Several hours after the forced feeding, Shin Hwa found himself being dragged down to the beach, and he wasn’t happy about it. It wasn’t that he disliked the beach, or the company he had (which was both his mother’s parents, mother, Tae Yeon and Jun Young… although he minded the latter a little), but he just didn’t feel like it. He was grouchy and full and all he wanted to do was sleep off the embarrassment, anger and food. He was sure Tae Yeon felt the same too, but she was oddly cheerful; bounding along, smiling, brightly engaging in conversation.

With one hand she steadied Grams by clinging on to her arm as Grams recklessly bounded over the sand dunes, paying no attention at all to the fact she was both elderly and had balance problems. In Tae Yeon’s other hand was the picnic basket Grams had insisted they bring with them “incase anyone catches a case of the famines”.

‘And then I said, not with that golf ball!’ Jun Young said, causing everyone but Shin Hwa to laugh. It was obviously the end to a joke he had neglected to listen.

‘I think you guys should sit here,’ Shin Hwa pointed to the patch of sand they were standing on. He had been walking ahead but had stopped until they caught up to tell them this. Jun Young (who was trying a little too hard to get on with Shin Hwa) nodded rapidly.

‘Sounds great! Wonderful in fact! Hi Song, would you help me spread out the blanket for your parents to relax on?’

Shin Hwa walked around the lovey dovey scene of the blanket unfolding to get around to his grandparents and Tae Yeon. For some reason his grandmother was explaining to Tae Yeon how to help a cow give birth, and Tae Yeon had grimace beneath her smile.

‘Grams! Why does she need to know that?’ Shin Hwa paused for a second, ‘Grams why do you know that? You’ve never worked with cows in your entire life!’

‘Yah! I’m just making sure she knows how bad childbirth is, and I wasn’t exactly there to witness my own-’

‘I was, it was awful,’ Gramps added.

‘So a cow’s birth is the next best method of psychological contraception.This girl is much too pretty to waste her life having children! She’s going to be a star, and I’ll be her manager - I used to be in show busines