mother doing there? Why was this happening? She heard Yonghwa greet her mother, who didn’t sound at all surprised to see him. That was sort of a good sign. Still, nothing made sense. Things felt too real to be a dream, but it wasn’t everyday that she woke up living an entirely different life. Well, according to the pictures, it was still her life, but she was married? Married to Yonghwa? With a toddler calling her omma? With a huge, beautiful apartment that had her decoration sense all over it?

She ran to the dresser, opening drawers frantically. Men’s casual clothing filled one half, and on the other side, there was nothing but lacy underwear and bras that left nothing to the imagination. The more she emptied these things out onto the floor, the more she gasped. She dangled one pair of extremely naughty underwear from her finger and observed it with absurdity. Dream Seohyun apparently loved this sort of thing, and she was sure Dream Yonghwa did as well.

To make matters worse, she was absolutely sure that she and Yonghwa had… done something the previous night. She felt it all over, could almost feel where he had kissed her. It occurred to her that she hadn’t even looked in the mirror. 

She grabbed a pair of underwear and bra that looked the most comfortable and practical and went into the bathroom. She caught sight of her reflection and stood frozen. Yes, she was her. Her black hair, although all over the place, was long and bone straight. It looked like she hadn’t dyed it in a very long time. Her face looked the same, but there was a maturity to it, a confidence she couldn’t really explain. The Seohyun in the mirror knew things that she herself hadn’t known yet. It made her sad, yet it was intriguing.

The bathroom was luxurious, all beige tile and fluffy white towels. The shower felt amazing against her skin, and for a moment, she almost forgot what situation she was in.

She thought about Yonghwa as well. He, too, looked the same but different. More matured and experienced. But why him? Why had the two of them woken up together in this chaos? The universe was playing a cruel joke nowhere near being funny.     

***

Yonghwa opened the door bravely, and there stood Seohyun’s mother, smiling brightly at him.

“My handsome son-in-law!” she cheered, greeting him with a hug, which he awkwardly felt into. He made a face over her shoulder as they hugged, but when she pulled away to observe him, he faked a smile.

“Mother-in-law!” he greeted her. “You came over?”

The woman took off her shoes and walked into the apartment with purpose. “Who else is going to watch my beautiful granddaughter? Where’s Juhyun?”

“She’s showering,” the words awkwardly rolled off his tongue, but Mother-in-law only shrugged.

“You two are going to be late. You should’ve been up hours ago.”

“We had a rough sleep last night. Mother-in-law, what are we going to be late for?”

“The concert, what else?” she checked his eyes with her thumb. “Are you sure you’re awake?”

“I’m not so sure,” he admitted.

“Halmoni!” Yunji tugged on her grandmother’s shirt, and the woman picked her up.

“Yunji! How’s Pudding this morning?”

“He’s really hungry. Omma and Appa won’t feed us,” the little girl pouted with aegyo.

“Whats this about not feeding my granddaughter?”

Yonghwa laughed nervously. “Yunji, don’t exaggerate. We just woke up, and I was going to fix breakfast for you.”

His “mother-in-law” sat with Yunji in the kitchen while Yonghwa went through the cabinets. The more he looked, the more he rolled his eyes. He was certainly married to Seohyun, alright. Everything was healthy to the point of blandness. When he found something semi-edible, he began to prepare it for the 4 of them.

“Mother-in-law?”

“Nae?”

“If there’s a concert happening, why aren’t you and Yunji coming?” he asked in curiosity.

Seohyun’s mom observed him a long time as if that was the dumbest question he could ask.

“You know that Yunji was exposed to that noise too early. I know you always want to take her, but the doctor said you can’t risk her other ear.”

Doctor? Other ear? What was she taking about?

“We’ll watch you two on TV, like always. Right Yunji!”

“Nae! Pudding, too!”

While the food was cooking and Mother-in-law was placing side dishes on the kitchen table, Yonghwa picked up Yunji.

“Why did you name your bear ‘Pudding’?”

“Because when I went to the hospital for my ear, you brought me this bear to keep me safe and whisper music,” replied the little girl, fussing with the bear. “We ate pudding together.”

Yonghwa looked to make sure mother-in-law wasn’t listening. “What happened to Yunji’s ear?”

She touched her right ear. “It doesn’t work anymore. Appa’s music was too loud,” she frowned.

Yonghwa had only been a parent for maybe a half hour, but he felt sick, sick to find out that his daughter was deaf in one ear because of his concert.

“I told you that Pudding would whisper music to you?”

“Nae. In my ear that doesn’t work. You said when I feel the tickle of his fur in my ear, that’s him whispering music.”

He put her down just as he saw Seohyun emerge cautiously from the hallway in blue sweatpants and a loose long-sleeved shirt. She bowed and smiled nervously at her mother.

“Juhyun-ah!” said her mother, now embracing her in a hug similar to Yonghwa’s. And just liked him, Seohyun made a face and composed herself as her mother pulled away.

“Omma, it’s really good to see you. I missed you.”

“We just went shopping together two days ago. Why do you have such a longing look,” her mother laughed and clapped her hands together. “Have some breakfast quickly.”

