This one has a shout-out to the always helpful contributors and readers odetoblue and SilverKey who brought up the idea.  It gave me something to place here with this prompt and is having me explore something that I wasn’t really planning on exploring in the first place so thanks for pushing my buttons!

Hope you guys enjoy this newest addition to the 100 prompts inventory.  I'm sorry it took so long but this other plot fairy just won't leave me alone.  Between all the snipit pieces I've written it's already almost 50 pages long in Word...and I don't even really have a plot set out for it yet...I don't even know if I'll use it...anyway...

And being laid up sick has one benefit (at least for you guys) - I have more time to write...

Enjoy!

#53 – Destination

Kibum tried to work on the crick in his shoulder.  It’s a fourteen hour flight from Seoul to New York and he wasn’t a young man anymore.  Six years over the hill and he could feel it now. 

Taemin groaned next to him, digging his fists into the small of his back, trying to bring back full feeling to his legs.

“You guys are old,” Munhee laughed from behind them, his 21-year-old body taking the long flight far better than his fathers’.  He stood tall, the same height as Kibum, his dark hair cut short and kept close to his scalp.  Brown eyes danced in jest and Taemin lightly cuffed the boy’s shoulder.

“Lay off,” Taemin yawned, “you’ll be like this one day.” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Munhee mumbled, rubbing his father’s shoulders.

The family worked their way through baggage claim and immigration and finally made their way out to the arrivals lounge. 

Taemin adjusted his glasses on his face, squinting through his newly acquired bifocals at the crowd of people waiting to welcome people to New York City. 

“There she is!” Munhee called out, pointing across the room and causing his backpack to slide down his arm as he jerked it about.  “Jin!” He called out, waving manically, a huge smile on his face. 

They hurried over, but Kibum reached her first, almost sprinting the last few feet before enveloping his daughter in a hug. 

“I missed you!” Kibum whispered in her ear while holding her close.  A few tears slipped out at his joy of seeing his daughter again.  It had been a year since he had last seen her.  She had graduated from New York University a year ago having studied math and statistics.  She was now working as an actuary for a large investment firm in Manhattan. 

She was doing well and Kibum was happy for her.  He just missed her terribly. 

“I’ve missed you too Appa,” she whispered back just as strongly, squeezing her father before pulling away to hug her Papa and brother as well. 

She piled them all into her car and drove them back to her apartment, where they would be staying while they were in town. 

“So,” Taemin pointed out a picture framed and propped up on the small table next to the couch, “This is David huh?”  The photo showed the couple in a partial hug, standing under a tree in the fall with orange, brown and red leaves littering the ground around them and clinging to spars branched above.  Both of their faces were split wide with happy smiles and their eyes could not be torn from each other. 

She got that same goofy smile that Kibum wore when he talked about Taemin, “Yeah, that’s him.  We’re meeting him for dinner tonight so that you guys can finally meet him.”

“Noona…”  Munhee fidgeted, “How good is his Korean?”

A faint blush overtook her face, “Well actually…”

Kibum snorted, “He doesn’t speak any does he?”

“Well, he knows a few things,” Jinae quickly defended.

Taemin laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, “You taught him how to introduce himself didn’t you?”

She pouted and would meet her father’s gaze, “Maybe…”

“Well, all of us have at least a passing English ability,” Kibum gave a meaningful look at Munhee who had seemed determined to forget all of his English skills since graduating from high school. 

Munhee rolled his eyes, “You guys are still going to need to translate for me…you know if you don’t use knowledge you forget it.”

“You never try to use it.” Jinae pointed out smugly.

“Yeah well, unlike some people I didn’t see the need to move halfway around the world.  I still live in Korea…why do I really need to learn anything else when all the people around me speak Korean?!”

Taemin could already see the beginning of one of their epic blowouts and decided to step in.

“Alright, alright.”  He had his hands raised up between the two as thought he was going to fend off physical blows.  “Cut it out you two.  We didn’t spend all that time on a plane to get here for you two to act like your children again.”

Munhee gave a wry smile, “I thought we were always going to be your children.”

“You are,” Kibum said, ruffling Munhee’s hair and stepping up to join Taemin, “but that doesn’t give you the right to behave like children when you damn well know better.”

It was said jokingly, but both knew that if they kept up it didn’t matter how old their father was, he would still find a way to punish them. 

“Sorry Appa,” Munhee mumbled, “and sorry Jinae.” He added without prompting, though still in a slightly sulking manner. 

Taemin clapped his hands once, “Alright now, we should be happy.  We’re together as a family again for a short time – we need to make the most of it!”  He beamed a great big smile at his family.  “No long faces!  That’s an order!” 

