CHAPTER 54: An Oddly Amazing Family and Secret Nights

Yixing discovers through his Christmas with Eunsul’s family that the girl was born to be tough. When he first arrives at the large, familiar home, he is greeted by two small pairs of brown eyes. He jumps and realizes that he isn’t imagining things and there really are two kids staring at him, one boy and one girl. Eunsul enters afterwards and she pokes him in the back, “You okay?”

Yixing nods, “Yeah, I just didn’t know I’d be greeted by kids.” He loves kids but the children in front of him are making him uncomfortable. It’s like they’re inspecting him.

Eunsul laughs. The kids all turn to look at her and their faces suddenly brighten up, smiles big and eyes wide. They run towards her and hug her before going back to staring at Yixing.

      “Is this your boyfriend?” the little girl says, pulling on Eunsul’s jacket. The little girl has wavy, short, dark hair and pouty lips. She’s also chubby and Yixing smiles as he looks at her because she sort of resembles Eunsul.

      “Yes, that is correct,” Eunsul says, taking off her jacket. She glances at Yixing to make sure he’s comfortable. “Why don’t you two introduce yourself to him and then he could introduce himself to you, too?”

The little girl nods, excited but also shy. The boy looks more excited than her. Yixing smiles and leans down to hear them better.

      “My name is Nari and I am six years old!” the little girl, Nari, says, hands clamp together and smile big. The boy follows after her.

      “My name is Hyunwu and I am nine years old! I’m turning 10 next month!”

Yixing smiles at them both and tries not to pinch their cheeks. He really, really, likes kids.

      “Nice to meet you both,” he says, making sure his voice is soft and friendly. “My name is Yixing and I am your sister’s boyfriend.”

The little boy frowns, “Yixing? I’ve never heard a name like that before….”

      “That’s because I am Chinese,” Yixing tells him. “I moved here a while ago.”

The boy gasps and the girl’s eyes widen. “That’s so cool!” she says, and Hyunwu follows her response with, “Can you teach me bad words in Chinese?!”

Eunsul scoffs and softly hits him in the forehead. “He will not be teaching you anything, especially bad words.”

      “That’s not fair,” the boy says. “Why does Jun get to say bad words but I can’t?”

Eunsul snorts, “Because Jun is a bad kid.” She looks around the room then, “Where is Jun anyway?”

Yixing stands up after sending Nari a wink that has the little girl giggling. She grabs onto his hand and doesn’t let go. Yixing doesn’t mind it.

      “He’s with dad on the studio. They’re helping grandpa with some important papers,” Hyunwu says. Yixing then notices that it looks like he’s missing a tooth. He smiles to himself.

Eunsul nods and she starts walking towards the living room, stopping at a hallway that Yixing had not noticed the last time he had slept over. “Are you coming?” she tells him, turning around. Yixing blinks at her. She’s wearing blue, skinny jeans and a grey sweater. Her hair is in a messy bun and he realizes that he likes her hair up rather than when she wears it down.

      “Of course,” he says. Nari holds his hand as they all walk towards the hallway. There’s a door at the end of it, and Yixing wonders why he’s nervous. Who is he about to meet? Eunsul’s parents? Her grandfather? Jun? Who even is Jun? Is he her super over protective older brother? What if her dad hates him? What if her mother thinks he’s not worth it?

      “Your hand is sweaty,” Nari mumbles, and Yixing looks down at her. “Sorry, I’m just nervous.”

Nari smiles, “Don’t be nervous! Daddy only hits people he doesn’t like!”

That does not help Yixing feel better at all. “That’s great…” he whispers under his breath.

When they reach the door at the end of the hallway, Eunsul opens it and music immediately fills his ear. And not just any kind of music, but the type of hip hop music that makes you want to yell and run, the type of beat that exists to pump up adrenaline.

Eunsul and Hyunwu are the first to enter, and then Yixing follows with Eunsul’s little sister grabbing tightly onto his hand. The smell of gasoline, wet paint, and dust hit his nostrils. The music gets louder and then he realizes that he’s standing in a huge car shop. There’s about seven people around, most of them men, with only about three women. However, they all look like they mean business. They have serious faces, clothes and hands dirty. They all are concentrated, focus on business. Some are reading papers and others are working on cars.

      “This is daddy’s shop,” Nari tells him and he blinks his eyes around again, because the place is huge. Now he understands why the house looks larger than the average. There’s a secret warehouse down here. He smiles because he sees the black wrangler that Eunsul always drives parked by the metal garage-like entrance of the car shop.

