Hehe, you guys haven’t seen this kind of thing from me yet, but I thought that it would be a nice change. 

#48 – Shine

Taemin squinted through his glasses that perched on the end of his nose.  He sighed and put down the cloth and spoon that he was holding onto the wooden table below.  He slid the glasses from his face and rubbed at the indentations that had left themselves on his nose. 

He was assaulted by the intense smell of the polish he was using on the good silverware and flinched backward, hitting his back against the wooden slats of the chair he was sitting in.        

He replaced his glasses on his nose and glanced around the apartment.  Everything seemed to gleam and sparkle in an animated matter.  Not a thing was out of place, not a speck of dust stood out upon any surface, and every pillow sat upon the couch at just the right angle. 

All of this was the result of the last three days of cleaning that Kibum and himself had been performing around their apartment.

The living room looked like it could be the spread in some decorating magazine.

Taemin couldn’t remember the last time they had put so much time into straightening.  They usually didn’t bother too much with intense cleaning anymore, at their age there wasn’t much of a point. 

But it was the Lunar New Year, and both Jinae and Munhee were coming home, with their own families in tow, and the couple was trying to neaten up the apartment and pick up all of the slack that they had let go before. 

Taemin slowly rose from his chair, using the table as leverage to help himself to his feet, in order to walk around the apartment and inspect their work.  It seemed as though they had managed to finally check off everything on the list.

He began to head down the hallway, towards what was once Jinae’s room but was now a guest room that was being made up by Kibum for their returning children. 

On the wall of the hall were the images of their life.  Smiling faces beamed out at him from behind glass, documenting their life together.  Images of them together as a part of SHINee, when they became engaged, the birth of Jinae and subsequent family photos, their wedding photo, their first family portrait with Munhee and updates through the years, graduation photos, their children’s wedding photos…it was all there.  Taemin stopped midway down the hallway and reached out to touch the glass of their wedding photo.  One finger gently traced down the side of Kibum’s face.

A soft clicking sound alerted Taemin to the closing door.  Kibum turned from the door and met Taemin’s eyes.  He smiled, crows feet crinkling at the corner’s of his eyes.  His hair had started to loose its color in his mid-forties, but rather than dye it like so many of their peers, and admittedly like Taemin himself had done, Kibum had just let it me, fading to a salt and pepper appearance before finally taking on a light grey hue now at the age of sixty-eight, with pure white fairs spotting near his temples.  It floated around his head in light waves and Taemin still loved burying his hands in all these years later. 

“Everything done out here?” he asked, reaching around Taemin and hugging the man, laying his head on Taemin’s shoulder. 

“I think we’re good,” Taemin said softly, settling back against Kibum.  “If there is an inch of surface in this place that we haven’t attacked in the last two hours I would be incredibly surprised.” 

“We shouldn’t let it get like this again…” Kibum mumbled.

Taemin laughed, “It wasn’t bad, we’re just being meticulous because the kids are coming home.”

Taemin could feel Kibum’s smile through his shirt.  They hadn’t seen their children in years.  Not really.  Jinae had taken after her Papa, now affectionately called ‘Pops,’ and had gone off to college in the United States.  Where she met a boy, fell in love and married.  Unfortunately for her fathers, Jinae and her husband decided to stay in America.  Skype was their lifeline to their daughter, but it had been almost a year since they had last seen her in person.  Her whole family, including husband, and two children, one only a few months old now, were flying in for the holiday, and to formally introduce Kibum and Taemin to their granddaughter.  The two men couldn’t wait to hold another baby in their arms again.   

They looked around their apartment, one that used to be filled to the brim with children and laughter, and now sat expectantly waiting for the sounds of childhood to fill it once again.

The men sighed and separated. 

“I’m going to get started on dinner.”  Kibum trailed off, following Taemin’s eyes to another photo – the day that Jinae graduated from high school.  It was the last family photo that they all had from each other.  “We should take another family photo while their here, with everyone…” Kibum gestured vaguely with his hands. 

Taemin smiled, “Sounds good.”  He grabbed one of Kibum’s hands out of the air and kissed Kibum’s knuckles.  “You go get started on the food, I think I’ll head out for the airport to pick up Jinae and David and the kids, traffic is going to be horrible today.” 

And Taemin was right.  An hour and a half later he was still sitting in traffic trying to get to the airport, thankful that he had had the foresight to head out so early.  At the rate he was going he would make it to the airport just when their flight was landing. 