The rest of the day went smoothly and by the time dinner came they were ready to meet David with smiles on their faces. 

Taemin had to admit though, Kibum and he were worried.  Both of them having lived in America, they knew how the people could be about foreign cultures, especially a culture as foreign as Korea’s.    They worried about how David would adapt to fit their culture and ideas, and how Jinae would adapt to fit his.  

Just hearing the way that Jinae spoke about him Taemin knew – he knew that this was the man that his daughter wanted to marry.  She was more serious, yet somehow more fanciful at the same time when she spoke of their dates and outings together than she had ever been with any past boyfriends.  He hadn’t told Kibum of his ideas, but then again, Kibum probably knew.  They both knew their baby well. 

“Here were are,”  Jinae said, a smile already creeping up onto her face as they walked up to a little hole-in-the-wall Italian place just across from a small park in her neighborhood.  “David and I love it here, the food’s great and the wait-staff is incredible.  They make you feel like family.”

And sure enough, when they walked in it was to a round of, “Jinae!” from the hostess, a passing waiter and the owner who happened to be standing up near the door just then. 

“Girl, it’s good to see you again, David’s here already, just got in a few minutes ago!”  The hostess, a woman in her mid-30s came around her podium and gave Jinae a small hug.  “And this must be your family!” Her arms swung wide to include the rest of the group with her.  “Oh how did you say it?  Anyong-haysayo?”  She attempted with a small bow.

Taemin smiled and returned it, “Annyeong-haseyo.”

“Oh darn it!” she snapped her fingers, a smile still planted on her face, “but I was close!”

“I just want to let you know that we all take good care of your little Jinae here.”  The owner, a man in his mid-sixties stepped towards them.  “She’s like a member of my own family.”

Kibum answered this time, “We’re grateful that someone would care for our little girl so.”  Her threw up arm around Jinae shoulder and hugged her in close, “It makes me worry a little less – but just a little.”

“Daaad…” she mumbled under her breath, a light blush running over her cheeks.  “Anyway, David’s waiting…”

“Oh sweetie you go right on in, you’ve all got the big booth in the corner,” and they were waved right in.

“Come here a lot, eh sis?”  Munhee teased.

“Oh shut up,” Jinae hissed, moving with the ease of familiarity through the small dining room to the far corner near the stage.  “David!”  She called lightly, to not disturb the other couples dining in the room. 

Kibum noticed the way that her face lit up at the mere sight of the man, a tall gangly man without much muscle to speak of.  Then again, Taemin and he weren’t exactly body builders themselves so who was he to talk? 

More importantly, he noticed the visible lift to the man’s face upon seeing their daughter.  You couldn’t fake that kind of reaction.  David was genuinely pleased beyond all measure to see their daughter, and that made Kibum feel a little warm spot inside his heart for this stranger who cared for his daughter so. 

Jinae quickened her pace and rose up in her toes, capturing David in a hug just in front of their booth, David having just stepped out of it to greet them all.  She had to rise on her toes.  With them both standing flat on the ground, the top of her head would barely scratch his shoulders.  With many couples that would seem awkward, but there was a comfortability here, in the way that she unconsciously rose and he sank a little to make themselves fit just right.  No fuss. 

As he pulled away and opened his eyes, the young man’s face took on a sheen of nervousness as he faced his girlfriend’s family, who had flown all the way from Korea.

He stooped in an awkward bow.  Okay, it was more of a hunching of the shoulders than a legitimate bow from the waist, but from a westerner is was alright.  “Annyeong-haseyo.” He rose from his bow.  “Mannaseo bangabsuebnida.”  Taemin had to bite his lip at the terrible accent that sounded like it was coming through the man’s nose more than his throat.  “Je ileum-eun David Grant-imnida.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, David.”  Taemin answered in English.  Easily understandable thanks to his years of study in the U.S. and his job working for the Associated Press. 

The relief that washed over David’s face was immense. 

“I’m Taemin Lee.  This is my husband Kibum Kim and our son Munhee Kim.” 

David got caught somewhere between a bow and a handshake when faced with Kibum, so the man finally took pity on his and held out his own hand.  “Nice to meet you.”

David just nodded before just deciding to shake hands with Munhee who looked on with an amused grin. 

They took their seats and let the couple order for them, having so much more experience with the restaurant than they had. 

David was very interested in getting to know them and asked a billion questions. 

“Okay, this one has been bugging me since you introduced yourselves.”  He looked to Taemin.  “You introduced your son as Munhee Kim, but Jinae is Jinae Lee.  Why the different last names?”

“That’s a good question,” Kibum answered.  “First off, in Korean, it isn’t customary to change your name when you’re married.  When you’re born you take on your birth father’s name and you keep it the rest of your life.”