He feels Nari pull on his hand, “Come on!” she begins to drag him and Yixing follows, realizing that Eunsul and her little brother are not around.

       “Where did your sister go?” he asks.

Nari keeps pulling him along. “They’re at the studio. Daddy and Jun are reviewing some paperwork with grandpa.”

Yixing nods his head and follows the little girl. He’s not sure what type of studio she was talking about, but if the loud hip hop music playing says anything, he wouldn’t be surprise to see a music studio next. Maybe that’s where Eunsul’s dad works. Besides, if they’re doing paper work, it has to be some type of office related job. Maybe it’s not a music studio, after all. Maybe a law firm? But then he thinks again, why would they play hip hop music at a law firm? Either way, Yixing imagines Eunsul’s dad as a tall, tan, dark haired, formal man in a business suit.

However, he’s wrong. Because he realizes that it’s not just any type of studio as he nears a large metal fence, like the type you see at the park. It’s a boxing studio. At least that’s what he can tell from the fighting rings, the mats on the ground, the punching bags hanging by the ceiling and the boxing gloves decorating the walls. The only thing that separates it from the car shop is the fence, and it also smells different. Unlike the side of the place with the car shop that smells like wet paint and gasoline, the boxing studio smells like sweat and leather. Yixing swallows. The place is empty except for Eunsul, her little brother and three men he hasn’t met. One of them, he guesses, could be her grandpa. He’s old and has a white beard. The other two look significantly younger than the grandpa, one more than the other. The youngest looks like he’s Yixing’s age. He has black hair and tan skin, like Eunsul and her siblings. His long hair is in a messy bun, he has a lean body and a face that screams murder. The other unknown man, he’s the one Yixing has no idea where to place. He’s tall, lean muscle, and maybe in his thirties. He’s not wearing a shirt and that allows Yixing to see his whole torso, which is inked all over. His tattoos cover his arms and chest, down his abdomen and lower. Yixing frowns. He’s intimidated. He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to react. What if those are her brothers? Cousins? Best friends? He doesn’t know.

Nari pulls on his hand, and once again he’s being dragged forward, through a door on the fence and now towards the strangers. Eunsul is smiling at him as he comes nearer and he tries to feel as reassured as possible that he will not die or be denied.

      “Yixing,” she grabs his hand when he is close enough and pulls him to her side. Nari lets go of his hand and yells, “Daddy!” jumping on the arms of the tattooed male.

Yixing tries not to trip over the fact that Nari just called the older man her dad, which would mean that….

      “Yixing, this is my father,” Eunsul points at the tattooed man. Yixing looks up at the guy, he’s carrying Nari with one arm and he places her down then to look at Yixing. Yixing thinks Eunsul’s father hates him at first because he has a serious and deadly expression, but then he spreads his hand out and smiles wide and his facial features change drastically from murderous to friendly and joyous.

      “Nice to meet you, Yixing,” he says once Yixing takes his inked hand. When he pulls away, his smile is still present. “Eunsul told me about you already. She was nervous about us meeting, but I think she just exaggerates everything. You can call me Wonhae.”

Yixing smiles then and nods, “Nice to meet you. I would say my name but it looks like you already know it, sir.”

He laughs, “I do. It took me a while to learn it as well.” He then jumps up like a child, his demeanor a huge contrast compared to his physical appearance. He turns to the teen at his side, the one with the bun and scary face. “Oh, this is my son, Jun. He’s Eunsul’s little brother.”

The boy, Jun, nods his head in acknowledgment, spreading his hand out and smiling a small smile. “Nice to meet you, bro.”

Eunsul laughs and then she smacks her brother in the stomach. “Who are you calling bro? Yixing is older than you.” She turns towards Yixing while Jun groans in annoyance and rubs his stomach because Eunsul hits hard. “Yixing, he’s only sixteen-”

      “Seventeen. I turned seventeen two weeks ago.”

Eunsul shrugs, “Whatever. He’s still a baby.”

      “A baby that kicks your every time we’re on the boxing ring.”

Eunsul scoffs, arms crossed and face pulled in a smirk, “In your dreams. You only beat me once in your life and that was only because I was injured.”

Jun rolls his eyes and turns to the old men who’s standing behind him, yawning and stretching his arms. “What do you think, grandpa? Who’s the better fighter?”

The old man releases another yawn and then laughs, “Your sister without a doubt.”

Eunsul yells out, “Ha!” and Jun whines.

Her grandpa then laughs, “Enough talking now. I’m starving and it’s Christmas. There is no time for arguing.” He walks forward, “Let’s close the car shop and send everyone home. They should be with their families.” He looks at Yixing and smiles, patting him in the shoulder, “Nice to meet you, son. Welcome to the family.” And then he’s walking away, telling the workers in the car shop to lock up and go home.