A light tinkling tune sounded through the car.  Taemin’s cell phone was ringing.

“Yoboseyo,” Taemin answered without bothering to see who had called.

“Grandpa!!” A small voice giggled over the phone.

“Jungsun!” Taemin cried as a smile planted itself on his face at the three-year-old’s voice.  “How are you doing buddy?”

“I’m good Grandpa!  We’re at your house and Gramps said to call you and entertain you while you’re sitting in tafic.”

“Traffic,” Taemin corrected.  “And it’s nice to hear your voice, much better than car horns.”

“That sounds boring.” Jungsun said before launching into a description of what his baby brother Soodae was doing just then.

Taemin laughed as he inched along the highway, growing ever closer to the airport. 

“Oh Grandpa, Daddy wants to talk to you!  Love you!” and Taemin heard a slight thunk-ing sound through the phone as it was passed over to his son.

“Hey pops!” Munhee spoke through the phone. 

“Hey kiddo, how are you doing?”  Taemin smiled as he heard his grandchildren calling to their dad in the background, he was still somehow amazed at the idea that he was a grandfather, and that his children were old enough to be parents themselves. 

“Daa~ad,” Munhee sighed, “I think I’m a little old for ‘kiddo.’” 

Taemin laughed and he could hear Kibum laughed in the background as well.  “You’ll always be my kiddo, kiddo.”

“Appa just said the same thing…”  Munhee said flatly.  “Anyway, so you almost at the airport yet?”

“Um…yea, the rate I’m going I’ll probably get there within the hour.”

“Gotta love lunar new year huh?  Traffic .  Glad I don’t have to fly in like Jinae and them.”

There was a crashing sound in the background.

“Oh god…pops; I gotta go and save my children from their grandfather.  See you in a few hours!” and Munhee hung up the phone.

Taemin winced as the call ended, wondering just what it was that the children had gotten into.  Nothing too bad could have happened though, so he figured that everything was okay and it was just a loud noise. 

Sure enough his phone soon beeped again, with a text message from Kibum.

Knocked books off bookcase – nothing to worry about.  Locked office door to be safe.  Love you.  Drive safe.  ~ Bummie

Taemin smiled and threw the phone on the passenger seat next to him, finally able to turn into the parking garage of the airport and try and find a parking spot.  If the streets were bad, the garage was worse but he finally glided into a spot that seemed to be about as far from the door into the arrivals lounge as it was possible to be. 

*****

“Waaahhhhh~~!” The sound of the wailing child rang through the entire apartment. 

“Shhh, shhh, shhh,” Chinsun bounced the crying baby against her shoulder, trying to calm little Soodae after the loud noise. 

Munhee was on his knees in the corner of the living room, trying to straighten up the mess that Jungsun had made when he slid on his socks across the floor and into the bookcase in the corner.  Luckily the case was bolted to the wall, but the books weren’t and many had come crashing down to the floor from the force of the three-year-old’s collision. 

Kibum had the sniffling child tucked into his shoulder.

“I’m s-sorry Gramps…” Jungsun stuttered, his little hands curling into Kibum’s sweater. 

“It’s alright, it was just an accident.”  He picked up the little boy and gently ran his hand in circles on his back.

After a few minutes Jungsun had calmed down, Chinsun had managed to get a giggle out of Soodae and Munhee had managed to sort all of the books back onto the shelves at least if not in the proper order. 

Kibum used a thumb to gently wipe away the last stray tears of shock and surprise that had spouted from Jungsun. 

“Are we alright now?” he asked in the same calm voice he used to use with his own children when they woke from nightmares or were otherwise frightened. 

One last sniffle was heard before Jungsun gave his Gramps a timid smile.  “Gramps no mad?”

Kibum smiled, the crows feet at the corners of his eyes crinkling and becoming momentarily even deeper.  “How can I stay mad at someone as cute as you?” Kibum cooed, rubbing his nose together with his grandsons. 

Jungsun let out a squeal as Kibum’s eyelashes tickled his cheeks. 

Munhee came up behind the boy and began to tickle him at the same time and the past few minutes were forgotten as Jungsun laughed until his sides hurt.

Munhee took the little boy into his own arms and spoke with him about being careful in other people’s homes, but the boy now knew that no one was mad at him and did apologize for making a mess.     

