Update 2/3 for today!

#63 – Waiting

Kibum paced the short expanse of hallway, wearing the already quite thin rug just a little more as he anxiously waited for door before him to open.

Taemin was little better.  Leaning up against the wall next to the offending barrier, his eyes locked on the handle so that he would know instantly when the door was going to open.

“I can’t believe it…” Kibum finally whispered, stopping to stare out the window in a determined effort to not destroy the floor anymore. 

“We knew it would happen one day,” Taemin responded, his eyes still locked. 

“Our baby is getting married…”

The toy sat in tense silence then, their minds running through their daughter’s life.

From the unique way that she came into the world, to her first friends, to her meeting her brother and taking care of him, to her going to school, making new friends and loosing old ones, her first period (and the emergency phone call to Aunt Minjung for help!), her first boyfriend and first broken heart, to her leaving for America and meeting the man that she was about to wed herself to. 

Jinae had led a hell of a life already, and was preparing for a marvelous one to follow. 

It wasn’t that they didn’t like David – they did and he had seemed like a good kind man who would treat their daughter well.

But still, all dads think that no man is quite good enough for their little girl and these two weren’t any different. 

Every memory of Jinae as their little girl, performances with her school, helping her with science projects, watching her proudly help her brother with those same projects years later, seeing her face when she had received her acceptance letter for NYU...they all flashed through the minds of both men.  Knowing now that it was time to let her go, was almost heartbreaking for them both.  But at the same time it was so incredibly exciting.  She was leaving their family to start her own, the same way that they had had to leave behind their own parents to start their own lives together.  They knew that they had raised her well, they had taught her the true meaning of love and life through the way that they had lead their own lives, and they knew that she would really be just fine in the end. 

"He's a good man," Taemin said suddenly, startling Kibum out of his reverie.  "David is a good man," he said again, "he'll treat our baby right..."

Kibum felt his eyes welling and starting blinking like mad trying to stop the tears.

"She's my baby..." Kibum whispered. 

Suddenly the memory of Jinae telling them that she was engaged popped into her head. 

Of coarse the men already knew, David was a traditional man and had sought them men out on Skype to ask permission for their daughter's hand.

"If she ever hears that you asked permission for her hand, or any other part of her, from a man she is going to kill you."  Taemin had pointed out with a laugh. 

David had blushed a furious pink before he had nodded, "I know sir, but this was the way that my mother raised me, to ask her family's permission to join and to share her with ours.

Kibum had thought that that was a wonderful way to put it.

And when Jinae had come home for Cheosuk, her eyes glowing with happiness as she showed her fathers and brother the ring, gushing about how romantic David had been, Kibum had just smiled at his little girl, unable to say anything else. 

Then Jinae had dropped the bombshell, "Appa," she had begun slowly, as she helped the man take care of the dishes after dinner while Taemin and Munhee had dashed out to track down some ice cream for desert.  "I know you haven't been a designer for a long time..."  She trailed off, drying her hands on the offered towel and then seeming to examine them rather than continue.

"Jinae...?" the man had prompted.

"Would you..." she took a deep breath, "I would love it if you would design my wedding dress for me."

Kibum had been frozen for a minute, not prepared for her to ask that of him, but then he shook it off and reached out his long arms to pull her in close.  He tucked his daughter under his chin and couldn't stop the happy smile on his face.

"I would love to darling."  He had said, filled with joy at the level of involvement his daughter wanted him to have.

If he was honest with himself, he had been afraid, since the moment he met David, of the day when she would go from being his little girl to David's wife.  There had been little doubt since he had met the man that this was the one that she was going to spend the rest of her life with.  And that fact had scared him.  There is always the fear in the heart of a parent that when your child goes out into the world, they won't need you anymore.  And that because of that, the loving and caring relationship that you've nurtured all of these years will start to slowly fall apart. 

But here Jinae was, reaching out to him, actively trying to keep him involved in her life, when it was definitely going to make things infinitely more difficult to endure.

The door clicked open and Kibum whipped around so fast that his back twinged.

There in the doorway stood his beautiful daughter.

Jinae glowed, she truly did.  Her face was practically all smile as she stepped out into the hallway, part of her long veil draped over her arm to keep it from damage before she even made it down the aisle. 

“Oh Angel…” Taemin whispered, in awe of his daughter’s beauty.  The dress was perfect for her, though what else should he have expected when Kibum was designing it. 

“Appa, Papa?” And for just a moment she sounded just like the little three-year-old who would beg for cookies or some snack before dinner.  “How do I look?”

Her eyes peeked up before glancing back down.

“Stunning.” That was the only word that Kibum could force past the sudden constriction of his throat.   

“You mean it?” She asked, quietly.

Taemin just nodded dumbly, even the great writer that he was could not come up with anything to explain just how beautiful she was.

Kibum suddenly cleared his throat, breaking the fragile moment as the sounds of organ music drifted down the hallway.

He held out his arm to Jinae, bowing slightly like a Prince arriving for his Princess, “Well, what are we waiting for?  It’s time to start the rest of your life.”

Taemin stepped up to her right side and offered his arm as well.

She slid her small limbs into her fathers’ arms and smiled up at them both.

It was time to stop waiting.

So, this was the perfect place to stop the story, but I want to say: I also have this image of them both walking her down the aisle, as she has two fathers and they would both want to be able to give her away at her wedding.