Eunsul is then by Yixing’s side. Her family members have dispersed around the place. Her dad and siblings are putting some punching bags on the corner of the room, and her grandfather is rushing the car shop employees out the shop, telling them to stop working and go home, that they should be with their loved ones.

      “Meeting the family was okay. Not so bad, right?” Eunsul squeezes his hand. Yixing looks down at her and nods. “Not so bad,” he says.

However, there’s a small question. Where is her mother?

********

When the night is over, he finds out that Eunsul is a lot more mature than he gave her credit for. She sends her younger siblings to bathe and dresses them up. She also directs the males on the cooking, telling her dad what to peel and boil, and instructing her younger brother, Jun, on how to stuff the chicken. Yixing gets the assignment of baking with her younger siblings and it is going well for him. Grandpa is supposed to help but he falls asleep on the couch before they can even tell him what to do.

      “Can we add a lot of whipped cream when it’s done?” Nari asks, on to which Yixing nods. They have made two cakes. One made of carrot, at the request of Eunsul, and another out of vanilla.

      “We’re almost done,” Jun says. He cleans his hands with a wet rag and then slumps against the counter. “Making food is so exhausting.”

Eunsul and her dad release a hum of agreement.

      “So,” Jun says, “How did you meet my sister? And more importantly, why did you start dating her? Is she threatening you?”

Eunsul rolls her eyes and Yixing smiles, shaking his head. Eunsul leans against the counter, next to her brother, and looks at Yixing, who’s standing across from her. She looks at him with gentle eyes and a soft smile. “Yeah, why did you start dating me?”

      “Hey,” Jun calls on Yixing, voice low but obvious, “If you’re being held here against your will, blink twice.”

Eunsul scoffs, smacking her brother on the head and Yixing laughs. Her dad laughs too from where he’s watching by the refrigerator, drinking strawberry milk while still being shirtless. Yixing wonders if he’s not cold.

      “I’m just saying,” Jun laughs as Eunsul glares at him, “You haven’t brought anyone home since a year ago. It’s crazy. Remember all those boys she would bring? Saying they were friends?” Jun turns towards his father, "Dad, what type of friends cuddle that much? Friends my .”

Yixing looks down at his hands on the counter, trying not to feel a bit jealous at the thought of Eunsul with someone else.

      “For your own sake, I would hope they were just your friends,” Eunsul’s dad glares at her.

Eunsul rolls her eyes. “They were just friends. At least most of them. I didn’t like them that way, dude.”

Eunsul’s dad playfully glares at her as he sips on his drink. Yixing is surprised that Eunsul just called her father ‘dude’.

      “So how did you start dating my sister?” Jun ask then, voice serious, staring at Yixing like he’s trying to read his mind.

Yixing clears his throat, glancing at Eunsul, and it’s obvious that he’s nervous, cheeks turning slightly pink and Eunsul bites her lip, trying to contain a smile because her boyfriend is adorable.

      “He’s a blusher,” Eunsul’s dad says, “Who knew Eunsul liked the ones who blushed? I didn’t.”

Yixing’s blush reddens and he clears his throat again.

Eunsul groans, “You guys are making Yixing uncomfortable. Can you two stop?”

Jun laughs and leans over the counter to pat Yixing on the shoulder. “Sorry about that. Eunsul usually goes for the type of boys that have a criminal record.”

      “I do not!”

Jun glances at her, “Yeah, you do.”

Eunsul goes around the counter and stands next to Yixing. “No, I don’t, idiot.” She tells her brother and then looks at Yixing, “Don’t believe anything they say. Jun and dad are immature and like to tease anyone I bring over.”

Her dad laughs along with her brother.

      “Alright then,” her dad says, “Instead of teasing your boyfriend, why don’t we tease you instead?”

Eunsul rolls her eyes. “There’s nothing you can tease me about.”

      “Are you sure?” her brother raises a brow. He glances at Yixing and Eunsul’s eyes widen.

      “She came home one night talking about you, saying Yixing is so cute and Yixing is so shy, and dad, you should meet this boy. It was hilarious!” her brother laughs.

Yixing grows a fond smile on his lips, looking at Eunsul, his cheeks dusted pink but hers a darker shade due to embarrassment. “Really?” he asks her.

Eunsul is speechless. She avoids eye contact with Yixing and turns on her heels, leaving the kitchen after muttering, “Make sure the food doesn’t burn.”

Yixing follows her figure l