Kibum went back to cooking, with the aide of his daughter-in-law, trying to make everything just perfect.  It was the first time in years that the whole family was coming together again and to Kibum it seemed as though he was part of a puzzle that was becoming whole.  He could exist on his own without a problem, and could attach to those closest to him, but the further pieces were beginning to join in and the full picture could finally be seen. 

There was a bubbly giddiness inside of Kibum and he could hardly stay still.  The sound of children filling the apartment, the notion that his son and daughter were here with them, it made it seem like the years were melting away.  If he closed his eyes, he could easily trick himself into thinking that Jungsun’s raucous laughter was actually Munhee’s.  But then he would hear Chinsun or Munhee laughing to talking with their eldest son and cooing at their infant and he would come back to the reality that it was his grandchild running about the house. 

The smile was plastered to his face as he slid the homemade dumplings into the soup bubbling gently on the stove. 

Now he just had to wait for Taemin to come home with his baby, and her babies in tow.

*****

Taemin had a moment of idle wonder while waiting for his family to arrive to remember what it used to be like to be in this very same airport during his SHINee days.  Fans would mob the floor, shouting and crying, signs held aloft, gifts being thrown.  It had frightened Taemin in the beginning.  It had felt like people were closing in around him, and the loud cheers had been more likely to cause Taemin to grimace than to smile.  Their first time through the insanity Taemin had been so scared that he wanted to cry, but Key and Onew had seemed to know without words and had placed themselves firmly at his sides, Onew wrapping his arm around Taemin while Key whispered that it would be alright and tried to coax out a smile. 

Taemin shook his head to clear the old memory. 

People didn’t recognize him these days.  He had been out of the limelight for long enough and SHINee was something long beyond common pop culture.  He had made a small name for himself as a writer, and he had a small following of loyal fans who might recognize him from the back covers of his books, but they really weren’t the kind who would stop him in the airport.  Doing things like this were far more peaceful experiences these days.  It really was nice to be able to live out of the limelight now.

“Grandpa!”

Taemin’s head snapped up and he saw his family making their way through the milling throngs of people filing through the airport.  Some people did a double take, noting the bi-racial couple and their children, but then they moved on. 

His son-in-law, David, towering over most people in the airport at almost 6`4,” with ginger hair and a permanent coat of freckles covering his skin, rolled a large blue suitcase behind him and held a grey baby-carrier in his other hand.  David had been a college classmate of Jinae’s, a random meeting in a massive general education class lecture that neither particularly like, but both showed up to regularly in hopes of sitting next to each other again.  Taemin and Kibum had been a little nervous about the idea of Jinae dating someone who was so unfamiliar with their culture, but then they had met the young man and were impressed at the single-minded devotion that he had displayed towards their daughter and came to understand that David would learn about their culture, the same way that they would learn more about his and as long as he was good to their daughter, and Jinae was happy, they were happy.    

Next to David strolled his beautiful Jinae.  Her hair was cropped short and moved gently around her jaw line, a pair of black rectangle-shaped frames sat perched on her nose.  She too rolled a suitcase behind her and held out her hand to a little boy who was smiling brightly up at Taemin across the crowded room, waving one frantic hand and smiling from practically ear to ear, showing off a few missing teeth in the process.

“Allen!” Taemin called, and laughed when the boy smiled impossibly wider.  They were a couple of feet away at this point and Jinae smiled and release her son who ran over and slammed himself into his grandfather’s legs. 

“I missed you grandpa!” Allen announced in English. 

“Missed you too kiddo,” Taemin countered, leaned down in an awkward hug, surprised by the sudden and deep sense of longing for the little boy.  He understood why he couldn’t see his grandson often, he lived on another continent, but being able to hold him like this made his feel the unfairness of it so acutely and strongly that his heart actually skipped a beat.  He squeezed the little boy a little harder before leaning forward to lay a kiss to his daughter’s cheek.

David gave a little bow and greeted Taemin in awkward Korean, but it was decidedly more improved than it had been the last time they had met.

“Want to meet your granddaughter?” David asked in English, holding up the baby carrier in his other hand after settling the rolling luggage for a moment. 

He turned the carrier around and at first all Taemin saw was a bundle of blankets, but then something beneath it moved as Taemin took a step closer.  He reached out one age-worn hand and gently tugged down some of the blankets and suddenly was greeted with two chocolate brown eyes staring sleepily up at him.  A gummy yawn split her cherub-like face wide before one tiny hand reached up and closed around Taemin’s pinky. 