“So Jinae is Taemin’s biological child and Munhee if yours?”

“Not quite,” Munhee bumped in.  “Jinae is Papa’s biological daughter, but I’m adopted, my birth father just happened to be a Kim – it’s a pretty common name in Korea though.  Kim, Lee, Park, Choi…God, they’re everywhere.”

David didn’t know whether or not to laugh.  In fact Taemin literally had to lean forward and tell the man, “It’s okay to laugh, he’s not pulling your leg.” 

David coughed before letting out an uneasy “Ha ha…”

The dinner continued with that just slightly awkward air.  Nothing too mind-bogglingly bad, but not quite smooth sailing either.

It could have been a worse night. 

They all made their way out of the restaurant hours later, one of the last groups to leave, once again given a warm send off by the staff.

“Well, it was a pleasure to meet you all.”  David gave another of his awkward hunched bows.  He gently kissed Jinae on the cheek and walked off to his car on the far side of the parking lot.

The family meandered their way back to the car and Jinae slipped in behind the driver’s seat. 

“So?”  She prodded as they all got settled.  “What do you think?”

“He’s a nice boy,” Kibum answered.

“And?” She prodded again, turning the key in the ignition…only to create a whirring noise.  The engine wouldn’t turn over.

Taemin unclipped his belt and opened his door, “Hopefully he’s a nice boy with jumper cables.”

He indeed was.  And he followed their car back to Jinae’s apartment just in case.

For the first time all night Jinae’s family was able to see David without the nerves, to see the David that Jinae had come to love.

“When were you guys going to head out tomorrow?”  David asked quietly at the entryway to Jinae’s apartment as the rest of them got settled in the house.

“Oh, I don’t know now, I’m gonna have to take the car in – it was shuddering a little on the way back here too.”  Jinae was worried.  She had wanted to show her family around her new home, to help them feel more comfortable with her living so far away, possibly – and almost probably – for good. 

Kibum saw a small smile turn up David’s lips, which quickly descended on his girlfriend’s forehead.  “Calm down.  I’ll come by in the morning and drop off my car for you guys.  I can take yours into the shop for you while you show them all around.”

“Dave, I don’t want to take your car – you need it.”  She insisted.

“I’m just going to the library tomorrow to finish up some research for a paper that’s due next week.”  David was actually a year younger than Jinae and was still finishing up his senior year for his Engineering Degree.  “The mechanic I go to is right near campus.  I can take you car in, walk over to the library and pick it up at the end of the day.  If it’s something really bad and it won’t be fixed in a day I can always take the bus back in.  My apartment is only a couple of blocks from a bus stop anyway.”

Kibum was impressed.  David was going out of his way to help Jinae.  He really didn’t have to offer to help, but he did so naturally.  There was no sense of anything ulterior, just a genuine attempt to be nice and help Jinae in a tight spot. 

He couldn’t stop the smile that formed on his face as he sidled off as quietly as possible to the room he and Taemin were sharing. 

Taemin was already changed and in bed, glasses perched on the edge of his nose and a book propped open in his lap. 

“She’s in good hands,” was all Kibum said before pulling out his own pajamas and beginning to change.

“Our grandkids are going to be interesting.”  Taemin responded without looking up.

Momentarily Kibum was struck with the image of a child who looking like himself as a child but with David’s shock of red hair.  He snorted and almost toppled over while trying to slip one leg into his pants. 

“I hope so,” Kibum responded after righting himself, already intending on getting back at Taemin for that ill-timed comment. 

“We did good,” he merely said instead, sliding in under the covers and instantly leeching himself onto Taemin’s seemingly endless source of heat.  “And she’s doing well too.  I’m proud.”

“You should tell her that.”  Taemin mumbled, turning the page before pulling that hand back to wrap itself around Kibum’s shoulder.

“I just did – you know she knows we’d be talking about her.  She’s listening at the door.”

There was a quick shuffling of feet and a quiet click of a door down the hall.  Message delivered. 

Quick Korean Lesson (everything separated by syllable so you can try to pronounce it if you’re not familiar with Korean and are feeling adventurous):

Ann-yeong-ha-se-yo. – Formal and polite hello (always said with a bow)

Man-na-seo-ban-gab-sueb-ni-da. – It’s a pleasure to meet you.

Je-il-eum-eun David Grant-im-ni-da. – My name is David Grant.

BTW – another funny thing about pronunciation in Korean.  The name Lee – is actually pronounced Ee.  The name Park – is actually closer to Pak/Bak.  The name Kim has a softer K, that’s not quite a g sound but is close.  And the name Choi – is actually closer to Chae in how it’s said.  Fun factoids for the day.

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