Yonghwa moved past them as calmly as he could and went back to the bedroom. He felt awful about what he had learned and needed space before his head caved in. He heard the bedroom door close and saw that Seohyun had followed behind him.

“Yonghwa Oppa, you can’t just leave me out there,” said Seohyun.

He sat down on the bed and put a hand through his hair. “Why not? She’s your omma.”

“I know, but she’s my future mother. It feels uncomfortable.” Then she noticed how distraught and upset he looked.

“What’s wrong? Well, besides the fact that we woke up in the future.”

He shook his head and stared thoughtfully the carpet. “That little girl, Yunji, our daughter. She’s partially deaf.”

“What?”

“It’s my fault. I exposed her to one of our concerts too early, and she lost hearing in one ear.”

Seohyun sat down next to him, a feeling of unease washing over her. After a few deep breaths, she spoke. “It wasn’t your fault. Our future selves should’ve been better parents. We have to go back out there.”

“Seohyun, she’ll never be able to do music. I wanted my children to do music.”

“This sounds cold,” she said with some regret, “but we have other things to worry about. She seems happy. That’s the important thing. We need to figure this stuff out so we can go back to normal. I’m not ready to be a mother or a wife in front of my own Omma.”

“I need a minute, and I’ll be out,” he replied quietly. “Just go.”

Seohyun nodded and left the room. Her omma was happily eating breakfast with Yunji and Pudding the bear at the kitchen table. She timidly approached them and sat down.

“Juhyun-ah,” her mother said conversationally, “what’s gotten into you and Yonghwa? You guys should’ve been ready to leave the minute I got here. Yunji’s not even dressed. You usually run a tight ship.”

Seohyun looked at her blankly. Her mother still looked the same, but with more gray hair than Seohyun remembered. She had to stop herself from reaching out and touching the woman’s face. Her mother had always treated her like a child, carefully treading, lightly scolding and reminding Seohyun to behave a certain way. Now, the woman talked to her as if she were her equal, scolding in a different way.  

“Omma,” was all Seohyun managed to say. She wanted to cry in her mother’s arms and tell her what was going on. That she didn’t remember marrying Yonghwa or having a baby. That she had lost years of her life because of a crazy phone call in the middle of the night.

“You look a little sick.” Her mother dropped her voice and leaned close, grinning, “Are you pregnant again?”

“Annio!” Seohyun covered her face in embarrassment. “Omma, what’s happening? Why would you ask me that?”

“Yunji needs a little brother or sister,” her mother insisted, patting Yunji on the head lovingly. Yunji smiled and spooned more soup into . Pudding had some imaginary spoonfuls as well. “With the way you two acted when you got married, I thought I’d have 5 or 6 grandchildren by now.”

Seohyun couldn’t look up from her hands. “Ottoke.”

“My beautiful daughter,” her mother smiled. “Still embarrassed to talk to her Omma about these things.”

There was another ring of the doorbell.

“Oh, that must be your manager.”

Seohyun got up from the seat and met Yonghwa in the hallway. They looked at the screen, and Seohyun recognized the man immediately.

“That’s my manager. What’s he doing here?”

“You don’t know yet?” Yonghwa was frantic. “Your Omma didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“We have a concert today. She’s here to watch Yunji while we go perform.”

“What! What do you mean perform? We can’t perform! Not like this!” Seohyun was shouting. Yonghwa shushed her and they both looked toward the kitchen cautiously.

“What do you want us to do, pretend he’s not outside the door? We have to go.”

“Let’s just say we’re sick. Let’s say we have an emergency.”

“Oh, because our companies are so understanding,” Yonghwa remarked sarcastically.

“They seemed to be very understanding these days if they let me marry you,” she snapped.

He glared at her. “What does that mean? I’m not good enough for you to marry or wake up to?”

“That’s not what I meant. Don’t make it seem that way, Oppa.”

They were too busy arguing to hear the code being punched in and the door opening.

“Well it was no picnic for me either since we’re being honest. I’m surprised future Seohyun didn’t insist we sleep in two separate rooms fully clothed. Slippers and everything—“

“Ah, the Nation’s Couple. Such sweet love and perfection,” a man interrupted the argument.

Both Yonghwa and Seohyun looked up into the face of Seohyun’s manager.

“Oppa, how do you have our code but my Omma doesn’t?” Seohyun asked in surprise.

“Your omma respects your privacy. I don’t. Let’s go now! You’re going to be an hour late,” snapped the manager. He his charming voice and shouted, “Ommo-ni, Annyeong!”

“Annyeong!”

“Annyeong!” chimed Yunji cutely. “Pudding says Annyeong too!”

They were rushed out the door, down the elevator, and into a van. They sat on the same seat, as far apart as they could, and both contemplated the insanity they were heading toward. Pretending to be sick was looking good after all. But it was too late. They were heading to a concert they weren’t at all prepared for.

A/N: Wow, I'm happy you guys like it so far! That makes me super pumped! Thanks for subscribing and reading even if you haven't subscribed yet. I just started writing the next chapter (snipets of other chapters have been written though) so I won't be updating until some time next week. Hopefully sooner than later.  What did you think?