Taemin’s chest felt full and warm, the same way he had felt the first time he had seen Jinae in that hospital room as a baby.  Looking down into her little face, he could already see the Kim family’s almost feline-like slant to the little angel’s eyes. 

“Hey beauty,” Taemin whispered, lightly tickling her chin which result in a giggle from the little girl, hands waving madly in the air.

“She likes you,” David said calmly, causing Taemin to glance up. 

Taemin patted her wispy hairs once before straightening up.  “Let’s get home.  I know someone who’s going to be very excited to meet this little darling.”

*****

“Jinae!” Munhee’s voice shouted through the apartment.

Kibum quickly rid himself of his apron, placing his spoon on the counter before running around the short wall that separated their kitchen from the entryway.

“My baby!” he shouted, wrapping his long arms around his daughter who clutched back at him.

“Great to see you Appa,” she whispered fiercely, ending the hug with a light pat on his back.

“Gramps!” 

A bouncing little brown-haired Allen grabbed at his hand and demanded a hug of his own.

“Hey love,” Taemin whispered with a quick kiss to Kibum’s cheek before moving past him to put the luggage away in the guest room. 

“Good to see you again Mr. Kim,” David greeted nervously in Korean, almost more anxious around Kibum than the easy-going Taemin. 

“David, I don’t know how many times I’ve told you to call me Kibum,” the former rapper responded in English with a slight smile before concentrating all of his attention on the baby carrier.

“Meet little Marie Kimin Grant.  She fell asleep in the car on the drive over,” David explained, pushing back the blankets that the child had nested herself deep into. 

A sudden tiny sneeze interrupted Kibum’s reverent stare.  “She’s beautiful…” he whispered, drawing one finger down a chubby cheek.  He threw up a lopsided grin, “She has your nose…” he observed glancing back up at David who proudly displayed his daughter. 

Suddenly Kibum came back to himself and realized that they were still standing in the entryway, and quickly invited the man further into the apartment to get himself settled. 

Kibum stood back and watched his family move about in their home.  He was amazed some times at how life continued on, no matter how much you may want to hold onto it and stop it from moving forward.  When Munhee and Jinae were children, he had wanted so desperately to hold onto it and stop them from growing up, to allow them to just be innocent children for the rest of their lives, not having to deal with any of the hardships that he and Taemin had faced, but life isn’t like that.  It keeps barreling through all of your best laid plans, but it seems to know what it is doing.

As Marie woke up, greeting everyone in the apartment with a hungry squeal, Kibum couldn’t stop the smile that spread on his face as Jinae moved off to another room to feed Marie. 

Kibum met Taemin’s eyes across the room and shared the same thought – life was perfect. 

I’m going with sort of the same idea that I went with for their children (Key was Appa and Taemin was Papa) for what their grandchildren call them (Key is Gramps and Taemin is Grandpa).  I wouldn’t even begin to know how they would be referred to in Korean in real life so I’m sticking to English.  I figured both Gramps and Grandpa are kind of low-key familiar ways to refer to your grandfather (as opposed to grandfather which is rather formal).  Besides, I alternate between those two for my grandpa so I thought that it was fitting to use here.     

As for the names of the new people introduced in this story:

Chinsun means born of goodness and she is Munhee’s wife.

Jungsun means affectionate and good and he is Munhee and Chinsun’s oldest son (3 years old).

Soodae means long life and greatness and he is Munhee and Chinsun’s youngest son (about 1 year old).

The other family is Jinae’s.  She is married to a man named David Grant.  Name doesn’t really mean anything, I just like the name David and figured Grant would be something easy for someone with a Korean accent to pronounce. 

For the children, I decided to follow Western tradition of a first, middle and last name.  I didn’t choose their first names for any particular reason, but I did make the middle names of both children a combination of their grandfathers’ names because I would like to think that they are relying on David’s history for the first names, especially since they are living in the U.S., and on Jinae’s for the middle names.  So after that long explanation, the children’s names are:

Allen Taeki Grant, who is their six-year-old son.

Marie Kimin Grant, who is their 5-month-old daughter.

This may be my last update for a while, I can’t guarantee time to write or consistent internet access for a while so just bare with me for your Keytae/Taekey updates.  Thanks for all your support over this past year, I hope that I will be able to keep producing these stories for you guys from Korea!

Please comment!